“Why do we need to find the limnade? She’s nothing but trouble and you know it!” exclaimed Menog.

”.l.i.m.o.n.a.d.e.” whispered Uh.

“No, Uh, limnade as in water nymph, and as much trouble as she may be, we need her abilities for…” Ninik trailed off.

“For what?”

“For the job, you slowcoach! For what did you think I went through so much trouble to summon you.”

.s.l.o.w.c.o.a.c.h.c.h.

“I’m not slow!” Menog shouted petulantly. “My brain can handle 2 petaflops sustained throughput. That’s 4 times the speed of the most powerful human supercomputer!” To make his point he added “I am not slow! Ok!”

“Ok, you are not slow.” she placated him. “But sometimes you take really long to catch on.”

.ca.t.c.h. .o.o.n.n.

“And by the way, what job?”

“I’ll tell you on the way. Lets go!”

Slowly the three unlikely companions made their way deeper into the baobab forest. It was eerily quiet for the time of day. The cicadas should have been chirping and the scarab beetles should have been busy. It just felt wrong.