* * *
The air had turned chilly as Corey arrived back at the hotel. As he entered the lobby, he was surprised to find Ari seated at a table reading a paper book, as if he was waiting for someone to arrive. Behind Ari was a flowing waterfall, and above him was a beautiful holographic layout of the solar system. It turned out Ari was indeed waiting for someone. He was waiting for Corey. Corey was happy to see him there, but it was late, so he figured there must be something on Ari’s mind.
“What’s goin’ up, Ari?”
Ari stood to greet his friend, and he set his book on the table. He gave Corey a hand-slap and said, “Have a seat, kakooi.”
Corey sat down, opened his legs, and planted his feet flat on the floor. He put his arms on the armrests, palms down, assuming the position of one who was incredibly confident, satisfied, and ready to talk, and he looked at Ari and smiled.
“Good Hater Day, huh? You were on it tonight, Airman.”
“Thanks, Corey...hey, I wanted to talk to you about something. You got a minute?” It was going to be more than a minute.
“Thoroughly...you ok?”
“Yeah…” he hesitated. “Ok…I know you just met Reena but it looks like you guys are going light speed. Jim and Pel told me… and Corey, that is really tight.” He looked down.
“What…what’s tight mean?” asked Corey. Maker Me, I knew it. Too soon. He introduces me to his friend, and I pounce like a vulture. I suck.
“You know, smack, moon-ass...it’s old Earth. Or it can mean bonded, you know, like a relationship. Like ‘you and me are tight, bro.’”
“So it’s a good thing?” Whew. He loved that Ari knew all this old Earth stuff, but sometimes he needed a translator.
“Anyway, I know you and Reena are making flames, so I just wanted to tell you something. It’s no big deal, but when I was with her band, I was burning on her so fullon that I let it ruin my job. I thought she was the universe, and I…I thought she was burning on me too. She was just so friendly, so open, and when she smiled at me or touched me, I would lose my mustard every time. I began driving her home after gigs and going to parties she was going to, ya know, as part of the band…” Ari was visibly upset now. “I started calling her, just to hear her voice, and driving by her house, …following her.”
“Wow, like vulching?”
“In the year two thousand they would have called me a stalker.”
“No, no Ari, come on, that’s not your style.”
“No, it’s not,” said Ari, “but there was another candle on that cake. I was drinking, and I mean drinking...Tennessee Jack and that kind of stuff. I should’ve stayed synthetic, but I was craving that confidence, that swag, and I was becoming obsessed. We would go to an event, and every time a guy would start talking with her, I would have to take over the conversation or leave the scene completely. My sleep pattern was a mess, my drinking was bumping, and then…” Ari was about to cry.
“Hey, you ok? Just tell it, mate, we’re good.”
“Sorry, man. We were at Saturnland in Trinitium Valley. We had just gotten off the Skateboarder, and it was getting late, and it was an hour back to Zubrin. I…well I bought her a Mellow, and we sat at a picnic table. Dude, it just spilled out of me. I showed her my bones. I told her how I felt. I said there has never been, and will never be another girl for me. I read her a poem I wrote for her. I told her I was the best of Titan on the keys and controller board, and she was the most amazing singer Titan has ever seen, and how could that be a coincidence? I would run the stage and she would run the business, and we would go to Earth together and find fame and fortune. Her career was just beginning to develop and so was mine, and this was going to be a journey we would make together. We were made for each other. Then…”
“I’m listening.” Corey could see what was coming.
“She said I’m a good friend, but that’s not how she feels about me. She said she just can’t go there.” Ari looked down again.
Corey’s feelings were in a state of war. On one side, he felt the agony of his friend and business partner, but on the other was the joy of knowing that Reena was his, not Ari’s. Right now he needed to be at his friend’s side, to be a good listener. He still wasn’t sure why Ari wanted to tell him all of this.
“That must have hurt,” Corey said, quietly, sincerely.
