The Uli Rouge

[Craines]

Richard Walters smiled haphazardly, and said in his gentle voice, "Mr. Waverly, I'm afraid that guest bedroom is not fit for someone of your stature! Please, I do believe the grand master bedroom is more to your liking; we've got all sorts of neat things up there to occupy your time. To degrade you by placing you in that bedroom would be unethical, to say the least! Now that that's all taken care of, I do believe we'll need to deign on some of this lovely food."

The Phantom who had identified himself as the Doctor pretended to eat, but was merely acting. He had far to much on his mind to be worried with trivial matters, such as sustaining the host body. He sensed an inquiring mind attempting to probe his own, and smiled to himself. He began to speak to the intruder, much in the same way he spoke to those he wished to drive mad.

You want to know who I am, do you? Want to see what this brain of mine holds? I'd let you, oh yes, I'd let you probe on, but I don't think you'd find what you're looking for. You could access the memories of the Phantom, I'm sure. You're a powerful telekineticist, no question about it. However, I don't think you know what you're dealing with when you are dealing with me.

The being responded. You're just some brainwashed human who has a relatively advanced pineal. Well, no, you're a brainwashed human with a somewhat advanced pineal and who I think is very suspicious. Don't try to stop me from delving into you, because you'll just get hurt.

Ha! To have lived ten thousand eons, to have seen the rise and fall of the universe... and I find myself being backtalked to by a mere BEING such as yourself! Fine, enter at your own caution. But I warn you, my memories are well guarded, and not even that fool Eris could entice them to come out.

Fnordie pressed on, disregarding the Phantom's talk. No matter what the human had said, the 'defenses' were easy to sidestep. Fnordie continued in, until...

ARF! Fnordie let out a loud whimper, and curled up in a ball next to Rick's leg. Rick looked down at the little dog, and scratched behind his ear absentmindedly, still engaged in the conversation about Zoner Vodka and Kalisti Gold. Rick tried to reach out to Fnordie telepathically, but nothing worked. The dog was either ignoring him, or unable to speak.

The Doctor smiled broadly, and began to speak aloud. "Mr. Waverly, I'm simply the Doctor. I know a vast sum about science, but having never been trained properly, I daresay that I can't claim to be an actual doctor. Still, my memory is fine, and my knowledge is unrivaled in the entire Empire. Oh my, what a lovely dog. What's his name?"

"Fnordie," Rick said, still scratching the pup's ear. "He's a one-of-a-kind dog. Can do all sorts of stuff with his mind."

"Oh?" the Doctor asked. "Do tell..."

The conversation continued on, the dinner party was going well, and Fiona hadn't been shot. In her mind, this had been a pretty successful housewarming event, and she hoped it would continue on in that fashion.

DeSicev looked at the Doctor, and began to run a series of tests. A voice contacted the spherical robot. I'd stop that if I were you, Alexiander. Curiosity killed the cat, his friends, his family, and the planet he was on... poor cat.

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