Will They Come?

by ThePreciousHeart

A sequel to my "epic" Changes, AKA Concept Album Extravaganza. On the fifth and last year of the doomed planet Earth's existence, the surviving humans are picked up by otherworldy beings and deposited onto a new planet, where they must build a new society and fend off attacks by teenage ruffians who call themselves the Diamond Dogs- and defend themselves from far worse threats.

11. Chapter 11

Mom, Jack wrote on a small shred of paper he found lying about in the kitchen. I've gone to meet Kylie and have her introduce me to her parents. I'll try to be back by nightfall, but if I don't get there, don't worry.

They met each other on Poacher's Hill just as they had planned, Kylie dancing away under the warm sun and Jack staggering up the hill to meet her and join in the fun. Once he got to the top, Kylie dashed over to him with a smile and took his hands, leading him in her dance. They stopped when they were out of breath and collapsed on the green grass, staring down at the city together.

"So," Kylie said as a way of greeting, plucking a blade of grass from the ground and twiddling it between her fingers. "What did you do yesterday after I went home? Hung out with the Diamond Dogs?"

Jack leaned back on his hands and watched Kylie's hands play with the blade of grass, her legs sheathed in black jeans stretching out in front of her. He was glad for the return to her normal fashion style- Kylie had looked beautiful in her dress, but seeing her in a non-black outfit, with a skirt at that, was too unfamiliar a sight for Jack to handle. As he was considering her clothing choice, Kylie looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes drilling into him. "Well?"

Jack sighed, turning Kylie's query over in his head. He scratched his hair, reluctant to respond right away. "Well," he intoned heavily, "I talked to a few people who helped me figure out who and what I am."

"Oh?" Kylie said curiously. "Who did you talk to, Jack? What did you find out?" She let the blade of grass flutter to the ground and scooted next to him, bumping shoulders. Flipping her head underneath his, Kylie gazed into Jack's eyes, flustering him. "I want to know everything!"

"There's a lot of 'everything,'" Jack said, awkwardly trying to find a place to put his hands. Kylie scooted closer, so that she was practically sitting on his lap. Jack ended up draping his arms over her shoulders from behind, settling his hands on her thighs. The remembrance of the last time he had touched her made a shiver of heat run up his spine and tinged his cheeks pink.

"Okay then," Kylie said. "You don't have to tell me everything." She pulled out of Jack's embrace and sat down in front of him, crossing her legs beneath her. "Just tell me who you are."

"Well," Jack said, looking down at his hands, "the first person I talked to was Aladdin Sane- yes, Bog," he confirmed Kylie's look of interest, "and from him I found out that I'm not human after all. I'm apparently half human and half of a species called Aresian. Aladdin Sane is an Aresian too, the last one there is. I mean, with full blood."

"Oh," Kylie said, a note of revelation in her voice. "I thought he looked kind of like you… you know, the ears and skin and stuff." She reached up and rubbed her earlobe self-consciously.

"I talked with my mom too," Jack said, "and she confirmed that my dad was from another planet. So there you have it." He arrested the movement of his hands and looked up at Kylie. "Apparently, I'm half-Aresian."

"Who'd have thought?" Kylie snorted, flipping her hair back with her hand. She ran her fingers through it as a means of combing, saying while she did so, "Why didn't your mom tell you about that?"

"I don't know," Jack said, and he sincerely didn't. The claim that his mother had been afraid for her son's life seemed a feeble explanation. However, it was the only one Jack had to go by, and so he was forced to believe it.

"We had this long talk about my dad and about me," Jack said, looking up at the sky. "It's kind of disappointing that my mom doesn't know more about my dad. I mean, now that I know he's an Aresian, I kind of want to hear more about him. Especially after I talked to Aladdin Sane…" He blinked and dug his fingers into the grass, pointedly not meeting Kylie's gaze. "Do you know what Aladdin Sane told me? He said that Aresians are immortal, because they're ageless and our wounds heal so quickly…" Jack shook his head, still amazed and a bit worried. Did he inherit the immortal part of his Aresian heritage? What would that mean for him?

Kylie's voice responded with rich amusement. "Jack, are you trying to freak me out now? Drive me away from you because you're not human? Don't you remember what I said two nights ago?"

Jack nodded. How could he forget anything that had happened that night? "You said you didn't want anything to change our friendship."

"Yep," Kylie nodded. "Neither sex nor inhumanity can change us." She bumped Jack's knee in a friendly way with her hand, and Jack looked away from the clouds and into Kylie's eyes. "I'm your best friend, Jack, and you're mine. That's the way it's always going to be. By the way…" Her eyes danced, and she glanced away from Jack for a moment before looking back. "Did you tell your mom about the… concert?"

Jack smiled, knowing that Kylie didn't actually mean the concert, and then abandoned his smile with a sigh. "I told her about the actual concert, yes, and that I stayed out all night in a basement in the city. I didn't tell her about… you know…" He blushed, and cursed himself inwardly for blushing. "Us."

"I told my parents everything," Kylie said matter-of-factly. "It's okay, they don't hate you or anything. My mom got pregnant with me when she was eighteen, so…" She shrugged.

"Mm," Jack hummed noncommittally, letting his mind wander for a bit as he remembered the night of the concert and what had happened afterwards. The question was left unsaid- would it ever happen again? Jack tried to imagine never touching Kylie in the way he had touched her that night for the rest of his life, and felt his spirits sink. Of course it all depended on her, but he wouldn't have minded trying again…

To get his mind off of his confused relationship with Kylie, Jack brought up the topic that was most weighing down his mind. "Kylie, I want to meet your parents."

She inclined her head in his direction. "You do?"

"Yes," Jack said. "I…" He tapped his fingers against his foot. "I want to hear what they have to say about my dad."

