Index: n2020.txt ================================================================== --- n2020.txt +++ n2020.txt @@ -2680,11 +2680,31 @@ "What happens if alarms go off?" "A lot of exciting stuff," he said, "ending with this tunnel not being available to run the blockade any more." -"Oh." +"Oh." She walked in silence behind him as the passage took some turns, then finally asked "I guess Smuggler probably isn't actually the name your parents gave you." + +"No," he said, without looking back. "I inherited it." + +"Are you saying that's your family name?" + +"No. The previous Smuggler retired from this kind of thing and passed the name on to me, like the Dread Pirate Roberts." + +"I thought all that stuff about the Silk Road guy was supposed to be made up." + +"I don't know," Smuggler said. "I never met him. I think a predecessor with the name Smuggler might have, though. Anyway, I was talking about the character from the Princess Bride, not the Silk Road founder." + +"Oh. I've never read the Princess Bride." + +"Neither have I," I said, "but my predecessor and I watched the movie together a couple times." + +"I forgot that was a movie," she said. + +"You make me sad," Smuggler said. + +Alley failed to produce an answer. --- Alley terminated the call. "I have to go home, but they're still working on my car," she said. She looked over her shoulder, at the mechanics' garage. "I'll call up a ride."