by Purple Hazel
“Danke,” she replied, sobbing a bit, as Otto ambled on through the maze of cubicles to continue his daily directionless diversions. Monika meanwhile returned her attention to finishing her update on Oswaldo Guerrero. Her voice was necessarily somewhat nasal-sounding now as she proceeded with the details of Ozzie’s odyssey down in Texas.
“After a few months, it was reported by our operatives that Ensign Guerrero, now blatantly posing as his twin brother Práxedis, had made his way to Frisco, Texas to attempt a tryout with the Dallas Wranglers professional megaball team. As of this time, it is known that he is performing satisfactorily and endeavoring to make the team’s roster before the beginning of the next season, which starts in a few weeks.”
She dabbed her nose one more time with a tissue, then finished the segment.
“Not surprisingly, we’re all terribly excited for him and his upcoming preseason game against London this weekend. The excitement of seeing one of our own—even if he is pretending to be his twin brother—playing megaball on worldwide ultravision Saturday night is going to be a treat for his colleagues here in Darmstadt. Especially those among us who happen to be Wrangler fans! We certainly wish him well…”
Chapter 2
Manner, Mood, Mentality, and Method
“Now…as for Shamiso, I am pleased to report the young lady has been enjoying an exciting past few months with her twin sister, Rudo Kachote, now known as Rudo Love and quite the world-famous superstar in her own right,” continued Monika. She moved on quickly from the update about Ozzie, and began detailing what all she knew about Shamiso’s adventures since returning to Earth.
“Ensign Kachote is known to be touring with her twin sister and performing sold-out concerts around the world. We began monitoring her shortly after delivering her to The Langham hotel in London, and she’s made remarkable progress in re-adapting to Earth life. What’s more, she hasn’t stopped there. She, just like her colleague Oswaldo, has taken to posing as her sister—and with outstanding results, I might add.”
“Beginning shortly after her arrival in London and reuniting with her sibling, our operative reports that she began working with a dance instructor at a nearby theatre to master stage maneuvers, learn basic dance steps, and adapt to her sister’s complicated stage choreography. This we believed was an attempt to memorize her sister’s movements so to imitate her correctly onstage. By infiltrating Rudo’s organization by having one of our operatives work as a “roadie” in her stage crew, we’ve learned quite a bit about her efforts to achieve all this.”
Monika held back a snicker, reviewing in her mind the information coming back to her from their “spy” now functioning as a stagehand. They’d planted the gal inside the operation by answering an advertisement for show workers and costume/makeup artists. Shamiso’s interactions with her sister were also noted, right along with her relationship with Neville, their tour manager.
“It’s been reported that Shamiso’s rapport with her sister is nothing short of astounding. They mimic each other, they copy each other, they fool everyone but themselves as to their true identities. And yet neither one seems to get on the other’s nerves. They are said to match each other’s manner, mood, mentality, and method…regardless of the situation. They take cues off one another like the most skilled of comedy teams or musical duets. They even finish each other’s sentences, we’ve been told.”
“But funniest of all is their tendency to try and prank their poor manager, Neville, whom they seem to believe is deserving of such sophomoric trickery. They’re often so skilled at imitating one another that if he calls to one of them, they can both answer simultaneously and he can only sigh in frustration. He never loses his temper with them, naturally. But he’s often reduced to begging them to knock off the ploy from time to time just to give him a break.”
“And that’s precisely what’s been so ingenious about their efforts to match each other in every possible way. Truly, from any measurable distance, and despite the marked age difference, it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart with any degree of consistency. They mean it to be that way, too, and that’s what’s so intriguing.”
Monika knew she was rambling a bit here, but she felt it was important to try and make this one point very clear. In effect, the two women were practiced—after only a short time together—in copying each other’s style. Whether it be fashion sense, tastes in food, affectations of language, their laugh, and for that matter even what they thought was funny to begin with: the two were interchangeable.
“This has been crucial in their success. Our operative has overheard their conversations on occasion—when neither woman thought anyone was paying close attention to them—and it’s abundantly clear that they’re on some sort of mission to switch their two identities completely. However, it’s for the noblest of intents we’re relieved to find. The two women simply want to have Shamiso assume the duties of fronting the band on stage, having Rudo doing the actual singing upstage from her. We’re learning via their manager, Neville, that they have a certain number of shows they’re obligated to perform to fulfill a contract. Our person working behind the scenes believes that goal is what’s driving them to carry off this deception.”
“It was difficult to coordinate initially, but audiences have since seemed to be buying it, we’re hearing. The shows are selling out. The fans are thrilled. And everyone—from starry-eyed teenage fans who were not even in kindergarten when Rudo Love broke into the pop music scene years ago, to aging fans well into their forties who own her entire catalog…they’re lining up to see her concerts.”
