FanFic - DP/UF - Crossroads [5]
MegaZone
"But Time is on our side/and Time is the essence"
-- Def Leppard, "Overture"
One band, over three hours. No solos, no long speeches, just
song after song punctuated by pre-recorded sound bites which, though
nobody knew the sources, sounded cool at the time. Basic Nastiness
knew how to put on a gig.
The accepted thing to do at this point was to pretend to leave
the stage, then come back to do an encore. Instead, Penna stepped up
to the front mic. Unnecessary; he was linked to a headset mic and had
been trading vocal responsibilities with Istara. But stand-up mics
did have a certain effect.
"Everybody here have a good time tonight?" The response was a
roaring crowd, a massive affirmative.
"Great, then you can go home now. No no, just kidding.
Seriously, we do have some heavy territory to cover before this
evening's over. First off, I would like to thank Mr. Fnord, whoever
he may be, for fronting the cost for this entire concert.
"Second, the box office counted eighty-two thousand, three
hundred and seventy-five tickets sold: this gig went one hundred
percent capacity. That means we raised about one point six million
Solaris tonight. And, thanks to Mr. Fnord, that's all free to fund
the Musashi Terraforming project. Remember, you can make a difference.
You already have. Give yourselves a big hand.
"But most importantly, this is a time for good-byes, hellos,
and shattered illusions. First, the goodbye is to all of you,
unfortunately. Barring the incredibly unforeseen, this is going to be
the last time you ever see Basic Nastiness. We're going off-world,
and probably won't return in your lifetimes. It's been a fincredible
decade: I don't even think our forefathers got as much of a reception
as we had.
"Why we're leaving brings us into the shattered illusions. Of
course, you know us by our stage names. But we've been around for a
long time under different names, possibly more famous than our current
ones." He made a gesture off-stage.
There was a rumble, deeper and lower than anything Mt.
Percussion could pound out. Upon a pillar of flame, a craft rose from
a pit behind the stage. A really ugly ship, uglier than it was even
designed, slowly leapt over the stage backing, and landed straddling
the percussion unit.
Penna turned back to the mic. "My friends, I give you the
Rick Allen and her crew. I would like to introduce you to --" he
gestured to Fachan, Tanderah, Istara, and himself in turn--"Cheryl.Z,
Ktefft, Deedlit, and ReRob."
The fog lifted from the heads of some of the mundanes. Most,
of course, thought that they had just seen TMOA gimmicks, and blew it
off. Some, remembering the stories they learned in school, recognized
the names and the stories, and saw how these pretenders could pass for
the four, but the big fact remained--they're dead! Other than that,
several dozen media personnel were pressing for bandwidth on the
cellulars.
"Which brings us, at last, to the hellos. The real reason for
this gig was to attract the attention of a few special people. We
know that some people survived the Wayward Son. We're hoping that
some of those survivors are here, in person or by video. Guys, we've
got a message for you.
"Largo and GENOM, of course, are still in business. We can't
let the galaxy go on with this menace still at large. For the past
century, we have, because there was simply nothing we could do about
it. Now there is.
"With the assistance of the Government of Vesper, we have
created the warbird Phoenix. It is fully staffed, and capable of the
job at hand, but we still need you at the senior positions.
"If you were on the Wayward Son, you can find a way to get
here and you will find a way to reach us. But, time is short, as
Largo will be informed of this gathering quite soon by his own
intelligence forces."
ReRob was more correct than he assumed. Largo's "intelligence
forces" at the moment consisted of a vidscreen cable-linked to Network
23, which was showing this live and direct from the Edison Carter
Show. This was all Largo needed to see now; he'd acquire the tape
from the net later on. He decided, instead, to invoke his remote
control unit. He grabbed Jacq Sandia, the functionary du jour, and
launched him at the screen. He then made a mental note to himself not
to do that too often, as this represented a waste of good vidscreens.
ReRob had taken a breath to continue, but he was cut off..