“Cor, it crushed me. It was like I jumped from New York Upper without a pack. My heart caved. I was so lost, so embarrassed, so devastated.”
“Pretty hard to just move on like nothing happened, I know. Your whole world changes, and-”
“I fucked everything up, Corey! I fucked it up! My career, my goals, my self-esteem. Biggest gig of my life and I threw it away.”
“What? Ari, help me out, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I thought-”
“I got drunk before a major rehearsal, Corey! The Mars One concert in Madagascar, the rehearsals in Johannesburg. I was hanging out at this day club and everyone knew me and we were partying. I felt so good, so important. But I drank, on an important day. I was sure I could handle rehearsal, and I was good when I got there, but…
“Nobody knew I had been drinking. But they decided to go with a different arrangement on a couple of songs I had slaved over, and I got stomp about it. I had a word with the promoter, but I wasn’t exactly diplomatic and he was an asshole. He made the decision, and I went nuts. I knocked over instruments, jumped off the stage and pushed over tables, took on a security guard and got a punch to the face that landed me chest up and out cold. In the morning, I learned that I was no longer a member of the Reena Coolie band.”
Corey let several seconds pass. “Moons, not your best day, huh?”
“That’s an understatement,” said Ari.
“I thought you played the One Mars show.”
“Nope.” Ari’s face brightened a little. “You know Frettie King-Five from The Skycars? She hired him,” he said, looking just slightly proud to have been replaced by a current superstar. “He only had a couple days to rehearse. That dude’s rad.”
Ari looked back at the floor and continued, “I’m just saying this because if you and her are binary you’re probably going to hear it anyway, and I don’t have to keep it secret from you. She and her team were very cool about not letting it get out there to the solsys. But if it comes up when we get to the next level, you need to know so you can say what you need to say to the media. I also want to warn you that you should guard your feelings until you know how she feels, I mean really feels.”
There was no way Corey was going to tell him about tonight, but he wondered how far Ari’s “relationship” with her had gone. She didn’t seem like it, but maybe she was one of those girls that can really lead a guy on. He had a sudden thought.
“Did you ever kiss her?” Idiot, why did you ask that?
“What?”
“Nothing, I just-”
“Cor, if I would have kissed her, I would have had her baby.”
Corey cracked an unwanted smile and put his hand over his face to hide it, but he couldn’t. He went head down with a laugh and would have felt guilty, but Ari did the same thing. This guy’s the prime cut, Corey thought, the real deal.
Regaining his composure, Corey looked into Ari’s eyes and said sincerely, “Ari, you don’t need to go priest with this; you acted the same way many guys in the solsys would. I mean yeah, ok, the night in Madagascar was out in perimeter four, but it happens. People are people and women just suck, you know?”
They both burst out laughing again. Ari couldn’t believe Corey said that. There was a long pause, with Ari seemingly examining every crease and stitch in his shoes, until he finally lifted his head and said, “thank you Corey...thank you for listening, and watch your six.” He got up from his chair, gave Corey a hand-slap and a hug, and said goodnight as he walked toward the stairs.
Corey knew that “watch your six” meant “keep on the lookout for danger,” but he had no idea how that saying must have come about. He
remained for a bit, sitting back in his chair and thinking about what Ari said about Reena. He knew in his heart that everything could come tumbling down, of course. Nothing is certain in love, but love. Song lyrics? The problem was, he didn’t know if he had it in him to “watch his six.” His guard wasn’t just down, it was non-existent.
He watched the solsys display overhead and called to the young lady at the night desk to ask if she could turn down the external lights, which she was happy to do. There was no one else in the lobby. It made the display more stunning, and Corey took that in as he entertained fantasies about being with Reena among the stars.
The minutes passed. He might have fallen asleep right there in that chair were it not for a hum in his ear that jerked him to life. Reena.
Corey touched his wrist, and a big red heart floated in front of him for seven seconds. An ear to ear smile came to his face, and he was about to respond when another buzz came in.
