."After you," she said, taking a light jacket from a hook by the door. She scooped up her keys and followed him out the door. They walked to the eleva...tor in companionable silence, and rode down also without talking. They stood closer to one another than one would with a stranger or even most friends, and the silence was comfortable rather than awkward.The rain had stopped some time ago, but the wet pavement still shone in the streetlights. As they walked to the restaurant, neither of them was. They thought it was delightfully absurd. A competition focused around dominating some other creature faster and better than others? The Pellian species, a sort of squid-like race who take delight in engulfing or entering other solid bodies to control them, saw a huge potential in this sort of competition.This was nearly a century ago that these entrepreneurial cephalopods decided to make their own rodeo. But they wanted to do it in their own way--the beings that were to be dominated should be. “Surely they will come looking for you.”In response, Plato gave a big smile, pointed at her, and said, “You are the one who gave me the idea for how to leave.”“I did?” Marcella said, holding her hand against her chest. “What did I do?”“It wasn’t what you did,” Plato said. “It’s what you said. You said I could give birth to an idea.”He looked over at Richard and said, “If I was still using only your brain cells I would never have thought of giving birth, but Marcy’s a woman and she wants to give. “Makes sense. Gotta get to round two. Any other tips?”“I killed my wife by stabbing her in the heart.”“That’s messed up,” Melinda says with disgust.“Yeah, but it worked,” I try to stay focused, but images of her wild red eyes suddenly overtake me. I remember her anger, her rage, her rotting flesh peeling from her bones and the smell of death and decay that followed her about. It was so disgusting. Now I had to face a small army of those goddamn creatures. “The head is likely another weak spot.