As soon as Jack finished his sentence, Kylie sprung to her feet and stretched her arms wide, tipping her head back to face the sun. "Then what are we doing sitting around here?" she said. "Come on! Let's get going now!"

Jack stood up slowly, brushing his grass-stained jeans. "Are- are you sure they don't hate me?"

Kylie let out a peal of laughter. "They don't even know you! Come on, Jack. Come meet my parents."

"Say the words," Jack said, rolling his skate wheels back and forth, "and I'll follow you anywhere."

She spoke the eternal words. "Let's skate."

"You know what else I found out from Aladdin Sane, Kylie?" Hand in sweaty hand, they skated solitarily down the streets, keeping as always to the shadows. Jack had to swallow past the nervous lump in his throat to speak clearly. He hoped that Kylie wouldn't notice the moisture of his palms or the shaking in his legs, as she would probably laugh at him. What are you afraid of?

"What?" Kylie asked with an inquisitive squeeze of Jack's hand. Jack took a deep breath. Stupid nerves getting the better of him. He tried to concentrate on what he had been about to say, to take his mind off of meeting Kylie's parents.

"He told me that those dogs that keep attacking us are called Diamond Dogs," Jack said. Kylie responded with a soft giggle. "Ha! That's ironic."

"Maybe not," Jack mumbled, unsure of "ironic" was the correct word to use. "He also told me that they attacked him when he first came to this planet and nearly killed him. I think the dogs hate Aresians or something…" He trailed off, trying to make all the information he had received about the dogs fit in his mind. Where had the Diamond Dogs come from in the first place? Were they natives of this planet? And…

"Why would they hate Aresians?" Kylie voiced Jack's musings aloud. "Isn't Aladdin Sane the only Aresian who's still alive?"

"Yeah," said Jack, scratching his nose and feeling a cold, squishy sensation settle in the pit of his stomach. "I don't know why they want to kill us. They've threatened me in my mind whenever I've seen them."

"Really?" Kylie said, a twinge of worry peaking in her voice. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the last two times the Diamond Dogs attacked us, I heard a voice in my head," Jack said. "It said something like 'Death to the Aresian!' both times. Aladdin Sane told me that he heard it every time he was attacked."

"Oh," Kylie breathed, and hooked herself closer to Jack, threading her arm through his arm. "Why in the world would they-" She suddenly switched to a more lighthearted topic, gasping with amused surprise. "Jack, you're shaking!" Jack exhaled loudly as Kylie pulled back from him and studied his vibrating body, letting out one burst of laughter. "Are you really that nervous?"

"Maybe," Jack muttered unconvincingly.

Kylie unleashed a particularly noisy snort, rolling her eyes. "I'll say it again, you have nothing to worry about. My parents don't bite- in fact, they're looking forward to meeting you."

"If you say so," Jack mumbled, and on they went.

Kylie's home stood at the far end of a cul-de-sac, the likes of which Jack had never seen. It was a two-story building with a long porch and shuttered windows, the exterior painted in all sorts of bright colors. Being the only non-gray building on the street, Jack couldn't stop ogling its idiosyncracy. Vibrant shades of red, purple, orange, green, and yellow were scrawled across the house's concrete, swirling into various patterns. Kylie, noticing Jack's dropped jaw, began to point out her favorite parts of the house's design as they came closer and closer to it. "My mom painted the door," she said, jabbing her finger towards it, "and she let me do the section right under that window. My dad painted most of it- it was his idea. He did a family portrait right there." Jack followed Kylie's finger with his eyes and widened them at the sight of four figures painted on the house, one man, one woman, and two girls. "My sister Eva helped him a lot with that," Kylie continued. "She did some paintings on the back of the house, too. What do you think?"

Still stunned by the sight, Jack blurted, "It's beautiful." Kylie smiled.

"Glad you like it. Now-" Her hand tore out of Jack's suddenly, and Kylie skated full throttle towards the house. "Race me!"

Jack followed at top speed, but Kylie still managed to beat him to the front steps. Once there, she removed her skates and instructed Jack to do the same. "My parents don't want the wheels scuffing up the floor." Jack felt more vulnerable than he ever had as he followed Kylie up to the porch in his sock feet. He closed his eyes and fought a wave of sickness as Kylie knocked on the door. "I'm home! Mom!"

The door slid open, along with Jack's eyes, just in time to catch sight of a woman who appeared to be about the age of Jack's mother, smiling broadly in the doorway. "Welcome back, Kylie," she intoned sweetly, reaching out to give her a hug. Jack shifted his weight from one leg to the other, looking on awkwardly. After Kylie had pulled away, the woman stepped onto the porch, her brown eyes trained on Jack. "And hello and welcome, stranger!" she smiled, and Jack felt his nerves start to ebb a bit with her warmth. "You must be the notorious Jack that I've heard so much about." Kylie grinned wickedly as the woman held out her hand, and Jack rubbed his damp palm on his jeans before shaking. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He offered a small smile, and the woman released his hand.

"I'm Kylie's mother, as you've probably figured out," she said. "You can call me Mylo. Come inside!" Mylo gestured to the open doorway with her hands, and Kylie took Jack's hand and tugged him into the house, smirking all the while.

Once inside, Jack let go of Kylie's hand, whirling about to face her. "How much did you tell your parents about me?" he asked, only half teasing. What kind of idea had they gotten from what she'd told them?

"Not much," Kylie said. "Don't worry, Jack, your reputation is squeaky clean." Well, thought Jack, remembering the basement… kind of. "Mom was just playing with you."

Mylo cast the door shut and turned around to face her daughter and her visitor. "Can I get you anything, Jack?" she asked. "Anything to eat or drink?"

