“Which means?” Moira asked, intrigued in spite of herself.
Jerry tapped Ms. Haverford’s business card. Dr. Haverford, he saw. “Which means she owns the company.”
Moira sighed and shook her head. In doing so she took her eyes off the crowd and nearly collided with an eight-foot-tall man in a gorilla suit. The dragon reared back and hissed in surprise and the man inside the gorilla suit nearly fell off his stilts.
“Forgive me, My Lord…” Moira began.
“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” demanded the man in the gorilla suit, a former professional wrestler who had been hired for his size more than his temper.
“She said she was sorry,” Jerry snapped, but the potential confrontation was cut short by a blaze of light
The news crews at the show were desperate for visuals. Because of its importance everyone felt they had to cover it But for all its importance, the computer show was one of the most relentlessly un-visual of all trade shows. After you had gotten your crowd shots, your geeks-playing-computer-games shots and your booth-bunnies-in-revealing-costumes shots there was almost nothing worth picturing. A giant ape and a dragon together were irresistible. A dozen flashguns and two sets of TV lights zeroed in on the accidental pair.
The dragon reared up and let out a steamwhistle hiss, which only brought a new round of flashes and even more TV lights. Except for his tail, Fluffy wasn’t dangerous, but Jerry had visions of thousands of computer types trampled in a panicked stampede—the physical equivalent of what happened every time Microsoft introduced a new operating system. Fortunately, Moira was able to brine tie body under control and they moved away as quickly as they could.
“What’s this for?” asked a blond TV reporter, shoving a microphone under Moira’s nose. The dragon blinked and flinched under the sudden glare of the TV lights.
“The new IBM announcement,” Jerry said hurriedly as he stepped between Moira and the crew. “Excuse us, please, we’re late.”
“What new… r”
“The kits are in the press room,” he called over his shoulder.
Normally TV reporters aren’t so easy to discourage, but the press of the crowd made it hard to follow them and Bal-Simba was bringing up the rear.
“That will be all, My Lady. Please.” He emphasized his request with a polite smile.
Since Bal-Simba was about six-foot-eight and decked out like a 1970s pimp, he was hard to argue with. When he smiled and snowed teeth neatly filed to points the TV crew lost all interest in the little group.
Meanwhile the gorilla’s handlers, recognizing a heaven-sent opportunity, buttonholed the reporters, shoved press kits on them and began to explain
Gigantopithecus Software’s latest announcement in multi-part high-decibel technobabble.
“What was that about?” Moira asked as they got free of the knot of people.
“Advertising. He’s promoting something.” Jerry paused and looked back and squinted to read the sign on the giant’s back.” ‘Sasquatch.’ I wonder what that is?
“Forgive me if I do not share your curiosity,” Moira snapped. “In fact I can think of nothing which is likely to have less bearing on our search.”
“Yeah, but still…”
“It is utterly irrelevant. Now please, let us at least find a place where we can rest for a moment.”
Jerry looked closely at her. Even though he wasn’t used to judging the moods of dragons he could see she was tired.
“Sure, Moira. Come on over this way.”
Off at the edge of the hall was a space between the booths for a fire door. The guard looked at them suspiciously as they made their way through the crowd into the temporary clearing, but since none of them sat on the floor or otherwise blocked the exit she didn’t say anything.
“Hi there.” Jerry turned and found himself right across the table from a couple of guys in the booth bordering the fire exit. He was trapped and he knew it, so he resigned himself to listening to a sales pitch.
He smiled as if he might be interested and studied the pair. One was hefty, slicked back and smarmy and the other was skinny, chinless and frenetic. Jerry couldn’t read their badges so mentally he dubbed them “Leisure Suit Larry” and “The Squirrel.”