Non visited the junkyard to pick up his saddlebags and other gear, as well as the sound effects device for the fake Rover.
“Any idea what happened back here?” asked the junkyard squirrel, looking at the strange collection of debris. “Half a piano, part of a chandelier, plaster, termites, arcade games.”
Non tapped his nose. “You didn’t hear it from me, but something happened at the Cecrops estate.”
For twenty minutes, Non helped the squirrel to move items by salvageability. He filed a report, but omitted the catastrophe quest and Sagittario’s involvement. He felt obligated to inflict upon himself the complaints by Mayhem’s sectors, but some of the murders were too much for him.
Ñ̰ TERRIBLE. RELAY THE MAYHEM LIST TO MY LAWYERS. ICO, MEET ME AT THE JUNKYARD. TO FIT MY THEME, PLEASE CLASSIFY PHEROMONES AS APPEAL TO NATURE. FOR XENOGRAFT, I ONLY LIKE THE STARTING LETTER. CAN I TRADE IT?
♫ DID YOU REALIZE YOUR SWAY OVER EQUESTRIANS? WE’LL MAIL A SYRINGE TO BOOST YOUR POWER EVEN MORE.
👃 APPEAL TO NATURE: USE PHEROMONES TO ATTRACT, REPEL, CALM OR AGITATE OTHERS.
♫ XENOGRAFT REPLACED. INNOVATION ISN’T NECESSARY IF IT DOESN’T FIT THE BUSINESS MODEL.
🖱️ XEROX ALTO FALLACY: ACCESS CUTTING-EDGE COMPUTERS, PRINTING, NETWORKS AND MORE.
♫ OUR PARK, THE PARKOUR PARADISE, HAS A NEW OWNER: YOU! QUEST SUCCESSFUL: LEARNT CLUB.
⸎ WARNING, WE HAVE EXCEEDED TWENTY ABILITIES AND MAY NEED TO COMBINE OR SIDELINE SOME.
Non facepalmed as he recalled reactions of Culpeper and Cepheid. “I’m Daken. Great. At least I won’t need to pay rent to Zack the Yak.”
“I’m not sure who they are.” Picoid chirped. “Anyways, they liked you.”
CULPEPER: FROM YOUR NOTES, THE FOUR CAESARS THINK THEY GOT AWAY WITH IT AND ARE NOT AN ACTIVE THREAT. GCC WILL MONITOR THEM. REST AND RECUPERATE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. GO HOME.
Non took a final look around the junkyard and patted Ico. “I guess we obey orders and head home.” He thought about using a portal home, but balked at the cost. During the trot to Tripoli, the equitaur reviewed his ToDo list. Upon arrival, he amazed the gang of fruit-selling kids by juggling five apples at once.
The rabbit boy surprised him by pointing at an ad. “Is that you?”
The piebald equitaur on the billboard had swooshy stripes on either side of his body along with spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Non adopted the same pattern. “Yep, that’s me. They must have pulled my photos out of storage. Do you kids know the junk sheds? I need a ball and a red ribbon.”
As the kids ran off to fetch, he ear-perked at an orc selling a belt to an anthro llama.
"This belt is the last of its kind. The town Mayor got one like it and won the election. I wouldn't expect you to understand the craftsmanship, but you'll thank me later if you get it now."
Ñ̰ I'M HEARING FALSE CAUSE, APPEAL TO AUTHORITY, AD HOMINEM, SCARCITY BIAS AND APPEAL TO EMOTION.
The equitaur stepped up closer to see the belt better, pausing the patter.
The orc sneered at the interruption. “Too much for you, horse. Get back to hauling beer.”
The kids returned with a ball and a red ribbon, so Non moved to their area and let the eager youngsters clamber over him to tie the ribbon to his mane. After that, he said his goodbyes and left town, For several kilometers he played running fetch with Ico, trying out the lacrosse scoop attachment.
“Picoid, would you mind if we took a detour? I want to revisit my old workplace, Drafter Brewery.”
“We’re on vacation, I don’t mind. With all you’ve been through, do anything you like. However, I notice you’re mimicking a woodpecker. You have white stripes starting below your eyes and you added that red ribbon on top. Not sure how you did this years ago.”
