Episode 19

"So!" Weasel scolded. "That's why you wanted to be beamed to the banks of the Platte River! A little duck hunting, as if the universe weren't threatened with disaster."

"Don't worry, there's no way I would go back there again," Spot said rubbing the bump on his forehead. "The ducks in that dimension fight back. One of them spat a stone at me."

The android wandered into the room at this point. "Yes, that is a big bump," he agreed. "Emily was responsible for that."

"Emily? Who's Emily?" everyone else exclaimed.

"She's one of your florgars. She beamed herself to that awful dimension 666 fifteen or twenty minutes ago, and someone turned her into a duck when she arrived. The worst part was when Spot and Irving shot some of the ducks in her flock."

"Well, I remember it differently," Spot said. "In my recollection she attacked me. I wasn't the one carrying the gun anyway. But I'd like to know how you know so much? Did you get turned into one of the ducks?"

"She just finished telling me," the android said. "You do know I understand florgarese."

"Congratulations," Weasel said, "but now there's work to do. Irving, you've got to do something about the ducks in your hand. They won't fit in my refrigerator, and anyway Emily would strangle you with her tendrils if she saw you carrying them around. Spot, I haven't seen Professor Neinstein since he got back from Burger Download. If he's napping in the laundry room, he'll rumple his good suit. Please find him, wake him, and bring him to me: there's a chance he can help identify a certain student in Amherst, Massachusetts. Android, please mollify Emily. We may well need her again."

Paulh

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