I meet with Hunter's friends

Dear Sir Williard,

It is evening and I must write quickly as I expect at any moment to be visited by Lady Peach. How my hostess and her daughter have worked out the sharing of my company is a feminine mystery that I cannot begin to fathom, but so far at least only one woman at a time has ever knocked on my door-

It may be worth noting Sir Williard, that I was distracted for some time from my writing by the image of both these lovely Englishwomen lying side-by-side on my bed naked and begging me to join them. Thankfully, I very much doubt that these upstanding members of the British nobility would ever provide me with such a temptation, because I doubt very much in my weakened moral state that I could refuse such an offer.

The ride in Hunter's gyrocopter was exhilarating, Sir Williard. The aircraft flies at almost 200 mph and swoops and dives like a swallow. It has, according to Hunter, the same frame and engine as the military version produced by one of his family's factories, but lacking the heavy armour and weaponry Hunter's civilian model is far faster and more maneuverable.

As you might imagine my lord, I was a little uncomfortable about riding alone with Hunter considering the manner with which I was consorting with both his mother and sister, however Hunter made no mention of the impropriety of my behavior. Instead as we flew over the native forests, he sounded out my feelings on the American raiders and the lack of a suitable response from the British government. I did not have to feign my anger and frustration at the situation (remember Sir Williard that all my possessions other than one personal trunk were still delayed in transit because of the raid on Kandar) and Hunter was delighted to hear my response. He asked if I would be willing to meet with friends of his, who likewise were chafing with the indignity of these raids. I accepted willingly not aware at the time just what I was committing to.

With that Hunter turned on a more Westerly course and dropped lower until we were skimming over the forests and dropping into valleys whenever possible. From these low elevations - at times only 40 yards above the dense canopy - I suddenly spotted an expanse cut from the woods that had a significant amount of Terran vegetation. Like the Peach estate, this was one of the plots of land that had been hewn from the virgin forests for the safety and comfort of the colonists. In the center of the oasis stood a collection of buildings dominated by a giant dome of glass and steel that must have measured fifty yards in diameter and perhaps thirty yards in height.

As we flew past the buildings I noted that the estate was poorly maintained and that the surrounding jungle was pushing back into the once cleared lawns. Hunter continued flying up the river without comment but I was intrigued by the sight, my lord, especially the great glass dome.

"What was that?" I asked my pilot in wonder.

"Polly's Folly." Hunter told me and then went on to explain with some satisfaction that Lord Pollard had built the grand compound in the middle of nowhere years before with the idea of turning it into a aviary and zoological exhibit to document Rajah-4's unique flora and fauna. It seems for a while Sir Williard, that this chief executive in the East Orion Trading Company plowed all of his substantial yearly income into developing the enterprise, but soon too much of his attention was devoted to his project and the Company made several bad blunders costing the shareholders many hundreds of millions of pounds. He was retired in shame, and without the steady income to maintain the remote facilities he was **** to abandon his dreams. The property was seized by the Company to help defer the losses incurred by Lord Pollard's negligence, but they have no idea what to do with the decaying property.

To make matters worse, Hunter related to me the following unsubstantiated rumor (please note that even he could not confirm this outrageous gossip) it was said that Lord Pollard had fallen in love with one of the indigenous specimens in his collection, a elusive bipedal blue-grey creature with alleged psychic powers, that the locals call dryads. According to Hunter, this once powerful stalwart of the Company is now happily locked away in a sanitarium with his new wife. Again I advise you to take all of this information with a healthy slice of skepticism my lord, but I do seem to remember a half dozen years ago hearing about a major shake-up in the East Orion Trading Company and the **** resignation of one of their chief executives.

About thirty minutes later Hunter gracefully landed his powerful gyrocopter on the manicured lawn of a gleaming white-washed mansion of a Mediterranean style like you find along the coast in Nice and Monaco. The long curving building had a red tile roof and white arches and 30 foot columns lining its elegant facade.

"Come meet my friends Dr. Baxter." He said as he climbed from his side of the 'copter, "I think you'll find them interesting."

I will have to relate what transpired in this meeting when I can, Sir Williard. I hear Lady Peach at my door now.