“Actually, I copied my father’s hourglass dolphin pattern, which isn’t far from the ivory-billed motif. This is an update. Drafter Brewery used my photos in ads a lot while the beer hauling job lasted. I remember my parents asked Entity Resources to get permission before broadcasting my image.”
“So ER is to go to ma or to pa if he is to be in an ad on TV?”
Non laughed. “Lots of two-letter words there, Picoid. Back then, I picked card suits for my harlequin pattern: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs.” He took the access road to Drafter Brewery. “Why wear one suit when you can wear four?”
Ā̱ HEY NON, ARIESTA HERE. THE HIRING CONTRACT YOU SIGNED HAD NO TIME LIMIT ON USING PHOTOS.
Ñ̰ ANY GOOD PR WORKS FINE FOR ME. CAN GOALPOSTS BE MOVED ON MY NEW QUEST? CAN I GET OUT OF IT?
Ā̱ I’M CHECKING ON THAT. KEEP IT SECRET!
Non left his things at an outdoor locker area. “Wait here, Ico.”
As the collie sat, Picoid badge-floated in front of Non, gesturing with a wing. “You have five-spot figures. I just realized your equivoque flaw might evoke a superb harlequin equine quincunx.”
Equitaur as harlequin [https://i.imgur.com/lRncniv.png]
Non nodded, touching his chest, then gave a tour of the loading area and the morning routine.
Picoid lacked his excitement. “Right. NO PARKING on a brick wall. I see brushes in the cabinet over there. Clean up if you’ll be photographed.”
Non got to work on himself, removing the ribbon. “I can cheat with portals!” He stood on a palette and braided his own tail, letting the card shapes drop away as he focused on weaving.
Equitaur fun with portals [https://i.imgur.com/c4QIC61.png]
“Nyah!” A snow leopard stepped out from the loading dock. "Did you see yourself on a billboard?"
"I liked it, Pardunix!” Non motioned over his old friend and coworker, then sighed. “Sorry I ghosted you. Lernea set up that accident and I didn’t see the scam. Then I followed her advice and didn’t respond to friends here at the brewery. I thought some damage control might let me feel like less of fool.” On the word Fool, Non’s pattern went back to Harlequin mode.
The snow leopard touched one of Non’s card suits. “I thought I’d never see you in this pattern again. We got a report about that a few days ago. To quote Buzz, you have my pity.” The snep looked through the wormholes at the back of his own head. “Damn, it’s like a backwards infinite mirror.”
“Any way I can make it up to you, Pard? I need to apologize to so many people.”
Pard tried to wave it off, while watching his arm wave from behind while swishing his snep tail. "Don’t worry about it. If you want, you can do a beer run to the Our Park Lodge. I pay ya two planck right now."
The equitaur dismissed his portals, then ran a body check on himself. "It's a deal, Pard. Hook me up."
While hauling, Non cleaned up his character sheet.
Ñ̰ CORONIS, I’LL HAND TRUST YOUR GUT, SPOTLIGHT AND FALSE DICHOTOMY TO YOU. PICOID GETS PECKING ORDER.
⸎ GOT IT. I WILL CONTROL OUR REGENERATION, BIOLUMINESCENCE AND MENTAL SHIELDING.
Ñ̰ ARIESTA, YOU GET MOVING THE GOALPOSTS AND THE SUPPORT SKILLS FOR LAWYERS, COMPUTERS AND SPECIALISTS.
Ā̱ SURE, I CAN BE YOUR PARALEGAL SUPPORT UMBRELLA. AS YOUR THERAPIST, LET ME ASK HOW YOU’RE DOING.
Ñ̰ THE CRIMES BY MAYHEM AND SKIVER HORRIFY ME. THE NEW QUEST SCARES ME EVEN MORE. OSTRICH FALLACY.
Ā̱ THEIR LIST NECESSITATES TRAUMA COUNSELING. IGNORE IT WHILE WE FIGURE OUT HOW HANDLE IT. SEE YOU SOON.
LERNA SPRINGS.
Max the Artist had a small roadside stand near the friendly welcoming hydra sign.
“Oh, it’s you! Non! I was just thinking about you. I did a painting of you., but you look even better pulling that beerwagon. It might look like I’ve only gone half a kilometer in a week, but I’ve been into town, I swear. Where was I? The painting. I sketched out the eclipse and Sagittario and all the stars with Lerna Springs and the mountain as a backdrop, but then I put you in the foreground with a cart of books. Another equitaur bought it, looked a lot like you. And that’s a lovely dog. Do you think he’d like a hard-boiled egg?”
