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."
Lazarus said, "Now, Hazel-"
"Shut up. Friends and family, Lazarus tried to coerce Richard into signing
up blind for Operation Galactic Overlord by trying to make him feel guilty over
that replacement foot. Lazarus implied that Richard was a deadbeat who was
trying to run out on his debts."
"I didn't mean that." "I told you to shut up. You did mean that. Friends
and family, my new husband comes from a culture in which debts are sacred. Their
national motto is "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.' TANSTAAFL is
embroidered on their flag. In Luna-the Luna of Richard's time line; not this
one-a man might cut your throat but he would die before he would welch on a debt
to you. Lazarus knew this, so he went straight for that most sensitive spot and
jabbed it. Lazarus pitted his more than two thousand years of experience, his
widest knowledge of cultures and human behavior, against a man of much less than
a century of experience and that little only in his own solar system and time
line. It was not a fair fight and Lazarus knew it. Grossly unfair. Like pitting
that kitten against an old wildcat."
I was sitting near Lazarus, having remained seated after that silly foot
examination. I had my head down, ostensibly to play with the kitten, but in fact
to avoid looking at Lazarus-or at anyone-as I was finding Hazel's insistence on
airing everything quite disturbing
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