The Cosmotix 2198

by Billy Purnell

  They got right down to business. What they had to lay out first was the timeline. Mira’s procedure was going to be on the ninth, which meant they would have to leave straight from the Rochaus after the gig Saturday. They would need to be packed up and ready to load onto the skybus right after the gig. They had to account for possible delays, and three days was cutting it close, but they would pick up an extra day entering Earth Standard time. Reena had already arranged the high-speed charter.

  “I just looked it up tonight. If we stay on Earth a couple of days, the flight to Ceres2 will only be about thirteen hours,” said Jim.

  “Really?” said Reena.

  “Yeah, perigee is on the twelfth. Doesn’t make sense to leave before then.”

  “Well, that’ll save me a few bucks!” Reena looked at Corey. “And maybe I get to meet the parents?”

  “I’m sure mom would love to meet you,” said Corey, “but she certainly won’t be at her best. Gotta play that one by ear.”

  “And dad’s a hard-ass, so you’d better bring Jim with you,” said Pel.

  “I’ve got a cousin in Australia I can visit, but I can tag along at the hospital if that’s better,” said Jim. “Or I’ll just check out post offices and see if my picture’s still on the walls.”

  “What’s a post office?” said Pel.

  “Old Earth joke,” Jim replied.

  Corey raised his beer. “To the survival of mom and Earth!”

  “Cheers,” from everyone.

  “Good call, bro,” from Pel.

  “You talk to your family, Reena?” asked Jim.

  “Yes, they think I’m nuts,” she laughed.

  “Well, they’re right,” Jim responded.

  “What, their daughter wants to illegally jet to a fake asteroid to talk with some alien beings about killing their own people? I don’t see what’s nuts!” Corey said.

  “You can’t see your nuts?” Pel cracked.

  “Oh God, don’t start with the nut jokes,” moaned Jim.

  “Pel! Corey!” Reena yelped. They looked over at her, and there it was…the stupid face.

  “You taught her the stupid face?” cried Pel, looking at Corey. “Is nothing sacred anymore?”

  As they concluded their conversation, it was Jim who asked the question nobody had asked.

  “Anybody scared?”

  Pel raised his hand. “Is there a window on that ship that I can vomit out of?”

  Jim would give the boys a ride back to the hotel.

  * * *

  Uma Shankar was up before the sun, packed and ready to leave Mexico City and be in Washington DC for a breakfast meeting with the President. She had just met with Presidenta Murillo last evening to discuss strategy for the upcoming months, and it had gone very well. She found Murillo to be knowledgeable and motivated and knew they had the right person for the job. Yolanda Murillo was in agreement with President Cardigan’s desire to put popular faces on the front of the Defense First Initiative.

  The World Vote had only been used three times since its inception, all regarding territorial disputes. This time the solsys would be voting on how to save the Earth. The approval of any plan would demand the trust of the people, and government simply did not wield that kind of faith. That power rested with the celebrities of the world: singers and playrocs, actors, holomakers, spiritual leaders, sporters, tekkers, gamers, comedians, infotainers…real people that the masses could relate to.

  “Mr. Kessler,” she said.

  “Ms. Shankar, good morning.”

  “I want you to hover one more name; do you have a minute?”

  “Yes, of course. Who is it?”

  “Her name is Reena Coolie; she is a Titanean singer.”

  “Reena Coolie? My sister is a big fan, I know who she is.”

  “What do you think?”

  “Well, she’s not the biggest star on our list for sure, but she is adored by her fans. They call themselves Coolers.” He clicked a few buttons to check current events. “I doubt she has any real political agenda, and she did work for Cardigan’s campaign in a small way.”

  “Would you say she can be persuaded?”

  “Not really, not if she doesn’t believe in the plan. I don’t think so.”

  “Can you go deep on her before I get there, please?”

  “Yes, Ms. Shankar, no problem. I’m looking now, and it says here that she is currently on holiday on Titan.”

  “I’ll be there within the hour, thank you Rony.”

  “You are welcome. Enjoy your flight.”

