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.She remembered; it had been the last stop on his fellowship.They d defeated the bad guy, both he andArtur had declared their love, and then both of them hadleft  Artur to go back to the Black Sea and dowhatever it was princes did; Thomas to finish his fellowship. When Artur got in touch, I had the URV built. He lowered his voice, although the two of them werethe only ones in the URV. I was just waiting for an excuse, you know? I ve been fantasizing about theURV since I was a kid.Uh-huh.Nottoo disturbing. He s a marine biologist, he s an M.D., he writes books, he s rich, and hedesigns underwater love nests.Is there anything he can t do? Well, I can t talk about myself in the third person without creeping myself out, so knock it off. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Fred frowned, thinking about it. So this Pelagic& The Folk have knownabout it for at least a few months? Yeah, I guess.Well.The royal family did, anyway.Who knows when Artur and his dad told everybodyelse. Hmm. I m just jazzed they even invited me, y know? Yes.Can t blame you for that one at all.I m kind of jazzed myself. Like you wouldn t be invited.Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Some half-breed loser who was raised by vicious, bloodthirsty bipeds? She smiled grimly at hisstricken expression. Right, you and I know that s not the case, but they don t, and like I said, I m gladto be invited.I s pose. She sought to change the subject, and so looked the URV up and down and allaround. I ll bet you ve got cameras set up all over the  Well, sure.Among other things, the URV is a portable television studio.Lights, sound, picture it sgot  But you know Artur and his dad not to mention the other eighty thousand Undersea Folk aren tgoing to let you put this footage on CNN. No, Thomas admitted,  but I couldn t pass up the chance to film, even if it just stays in my own library.Besides, it s going to be helpful for my next book. The Mermaid and the Milkman? The Anatomy and Physiology of Homo Nautilus, he retorted stiffly. You gotta admit, with mybackground, I m in a pretty good position to write that book. It was true; Thomas was not only a Ph.D.,he was an M.D. And if they  come out to the world, so to speak, we re going to have to know how totake care of them.My book could be in every hospital, every med school, every medical library in theworld.She didn t even try to hold back her laughter. Homo Nautilus? Also known as the Undersea Folk, and stop laughing, you rotten bitch.With a mighty effort, she got herself under control. Yeah, but what if they decide to stay put?Thomas shrugged. Then the manuscript stays on the shelf and my tapes stay in the URV and nobodyhas to know.I ll respect their decision. You will unless you want Artur kicking your balls up into your throat. Like I m scared ofhim , he sneered.Fred had to admit he was entitled to his fearlessness; there hadbeen a throw-down between the two of them last fall, and Thomas had held his own.A good trick, giventhat Artur was bigger, heavier, and probably three times as strong.Then he shrugged. I m looking on the bright side.If they do decide to come forward, I m perfectlypositioned.If they don t, it was still a once-in-a-lifetime experience.Well worth the time. He leered ather. On several levels. Pig.And Artur and his dad know all about this.The taping you re doing for the Discovery Channel, Imean.Thomas coughed. No.They don t.And I d appreciate it if you kept it to yourself for now, Fred.If itcomes to it, of course I ll let them in on my project, but for now there s no point in saying anything. Knock yourself out, Mermaid Geek.Just keep me out of it.Thomas slowly shook his head. Not this time, Fred.This time, like it or not, you rein it.In fact, you reGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlpractically the guest of honor. Sure, she snapped. That explains why none of the purebloods want to be around me except Artur,and he s got brain damage.Thomas flushed, but didn t look away. So what s going on? she demanded. Why are they keeping their distance? Well. Thomas cleared his throat. I m not sure it s for me to say. You dbetter say. It s kind of private Undersea Folk business. Butyou know it? Forget it, Thomas.Cough up, or cough up blood. Okay, okay, I m not up to taking a punch, so just relax.Here, have a seat.She let him steer her to one of the narrow bar stools in the galley. Okay.So what s going on? Well, I can t just blurt it out. You d better! I m just saying, there s background, there s stuff to cover.Okay.So, it s like this.See, your fath There was a click, and the intercom system came to life. Ho inside, Thomas! Artur s booming voice. My father and I require entrance! Hit the red button and come on in, Thomas called.He shrugged apologetically at Fred. I guess we lltalk about that later.But now you get to meet the king. Oh, goody.FourteenArtur and an older, craggier version of Artur steppedout of the air lock and into the URV. Ah,Thomas, Older, Craggier Artur boomed, not noticing (or not caring) that he and Artur were drippingwater all over the galley. Do you have more movie-shows of the great warrior Al Swearengen for me toview? Sure, King Mekkam.Season two is all set to go.Al Swearengen? Now why did that sound so And this must be Fredrika, the spirited beauty who has my good son twisted so far around he can seethe back of his own tail. The king pulled Fred into a rib-shattering hug and she groaned.He pushed herback, beaming.Clearly his father had no more clue about personal space than Artur did.Very grabby,the Undersea Folk. It is a great delight to meet you at last, Fredrika.And how is your lady mother?Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html Mom s fine, she gasped.Awfully worried about blood relatives, these guys.Arturalways asked abouther mom, though he d only met her the one time.And the king, she was certain, had never met Moon. I m fine. This was a rather large lie. We re all fine.Nice to meet you, too.Thanks for inviting me toyour Pelagic. Oh, no.Indeed, no. King Mekkam frowned, and Fred realized that Thomas had described himperfectly.He really did look like an older, grayer version of Artur.They were even the same height.They were also naked, but Fred was trying not to let that bother her.After all, they couldn t teleport tothe URV, now could they? No.They had to swim, and the best way for a merman to swim wasnotlayered down with Lands End apparel.And she had to face facts.Despite the efforts of her hippie mother, Fred was uncomfortable because ofthe repressed sexual mores of a society that had been heavily influenced by the Victorian Age.Herfather s people, of course, had no idea who Queen Victoria even was, much less why they should beembarrassed to walk around with their dicks swinging No, it is I who must thank you, the king was saying. It was kind of you to join us on such shortnotice [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]