by Aline Riva
“I love you, Jekel!” shouted a blonde girl who waved and then clutched at the young woman beside her looking equally thrilled as Jekel glanced her way and winked again.
“Blimey,” he said to the crowd, “I thought I was popular when I was an illusionist...but this is something else! Apparently I'm the new world's first cyborg celebrity...that's something I wasn't expecting! I'm going to hand you over to the screen behind me now,” he added, “For another brief word from Professor Blake Riley aka King Steel who is speaking to you from the palace ...See you all soon!”
As the screen struggled with a brief moment of static snow and then cleared to show Riley sitting in a palatial room as he personally welcomed the crowd to the festival, Jekel placed the microphone back on the stand and left the stage.
As he passed the barrier he paused, leaning over to hug several young women who were clearly – by their skimpy summer clothing – not at all cyborg, he enjoyed the brief moment of glory as his fans reached for him and he gave another woman a quick hug and told her to enjoy the show, then he went through a curtain to the backstage area, still feeling exhilarated from the rush of it all.
And then as he passed a band and their tall, rather stunning cyborg female vocalist who was all long purple hair and silver plated arms and wrapped in a small tight dress that made her legs seem to go on forever, he smiled at the singer and she smiled back, then he passed them and headed for the door that led outside at the back of the stage, where a seating area had been set up. Then he stopped, staring at the man who rose from a chair and walked towards him.
“This area is restricted,” he said, “And you don't have a pass...”
Jekel paused, his eyes growing wider as he took in the sight of the man's fine suit – his build was much like his own and the quality of his dark, tight suit in a shade of blue matched the one he had worn last year and was identical to his own... his silver tie bore a pattern of clock work wheels and cogs – and so did the small, thin veneer of silver fixed to the side of his head. Jekel blinked.
“No...” he said in disbelief as the man smiled.
“Let me introduce myself – I'm Kade Silk. Your number one fan, Mr Jekel.”
He held out his hand.
Jekel didn't accept it, looking at him in disapproval as he realised the guy had a hair cut identical to his own, same suit, same cybernetic veneer – but at least the engraving on it was different. His eyes were blue, not hazel and his hair a shade darker than his own...
“Who do you think you are?” Jekel fumed, “There's only one Ashley Jekel, and that's me – you've got no right to go around...cosplaying me!”
Kade raised his hand, pushing dark hair out of his sky blue eyes.
“I know that!” he said, “Let me explain – I used to be a captain in the city guard... got shot in the head...”
Jekel's anger simmered down as he realised the veneer that ran level with his temple was not just for cosmetic reasons. And at least it was on the right side, his own was on the left...
“You were injured in combat?”
Kade stepped closer, glanced over his shoulder to check no one else was about and then as the band started to play on stage, he shook his head.
“You want the truth? I was shagging a married woman and her husband objected. Let's just say the accident in a dark tunnel was no accident but my mother is Sylvia Payton, Vice premier of Freedom City so it won't happen again... She knows I chose to come here. I want to live and work here. I want a job in the expanding entertainment world of Cyborg Valley. And before you say another word, I said a job – not your job...”
“Well you could have gone for a look of your own instead of stealing mine!” Jekel said angrily, looking at the man who he guessed to be around ten years younger than himself, who could easily pass as his younger brother – if he had one, which he didn't....He wanted to find something to criticise about the younger man who was imitating him, but he couldn't find a flaw in his outfit, because the material was as fine as his own. Jekel drew in a breath, letting it out slowly as he calmed his anger to ask an extremely important question.
“Just tell me one thing,” he said intently, “Who is your tailor?”
“I have many sources,” Kade replied, “I'm lucky my mother is so privileged, I can get my hands on anything.”
“Well King Steel is my best friend and he has an android tailor who designs my threads -”
“I know. I read that in your second interview with the Freedom City News. It was in the fourth issue, back when the paper first came out.”
Jekel blinked.
“Next thing you'll be saying is you have a picture of me on your wall -”
“The one where you're in bed wearing nothing but a cheeky smile with the sheets just about covering your groin? Yeah, I needed that one – I wanted to see if I could recreate it. A few friends of mine reckon I did a good job. I've got a picture of it back at my room, I'll have to show it to you.”
Jekel's jaw dropped as he stared at him.
“You showed it to your friends? Why would you do that?”
“And my lover – the married woman. I'm still seeing her. You should have a look too!”
“No thank you - I don't want to see you half naked and copying me!” Jekel said.
