I just wanted a few minutes of peace. Maybe I'd be good for round three. Maybe I'd catch a sauna or a massage. But right now, I just wanted my drink while it was still cold.

"Suu'la eia nelaanti jirra, gai?"

A popular request for a human guy, I'd found out long ago. Short girl, spotted skin, and a big wild mane of curly brunette hair waded over to me to clink her glass against mine. She smiled expectantly, licking the space between her left index finger and thumb in the contingency that I was on the other side of the language barrier, which I wasn't.

In the land of rough-tongued felinoids, the human with the smooth one was king. Or at least bottom bitch. At any rate I wasn't quite captain of the swim team, and a bit of g'day down under probably required small details like lung capacity.

"Wau'e laa kanee na su'saa." Some other time, perhaps.

Just then, I spotted a tall blast from my past.

"Karabast, this is one small galaxy!"