Comet! (an Ell Donsaii story #5 )

by Dahners, Laurence

  Ell shook her head as if to clear it of all the confusion rushing through it. Despite her desire for something stronger than she’d been feeling, she’d thought of her love life as simple. She had two “kinda” boyfriends, neither one of which she thought she really loved. Both of whom she liked a lot but had certainly thought she wouldn’t have any jealousy issues over. Is what I’m feeling—jealousy?

  She heard a knock on her door and realized she’d closed it. Probably the first time it had been closed since D5R had opened. Ell didn’t want to talk to anyone! She tried to say, “Just a minute,” but what came out around the frog in her throat was only a croak. She tried again but as she said, “Just,” the door creaked open and Emma stood in the door.

  Ell tried to smile at her but Emma stared at Ell as if horrified. “Oh, Ell! I’m so sorry!” Emma stepped into Ell’s office and shut the door.

  Ell croaked, “What for?”

  “For the way I feel about Roger. I could feel it when you saw it in my eyes. I’ve been trying to suppress it. But I know sometimes it leaks out… Don’t worry, Roger hasn’t noticed.” Emma chuckled mirthlessly.

  Feeling like she was moving in molasses, Ell stood and put her arms around her friend. “I’m sorry too. I’m acting like a jerk. I’ve told you that I don’t feel strongly about Roger and it’s obvious that you do.” She sniffled, “I don’t… don’t know why I’m crying. I have no excuse for it.” She wiped her nose on her sleeve, “Roger deserves better than the way I’ve been treating him. He’s tried hard to, to… make me fall for him but I haven’t—I’ve just… taken him for granted. He’s smart, and he’s cute, and funny and loyal and I haven’t responded to him like, like—I don’t know—like I should have. And certainly I have no reason, no reason at all, to stand between you and him and your happiness.”

  Emma had tucked her head against Ell’s shoulder. Now she pulled it back and wiped her eyes on the back of a wrist. “You really don’t have to worry. I’ve been mooning over Roger for years and he’s never noticed. It’s been worse here lately, but I’ll get over it.”

  Ell pulled her head back to look Emma in the eye, “Do you remember what I was telling you at the Top of the Hill that night?”

  Emma sniffed and shook her head.

  “About the advice I’d gotten that men can be too timid to ask you out unless you make it obvious that you’re receptive to the idea? I don’t think you’ve made it obvious enough to Roger, heck I haven’t noticed and I’m a girl… I’m supposed to be in touch with these kinds of things...” She mused this last as much to herself as to Emma, wondering if she had something wrong with her own emotional senses. “Anyway, you don’t have to tell him you love him or anything scary like that. All you have to do is tell him you admire him. Once he knows you think he’s cool, his subconscious will do the rest.

  Emma’s eyes widened, “You’re saying I should go after him?”

  Ell nodded.

  “But he’s your… kinda, your… boyfriend.”

  Ell shook her head and almost whispered, “He’s my ‘friendly boy.’ I’ve been explaining us that way for a long time,” she managed a weak grin. “And I’m sticking to my guns. You go get him girl, if this old world comes to an end I want my two good friends to have been happy for at least a while.”

  The two friends hugged a moment longer then Emma borrowed a Kleenex and left Ell’s office. Ell closed the door again and sat down to cry a little longer, sad even though she felt guilty for being jealous over a guy she didn’t really love.

  Chapter Eleven

  Epaulding looked up as Mike Voight appeared in his doorway. “Tell me things are going better?”

  “Yeah. I haven’t done much.” He grinned, “The ass kicking you did before you turned them over to me worked pretty good. I’ve even heard one telling another, ‘You’re letting down the human race.’ We should be ready to send the first mission up in D5R’s launch craft in a couple more days. They were really grudging about selling us our ports, but they came through.”

  “Great, I’ll feel so much better when the devices are on their way. Where will they be meeting it?”

  “A little ways after it comes around the Sun. It’ll take us a couple of months to get to the sun at 22kps. We’ve got a problem that we didn’t think of before though.”

  Epaulding closed his eyes wearily, “Yes?”

  “At the rendezvous point the comet will be going more than 60kps.”

  Epaulding shrugged and looked at Voight curiously.

  “Our original plan was to match courses with the comet and set the weapon on it, then fire it at our leisure. But, with the ports we can only go 22kps which means we can’t match orbits. We’ll have to set off the bomb as the comet whizzes by at about a relative 40kps.”

  “Oh my God!”

