Chapter 7: Pride and Precipice

The second half of our 'Boy's Night Out' was full of dancing and flirting. I managed to avoid most of both, but not all. I even managed a dance with Glova!

The defining moment of the evening came when Ariana Burgess, walked into the Event Horizon and up to the table where Porter was sitting with Fred, Diyr, Aaron, Jon and two of our students.

"Hi Daddy. Is there room for me to join you?"

Fred was up and out of his chair so fast he almost knocked it over. He gave her a bow, and kissed her hand before offering her his seat next to Porter.

"My Lady, please allow me to surrender my seat to you. I will be content to merely sit nearby and bask in your beauty."

It should be noted immediately that Ariana Burgess was not just a beauty to rival anyone in the room, including Glova, but she seemed to smolder with sensuality and something else I can't really define. The closest I can come is to say that Ariana is the visual representation of the tone of Ginny's voice whenever she calls me 'Beggar Boy'. She had jet black hair that fell straight to her waist, with deep blue eyes and full red lips. She wasn't quite as curvy as Glova, but she seemed to radiate appeal.

It should also be noted that Fred, while known for the occasional flare of chivalry, was acting so outside of his normal shy, quiet state as to be suspected of being under the influence of a coercer. We were collectively stunned by both of them.

"Oh, I think not!" Ariana answered, looking him up and down. "I think I'm going to want you right where I can reach you. Ask me to dance."

"Would you honor me with a dance?" Fred responded immediately.

"Ooh, yes!" Ariana answered, and the two of them were off.

Halfway to the dance floor we heard the band switch to something soft and slow. Fred's fate was sealed then, if it hadn't been already, I suspect.

Ariana's arrival on Meadow, and being reunited with her father had been quite the event when it happened a couple of years ago.

The initial giddy happiness he shared with his wife and children had faded after a couple years into something less. His wife Octavia adamantly refused all offers to join Porter wherever he was. The sure knowledge that this option existed and her mom would not accept it embittered Ariana, and she made sure she was far from home when she went to college, enrolling in Georgetown University's Microbiology degree program.

Araiana remained at Georgetown until she had gotten her PhD. The money from our deal with Porter allowed her to lease a nice apartment near campus and live on her own while attending school. She only went home once in the six years she was there. During the summer of her fourth year, her little brother Karl was killed in a car accident. There wasn't even a drunk driver to blame, just a slick road on a rainy night.

The final straw for Ariana was her mother's indignant insistence that Porter return for the funeral. To pay respect to their dead son. Porter did attend, heavily disguised, and said a prayer over his son, but Octavia railed at him afterwards for not joining her at the service to mourn their son. It didn't matter to her that Porter was officially deceased, and too many people who knew him would be there.

Ariana, on the other hand was ecstatic to see her father again, however thoroughly disguised. They renewed their bond, and the day she left Georgetown, it was as an Obsidian Research recruit.

"My daughter inherited my mind and sense of humor and her mother's looks and depths of emotion." Porter said. "As a father I am a bit squeamish in saying it, but she has far surpassed her mother in the beauty department, and I am glad we are not in the same fields, so I don't have to worry about being eclipsed professionally as well."

The last two hours of our evening were spent in Ariana Burgess' orbit. She, it turned out, was a regular here. Half the students who came up to have their beer and spend their alloted time with us greeted her by name! We wound up finding three more students, after Eru Apric, that we thought deserved serious consideration as recruits, and they were given the opportunity to leave us their contact information as well.

Ariana danced with everyone at the unattached tables, but Fred got every other dance, and all the slow ones. We had often wondered why Fred wasn't more of a lady's man. He had two thirds of the classical Tall, Dark and Handsome formula going for him, and with his flashing eyes and smile, good looks and old world mannerisms and manners, he had a lot of appeal, but he always seemed to go out of his way to avoid personal attachments. I don't think we were going to be wondering about Freddie's love life any longer.

