by Sean Platt
Kate swallowed. “Nanobots?”
She thought of the shuttle compartments, invisible to all but the most thorough prodding by human hands, and entirely invisible to the human eye. The machined surfaces were nearly perfect, and the micro-holograms projected to cover the minuscule gaps made the craft all but impregnable — again to human and known-mechanical inspection. But if the inspectors were now including armies of microscopic officers among their ranks…
There was a shrill noise in the booth. Kate looked at the shuttle, directly at the main concealed compartment. The inspector’s eyes followed hers then studied her face.
“Your heart rate seems to be climbing,” the inspector said, coming around to Kate’s side of the shuttle. They were side by side, the shuttle’s curved side to Kate’s right and Levy’s left. Right where most of the moondust would be if he found a good reason to look hard.
“I need my coffee,” she said.
But before the inspector could respond, Kate sensed movement in the corner of her eye. A new red line had appeared on the shuttle’s side, directly along the middle of the upper edge of the concealed hatch. As she watched with horror, the line spread and slowly traced the outline of the entire compartment door.
Inspector Levy looked at the red-outlined rectangle then at Kate. Behind him in the booth, his screen was still flashing with a stress alarm.
“Well now, Miss Rigby,” he said. “I guess we need to have ourselves a chat.”
Natasha folded one long, shapely leg over the other. Her tight red dress crept up higher on her thigh. She cocked her head to the side and ran a hand down her neck, behind her long red hair, and onto her chest. She appeared a sexy variety of exhausted, and in need of a cool beverage.
“Don’t pull that shit with me,” said Jameson Gray, sitting opposite Natasha. He was immaculately dressed in a black suit with a dark-blue shirt and a darker-blue band tie. His dark-brown hair was perfect, wet-looking, and slicked back. He had very white teeth, but Natasha had always found them more magnetic than odd.
“What?”
“Being all Jennifer Beals in Flashdance to try and get your way.”
“Who? And what?”
Jameson gave Natasha an over-the-top roll of his eyes and an exaggerated sigh. “You’re such a philistine, Natasha. I swear, if I didn’t love you so much, I’d never agree to help you with anything. You think Space Caper is the height of cinema. You listen to Samuel Bolton. Get some culture, you bitch.”
Natasha rolled her eyes back at Jameson. He was fantastically handsome, and his looks (natural, she believed; even without nanos he’d have been this charming in his actual thirties decades before) were a big key to his success. He’d made a fortune doing grand on-stage illusions for years before Natasha had come along to join him in the Beau Monde. Before that, he’d been a street magician with an appeal strong enough to engender a following that was almost cult-like. They called themselves “Jamesonites,” were mostly female and middle-aged, and probably all had poster images of him permanently displayed on their bedroom ceilings.
“I’m not being Fleshdance, or whatever.”
“Flashdance,” Jameson corrected. “Fleshdance was that bad burlesque show that used to play at Boys’ Town.”
“I thought they shut that place down?”
Jameson reached out and swiped at the end of Natasha’s regal nose. “Girls are so cute when they’re naive.” He straightened. “And yes, you are totally being vampy. You don’t even know you’re doing it. Is that how you get your way with Isaac?”
Natasha rolled her eyes. “I get my way with Isaac by doing what I want.”
“Is that what you’re doing now? Getting your way with Isaac? To show him you can do what you want?”
Natasha sighed then stood. She tried not to look at the large white bed across the room. It was Natasha who’d requested this encounter, and you couldn’t request a meeting and then insist on getting together in the other person’s space. She’d used one of her own Viazo spaces and hadn’t realized until Jameson’s avatar materialized in front of her that she’d accidentally put them in the bedroom where her cyber-lover, Andre, usually ravaged her. So far, Jameson had been discreet enough not to mention it.
“I’m planning my concert.”
“Your fuck-you concert?”
“My comeback concert.”
“Don’t call it a comeback. You’ve been here for years,” Jameson said, as if quoting someone.
“What are you talking about?”
