Chapter 21: Impressing the Citizens

Madoka was hungry. Once I offered her a meal, she drank it down. Afterwards she fidgeted for only a moment before closing her eyes again. I was not completely surprised, as she had been awake for the last hour as I memorized the seating chart. Once she was slumbering in one of the cribs set up in the backstage nursery, I hurried back to the theater, prepared to lead the citizens to their seats.

Janice met me at the curtain. She seemed a bit distracted, but held up a hand for me to pause. I could see her looking over at David. "David, have Elle touch up your makeup. It doesn't stand out under the lights."

The man nodded and headed to the back. Janice smiled at me. "We really needed a dress rehearsal," she admitted. "Now I know Philipe suggested you seat everyone, but we realized we needed some entertainment when the citizens come in. Mickey and Cleo are going to join you in our orchestra pit. The AI says it can display sheet music on the stands. Just play what it shows while everyone finds their seats."

"What about the programs and seating?" I asked.

Janice smiled. "We asked Maggie to handle that. She isn't in the first several scenes so she will have time to get backstage and get dressed. She was watching you and is pretty sure she can seat everyone. You just have to concentrate on the music."

I nodded and descended the few stairs from the stage to the theater floor. There I met Cleo and she opened the small door leading to the orchestra pit. My body was shaking as I sat down, but Cleo put her hand on my arm to calm me.

"No one is going to complain about a few missed notes," she reminded me. "Relax and have fun. No matter what happens, James will tell you he loved it."

"Are you sure?" Mickey asked as she made an adjustment to the keyboard.

Cleo shook her head and reached out to push her music stand to the right a couple of inches. Her percussion instruments looked more like the fake set James had for the console game that we had smuggled aboard more than a year ago, but when Cleo hit one, the sound of a cymbal crashing echoed in the room. Mickey and I jumped in our chairs.

"I can only speak about my husband back on Earth. We met in high school and he convinced me to try playing in the band. I enjoyed it, but knew I wasn't very good. He didn't appear to care and always praised my playing. It wasn't until one night where my part was extremely limited and yet he praised me that I realized he just enjoyed watching me perform. After that it was easier to believe," Cleo said.

I smiled. "James will love this just because my sisters and I performed. That makes sense. I'm still a bit nervous about the music. Especially right now. We are going to be playing music we never practiced."

Mickey giggled. "Let's just try and see. Hopefully the AI will help if we struggle."

We turned to our music. Since we had never tried to play this music before it was merely a bunch of black notes on a page. I noticed that the page had a bright colored line flashing. Cleo leaned forward for a moment to look at the line and then smiled. "Ah, we have our beat. Ready? Let's try this on my count." She brought her drumsticks up and hitting them together in time with the flashes counted. "One, two, three, go!"

The music in front of me had me playing a long trill on a low note. Mickey joined in a moment later with a bass line driven by the beat. I heard a couple of missed notes, but when Cleo joined in by playing a rumbling roll on two of the pads, I stopped worrying about missed notes and started playing.

The AI was definitely backing us. I was concentrating hard on what I was playing, but in the background I could hear what sounded like a full orchestra playing. There were moments I could pick out my playing, but the beat was too fast for me to relax and listen.

It was hard to tell what I was playing. The first song appeared to be the theme from a movie. At least I thought I recognized the melody. After that, the pace slowed down as we found ourselves playing the song Baby Elephant Walk. This song put a lot of pressure on me. I had trouble with several of the quick runs, but managed to fight my way through the piece.

When the song came to an end, I looked up and noticed that the curtains were closed. Jacques was standing in front of the curtains and holding a microphone. He smiled over us, and I was tempted to see how many of the citizens had arrived, but I could see the music on the stand change and the flashing marker begin.

Cleo didn't bring her hands up. She was looking at Jacques who nodded and lifted the microphone to his mouth. "Thank you for coming. We have a couple more minutes before the show starts, but Janice agreed to allow me to come up here and entertain everyone. Now I know most of you have heard me complain about how Donna treats me."

I kept my eyes on Cleo as laughter rang out behind me. It was clear that many of the citizens were in attendance. Jacques waited a moment, before raising a hand for silence.

"Obviously, I use that a bit too much. Well, tonight, I want to let you all hear what I truly think of the woman who snatched me from Earth just over a year ago," he finished.

Cleo cued off that and whispered out, "one, two, three, four," in time with the flashing line on the music. At first the music was just light ringing of a cymbal. Then Mickey joined in. She would play a long bass note and, while holding it, play a series of notes. Each series had four notes going up in pitch, would drop the pitch on the fifth note before finishing on a higher note. She played this pattern three times before changing the sequence to a descending pattern and then returning to the original pattern. At that point, I joined in, mostly playing light trills that harmonized with the bass line.

I recognized the song a moment before Jacques began singing and smiled as he began singing.

"Oh I tried before to tell her, of the feelings I have for her in my heart. But each time that I come near her, I just lose my nerve as I have from the start," Jacques sang.

There was a gasp from the audience, but Cleo, Mickey and I were all smiling as we reached the chorus for the first time. Mickey missed one line, but Jacques ignored the mistake and started belting out. "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic."

Cleo had some trouble with a transition and I missed several notes when Jacques changed key about halfway through the song. The AI caught it and changed the notes on the page, but I was trying to concentrate on the song, and failed to notice. Still we managed to hold everything together until Jacques allowed the last note to fade away.

He lowered the microphone to thunderous applause, or at least as thunderous as twenty-two people could provide. Jacques bowed once and then dashed away, heading to the right side of the stage and disappearing into the back. I thought we would be playing more music, but the lights on the stands went out. I glanced over at Cleo, but she shrugged.

I risked a glance away from the stage. Every seat was filled. James and Yvette were sitting almost directly in front of the center of the stage, so I was almost directly in front of him. He had a perplexed expression on his face as he gazed at me. I was tempted to wave, but the lights came back on the music stands.

Cleo glanced back at me and smiled. As we were relaxing for a moment, Madison, one of Linus' concubines, walked out onto the stage. She was wearing a bright red toga and smiled out at the audience.

She walked to the center of the stage and raised her right arm high. A fanfare played out, with Cleo adding a drum beat to the ending. Madison took a deep breath and called out "Playgoers, I bid you welcome. The theater is a temple, and we are here to worship the gods of comedy and tragedy. Tonight I'm pleased to announce..."

She paused and looked confused. Lowering her hand she stepped back towards the curtain. Then from behind the curtain several voices called out in a stage whisper. "A comedy."

Madison immediately raised her arm confidently. "A comedy! We will employ every device we know in our desire to divert you."

The music started at that point as Madison began singing out how it was a "Comedy Tonight." During the song, she described the basic plot. It had not changed much from our original idea. A lone man was going off in search of a good drink.

During the song the curtains opened. At first she merely described some of the scenery, hinting at the roles it would play in later scenes. However, as the song continued more and more people came on stage. By the time they reached the final chorus all the concubines were on-stage belting out the final notes. They sang out the final two words, and then on a loud count to three, dashed to the sides, leaving David standing alone in the center of the stage.