Non paused the beerwagon as Max walked alongside. “Great to see you too, Max. I’m sure Ico would love that.” He scanned over Max’s art as Ico cronched the egg. “Thanks for letting me see those.”
As he got moving again, a familiar ponytaur, Grassleaf Lettuce Underhoof, joined his movement next to him. A Lernea Ledger reporter stood in just the right spot to photograph them. “Greetings, Non. As the new mayor, I welcome you to Lerna Springs!”
“Thanks! I’m surprised you moved.”
Grassleaf glanced back to see if the reporter had followed their trot. “I took advantage of an opening for a town with more extensive land, infrastructure, resources, income and populace. Lerna Springs has more parks, buildings, tourism, diversity and a greater per capita income. Any steward in good standing could claim it. Also, Middy and Swee got back together.”
“A war troll and medusa team-up scared you off?”
The minitaur snorted. “It wasn’t his race; it was his thirty book back story. Sicilicis collaborated with hundreds of would-be authors, including you. Many Swee characters have Icarus actualizations.”
“I watched Middy and Swee try to kill each other.”
Grassleaf shrugged. “Sufficient platitudes placate most attitudes. Moving on, many from Pelion followed me here, as I’m sure you’ve heard. If they dealt with the Pelion siege–”
“–they didn’t want a troll liege?”
“Ha! I’ll have to steal that.” The minitaur cooled his tone as he addressed the donkeytaur that had joined their trot. “Greetings, Faqenham.”
The onocentaur handed Non an envelope. “An invitation to the Our Park Lodge in fifty minutes. You can drink some of the beer you’re delivering. Maybe get a haircut. Do you have a moment, Grassleaf?”
Literally and figuratively, Non bristled at the idea of a haircut. Coronis kept careful track of every 2-color hair, making sure they all looked perfect.
“I agree with Faq, your arm and hoof stockings could use a trim.” The smaller taurs strode off together.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Adorned with taupe shorts and blouse featuring white card symbols, Ariesta met Non outside of the Our Park Lodge, guiding him behind a catering tent for Peckinpah’s Salads. “Looking good, Nyah.”
Non grabbed his things out of the wagon. “You too, Ariesta. We look like casino-goers.”
Ariesta gave Non keys. “I got this for a casino night. Here are your keys. What’s your latest thinking?”
“The word hyperbaton deals with word order, like opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material and purpose for adjectives. My staff could be considered a hyperbaton. But first, home and rinse.”
Ariesta pointed Non towards trees and obstacles in the direction of his cabin. “Go and shower.”
Ā̱ IF NON FIXATES ON HYPERBATON AND ASKS YOU TO TALK LIKE YODA, APPEAL TO ME.
║ AS A VECTOR CARBIDE DARK NEW TUBULAR OLYMPIC AWESOME STAFF, AVOID HYPERBATON I SHALL.
Non trotted over familiar ground to his cabin, past the cargonet climb and rope traverse. Where were his scissors? He grabbed a guava as he ran past the over/unders, then trotted past an egg-shaped bunya tree before his marengo-hued log cabin came into view. The azobé abode flooded him with memories, but Ico tightrope-running atop the rope traverse distracted him. Crazy dog. Hadn't Zack borrowed his scissors? Near the door he dropped all his gear before using the key for a quick look inside. He sighed and pulled his cart out, grabbed his badge for a gua, then plunged into his pond. ‘Safety first?’
Ñ̰ WE OWN THE PARK SERVERS. FULL SECURITY CHECK, THEN REQUEST AN UPGRADE.
║ WILL DO. I’VE HOVERED TO THE NEW CHARGING BRACKET OVER YOUR DESK. ICO HAS PROFILED THE INSTALLER.
He returned to his memory map and rubbed his body down. The bookfair box rested near where he usually kept the shears. The Roomba-sized disk in that memory blocked his view. He could grab one of those seaweed bars after the bath and shower. Dap died in the bath, but Ariesta got free room service.
