She matched his straight face. The bears had been terrifying mysteries, until they caught someone and tore them apart. Then at least you could find them, by tracking the chewed gobbets of red meat that floated around the corridors, borne along in invisible stomachs.

"Stacy brought along invisible bears, kept them locked away and fed somewhere for who knows how long, and let them get loose and savage the crew rather than help us recapture them. And why? Because somehow, in that squishy green brain of hers, she knew that we'd have to negotiate a treaty with a species that worshipped bears, especially invisible bears, and most especially invisible bears that could perform the Sacred Ritual of the Ball and the Unicycle."

Ever try teaching an invisible bear to dance? Now, that had been hysterical - in the flailing-madness use of the word, not the humorous one.