Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
“Well, no. I—” Seline began.
The flur’fa merchant made the chip disappear.
“No take backs and no change!” he snapped, narrowing his tiny eyes at Seline. “You gave me the chip for the flur’fa—it’s fair trade!”
“Hey now—that’s not fair at all!” the other merchant—who happened to have a large, curly shock of orange and blue hair which reminded Seline of a clown wig—exclaimed. “She gave you four times the value of one of your flur’fa. You either owe her change or three more flur’fa. A fair price or a fair exchange—that’s the rule of the Tangle and you know it, Fendalli!”
The flur’fa merchant, whose name was apparently Fendalli, scowled and placed three more of the white-wrapped balls on the counter.
“There. Now go fuck yourself, Gur’fas!” he snarled at the cred-chip merchant. “And you two—get away from my stall!” he snapped at Seline. “Go on—get!”
Nox stepped forward to glare down at the merchant.
“My Mistress is an important female—you’d do well to keep a civil tongue in your head when you speak to her,” he growled.
The merchant’s dark purple complexion paled until he was nearly lavender and he took a step back, raising several of his hands in a warding gesture.
“Please—I’ve given you a fair exchange—just take your flur’fa and go!” he blurted.
“Very well.” Nox gathered the flur’fa and handed one of them to Seline. “Mistress, why do we not speak more to this other merchant?” he murmured, nodding at the clown wig cred-chip dealer. “Perhaps he can tell us more about your chips.”
“Yes, yes—please do come over.” Gur’fas beckoned to them eagerly, his multicolored hair waving with the enthusiastic gesture. “Please tell me, do you have any more rare chips? I’ll be happy to change some for you,” he added.
Seline and Nox walked over to his stall which had a large holo sign hovering above it, flashing alien words. Thanks to her shot of Translation Bacteria she was able to read them.
Rare Coins and Cred Chips traded here!…Valuable Collectables…Ancient Currency appraised…
“So you appraise and trade rare cred chips?” Seline asked him and took a nibble of her flur’fa. The outer white covering was chewy and slightly sweet, like a doughy candy but she liked it, she decided.
“Yes, I certainly do! Please tell me you have more of those rare chin’di chips,” Gur’fas said hopefully. “I’d try to get the one you gave Fendalli but he’s such a grumpy bastard there’s no way he’ll sell it to me now.”
“No, I imagine not—since you cost him three extra flur’fa,” Nox rumbled. “However, I believe my Mistress has a few more of the chips in question.”
“Oh yes—I do.” Seline nodded. “If you could appraise them for us, I’d appreciate it,” she added, digging in her pouch for a few more chips.
They looked like the usual cred chips Commander Sylvan gave her to bargain with and actually, all of them had golden edges. But apparently they were something special in this universe. It was the first time the one percent difference between the two universes had worked in their favor, Seline thought.
“Here you go,” she said, laying another five-cred chip, a ten-cred chip, and a fifty-cred chip on the counter of the merchant’s stall.
“Oh my! Great Mother!” Gur’fas’s bright green eyes grew almost comically wide as he leaned over to stare at the chips. “I’ve never seen a fifty cred chin’di chip!” he exclaimed. “I’ve only ever heard of them! Tell me—where did you come across such a number of rare chips?”
“That is none of your business,” Nox growled, frowning.
“Oh, sorry—of course, of course!” Gur’fas nodded, his orange and blue hair bobbing. “Well, these are all worth four or five times their value except for the fifty-cred chip—that’s worth ten times its value.” He looked up at Seline. “Would you like me to change them for you, Mistress?”
Seline looked up at Nox, who gave her a slight nod.
“Yes, I suppose it would be good to have some regular cred chips for bargaining with,” she said loftily as she took another bite of her flur’fa. “Oh!”
This last was a cry of surprise because she had finally bitten into the purple fruit just under the sweet, chewy outer layer. But the minute her teeth sank into it, there was a crunching sound and it moved.
“Oh my God!” Seline nearly dropped the flur’fa as it suddenly began to twitch in her hand. “What in the world?”
Suddenly, the fruit erupted and purple shards of what looked like eggshells flew everywhere. A tiny pink head poked up out of the ruptured shell and made a sound like,
“Peep-a-cheek, peep-a-cheek!”
“My God,” Seline stared at the little thing blankly. It looked a bit like a bird, because it had a blue beak, but its eyes were large and liquid like a puppy’s eyes and it had two pointed, fox-like ears on its fluffy pink head. “What is this?” she asked, holding the thing out to Nox.