“You’d probably like Dick Too Dibbs more than you realize,” said Topping. “He doesn’t support the nants at all. He’s by no means an ideal representative for my employer’s interests. But at least my employer has the man’s ear. He’s hoping to make his case so as to guide events in an optimal way. But it’s by no means a sure thing.”

“You’re talking about Jeff Luty, right?” said Jayjay.

“I’d let Mr. Luty do his own talking,” said Topping. “Should the occasion arise. Should he in fact be alive. Natural Mind’s primary funding is from Jeff Luty’s former company ExaExa, yes. The quantum-mirror varnish that protects our unfortunate clients—unobtainable from any other source. Public knowledge.” He held out his hands for silence. “Let’s get to the point. In the course of monitoring our motley advertising force, I get a good overview of the orphidnet. And you four have come to my attention. Two in particular have skill sets that could be useful to my employer. This young man; this young woman.” He leveled his index finger at Sonic and then at Thuy. “I’m prepared to hire all four of you—just to have them.”

For a moment Jayjay felt jealous. What about all his new physics ideas? Stop it, Jayjay. Get over yourself. An ugly, heavy scene is coming up. Watch Topping. Get your beezies to figure out the scenario. And don’t forget that grill in the wall.

Sonic shook his head. “I’m not gonna work here planting those dumb-ass ads for—”

“Your skills are about Doodly Bug,” Topping interrupted. “It’s more than a game. It’s a laboratory for exploring brane theory, multiversal quantum mechanics, and the art of Calabi-Yau manifold construction. Your work stands out, Sonic. And Thuy’s metanovel—”

Suddenly Jayjay got the big picture. “Luty wants to get to the Hibrane!” he cried out. “He wants to bring back Ond Lutter to help him! He wants to neutralize the orphids and feed Earth to some new nants!”

Topping regarded Jayjay levelly. “I couldn’t discuss that even if I wanted to. My wikiware has me under nondisclosure filtering. You’ll be the same, once you accept your ExaExa consulting contract. That’s another good reason for me to sign all four of you.”

“What contract?” asked Kittie. “I mean, how much are you offering us? And what would we have to do?”

“Forget it,” repeated Sonic. “We don’t need ExaExa and their bullshit mind control. We’ve got Nektar’s garage to live in, and we’ve got those Founders royalties happening for us too.”