PART z90

In which Marilyn is confronted by an untenable situation but decides to make the best of it. The Reptile Kings of Xanku had, with a burst of their all too frequent capacity for increasing the difficulty of already difficult situations, insisted that not only did Marilyn wear the truly absurd super-heroine costume for the upcoming mission against the Brain Eaters, but that the wholly incongruous garment should be initiated and energized in a ritual ceremony to be performed in front the Xanku I-Corps, who, as far as Marilyn was concerned, resembled nothing more than a scaly crowd of belly-slithering, illiterate sociopaths, seemingly high on cheap energy-enhancing chemical products. As if this wasn’t bad enough, she had only discovered that the accursed outfit was topless just minutes before the start of the festivities at which she had clearly been promised as the star attraction. Under more normal circumstances, she would have dug in her heels and refused to go any further with the charade. The Reptile Kings of Xanku were, however, a crucial – if less than reliable – segment of The Grand Alliance, and, in the interests of the mission, she decided to play along. As she told herself while she smiled her widest, most engaging, if secretly mocking smile, gripped her power-sword, and raised the costume’s vision-mask, it wasn’t the first time she had stood topless in the presence of loathsome snakes.