“You and she were in the Science Police academy together?”
“Yes. We became best friends there.”
“Just friends? You never got together?”
“Oh, I would have in a second. I had quite the crush on her. But she wasn’t interested. She finds the idea of sex between people… what’s the word she used? Icky. She feels the same way about having a baby growing inside her. She’s planning on a vat baby.”
“And do you want to have children?”
“It’s expected.”
“But do you want them?”
“Yes, I think so. I don’t know what kind of father I’d make.”
“You’d make a great father. I’d like to have more kids. I hated being pregnant when I was, but now I seem to only remember the good parts. Must be nature’s way.”
They finished dinner and had a chocolate fruit fondue for desert before taking another cab back to the airport. Miss Palmer the pilot was waiting for them and within minutes of climbing in the airflivver, it was buzzing south toward Los Angeles, crossing the San Joaquin Channel. They could see a large group of grey whales swimming south through the relatively narrow waterway. Once they landed, Andrews and Steffie were spirited away by private car to the Hollywood Bowl just in time to prepare for the show.
Steffie said goodbye to Andrews with a kiss and headed to the backstage area, while he made his way to the security headquarters. In addition to a dozen police and Agent Wright, there was another agent as well. She was a tall, thin woman with long blonde hair, and just as Agent Stanley had, she had chosen to wear a skirt with her black blazer.
“Welcome back,” said Wright. “This is Agent Patricia Ryan.”
“Hello.”
“I’m here to officially relieve you of your posting on this assignment,” said Ryan.
“He knows,” snapped Wright.
“I just don’t want there to be any confusion.”
“I get it,” said Andrews, and turning to Wright. “Where do you want me to go?”
“You get to take it easy tonight. Since you’re not on duty, I had the girls set you up with VIP seating in the audience. You get to enjoy the show.”
“Thanks partner,” said Andrews grinning.
“Got to stick together, right?”
The seat that had been set aside for Andrews was just where he would have chosen to sit. It was directly in front of the stage, two rows back. He sat down and put his arms behind his head and crossed his legs. The vast amphitheater was almost empty, but people were already filing in. He closed his eyes and tried not to think about the fact that he didn’t know where he was going to be tomorrow and that he didn’t know when he would get to spend time with any of his Ladybugs. His Ladybugs.
It seemed like no time at all before all 26,409 other audience members were seated and the lights came up on the stage. Andrews found that he was seated amidst faces that he knew—Hollywood movie stars, noted intellectuals. There were almost a dozen men there too.
The Ladybugs ran out on stage and began playing Peggy Sue just as they had in every concert up until that point. However, instead of their normal tour costumes, they were dressed in grey suits with shiny lapels reminiscent of those worn by Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Then they played right on in to (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care, another Buddy Holly song that they hadn’t performed live in ten years, before going on to She’s My Dream. Then they ran off stage. There was applause and cheering, but it was only then that Andrews realized that there had not been the constant din of screaming women that there had been at the earlier concerts. The audience here expected a show and they wanted to be able to hear it. The spotlights went out and two huge video screens, one on either side of the music shell, began showing film of the Ladybugs 1964 tour. The video was only about five minutes long, and when it ended, the spotlights came back up to show the Ladybugs on stage.
Hanging from the top of the music shell was a massive Jolly Roger pirate flag. The four Ladybugs were wearing black pirate hats with long black feathers. Each was wearing a black bikini top and Penny’s featured a white skull and crossbones across each cup. Each was wearing a black miniskirt and Ep!phanee’s had a skull and crossbones displayed right across the middle. All four had on thigh-high black platform stiletto boots. Piffy had an eye patch. And Penny was playing a guitar that looked like it was fashioned from a human skeleton.
With Penny’s “One, two, three, four!” they dropped into NOW! which had been one of Andrews’ favorites since he had first heard it while attending university in the enclaves. They slowed down just a bit for Save it for the Night, but then revved it back up with the whanging double guitars that were all the introduction that Distortion needed. The same driving beat carried right on into Under the Heel, and then the girls left the stage again, this time a little more slowly and waving to the audience.
When the lights went out this second time, everyone turned to the video screens in expectation and they were not disappointed. The screen lit up with film of the Ladybugs traveling on their current tour. They were running into Shea and onto the stage in Chicago. They were coming down the boarding ramp of the dirigible. They were eating in the dining room. Then as the camera panned around, Andrews saw himself sitting at the table too. Then he was there again, standing by as Steffie signed autographs on the tarmac at Bloomington. He vaguely remembered someone with a camera at the airport, but he hadn’t noticed one on the ship. Then there was a final twenty seconds of him relaxing in the Rosalie Morton’s starboard side lounge as Ep!phanee serenaded him with her guitar. Twenty or thirty people sitting nearby craned their necks to get a good look at him.