"No, thank you," Jack said, taking a look at the room around him. Aside from a couch and a table with chairs, much like the ones Jack had at home, the main room was furnished sparsely. Paintings were hung up on the walls, and Jack found himself drifting over to them, observing the finely rendered faces. Each family member appeared to have their own portrait. There was a panting of Mylo, her eyes sparkling and her lips turned up in a kind, inviting smile. There was a painting of a man who Jack assumed to be Kylie's father, his eyes and smile a bit more serious and a book clutched in his hands. There was a painting of another girl, or rather a young woman, her face lacking a smile and done with so much familiarity that Jack could only guess she was the artist. And lastly, there was a panting of Kylie, dressed in a shirt that wasn't black for once and grinning impishly at her audience. Jack's gaze lingered fondly on the last portrait before he turned back to where Kylie was observing him with shrewd eyes. "Who painted these? Your dad?"

"No, my sister did them," Kylie said. "She's really talented. You know, you should meet her!" She rushed over to the stairway, and Jack was about to follow her when he noticed a distinct absence of someone. "Hey, where did your mom go?"

Kylie pointed to a doorway beside the kitchen area. "That's my dad's study. Mom went in there to get him." She jumped onto the first step of the stairway. "I'm going to get Eva. You should probably stay down here in case Mom and Dad come back."

"Okay," said Jack, and wandered over to the kitchen table while Kylie bounded up the stairs, examining its shiny, polished surface. In the faint reflection cast, Jack began to straighten his hair with his fingers, hoping that he didn't look too out of place. Just then Mylo returned from the study, a man trailing behind her who looked as if he had stepped out of the portrait on the wall. Jack straightened up and fought the urge to lean his elbows against the table. The man- Kylie's father- smiled as he approached Jack. ":Here you are at last," he said, a friendly flare of kindness in his eyes. "Ziggy's son."

At the mention of Jack's father's name, Jack perked up his ears. Kylie's father offered his hand, and Jack took it to shake. "It's nice to meet you, sir," he said hopefully. "My name is Jack Stardust."

"I know," Kylie's father laughed. "All of us know, in fact. Kylie's been talking about you." He let go of Jack's hand. "My name is Xyloto Martin, but you can just call me Xyloto."

Kylie Martin… Jack's best friend now had a full name. He nodded, and Xyloto sat down at the table, gesturing for Jack to do the same. "It's okay, you can sit here. I promise the chair won't break or anything."

Jack smiled- "I wasn't expecting it to," and sat. He played with his fingers while Xyloto stared at him and then leaned back, seemingly satisfied with what he found. "So," he said, choosing his words thoughtfully. "Are you here for pleasure or have you come to hear what we have to say about your father?"

Jack started, while Mylo swiveled her neck to laugh at Xyloto. "He's only just arrived, and you're already aching to grill him, I can tell!"

"Oh hush," Xyloto defended himself teasingly. "I'm not the only one who wants to know everything about the son of Ziggy Stardust." He turned his head ever so slightly to the side, blinking carefully at Jack. "You look a bit like him, you know?"

Jack finally found words to speak. "No, I don't." He gave a little laugh. "My dad was handsome. I'm not."

"I beg to differ!" cried a voice. Jack whipped his around to find that Kylie was coming downstairs, a young woman a few heads taller than her following after. She bore a startling resemblance to the young woman in the portrait on the wall, the one who had painted everything. Kylie led her sister into the kitchen and sat down next to Jack.

"This is Eva," Kylie said, gesturing to her. "My sister." Jack nodded- "It's good to meet you"- and held out his hand, but Eva did not take it. She frowned for a split second, staring so closely at Jack that he wondered crazily for a few seconds if she was blind. Then she blinked and walked towards the kitchen counter, her eyes still glued to Jack all the way.

Xyloto spread his hands, and Jack tried to turn his attention back to him. "Xyloto…" It felt odd to call Kylie's parents by their first names. And what kind of a name was "Xyloto," anyway?

"I came here to hear about my father," Jack said. "Kylie told me that you and Mylo used to know him personally."

From behind Jack, at the kitchen counter, the sound of glass smashing in the sink came erupting. Jack and Kylie turned to see Eva frantically scraping shards of broken glass out of the disposal. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry," she gasped, refusing to meet anyone's eyes. Jack was surprised by her voice, which was flavored with an accent unlike the one he, Kylie, his mother, the Diamond Dogs, and Mylo and Xyloto had. It was an accent he had heard before in the city, and he wondered where it was from. Mylo came up to open a door beneath the sink. She patted Eva's shoulder softly before pulling a paper bag out from under the sink. "It's okay, Eva," Mylo said. "Why don't you go sit by the couch for now?"

Eva nodded and moved away from her mother, walking to the sofa. Mylo began shoveling the broken glass into the paper bag, and Xyloto cleared his throat to bring Kylie and Jack's attention back to him, tightness ringing his eyes. "We did used to know him personally," he said to Jack, and Jack leaned in, a nervous thrill racing through his body. At long last, he was finally going to learn who and what his father had been.

Xyloto looked back at Jack, his fingers flexing together, and then over to Kylie. "Kylie, I've never told you everything I knew about Ziggy Stardust, so there will probably be new information in what I'm about to tell Jack. How much have you already said to him?"

"Oh please," Mylo jabbed kindly as she replaced the paper bag under the sink and turned to face the group at the table, leaning on the counter. "Can't you wait and talk about something that won't take forever before we get into this? Why don't you ask Jack about himself? We barely know the boy."

Funny, Jack thought. That's not the impression I got. He shifted in his chair to look at Mylo. "Hasn't Kylie been talking about me?"

Both Kylie and Mylo began to giggle, and Xyloto let out a small chuckle of his own. "Not that much, Jack!" Kylie said, reaching over to take his hand and give it a squeeze. Jack froze at the contact, wondering what Mylo and Xyloto thought of it.

