"Slobs," I said. "Poor dumb slobs."
The nuclear flash washed over us, peppering us with a few excess roentgens.
We couldn't look at the spaceship going up, but we knew it was going. It was making a dawn.
The aliens were all frightened. They fell on the ground and started praying to the ship, all of them, the Azures and the Indigos.
"What's wrong with that crazy Chinaman?" Ellik yelped.
"Lee knows what he's doing," I said.
Ellik unsnapped his communicator from his belt. "Johnny says you know what you're doing, Chon. Do you?"
"I know." Chon's voice sounded right beside us, perfectly natural. Belt communicators work just as well as those consoles. People only buy consoles for prestige.
"Well?" Ellik demanded. "What are you doing, Lee?"
I thought maybe something had gone wrong with the communicator.