The Hibraners' clothes were curiously dyed and homespun in appearance. Another giant had arrived; he had big dark eyes, a straight nose, and a slight beard. He wore a stocking cap with a bun of hair balled up in a sphere atop his head. Jil recognized him from the Merz Boat.

The young Hibraner's mind reached out to Jil, playing across her psyche. His name was Azaroth. He said he'd helped guide their jumps toward Golden Gate Park. He warned that the Hibraners might regard the Lobraners as dangerous gnomes-at least until they got used to them.

Chu was listening in. Showily he kicked at the ground, making a deep dent in it. "I bet I could make that dog go ki-yi-yi and run away, Bixie. The giants can't hurt us. We're like iron. And we're fast." Not that Chu was actually moving toward the dog.

"Can we go back?" Jil asked Chu.

"Yes," said Chu in his matter-of-fact tone. "I still have my special knot." He showed her his intricate tangle of string. Good. Shifting her attention to Ond's mind, Jil was a little surprised to see just how intensely the man worshipped her.

Ond smiled at her, knowing that she knew. "The vibrating soundless hum," he said, picking the phrase from Jil's mind. "This telepathy is so powerful. And there's more. I feel like I can remember every shape I see."

"I miss the orphidnet," said Chu, admiring his knot. "I was good at it. Maybe we should go home with Jil and Bixie."

"Not yet," protested Ond. "I want to lie low until things calm down back home. Maybe wait a year or two of Lobrane time. I think that'll only be a few months by this world's clocks. We're six times as small and six times as fast. Stay and keep me company, son."

"But I liked being so smart. I liked the beezies. The air ate all our orphids when we got here."

"We don't need orphids here, Chu. We've got telepathy, omnividence, and-an endless spike of extra memory space." Ond gazed at Jil. "I'm storing images of your face," he murmured. "Dear Jil."

"I miss the orphids," insisted stubborn Chu.

"Not me," said Jil. "I was liking my life the way it was." But was that really true? Of late, Craigor had been seeming restless. And this made staying sober a little harder than before.

"Maybe I was wrong to unleash the orphids," Ond was saying. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Jil. I thought it was the best defense against the nants. But maybe-"

"Oh, don't beat yourself up," said Jil, feeling a deep empathy for the awkward man and his odd son. "Life will settle down."

"I love you," messaged Ond.

Jil could almost have melted into him. Dear sweet Ond. But no. He wasn't supposed to be her type at all. She'd been a cheerleader in high school, and she'd always gone for the jocks. Also, Craigor and Momotaro were waiting at home. It wouldn't do to leave Craigor alone for too long. Not that Jil enjoyed the role of jealous jailer. With Nektar out on her own, Craigor seemed primed for a reckless move. What if Jil just let Craigor screw all the women he liked? Impossible thought. Jil had the superstitious feeling that her stable marriage was all that stood between her and sudocoke. It was very nice to know that Ond really and truly loved her. But Ond wasn't as physically attractive as Craigor. What would happen if Jil found herself a much hotter man, maybe someone younger? Did she have to be a puritan in every respect for the rest of her life? Oh, god, where was her head? And Ond and Chu were probably seeing all these thoughts. Stop it, Jil!

"Let us use your magic knot now, Chu," said Jil in a brisk tone.

"Go ahead," said Chu, holding the knot steady with his fingers. "Stare at it as if it were the blue spaghetti. And feel it with your fingers. The touching takes the place of the chimes."

"Me first," said Bixie.

Chu flashed a rare smile at Bixie as he held out his magic knot. "See you later."

"Hurry, Bixie," urged Jil. "Look over there across the lawn. It's that bossy angel Gladax. And, see, she's carrying some kind of net! Go on, Bixie, get out of here. Thanks, Chu. Bye, Ond. Take care, you two." She hesitated, then gave Ond a quick kiss on the cheek.

Bixie disappeared and then Jil. Gladax was still twenty yards away, her legs and arms moving at a snail's pace. Her net was made of-rubber?

"We don't have to be scared of her, right, Ond?" said Chu, his voice even flatter than usual.

"No way," sang Ond, elated from Jil's kiss. "We move six times as fast as the Hibraners. Let's run a few hundred yards. And then I'll show you how to camouflage yourself. Like a mental firewall."

Ond didn't yet realize how fast Gladax could hop.

PART II CHAPTER 5

The Big Pig Posse

Jayjay and the Big Pig Posse awoke to a mustached guy prodding them with a wide broom.

"Go to hell," said Jayjay, his fellow-kiqqie Sonic already standing at his side. "Asshole janitor." The women were on their feet too: Kittie and Thuy, their faces greasy in the rainy-day morning light. Jayjay wore baggy black pants, a billed green cap, a green T-shirt, a piezoplastic iguana earring, and a scavenged gray suit jacket that Kittie had painted with a fancy filigreed skull design to cover the whole back.

"No mas janitor," said the guy with the broom. "Maintenance manager and security guard. Get your pinche asses outta my hall. The Job Center's about to open. Go get some rehab at Natural Mind."

"You want some of this?" taunted Sonic, grabbing his own crotch. "Stand by me, Jayjay. We can take this pendejo down." Skinny little Sonic wore his invariable outfit of heavy boots, thick black wool tights, red T-shirt, and a thin black leather jacket with intricate pleats and folds-a jitsy concoction that he'd found unused in some woman's closet. His hair was pomaded into a dozen hedgehog spikes.

"Lose the gangbanger routine, boys," said Kittie, turning and walking to the glass street door. Stocky sweat-suited Kittie was adorned with a bright blue tattoo on her neck, also a glowing pendant of a woman holding a paintbrush and a meat cleaver. Kittie sometimes made money painting solar cell landscapes on electric cars. "I'm seeing a bunch of fresh-dumped pancakes behind the Mission Street McDonald's." she continued. "Still hot, if we hurry. Come on, Thuy." Kitty pronounced her friend's name the proper Vietnamese way, like twee and not like thooey.

Slender Thuy smiled and took Kittie's hand, ready for the adventure of a new day, Thuy in her street-worn striped leggings and yellow miniskirt, her strawy black hair in two high pigtails, her shiny piezoplastic Yu Shu sneakers with fancy dragon's heads on their toes. The Big Pig Posse members rarely changed their outfits; they were like cartoon characters that way. Superheroes.

Sonic gave the janitor a little poke in the chest; the janitor swung his fist; Sonic ducked. Street theater. Jayjay and Sonic followed the women out, standing for a moment in the rain-shadow of the office building. The streets were liquid, the raindrops popping circles into the sheen, the spastic gusty wind making riffles, a few electric cars hissing past.

Jayjay looked into his head, checking the orphidnet view of the McDonald's trashcans, and indeed he saw a nice batch of griddle cakes, nearly a dozen. Only a block away.