"All I told Mom and Dad," Kylie said, "was that you're my best friend with benefits, you're Ziggy Stardust and Haushinka's son, and you're a Diamond Dog. So yeah, I'd say they know next to nothing about you."

"What else is there to say?" Jack asked rhetorically. Kylie poked him in the ribs with her other hand. "Well, you could tell them that you're half-Aresian…"

"They already know that!" Jack exclaimed, throwing his free hand into the air. Kylie giggled again, and Xyloto spoke up. "Aresian? I don't believe I know what you mean by that."

Jack was about to ask how they could have known his father and not known what an Aresian was, when his mother's words from the night before came back to his ears. "…your father referred to himself in public as a Martian, from the planet Mars, the fourth planet in Earth's solar system… Ares… Mars… they're the same thing."

"It's the same thing as Martian," Jack explained. "My mom told me that last night."

Xyloto nodded. "I see. Well, it looks like we do know more than we thought we knew about you, Jack."

"I don't know much about you," Jack declared suddenly, boldly. "How did you meet my dad? How well did you know him?"

Xyloto's answer was suspended with the sound of heavy, labored breathing coming from the couch. He, Mylo, Kylie, and Jack looked over to see Eva sitting on the sofa facing the table, her hands gripping the back of the sofa so tightly that her knuckles were white and her eyes widened, her breath escaping between clenched teeth. Her eyes were fixated on Jack, unnerving him. The gaze was so intense that he could nearly feel flames churning where her vision touched him.

"Eva," Xyloto said, alarmed and uncertain. "If this is too much for you-"

"Oh, go ahead," she sighed, her voice stricken. "I've heard it all before. Go ahead, go ahead." Eva turned away, slumping back down on the couch, and Jack released a pent-up breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding, looking once more to Xyloto.

"Please, Xyloto. Can you tell me about my father?"

Mylo came up to Xyloto's side and slipped into the seat next to him as Xyloto nodded and scratched his cheek. "I'm not the best person to talk to about him, but I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"Ziggy Stardust came to Earth to try and save it after learning that the planet had only five years left of its existence," Xyloto began. "He took up residence in England- that was a country on Earth- and decided to become a rock and roll musician. It was on his way to America to tour that the plane crashed-"

"What's a plane?" Jack interjected. Xyloto backtracked. "A plane was a craft designed to fly through the air, like birds. If you remember anything about Earth's Saviors' ships, it was a bit like that, except that airplanes couldn't get out of the atmosphere."

Jack nodded, the images of flying through outer space returning to his brain.

"Ziggy made it to shore in America, the country that Mylo and I- and you and your mother- came from on Earth," Xyloto continued. "A few days later, he met me, and I met Mylo on the same day. I was never very close friends with Ziggy, but there's no denying he was quite charismatic. I was living with a group of boys at the time who were much like your Diamond Dogs, and Ziggy took us by storm with his music. All my friends were held spellbound." To Jack it sounded like the false Diamond Dogs' obsession with Aladdin Sane.

"Mylo and I traveled with Ziggy for a brief time, in order to take him to his destination in America, a city known as Suffragette City that Mylo hailed from. We didn't hear from him again until a few months later, when the news came in about his death. You know about that, right?" Xyloto addressed Jack. Jack nodded. "Murdered onstage, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Xyloto said. "No one ever found out who did it, but I personally believe his band members grew jealous of his popularity and took revenge. Ziggy was huge in his lifetime- he and his band were the only music anyone wanted to listen to back then. What was important to remember was he didn't just make music. He was trying to save Earth, a planet he had little to no connection with, from destruction by preaching messages of hope through his songs. His one flaw was taking it all too far, as the papers said. With rock and roll came the inevitable sex and drugs, and Ziggy became immersed in them and soon forgot about his goal, caught up in the hedonistic day-to-day pleasures. Added with the fact that he was becoming too famous for his band, it's no surprise that what brought him joy ended up being his downfall." Xyloto sighed. "He was a true innovator, and a true martyr."

"May he rest in peace," Eva whispered from the couch.

Jack's head spun with the words used to describe his father. Charismatic. Hugely popular. Innovator. Martyr. The story was obviously familiar to Mylo and Xyloto, as they told it matter-of-factly. For Jack, it was vital information. He now knew exactly what kind of person his father had been when he was alive, and the vibrant image painted in his head filled him with sadness. If only he could have lived to see Jack…

"Wow," Kylie said beside Jack, her voice wrought with sorrow. "I had no idea he was murdered, or that he was trying to save Earth… That's terrible." She patted Jack's hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Jack muttered, looking down at the table. I wish he could have met me. If he had, would Jack have even gotten along with his father? What would they have said to each other?

"Just answer me, Xyloto," Jack said, looking up. "Was- was my dad… was he a good person?"

"Of course he was," Xyloto said calmly. "There's no denying that however far Ziggy was led astray, he remained a kind-hearted person at his core. I have good memories of him judging running races between myself and my friends- he was always willing to hang out with the teenagers. I think he was a bit of a child himself, though he was at least a million years old by the time we met him." Jack blinked, but he wasn't truly surprised, not after what Aladdin Sane had said. "I also remember him singing to Mylo and I one night as we traveled to Suffragette City. He had the greatest voice I had ever heard."

"You need to hear it yourself, Jack," Kylie said, switching positions to wrap her arm around his neck. Jack felt like shrugging her off, but he relished in the touch instead. "How can I?" He crossed his legs. "My father is dead."

"You've never heard of vinyl records?" Kylie said.

"No," Jack said. "What's that?" Then a flash of memory came back to him from two days earlier, which felt like a year ago- "My parents have something called a turntable at our house, which plays vinyl records. These records have music on them, and I've heard a few really great singers."