Non sprinted up to his outdoor shower area to rinse, putting his badge in the air to hold a comb. He’d seen the fancy recording device in the box from the book fair when he’d talked to Dad and Ariesta. How did Lernea’s recording device get into his cabin? Mayhem’s Group took it. They had multiple rooms at the Overlook. Ariesta and Dap were on the same floor. Could it have gotten to Dap’s room?
Equitaur rinse [https://i.imgur.com/VULACT2.png]
Picoid splashed in the water bucket shower. “My last home was a closet in the Socrates estate. I like this more.”
Non recalled a visit to the Overlook. He made an image of the thick meal tray as he combed his stockings and shook the water from his pelt. Ariesta waved as she arrived.
As Non reached for his floating badge, he solved the mystery of who killed Miss Dap. His voice subdued, he said, “It’s time for my cabin.”
“Did something happen?” asked Picoid, noticing the change of mood.
The weight of the situation pressed down on him. “Remember the free breakfast at the Overlook? So much tragedy wrought by impatience, greed and lack of trust. It’s really sad.” Nearby, his metal d120 had randomly landed on 35. 7 choose 3. A nice, relaxing tetrahedral number.
“Non?” said Ariesta, after a wait. “How is the breakfast important?”
His cabin always felt small, but with the new sense of loss, it felt crushing. “Let’s ask the one that moved the breakfast tray.” Non pulled the recording device from the box of Book Fair items and placed it on his desk. He pulled down a cable and plugged in the disk.
Ñ̰ CHECK ON THE POWER LEVEL.
║ CURRENTLY AT A FEW MINUTES OF BATTERY LIFE. TRANSFERRING FIVE PLANCK.
Kneeling on his desk mat, Non traced scratches on the top of the recording device.
“Hello, Lernea. Lernea Three. It’s Non. It’s good to see you’re here. I’ve …” his voice trembled. “I’ve wondered about what happened to you. Let me know…” Non caught his voice again, unsure whether being right was worse than being wrong. “Let me know if you need more power.”
“Lernea survived?” asked Picoid.
A hologram of a reptilian head with a golden key appeared. “Hello, Non. I’m just a shadow now.”
Picoid waved a wing after a period of silence. “Hello, Lernea Prime. I was Rumbler. I’m Picoid, now.” The woodpecker looked back and forth between the taur and hydra, both glum. “You must have made plans to transfer to this device when you got your diagnosis.”
“You’ll hate me, Rumbler. The way you got fired. The other heads came to me with a plan, and I— I fretted on how soon I’d die. I didn’t know their full plan.”
Picoid flew to the desk. “I got over that days ago. You and Non saved me from numerous bad endings.”
The collie nosed Non to break his melancholy. He forced a smile. “Lernea, I solved your quest and got Our Park. That’s where we are now. For what it’s worth, all eight of us died that day.”
Lernea tilted her holographic head, a puzzle peeling away a layer of depression. “Eight?”
“My Earthself, Rumbler, my dog Tycho now Icosian and you times five.”
“My sisters hired mercenaries to kill me!” Lernea finally expressed her outrage, but then turned the blame on herself. “I should have trusted them! I should have let them know how limited my options were. If I’d told them I was terminal they would have called all of this off. They had better choices.”
“Bloodfoot evaluated your cancer when he visited you,” said Non.
“Yes. The eye surgery from Beek confirmed his diagnosis.”
“You were in this recording disk, observing while the heads were severed and collected.”
“Yes. Not as good as my hydra senses. Then a mouse said that the recorder caught their entrance. A minotauress picked me up. Then I rode in a carriage with a chimera named Mayhem and a human named Dowell. We stopped near Labyrinth Books, then went on to Athens.”
“I’m not sure if you were taken off the stagecoach at the hotel, or if you waited alone in the stables before a minotauress with a vocabulary problem picked you up.”
“The latter. I had no problem understanding SheTaurus. She kept saying variations of ‘I need to get back to the unicorn. She’s starving and still under the harness.’ The mouse wouldn’t take me. Miss Dap and the others ignored her and had her moving things. Mooooving things, they joked. Miss Dap mentioned Sector 841 taking longer than expected. For hours, other than Shetaurus leaving, nothing happened except a lot of arguing with each other.”
Picoid tapped the disk. “I was Sector 841. Non amused me enough that I stuck with him.”
