Leaving the bedroom, we saw that Bailey was already asleep and we left the room. This time, for the first time, we headed for the bridge at the front of the ship. The whole ship was on one level. This room had big windows across the front and seating for five. Most of the ship functions were handled by Eevona, but we could run it from here if we ever needed to. There were three seats in front, and two in the rear. A ramp dropped down a foot or so to the front seats, so that the rear seats sat slightly above. Michelle and I sat in the rear seats next to each other.
The view, and the whole room, was exactly what you’d expect. Just like every spaceship cockpit you've ever seen. Stars and blackness out the window and dim lights and blinking indicators around the walls of the room.
As we settled into the command chairs, I asked, “Ee, what are all of these blinking things for? What do they actually do?”
She said, “You mean, what function do they serve?”
I said, “Yeah. I’ve always wondered. Do they actually have a purpose?”
Ee laughed and said, “Of course. A very obvious purpose.”
I said, “I’m not finding it to be especially obvious.”
Ee said, “Their purpose, which I think they accomplish very well, and I suspect that you do too, is to make this room look and feel like the command center of a spaceship. And they’re kind of pretty.”
I smiled and said, “That’s all they do? Make it look like a spaceship?”
Ee said, “What else would they do? A single dedicated purpose. I like them. I never noticed them before, but I like them.”
I grinned and said, “And what about music? Can we have soft music?”
A few seconds later, some nice meditative music started playing. It was something I recognized.
Ee said, “It was on your phone. I figured out how to talk to it. This seemed like something you’d like. I can tell from your response that it is. Isn’t it nice, Michelle?”
Michelle said, “It is nice. It’s strange.”
Ee said, “Think about it. What was it designed for?”
Michelle exclaimed, “For big people! It was designed for large people. The frequencies are low and resonant in a way that feels good to my body. This is music made for people like us. Big people. Oh, and for small quiet rooms. Not bar music. Not stadium music. Not party or dancing or conversation music. This is big music to think by. Or to make love to. Do you know what this means? It means I am somebody! There is music designed for bodies my size to sit and enjoy and get quiet and to be loved. No, don’t you get it? Here, with this music, I’m not an add-on. I was accounted for by this music. It was meant for me. That means that I exist and belong! Oh, Eevona, tell Bailey and Allie to come here! No, Bailey is asleep. But tell Allie to come here. And tell her to put on her tunic first. Tell her that it’s important because Jimmy needs her right away!”
Michelle went quiet and leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes and squeezed my hand in the seat next to me. About a minute later, Allie came through the door. She was naked but carrying a tunic like the ones that Michelle and I wore in her arms.
Before Allie could speak, Michelle said quietly, “Allie, lay your head in your lover’s lap and listen to the music.”
Allie hurried to step in front of me and kneel between my feet and rest her head in my lap. I reached out and stroked her hair and relaxed.
Allie stayed like that for a few minutes and then said, “What’s happening?”
Michelle whispered, “What do you think is happening?”
Allie said, “I think we’re dying.”
I said, “Dying? Why?”
Allie said, “Maybe I said the wrong word. I can’t find the right word. Are we washing?”
Michelle said, “We’re relaxing.”
Allie rested more heavily in my lap and said, “Oh. I never did this before. But the music is talking. It says I’m OK. It says I belong. Not to Jimmy, but I belong in the galaxy. Just as I am. I have a big place to live and be Allie. It’s confusing and wonderful. That’s why I said dying.”
I whispered, “Sweetie, put on your tunic and come sit in my lap and let me hold you.”
Allie rose slowly and slipped the tunic over her head and let it fall down her body. I was sad to see her beautiful breasts disappear, but the way that the fabric draped her chest was just as pretty. I gathered her into my lap and held Michelle’s hand on the other side.
After a while, Allie said quietly, “I made a lot of money.”
No one responded.
She said, “I could do it again.”
I whispered, “No.”
She said, “This is nice. The music and the dark and the stars. This is wholesome.”
I said, “Do you mean romantic?’
She said, “No. Ee taught me your language. Romantic means the worship of women from a culture on your planet called the Romans. It was called Romantic Love. It made men worship women and give them offerings and elevate them as gods. It called for men to sacrifice themselves to prove their love. I don’t mean that at all. I mean wholesome. Something that makes us whole. I like how your words all mean what they say. Jimmy, don’t be mad.”
I said, “I won’t be mad.”
She said, “Let me try to explain. I might say the wrong thing. But listen to me and see if what I’m trying to say is good enough.”
I said dreamily, “OK.”
She said, “I made a lot of money. I can take a lot of money from those people. They’ll give it to me if I ask them to. I can dance, just for you, and they can watch and I’ll take their money.”
I didn’t like that sound of that. It sounded like prostitution. Allie anticipated me.