At this point, Monika felt compelled to watch a pair of video clips showing Rudo Love years earlier, in her prime, performing on stage. In one clip, she was shown dressed in a red garter belt, red vinyl micro skirt, thigh-high vinyl boots with a spike heel, and a cutoff Union Jack t-shirt. In the other she was nearly nude, with body paint like that of a cheetah’s spotted hide decorating her lovely figure head to toe, and an ever-so teeny G-string covering her pubic region. Typical of her antics on stage, she would sing one or several verses of a song, then break into a dance routine with her backup dancers. These expanded sequences depicted some aspect of the song’s lyrics, thereby creating a stage show well worth the high price of a ticket.
Audiences loved it. Many knew the lyrics by heart anyway, and continued singing the chorus for her. The band, meanwhile, would continue with a long musical interlude during this, extending the length of some songs by five to ten minutes, causing her shows to last longer than most top-billing performers.
Monika then drifted her cursor over a very recent video, launched onto the macronet as part of a promotion for her current tour. This time it was clearly Shamiso fronting the band, posing as Rudo Love and doing a rather bang-up job mimicking her moves and tendencies. After all, she wasn’t just an impersonator—she was an identical twin of the famous pop star! That made it even more fascinating.
With her speaking voice essentially the same as her sister’s, she could taunt and interact with the audience just like her sister used to do. Plus, she wasn’t nearly as breathless as her sister used to be in those old videos from singing. Never sounded hoarse, either—always fresh—like a twenty-five-year old version of her sister. Her lip-syncing was quite good at times. Not perfect: one could notice a few slip-ups by watching very closely. But in all fairness, it was an almost identical performance to that of the real Rudo from years before, Monika had to admit. Shamiso as Rudo was only a tad bit stiff in her stage performances compared to her twin…yet, as the show progressed in the video clip, it seemed as though Shamiso was more thorough in completing her routines compared to how the younger Rudo had been in her prime.
In earlier videos, it seemed the real Rudo Love had a tendency to lose interest in a maneuver, and might simply walk away from her dancers in the middle of a sequence. Shamiso differed from her there. She clearly knew her footwork. She knew where she was to place herself, how she was supposed to pose at every poin
t in time, and, above all, just what she was supposed to say to the audience, and when.
Meanwhile, sister Rudo could be noticed standing upstage right of her, way back from the front, watching her every move and knowing just when to begin singing again. The “operative” reported that later in shows, Rudo Kachote would typically sit on a padded stool behind a rack of keyboards and synthesizers, sometimes exiting the stage completely during prolonged dance sequences. It worked out perfectly in keeping her fresh so she could belt out song after song. Meanwhile, her younger sibling worked the crowd, burned through her dance routines like a pro, and wowed audiences who fully believed their pop music idol had somehow been reborn.
Her backup dancers were usually male, and they were quite muscular yet agile. Not bodybuilders, nor skinny runway super models either! These young men—most of them homosexual, it had always been assumed—got their wiry forms from physical fitness…most of all from dancing! Thus, it was the biggest challenge of all convincing those buffed up male backups to “buy in to the whole gig”. The Space Programme operative monitoring the situation from behind the scenes had been reporting on this to Monika regularly, ever since the early days of formal rehearsals.
“From the outset, Shamiso and Rudo had the advantage when it came to fooling their band and the rest of their cast of sexy male dancers. Our person on the scene informs us that Rudo showed up first day of rehearsals with a brand-new stage choreography, and, what’s more, a reordering of the song list. People were fuming mad in some cases! But Rudo…or maybe it was really Shamiso posing as her, no one could have known…sold them on it quickly. Even had her twin sister appear on the scene at one point to fool everyone into thinking she was going to aid in singing backup.”
“People were so flabbergasted that many didn’t know quite what to think. Didn’t know which one to look to for direction after a while, either! And though they soon fell into line, the frenetic pace of rehearsing to get the band and dancers up to speed with the new repertoire and stage routines caused quite a few blowups along the way. That being said, it proved to be impossible to direct their ire or frustrations toward anyone in particular. If they complained to whom they thought was Rudo, then her twin sister—whichever one it really was, of course—would quickly silence them or come to her aid. They were not only a matched pair…they seemed to know the entire choreography by heart.”
“Eventually, there was little anyone could argue regarding the difficulty of the schedule they had to keep, preparing to get the show back on the road. All in all, it took only four weeks for Shamiso to learn it, and about a month for the cast to master it before their first performance. By then, the twins were firmly in charge and no one questioned their authority.”
“Our operative on the scene has notified us the tour is going relatively well as of this date. She’s noticed several interactions between their business manager, Neville, and what at least seems to be the pop Diva. And it would appear the tour is on schedule and meeting its financial goals. Our young Ensign Kachote is clearly enjoying herself. So is her Pop Diva twin, says our operative. Our embedded stagehand has also learned how to tell the two ladies apart ever so gradually over time due to their gait. Shamiso has a tendency to plant her feet solidly like she’s marching, while Rudo tends to glide more daintily as she walks. That said, Shamiso is conscious of this…and on stage she’s careful to move more gracefully.”
“Meanwhile, the two twins have also sought to convince their tour manager, Neville, to stop drinking alcohol! According to our person working undercover with the tour company, the two women have voiced their concerns about their manager’s health on several occasions; and, amazingly enough, the fellow has bravely gone cold turkey…ceremoniously dumping out a full bottle of gin in front of the entire crew before a recent sound check. The twins were standing side-by-side in their matching warmup suits after their morning yoga routines while the man stood in a parking lot boldly swearing off alcohol until the tour had concluded. Everyone was said to have applauded his courage.”
