MA07 MYTH Inc Link by Robert Asprin Read Free Book Online

relax around you, but you never see us when you aren’t around.”
    Terrific.
    “Look, Chumley. Your logic is as enviable as ever, but can’t you just say what the problem is? If you think Tananda’s in danger ...”
    “SHE’S NOT THE ONE I’M WORRIED ABOUT!”
    With visible effort, Chumley composed himself.
    “Skeeve ... let me try to explain. Little sister is a wonderful person, and I truly love and admire her, but she has a tendency to ... overreact under pressure. Mum always said it was her competitive reaction to having an older brother who could tear things apart without trying, but some of the people she’s worked with tend to simply describe it as a mean streak. In a nutshell, though, Tananda has a bigger flair for wanton destruction than I do ... or anyone else I’ve ever met. Now, if this job you’re describing calls for finesse ...”
    He broke off and shook his head.
    “No,” he said with a ring of finality to his voice. “There’s no other way to handle it. I’ll just have to catch up with her and try to keep her from getting too out of hand. Which dimension did you say she was headed for again?”
    The direct question finally snapped me out of the mind-freeze his explanation had put me in.
    “Really, Chumley. Aren’t you exaggerating just a little? I mean, how much trouble could she cause?”
    The troll sighed.
    “Ever hear of a dimension called Rinasp?”
    “Can’t say that I have.”
    “That’s because there’s no one there anymore. That’s the last place little sister went on a collection job.”
    “I’ve got the name of the dimension here somewhere!” I said, diving into my paperwork with newfound desperation.

    Chumley’s Tale

    DASH IT ALL to blazes anyway! You’d think by now that Skeeve would have the sense to look a bit before he leaped ... especially when his leaping tends to involve others as it does! If he thinks that Tananda can’t ... If he can’t figure out that even I don’t... Well, he has no idea of the way our Mum raised us, is all I’ve got to say.
    Of course, one cannot expect wonders from a Klahd raised by a Pervert, can one ... hmmm?? Well, Chumley old boy, time to muddle through one more time, what?
    I must admit this latest collection assignment for Tananda had me worried. At her best little sister tends to lack tact, and lately ...
    As near as I can tell, there was bad blood building between her and Bunny. They had never really hit it off well, but things had gotten noticeably sticky since Don Bruce’s niece set her cap for Skeeve. Not that little sister had any designs on the lad herself, mind you. If anything, her feelings toward him are more sisterly than anything else ... Lord help him. Rather it seems that it’s Bunny’s tactics that are setting Tananda’s teeth on edge.
    You see, what with Bunny trying to be so spit-spot efficient on the job to impress Skeeve, little sister has gotten it into her head that it’s making her look bad professionally. Tananda has always been exceedingly proud of her looks and her work, and what with Bunny strutting around the office going on about how well the last assignment went, she feels a wee bit threatened on both counts. As near as I could tell, she was bound and determined to prove that what she had picked up in the Guttersnipe Survival School was more than a match for the education Bunny had acquired at whatever finishing school the Mob had sent her to. Combined with her normal tendency for over-exuberance, it boded ill for whoever it was she was out to collect from.
    I was also underwhelmed by the setting for this pending disaster. I mean, really, what kind of name is Arcadia for a dimension? It sounds like one of those confounded video parlors. I probably would have been hard-pressed to even find it if I hadn’t gotten directions along with the name. The coordinates dropped me at the edge of a town, and since they were the same ones little sister had used, I could only assume I wasn’t far behind