"So much for building without interference," he said. "We agreed that this project wouldn't change midway through. Now it has, and I've got other commitments that I'm going to have to cancel because this is going off-schedule." I made soothing apologetic gestures with my hands. "Suneep, believe me, I'm just as upset about this as you are. We don't like this one little bit." He harrumphed. "We had a deal, Julius," he said, hotly. "I would do the rehab for you and you would keep the ad-hocs off my back. I've been holding up my end of the bargain, but where the hell have you been? If they replan the rehab now, I'll _have_ to go along with them. I can't just leave the Mansion half-done -- they'll murder me." The kernel of a plan formed in my mind. "Suneep, we don't like the new rehab plan, and we're going to stop it. You can help. Just stonewall them -- tell them they'll have to find other Imagineering support if they want to go through with it, that you're booked solid." Dan gave me one of his long, considering looks, then nodded a minute approval. "Yeah," he drawled. "That'll help all right. Just tell 'em that they're welcome to make any changes they want to the plan, _if_ they can find someone else to execute them." Suneep looked unhappy. "Fine -- so then they go and find someone else to do it, and that person gets all the credit for the work my team's done so far. I just flush my time down the toilet." "It won't come to that," I said quickly. "If you can just keep saying no for a couple days, we'll do the rest." Suneep looked doubtful. "I promise," I said. Suneep ran his stubby fingers through his already crazed hair. "All right," he said, morosely. Dan slapped him on the back. "Good man," he said. # It should have worked. It almost did. I sat in the back of the Adventureland conference room while Dan exhorted. "Look, you don't have to roll over for Debra and her people! This is _your_ garden, and you've tended it responsibly for years. She's got no right to move in on you -- you've got all the Whuffie you need to defend the place, if you all work together." No castmember likes confrontation, and the Liberty Square bunch were tough to rouse to action. Dan had turned down the air conditioning an hour before the meeting and closed up all the windows, so that the room was a kiln for hard-firing irritation into rage. I stood meekly in the back, as far as possible from Dan. He was working his magic on my behalf, and I was content to let him do his thing. When Lil had arrived, she'd sized up the situation with a sour expression: sit in the front, near Dan, or in the back, near me. She'd chosen the middle, and to concentrate on Dan I had to tear my eyes away from the sweat glistening on her long, pale neck. Dan stalked the aisles like a preacher, eyes blazing. "They're _stealing_ your future! They're _stealing_ your _past_! They claim they've got your support!"