"Olduk is sorry. Will you believe Olduk? He is sorry. Olduk says, please do not touch water. Please do not touch water...."
The diving champion of the world puffed out his chest, feigning complete nonchalance as five thousand admiring people looked up at him where he stood as resplendant as an angel on the diving platform.
"Ladeeeeeees and gentlemannnnnnnn!" the loudspeaker blared. "Pedro Morestes, the handsomest man in the world, and the most perfect physical specimen by the Olivar Test, is about to break the world's diving record of all time. Four hundred feet lie between him and the glistening surface of this world-famed pool!
"Watch him, hold your breath, ladees and gentleman, there he goooooooosssss—"
Pedro Morestes ran with light graceful steps toward the end of the diving board. The board flung him upward, and he seemed to stop for an infinitesimal second, poised like a bird, with the pool far below, and gasping people staring upward.
One of those people watching had his wrist radio tuned to World Broadcasters.
"Please," said Olduk's clearly audible radio voice, "do not touch water. If things strange happen to water, do not touch, please?"
Pedro Morestes began his dazzling drop downward, twisting, twining, going through all the intricate convolutions that four hundred feet would allow him.
Now! A loop, a twist, straighten out for the last fifty feet, cut the water as clean as an arrow cutting the air.