Most of us were either Light-connected, as Eru and I were, or had been through Eru's Soul Diver school, so keeping the worst effects of the alcohol at bay required only a simple bit of mental manipulation. We were all having a good time and none of us was in danger of becoming drunk. The tower of Copper Cauldron did not last long, and we quickly ordered a tower of the Black Ocean in its place, but kept the students coming.

Spirit Master or not I was not about to attempt using my gift to empty my bladder, so I eventually had to head to the restroom. Straight shot to the restrooms or not, the Event Horizon was now officially packed. On my way back I asked Glova if it was usually this busy.

"Not on Third Chantrim! I think it is your presence tonight that is drawing this crowd." She said.

"If you're at capacity, would you object to turning this into a private party then, and barring the door?"

Glova hesitated. "We have three hours left before closing, and I'd hate to turn away students with money to spend in favor of students who have already spent theirs."

This is when it finally occurred to me that Glova might just be more than their best hostess.

"Glova, are you actually the manager?" You seem awfully concerned about the bottom line. She blushed and leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"I'm the owner. I have to worry about the bottom line."

"I guess that means I can't hire you away from all this." I said, trying to hide my surprise. I hadn't been letting her beauty blind me, but I definitely hadn't been adding up all the clues. Her blinding smile in response to my offer immediately trumped all those thoughts.

"You don't know how much even the suggestion of that offer tempts me, but I am quietly getting rich here, and making a lot of connections that will serve me well later on."

We walked back to my table together, where I saw all tables had fresh towers.

"A.J., I know I'm stinking, filthy, impossibly rich back on Earth, and that collectively we are as rich as we want to be called on Meadow, but how wealthy am I on Taluat?"

Grandpa and Eldo put there heads together for a couple minutes before Eldo answered the question.

"Dave, as far as bank deposits and hard assets go, you're relatively middle class. But the remnants of the Board of High Governors has ordered you personally, and us as an organization, be given an unlimited open line of credit. In support of that, I have personally provided access to hard credits up to the limit my accountants will allow, which means if you wanted to buy the Event Horizon, or some other successful business, you could pay cash."

I knew Eldo was successful, but I had no idea he was that successful! Seeing the expression on my face Brin filled me in.

"Dave it's to your credit that you are so unaware of things like this, but Master Lev is currently the third richest individual on Taluat."

So I cleared the tab from every table in the Event Horizon, retroactive to our arrival and ordered a tower of Black Ocean for each.

Taluat, at least in the West, does not use currency. Everything is payed for with credits and kept track of electronically. Thus it was very easy for Glova to credit every account with the amounts they'd spent, and transfer the charge to mine.

When the towers of Black Ocean began appearing at the tables, Glova had to interrupt the band to explain.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, your charges this evening have been credited back to your accounts, and covered by Spirit Master McKesson, who wishes to thank you for giving his party such a fine evening."

Cries of "Speech! Speech!" began to rise from the tables, so I decided to have a little more fun. I walked to the front of our section, activated my Legion armor and called up the comm mode, setting it to public address. As I did the cries changed to wild cheering.

"Thank you all, not only for the nice cheers, but also for the nice evening. Even a Spirit Master needs to unwind once in a while."

That drew a nice laugh, so with the mood right I jumped in with both feet.

"But!" I warned with mock seriousness, "You don't get anything for free in this world, or any other, so you are going to have to pay for this evenings festivities!"

A smattering of good natured hisses, the Taluat equivalent to booing, quickly faded into laughter.

"I declare a talent show! Every table has to enter one act. It can be one person with talent, or it can be a group, we don't care. Sing, dance, act, tell jokes, anything that won't get us all arrested, and the fine people here at the Event Horizon in trouble."

When the chaos bomb my announcement created began to subside, I made my next move.

"Since we are fine, fair folks, just like you, we will participate in the show as well, and to start things off, I offer from my table, the fine singing voice of Legionnaire Cyrus Poole!"

The cheering went through the roof, and as Cyrus stood and came forward, he shot me a dirty look.

"Give them Danny Boy, and do it in English, and you might even win the contest." I said.

"I will get you back for this you know." He said as he came up to me.

"I know, that's what makes it so much fun." I answered.

