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Flinx turned to Kiijeem, not wanting to do anything that might upset his young friend. Kiijeem gestured third-degree indifference coupled with overtones suggesting he would not be responsible for whatever happened from now on. Deciding there was nothing to be gained from postponing the unavoidable, Flinx reached up and began fingering the hidden seals of his simsuit. When he was finished he reached up and pushed under his protruding reptilian chin.

It was a good thing there was no one else in the residence. Both young Eiipuls began to shriek like steam engines as their well-mannered visitor's head started to come off.

To their credit and despite their initial horror, neither covered their eyes. Even young AAnn were made of stern stuff. But the high-pitched whistle-hiss that constituted an AAnn scream echoed around the commons chamber for the better part of a minute as Flinx continued to peel off the simsuit. Yawning widely and flicking her tongue to taste her new surroundings, Pip emerged from the collapsing internal resting pocket to slither up Flinx's left arm and onto his shoulder and neck. Her appearance prompted fresh hissing from the already seriously shocked Eiipul siblings.

It was the sister who first connected the appearance of hairless, scaleless human flesh with something she had previously seen only in studies.

“By the Pregnant Pouch of Passhawntt—a ssoftsskin! A live ssoftsskin!” Simultaneously fascinated and repelled, she favored the disrobing Flinx with a stare not unlike that a human might employ while eyeing the emergence of a botfly larva from the meat of his thigh. Her brother was no less revoltingly captivated—until it occurred to him that he and his sister were crouching there witness to this revelation while wholly weaponless. Rising abruptly, he moved quickly toward a cabinet built into the blue wall. Divining his intent, Kiijeem hurried to intercept him.

“There iss no need to panic.” Kiijeem indicated the now unashamedly unsuited Flinx. “He iss a friend.”

“That?” One clawed hand paused halfway to the weapons locker, Eiipul IXb stood awestruck and appalled. “Kijeem-friend, it iss a ssoftsskin. A human. A citizen of the desspissed Commonwealth! It iss friend to thranx.”

“Thiss one iss different,” Kiijeem reassured him. “Hiss reassonss for coming here among uss make little ssensse to me.” He looked over at the silently standing Flinx. “They would make even less ssensse, I think, to hiss own kind.”

“Then why iss he here?” Eiipul IXc gaped at the amazing apparition that had appeared in the hub of her home. “How iss he here? And what iss that more normal-looking ssmall coiled thing that hass wrapped itsself around hiss neck and arm?”

“I'm going to tell you everything.” Squatting down, Flinx settled into a close approximation of an AAnn resting crouch. Without the aid of the simsuit he could not maintain the posture for very long: his leg muscles were differently arranged. But he thought the familiar stance would help to reassure his edgy hosts.

“You sspeak naturally,” the female observed in wonderment. “Though your voice iss even more sslippery than mine.”

“I told you he wass different.” Kiijeem was thoroughly enjoying the unsettling effect Flinx's unmasking had had on his friends. AAnn loved surprise and shock, even when it was coupled with fear. “Truly, the sstory he hass to tell iss beyond remarkable. I am not ssure I believe all of it mysself. But I believe enough of it to have brought him here, to sseek the help of the Family Eiipul.”

Cautiously, the brother settled himself into a crouch on the other side of the circle, as far away from the intrusive human as could be considered polite. His civility was instinctive and not prompted by a sudden acceptance of anything the softskin or Kiijeem had said. The weapons cabinet remained close at hand. The young female started to join him, then impulsively started across the sand.

“Ssisster,” he began, alarmed, “conssider your possition!”

“That iss jusst what I am doing,” she replied as she approached to within an arm's length of the crouching