  Uma had a good feeling about including someone from Titan, and with a quick search had found Reena’s name. Titan had a substantial Latino population and a strong influence on the Outer Rim, whose vote would carry a lot of weight. Uma would bring all this up at the upcoming meeting, and as her artiman picked up her travel bag, she dissolved her documents into a top-secret file in her tablet.

  15

  LAST NIGHT

  Tonight was going to be the last night at the Rochaus, and Corey didn’t know how to feel. Everything around him seemed surreal as he packed up the stinger to take the walk over to the gig. All his bags were packed against the wall, along with Pel’s. Food items were placed in containers, and the floor was autovacced.

  He was going home. Well, at least to Earth. Saturn’s favorite moon had given him a rush like nothing he’d ever had in his life, and it had given him Reena. Titan would be with him forever.

  He stepped outside to find the temperature a silky 24 degrees Celsius, with autobreeze at 15k, which made it a little windy. It was cleaning mode; once a week or so the breeze was made stronger for a few hours to move and clean the air. It felt good, Corey thought, as he stepped onto a hover to cross Robert Zubrin Avenue. As he glided across the wide thoroughfare, he looked up to see Saturn almost entirely obscured by tonight’s low altitude climate shield. It was a different feeling when you couldn’t fully see the giant, but it almost seemed appropriate for their last night there.

  He stepped off the hover, walked to the front of the Rochaus, and just stood and stared. Moon is where I began, but this little club is where my life begins. There’s a song there. He held up his wrist and snapped one more photo for the record before heading around back to the staff entrance.

  “Corey, may I have a word with you?” Jon said as Corey entered the green room.

  “What’s burning, Jon?”

  “I wanted to say that I wish you luck on your journey. I am sorry we will be apart, and if I could, I would stay with you and try to help in any way possible.”

  “Thank you, Jon. I know. Ari’s going to need help too, and I’m glad you’ll be with him. Hopefully, this isn’t the end of the band, right? I’m sure we’ll see each other again.” He wasn’t.

  “Yes, after all, there are only twenty-eight billion people and nine hundred million artimen; I’ll probably run into you at the nail salon,” said Jon.

  “Oh, now you get funny, Mr. Artiman!”

  “An artiman owned by Ari, who is a great music programmer, but may need help in the humor department I think,” said Jon.

  “Well, then, can I buy you a drink before we go on?” asked Corey, smiling.

  “Green Goose martini up, two olives, a little dirty,” said Jon.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s Grey Goose, Jon…”

  An epic night at the Rochaus was about to get underway. By now, publicity on The Cosmotix had reached a fevered pitch, especially with the news that the brothers’ mom was having medical trouble, and that the band would be leaving. Rumors had also been circulating that Reena Coolie was involved with Corey Jagger-Seven and that she would most likely be there tonight. The line around the building was an indication of just how hot the story on this band had become, and one person to take notice of that was Aristotle Lopez. As disappointing as all this was, he certainly had to acknowledge that once again he was a small part of history because Titans would be talking about this for a long time to come. “Everything has a rea
son,” he thought.

  As Corey and Pel approached the backstage area, they were ecstatic to look out at the biggest Rochaus crowd yet. Corey was tapped on the shoulder by a tall, dark-skinned man in a business suit who introduced himself as Yonny Wester.

  “I’m the mayor of Zubrin, and I wanted to personally wish you luck with your mom. I’m going to introduce you onstage tonight.”

  “Moons, that’s hivol! And thank you,” said Corey, and the boys took turns shaking the man’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “The pleasure is mine...for such a short stay, you boys have made quite an impression! We’re hoping you’ll be back.”

  “We are too, Mr. Mayor,” said Corey, as the rocjoc began to announce the mayor onto the stage. The crowd applauded. He was a pillar of the community and well-liked, not only in Zubrin and Shangri-La County but all of Titan proper.