When the lights came up, Andrews almost swallowed his tongue. The four Ladybugs were dressed in wedding gowns. They were sexy wedding gowns and probably not ones that any woman would wear to a real wedding, but there was no disguising what they represented. Ruth’s gown could have been mistaken for a simple white miniskirt dress if only seen from the front, but below her bare back were layers of bow-like ruffles that gave the impression of an old fashioned bustle. And there was the little veil that came down just below her nose. Steffie’s gown looked like a simple silk gown that a woman might wear to a formal affair. It reached to the ground in front and back, but was completely open on the sides revealing below it only her thigh-high white platform boots and the thin white waistband of a thong. Penny wore what looked like a white bustier, with a lace midriff that revealed her stomach through the material. A long, ruffled train dragged on the floor six feet behind, but in front it was cut so high that it completely showed off the tops of her thighs. She had white flowers arranged in her bright red hair and a white flower on the top of each of her tiny white sandals. Ep!phanee’s wedding dress was not a dress at all, but a pair of ultra short and ultra tight hot pants with ruffled suspenders, that since she wore nothing else beneath them, barely kept her breasts from popping out to either side. Her long white veil was the only thing that looked chaste about her. Steffie had a white bass in hand and Penny had a white Gibson Electric. From the back of the stage, several women dressed as bridesmaids pushed a white grand piano to the front and Piffy took her place in front of the keyboard.
Steffie and Ruth began the beat that was instantly recognizable. But when Piffy began playing the piano as well as singing, the crowd knew that they were hearing a version of Noble Corpses that had never been heard at all, and the energy in the audience was electric. They finished, with the piano carrying into the melody of Where Are You, Francis Perkins? sounding just like it did on the Spotted Album. When that song ended, the piano moved into the rolling intro of Memories of Dust and the crowd went completely quiet. This was not a Ladybugs song. It was an Ep!phanee solo song—her greatest solo song. As she sang the first verse, Andrews could have heard a pin drop. When the second verse started with a bass line and an accompanying guitar, screaming began. Memories of Dust played by the Ladybugs! And when the song was done, the whole amphitheater went wild. They followed the
song that everyone knew with one that nobody had ever heard—nobody save a handful of crew and staff and John Andrews. It was the song that Piffy had serenaded him with on the dirigible.
When she was finished, Ep!phanee waited just a moment, basking in the applause, before standing up, kicking the piano stool out of the way and hammering out on the keys measures that were completely unfamiliar, but then Penny’s electric guitar started screaming the song that she had sung at the Cherry Club with the Wazdon Girls. It was obviously the same song, but played by the Ladybugs, it seemed somehow much more finished, though it still had a raw quality, especially with Piffy’s crazy piano playing. At one point she turned around and played with her hands behind her, jumping up and down so violently that one of her pert breasts popped out from behind the frilly suspender of her outfit. She didn’t stop playing until the end of the song and then the stage went black again.
The crowd never quieted down despite the video scenes of the band recording their latest album. They now knew they were watching not only a great show, but a once in a lifetime experience. When the lights came back on there was a Science Flag with its white atomic symbol on a field of blue hanging where the Jolly Roger had been. The girls were decked out in camouflage, mostly fatigue pants and jackets though Penny was wearing a camo bikini top. They had gas masks hanging loosely around their necks. Everyone expected The Science War Song, and that’s what they got, followed by Naked and Matching Tattoos, yet another song that hadn’t been played on the tour until then.
Then one more blackout and video montage of the girls on the beach at what must have been Thatch Cay. Finally the Ladybugs were back on stage for their final set, this time dressed in their original colorful stage costumes. The played Rebel Girls, Get Out of My Head, and then Rotting Garden of Eden. Even though it wasn’t truly an encore, because everyone knew they were going to play it, they left and then came back to the stage to play Tesla’s Stepdaughters.
Chapter Fifteen: Pearl Kerrigan
After the concert, Andrews picked up his travel bag, and filed out of the auditorium with the other audience members. He was at something of a loss as to what to do next. He knew that accommodations had been arranged at the Hollywood Deluxe, but he expected that his room would be taken by his replacement. He wondered if Agent Ryan would be enjoying an upgrade to her room that had been intended for him. She would certainly be driving away from the concert with Wright and his Ladybugs. As he waited in line for a cab, he decided he would find a motel to stay in and meet with his now former partner in the morning for his next assignment.
The cab dropped him off in front of a small motel that had its neon vacancy sign lit. A small woman with a very pruny face was working the counter inside the tiny office.
“I need a room.”
“Figured you did. Fill out this card, Miss….”
“Mister. Mr. Andrews.”
The woman stared at his face through squinted eyes and then looked him up and down.
“Huh,” she said. “So you are.”
“You don’t seem too surprised.”
“We get all kinds here.”
The room was small but clean. Andrews had left most of his luggage on the dirigible, but in his small flat travel bag he had a change of shirt, slacks and underwear. Unfortunately all of these were now dirty, having been worn the previous day. After getting directions from the old clerk, he walked down the street to a laundromat. This particular one had an attached dry cleaner where he dropped off his extra pair of slacks and his shirt with instructions for a rush order. Then he tossed his undershirt and undershorts into a machine along with soap bought from a vending machine and waited. When they were washed and dried, he went back to his motel room and locked the door. He thought about turning on the radio for the news, but decided instead just to go to bed. Sleep didn’t come easy, and he spent what felt like hours staring at the ceiling before he drifted off.
