At last, it is time to return to your work. A last-minute problem at Seattle-Tacoma Airport requires you to land at Vancouver, and to travel the last leg of your journey by train. You find your seat in a sparsely occupied first-class car, and settle in.
Just twenty minutes into your journey, a slim young man rises from his seat a few rows away and sits opposite you. He has moist eyes, and a slightly simpering air about him.
"Mr. .," he says. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Bertrand Gable." He gives you a limp handshake.
"Hello, Mr. Gable," you say. "How can I help you?"
"Perhaps we can help each other. I am a representative of the H'ssurru'ssurri—the race of extraterrestrial beings known as The Surgeons."
Next