  Yonny Wester was a miner, not a politician. He knew what the local families needed and wanted out of their government, and he gave that to them as much as he could. Yonny was very involved in charitable activities and helping businesses get started, but beyond that he left the people alone, which was part of what they needed as well. An image of his face hovered over the dance floor as he walked onstage.

  “Fellow Titans, citizens of Zubrin, Goodluck and Tres Lagos, and all the surrounding communities, are you ready to roc?” exclaimed the mayor. The crowd cheered.

  “When I first heard of this rocband a few weeks ago, it didn’t kavool to me that they would have such a dazzling effect on our little homerock. They have entertained us, they have been part of us, and way too suddenly they must be leaving us. It is visitors like these young hooders that keep us connected to the solsys, and keep us feeling proud to be part of the human condition. We are going to miss them. Now it’s time to show them your appreciation and enjoy the evening. Please give a bangbang to The Cosmotix!”

  It was a sincere introduction but not exactly concert quality, and the applause was a little on the polite side. The boys had strapped up, and the first beat went down right away, so that gave the room a little push. Both dance floors filled immediately. Jim had opened another area and called in a few off-duty employees to accommodate the overflow of people. The drinks, the food and the credit were flowing, and Jim remembered the days Reena Coolie played here herself. Those were massive crowds, and it wasn’t that long ago.

  Corey was holding his mic stand and leaning forward, singing right into the face of the crowd.

  This time love is gonna win, and no one’s giving in

  This time we’re tearing down the walls…

  It was a song written mostly by Pel, with a little help from Corey. “Why not start with one of ours, now that we have the full attention of Zubrin?” Corey reasoned. People liked hearing new music, but in the dance club scene it was risky playing songs that weren’t familiar. There had been a massive spike in Lunar Tunes downloads that week, however, and it was from local Titan communities. Corey was confident.

  A very large, bright “The Cosmotix! We’ll miss you!” hovered over the main dance floor, twirling, twisting and reappearing backward and forward. It was a beautiful combination of laser, nanoplasts, and trilites. It spun its way to the stage and broke into four shapes, each one settling next to one of the guys and taking on his exact holographic image, giving the appearance of four sets of twins on stage.

  Boom, shock…boomshock, boom, shock…boomshock came the drums, and Corey picked up his stinger and strapped it on as he yelled to the crowd, “This one’s for all the miners and crossers in the house tonight!” They slammed into a cover of the famous hit Workin’ for a Living, by Huey Lewis and the News in the twentieth century.

  Ari was enjoying the evening. He was actually getting choked up witnessing the impact his band was making on his home planet, and a feeling of appreciation for the brothers was welling up inside him. He always knew that quality was better than quantity, and though this gig was short, it really had been fantastic.

  Ari’s work was showing his feelings...he was on fire. He was hitting keys and choosing patches like there were twenty thousand people in the room. He even pulled his mic close to do backup vocals on twice as many songs as he usually did, which blew everyone away. It was great to see Ari having fun, Corey thought.

  Jon started the last set with an incredible drum solo, slowly at first. Boom Bap, BoomBap, getting the crowd clapping, then BoomBap bap bap, Boombap bap bap, accelerating the tempo bit by bit until it was at lightning speed, using every pad on the panel with accuracy only an artiman could produce.

  The audience erupted in cheers, and Jon slowed it down to a more even pace as Corey, Pel and Ari walked out on to the platform, bringing the room to a crescendo that seemed unbeatable. But it wasn’t. A more deafening high-pitched wail exploded as Reena Coolie took the stage.

  “Rochaus, did you miss me?” she yelled.

  A wall of screams.

  “Bangbang for The Cosmotix, right?” Smack kak, these guys!”

  The crowd started in, “Ree-na, Ree-na, Ree-na” and Corey put his arm over Reena’s shoulder, standing as close to her as he possibly could. He grabbed her mic.

  “I can’t believe I am actually on stage with this legend!” he yelled. They screamed again, then changed the chant.

  “Co-rey, Ree-na, Co-rey, Ree-na!”

  “Don’t believe the rumors!” Corey yelled, “we’re just good friends!” Reena laughed.

