, it's been a lot of sleeps," and
brushed my fingers across his muzzle. It still took a little
self-control not to hug him, and I did reach a little cluckingly for
his lopped tentacle, but he wafted it away from me and the little
voice-box belted to his side squeaked, "Naughty, naughty. Papa will fix
his little old self. Greta girl, ever bandaged even a Terra octopus?"

I had, an intelligent one from around a quarter billion A.D., but I
didn't tell him so. I stood and let him talk to the palm of my hand with
one of his tentacles--I don't savvy feather-talk but it feels good,
though I've often wondered who taught him English--and watched him use a
couple others to whisk a sort of Lunan band-aid out of his pouch and cap
his wound with it.

Meanwhile, the satyr knelt over the bronze chest, which was decorated
with little death's heads and crosses with hoops at the top and
swastikas, but looking much older than Nazi, and the satyr said to Sid,
"Quick thinkin, Gov, when ya saw the Door comin in high n soffened up
gravty unner it, but cud I hav sum hep now?"

Sid touched the Minor Maintainer and we all got very light and my
stomach did a flip-flop while the satyr piled on the chest the clothes
and weapons that Illy had been carrying and pranced off with it all and
carefully put it down at the end of the bar. I decided the satyr's
English instructor must have been quite a character, too. Wish I'd met
him--her--it.

Sid thought to ask Illy if he wanted Moon-normal gravity in one sector,
but my boy likes to mix, and being such a lightweight, Earth-normal
gravity doesn't bother him. As he said to me once, "Would Jovian gravity
bother a beetle, Greta girl?"

* * * * *

I asked Illy about the satyr and he squeaked that his name was Sevensee
and that he'd never met him before this operation. I knew the satyrs
were from a billion years in the future, just as the Loonies were from a
billion in the past, and I thought--Kreesed us!--but it must have been
a real big or emergency-like operation to have the Spiders using those
two for it, with two billion years between them--a time-difference that
gives you a feeling of awe for a second, you know.

[Illustration]

I started to ask Illy about it, but just then Beau came scampering back
from the bar with a big red-and-black earthenware goblet of wine--we try
to keep a variety of drinking tools in stock so folks will feel more at
home. Kaby grabbed it