"You talk too rotten about someone far above you," snapped Maynard.
"Don't you call me rotten," snarled Laura. "Go on back to that little trollop you prefer."
"Can't," said Guy shortly. "She died up there!"
It made no impression on Laura. "And so now you come running back to me? Sorry, Guy. I don't play second fiddle—even to a corpse!"
"You don't have to," he said evenly. He took the box from her hand. Then as she watched in amazement, Guy removed his own insignia and placed the starred nebulae on his own lapel. With that finished, he arose from the bench; flung the plain nebulae into the little lagoon, and left Laura sitting there.
Guy entered the room through the same door, and went immediately into the bar where he downed four drinks in rapid succession.
He felt as though he needed that alcoholic sterilization of his mouth. Maynard's stomach was unused to liquor in such undilution. It reacted; got rid of the alcohol as soon as it could by filtering it into the blood stream. In other words, Guy became slightly drunk on a total of five drinks. Unevenly, Guy went to the main room, where he was immediately taken in tow by two women.
"Now," said the one on his right, "we have you to ourselves. Tell us about Mephisto."
"How did you find it?"