The guard blinked and chimed some more, less tersely but no less demandingly.
"Talk Terran," snapped Farradyne firmly. "Or I don't hear you. I know too many who've let down too often and relaxed into their own tongue. They aren't alive."
"I don't speak Terran very well."
"Well, damn it, learn it!" roared Farradyne. "You'll be needing it soon enough. Now, what did you have to say to me?"
"You heard me, but I'd rather—"
Farradyne relaxed with a grin. "No, I didn't. You could impugn my wife's virtue and I wouldn't listen to you. So now let's start over again."
"I was going to ask—"
"No," said Farradyne shortly. "Not that way. I said 'start' and I meant that we'd start thinking in Terran, like I've learned to do. Now, you addressed me properly and I said, 'Talk Terran!'"
"Oh. Er, look, you're not going to make me repeat it?"
"Why not?"