* * * *
It sure was convenient having a person on the scene monitoring Shamiso for Space Programme! This brought a lot of comfort to Monika, who was in charge of Shamiso’s reorientation to life back on Earth after so many years in space. Made Monika’s job much, much easier.
True, there was little effort made to monitor Oswaldo Guerrero in the same manner. Frankly, no one had foreseen the need to do so. He’d been tailed while at Houston airship terminal, but that was about it. Once it was known he’d found a cab to take him out to his brother’s home in Katy, Space Programme relied mostly on global positioning satellite imagery to track his movements thereafter. Most figured he needed little more in the way of personal protection.
The fans at Houston Hobby were certainly comical—and aggressive! Crowded around him like he was the real Ranger Guerrero, which was fully expected to happen at one point or another, even with his military uniform on. Once he got to North America, where the sports legend was more recognizable, several believed he’d get mobbed with autograph-seekers and raving fans. Thus, it was expected that he’d have to endure such a thing…which he adapted to remarkably well, and even seemed to embrace! Harmless, really. Ozzie’s observer had reported back to Monika that the big fellow went right along with the whole charade and left no one disappointed.
It was different for male celebrities anyway—especially athletes. There was usually a level of respect for them—even if a fan might occasionally resent them for some odd reason. The expectations were different, one had to admit. What they’d attained was something that impressed most people.
Ozzie’s twin brother had done just that. He’d competed, and proven himself at the highest level possible for his sport. His record-breaking performances were known to many. His victories and championships were historic facts, not subject to interpretation, nor disputable, even as time passed. Documented. Recorded. No denying what he’d done. And though an occasional boisterous fan might be inclined to lip off to him from time to time, most could be expected to grant him the admiration he deserved.
That’s basically why everyone back at headquarters, Monika included, figured Ozzie was perfectly safe on his own back in Houston. If he was recognized as his brother, at the worst Monika expected him to be overwhelmed with love, affection, and repeated delays as he moved through the terminal lobby. Not so in the case of Ensign Kachote returning to London. Double standard for women—and, for that matter, all artists everywhere.
A female rock star? Strutting her stuff on stage like Rudo had done for so many years? Fashion magazine covers? Photoshoots in skimpy outfits? Costumes worn on stage, which revealed her entire lovely form to audiences all over Europe, North America, and Asia…leaving little to the imagination? No, Rudo Love’s adorable twin sister could fully expect to experience catcalls, obscenities, inappropriate questions, solicitations, and, for that matter, unwanted advances.
Shamiso was certainly NOT an athletically built specimen like Ensign Guerrero. God help anyone who might try anything funny with her, of course. She was one tough, wiry British gal. Ozzie had worked out with her for years onboard the Santa Maria. Plus, she was not about to tolerate anyone getting “gobby” with her now that she was returning to her home town.
But it was an irrefutable fact that a single woman out on the streets of London in the middle of the night was a recipe for disaster. Furthermore, anyone mistaking Shamiso for her twin sister might feel even more inclined to approach her. Likely an innocent, manageable situation in most cases, sure, but there was absolutely no way to prepare Shamiso for the type of fans her sister had! That’s why Space Programme planted a spy inside the Rudo Love World Tour. Someone who would see her every day, monitor her activity, and alert authorities if she was in danger.
Naturally, Rudo Kachote had plenty of bodyguards when she travelled. And at the hotel, she was completely safe—as long as she stayed on the top floor, of course. At nightclubs, there were bouncers. At concert h
alls, there were security personnel. Everywhere they travelled on tour, there were police officers keeping the peace in all the major cities of the world.
However, Monika still feared for Shamiso getting mixed up in anything dangerous. Drugs. Alcohol. Reckless promiscuity. Things like that. Monika was not to intervene if she went astray…no one could really help her then. Still, though, Monika hoped Shamiso would have enough sense to avoid some of the pitfalls and temptations of her twin sister’s racy lifestyle. Thus, having a “mole” on the scene who could keep track of her—even in the lavatory—was immensely valuable. That’s what Space Programme had always done over the years with the Earth twins. It was probably a big reason Monika’s predecessors had violated protocol and “gamed the system” once in a while, to the benefit of the three struggling orphans in Texas, Toronto, and London.
* * * *
“We certainly wish our darling Shamiso well, all of us here at Space Programme,” continued Monika with her dictation. “And we do look forward to seeing her back here in Darmstadt in a couple months, when her twelve-month shore leave comes to an end. Such amazing things she’s experiencing. The dream of most any young school girl anywhere in the world…to wake up every day and get to live out the fantasy life of a bona fide rock and roll star; a pop music Diva.”
“I mean…I for one,” she began saying, then realized she was digressing once again, and wisely deleted those last few lines of text from her report. No one needed to hear her private intimations, after all. Instead, she moved on with her update on the third space twin, Ensign Young-Min Jo.
