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"Yes sir," I sez. "No fraternizin' with the women ... No fightin' with the men. Got it."
"Very well, report back to your unit and see that they're properly settled in. Then take the rest of the day to familiarize yourselves with the town, and report here for assignment tomorrow morning."
"Yes sir." I draw myself up and give him a snappy salute, which he returns without even lookin' up.
I can't help but I feel I have kinda gotten the bum's rush on my briefin', so on the way out I pause to have a few words with the commander's clerk ... a decision which I'll admit is in part due to the factual that she is the only skirt I have seen in uniform except for Spyder, and I am begi
"What's the deal with the commander?" I sez, friendly-Iike, givin' her one of my lesser used non-intimidatin' smiles.
Instead of respondin', however, this chick just stares at me blankly like she's still waitin' for me to say somethin'. Now, she is a tiny little thing, a bit on the slender side, so her starin' at me with those big eyes starts makin' me feel a little uncomfortable ... like she's a praying mantis tryin' to decide if she should eat me before or after we mate.
"I mean, how come he's writin' poetry?" I add, just to get some kinda conversation flowin'.
"Lyrics," she sez, in a flat sort of voice.
"Excuse me?"
"I said 'lyrics' ... as in 'words for songs' He likes to perform in the local clubs at their open stage nights, and he writes his own material ... constantly."
"Is he any good?"
This gets me a small shrug.
"I suppose he's not bad ... but he doesn't play guitar, so mostly he has to sing a cappella. That makes his performance sound a little thin after listening to an evening of singers with instrumental accompaniments."
I notice that for all her apparent disinterest, this chick seems to know a lot about what the commander does on his off hours ... even to the point of sittin' through a whole evenin' of amateur singers to listen to his set when she doesn't really like his singin'. From this I deduce that I am not likely to get much of anywhere with her as a sergeant, so I settle for bein' friendly.
"Maybe he should try keyboards," I sez.
"Try what?" she blinks, suddenly takin' more interest in the conversation.
"Key ... Oh! Nothin'. Hey, I got to be goin' now. Nice talkin' with you."
With that I beat a hasty retreat, a little a
"Hey Guido!" comes a familiar voice, interruptin' my thoughts. "What's the word?"
I looked around to find Nunzio and the rest of the crew bearin' down on me.
"No big deal," I shrugs. "We don't even go on duty until tomorrow. The commander's given us the rest of the day to settle in and check out the town."
"Sounds good to me," Hy Flie sez, rubbin' his hands together like ... well, like a fly. "What say we get something to eat ... and at the same time see if we can find a place to hang out on our off-duty hours."
"How about the spaghetti place we passed on the way here?" Spyder sez, jerkin' her head back in the direction they had come from.
I shoot a quick glance at Nunzio, who is already lookin' at me. As so often happens when we're workin' together, we are thinkin' the same thing at the same time, and this time we're both thinkin' that the best way to avoid ru
"Ah ... let's see if we can find someplace less likely ... I mean, closer." I suggest, casual-like.
"Well, how 'bout we try right here?" Nunzio chimes in, pickin' up on my general train of thought.
I look where he is pointin', and have to admit that it is probably the last place someone from the Mob would think of lookin' for us. The sign over the door of the joint reads, ABDUL'S SUSHI BAR AND BAIT SHOP.
"Sushi?" Shu Flie scowls. "You mean like raw fish?"
"At least we know it's fresh," Junebug sez, gesturin' at the second part of the sign.
"Oh, don't be a bunch of babies" Spyder grins, givin' Shu a poke in the ribs. "Wait 'til you've tried it. It's good! Come on."
Now, I am no more enthusiastic than the Flie brothers about eatin' this stuff, even though Nunzio has been after me for some time to give it a try. I mean, I'm used to fish in a tomato sauce or somethin', served with pasta—not rice. Still, there seems little option than to follow Spyder and Nunzio as they merrily lead the way into the place.
"Ah! Members of our noble fighting forces!" the proprietor sez, slitherin' up out of the dim depths to greet us. "Please, come right in. We give special discounts for our men ... and ladies ... in uniform!"
"Can we have a table close to the window so's there's more light?" Nunzio sez, giving me a wink.
I know what he is thinkin' and normally would approve. The proprietor is makin' me feel a little uneasy, however. Despite his toothy smile, I have a strong feelin' he can tell within a few pieces of small change how much money our crew is carryin' ... and is already tryin' to figure how much of it he can glom onto before we escape. In short, I haven't felt this sized up by a merchant since we left the Bazaar at Deva.
Despite my growin' discomfort, I join the crew as the proprietor ushers us to a window table and distributes menus. Everybody gives their drink orders, then start porin' over the menus with Spyder and Junebug servin' as interpreters ... everyone except Nunzio, that is.
Ignorin' his menu completely, my cousin starts fishin' around his belt pouch.
"While we're here, anyone care for a couple quick hands of Dragon Poker?" he sez i
The whole crew groans at this, a sure indication of their familiarity with the game, which is not surprisin' as Nunzio and me have been takin' great pains to teach it to 'em. Despite their apparent reluctance, however, I notice that their stakes money appears on the table in a quick ripple of movement, which is in itself a testimony to the addictin' nature of this particular pastime. I can speak from my own experience in sayin' that there is nothin' like watchin' a pot you've built on a nice hand disappear into someone else's stack because of some obscure-type Conditional Modifier to convince a new player that it is definitely in his best interest to learn more about the game as it is his only chance of wi
"Okay ... ante up!" Nunzio sez, givin' the cards a quick shuffle and offerin' the deck for a cut.
"Not so fast, cousin," I interrupts, fishin' my own copy of the rulebook out. "First, let's settle what the Conditional Modifiers are."
"Why bother?" Shue Flie grimaces. "They change every day."
"Every day? You mean every hour!" his brother sez.
"Whatever," Spyder shrugs. "Start dealing Nunzio. Swatter here can fill us in on the high points."
For those of youse unfamiliar with Dragon Poker, it is a very popular means of redistributin' wealth throughout the dimensions. You can think of it as nine card stud poker with six card hands ... that is, if you don't mind gettin' your brains beat out financially. You see, on top of the normal rules of card playin', there are Conditional Modifiers which can change the value of a card or hand dependin' on the dimension, hour of the day, number of players, position at the table, or any one of a multitude of other factors, makin' Dragon Poker the most difficult and confusin' card game in all the dimensions.