  “Don’t get your underwear in a twist. Microsecond timing is simple for an AI. We should be able to set it off at the right moment without any trouble and the nukes we’re sending out are big enough that we don’t have to be perfect. It’s the old saw about ‘horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear weapons…’ close will be good enough.”

  Epaulding sighed, “But if you miss, you’ll only have one more chance. Start building number three.”

  “OK…”

  ***

  Ell arranged to contract out the machining of the iron cylinders that provided mass for the impactors. They had decided to stick with five kilogram impactors for fear of breaking up the nucleus of the comet using larger ones. These were 7.5 centimeters or three inches in diameter by about 14.5 cm or 6 inches in length. The pusher rocket consisted of a 7.1 cm port attached to the rocket nozzle. The large port was necessary to get enough fuel through, yet stay below the 22 meters per second restraint on flow rates through a port. The natural gas and air would be mixed on earth just before going through the port into the nozzle. Above the port were its electronics and some attitude jets and video cameras for guidance as well as the motor that unscrewed the impactor off the pusher. One more aiming camera was mounted on top of the impactor. One of the local machine shops also agreed to machine large numbers of replacement nozzles for their rockets because when they looked at the first ones that they were about to reuse they saw that there had been quite a bit of erosion of the nozzles from the long burns needed to accelerate the impactors up to 150 kps. Emma fabricated more circuits for the 150 kps ports to fuel the rockets. They obtained the entangled discs for the ports from the Portal Technology group. Nancy hired some temporary employees for a few days to help assemble the components including the video cameras and PGR chips of the guidance package to their respective ports and motors.

  Ell also sent out another rocket with a ten centimeter pop out port and placed it on the opposite side of the comet from the direction the impactors would be coming. Thus, after disengaging from the impactor just prior to its impact, instead of having to fly all the way back to where they had come from, the 7.5 centimeter pusher motors could just turn, retrorocket to slow themselves down and then go to that 10cm port to be sent back to Earth for refurbishing. A new rocket nozzle and another steel impactor and they would be good to go.

  To their surprise, Ell found herself back attending her classes and Roger started working on the effects of porting on animals and even plants again. It seemed weird to be doing those things when their world might come to an end in a few months but, they had to await delivery and assembly of the components for the impactor rockets anyway.

  Ell stopped Emma, “Hey, Velos is playing in Greensboro tomorrow night… Now that things have slowed down with the comet, you want to go?”

  “Go watch your triangle in action you mean?” Emma said with a twinkle. “Who are you going as?”

  Ell blushed, “I… I don’t know. He called ‘Belle’ and asked her to ask you to invite ‘Ell.’” She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, “How rude is that?”

  Emma put a hand over her mouth to stifle a snort. “So are you pissed because he isn’t hot fo
r ‘Belle’ or excited ‘cause he is hot for ‘Ell?’ Or…”

  Ell shook her head stifling her own giggle, “Or mad ‘cause he had the gall to ask me as ‘Belle’ to get a different girl to go to an event with him? It’s pretty confusing but the answer is… ‘yes.’”

  Emma broke into a full scale laughing fit. When she came up for air she moaned, “And I think my love life is messed up… At least I’m only being ignored by one man.”

  Ell frowned, “Do you think we should invite Roger?”

  “Oh my God no! I’d be the third wheel on a date!”

  “How about if you invite him?”

  “I can’t do that! He’d think I was your terrible friend!”

  Ell rolled her eyes, “OK, can we go without the love of your life?”

  Emma grinned at her, “Oh! You’re my terrible friend, to make light of my grief-stricken love life.”

  Ell sighed, “There’s no making you happy!”

  ***

  Gordon walked toward the break room behind the stage. Will Stancil, their manager stopped him with an excited look on his face, “Hey, Gordon, the gate is 5723 people! That’s capacity for this place! You’re killin’ ‘em!”

  Gordon pumped his fist, “Great! Hey do you know if Ell Donsaii picked up her comp tickets?” he asked hopefully.

  Will shook his head, “I know you think she started you on your way man, but you’re doing fine without her.” He slapped Gordon on the back of his shoulder, “Don’t worry, be happy.”

