The Measure laughed and remarked at the sight of the thrashing robot, "I CAN shoot it. From here I probably won't even miss it, with a sniper rifle." Mirelle, the air-trader , pointed at herself again and said loudly to all in hearing distance, "Hey! I ain't paying for the damned thing! It ain't mine! I didn't break it!" Jahntu, the bull-derived Beastman said over his shoulder to the Measure, "Please--no shooting. I start easy at the sound, and have allergies to anything travelling near me at the speed of sound." He looked over at the consternated mouse-derived Beastman, and remarked off-handedly to her, "You know, Amma--that is the second robot in as many months that you've broken." Amma held up her left hand and said, "Oh be quiet, you oaf! Listen to the thing!" The thrashing robot squeeked, "KILL! DEATH TO ALL HUMANS!" The desert traveller next to the Measure held up a hand towards the robot and asked her, "Ever ran into a lot of this in your travels?" The Measure chortled and tried not to laugh out right. "I've never seen an automated trash disposal try to kill a mouse-girl by pinching her to death. No." Amma whacked it in the eye with her sledge-hammer and shouted at it, "SHUT UP, YOU!" After a moment, she said to it, "Stupid pile of junk. I'm NOT a human! I'm a beastman! Jerk-wire pile of scrap crap!" Jahntu, the minotaur, said, "You tell it, Amma!" Mirelle said again, "I don't care if it went beserk and tried to kill us all, I ain't paying for it!" The Measure looked at her and asked seriously, "Would the Trow police here cause that kind of problem for you?" Mirelle looked over at her and responded, "Maybe. They trade above ground here. They fear the flying cities reprisals for being Trow 'acting like humans'. They have the air-defences to tear a flying city apart, but....you know. They're paranoid with reason. I just don't want'em to hold us up from launching at sunset. I got schedules to keep! And you folk to ferry to Taru City." The desert traveller said in a deep, sonorous voice, "Lets just leave it. You'll get no trouble from the Trow as long as I'm with you." There was something in the traveller that caused them all to fall silent and gauge him carefully. The Measure stared at him for a moment and asked, "Who are you, traveller?" He laughed and strode off toward the mammoth airship, calling over his shoulder, "Just a man going home to see his daughter. Just a man who knew your mother, Neesae." The Measure almost dropped her rifle at that. NO ONE knew her secret name, except for her long gone mother ond one other. SHe gasped and slid to catch up to him. The others followed along behind. Amma paused and turned to the robot and hit it again with the sledge-hammer and flicked an obscene gesture at it. "THAT is for pinching my bum, you trashcan!" She ran to join the others. --TO BE CONTINUED!-- Media is Poser 6 and Vue Esprit 5