“Seriously, Natasha. You’re as culturally bankrupt as a cave person.”
She put her hands on her hips and looked around the all-white room. The Viazo was able to blend surreality with reality, and to do it with the precision of the Salvador Dali paintings her brother-in-law loved so much. There was a window opposite them, opening to a pristine beach and crashing azure waves. But the window wasn’t actually mounted in a wall and simply hung in open space. As she paced, Natasha could see how it floated and how she could see the white room behind it.
“You’re the most Enterprise person I know, Jameson. So okay, I’m pissed at Isaac. But you of all people have to agree that it’s important to make a splash.”
“Yes. So you can humiliate your husband.”
“No, so that I can make a sensational re-entrance into Enterprise, where I should have been all along.”
“And thereby humiliate your husband.”
She put her hands on her hips. “You’re not listening to me.”
Jameson uncrossed and recrossed his legs, then fussily picked at a piece of lint that wouldn’t, of course, be there. Avatars were programmed to be as real and as close in appearance to their hosts as possible, but no one wanted lint or dust. Mites and their ilk had to stay in the real world, back where Natasha was a body lying in her office rig.
“Oh, I’m listening all right.” Jameson put his hands on one knee and looked up at Natasha with his dark eyes. Some of the crasser Jamesonites said that Gray could fuck you through your holo projector, using his eyes as a dick. Natasha had never understood what that actually meant, but sometimes, paradoxically, she looked into his eyes and understood it fine. “You just don’t hear yourself. The error is in what you’re saying, not what I’m hearing.”
“Jameson, you put on the largest, most elaborate, most lavish shows in the history of…”
“Because I’m an illusionist, hon.” Jameson stood, extended his right hand, and twiddled his fingers. Natasha watched as flame danced at their tips. Then, all of a sudden, Natasha felt her bra pop open. “Illusion is about creating flare to draw the eye while you go about what you’re really doing.”
Natasha swiped open a window and hit a single illuminated button to reset her avatar. She felt her breasts snug up against her again, where they belonged.
“That’s impressive,” she said.
“Don’t you remember when I made the moon vanish?”
“I mean that you can open a bra.”
“I’m a man of many talents.”
“And as a man of many talents, why don’t you tell me how what I want to do with my concert is any different from what you do at your shows?”
Jameson shook his beautiful head. “I create flash to sell tickets. You sing. You’re only insisting on flash to twist the knife.”
“I’ve lost credibility by being Directorate. You know what they say: ‘Go big or go home.’ If I don’t do something sensational, I’ll look like I’m crawling back. I’ll look like the loser.”
There was a table (white, of course) between the chairs. Jameson drew a rectangle on it using two sets of index fingers and thumbs then pulled his hands upward. The holo web they’d been using to plan the concert sprang into existence like one of Jameson’s old parlor tricks. He began to pull idea bubbles from the center and toss them aside. They rolled away like billiard balls painted in sap, rotating several times at the ends of his fingers and then falling still. He finally seemed to locate what he was looking for and rea
ched into the web’s center like a movie monster groping in a victim’s chest cavity to pull out his heart. He tossed it back at the web, and as the idea struck it, the web sloughed open around it like sluggish tenpins under a bowling ball’s assault.
Jameson pointed at the bubble then tented his showy magician’s fingers on its top to revolve it for Natasha’s inspection.
“No. Look. Integrity and trust. Remember that? It’s what we started with. Remember starting with integrity and trust…not big money and making a huge political statement?”
Natasha rolled her eyes and slumped back into the chair. This was so like Jameson. She couldn’t argue. Of course they’d started with integrity and trust. Jameson had asked her what had formed the cornerstone of her initial rise to fame and what she should base her comeback upon. Natasha herself had given the answer. The other cornerstones, tucked somewhere in the concert plan web, were vulnerability and humility. If she fought him, he’d bring those two up. And as much as her desired concert flew in the face of building integrity and trust with her fans, it really flew in the face of vulnerability and humility.