  “I mean, really, me?” he continued, “just look at her! She’s out of my solar system!” They kept screaming.

  “He’s right,” Reena yelled, making the audience even louder. Then she grabbed Corey’s face with both hands and planted a smothering kiss on his lips. They went absolutely nuts.

  “Oooops!” she yelled.

  They started in on Rock and Roll, from an ancient Earth band called Led Zeppelin. Wrists went up, and both dance floors flooded immediately as the crowd surged forward to be right in front of the stage. Reena gave them a show, strutting the stage, jumping off to the floor and dancing, and the band looked on with huge smiles and sweat already pouring again.

  Been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely time…

  The ending came with a flurry of drums, Pel’s fingers thumping bass notes at 100kph, Ari’s orchestral cascade, and Corey and Reena going to their knees, with Reena killing the vocals and Corey shredding the stinger. BOOM, lights out and song over. The crowd kept screaming, “Ree-na, Ree-na, Ree-na.”

  The night went on like this until closing, only slowing down at the end when Reena, who had left the stage and gone into the green room, came back one more time for a farewell song. She chose Paper Hearts, written and made popular by Tori Kelly on Earth in the early twenty-first century, but covered by so many artists since then, the latest being Reena herself. The crowd quieted and everyone on the dance floor sat down to watch and listen, as this singing phenomenon brought them to tears.

  I hate this part, paper hearts…and I’ll hold a piece of yours

  Don’t think I would just forget about it…

  She melted the ending, and after the applause, the air was still. Everyone knew the band was leaving, and they all wanted to hear what the playrocs had to say. Reena waved and stepped back, and Corey came to the mic.

  “Goodnight, Titan, and thank you for being so supportive of us.” His voice cracked. He took a bow and blew a kiss, then stepped back, overwhelmed. If he could have five more moments like this in his life, Corey thought, it would be a life worth living.

  “You guys are the best thing that has happened to us,” said Pel, “and I really mean that. It’s been a pleasure!”

  “I want to say ‘thank you’ from the bottom of my heart to my home planet…you are amazing!” that from Ari. “We’ll be back!”

  Corey looked at Ari and smiled, wondering what made him say that.

  Jon added, “Your dogs are not on fire!” which Ari had to follow with, “um…you
had to be there.” Apparently many were, as it got a great response.

  The rocjoc fired up the goodnight music, and the brothers, drenched with sweat, were already grabbing their instruments and cases. They hadn’t seen Jim since halfway through the second set, so they assumed he was getting ready. Ari was packing up his gear slowly, mostly talking to friends and patrons. He could leave his stuff overnight and get it in the morning.

  Jon walked up to Corey and Pel and exchanged hand-slaps, with Corey saying, “Good man, Jon. My man.” Pel said the same.

  “Best of luck to you on your journey, boys,” said Jon. “I look forward to seeing you again. I have something for you.” Just then their wrists both buzzed, and floating in front of them was the beautiful picture of Saturn that Jon had taken on their first day.

  “Thank you, Jon.” Corey welled up inside and turned his head away for a second. “You’re…you’re very special to me. I mean, I must admit I don’t know many artimen, but you took me by surprise. You have become my friend, someone I would want by my side in any situation. I know so few people like that.”

  “I’m truly happy that you feel that way about me. You never know what may become of an artificial person, but my files are always there, in one form or another,” said Jon. “You always know how to find me, no matter what I am.”

  “I will, I promise. I’ll track your files even if you get assigned to Pluto as an ice borer.”

  “Well, let’s hope that doesn’t happen.” Jon stretched his face to make the best smile he could, and they hugged and did a hand-slap. Corey turned and walked away.

  With instruments in hand, the boys made their way back to the green room where Reena was waiting.

  “We’re going to mag a groundcab to get to the skybus,” she commanded, “I don’t want to attract attention here. Pol will load your stuff out.”

  The boys agreed, then made a final walk to the stage area to say goodbye to Ari and the employees of the Rochaus. Ari was waiting on the stage.