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Ray would've preferred to make this drive with Ecto, but the guys needed her too much back in New York. He's therefore rented a car on the State Department's budget for the sake of getting to Port St. Helena, Oregon, without having to deal with some of the nimrods at the airlines and Amtrak. Said nimrods have an issue with the contents of the passenger seat.

"Okay, Jhalak," Ray says to said contents. "Welcome to Boise, Idaho. We're gonna stop here for the night, if you don't mind. I know it's been tough being stuck in the car and all." Mind you, he's made a point of buying several reference books at any bookstore in each of the towns where they've stopped, along with a big honking quantity of fresh fruit. But still.

Comments

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Ray holds up a hand in an 'I'll get that' gesture and heads for the door. "Who's there?" he calls.

"Dr. Stantz?" says an unfamiliar noise from the other side of the door. "My name's Pete Stoppard. I'm from Night Moves. Can I come in?"

Ray glances over at Jhalak questioningly.

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"Who's there?" it inquires. "Come in. Okay. That's right."

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The man who enters the room when Ray opens the door is a little shorter than Ray, and a good twenty or thirty visible years older- somewhere in his late fifties or early sixties. He's thin, balding, and has a mustache, and he's dressed a little more slickly than one might expect for this time of day. "Hey there, Dr. Stantz," he says, holding out a hand for the shaking. "Listen, I'm real sorry to disturb you, but the young lady at the front desk called me and said you were in town, so I thought-"

He stops before Ray can interrupt him; he's staring at Jhalak.

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"Hey there," echoes Jhalak, waving one five-thumbed hand in cheery welcome. Four of its eyes are focused on the man, now; the fifth is still looking at Ray.

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Ray's a little tense, because a) stranger in the room and b) possible bad response. It is, however, likely that he shouldn't have worried. "Well, I'll be damned," says Stoppard slowly, scratching his head. "What's your name, little feller?"

"... that's new," Ray says to nobody in particular.

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"Name Jhalak!" says Jhalak.

Also: "I'll be damned! Holy cats!"

It likes these new additions to its rapidly expanding vocabulary!

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Ray covers his face with one hand. Stoppard? Just laughs. "Whaddya know. Hey, Dr. Stantz? Is this guy for real, or did you build a robot version of a Jotok?"

"... what?"

"This here's a Jotok- you read Larry Niven, right? The papers all say you're a hell of a geek..."

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"Jotok." "What?" "Hell of a geek." "That's new." "Is this guy for real?"

Jhalak scampers closer, curiously, using the armchair as a kind of springboard from which to attain its favoured perch on Ray's shoulder.

Two limbs reach out experimentally in Stoppard's direction.

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"Ah ah ah, don't touch the hair," says Stoppard. "I don't have that much to start with."

Ray blinks a few more times before murmuring something encouraging to Jhalak, then saying, "Um. Jhalak's real. I found her in a bar a while ago and she's stuck with me ever since."

"Heh. Leave it to a Ghostbuster to pick up an alien in a bar..." Stoppard shakes his head. "Nah, this isn't a 'she', it's more of an 'it'. What you've got here's sort of a... kind of a group organism. Wish I could tell you more, but it's been years since I read that story."

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"Don't touch the hair," Jhalak repeats obediently, retracting its hands. "Jhalak's real. Found her in a bar a while ago and she's stuck with me ever since." "Group organism." "More of an it." "That's right."

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"Hey, does this mean there's Kzinti running around out there too?" says Stoppard suddenly. "'Cause these guys used to hire them as mercenaries-"

"No, I'm pretty sure Jhalak's the only one of the species to end up here," Ray says. "We're the wrong universe. Trust me on this."

"Well, okay," Stoppard says, though his tone is doubtful. "If you say so."

"I do say so," says Ray. "Now, if you don't mind my asking-"

"Oh! Right, yeah, I'm sorry, Dr. Stantz. Here I am yacking about aliens when you're only gonna be in town for the one night. I was gonna ask you if you'd mind coming down to Night Moves and checking the place out, because the hauntings're starting to get really bad..."

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Jhalak makes cheerful repetitions of some of this exchange, which is its way of listening intently.

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"I didn't bring any of my equipment with me," Ray says. "Except the PKE meter."

"Aw, that'll be fine," says Stoppard. "We just wanna be able to prove it's haunted for real, and not some kind of problem with the wiring or the pipes or something. It's getting kind of hard to get the girls to stick around more than a month or two."

"Oh, it's a restaurant?"

"Nah." Stoppard smiles. "Titty bar."

... at least he's honest?

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"Titty bar," repeats Jhalak with uncomprehending enthusiasm.

...whoops.

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Yeeeeeah.

"Uh," says Ray, and then glances at Jhalak. "You don't need to go repeating that kind of thing in front of people, okay, kiddo?"

"Whoops," says Stoppard. "Still pickin' up the language, huh?"

"Yeah, she is," Ray says resignedly.

"Sorry, Dr. Stantz. I should've known. I'll tell the girls to watch their mouths when you come down, how about that?"

"Well, I-"

"Thanks!" says Stoppard, and claps Ray on the non-occupied shoulder with a grin.

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"Don't need to go repeating that kind of thing in front of people." "Okay kiddo." "Uh." "Well." "You don't need to go repeating that."

...whether or not this is actually a promise, or at least an acknowledgement, is a little hard to tell.

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Stoppard laughs and hands over a business card before slipping out the door. Ray glances sidelong at Jhalak. "Well," he says. "Looks like we're going to be busy tonight after all. What do you think?"

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"What do you think?" "Looks like we're going to be busy tonight." "That's right." "Titty bar!"

It manages to look contrite after that last one. Something about the angle of the arms and the stillness of the thumbs.

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"... I will give you five kiwifruits if you don't say that again."

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"Five kiwifruits," it echoes, opening a hand. "Okay! That's right! Approve!"

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Ray nods and reaches for the room service phone.

The bellhop isn't there when Ray opens the door this time. Just a tray with the kiwifruits on it.

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"Kiwifruits!"

It holds the tray in two hands and dashes back to the table on its remaining three wrists, stretching up a little to settle the food onto the table before it climbs up there itself to eat.

"One, two, three, four, five." "Thank you!" "Kiwifruits!"

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"You're welcome," Ray says. "Enjoy!"

In the meantime, he's going to make a phone call back home. Ecto's got Internet access; she can at least look up Night Moves for- wait wait wait. No. It's one thing to ask his daughter to sift through her paranormal information archives but putting her on a strip club research case? Uh-unh. Therefore, the call begins instead with, "Hey, Janine? Is Peter there?"

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Jhalak, delighted with its prize, divides its attention equally between parroting bits of Ray's phone conversation and eating kiwifruits.

Om nom.

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Ray eventually hangs up the phone and flops back on the bed. "I am never asking that man to do serious research again," he says, either to the ceiling or to Jhalak. "I'll never hear the end of it."