"Place your bets please," the tall two-headed croupier said with a calm and distinguished voice. The most bored of his two faces slid across to Zana.
"Care for another, Miss?" he said, looking down his odd-shaped nose.
"I'll go red seventeen vertical," said Zana and blew into her fist, summoning willing power. "All in."
"And this time she means it," said Rivqua as Zana made a show of flicking her very last chip onto the green felt. Laughter trickled around the table.
The small white disc rolled toward the two-headed alien, who swiftly scraped it up and repeated her instruction for the benefit of everyone present.
"Red seventeen vertical, on the gyrolette, ladies and gentlemen!"
He flicked the ball into a circular track that ran inside a slim wheel. The wheel hung on pivots and rocked slowly from side to side as it spun. A second wheel hung vertically and tilted back and forth as it too spun. The whole thing looked like a large gyro. Roulette gone 3D. One of the many attractions of the Grand Galactica casino.
Every late afternoon brought them in, the out-of-town shopper crowd, buzzed-up by the sights and the sparkle of Toss Vague-Ass. The games floor was their next domain. Around each table a happy-hour mini-crowd huddled. Hoping, willing on, chewing nails, folding ears, tapping claws. Adrenaline flowed, hypoblubbaline puffed.
And no less around the spectacular gyrolette.
"Come on, red seventeen!" Zana cried, fists clenched. "Come on!"
No comments:
Post a Comment