“But I need to make the political statement if I want to rebuild trust.” She paused then more quietly confessed her deeper issue. “I sold out, Jameson.”
“You did what you did. I didn’t go Directorate, but I’ve sold out plenty. I mean, think about it. Who makes the moon vanish? It’s such a huge illusion that everyone assumes I’m just having a cloud dropped into the sky in front of it or something. The bigger the illusion, the more time I spend trying to prove that the obvious tricks aren’t the ones I’m actually using. It’s a mess of explanation and starts to feel like I need a lawyer: ‘Mr. Jameson hereby certifies that he is not using any Beam-related means, weather control, camera tricks, lighting techniques or mirrors, nanotechnology, etc. to create this onstage illusion.’ How is that a real feat? Nobody can even get down to seeing the genius of how I actually do it because they’re too mired in the obvious things I’m not actually doing. But as stupid as it is, people love those big illusions. And darling, I promise you, there are plenty of days I’d rather be back to doing card tricks in Central Park.”
“How did you make the moon disappear?”
Jameson smiled.
“How long have you known me, Jameson?” said Natasha.
“Not long enough to violate the magician’s code.”
“I’m sure you’ve told the other bigwigs you know.”
Jameson made a large X on his chest with one finger. “Cross my heart, I have not. They aren’t magicians.”
Natasha swiped her hand through the holo web, scattering its pieces. She could undo the damage each had done and re-knit the interconnected idea bubbles, of course, but for now it felt great to break something.
“Dammit, Jameson! I don’t want to tone it down! I just don’t want to, okay?”
“If you make a huge splash with this concert, I’m telling you it’ll backfire. Even if you make millions and please a lot of fans, they’re going to be the wrong fans, and you’ll get exactly the wrong reaction. Your old fans used to be almost underground. Remember that? You got bigger, and earned mainstream fans. Lots and lots and lots of them. And look, you can please those people just fine with the big show you want to put on, with pyrotechnics and nano blast displays and a holo-immersive dance floor. You’ll get all sorts of Beam coverage; you’ll hit the top of the feed and cling for a week. Maybe more. Sales will explode…”
“Which is the whole point!” Natasha interrupted. She heard the whining in her voice and knew it as whining because Jameson hadn’t said what he really had to say. That was still coming.
“…for six months,” he continued. “Or a year. Two if you’re lucky. What then? Six years between Shifts is a long time, and a big, splashy — a big, mainstream — concert will do two things. One, it’ll make you hugely popular with that mainstream audience. And two, it’ll make up the underground audience’s minds against you. They’ll decide that if you’d sold out before by shifting Directorate, you’re really selling out now. Those people won’t see your return to Enterprise as a blow for what you feel is right. They’ll see it as you grasping for new and spectacular levels of income that wouldn’t be possible in Directorate. And believe me, Nat, people know how huge your Directorate dole is. If it looks like you’re coming back so that you can make more than that, it’s going to…”
“But that’s not why I’m coming back!”
“Why are you coming back, then?”
“I’m tired of the do-nothing Directorate atmosphere. I have no incentive there. No fire. I’m tired of their internal politics and the way they lift everyone up — well, up as far as the line, anyway — even if they’re useless! Only those who deserve to succeed should. Fuck the rest!”
“Well,” said Jameson with a smirk, “I wouldn’t let that particular speech into your press kit.”
“You know what I mean.”
Natasha realized with horror that she was near tears. You could configure your Viazo settings to prevent telltale emotional giveaways like tears and sweat and tumescence, but she rarely bothered. Usually when in this room, Natasha wanted to cry and sweat and tumesce as much as possible.
“Sit down.”
Natasha crossed her arms, blinking toward the hanging window.
Jameson reached out and touched her leg. “Please.”
She sat. Eventually, Natasha looked over, still blinking back moisture.
“I’m telling you this because I love you. You know that, right?”
Natasha nodded.
