Chapter Four
by LordCoake

"Corinna, and you are.......?" Corinna flashes him a smile and extends her hand.

"My name is Franklin, but you may call me Frank, and might I say that it is a pleasure to see a stunning visage such as yours in such an eyesore of a place." Frank politely shakes hands with the woman, returning a courteous smile. He notices the wrist drug-injection system just beneath her coat. He recognizes it instantly. A juicer, he thinks, could be trouble.

Laughing quietly, Corinna says, "Oh, a gentleman.....though I'm afraid flattery will get you nowhere."

Finally recovering from speechlessness, Gaal slowly takes Corinna's hand into his, kissing it ever-so-gently. "My name is Gaal, but you may call me anything you want."

With Gaal's reluctance to give her hand back, Corinna slowly pulls away. "And a charmer," she says. 'Scoundrel, I can probably think of a few things to call you,' Corinna thought. 'But gotta play it cool. There's money in this somewhere......'

Frank asked, "So, Corinna, what brings you to a place such as this?"

"Well, as I said, I'm looking for a way out of this hell-hole. There are people looking for me, and I don't want to make finding me easy for them."

"Well," Gaal said, "me and Frank were just making plans to go to, OUCH!" Gaal felt a sharp pain as Frank kicked him in his right knee. "Sorry, my foots' gone to sleep......." Absently rubbing his injured leg, Gaal gave Frank an angry look.

Speaking telepathically to Gaal, Frank said, Looking a little confused and bewildered, Corinna stared at them trying to make sense of what had just happened. These two are up to something, she thought.

Frank said, "What Gaal means to say is that we were planning a trip to the Magic Empire of Lazlo. It's probably not what you're looking for though." Might be a good idea to blow this girl off, he thought.

"Actually," Corinna said matter-of-factly, "that would be perfect. Do you have any idea how much one of those dimensional teleportations would cost?"

Frank and Gaal look at one another, and give an absent shrug, not knowing the answer to her question, and frankly surprised that she'd asked it. Corinna excused herself to the restroom and casually got up from the table.

"Way to go ace," said Gaal accusingly. "Now she'll be tailing us all the way to Lazlo!"