"Hang on a second," a voice cried from offstage. ReRob
whirled, his eyes widening. It couldn't be--
Gryphon came out from the wings, wearing what the few Card No.
1 fans in the audience recognized as his old stage clothes; black
fatigue pants, bright red Converse All-Stars, a dark flannel shirt, a
grey hat with the logo "INTEL INSIDE" on the front, and a long grey
duster. His hair was tied back in a long ponytail, and his smile was
just about touching the triangular purple earring he wore in his left
earlobe.
Behind him came Kei, in a similar shirt and a pair of tattered
jeans; Zoner, in his uniform; and Yuri, in a denim skirt, leather
jacket with about a thousand zippers and the like, and low black
boots.
"Hold it right there, pal," ReRob said, holding up his metal
hand. "I've seen this kind of thing before. If you're really
Gryphon, then where are we going?"
Gryphon looked puzzled for a second; then his smile widened,
he seized another upright mike, and shouted, "Planet 10!" with a fist
raised defiantly in the air.
"When will we get there?" ReRob continued, his voice becoming
less skeptical and more excited.
"Real soon!" Gryphon cried.
"What is the greatest joy?" ReRob demanded.
"The joy of duty!" Gryphon bellowed. "History is made at
night--character is what you are in the dark!"
"Gryph!" Rob cried. "Welcome back!"
Those in the crowd who remembered their great-grandparents'
tales (and old discs) of Card Number One were awestruck; the same for
those who remembered the tales of the Wedge Defense Force. A great
wave of cheering rose up, marred by the boos and hisses of those whose
ancestors had put a somewhat negative slant on the tale, such as it
was known, of the end of the WDF.
Rob pulled Gryphon away from the mikes and murmured to him, "I
take it you're--"
"Cleared, Rob," Gryphon replied, and grabbed a mike. "Cleared
and judged innocent by Wolfgang Amadeus Fahrvergnugen himself!" The
crowd roared. "My friends...for those of you who know of me, who
believe in me and whose parents and grandparents believed in me--I
thank you, and I thank them.
"Rob--if you don't mind, there's a song I'd like to do. Could
I trouble you to take your old station behind the 'boards?"
"Sure, Gryph...sure." There was a little whispering as
Gryphon described the song to ReRob off-mike, and then Rob took his
place. Yuri was busy borrowing an acoustic guitar from Deedlit, and
passing an electric to Zoner; meantime, Gryphon and Kei were taking
position in front. The crowd fell silent. Yuri on acoustic, Gryphon
and Kei up front, Zoner on an electric (rare indeed), ReRob at the
'boards, and a different drummer; this was a setup some of them
recognized.
After a hauntingly odd-sounding acoustic intro, Kei, lighted
only from a pin above, began to sing. The rest of the band was
blacked out.
Baby
I get so scared inside and I don't really understand
Is it love that's on my mind or is it fantasy?
Another pin came up across the stage, filtered through a red gel, on
Gryphon:
Heaven
Is in the palm of my hand and it's waiting here for you
What am I supposed to do with a childhood tragedy?
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain unchanged?
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain the same?
Sometimes
It's hard to hold on
So hard to hold on to my dreams
It isn't always what it seems
When you're face to face with me
You're like a dagger
You stick me in the heart
And taste the blood from my blade
And when we sleep would you shelter me
In your warm and darkened grave
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain unchanged?
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain the same?
Will you ever take me?
No I just can't take the pain...
Would you ever trust me?
No I'll never feel the same...ohh
I know I've been so hard on you
I know I've told you lies
If I could have just one more wish
I'd wipe the cobwebs from my eyes
And if I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain unchanged?
If I close my eyes forever
Will it all remain the same?
Close your eyes
Close your eyes
You gotta close your eyes for me...
The lights came up, slowly; Gryphon and Kei crossed the stage
until they were standing face to face, looked at each other for a long
moment, and then fell into a warm embrace. The rest of the band
gathered around. The crowd went nuts.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Gryphon announced into the mike next
to his face, "the Wedge Defense Force is back!"
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