Kylie grinned. "Well aren't you in for a surprise. Wait here!" She got up and walked briskly towards another doorway, and Jack turned his attention back to Xyloto and Mylo, angling his eyebrows up questioningly. Xyloto chuckled.

"You'll see in time what she's talking about. Now…" He shifted position in his chair and took Mylo's hand. "Is there anything more you would like to know?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "When did you meet my mom? Kylie told me you went to see her and tried to convince her to come with you, but she refused. Mom didn't tell me anything about you, but I didn't know how to ask."

At that moment Kylie returned from the other room, clutching what looked like a large photograph in her hands. She sauntered triumphantly up to the table and sat down in her chair beside Jack, depositing the photo on the table. "This is your dad's album," Kylie said as Jack leaned in to take a look. "He recorded his music on it."

Jack stared at the photo with interested eyes. His father was on the front of it, standing before a city scene, his hair for once not bright red, but blond as Jack's mother had assumed it was naturally. Words ran over the top of the photograph- THE RISE OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS.

"If you put this in a turntable, you'll be able to hear his music," Kylie said.

"What's a turntable?" Jack replied. Kylie rolled her eyes and said nothing.

"I'm sure Kylie would be happy to show you once I've answered your question," Xyloto said. "It wasn't my idea to seek out your mother. A friend of ours, another musician who had been very close with Ziggy, informed Mylo and I about you. He said that we needed to make sure you survived the apocalypse that was coming to Earth, because you were Ziggy's son and the first half human, half Martian- excuse me, I mean Aresian- hybrid."

Kylie nudged Jack lightly. "He was the other musician I told you about- Pink Floyd. We have all his albums here somewhere."

"Yes, Pink Floyd," Xyloto said carefully, sliding his eyes towards the couch. Jack followed his gaze without turning his head, and saw that Eva had turned around on the couch and was sitting properly now, her hands in her lap and her head slumped. Quickly, Xyloto returned his gaze to Jack.

"After receiving advice on where to find your mother, I went off and discovered her living not too far from Suffragette City. I asked her to come with me and asked to see you, but she refused. She said she didn't know what I was talking about or who I was, and would only let me see you over her dead body. I think she thought I was trying to kidnap you, and she was afraid. I left unsuccessfully."

"That's exactly what she thought," Jack blurted. "Mom told me that she didn't tell me I wasn't human because she thought someone would come to take me away like you almost did."

"Ah," Xyloto said. "When you see her tonight, can you tell her I didn't mean to frighten her like that?"

Jack laughed once, wryly. "I don't know what she'd have to say about the fact that I met you today. She has no idea who you guys are."

"You should have invited her to come with you," Mylo suggested. Jack shook his head. "She doesn't like remembering the past. I don't think she'd want to come."

"Are you satisfied now, Jack?" Xyloto asked. Jack nodded slowly, his eyes on the so-called "vinyl record." He was already itching to hear what his father's voice had sounded like, what his father had to say…

"Can I go show him how a turntable works now?" Kylie asked, sliding her chair back and standing up.

Jack saw Xyloto suppress a grin. "Of course!" Kylie happily laid her hand on Jack's arm as he stood up and picked the album up. Together, they departed the main room, Kylie leading Jack through the door where she had retrieved the album.

"If you're both going to be in there, keep the door open!" Mylo called behind them. Kylie rolled her eyes in amused exasperation. "Okay, Mom!" She then lowered her voice. "It would be more helpful, I think, if they let us keep the door closed and gave you a condom. You ever had a lecture on safe sex, Jack?" Jack, lost for words, managed to shake his head no. "Never needed one."

"Me either, until yesterday," Kylie said, taking the record out of Jack's hands and moving towards a black plastic box with a glass top that sat upon a table. "It's horrible. Don't tell your mom anything about what we did if you don't want to be humiliated by The Talk." She slid the record, a black circlet with a small hole in the middle, out of its case and tossed the case to the side while Jack looked about the room. It was furnished with a wardrobe, a table that the turntable sat on, and a wide bed. He promptly sat down on it and watched silently as Kylie cleaned the record and opened the glass top of the turntable, setting the record inside it.

"Kylie?" Jack said quietly.

"Yes?" She didn't turn her head as she placed a metal arm with a needle at the end on the record.

Jack asked the question that had been burning him all day. "Will it ever happen again?"

Kylie swung the lid down and pressed a button on the turntable. A second later, a drumbeat rolled across the room, and Kylie turned around, a smile on her lips. "Is that loud enough for you?" Jack nodded.

"Good," Kylie said, and moved away from the turntable. "Wait a minute." She walked and departed the room, and Jack was left sitting alone on the bed, marveling at the crisp, loud sound that filled the place. It appeared to be coming from two wooden boxes with black gauze faces.

Pushing through the market square

So many mothers sighing…

"Can we please close the door?" Eva's voice sounded from the main room. Mylo answered her. "It's not going to hurt you to listen to Ziggy Stardust today. If it bothers you, go to your room."

Jack inched forward, losing himself in his father's strange voice.

News had just come over

We had five years left to cry in

"I can still hear it from up there," Eva complained.

Jack longed to shut the door and revel in the bliss of the music by himself. He didn't need to hear the voices in the main room. All that mattered to him now was one voice, and he closed his eyes in order to pay attention better.

The song grew and grew, building up tension that tightened up Jack like a coiled wire, until it was all expelled with the repeated refrain of "Five years…" Jack sighed deeply and leaned back, forgetting who he was, where he was. His father's voice became more and more ragged and broken with each new repetition, and Jack got the feeling he was crying, which both broke his heart and added a new layer of emotion to the song. When all was over, he opened his eyes to find Kylie standing before him, her expression for once uncertain and not twisted into a joyful grin. They stared at each other for a moment before the next song began, and Kylie's face lit up as she clasped her hands together. "Oh, I love this one!" She wandered around the room as Jack's father started singing once more.