“Telcom, origin Moon.” It was dad.
“Stand by for com,” Corey spoke out loud, and he immediately went to the hotel comcenter to return the call.
When he arrived, he swiped his wrist at the portal, touched the screen for Outer Titan and then again for long-distance Telcom. He acknowledged the payment was made on Moon, and the screen lit up with the face of Roy Jagger-Seven.
“Dad! Hey, how you-” the screen went blank.
“Dad?” Corey touched the screen. He said, “clear interference.” Nothing happened.
“Reset.” Nothing happened.
“Clear interference.” Nothing.
“Clear current interference.” Nothing.
“Telcom, what went wrong with the last outgoing call?”
The machine’s voice responded, “Tracking...signal interference is at origin, Concordia, Moon.”
“Take message,” from Corey.
“Ready.”
“Dad, got your call but no connection, please leave message room 141...end message.” With that he tried a few more touches, but nothing. Corey decided to call it a night, but he had so much emotion stirring in him from this evening that he wasn’t sure he could sleep. He was wrong.
* * *
“Roy, what happened?” Mira asked her husband.
“I saw him for a second, then it cut out,” said Roy.
“Did you try reset?”
“Yes my love, of course. I think it’s this force field they’re playing with.”
“They have no idea those force fields will do anything productive. Roy, we need a Telcom Plus subscription, we’re going to have to talk to the boys often, don’t you think? Oh, I wish this tour would never have happened,” she said. “We have to get them home now.”
“We should be glad they’re there, Mira. There won’t be an invasion on Titan. We’re the ones who should leave.”
“How do you know? We have no idea what they’re planning,” said Mira, gulping for air. She was always a worrier, but this had her shaking.
“If the government says they’re probably coming for the rock then I tend to believe them. I hope they don’t have a chance taking over the solsys, but if they can get to the quarry…” he paused. “The boys are safe; it’s us who have to make a plan. Mira, this tour is our boys’ life.”
Mira thought about that for a while. She wondered how her sons were doing on their new job, but also how they were dealing with the current events in the solsys. They were not raised to be passive about important events in general, much less those that involved their family. Of course, they probably hadn’t heard about any of this yet, she thought. She hoped that the boys were talking regularly, working the business and not just playing music, and that they knew they could always come home whenever they needed.
“What if they’re not coming here for the quarry? What if they want to inhabit Earth?” asked Mira.
“Well, they’ll be in for a fight. Earth is much harder to hit than Moon,” said Roy. “Those shields are pretty formidable. Mira, listen, we’re not going to just stand by and-”
“Roy!” she doubled over and went to her knees.
“Mira? Mira, what-”
“Get my injection, Roy... NOW,” she exclaimed, and she went to one elbow, then down on her back and closed her eyes.
Roy only needed a few steps to get to the medcab, where they kept her medication. He grabbed it, opened the lens and aimed it at her chest. He squeezed the stem, releasing enough cybercard to bring a large animal back to life. Mira heaved upward and yelled, “Oh God,” and fell back to the floor. Roy put his ear to her heart, and he heard the steady beat he wanted to hear.
“Mira? Mira?” he was in a panic.
She exhaled, slowly opening her eyes.
“Still here,” she said, very quietly.
Roy put his head to her chest and began to cry. This was becoming difficult and scary. “Maker Me, thank you, thank you,” he pleaded. He cried, she breathed, and upon securing her safety, he drove her to Blue Kaiser Concordia, where he knew she needed to be for now.
* * *
“Telcom, you’ve got a call…origin Moon.”
Pel pulled his head up from the pillow and touched his wrist. The face of his father floated in front of him, and he got up quickly and put pants and a shirt on. He would only be getting a call while sleeping if his father had ordered it, so he was heading for the comcenter. He opened the door, swiped the lock shut and walked quickly down the hallway, nervous about the call, especially after all the invasion talk. He entered the room and was surprised to find Jim Matthews sitting at the Telcom portal.