“You’ve already won. You made it on your own, and while some people will think you sold out by shifting to Directorate, many of those people will see things your way again if you shift back in the right way. You’ve proved your point to Isaac. You’ve proved the same point to yourself. You don’t need him, or his money. Okay? You’re on top here. Agreed?”
“Sort of.”
“‘Sort of.’” Jameson shook his head, repeating her words with disbelief then let it drop. “Look. The only way to lose now is to lose it for yourself. If you shift back and do it humbly and start with small concerts — and by small, I mean ‘Natasha Ryan small,’ which is still damn big — then you’ll win back all the underground fans who lost interest when you shifted to Directorate. Those loyal people give you a base to build a new career, not the fleeting resurgence of fame (and the inevitable has-been aftertaste that’s sure to follow) you’ll get by appealing to the masses. You say you’ve hated most of the songs you’ve written since being Directorate. Okay, fine. The fire will help you find the deep soul and heart I know you still have in there somewhere. But you can’t reach it with ego, sweetheart. You have to let it flower. Quietly.”
“I want to make a splash first then let it flower.”
“Doesn’t work that way. You’ll kill whatever integrity your true fans feel you have. Go big, and you won’t just be coming back in a less-effective way. You’ll be killing whatever chance you have of returning to the old Natasha. In your fans’ eyes, anyway.”
Natasha had crossed her legs and arms, her virtual body language closed. She tried to see above her anger. Was she thinking of her career and fans, or her pride? Did she want to gain respect or make a statement?
Natasha felt furious and petulant as Jameson watched her with his beautiful, kind, deep, and mysterious eyes. She didn’t want to consider the idea that he might be correct because it felt like a concession. If she shifted quietly and began doing moderately sized concerts again with new, hopefully more soulful material, she might regain her old following and reputation. But if she did that, it felt to her — and it would feel to Isaac — as if she’d given in. And as hard as this was, the idea of believing that she herself had sold out and failed to speak her mind hurt like a dagger in the ribs.
“I don’t need to make it too flashy, I guess.”
“And not right after Shift. Not prime on The Beam. No deals with the network pages.”
&
nbsp; “How am I supposed to get the word out with no press?”
“You’re Natasha Ryan. Believe me; word will get out just fine without you pushing it. If it happens that way, it’ll look like you were content to keep things quiet — a decision between you and Isaac and nothing more, certainly not a move to spark publicity — but that against those intentions, the story got around anyway.”
She shook her head. “I have to let them know, Jameson.”
He looked at her for a long time. Jameson had been light and almost joking throughout their chat but now looked dead serious, like a physician about to deliver bad news.
“I’m not going to convince you, am I?”
“To keep my comeback concert quiet? To hide my shifting as if I’m ashamed of it? As if I’m trying to slink back without anyone noticing?”
“No, Nat,” said Jameson. “To tone things down so you don’t look like a whore.”
“Now I’m a whore?”
Jameson sighed, shaking his head. “You asked me here to help you plan. We’re friends, so I was happy to help. Still am. But I don’t want to help tie your noose. You can keep doing that fine on your own.”
“Keep?”
“I need to go.” He stood, his immaculate black suit falling into perfect lines below his chiseled chin with its dark, shadowy stubble. “We’ll talk soon, okay?”
“Goddammit, Jameson!”
Before Natasha finished her words, his avatar had blipped out. In the final second, he’d glanced at the bed, and in that glance Natasha saw a thousand judgments at once.
She sat in the quiet room with her arms crossed over her chest, steaming. Tears began to flow, scouring her cheeks like acid. After a few moments, she swiped them furiously away.
She was Natasha Ryan, and this was her goddamned life. She’d do the concert her own way. She didn’t need Jameson’s help; she’d just thought it would be a fun thing for them to plan together. And why not? Of all the people in the world, Jameson Gray would understand. His wealth was a pie to her crumbs. His power and renown made Natasha seem like a nobody. He should have been the perfect person to help plot her triumphant return: Mr. Enterprise, who’d made his way by dazzling crowds and taking what he deserved.