"No discount for a steady customer?" Keats inquired lightly, though he was trembling inside.
The Vinzz' tendrils quivered. "None. You ought to be glad I didn't raise the price again."
"Why didn't you?" he couldn't help asking.
The Vinzz looked steadily into the man's eyes. "I don't know," it answered at last. "Perhaps I have been so long on this planet that I have developed a sentimental streak.... In any case, I am going back to Vinau the day after tomorrow...."
"For God's sake," Lockard, his senses so confused with fear and apprehension that he was able to catch only fragments of their talk, screamed, "pay him what he asks and don't haggle!"
"All right," Keats agreed. "The lady will wait for me here," he told the Vinzz.
The extraterrestrial quivered indecisively. "Most irregular," it murmured. "However, I cannot refuse a slight favor for such an old customer. This way, madam."
Gabriel Lockard opened Gabriel Lockard's eyes.
"Well," the Vinzz who stood above him lisped, "how does it feel to be back in your own body again?"