  Gordon didn’t want to admit just how badly he wanted to meet and speak to Ell in person. When he had first come face to face with her at the Cat’s Cradle, he’d been taken aback by her beauty. She’d always looked beautiful in the vids of her at the Olympics and in photos after, but he’d assumed that she had been extensively made up for those. Actually face to face with her, he’d blinked to realize that she didn’t seem to have any makeup on and looked even better than she had in the pics and vids! He often found himself daydreaming about how his newfound fame would allow him to be introduced to her. In his imagination she was entranced by his celebrity, minor though it was and… Well he wasn’t quite sure what would happen after they met and she was entranced by him, but it would be something good. When Gordon stepped into the dressing room he saw Joe Chan with Belle. His eyes darted about and found Emma. “Hey, Emma, is she coming?” He asked eagerly.

  Emma shrugged, “She said maybe.”

  Gordon’s shoulders drooped. “Dang, I was hoping.” His eyes swept over the three of them. “How are you guys?”

  “Good,” they chorused.

  Belle said, “You guys sound awesome!”

  “Yeah, we really owe Vic big time. I thought all we had to do was play and the engineer would take care of the rest but Vic really opened my eyes. He comes to most of our North Carolina shows and keeps teaching me things about acoustics.” He snorted, “The engineers hate me now because I have all these demands, but it’s working. Belle, I wanted to thank you for getting your Aunt to sponsor us and also for getting her to front Vic opening his bar.” He raised an eyebrow, “We’re gonna be his first act.”

  Emma turned to stare at Belle. She snorted, “Your ‘crazy aunt’ is part owner of a bar now?!”

  Belle shrugged, “She isn’t called my ‘crazy’ aunt for nothing. Vic’s place is gonna be a step down for you guys isn’t it? I saw the plan and it only holds 450 people.”

  Gordon drew himself up and held out his pinky, “Ah yes, but you must help the little people.” He threw his arms around Belle, “Like you and your aunt helped us out.”

  Belle hugged him back. He thought she seemed a little wistful. Her complexion seemed a little better, if only she hadn’t put on that weight over the summer he could really have gone for her. He turned to Emma, “Hey, if you could get a message to Ms. Donsaii, we’ve left a space open on the right side of our stage for her to dance.” He winked, “We’d like to keep building our reputation as the band that Ell Donsaii dances to.” He looked around at his bandmates, “Back out there guys?”

  As the band headed back out to the stage, Emma turned to Ell and grinned, “Well, what are you going to do?”

  Ell had been staring off into space. She pulled back, then grinned at Emma, “I think we should go out there and dance in the space they set aside.”

  Emma lowered her voice, “Are you going to do it as ‘Ell?’”

  Ell shook her head.

  Emma’s eyes widened, “Really?!” she hissed as if horrified and excited at the same time.

  Ell nodded, “We need a routine though.”

  Emma gaped, “We don’t have time to work out and practice a routine!”

  “It can be simple, here, do this.” To the muffled music from the stage Ell started dancing a simple routine based on the line dance they’d done together. Emma quickly picked it up.

  Joe said, “Why are you guys dancing back here? You can hear better out front.”

  Emma said, “We’re thinking we’ll go dance on the stage in that spot he saved for Donsaii. What do you think?”

  Joe’s eyes widened, “Oh man, Gordon’s been talking all night about how he’s hoping Donsaii’ll show up and dance there.” He shrugged, “But it doesn’t look like she’s coming… be better than nothing I guess.”

  Emma glared at him, “Joe! What do you think we are? Chopped liver? He should be grateful we’re willing to grace his stage. Right… B-Belle?”

  Ell nodded solemnly, trying not to laugh. “Just let us work out our routine, then you can take us out there. Right Joe?”

  “Oh man. I’m too sober! I should have had a drink!”

  Ell and Emma worked a little longer on their routine, then one of Ell’s favorite Velos songs started and she said, “Let’s go!”

  Emma grabbed Joe’s hand and said, “Show us the way.”

  “Oh man. You gotta promise not to tell Gordon I was involved in this plan!”

  Ell grabbed his other hand, “Come on, you’re my ‘friendly boy,’ you owe me this.”

  Shaking his head in dismay, Joe led them out to the backstage area and around to the right wing where they could see the open area Gordon had insisted be set aside.

  Gordon’s eyes widened as a girl danced out into the area he’d had left for Donsaii. Was it her? Then they narrowed as he realized that the girl was Belle and Emma was with her. He rolled his eyes, I’ll look like an ass if I try to shoo them off the stage; I’ve got to play along. The verse ended and there was supposed to be a one line instrument break so he leaned to the mike, saying, “These are our friends Emma and Belle, give ‘em a hand.” His eyebrows rose as he realized that the girls were doing a pretty nicely choreographed routine together. He turned back to the mike for the chorus, watching them out of the corner of his eye. When the song wound down he said, “Emma and Belle! Give ‘em another hand!” A little surge in the applause came up. Then he said, “We’ve reserved this little space that Emma and Belle danced in for Ell Donsaii. As you know, she’s danced at a couple of our previous shows and whenever we’re here in North Carolina we hope she’ll grace us with her presence again!”

