"But you can't wait that long, Mr. Ambassador," Thrombley almost wailed. "We must go immediately to the Statehouse. The reception for you is already going on."
I looked at my watch, which had been regulated aboard ship for Capella IV time. It was just 1315.
"What time do they hold diplomatic receptions on this planet, Mr. Thrombley?" I asked.
"Oh, any time at all, sir. This one started about 0900 when the news that the ship was in orbit off-planet got in. It'll be a barbecue, of course, and—"
"Barbecued supercow! Yipeee!" Hoddy yelled. "What I been waitin' for for five years!"
It would be the vilest cruelty not to take him along, I thought. And it would also keep him and Stonehenge apart for a while.
"But we must hurry, Mr. Ambassador," Thrombley was saying. "If you will change, now, to formal dress ..."
And he was looking at me, gasping. I think it was the first time he had actually seen what I was wearing.
"In native dress, Mr. Ambassador!"
Thrombley's eyes and tone were again those of an innocent spaniel caught in the middle of a marital argument.