"Will it interfere with my doing business with Captain Hofner?" Crawford wanted to know.
"No."
"Is there anything you want me to tell him? Something I've left unsaid?"
"No."
"Then run along and let us eat in peace, there's a good chap." Crawford's words were patronizing, his tone imploring.
"Wait a minute!" Herl said sharply; but the haze seemed to be dwindling, the figure of the man evaporating before his eyes. More than anything he wanted to re-establish communication with the girl of the lobby chair.
"Want to ask him something?" queried the Commissioner. "I think I can find you another one after we're through eating. It's fairly easy to get them to come but only hard to get rid of them if you want them to go."
"Who are they and what are they?" demanded Herl.
"We call them gods. Not because we worship them, you understand, but because they're so damned beautiful and because they are, for all practical purposes, omniscient, omnipotent, and as omnipresent as they want to be. I said 'for all practical purposes' but they don't serve any practical purposes. They're a by-product of the Eyefers, as far as we know (and they're strangely close-mouthed about that). I'll finish my story and you'll know as much as I do."