"I can only assume you expect me to be the master of ceremonies, and the staff be the judges." Glova said, "So I must ask that unless you plan on sharing your public address system, all performances must be from the stage."

Con and Arden put their heads together for a second, then Con jumped a couple of the ubiquitous black equipment carriers from Obsidian.

"These should work nicely." Con said, holding up what looked like a little hearing aid that hooked over an ear. The box held a dozen of them. The second box was the remote receiver and speakers for the system that the little ear units fed into.

Con took the receiver unit out into the middle of the room, pushed a couple of buttons and soon the unit was hovering just beneath the high ceiling.

Unintelligible English or not, Cyrus has a fine voice, and Danny Boy, sung well, will evoke a response in those who hear it. The applause when he finished was impressive.

Con had given Glova one of the earpieces, as master of ceremonies, along with quick instructions on how to use it.

"The Spirit Master's table has set the bar high!" Glova said as the applause began to die. "Who shall be next?"

We had singers and acrobats, jugglers and musicians. I noticed some frantic conferences and even a few folks jumping out of the room, only to reappear a short while later. I saw Ariana lean over and whisper something in Fred's ear. He appeared to be worried as he whispered something back. Ariana listened to his answer, then leaned in and laid a serious case of lip lock on him!

My attention was drawn back to the center of the room, where two of the students from one of the tables had begun to sing a duet, accompanied by a member of the band, who played the melody on his instrument, a keyed instrument that produced a very 'synthesizer' kind of sound. The two singers were very good, and they had obviously practiced this song a lot, as they wove the melody and harmony in and out, switching parts occasionally.

An hour later, I would have had to call it a close race between Cyrus' opening performance and the duet. Eru had gotten up when his table was called upon, and with his own fiddle, or the Taluatan equivalent of a fiddle, played a rousing tune that would have been at home in any square dance hall in America. That took care of the two 'attached' tables, and uncle Aaron surprised me by getting up and juggling four plates, even managing some variations and between the leg and behind the head moves.

"Last, but not least, we arrive at our final table for the night, from our Spirit Master's section." Glova announced. We turned and looked at the table. Ariana and Fred were still missing. Porter got up and came top stand between Glova and me, sliding an ear piece over his ear.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Porter said, doing a credible impression of that deep voiced boxing announcer who made the 'lets get ready to rumble' phrase famous. "If you would please all clear the dance floor, it is my pleasure to present to you, performing a traditional Earth dance, Fred Sabarte and Ariana Porter, dancing the Tango!"

Porter nodded, and I saw Con flip a switch on what appeared to be a standard portable CD player from back home. At the same time, Eru nodded as well. A spotlight hit the center of the dance floor, and in the cleared area suddenly appeared Fred and Ariana!

Fred was decked out in his best Tuxedo, with white tie and tails, while Ariana wore a dress that went to her ankles, but it was red, clingy and sheer!

They had the long stemmed rose and everything. Their performance was incredible, and the contest was over ten seconds into it. The applause when the music and the dancers stopped was thunderous. Fred and Ariana maintained a long passionate kiss through the applause, which lasted several long minutes.

"I believe we have our winners!" Came Glova's voice at the end. Once the congratulations were done and the winners had made the rounds of the tables to shake hands with the other contestants, I saw Fred whisper into Ariana's ear, followed by her nod, and the two of them disappear in mid stride. I did not expect them to return.

As the crowd milled around, finishing their drinks and food and just generally enjoying the moment, I sat with Glova, thanking her again for such a fine evening.

"I believe I should be thanking you, Dave." She said. "Half the people I've spoken to asked if this was going to be a regular event, and I think the Event Horizon will be featuring a talent night in the future. I would also be more than willing to cancel the charges to your account tonight if you told me I could keep this incredible audio system."

<Con, is there any Light technology in this system?> I sent to Con.

<None, Dave. The Anti-Grav unit is pure Seeker tech, but that is very similar to the magno-grav systems the Taluat already enjoy. The fuel cells aren't Taluatan standard, but we can provide an adapter.>