“Then room service arrived. The last time Dap was seen alive,” said Non.
“Correct. She stiffed the concierge for a tip. Mayhem complained she should always tip a boring amount while in a caper. Then the program pinged and everyone scattered, except for her. Lernea’s rare books and now the keys for the kingdom, she said. She gloated about bringing her birds to life. She called to various rooms, getting smugger with each success.”
Non continued his hypothesis. “After that, she put a meal in the microwave and got in the bath. That’s when you tried floating.”
“Yes…” Lernea played a hologram of what happened next.
IN THE HOTEL ROOM, THE LARGE DISK FLOATED TOWARDS THE BATHTUB WHERE DAP SOAKED.
DAP CONTEMPLATED HER DAY. “FINALLY, I CAN GET MAYHEM’S STINK OFF ME. I SHOULD CHANGE ROOMS. AND AFTER THAT, WHAT GALACTIC SECRETS CAN I UNLOCK NEXT?”
LERNEA’S HOLOGRAPHIC HEAD APPEARED OVER DAP. “YOU DID THIS!” THE DISK FORCED DAP’S HEAD DOWN UNDER THE WATER, HOLDING DOWN HER CHEST AND NECK. DAP SCRATCHED AT THE DISK WHILE CHOKING UNDER THE WATER, THEN PULLED THE PLUG ON THE TUB. LERNEA SHOVED DAP’S HEAD TO BLOCK THE DRAIN. BY THE TIME AIR REACHED HER BEAK, DAP WAS DEAD.
“Her laptop windows used an alien language I’ve never seen. One had a message board.”
Picoid spoke. “With Sector 841’s login, my login, you typed a message: Help. Lernea has been murdered.” The woodpecker used a screen to show an alien message board. “Andromeda Traveler locked this thread. You received over a hundred replies in the first minute, only one in English.”
“Yes, that’s what I typed with this antenna.” A half-pencil sized antenna rose up from the disk. “So many messages I couldn’t read. It made strange sounds. Then smoke started from the microwave and an alarm went off. The sounds on the laptop got louder too.”
Non reviewed the Dap crime scene. “That’s when you smashed the laptop to pieces.”
“Yes. But I stopped when someone pounded on the door. I moved near it before Ariesta kicked it down, waited a moment, then rolled across the hall to hide behind an ice dispenser. The commotion ended after the alarm stopped, so I drifted to Ariesta’s room. A meal had been left on a box tray at a nearby room, so I hid in that, pushed it over and knocked on the door.”
“Ariesta brought you in. When she wasn’t paying attention, you moved into my box of stuff.”
Ariesta looked up as her name was mentioned. She’d been working on syringes.
“Yes. I didn’t have much battery left, so I went inactive. I shouldn’t have killed her.”
Non silently agreed at having one less tragedy. He’d seen too many. Each violence brought traumatic stress he didn’t need. Likely worse for Lernea. But what had Dap planned with the keys to the galaxy?
‼ ACCEPT MARSHMASTER AS A NEW FRIEND?
He accepted, then patted the side of the device. “Heat of the moment. I hope you’re MarshMaster.”
“My alter ego. As a girl I had the nickname Swampy. I figure I need a new name and background. I’d still love to run the library, but I suppose that’s not possible. My other selves weren’t as enthused.”
“I noticed, many times. But your avatar should not have a golden key.”
The hologram changed to a greener reptilian. “How about a creature called the catoblepas?”
"That looks … interesting, but before we work on a cover story, do you plan to turn yourself in?"
The hologram blinked. "Isn’t that what I did, Sector 841? Don’t you work for him, Non?"
Tail swish. "Picoid, make it official. Sectors need to learn all they can on Dap's breach."
"Agreed. I’ll bring in Sector 343.”
Near the hologram, an orb of white and grey patches appeared.
“I am Sector 343.” For half a minute, it exchanged weird sound effects with the woodpecker.
“Not sure what you’re saying, but my cart carried crates destined to Miss Dap’s labyrinth. If you'd like to get into her secret lair, my cart could possibly offer entanglements."
The skewbald cueball whirred before switching back to English. "Picoid, check that. Swampy, we must discuss rewards and penalties. Non and Ariesta, thank you for reporting a furtherance of the breach. You two have an appointment at the lodge to attend. Please go. And bring your little dog, too."