Ruth was playing the drums way too loud, and it was the middle of the night. When Andrews finally became aware that it was not the Ladybugs drummer drumming, but someone knocking on the motel room door, he climbed out of bed and opened it. Penny Dreadful, wearing jeans and a baggy tee shirt pushed her way past him, giving his naked body a sidelong look as she did.
“Do you have any idea how long it took me to find you?”
“I’m guessing about five hours,” he said, looking at the alarm clock next to the bed which read 3:04 AM.
“Yes, that’s about right actually.”
“Why did you bother? I’ll be by the hotel in the morning.”
“Tonight is my night.”
“Your night for sex?”
“My night for everything… yes, sex included. I was hoping we could have dinner together. I was going to introduce you to the joys of cheeseburgers and milkshakes.”
“I wasn’t really hungry.”
“I know you’re upset about your job, but it doesn’t have to change anything with us. I could have comforted you and taken your mind off your problems. And Piffy is going to think you didn’t like the concert.” She sat down on the foot of the bed. “Sit down and let me make you feel better.”
“I’m fine,” he said, sitting beside her. “I’ve got a lot on my mind, so I don’t think I’m up to much fun.”
“You don’t really have to do anything,” said Penny, standing up and pushing him back onto the bed. “Just relax and everything will be fine. I’m going to show you a little something I like to call reverse cowgirl.”
The next morning they left the motel in a limousine that Penny had ordered. The driver took them first to the dry cleaner to pick up his clothes, which he put on in the back seat on the way to the Hollywood Deluxe. When they arrived, Penny gave him a deep kiss and left him as he headed toward Wright’s room. On the way, he was intercepted by Ep!phanee.
“Are you upset about the concert? You didn’t like the wedding thing, did you? Too much pressure? It was just part of the show.”
“I thought the show was great,” Andrews said with a sigh. “I was just… well, I was just feeling sorry for myself. I’m fine now.”
“We were all worried, you know, especially me. No, especially Ruth. But I was worried too. Whether you are on our case or not, if you’re in the same city that we are, you stay with us.”
Andrews thought about it. “All right.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
Arriving at Wright’s door, he was surprised when it opened just before he could knock.
“Oh good, you’re here,” said Wright. “You need to catch a flight to San Diego.”
“Why?”
“They’ve arrested Pearl Kerrigan there.”
“All right. I’m on my way.”
“So you spent another night with Ep!phanee, eh?” she asked, nudging him in the ribs.
“No, I was with Penny.”
Wright made a face. “I don’t see what you’re doing with that dyke.”
“I’ll call you from San Diego.”
Andrews ordered an airflivver which he met in the hotel parking lot, then went winging south toward San Diego. Less than an hour later, he was landing on the roof of the San Diego Airborne Law Enforcement Station. Officer Eliza Lewis, an attractive redhead, who served as the liaison to the international government, met him. She drove him to the downtown police station where Kerrigan was being held.
“She was picked up at the airport,” said Lewis. “She was carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and when her name came up on the wanted list, we held her. She also had two hunting rifles with her, though they were properly checked in.”
Pearl Kerrigan was a plain looking woman, though not unattractive. Her dull brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail and her already thin lips were pressed together. When Andrews entered the interrogation room to find her waiting, she didn’t move. She didn’t look up. She simply stared at the top of the table.
“Miss Kerrigan,” said Andrews.
She s
tarted in her seat and slowly raised her eyes to look at him. Then just as slowly, she lowered them back to the table.
“Miss Kerrigan, I’d like to ask you some questions.”
There was no response.
“Why did you come to San Diego? Why did you leave your house in Oxford? What can you tell me about the Ladybugs?”
Kerrigan didn’t move. It was as if she was mesmerized. He continued to ask questions but they all remained as unanswered as the first. Finally he tried a different track.
“I’ve been to your house. I’ve been in your cellar.”
She looked up at him. “Have you read the book?”
“What book?”
“Ask them.”
He stepped out of the interrogation room to find Officer Lewis observing from behind the two way mirror.
“Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?”
“No, but I can see if she had a book with her when she was arrested.”
Kerrigan had indeed had a book in her handbag when she had been arrested. It was an eight by ten hard bound volume of blank pages which she had filled with tightly written cursive. In the center of most pages were the lyrics of Ladybugs songs and around them were annotations and bizarre sketches. Andrews took the book with him back into the interrogation room.
“Is this the book you were talking about?”
“That is the book.”
He opened the cover and flipped through a few random pages. “What about it?”
“You have to read it.”
“Can’t you just tell me what it says?”
“Read it. Then come back tomorrow.”
Leaving the room with the book, Andrews sat down at a vacant desk and picked up the phone. When the long distance operator came on, he gave her his contact number for Agent Wright in Hollywood. He had to wait about a minute for the connection and for Wright to answer.
“How’s it going?”
“Kerrigan’s a wacko and I don’t think I’ll be able to get anything out of her until tomorrow. I’m going to have to stay over.”
Tesla's Stepdaughters Page 12
