Boomp's "floor-show people" make their rounds from roulette table to roulette table, placing a winning bet, joining the line at the cashier's desk to cash their chips, and returning to the floor "in a continuing circle." It's now what, seven o'clock-ish? Krak and Heller took a dinner break before six, let's give them an hour to eat and have an uninteresting encounter with a thug. So this chapter is about three hours of Heller standing in the casino, watching others do his dirty work.
One of those people is "a young man who had more hair than face," Tom-Tom, drummer for the Dingle-poop Rock Band... was this on purpose, Hubbard, or a happy accident? Anyway, Tom-Tom gets to shuttle the bags of cash from Boomp to Krak because he can't count above four and so is otherwise useless. He stands dumbfounded when he sees the Countess, shocked because he "didn't know no Miss America was in on this deal." Then he goes back to shuttling bags, but every. Single. Time he drops another bundle of cash back at Krak's feet he takes a moment to stare at her and say "Jeez" before returning to work.
And I just don't know. I don't know if Tom-Tom's a satire of anyone. I don't know if he's supposed to be charming or funny or annoying or what. I don't know what purpose he serves in the story. He just drops off garbage bags full of money at Krak's feet and says "Jeez," four times this chapter.
So while Boomp's crew are doing all the hard work, Krak and Heller make inane button-radio conversation. Krak speculates that the reason so many beautiful Miss Americas came from Atlantic City was because Prince Caucalsia took some beautiful noblewomen from Atalanta Province when he settled in America. Heller clarifies that the prince "apparently landed on a continent out in that ocean and it got drowned when the poles melted or something. The survivors got to a place called Caucasus above Turkey and you can't go there because the Russians are holding them prisoner and won't let them defect." And I'm not sure if this is supposed to be satire or comedy or sarcasm or taken at face value.
Heller notices those "tough mugs" who asked for his ID earlier and posed no further threat, taking an interest in where all these bags of money are being shuttled to, even while security guards escort another load of money to the cashier's desk. The Countess Krak wanders around and finds a laundry chute, which will be important next chapter. Boomp's people keep winning wheel after wheel after wheel of roulette, and the casino keeps letting it happen. The Countess Krak sits on a throne of bags of cash. Heller watches the clock.
Finally, after at least six hours of uninterrupted victories, the armed guards go to the cashier desk empty-handed. Krak and Heller have completely drained the casino's coffers. They spent several hours miraculously winning every game of roulette they played, save one. Then a whole swarm of people starting making single, winning bets at table after table. And now at 10:20 the casino PA announces that they're closed.
So is the mob that runs the casino really this stupid? The answer is... well, they are in Mission Earth. But there's something else going on here, a sinister scheme, a random-ass plot twist that could very well render this entire Part a complete waste of time.
Back to Chapter Six
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