XVII
Triggy gop's intestinal tract was filled with wild cheering. He shut down most of his audio receptors so as not to get a brainache. The robo-snoops they had stationed in space were reporting back on the areas where the Romaghin and Setessin worlds had been. They were gone, left behind. But, unlike anyone had expected, some of those locations were filled with new worlds. Obviously, the gaps in their universe had been filled in by corresponding leftovers from the universe they had forced out of this plane. And if the robo-snoop films could be believed, these planets were not inhabited by normals, but by Muties. Natural, evolved Muties, not radiation-induced ones. One of the new globes was peopled by honest-to-god satyrs! Another by mermen and mermaids. He wished Fish had lived. They had come, freaks, into a world where freaks were the normal. They belonged here.
He tried once again to contact Jumbo Ten. This time there was an answer.
“Hello?”
“Tohm, why in God's name haven't you answered me? I've been calling for over two hours!”
“First,” Tohm said, “what happened to those missiles and Jumbos?”
“I instructed the others not to encompass them when we made the transfer. They were left in the old universe.”
Silence. Except for a purring sound like an animal hissing in the bushes…
“Tohm!”
“Huh?”
“Are you both all right?”
“Sure. We're fine.” There was a hissing and giggling sound in the background. A hissing very much like a cat. A giggling very much like a young girl.
“Look,” Triggy said. “Are you going to marry her?”
Laughter at the other end.
Tohm spoke at length. “I am. But I fail to see where that is any of your business, Triggy.”
“I'll be damned! It certainly
“Your daught—” the voice began to shout before Triggy Gop broke the connection. He giggled. He had had the last word, and that pleased him. He made grand preparations for the time when they would land. He prepared a fabulous party with cakes and wines and tiny assorted sandwiches.
But the cakes grew stale, the wines went flat, and the sandwiches spoiled, for they did not land for ten days.