She said, “You have a word called prostitution. Where someone makes someone do sexual things, or even other things, so that people will pay them. The way it normally works is like being a Unit, but different. The partner makes a Unit do things and people pay the partner for it. Not work. Like dancing like I thought that I wanted to do. That’s not what I’m talking about. You won’t make me dance and humiliate myself ever again and I figured that out. But if I want to trick them, would that be OK? You have fines that people have to pay when they do something bad. Everywhere does. I think that what they did to me was bad. I think that they should have to pay a fine. Would it be bad if I entertain people and they pay us to be entertained if it doesn’t hurt me? I don’t care what they will think anymore. The joke will be on them. I can do it with my clothes on. That will be the joke. They will think that if they keep paying me that I will take my clothes off so that I will want to have sex and never get to have it but they will pay to get a look at my body and they’ll never get it. They will pay to see me frustrated, but they will be the ones frustrated, not me. And Jimmy, It will be their choice, right? They can do that if they want to.”
I said, “Allie, Sweetie, I don’t know about that.”
She snuggled into my neck and said, “Let me try it, just once. And if you don’t like it, I won’t do it. But I have something to say to those people and I want a chance to say it.”
I said, “I don’t know.”
Allie said, “Trust me. I’m not a child. There was damage, but relaxing is weird. It gives me energy to feel better. I really want to go there and do this.”
A few hours later, we were climbing off the shuttle and headed for the same strip club on the same station that we had been on when Allie danced the first time. This time, as we walked the corridors, I could understand what was being said.
Michelle, Bailey, and I wore our uniforms and Allie wore her simple course tunic. She had a plan. I didn’t know what it was exactly, but I had to let her do what she wanted.
As we approached the bar, the manager said, “Ain’t you the ones who were here six months ago?”
I interpreted the timespan he used in terms of years.
Allie said, “I am. I made a lot of money for you that day. Do you want to give me another shot? It’ll be different this time. I have a new act I�
�ve been working on.”
The manager said, “Sure. You go on next. Knock us out.”
Bailey said, “Standard rates.”
The manager nodded.
Allie didn’t wait for the dancer currently on stage to finish but marched toward the front and grabbed a chair and walked straight onto the platform. The dancer looked surprised but grateful.
Allie set the chair in the center of the stage and stood in front of it. The crowd went quiet and there were the beginnings of some laughter and a few people nudged each other with their elbows.
Allie looked up at the counter and waited. It turned to zero and she turned to the audience. Stretching sensuously, she seemed to be limbering up. The counter started moving slowly, a fraction of a point at a time. She bent at the waist, touching the floor with the palms of her hands and her legs straight. I could see a bit of cleavage, but no more. Then Allie turned to the side and lifted her foot above her head. Her tunic went above her waist on that side, but the way that she was turned, no one could see her nakedness at all. Then she faced the audience and stood still.
She said calmly, “Hello again. How many of you were here the last time I danced here? When I danced and cried and broke my leg for you?”
There were several hoots and some laughing.
Allie said to the audience, “This will be different. I think that there will be some crying, and maybe some broken bones, but it won’t be me this time. And I’m not taking off my clothes.”
Again, laughter, this time a bit louder and the counter accelerated a bit.
She smiled and took her seat and looked out at the audience. And then she looked at me. She looked directly at me and didn’t move in her seat at all. We stared at each other from fifteen feet away and I saw her silently speak to me. I could see what she was saying, as it were.
Allie ignored the audience, aware of them but not caring, and she told me that she was loved and that she loved me because of it. The crowd noticed. There were snickers and out and out laughter.
I heard them say, “She thinks he loves her. Look at her. Damn this is great. The look in her eyes, as if she has a lover. I think that’s her partner. He’s not a Unit. It’s definitely a male. Where’s he from? Shut up! I’m watching this. I know. I can’t look away. It’s bizarre. What are they doing? You could look at me that way once in a while. Quiet.”
The onlookers were baffled but mesmerized. But Allie and I knew what we were doing. We were being. Sitting fifteen feet apart, loving each other. And the others wanted to watch and the counter kept going. I couldn’t read it, but I could tell that the number of digits was increasing.
I knew exactly what was happening, but at the same time, I didn’t. Allie and I were building a bond. What was she feeling though? About these people and what they were saying?
Without taking her eyes off of me, she pointed at a man nearby and said, “Come here. Do you want to have some fun?”
The man’s friends laughed and pushed him forward and he said, “Why not?”
The counter went up.
He climbed onto the stage and Allie stood up. She didn’t look at him. Her eyes stayed on me.
She said, “I’m going to hit you so hard that you fly across the room and land on your friends. You might want to hope they catch you.”
The man grinned and said, “OK…” but if he had more to that sentence, he didn’t get to say it.
Allie bent her knees and dropped to a lower stance and hit him with the palm of her hand. There was a loud “oof” sound and all of the man’s breath left his lungs and then he was flying through the air, coming to a stop in a heap on top of his friends and the table that they were sitting at. For a short second, there was silence. And then cheers and applause and laughter and the counter went up.
Allie stood where she was and stretched, adoring me with her eyes.
The barman came to my side and said, “What’s it doing? I can’t afford a lot of damage and I don’t want trouble with the law.”
Bailey said, “Then you better hope that your patrons stay civil. And you can afford any damage that occurs. Look at that count. And everyone here heard her tell that man exactly what was going to happen and he consented to it willingly. You’re covered.”
