Special Agent Mariel Hemingway was only momentarily deterred. She lifted her briefcase, which contained her laptop, and tried again. If the man was succumbing to megalomania, perhaps she and Special Agent Hannah could just keep pushing in that direction.
"Sir ... you can be Emperor here in a land that most people frankly never here about ... or you can become the greatest shuttle diplomat since Henry Kissinger."
"And we're reasonably sure that Christopher Hitchens may never accuse you of war crimes," Darryl Hannah put in.
"It's not just Hotassia, sir," Mariel persisted. "It's the entire female world."
Mariel held up her laptop screen, which played video entreaties from various underpopulated areas. Slowly but surely, Jim began to notice all the sex being offered.
"It would simply not be fair to deprive me -- I mean, them, I mean, the world! -- of your services!" Like Mariel, Darryl was feeling a bit unglued in Jim's presence.
"Then I'll tell you what," said Jim. "I'll ... wrap up ... here, and then I'm coming with you."
Sun May 28 02:06:35 2006