I looked up from my iPad after the day’s work was finished. “3000 words, not too shabby.”
Percy the Space Chimp poured another cup of Huloran tea. “I don’t know, dude. You spent an awful lot of time playing dress up Barbies.”
“I’m worried about it, too. Think of it this way, the Cicis are identical. Having two-dozen of them wandering around the resort was bound to draw attention. I had some dress up, and some dress down. They visited hair salons and such to differentiate themselves from their sisters.”
“Lotta words dedicated to that, and why the rest of us?”
“I have to think on the trilogy level. I have words at my disposal, and there could be a plant and payoff type lesson in there somewhere. Disguise might come back with a huge upgrade. As far as the rest of you, Leo was wearing cast away stuff that belonged to you and the Cicis after you burned all his clothes in an earlier section.”
“There was nothing wrong with my shirt.”
“Nothing at all, if you’re a Space Chimp, but Leo isn’t. None of it fit right.”
“Plopping us in a resort city to go shopping doesn’t feel like a space opera.”
“You know why you were there, and it wasn’t shopping. You have the spy photos, the good guys want them, and that’s where they wanted to meet.”
“Why did Buffer wind up with Lisa’s vest thingie?”
Lisa stood and twirled. “Cute, huh?” Her vest extended into skirts alongside her thighs, and long tails in back. The buttons around her waist enhanced her figure.
“That’s how it works sometimes. Lisa has a great outfit, and I wrote it into the story. It might move in the wind or action scenes like a superhero outfit.” I turned to her. “This tea is wonderful.”
“Science Fiction Amazon seems to have everything. I can get you a six-pack of lightsabers if you like.”
“No. That was someone else’s story.”
Percy snorted. “At the end of the day, we didn’t sell our photos, and we didn’t get paid. It’s another wild goose chase.”
“True, but now you’re going to the secret scientific spy city.”
“That sounds more promising.”
“Hope so. I was going to call it the Skunk Works, but that’s a real place. Rat Works seems to have been adopted by a company. What do you think of the Snake Works?”
“Does it really matter?”
“Yes. I want it to be a city readers will remember. A place to explore and dwell on. I have some cool new characters at that location.”
“Great… even more to share page time with. And what’s with me ping-ponging between paranoia and trust lately?”
“It’s the life of a spy. You’re paranoid about everything, but Buffer is helping you see that trust is part of the mix, too. Both have their uses in this line of work. I need to come up with a name for the guy who runs the place. He’s going to be helpful to your career. Then I finally get to use Ray Dongas.”
“What’s his deal?”
“I decided the story needs one of my batshit crazy characters. I was reading about Radon Gas one day and the name just came to me.”
“What’s his deal?”
“He runs the warehouse district at The Snakeworks. Okay, it’s more like he rules it like a minor kingdom. He’s going to be, let’s call it colorful. He’s got to be some kind of alien, and might be a good guy to make friends with.”
“You haven’t let me make many friends, so far.”
“You’re a little bit prickly, sweetie,” Lisa said. “Maybe this is one of those times to trust. Trust your author.”
Percy pushed his cup away. “Got anything stronger?”
“There’s some WhistlePig Rye in the kitchen.”
“Guess I’ll have to trust that, too.” He made air quotes around the word.
Lisa got up to fetch the whiskey. “You know, Craig, you’re going to have a Ray in this series, but you’ve also written a Ray into the hat series. Are you worried about that?”
“Crap! I hadn’t thought about that.”
“Ha haha!” Percy pointed at me. “Looks like it’s your turn to be paranoid, dude.”
“Better bring a glass for me, too.”
***
I still need to come up with a new post for my next Story Empire slot. I’m not coming up with much. All I have now is something about the interpreter character, so that’s pretty thin. There are a few weeks left, so I might come up with something this weekend. Hope all of you are getting to do whatever you like for a couple of days.