Sissy-boy: "Hey, they're closing the Odious Theater again. Wanna go?" Entropyneur: "Nah. Why don't you go with the Helium Boy?" S: "Because holding him down makes my arms tired. Come on, they're showing 'The Cricket's Tale', it'll be fun." E: "Bugger off. I'm working." "You can't be working, the club is closed for repairs. All right, I'll find somebody else to go." "Watch out for hamsters, will you?" "Yeah, right. They won't try to pull that again, and you know it." "I haven't told you this before, but I managed to snag one of the hamsters after the attack." "And?" "It was a fake." "What do you mean, a fake?" "I mean, it wasn't a hamster. It was a machine." "You mean, a robot?" "That's what I thought at first, but I couldn't find the control circuitry. All the wires led to a central switch box that didn't seem connected to anything." "So, what's your point?" "I thought it was under remote control, but I couldn't find any kind of receiver. So I did a magic trace and hit paydirt. Somebody from Somewhere Else was controlling them." "That's not unusual." "Why do you think they were there?" "I don't know. Popcorn raid, or something. They're hamsters. They're evil and unpredictable, and harbor nothing but ill will towards ants. Maybe they just wanted to interrupt the show as a sort of protest. Hell, I don't know." "That's what somebody wants you to think. But She just happened to be waiting for you at your car, didn't She? And that's when you got your mission." "It's awfully overcomplicated for Her to arrange all that just so She can have me hunt down the Committee Man." "Well, I'm just thinking, that's all. Be careful." "Oh, I'm going to the Odious. You can go to hell." (click)