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e man, you and I are sort of in the same line of work."
"Nuts," Van Doren said, smiling. "And they promised me I'd have an exclusive on the story."
"I'm sure we can collaborate," Gwedif said.
The noseplug Yherajk had returned with three pairs of noseplugs. We each fitted them in. Then he joined the other Yherajk at the ambulance and lowered Michelle's stretcher onto the floor. I went over to her stretcher and checked the battery on the portable respirator. It was three-quarters drained.
"We'd better get moving on this thing," I said.
"What are we doing now, anyway?" Van Doren wanted to know.
"Nobody tell him anything yet," I said. I looked at Van Doren. "Sorry, Jim. Hold your horses a couple more minutes." I looked over to Gwedif. "Jim doesn't know exactly why we're here. I think that's something that could be useful for what we need to do."
"Yes, you're right." Gwedif said. "How about that, headcheese man. You might come in useful after all. We won't install the plank until tomorrow."
"How long are you going to call me 'headcheese man'?" Van Doren said.
"Oh, I don't know," Gwedif said. "It just has such a nice ring to it. Now, follow me, please, all of you. We're going to the meeting chamber."
The corridors were as low as Carl promised. Van Doren, the tallest of us, suffered the greatest from the low ceilings and lower gravity, bumping his head and cursing. Here and there Yherajk crossed our path, but mostly stayed out of our way as we headed towards the meeting chamber.
Gwedif pulled up to me as we walked. "I wish we had more time," he said. "This happened with Carl, too. Barely time for introductions, and then off to decide the fate of our peoples. If nothing else, we've learned that you humans thrive on crisis."
"Anything worth doing is worth doing at a fevered pitch," I said.
"I don't know about that," Gwedif said. "I think the first place I'll go when I visit your planet -- really visit your planet, I mean, not that l