“Mr. Matthews!” said Pel.
Matthews was surprised as well. “Pel,” he said, “what are you doing up so early?”
“Actually, it’s late,” Pel smiled. “You’re using the portal?”
“Yeah, ours at the club isn’t working, this damn tech stuff. Talking to Ganymede but I’m done. By the way, Mr. Matthews is my son. Start calling me Jim.”
Pel chuckled. “I have to call home.”
“No problem, have a seat. I’m waiting for a return, so do you mind if I stick around? I can wait out in the lobby.”
Stick around...everyone talks weird out here.
“No, you can stay, I just need to talk to my father, probably short.” Pel turned to the portal.
“Welcome to Telcom...you are connected.”
Roy appeared on the screen. “Pel!”
“Dad, I was gonna call, what-”
“I only have a minute son. I’m routed to the hospital portal.”
“Hospital?” Pel felt a knot in his stomach.
“Mom had a relapse tonight; we’re at BK. They’re going to send us to Earth. She’s stable and she’s awake, but apparently her heart and lungs need to be switched out, and there is a complication.”
“What, what complication?” asked Pel.
“Her pacer leaked a little trinitium. Her hemos are not good. She’s going to need an anti-rad cleaning.”
“Moons, Dad, that’s serious...are you ok? Is Aunt Clarity there? Can mom-”
“We don’t know much yet, son. Clarity is going to meet us there in Denmark.”
“Can I talk to her, to mom?” Pel asked.
“She can’t talk, Pel...” His voice quivered. Pel looked away.
Denmark. That put Pel’s mind in a spin. Denmark is the best possible place on Earth to be when one is seriously ill, but needing to go there meant she was seriously ill. He began to wonder if-
“Is Corey with you?”
“No, he had a late night, probably pretty coma right now.”
“I wasn’t sure if you boys were sleeping, but I just-”
“Dad, no worries. I’m going to wake him.”
“Listen Pel, no. Let him sleep, and you too. We’re on mission with this. Tell him in the morning, and I’ll keep you posted, ok?”
Pel hesitated. “Ok, dad...thank you for calling. I mean that. And please, tell mom we are sending prayers, yes?”
“Of course I will. I want to
catch up with how you boys are doing, but not tonight, ok?”
“No, I understand. Hey dad, we’ll send a message in the morning for you to play for mom, ok?”
“That’s a good idea.”
“It will be all right dad. You get some sleep too.”
“Night, son.”
“Night, dad…”
“Telcom stop.”
Pel stared at the screen for a few seconds, then slumped forward and put his elbows on his knees.
“You ok?” from Jim Matthews.
Pel flinched. He had forgotten Jim was there. He turned to face his new friend, who had a concerned look on his face.
“No, yeah I’m good. I’m good. You need the portal?”
“Pel, I’ve really enjoyed meeting you and Corey. You are quality people, old school a little bit, you know? It’s easy to tell. You respect people, you have the Spirit in you, and I think you will both go far in life. I can tell you right now, if you need to go home, we can arrange that easily. I just have to get with that earthworm Jondess and make him do his job getting me a new band.”
“We have looked forward to this gig for a marsyear, you don’t know...” Pel hesitated. Don’t start crying, Pel.
“There will always be gigs for guys like you, man,” said Jim.
“We’ve worked so hard to get here. We thought Jondess was going to be a good connection, we thought Earth would notice us by the end of this tour…I mean, we’ve even met Reena Coolie.”
“Pretty easy on the eyes, that one, eh? She’s a bit uppity about the thing with the Foon. That young lady can help your band, I have no doubt of that, and she seems to be getting cozy with your brother.”
“Yeah, he always gets the bird.” Pel smiled, thinking about his brother. “But he doesn’t always know what to do with girls. He gets pretty shy. Hey, he’s making cycles with Reena though, and that can only be a good thing.”
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