Quote:

"I WANT BAXTER OUT OF HERE NOW!"



Twenty-Four Hours Later....

"This is one of the finest public transportation vehicles I have ever traveled in." Adem commented. "Much better than the Rurai Shifters Corp."

Edmund Gaunt said nothing, glancing at Different with a half-cocked brow.

"The Shifter...yes..." he nodded. "Entire civilization built out of interstellar taxi drivers. Grew in power, spread out into the galaxy...."

Gaunt's standing posture remained as eloquently haunting as usual, a slim, wiry hand grasping the safety strap on the ceiling of the bus. Adem stood next to him in the aisle, gripping a similiar strap in a similiar fashion.

"....now they move planets." the alien continued matter-of-factly.

"Planets?", an impressed hint spread across Gaunt's pursed lips.

"Specialize in them, really." Adem nodded again. "You buy a sector from the local magistrate...fill out the holowork....they'll move your entire planet into a different solar system. The entire thing. Poof!"

"Poof?"

"Poof! Some form of dimensional hop-scotch, from what I hear..."

"...and...this is worse than German public transportation....how?"

"Well, strangest thing, really...." Adem nodded for a third time. "...seems everytime the customer's planet rematerializes, it's missing its oceans..."

"...it's oceans..." Gaunt repeated in his normal deadpan manner.

"Yes, it's oceans. All gone."

"Poof?"

"Exactly." Adem nodded, again. "I mean, with this bus, we can get anywhere we want, and the aquatic half of this planet remains relatively unscathed. A better trade, wouldn't you say, than having to go about filling out all the neccessary holowork to report that your oceans went missing during the move? Oh sure, they say that there's nothing to worry about, and that they're sure your local bodies of water probably just got transported to a completely different planet by mistake, and they'll be happy to refill your planet for free. But, it does take six-to-eight weeks just to get the complaint processed, and what do you do for a good fishing trip, or, even, something to drink? Oh well, you're up a nebula without a diharmonic neutralizer, is what..."

"....entire oceans....transported....by accident...to other planets..."

"Absolutely." Adem, of course, nodded. "Where do you think rain comes from? That small sprinkle we had yesterday? It had Phollus Del-V written all over it...."

Edmund stared at him briefly, finally turning away with nearly the exact same expression he had started this conversation with.

"...you are either very silly, or very mad..."

"Aren't both freely available?" Adem asked, adding a nod for no apparent reason.

"Adem?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you continue to nod like that?"

Adem stopped nodding.

"I simply felt it would ease the rest of our passengers if we seemed to be having a pleasant pedestrian conversation."

"...isn't that what we are doing anyway?"

Adem nodded again, slowly glancing around the interior of the bus. And, sure enough, every single passenger was still staring at the obscenely tall man with the blue hair and yellow eyes, and the imposingly wiry figure caked in pale skin and the blackest of neo-goth nights.

"Hmmm...." Adem said quietly to Gaunt, realizing that even a whisper was more than enough to cause an echo in the cabin. "...it seems our ruse has not convinced them."

Edmund looked around at the thirty or so passengers, finally sighing.

"{We're artists...}" he announced in perfect German.

Every passenger shook their head with understanding, exclaming "Ohhh...", before simply turning away and beginning their normal conversations and distractions.

Gaunt said nothing, glancing at Adem.

"That was Plan B." Adem said.....nodding.

The bus drove for another ten minutes before depositing the two men at the Department of Health.

Gaunt glanced around, his eyes widening with the growing evening. The buildings had begun to block the orange sunlight, a steady stream of light clouds wafting across the navy of night.

"Looks like my transportation window is beginning to open up." Gaunt commented. "The shadows should be nearly deep enough now."

"Shame..." Adem shrugged, hands deep in his pockets, as he took in the busy downtown traffic. "....I shall miss the bus."

"...come on..." Edmund grunted.

Adem watched him walk away, a slight smile coming to his face.

"...someone needs a sense of humor..." he spoke quietly to himself.

The two men neared the building, Gaunt suddenly pausing to pull a small, ringing cellular phone from his coat pockets.

"Gaunt."

"Edmund, William....are you in a dark place at the moment?"

Edmund glanced around, spotting numerous shadows breaking off the high, granite architecture of the downtown government building.

"Reasonably."

"Step into my office, would you....there's someone here I want you to meet...."

"One moment." Gaunt replied, clicking the phone off, and slipping it back into his pockets. He glanced up at Adem, walking past him towards the edge of the high granite steps.

"...one moment..." he said to Different, before stepping off into the darkness.

Adem stood there, looking around with mild interest at the evening stragglers. He tipped a non-existent hat toward a pair of elderly women. The women gasped at the blue-haired giant, hurrying their pace on.

Adem sighed, looking around some more. He began trying to whistle a tune, and was reasonably horrified to remember that he had placed 'Learning to Whistle' in the number seven slot of 'Human Things to Learn'.

He resisted cracking his knuckles, as that was number twelve.

Humming he could do, and, promptly did. He found himself even beginning to do a little two-step back-and-forth number. Dancing was number four on the list, but he felt certain that he could slide it into number three very quickly. He also very quickly stopped dancing, once he realized that people were beginning to stare at him in passing.

Adem sighed.

*******************************

"Marshall." Drake answered the cell, speaking a bit louder over the gusting wind. The giant shadow of the control tower loomed, as he stuck his finger in his other ear. "What? Speak up..."

"....I said I'm sending in the new agent with Edmund and Different..."

A plane roared overhead, Drake pausing for a moment.

"New agent?" he half-yelled over the noise. "You mean.....he's back?"

*****************************

"I'm back."

Adem turned to see Edmund Gaunt stepping from around the edge of the stairbase. Appearing behind him, Ozzy Baxter stepped into the white glow of the dim streetlight.

"Adem..." Edmund began. "...this is--"

"Oswald Baxter!" Adem said, leaping to his feet.

"Hey Diff!" Ozzy exclaimed with a not-too-subtle glee. He grabbed Adem in a bearhug, hoisting even his tall frame off of his feet.

"I am happy to see you, Ozzy." Adem stated with a natural, wire-thin smile.

"You too, Spock!" Baxter laughed.

"I would be even happier if you put me down now." Adem added with the same smile.

"Ha!" Ozzy snorted, dropping the dishelved alien back to his feet.

Edmund looked back and forth between them.

"...ahem....Adem Different, Ozzy Baxter....Ozzy, Adem...." he said in a very monotone voice.

"Yes, Ozzy and I have worked together before, in the La Perdita division." Adem stated innocently to Gaunt.

"...I never would have guessed..." Gaunt replied very drolly.

"Really?" Adem looked confused. "Even with this emotional display that was just presented? You were not aware---"

Gaunt simply walked past him, straight up the stairs.

Ozzy broke into an amused chuckle, as Adem's features softened into another smile.

"Is he always this warm and charming?" Ozzy asked.

"He's positively ecstatic, today...." Adem replied, as the two made their way up the stairs.