The Head of Floor Operations stood by the door and just stared at his phone, blinking his huge owl eyes.
"How is this possible?" he mumbled, stunned to the core. His small beak hardly moved. "Bing was alive and well only the other day. And, oh! That was the last time I saw him! No, this can't be. He looked very fresh and proper at the time. I paid a compliment to him to that effect. And now, the poor fellow's gone? He thanked me I remember. No, I can't believe this. It appears to be true however."
He sighed.
"Is something wrong, Mister Gaas?" said Zana, trying to sound innocent. Which both she and Rivqua were, but the moment had an odd tension. The kind that occurs after a while of not saying something that really should have been mentioned straightaway. Such as the unexpected death of a common acquaintance.
After that critical initial moment passes it becomes harder and harder to open one's mouth. Before you know it, a snowball of awkwardness gathers momentum down the social hillside. It wasn't helped by Hoot Gaas's somewhat disconcerting behaviour.
"What's happened?" said Rivqua with impatience, mostly at herself. She picked up on these things.
"Fadda Bing has ceased to be! That dear old friend, colleague, associate, partner in worldly ambition, has joined the lifeless! He is dead!"
Zana swung her arms out in a huge confessionary gesture.
"We know! We were there. Appalling, right?"
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