  He started strumming the intro to the next song, listening for the beat of the little echo in this auditorium.

  More songs passed and Gordon’s hopes were crushed. It didn’t look like Donsaii was going to show. Would it sound desperate to repeat the invitation? What the hell, maybe word’ll get back to her and she’ll show up at the next show. He started the intro to the next song, a gentle arpeggio on a mildly distorted wah-wah guitar patch. The fans in the audience burst into applause. As their cheers calmed down Gordon leaned to the mike, “If any of you know Ms. Donsaii, please tell her about the spot we’ve saved for her on our stage whenever we’re in North Carolina.”

  Some guy in a hoodie and sweats vaulted onto the stage from the crowd! Despite being pissed, Gordon’s eyes widened at the sheer physical ability evidenced by the move. The guy had leapt up on the rail on the edge of the “orch
estra pit.” The pit really just served to keep the crowd away from the stage. Then the guy leapt right across the 6 foot pit and onto the stage, landing on his hands and flipping to his feet to begin moving to the music. For a moment Gordon considered letting it slide, he doubted there was anyone else in the crowd that could duplicate that feat! But he didn’t want anyone trying either, “Hey man, really, that spot is saved for Ms. Donsaii.”

  The guy had been swaying to the slow arpeggio, he unzipped the hoodie and flipped back the hood to reveal… strawberry blond hair. A beautiful face, a stunning smile… It was Donsaii! She flashed him a big smile and then did a slow twirl to the beat—during which the hoodie came off and landed at the back of the stage. She had a leotard under it! The sweatpants no longer looked like a guy’s old sweats. Somehow, now it seemed obvious that they were bloused, slinky dancing pantaloons that clung sweetly to her hips and emphasized her slender muscular thighs. Gordon leaned to the mike, “Ladies and gentlemen… I give you… the grace of… Ms. Ell Donsaii!”

  As the arpeggio gently rolled on she continued swaying and gently spinning. Gordon was so entranced he nearly missed starting to sing the chorus of his own song, then at the last moment realized where he was and leaned to the mike, head still turned so he could watch Donsaii dance. She doesn’t seem to be doing anything that anyone else couldn’t do, but… there’s something about the way she moves… such grace… and although it’s slow, such athleticism. Somehow her swirling turns, though leisurely, look like slowed motion video versions of a fast and physical dance. What’s she going to do when the chorus comes in at double the tempo?

  The drummer began the roll that introduced the chorus and Donsaii answered Gordon’s question by doubling the speed of her footwork. As the chorus came into its own, she flipped end over end from one side of the stage to the other. She twirled then flipped back to the other side of the stage. She’d be on one side, then she’d leap into the air, her feet would go over her head and she’d land on her feet on the other side of the stage. Gordon’s breath caught on the first one because she’d been so very high in the air in the air at the midpoint! Gordon glanced out at the audience and saw them gaping, but then his own eyes tracked back to this amazing dance. The drums dropped out and the bass came in for the next verse. Donsaii slowed again, doing different but once again entrancingly graceful moves. For the next chorus there were more gymnastic moves but again somehow, even though they were things only gymnasts do, they were performed perfectly in time to the music and seemed like the most amazing dancing, rather than something that belonged in a gymnasium! For the thunderous bridge of the song she ran at the right side of the stage. For a moment Gordon feared that she was leaving. Instead she ran up the wall at the side of the stage and flipped over twice before landing and flipping her way back over next to Gordon, another gracefully slow twirling interlude for the last verse and then the final chorus during which Donsaii went absolutely freaking wild—doing aerials and twisting double flips one after another—still making these phenomenally athletic feats fall exactly on the beat and seem like a dance. Admittedly, a dance no one else in the world, no one at all, could possibly do, but still… a dance. The music crashed to a stop except for the gentle arpeggio trailing off. Donsaii landed from a twisting, flipping leap into the air that Gordon couldn’t even begin to follow, right on the final cymbal crash, bent, arms outstretched to the upper corners of the stage. She twirled gently over next to Gordon as he played that final arpeggio. “Take a bow.” she whispered, bowing sweepingly low as he tipped with her, though he bent only slightly so that he’d be able to keep playing.