"Oh wow man, we sure have!" Hashford blurted. "You're the guy they call the Sky King. Wow man, what do you want with us? I mean, it's pretty well-known we've got good drugs and all but ... "
Salome had been wonderful during the trip and she now completed her task with the same happy intelligence that had begun it. Hashford and Fillmore were ushered into a library, the size of which would shame most small cities.
Hashford was impressed. Wow, he thought, from manholes to mansions in one night. Freedman's never going to believe this. Fillmore was more concerned with their chances of ever seeing Freedman again, period; as soon as seemed decent to interrupt father and daughter in their excessively affectionate reunion, he demanded to know what this was all about.
Salome's father hugged her one last time, then sent her upstairs to change for dinner ... the servants had kept it warm until her return. Salome beamed a smile at Hashford and Fillmore, shyly waved (Hashford waved back), and skipped out of the room.
"Now that the child is gone, we may speak freely," said the child's father as he advanced across the room to shake hands with each in turn.
Fillmore wondered why he should be concerned that this precociously mature 'child' be out of the room before they spoke when, after all, he had sent her out to retrieve them in the first place.
He let it wait, and asked, "Just who the hell are you, anyway?"
"My name is Jops," this handsome man replied. "Dominic Jops. Perhaps you've heard of me."
A hiss from Fillmore cut him off in mid-babble.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Don't interrupt again," Fillmore told him, "and please, try to concentrate on something, anything, for more than one minute at a time, will you?"
He turned back to Mr. Dominic Jops, this man they called the Sky King.
"And just why are we here?"
Dominic ignored this.
"I hope you found my daughter as charming as I do. You will perhaps forgive me if I show no shame in telling you that I love her very much."
"Oh wow, Sal's just wonderful. We ... "
This time Hashford caught himself, his dreamy expression broken by a guilty gulp as he remembered he was talking to the girl's father.
"Hashford! Sometimes ... "Fillmore was ready to throw a fit, but Dominic swiftly intervened: "Perhaps your friend would like to look around the library while we talk. I'm sure he'll find something of interest, don't you?"
"That's right, Hashford, go look for a bed-time book while the big people talk business."
Really, there's just no pleasing Fillmore sometimes.
"Okay. I wonder where the science fiction section is?"
Hashford wandered off in search of better reading. The Sky King took Fillmore aside; they were soon conversing quietly over drinks near a cavernous fireplace in which a blazing fire roared mightily. Hashford quietly continued his quest. Time passed.
Soon, there was a discreet knock upon the library door and Salome made her entrance. She had changed into a cheerleader's outfit that made her look cute as all get out and nearly drove Hashford crazy; cheerleaders almost always drove Hashford crazy.
As the group gathered near the door, Fillmore told Hashford, "We're staying here tonight, then leaving in the morning on business for Mr. Jops.""What business?"
"I'll tell you later."
"Okay. Oh look, I found a book."
He showed them a copy of something called 'Postcards from Chaos.'
"Is it any good?"
The Sky King answered diplomatically.
"My, but you do have the most exquisite taste in literature. And now, I hope you gentlemen don't mind if I allow Salome to show you to the dining-room; I have a few calls to make and then I will join you. If you please, Salome?"
Salome beamed, delighted to play the hostess, and offered an arm to each. Hashford accepted with the blank expression of the incurably content, Fillmore with a sullen scowl of self-knowledge worthy of a Beethoven.
After they had left, Dominic went to the telephone and dialed a number. One ring, two rings, and he got an answer:
"Element King Central. How may I help you?"
"This is the Sky King. Tell the others to initiate all phases of 'Operation Dirt Cheap' at once."
He rang off.
At last, he thought, all the pieces are in place. At last, The Game can begin.