Still don't know what I was waiting for

And my time was running wild, a million dead end street signs…

The listening experience continued that way for the rest of the day- Kylie popped in and out of the room for the first few songs, doing who knew what, and Jack remained riveted on the bed, held in place by his father's music, which in his mind was seriously starting to rival Aladdin Sane's. If only the false Diamond Dogs could hear this! They would worship Ziggy Stardust as one of Bog's Angels even more than before.

Kylie came to stay after the third song, but surprisingly, Jack wasn't glad to have her in the room. "New love," she intoned, singing along with the current song. "A boy and girl are talking… New words…" Kylie sat down on the bed and fell over backwards, curling over Jack, who was stretched out on the bed with his hands under his head and his head on the pillow, trying to concentrate on the music. "That only they can share in… New words…" She hugged Jack closely, and he shifted away from her a bit, trying to hear his father's voice beneath the voice that was singing in his ear.

"A love so strong it tears their hearts," Kylie finished the line, planting a kiss on Jack's chin. He flipped his head to look at her. "Does this mean you're in love with me too?"

Kylie didn't answer, and Jack enjoyed the song in itself for a few pleasant moments before she spoke up again. "How are you liking the album?"

"I'd like it more if you weren't talking to me when I'm listening to it," Jack said stiffly. Kylie froze, her face hardening. "Oh. Well, I'm sorry I'm ruining your experience," she muttered peevishly under her breath. Jack had to wait for the chorus of the song to be over before speaking again, his voice lowered so that he could speak and still listen to the music.

"I'm sorry if I offended you," he said to Kylie. "But I've never heard these songs before, and I just really want to listen in peace. You can stay here if you want, but don't talk to me." Kylie nodded and unwrapped herself from Jack's body, rolling onto her side with her back facing Jack. She tapped her finger against the bed to the beat of the song until it was over, and a new tune began.

"This one is Eva's favorite of Ziggy Stardust's songs," Kylie said softly. "It makes her cry for some reason." She fell silent and Jack listened with earnest, enjoying the verse and then feeling his heart jump at the lift of the chorus.

There's a starman, waiting in the sky

He'd like to come and meet us, but he thinks he'll blow our minds

There's a starman waiting in the sky

He's told us not to blow it, 'cause he knows it's all worthwhile

He told me-

"Let the children use it! Let the children lose it! Let all the children boogie!"

"Starman…" the very title of the song brought a tender smile to Jack's face. His father, the person from another planet… Outside the room, he could hear Mylo murmuring, "Oh, Eva," and then the sound of violent footsteps as apparently Eva got up and fled the room. Jack frowned a bit and tried to get his mind back onto the song. Once it was over, he said, "I think that one was my favorite too."

"But wait!" Kylie cried, rolling off the bed and onto her feet. "There's more! It's time to turn the record over." She went to the turntable and lifted the top, and Jack sat back calmly, enjoying himself. He felt that he could spend the rest of the day at Kylie's house, listening to his father sing to him on record.

Thinking about his father led Jack to think about Mylo and Xyloto, and then about the mystifying Eva. Although Jack had only just met her and had barely said more than a sentence to her, she seemed to be horrifically fascinated with him. Maybe it was just the fact that he wasn't human and the son of a famous rock singer to boot, but Jack had an odd sneaking suspicion that Eva's interest with him went deeper than that. He thought about her portraits on the walls in the main room, and suddenly a thought occurred to him that he had to ask Kylie about.

"Hey, Kylie?"

She flipped the record over. "What?"

"How old is your sister?" Jack asked.

Kylie paused for a moment. "She's twenty-two."

A piece of information that Kylie had told Jack entered his head. My mom had me when she was eighteen…

"So she's six years older than you?" Jack said, counting quickly.

"Yeah…" There was a note of wariness in Kylie's voice.

"So your mom had her when she was twelve?!"

Kylie stayed immobile in one place before setting the record down, putting the needle on it, and then pressing the button. She crept back to the bed and sat cross-legged at the end of it as a rocking song came blaring out of the boxes beside the turntable.

"My mom didn't have Eva at all," Kylie said. "But we don't like talking about it."

The song was lush with backing vocals, and Jack enjoyed it greatly. I could do with the money- you know that I could. I'm so wiped out with things as they are! I'd send a photograph to my honey, and I'd c'mon like a regular superstar.

There were four more songs- the last one, Kylie informed Jack, was a cover of another band from the planet Earth, "A Day In The Life" by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band- and then the record ended as Jack quietly picked himself off the floor, thrown down by the force of the earth-shattering piano chord at the very end. Kylie got up to take the record off, but Jack got to the turntable before her and carefully removed the needle, then took the record in his hands and slipped it back into its sleeve and then its case. He stared at the picture of his father on the cover with a newfound knowledge. My father was the greatest rock musician to have lived. I am the Child of Bog.

"That's it, then?" Jack said, turning back to Kylie and clutching the record tightly in his hands as if it was his lifeline. The sun was starting to set, bathing the bedroom in golden light.

"That's basically it," Kylie said. "Unless you want to hear two more." She got up and fell to her knees by the table, searching a stack of records underneath it until she found the one she wanted, which was much smaller than the average record. Jack sat down as Kylie opened the lid of the turntable one more time. "This is a single," she said. "There's only two songs on it. I think you'd like side B more than side A." She cleaned the single and put it on, pressing the button. "I know I do, anyway."

Jack curled up in a ball on the bed and waited as Kylie came to snuggle next to him. Wrapped up tight together in each other's arms, they listened to the song as one being, hearts beating in time.

To Jack's surprise, his father's voice was heard introducing the song. "Maybe I should announce this one, should I?" he said timidly. "'Memory of a Free Festival.'"

