Irena Intervenes

"Can't you see that he can't get up for the moment, you big bully?" Irena asked angrily. "It's not disobedience; you just knocked all the breath out of him when you dropped him." She moved forward, intending to help Fred up.

"Stop!" the leader ordered. "You too must be scanned."

So Irena too had the unnerving experience of being lifted several feet into the air. She had profited from Fred's experience, and when she was released she was able to land on her hands and knees.

"Neither of you represent a threat," the silver golem said. "You will both come with us."

Fred, on his feet by now, whispered to Irena: "What do the strange words mean: 'scanning', 'lifeform', 'threat'?"

"There is no need to reduce the decibel level of your conversation," the leader said. "I can still hear you perfectly well, but there is no objection to your talking."

"I don't know," Irena answered Fred's question. "But I don't think they can be from Tetrilonia."

"Come!" the leader said, growing impatient. "If you will not walk, you will be carried."

1. Having had quite enough for one day of being lifted into the air, Fred and Irena walked.

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