The Repairman | Page 5

attractive
suit of green plastic, complete with tail. I was really glad they had tails.
The lizards didn't wear clothes and I wanted to take along a lot of
electronic equipment. I built the tail over a metal frame that anchored
around my waist. Then I filled the frame with all the equipment I would
need and began to wire the suit.
When it was done, I tried it on in front of a full-length mirror. It was
horrible but effective. The tail dragged me down in the rear and gave
me a duck-waddle, but that only helped the resemblance.
That night I took the ship down into the hills nearest the pyramid, an
out-of-the-way dry spot where the amphibious natives would never go.
A little before dawn, the eye hooked onto my shoulders and we sailed
straight up. We hovered above the temple at about 2,000 meters, until it
was light, then dropped straight down.
It must have been a grand sight. The eye was camouflaged to look like
a flying lizard, sort of a cardboard pterodactyl, and the slowly flapping
wings obviously had nothing to do with our flight. But it was
impressive enough for the natives. The first one that spotted me
screamed and dropped over on his back. The others came running.
They milled and mobbed and piled on top of one another, and by that

time I had landed in the plaza fronting the temple. The priesthood
arrived.
I folded my arms in a regal stance. "Greetings, O noble servers of the
Great God," I said. Of course I didn't say it out loud, just whispered
loud enough for the throat mike to catch. This was radioed back to the
MT and the translation shot back to a speaker in my jaws.
The natives chomped and rattled and the translation rolled out almost
instantly. I had the volume turned up and the whole square echoed.
Some of the more credulous natives prostrated themselves and others
fled screaming. One doubtful type raised a spear, but no one else tried
that after the pterodactyl-eye picked him up and dropped him in the
swamp. The priests were a hard-headed lot and weren't buying any
lizards in a poke; they just stood and muttered. I had to take the
offensive again.
"Begone, O faithful steed," I said to the eye, and pressed the control in
my palm at the same time.
It took off straight up a bit faster than I wanted; little pieces of
wind-torn plastic rained down. While the crowd was ogling this ascent,
I walked through the temple doors.
"I would talk with you, O noble priests," I said.
Before they could think up a good answer, I was inside.
* * * * *
The temple was a small one built against the base of the pyramid. I
hoped I wasn't breaking too many taboos by going in. I wasn't stopped,
so it looked all right. The temple was a single room with a
murky-looking pool at one end. Sloshing in the pool was an ancient
reptile who clearly was one of the leaders. I waddled toward him and
he gave me a cold and fishy eye, then growled something.

The MT whispered into my ear, "Just what in the name of the thirteenth
sin are you and what are you doing here?"
I drew up my scaly figure in a noble gesture and pointed toward the
ceiling. "I come from your ancestors to help you. I am here to restore
the Holy Waters."
This raised a buzz of conversation behind me, but got no rise out of the
chief. He sank slowly into the water until only his eyes were showing. I
could almost hear the wheels turning behind that moss-covered
forehead. Then he lunged up and pointed a dripping finger at me.
"You are a liar! You are no ancestor of ours! We will--"
"Stop!" I thundered before he got so far in that he couldn't back out. "I
said your ancestors sent me as emissary--I am not one of your ancestors.
Do not try to harm me or the wrath of those who have Passed On will
turn against you."
When I said this, I turned to jab a claw at the other priests, using the
motion to cover my flicking a coin grenade toward them. It blew a nice
hole in the floor with a great show of noise and smoke.
The First Lizard knew I was talking sense then and immediately called
a meeting of the shamans. It, of course, took place in the public bathtub
and I had to join them there. We jawed and gurgled for about an hour
and settled all the major points.
I found out that they were new priests; the previous ones had all been
boiled