The Children of the summer's end

Gathered in the dampened grass

We played Our songs and felt the London sky

Resting in our hands

It was God's land

It was ragged and naïve

It was Heaven

The song was made solely of Jack's father's voice and a soft, shimmery instrument in the background. Jack felt warmth take ahold of each limb, and he hugged Kylie closer, melting into her. He was assaulted with a successive cacophony of sound that suddenly broke apart with a repeated chant involving his father and numerous other voices.

The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party! Ah-ah-ah!

The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party! Ah-ah-ah!

The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party…

At the mention of the word "Sun Machine," Jack's mind's eye brought him back a flash from his childhood. The Saviors of planet Earth, now recognized as Venusians according to both the lyrics of this song and the words of Aladdin Sane, were piloting a huge, rollicking ship through the night sky… but it wasn't just the night sky, the stars were both above and below him, and he was scared because he couldn't breathe, but curious of the Venusians all the same. He was taking steps forward towards them, and just as they turned their heads to stare at him-

The Sun Machine is coming down, and we're gonna have a party…

The song faded into nothingness. Jack opened his eyes to find himself in darkness, his breath rasping loudly in his throat. Kylie roused beside him, disentangling herself from his body. "You all right, Jack?" she asked lightheartedly, rubbing his rib cage and stretching out her other arm with a yawn.

Jack couldn't speak for the lump in his throat. He tried to swallow it, but it made him choke. Kylie patted him again and lay her hand against his body. "Jack?" There was a touch of concern in her voice now. "Are you okay?"

He sat up and kept his back to Kylie, staring at the watery bright lights coming from the main room and still clutching his father's album desperately.

"What's wrong?" Kylie asked, now entirely worried. She took Jack's hand, trying to get a reaction, and he expelled a deep and long sigh.

"I…" Jack whispered. "I wish I could have met my father."

Kylie leaned her head against Jack's shoulder, kissing his neck once. "I know," she said softly, soothingly. "I wish we could have too." Jack turned his head, blinking at Kylie in the darkness, and leaned in. Their lips met hesitantly, and only for a few seconds before the lights blinked on in the room and Kylie and Jack were startled apart by the sight of Xyloto, who peered at his daughter and her friend as if he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

"Thought you needed a little light in here," he said uneasily. "What have you two been up to in here?"

"Nothing too scandalous," Kylie said coolly, jumping up and moving towards the turntable. "I played 'Memory of a Free Festival' for Jack."

Xyloto nodded. "That's a good one. How did you like the music, Jack?"

"I loved it," Jack said heavily. "I wish we had a turntable at home. I'd like to borrow this…" He tapped his father's album with two fingers.

"You'd still need me to help you work it," Kylie said snidely, replacing the single in its case. Jack shrugged, and Xyloto made a step away from the doorway. "Speaking of home, Jack, do you think it's time for you to go off now? Mylo is about to start dinner."

"Oh," Jack said. "I guess my mom's gonna get worried." He stood up and stretched out his limbs, exhausted as if he'd just run a marathon instead of lain on a bed and listened to music. Jack's father's music was so emotionally engaging that it had drained Jack of all energy just to hear it.

Kylie went over and took Jack's father's album out of Jack's protesting hands. She laid it lovingly on top of the stack of records under the turntable's table and turned around, waiting for Jack. Jack went over to her, and together they followed Xyloto back out into the main room. Eva had returned, and she and Mylo were washing dishes, preparing to cook dinner. Jack went to the front door and shook Xyloto's hand. "It was great meeting you and hearing about my father, Xyloto," he said. "I'd like to come over some other time."

"We'd love to have you again!" Xyloto exclaimed, as Mylo dried her hands on a dish towel and came over to stand by her husband. "Maybe next time you can bring your mother and convince her that I meant her no harm back then."

Jack laughed. "Maybe." He wasn't sure if his mother would go in for that. Mylo approached Jack and leaned in, giving him an enormous surprising hug. "It was so nice having you as a guest, Jack," she said. "Feel free to come over any time you want."

"Ugh, Mom," Kylie groaned, sidling up to her parents. "Stop hugging him! You're embarrassing me!"

"You're not embarrassing me," Jack muttered from somewhere within Mylo's bosom, and she released him, her brown eyes sparkling and dancing and all of a sudden reminding Jack so much of Kylie's eyes.

"Oh, it's all right," Mylo said. "I have my own boy right here." She leaned in to Xyloto and nuzzled him, and he smiled and gave her a kiss on the lips. Kylie groaned even louder, but Jack was struck by the sweetness of this gesture. Staring at Xyloto and Mylo together, he noticed how happy Mylo looked in comparison to his mother, who rarely smiled, and began to realize what it was that she was missing in her life. Looking upon Xyloto, Jack began to get a sense of what he himself was missing in his.

"Well," Jack said, turning to the door. "It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me."

"You're very welcome," Mylo said, and Xyloto added his agreement.

"See you tomorrow morning on Poacher's Hill," Jack said to Kylie, and she smiled and nodded. With that, Jack opened the door to the house- and found himself staring into the glowing eyes of Diamond Dog upon Diamond Dog upon Diamond Dog.

Jack slammed the door quickly, his heart pounding, and just as Xyloto asked, "What is it, Jack?," the sound of dogs barking rose up, followed by the sensation of dogs beating themselves against the door. Jack looked to Kylie, whose face was drained of color. "The Diamond Dogs," they said in unison.

"What are you talking about?" Mylo said. Jack turned to her and Xyloto, speaking quickly. "There's a pack of dogs that lives in this city who want to murder me. Aladdin Sane told me they nearly killed him when he first came to this planet." The dogs howled at the door, and Mylo and Xyloto stared blankly. Jack cursed inside of his brain- the name "Aladdin Sane" would probably mean nothing to them. "All you need to know," he blurted, "is that those dogs are powerful and they're trying to kill me!"

