SPACE GHOST: COAST 2 COAST:
TONIGHT'S EPISODE: DEATH IN ONE EAR
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
"Do these keys even move?" Space Ghost said, as he pressed his fingers down on the keyboard of Zorak's desk.
"Ten seconds to air Space Ghost" Tansit's voice echoed over the speakers solemnly.
Space Ghost stared around him, the band, the Original Way Outs, were prepped to play.
"Just-just give me a moment" said Space Ghost
"...Nine, eight...seven..." Tansit began, Space Ghost had to think fast.
But just as he had put together a thought, time was up. The band came to life, the loud music pulsated through the studio, Tansit began his introductions.
"Welcome everyone to Space Ghost: Coast 2 Coast, tonight a special musical tribute to the band Boston per the request of our Original Way Out bandleader..."
"Don't say the name" Space Ghost replied.
"Um...why not?" said Tansit.
"He's dead" Space Ghost responded.
"He's not is he?" asked Tansit as the band came to an abrupt halt.
"Dead. To me." Space Ghost responded. Tansit was floored.
"I didn't know...I mean-I knew this job was vacant when I got it, but I didn't know how bad it'd actually gotten..."
"It's fine, perfectly fine. We're not talking about the one dead to you. Just the one that's dead. To me" Space Ghost replied.
"To you" replied Tansit.
"To me what?" asked Space Ghost
"To you, we cut to you...at the desk" said Tansit.
"I need to be played there" said Space Ghost, urging one of the band members to come closer to Zorak's stage.
"Look, I don't know if these keys move, so you're going to have to risk your job to move them" Space Ghost requested. The band member shrugged his shoulders and pressed down on the pad. Some music could be heard at a fairly low level.
"Ok, they do work" Space Ghost realized, "He always made it look invisible"
"He?" asked Tansit.
"You know who" Space Ghost replied.
"Oh yes...the one that's dead" said Tansit.
"At least the one that's dead to you made his part look seamless" Space Ghost replied.
Tansit examined the screen, and pulled the lever a couple of times, a re-run of the 70s cop drama CHiPs came into full view.
"I can see why this got so many shots in syndication more than our guests" he said.
"Are we going to continue?" Space Ghost replied.
"I expect not" said Tansit.
"Can we just play the music then?" demanded a weary Space Ghost.
"Did that work the last time?" said Tansit.
"You can bet on my right ear it did" Space Ghost said.
"Oh, right, what happened to the other one then?" said Tansit.
"My other ear? They bet against it. They always do. The CHiPs were down that day" Space Ghost replied, scratching an itch at the side of his temple.
"So you're almost deaf?" said Tansit.
"If I lose all of my hearing, I lose it all...the noise is settling down now, it's going to go all quiet in the studio before long...dead. To me.
"I think you mean 'Death..to you. Like a mating call" Tansit replied.
"You think I want this? You think I want this date with destiny?"
"It's not destiny, it's...with inevitability" Tansit assured him.
"That's his real name? He said his real name was Cathy" Space Ghost responded.
"Cathy?" Tansit asked
"He told me to respect his life choices" Space Ghost replied in protest.
"Cathy isn't coming home is he?" said Tansit.
"None of them do Tansit. None of them do" Space Ghost said solemnly, and let the band play on, the music echoing out of the Ghost Planet building and threatening to ignite the stars and deafen all the ears that inhabited the worlds beneath the endless night.
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF C. MARTIN CROCER
THINK OF HIM WHEN YOU LOOK TO THE NIGHT SKY