Witch doctor,' countered Argon.
Foaly raised his hairy palms.
'Gentlemen, please. We need agreement here. A concrete profile.'
'It's no use,' said Argon. 'I can't work in these conditions.'
Cumulus folded his arms. 'If he can't work, neither can I.'
Root strode through the shuttle double doors. His trademark purple complexion was even rosier
than usual.
'That human is toying with us. I will not have it. Now, what did our experts make of the tape?'
Foaly moved slightly to the side, allowing the commander a clear run at the so-called experts.
'Apparently they can't work in these conditions.'
Root's eyes narrowed to slits, bringing his prey into sharp focus. 'Excuse me?'
'The good doctor is a halfwit,' said Cumulus, unfamiliar with the commander's temper.
'I-I'm a halfwit?' stuttered Argon, equally ignorant. 'What about you, you cave fairy? Plastering
your absurd interpretations on to the most innocent of gestures.'
'Innocent? The boy is a bag of nerves. Obviously lying. It's textbook.'
Root slammed a clenched fist on to the table, sending a spider's web of cracks scurrying across
the surface.
'Silence!'
And silence there was. Instantly.
'Now, you two experts are on handsome retainers for your profiling work. Correct?'
The pair nodded, afraid to speak in case that broke the silence rule.
'This is probably the case of your lives, so I want you to concentrate very hard. Understood?'
More nods.
Root popped the camera out of his weeping eye.
'Fast-forward it, Foaly. Towards the end.'
The tape hopped forward erratically. On screen, Root followed the human into his conference
room.
'There. Stop it there. Can you zoom in on his face?'
'Can I zoom in on his face?' snorted Foaly. 'Can a dwarf steal the web from under a spider?'
'Yes,' replied Root.
'That was a rhetorical question actually.'
'I don't need a grammar lesson, Foaly, just zoom in, would you?'
Foaly ground his tombstone teeth.
'OK, boss. Will do.'
The centaur's fingers prodded the keyboard with lightning speed. Artemis's visage grew to fill the
plasma screen.
'I'd advise you to listen,' said Root, squeezing the experts' shoulders. 'This is a pivotal moment in
your careers.'
'I am special,' said the mouth on the screen, 'because I can escape the time-field.'
'Now tell me,' said Root. 'Is he lying?'
'Run it again,' said Cumulus. 'Show me the eyes.'
Argon nodded. 'Yes. Just the eyes.'
Foaly tapped a few more keys, and Artemis's deep blue eyes expanded to the width of the screen.
'I am special,' boomed the human voice, 'because I can escape the time-field.'
'Well, is he lying?'
Cumulus and Argon looked at each other, all traces of antagonism gone.
'No,' they said simultaneously.
'He's telling the truth,' added the behaviourist.
'Or,' clarified the psychologist, 'at least he thinks he is.'
Root swabbed his eye with a cleansing solution.
'That's what I thought. When I looked that human in the face, I figured he was either a genius or
crazy.'
Artemis's cool eyes glared at them from the screen.
'So which is it?' asked Foaly. 'A genius or crazy?'
Root grabbed his tri-barrelled blaster from the gun rack.
'What's the difference?' he snapped, strapping his trusty weapon to his hip. ' Get me an outside
line to E1. This Fowl person seems to know all of our rules, so it's time to break a few.'
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