 Was Akroida like the rest of the scorpions?
Insect-like creatures who manifestly migrated there from some other system and who inhabit the Red Spot of the planet, floating in some kind of artificial anti-gravity field in the gaseous portion of the atmosphere—" I snorted. That whole Kooleen caper: Had it been just a trap to lead me straight to this? Those inhabitants were charming, just charming if you like scorpions. Well, a cross between a scorpion and a grasshopper, to be accurate. No doubt they had it figured that I'd gratefully throw myself into a sea of ammonia among man-size scorpions just for the hell of it. Those emeralds were in the inner shrine of the super-sacred, super-secret temple of the cavern-dwelling tribe of Killicuts on Mars—the real aborigines.
 No - she was larger and meaner
 Yes - they were all enormous and vicious  Yes - they were all purple and covered in jewels  No - she was larger and meaner  No - she spoke better and was prettier