A nudge somewhere near Gelerie's brain awakened her. "I am afraid I am here for a very strange reason—the very reason Yu-lin stated. I want you to fall in love with me."
Twitty replaced his glasses. "I think I'll go back and come out again. My dear, you are a lovely creature, but back home I am engaged to a girl who won three local beauty contests on the way to the title of Miss Britain."
"And did she win Miss Britain?"
Twitty's mouth dropped. "What are you trying to say?"
"I am trying to say, sir, leave your Miss Britain who did not quite make it and fly away with me to Alpha Centauri—"
"Oh, come now," Twitty said laughing. "In that brief toggery you expect me to believe you are some moon maiden from a midsummer night's dream and go wandering with you through loveland in the sky? Go back to your fairy tale, Miss—"
"Gelerie."
"Gelerie what?"
"Gelerie is all they gave me in the Alpha Centauri group. We have a home-grown vehicle waiting in the woods. And a leafboat at the foot of Forty-second Street to carry us under its own power to the site of the vehicle. We covered the vehicle with driftwood to protect it lest some Earthling should swipe it and Homekind be forced to grow us another."
Twitty called over his shoulder. "Brighton? Take over for a little while. I shall return by and by." But the allure of the woman creature in short pants was drawing him near. "May I see this thing in the woods?"