Ariesta pulled on Non's arm, swabbing it. "You need your shots before you go."
"Shots?" Non clenched his teeth as the sileni jabbed him.
She dropped the syringe into a Returns box, then swabbed his taurjoin for a second ... jab! "The first for your pheromone upgrade, the second for regeneration replenishment. All done."
"But..." Non's nose veered into two different olfactory directions. The orb in the air blurred. "I hadn't decided if I wanted that yet. And I haven't read the warnings list!"
Dismissive tongue-cluck. "Like you ever read warnings."
"I do read warnings! Like the first time I used a chainsaw. I had time so I watched safety videos!"
"Right now we're in a rush and Guilty Spark wants us gone." She dragged Non outside, who stumbled as a cedar scent rushed by with a mink.
A dozen years of personal body odor data blinded him with scents. Chemical profiles of other recent visitors added to the layers of information as he followed Ariesta, relying more on his terrain familiarity than his eyesight.
║ ICO CAN SHARE SCENT DATA WITH YOU NOW! BUT HERE IN YOUR CABIN, 343 TURNED OFF MY SENSES.
Ñ̰ PLEASE TURN THAT BACK OFF. I’M IN SENSORY OVERLOAD.
║ DONE. ICO REPORTS SUSPICIOUS PEOPLE.
Ñ̰ MARK LOCATIONS AND DO NOT ENGAGE. AGREE TO ALL REQUESTS FROM 343.
"Your nose is bleeding, not badly. I think that might be a side effect."
Nonplussed. "You didn't read the instructions? And I just got chased out of my home. I don’t mind being left out of discussions, but … isn’t there a wall here?" Non opened his eyes before he collided with the 4-meter wall of logs. He vaulted over it and took in his surroundings as Ariesta landed next to him. The back-tongue taste of his own blood dulled his senses for a moment.
"Why didn't we contact your lawyers before going official? I’m a paralegal, Non. And what’s this to agreeing to all requests?"
Non walked around the cargonet climb. "Dap used alien tech hacking techniques. The less we mere mortals know, the better."
Ariesta handed Non a tissue for his nose. "But aren't you curious? We could have negotiated."
"Sagittario's gravitational lenses keep this planet alive. If a hack disrupted the galactic firewall, those lenses could drop. If any Icarians threatened that firewall, those lenses could drop. I'm not going to bet on a poor poker hand with catastrophe on the table." His equine nostrils half-bloodied the handkerchief.
Before him, in the Stumps & Rails Amphitheatre, a hundred people wore uniforms from Hydra Hydra or the bottling plant. Guards controlled access to the Lodge.
"Shall we go in?"
"My inclination is to adopt a tuxedo pattern and to blend with catering."
“I see your own version of Lestrade, Commissioner Fichet, at the entrance door.”
The equitaur sighed. “Fine, I’ll go in. What is this thing, anyways? Shows how good of a detective I am.”
At the door, Non showed his invitation. Fichet had Non lean down for a whisper. “I just learned about Swampy and Dap. The Four Caesars arrived a few minutes ago.” From the back of the room, the robotic secretary birds glared in Non’s direction. “Your father has your reserved mat.” As Fichet pointed, Non saw Lagen stand up. “Fischer will escort you.”
A rainbow hued lovebird took Non’s hand and led him. “We’ve met before. I make the big color screens. If you look out the door you’ll see one in a minute.”
As Non nodded, his equitaur father gave him a taurhug. “Great to see you still in one piece!”
The parrot would have none of that. “Sir, we’re about to get started, I need to escort you back out.”
“Mom fixed your favorite for dinner,” said Lagen. A color screen appeared outside showing Faqenham the onocentaur clopping up to the podium on the left side of the climbing zone. Non turned about to see the genuine donkeytaur. Several in the crowd signaled to Non to settle himself on his mat.
‘I never did get those scissors,’ thought Non, looking at his messy wrist stockings. He could smell nine perfumes and about fifty body odors, all going through processing.
♫ THE PHEROMONE UPGRADE SHOULD NOT BE USED IN A CROWDED AREA.
Ᵽ THE DAP LAIR HAS ISEKAI TECH. BUSY CALMING 343. I HAVE TO SIGN OUT.
‘Those sound ominous.’
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the reading for Lernea's will."