'Yes?' he said politely.
The stranger sighed. 'You're supposed to shake it,' he said.
'I am? Why?' 'It's traditional. My name's Dorcas del Icatessen.' The stranger gave Masklin a lopsided grin. 'Do you know yours?' he said.
Masklin ignored this. 'What do you mean, you watch humans?' he said.
'I watch humans. Study them, you know. It's what I do. You can learn a lot about the future by watching humans.' 'A bit like the weather, you mean?' said Masklin. 'Weather! Of course, weather!' The nome grinned hugely, 'You'd know all about the weather. Powerful stuff, weather?' 'You've heard of it?' said Masklin.
'Only the old stories. Hmm.' Dorcas looked him up and down. 'I reckoned Outsiders'd have to be a different shape, though. Life, but not as we know it. You just come along with me. I'll show you what I mean.' Masklin looked slowly around the dusty space between the floors. This was just about it. He'd had just about enough of it. It was too warm and too dry and everyone treated him like a fool and now they thought he was the wrong shape.
'Well-' he began, and under his arm the Thing said, 'We need this person.' 'My word,' said Dorcas. 'What a tiny radio. They get smaller all the time, don't they.' Where Dorcas led them was just a hole. Big, square, deep and dark. A few cables, fatter than a nome, disappeared down into the depths.
'You live down here?' said Grimma.
Dorcas fumbled in the darkness. There was a click. Far above, something went bang and there was a distant roaring sound.
'Hmm? Oh, no,' he said. 'Took me ages to sort out, did this. It's a sort of floor on a rope. It goes up and down, you know. With humans in it. So I thought, I'm not getting any younger, all those stairs were playing gyp with my legs, so I had a look at the way it worked. Perfectly simple. It'd have to be, o' course, otherwise humans wouldn't know how to use it. Stand back, please.' Something huge and black came down the shaft and stopped a few inches above their heads. There were clangs and thumps and the now-familiar sound of clumsy humans walking about.