He grunted and rushed back to the bar, his waitresses having trouble keeping up with drink orders.
The crowd was confused but excited. Allie pointed at another man and he shook his head and laughed, so she pointed at someone else. That one rushed to the stage and without a word, she hit him in the chest and he went crashing back to his table. He hadn’t even had a chance to prepare himself or even stand up straight. I didn’t bother to look his way to see if he was OK. My eyes were on Allie and hers were locked on mine.
Allie sat down calmly and a look of bliss came over her. The place didn’t need a microphone for some reason and every word that she said was clear and loud.
She said, “I am in love.”
The crowd laughed.
She said, “That man there loves me.”
Someone shouted, “We all love you, freak!”
Allie smiled and turned to the speaker and said, “How much is it worth to you to be able to tell your friends that one night you were in a bar and a freak broke your wrist, just for entertainment? Or maybe a rib. Yeah, a rib. Would you like that? To have a freak break your rib and you have a story to tell and trouble breathing comfortably for a while? What would that be worth to you?”
The man looked shocked and said, “Really? But I get to tell you that I love you first.”
Allie said, “Of course. Tell me anything you want. Have your buddies take a video. Come here and get down on one knee and tell me you love me and I’ll break one of your ribs and you’ll have a movie and a memory. If the price is right.”
The counter shot up and Allie said, “Good enough.”
The man leaped onto the stage and Allie stood so that the audience could see both of them.
The man grinned and laughed and got down as if he was proposing to her.
He said, “Oh my queen, you are so beautiful and perfect, I can’t live without you. Won’t you come away with me and let me love you.”
Allie said harshly, “Get off your knees you pathetic ass. How dare you! How dare you compare yourself to a man! Look at who loves me! Not you hopeless and worthless pigs, but a man! A prince. A hero!”
The man laughed and said, “I bet I’m a hell of a lot richer than he is!”
Allie said, “You think so? Show me your wife. Show me anyone who loves you as much as I love him. Show me a true friend.”
The man shouted, “I have more friends than you can imagine and my wife isn’t a crippled freak!”
Allie said, “No. It’s you who is the pathetic crippled freak. I shouldn’t even bother. Go away. You disgust me.”
The man looked insulted but then grinned as if he got the joke and said, “Oh, but I adore you!”
During this exchange, the counter was going wild. It was ludicrous. Allie was giving a one-woman show, telling the truth, and they were eating it up, thinking that the joke was on her.
Allie said, “I think I’m done here.”
The crowd protested and the counter increased.
The man said, “Don’t I at least get a kiss?”
Chapter 18 - Promises
Allie said, “I did promise you.”
She stepped forward and when she was a foot from the man, I saw her make a fist with her middle knuckle extended and she punched the man on the right side of his chest, breaking one rib but avoiding any possibility of damage to his heart. She clearly could have killed him or sent him to a hospital if she’d intended to. The man gasped and dropped to his knees again and Allie casually pushed him off the stage with her foot.
She looked again at me and said, “My love, will you join me here for a moment?”
I went to the edge of the platform and Allie took my hand and pulled me up to her.
Standing close, pressing herself
into my arms, she kissed me. And I kissed her. The crowd gasped. And then roared.
Allie broke the kiss and faced the audience but held my hand tightly.
She yelled, “Tell me you love me!”
They yelled back, “We do! we do!”
She said, “Show me! Show me what my entertainment is worth to you!”
The counter went up and up.
She said, “It’s time for me to go.”
They yelled, “No. Stay. We adore you!”
She grinned and said, “Bailey, get our money.”
Bailey jumped from her seat and rushed to the barman to collect Allie’s money.
When she saw that Bailey had been paid, Allie said, “Go to hell,” and she and I left the stage and Michelle and Bailey followed us out of the club.
I didn’t hear what the crowd shouted as we left.
I put my arm around Allie and said, “Allie, are you OK? How do you feel?”
She said, “What do you mean? I feel wonderful. Feel me. I’m teasing. But I do want to feel you feeling me. I’m fine. We did a contract. It wasn’t dangerous and it was incredibly easy. We had suckers who wanted a job done and were willing to pay for it. They wanted to be entertained. I entertained them. Bailey, how much did we get?”
Bailey said, “A lot! I mean, a lot! Yeah, we’re pretty much set for supplies for a long time. Um, wait, I shouldn’t have assumed that this was part of our finances. I’m sorry. This is yours.”
Allie said, “No. There is only ours, not mine. I did that for us. Monetarily. I did it for myself, emotionally. Wow, that felt good. I can’t explain why.”
I said, “Allie, you don’t have to do that ever again.”
She smiled and said, “I didn’t have to do it that time. But why not? I wasn’t humiliated. I wasn’t afraid. Only one person was hurt and he wasn’t hurt badly, and for him it was an experience to remember. He’ll recover and be happy when he tells the story. I feel so much better. So much healthier. Not because I told them to go to hell, but because I was able to face my own hell. I feel happy. But so different.”
First Recruits Page 19
