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n a
triple screwdriver before he pulled me down on the bed beside
him. "Thontaur said everything would be all right if I could
still pull off this trade deal," he told me. "I told him I could
handle it."
He was right, the commercial establishment in this state really
wanted that trade agreement and what the establishment in this
state wants, it gets. The reporters were quashed and their
stories killed. Oh, I know that the powers that be have a liber-
al image in Minnesota but there is an iron hand beneath those
velvet gloves.
With the impending successful conclusion of the negotiations and
Kontar's departure, the moment that both of us had avoided talk-
ing about was fast approaching. Kontar was the first to bring it
up, about a week before his departure, one night when he was at
my house.
"Have you ever thought about coming back to Ailouros with me,
Brad?" he asked.
I lit a cigar before I answered. "It just wouldn't work," I
said. "I know we like each other." I hesitated before going on.
"Maybe I should even say I love you. But I couldn't go to Ailou-
ros as your pet human. I
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