<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0125</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0126.txt">Next (Page 126)</A><BR>"<P><P>"Ugh," Darnazy said again, crawling across he floor to get away from the vicinity of the blue hole. "Just a matter of scemlurboan my dear. Just a matter of scemlurboan."<P><P>"Oh," Enc said.<P><P>Now the first few flyers were getting to the blue hole, and they were crushing into each other, trying to get as close to the blue hole as possible. And as they pressed into each other, they made a horrible straining, creaking kind of sound.<P><P>"What..." Evelyn said, backing away.<P><P>"What're they gonna do--waste each other?" Snoppy asked.<P><P>"Ugh," Darnazy said, sitting with his back to the wall, running a syrup-covered hand through his hair. "Yes my friend. They will ruin each other."<P><P>"And how long is this lovely exercise going to take?" Enc asked.<P><P>"Could take a few days, my lovely," Darnazy responded.<P><P>"Days?" Evelyn screamed.<P><P>"Forget this damn business," Snoppy said. "And forget the teletype. I'm chonkin'!"<P><P>"Snoppy!" Enc said, but Snoppy was already gone down the stairs, whacking flying things out of his way with the pipe.<P><P>--------------------------<P>CHAPTER 31<P>--------------------------<P><P>A ski lodge.<P><P>"Pacer," Carne said, "I just got a phone call. Apparently Jay Pime had been financing this guy who was working on a really wild science fiction movie. And somehow because he's financing us now, he cut the other guy off, right when they were starting to do post-production--all the special effects and stuff. And now the guy is totally screwed."<P><P>"What was the, uh, what was the, what was the title of the movie?" Pacer said.<P><P>"It sounded pretty cool. 'The Feriend Expandling'. I feel bad about this, I feel bad for the guy. I mean, it was his life's work. And what assurance do we have that Pime's not gonna do the same thing to us?"<P><P>"Come on, isn't it obvious?" Pacer said. "The film guy didn't use the word 'lemon' in the title of the movie, so Jay lost interest."<P><P>Carne shook his head.<P><P>"Look Pacer, I'm telling you, I don't want to call Darkider 'The Lemon Darkider'. I just don't."<P><P>"But we have to, man. We have to. Jay Pime is obsessed with the word 'lemon', so we have to call it 'The Lemon Darkider'. There's nothing we can do about it."<P><P>"I don't know," Carne said. "Maybe we should just forget about it. I mean, we have all these ideas, and they all seem really excellent because they are just fantasies. Darkider is a really great idea, but if we give in on the name, then who knows what else we're going to have to give in on? I mean, is the whole thing, all the themes, going to have to relate to lemons? And are we going to have this stupid lemon-based thing half done when the nut Jay Pime gets distracted by someone else's idea? And the Darkider will be another one of those rusting skeletal buildings, and a lot of people--not just us two--will be totally disappointed and unemployed. I don't know."<P><P>"Look. It all has to do with the contract. We have to get the nutty fucker bound by the contract, with no way out. He's a mental midget, Carne! He's got shit for brains!"<P><P>"Yeah, but his lawyers and managers are probably pretty sane."<P><P>"But he has the final word. My brother-in-law, the lawyer Clawe, he's on board man. Lemon Darkider Industries will be a corporation in a few weeks. The contract will be ironclad, man. What does your Moisture Detection Friend think about all this, anyway?"<P><P>"Oh, he's totally into it. But he doesn't give a crap about anything. He surfs through life. If Darkider fails, it'll be another story for him to tell. He won't care at all."<P><P>"And we will?"<P><P>"That's the thing, Pacer. I really am starting to care about Darkider. I think it's the coolest thing ever. I want something like this to exist. But caring about things... I don't know... maybe it's more fun just to talk about things."<P><P>"Ah, come on. We have to take responsibility at some point.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0126.txt">Next (Page 126)</A>