Just then Steph joined them and smiled sweetly to Kade.
“I've missed you,” she said brazenly, well aware that Jekel was present, “Did you forget to send word to me again?”
“I've been busy,” Kade replied.
“You've been a naughty boy,” Steph said as Jekel looked on in surprise as the Culture Minister ran her fingers through Kade's hair, “Go straight to my room – I'm staying at the Bullet Plaza Hotel...see you in one hour.”
“I'll speak to you tomorrow about that job,” Jekel told him quickly, realising the young man obviously had connections, and then he walked out of the back exit and around the stage, past the crowds and smiled as he caught sight of his wife and four year old son who were waiting for him.
Joy:
I had seen it in his eyes as he walked towards me from the stage, that passionate and intense gaze of his, that look that went right through me as if to say, I was his and he was never letting me go.
But that was okay. Ash had changed so much since recovering from the connection failure that I hardly thought of his sudden turn from womaniser to obsessive, possessive lover as part of his lasting damage. He simply loved me and I loved him, too. And seeing him now, looking so well as he walked towards me with a sparkle in his eyes and that bright smile that told me this was the best day of his life, I had never felt more proud of him. This was Ash Jekel, back from the dead and enjoying his second, successful shot at fame – he wasn't just the first celebrity to emerge in this new world, he was also the first cyborg celebrity as the host of the Valley's Firelight Festival.
When the crowd had applauded him and I had seen that look on his face as he thanked the audience that stretched as far as Freedom City, for a moment I had thought back to those dark days when we all expected to lose him – but it only lasted for a moment and then the pain of yesterday was gone.
As he reached me and put his arm around me, he looked to the child who stood beside me, that little boy who seemed to have his smile and perhaps a hint of hazel somewhere in his dark eyes, he smiled down lovingly at his son and ruffled his hair, that hair that was a shade between mine and his fathers and happened to match his own.
Then I looked into Jekel's eyes and he pulled me into his arms and held me tightly, and the strength of his embrace made tears sting at my eyes as I recalled again how hard that brave man had fought back from death, to have a life at my side with the child he believed was his own. I had learned on the day we fought to save Sanctuary that I had been wrong about Ash Jekel - he was every bit as courageous as Captain Murdock – but it had taken that battle and its aftermath for me to understand that.
Seeing Ash in his fine suit with the tie and waistcoat patterned with the same cloc
kwork design that was engraved into the silver panel set at the side of his head, watching as he had played host to the most important event in the history of Cyborg Valley, I had felt undeniably proud of him and sure in that moment my love for him could not have been deeper.
I also wished in that moment that I had realised sooner, it was as if it was meant to be – that day in the ruined town when me and Murdock had found Jekel, wandering and bewildered. We had found the man who had saved Melissa, but at the time, we just didn't know it. I'd never stopped wondering what had happened to that man who had survived against the odds on the day the Howlers attacked – to this day I can still recall Murdock on the ramp of the war bird, yelling to Jekel to grab his hand...
And as Ash walked towards me, I knew it all made sense now, we had found him, Murdock had saved him – and now he was mine. Who would have thought it, Ashley Jekel, the man who had survived the destruction of the old world, the secret cyborg who had once been afraid to bear arms and fight, would turn out to be the one for me?
But as Ash held me and told me he loved me and I told him I loved him too, while my heart filled with warmth for him, deep inside there was an ache as I stood there, still embracing Ash, looking over his shoulder and up at the blue sky and thinking of the vastness of space beyond it, where somewhere, too far out of my reach, Captain Nathan Murdock knew nothing of the son he had left behind on earth, a boy whose middle name was Storm, to reflect the thunder and lightning in Murdock's warrior soul.
I keep wanting to tell Ash the truth, but the time never seems right. I will tell him one day and I hope that when I do, he will accept the truth in the way only a heart as kind as his can. But until that time, I can only look up and silently think of my son's real father, as I hold on to Ash Jekel and feel thankful we are still together. This day has been historic and while I know the future is still uncertain, having Ash at my side and Travis Storm Jekel to raise, makes it all worthwhile. It's so worth it, I don't even think about the barbed wire and the soldiers on the border and the tight controls that keep us here in the valley like prisoners.
I have my family.
For now, that is enough.
But still, as I embrace Ash, I think of Captain Murdock, who is travelling onwards, how could I not think of him, I'm still looking to the skies and thinking of the distance beyond it and a man I fear I'll never see again. I always think of him when I look to the skies - and I think I always will...
End