29

"Where are we?" demanded Graham. "What the hell is going on?"

Stacy Sun looked aloof.

Get her talking about her career, thought Sam. He wasn't sure how he knew but he had a deep insight into her insecurity.

"You're a crappy actress, " he communicated over the telepathic transom, just in case there was one. "You suck!"

"Well, I'd be more than happy to explain it to you," Stacy said in a voice which sounded like the vacant chirp of her character from She's The Sheriff mixed with a pile of rancid sandpaper. "But it's too dark down here. I don't know about you boys, but I 'd like to do this in the atrium. Besides, the other Sams and Grahams are waiting there for you."

Resentfully, Sam and Graham followed. They didn't understand what she was talking about but they instinctively felt like flies caught in amber, like marbles at the very bottom of a kids' low-budget carnival game, with little choice but to do as they were told, at least for now. They followed Stacy up some steps, through an arch and into an atrium. Sure enough, they came up another small staircase and onto a low balcony which was barely higher than ground level but did give a slightly better vantage point over the atrium filled to bursting with other captives.

At least, that's what Sam assumed the crowd was. They were all male, dressed casually and seemingly in good spirits.

Surely, it's not some horrific breeding chamber, Graham thought.

Surely not, he thought, and the idea passed as quickly as it had landed.

Stacy pressed an unseen button on the balcony and the front of the balcony opened up into a little ramp. She gestured, polite yet insistent, that they should join the others and not knowing what else to do, not feeling that they had much choice, Graham and Sam stepped down the little ramp and into the crowd.

Stacy was almost instantly engulfed by shadows, and she vanished.

One of the men, a burly sailor still in stylized sailor suit and little blue-and-white cap, extended his hand to Graham and Sam.

"Hiya, fellahs," he said. "I'm Sam."

"I'm also Sam," Sam said. "This is Graham."

Sam the sailor nodded. "This here is Sam, Sam, this is Graham, that's Graham, the little guy is Sam, and next to him ... Sam."

Sam and Graham just blinked.