Because They're ALIENS!

Next morning early, in the Velosophy office.

The second rehearsal.

Katherine has brought her black hooded costume.

Should I wear it? asks Katherine.

Not until we've rigged up the hammock, says David.

Help me finish these playing cards, says Vello.

Oh, all right, says Katherine. Why are they so large?

So the audience can see that they're marked, says Vello. Because the players are cheating.

I see, says Katherine. 

Belle hooks one end of the hammock to the door handle.

Too low! says Iris. Our bottoms will be on the floor.

The door opens and Hedley arrives wih his mother.

Hedley has learned all his lines, says Hedley's mother. 

A hammock! cries Hedley. 

It's a couch, says Belle.

Good luck with that, says Hedley's mother. Hammocks can be tricky.

Bon-doo, sir, says Hedley.

What other lines have you learned Hedley? asks Vello.

All strangers are under arrest! says Hedley.

Very good, says Vello. And when Candide asks you why?

We don't understand the answer, says Hedley's mother. Something about a beggar from Artois and a murder.

I never understood that answer either, says Iris.

Nor me, says Belle.

Hedley has come up with a better answer, says Hedley's mother. Say it, Hedley.

Because they're ALIENS! says Hedley.

Vello is about to object when Gaius enters, with Terence, Greedy and Kobo.

Guess what? says Terence. Greedy can talk. But she can't be two people. So Kobo's going to be the nurse.

Hold it right there, says Vello. Kobo in the nurse role?

I can speak for myself, says Kobo.

That is evident, says Vello, but you are a clam, and therefore lacking in certain areas.

That's no way to talk to Kobo, says Katherine. All she needs is an appropriate costume.

Vello sighs. He supposes that Katherine is right.

But he can't help feeling this year's production may be more of a shambles than usual.