'What?' Sean shrugged. 'They're servants. That's their job. So they must like serving.'
'And how do you know that?'
'Why else would they choose that as a job?'
'Maybe that's the only job they could get!'
'They could get a job in the marshmallow mines. That's what I'd do.'
'Come on,' interrupted Nicola. 'We don't want to be late.'
Joy was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.
'You all look absolutely lovely,' she said generously. Then she turned to Katie and held out a small, worn-looking book. 'Please say no if you think I'm rude, but would you mind signing my granddaughter's signograph book? I wouldn't bother you, it's just that she'd be so thrilled and you seem - well, you seem to have a much kinder face than most hairities.'
Katie blushed. 'Of course I don't mind.' She took Joy's pen and then paused. 'What is your granddaughter's name?'
Joy looked confused and a little scared. 'It's Polly.'
Nicola watched over Katie's shoulder as she wrote:
Dear Polly,
with love from Katie Hobbs xx
PS You have a very nice grandmother!
'Oh!' Joy's face was ecstatic. 'Oh! She'll think that is just out of this galaxy!'
She stood there for a few seconds looking at Katie's message and shaking her head in wonder, before collecting herself.
'Please follow me
and I'll take you to the dining room.'
She led them briskly through what seemed like a maze of endless marble corridors. Shimlara, with her longer legs, kept up easily, but the others had to jog along.
Finally they got to a pair of imposing doors. Joy opened them then stood to one side to let the Space Brigade pass. 'Enjoy your dinner,' she said quietly.
They walked into a room with a long dining table set with flickering candles, silver goblets and huge gold dinner plates.
'Ah, the Space Brigade!' Enrico came forward to greet them, smiling broadly. He had changed into a white ruffled shirt and high-waisted black pants. His long brown hair was brushed out and fell to his waist. A woman and two children a few years younger than the members of the Space Brigade followed in his wake. The woman seemed to be covered in diamonds. She wore a chunky diamond necklace, diamond bracelets and diamond clips in her thick brown hair, which was so long it hovered only a few inches above the floor. The children, with the same long brown hair falling sleekly over their shoulders, seemed virtually identical, except that one was a girl in a pink satin dress, while the other was a boy in a tuxedo. 'My wife, Carmelita,' said Enrico. 'And my twin children, Josie and Joseph.'
They all smiled identical white-toothed smiles.
'This is the way they greet each other on Earth,' said Enrico to his family, and he pounded his feet on the floor. His wife and children copied him obediently. This is getting ridiculous, thought Nicola, as she and the rest of the Space Brigade stamped their own feet halfheartedly - except for Sean, of course, who stamped his feet so enthusiastically you would have thought he'd been greeting people that way for years.
'I do hope we've made you comfortable,' Carmelita said graciously as she shook each of them by the hand. She stopped at Katie and held her hand for a few seconds longer. 'Ah. Do let me know if any of the staff has bothered you for signographs. It is expressly against the rules!'
'The staff have been wonderful,' said Katie carefully.
'Please,' said Enrico. 'Sit! You must be famished!'
They all sat down. Nicola noticed that Josie and Joseph made sure they were sitting on either side of Katie.
Enrico clinked his knife once against his goblet and suddenly the room was filled with scurrying servants carrying large trays above their heads. Nicola barely had time to say thank you as her glass was filled with something sparkling and her plate was covered with all types of strange, exotic food.
She looked over at Sean, who was looking horrified. His favourite foods were hamburgers and pizza and he stubbornly refused to eat anything he considered unusual. It was going to be fun watching him try to eat this stuff. Nicola swallowed a giggle and Sean discreetly poked his tongue out at her.