Flash Gordon 2 - The Plague of Sound (16 page)

“Thanks,” said Zarkov.

Dale walked up to him. “That robot looked awfully familiar,” she said.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Dr. Zarkov. He raked his fingernails over his new growth of beard.

“Does your new beard itch?”

“No,” said Zarkov. “Where’s Flash?”

“Some reporters got wind of the fact we were leaving and they caught him in the terminal dome over there.”

“Funny they didn’t try to interview me on the eve of our departure from Pandor.”

“You issued a statement yesterday saying you wouldn’t grant any interviews, remember?”

“Only a nitwit of a reporter would believe anything like that,” he said.

“Here he comes.” Dale waved to the rapidly approaching Flash.

“Giving out interviews, huh?” said Zarkov. “Quite a celebrity.”

“Mostly,” said a grinning Flash, “they wanted to know about you. So I told them they could talk to you all they wanted.”

Zarkov looked around. “So where are they?”

Flash put his hand on the doctor’s shoulder and led him toward the boarding ramp. “Flip came down to see Dale and me off,” he said. “And when I told him how you felt about reporters, he agreed to stand in for you. He makes quite a convincing Zarkov.”