“Come on, you bastard,” Michael taunted. “Get up and fight.” Blood trickled down the front of his chin and dripped onto the floor. He swayed on his feet.

Richard got to his hands and knees. He looked up at Michael. “You’re a dead man,” he growled.

“Come on, you twerp!” Michael responded.

Richard pushed himself up to a standing position, but he, too, was unsteady on his feet.

Arak, who’d been at some distance from the divers when their melee started, pushed through the stunned and silent crowd. He stepped between the two drunken divers.

“Please,” he said. “Whatever is the problem we can resolve it.”

“Outta my way,” Richard spat. He shoved Arak to the side and launched a roundhouse blow to Michael’s head. Michael ducked but lost his balance in the process and fell to the floor. Richard lost his balance when the blow failed to connect.

“Worker clones, restrain the guests!” Arak yelled.

Richard and Michael both managed to get themselves upright and throw several more ineffectual punches before two large male worker clones intervened. Each grabbed a diver in a bear hug. Richard and Michael continued trying to hit each other until they were moved a body length apart. At that moment Perry pushed through the crowd.

“Have you idiots forgotten where you are?” Perry shouted. “For chrissake, no fighting! What’s the matter with you two?”

“He started it,” Richard said.

“He started it,” Michael said.

“No, he did.”

“No, it was him.”

Before Perry could respond to this juvenile tit-for-tat, the divers suddenly broke out laughing. Every time they tried to look at each other they laughed harder. Soon everyone but Perry and the worker clones were laughing as well. At Arak’s command the worker clones let go of the divers, who immediately exchanged high fives.

“What was the fighting about?” Arak asked Perry.

“Too much of your crystal,” Perry said.

“Perhaps we should switch them to a less potent drink,” Arak said.

“Either that or cut them off completely,” Perry said.

“But I don’t want to ruin the party,” Arak said. “Everyone is enjoying them immensely.”

“It’s your party,” Perry said.

Richard and Michael started back toward the platform.

“I tell you what,” Richard whispered to Michael. “We’ll make it fair. I’ll shoot you for the redhead.”

“Okay,” Michael said.

“You call,” Richard said. “Odds or evens.”

“Evens,” Michael said.

On the count of three, they both threw out a single finger. Michael smiled with satisfaction. “Justice!” he exclaimed.

“Crap!” Richard said.

“Now where the hell is she?” Michael questioned. The two divers scanned the crowd.

“There she is,” Richard said. He pointed. “And she’s still with the little squirt.”

“I’ll be back in a flash,” Michael said. He made a beeline for the woman whom he noticed was watching his approach with great interest.

“Hi, baby,” Michael said, avoiding making eye contact with the preteen beside her. “My name is Michael.”

“My name is Mura. Are you hurt?”

“Hell, no,” Michael said. “A little tap on the nose doesn’t hurt old Michael. No way.”

“We are not accustomed to seeing blood,” Mura said.

“Listen!” Michael said, “How would you like to come over and rub palms with me? We got our own little party going on over by the pool.”

“I’d love to touch palms with you,” Mura said. “But first, may I introduce Sart?”

“Yeah, hi, Sart,” Michael said offhandedly. “You’ve got a great looking mother here, but why don’t you go off and play with some friends.”

Both Mura and Sart giggled. Michael wasn’t amused.

“Pretty funny, huh?” he questioned irritably.

“Unexpected is a better word,” Mura managed.

Michael reached out and took Mura’s arm. “Come on, honey.” To the youngster he said, “See you later, Sart.”

With Mura in tow, Michael strutted with a few unplanned wobbles back to Richard and the rest of the group. Richard had singled out two women who were particularly demonstrative in their affection for him. He introduced them as Meeta and Palenque. One was blond and the other brunette, and both were incredibly voluptuous.

“Richie, meet Mura,” Michael said proudly.

Richard pretended not to notice the striking redhead. Instead he pointed over Michael’s shoulder and asked about the preteen. Michael looked behind and was irritated to see the boy had tagged along.

“Beat it, kid,” Michael snapped.

Mura ignored Michael and encouraged Sart to step forward. She introduced him to Richard.

“Hey, nice to meet you, Sart,” Richard said. “You, too, Mura. Why don’t you two take a load off and sit down?”

“We’d enjoy that,” Mura said.

“Indeed,” Sart added.

Michael rolled his eyes in frustrated irritation as Richard managed to preempt his triumph. For a moment he considered cold-cocking Richard on the spot.

“Hey, you, too, Mikey,” Richard goaded. “Come on, buddy, take a seat and relax! It’ll do you good. After all, we’re all one big, happy family.”

That comment brought giggles from all the Interterrans within earshot, only adding to Michael’s embarrassment. He swallowed his pride and sat down.

“Listen, Mikey,” Richard continued. “My little blond bombshell, Meeta, just told me something interesting. Everybody loves to swim in Interterra.”

“No kidding,” Michael said, lightening up. “Did you mention that we were professionals?”

“Of course,” Richard said. “But I’m not convinced they quite got what I was talking about. Seems that the idea of work is not something they can relate to.”

“If you swim for work, does that mean you like to swim?” Meeta asked.

“Sure we like to swim,” Michael said.

“Well, why don’t we all take a dip?” Meeta suggested.

“Why not,” Mura agreed. “You people need to cool down.”

“I think it is a wonderful idea,” Sart said.

Richard looked at the inviting aquamarine pool. “Are you talking about swimming right now?” he asked.

“What time could be better?” Palenque said. “We’re all so warm and sweaty.”

“But our clothes,” Richard said. “We’ll be sopping.”

“We don’t wear clothes when we swim,” Meeta said.

Richard looked at Michael. “This place just keeps getting better and better,” he said.

“Well?” Meeta questioned. “What do the professional swimmers say?”

Richard swallowed. He was afraid to say anything lest he wake up.

“I say we go for it,” Michael cried.

“Wonderful!” Meeta said. She leaped to her feet and helped Palenque to hers. Sart got up and gave Mura a hand. In the blink of an eye the Interterrans unabashedly threw off their tunics and stepped out of their shorts. In their naked nubile splendor, they all dove cleanly into the water and swam out toward the center of the pool with strong, practiced strokes.

Richard and Michael were momentarily too stunned to follow. Instead they glanced around at the people in the immediate vicinity. To their added surprise, no one had taken much notice other than Perry. Then Richard and Michael’s eyes met.

“What the hell are we waiting for?” Richard asked as he smiled drunkenly.

In a rush, the two divers clumsily struggled to get out of their clothes. At the same time, they made a dash for the pool. Michael had trouble with his shorts and ended up tripping. Richard was more successful and was soon racing toward the shallow area at the center of the pool.

On his arrival Richard was literally set upon by Meeta and Palenque who playfully and repeatedly dunked him. Richard took the harassment from the naked beauties gleefully but was soon out of breath. By the time Michael arrived and engaged in similar activities with Mura, since Sart and Palenque had swum to the far end of the pool, Richard was content to languish in a place where he and Meeta could sit with their heads above the surface.

“Richard, Richard, Richard,” Meeta cried happily as she repeatedly pressed her palm against his and stroked his head. “You are the most primitively attractive visitor we’ve ever had in Saranta. Maybe in all of Interterra for at least several thousand years.”