The door shuddered under the weight of the Diamond Dogs, who were flinging themselves at it. Xyloto was the first to react. "We have to get to a safe place. Jack, do you think they'll be able to break the door down?"

"If they want to, yes," Jack said, his heart racing. And then they'll murder me… Kylie grabbed Jack's hand in silent reassurance.

"Okay." Xyloto's green eyes were full of worry, but he pushed it back. "It'll be just like the old days of the gang, eh, Mylo?" Though tension was running high, the couple managed to smile at something only they understood. Then the door shuddered again in its frame, this time with more force, and Xyloto grabbed Mylo's and Kylie's hands and dragged them towards the bedroom, Eva coming after and Jack being towed along beside Kylie.

"Come on!" Xyloto yelled. "We don't have much time!"

"No!" Kylie screamed, ripping her hand away from Xyloto's. "I won't go! I want to fight!" She dashed back to the main room, and Jack ran after her.

"Kylie, it's too dangerous! They have the house surrounded! We need to go with your parents!" Though where in the bedroom would be a perfect safe spot for the dog attack, Jack had no idea.

"I'm not going to run and hide!" Kylie answered, reaching into her fanny pack and drawing out a Chinese star. The dogs were baying for blood at the window, and the door kept on shuddering, its movement coming faster now as more and more Diamond Dogs threw themselves at it. Kylie looked to Jack, begging him with her eyes to come with her. Then a deep, booming voice spoke, encompassing the entire house.

Surrender the Aresian and none of you will get hurt. Even without seeing the Diamond Dog's face, Jack knew that the statement was a rotten lie. Of course they were going to kill Kylie's family. Why would they have brought so many of them with them if they were going to stop with Jack?

Realizing somehow- but how?- that Jack had discovered its lie, the voice switched tactics, growing so loud that Jack fell to his knees on the floor, clutching his ears in pain. COME OUT OF THERE, ARESIAN. OR WE WILL COME IN AFTER YOU.

"No!" Jack shouted, clawing at his ears to make the voice go away. "Kylie- Kylie, we have to run! We have to run now!"

"Come back, Kylie!" Xyloto called from the bedroom. "We're going to be safe in here, I promise!"

Kylie, her face as smooth as a pool of undisturbed water and her back as straight as an arrow, played with the Chinese star in her hands and refused to listen to her father or her best friend. "Come on, Jack," she said in a strangely subdued voice. "It won't do us any good sitting around hiding from the Diamond Dogs. We have to fight them back and beat them down permanently so that we'll never have Diamond Dogs to hide from in the first place."

"I won't leave without you!" Jack screamed.

Kylie smiled enchantingly. "And I won't leave until we've beaten them." With that, the door broke into chips of wood as the Diamond Dogs forced their way inside, flooding the house and making straight for Jack.

Jack whipped out his Bowie knife and ran for the stairs. This battle certainly had him at a disadvantage, more so than any other battle. For one thing, he had nothing to protect himself from bodily harm, and for another, he was missing his skates that would give him speed (though they might prove to be a hindrance when going up stairs). The Diamond Dogs followed Jack up the stairs, barking at his feet. From behind him, he heard the sound of metal whizzing through the air, along with occasional yelps of pain- Kylie was hitting her targets.

At the top of the stairs, Jack screamed Kylie's name one more time. She forced her way through the fray and tried to follow Jack to the top of the stairs, but there were too many Diamond Dogs blocking her way. Jack was momentarily overcome by them, and had to fight with his knife, receiving bites and scratched along the way, but none too deep for him to not recover from. Kylie emerged looking terrified as more and more Diamond Dogs swarmed over her, and as Jack backed against the wall to fight off the next oncoming wave he heard her voice screech above the din. "Poacher's Hill!" Jack nodded and yelled back in agreement, "Poacher's Hill!" and then turned tail and ran for his life. He made it to the room down the hall a second before a Diamond Dog jumped on him, and slammed the door closed. Looking around briefly, he noticed that this was Eva's room- the walls were littered with paintings, but Jack had no time to stop and appreciate any of them. The Diamond Dogs were working on breaking through the door, and this one was far thinner than the one downstairs. The only way out that Jack could see was through the window. He ran to the window and pushed it open desperately- and then gulped in fright. The ground far below contained a group of three Diamond Dogs, who looked ready to kill Jack on the spot.

The decision had to be made- would Jack rather die torn apart by Diamond Dogs, or would he rather jump to his death and have the Diamond Dogs devour him? Granted, the ground didn't look too far away, but the three Diamond Dogs severely worried Jack. Then he remembered that Kylie had fought off more than three of them herself with nothing but her collection of Chinese stars. To the ground it was, then; at least Jack had more of a chance that way. He took a deep breath and launched himself out the window, towards the gaping maws of the Diamond Dogs below.

As Jack fell, he covered his head with his arms to protect his neck and tucked his shoulder under him to avoid breaking his legs. He hit the ground with a hard thud and rolled onto his side, curling into a fetal position. Winded, struggling for breath, and feeling excruciating pain in his shoulder, Jack's hand still managed to tighten around the Bowie knife, and he tried to make an effort to stand up in case the Diamond Dogs were about to descend upon him. But oddly enough, the attack didn't arrive for another few seconds. Jack took the time to push himself up with his other arm and squatted on the ground to see what had delayed the Diamond Dogs. To his amazement and complete joy, several dark figures were moving wildly about, fighting off the Diamond Dog and yelling gleeful death threats. "Snuff it, grahzny dogs! We will oobivat you for trying to vred our brother the Child of Bog!" Jack's heart lifted at once as he recognized the voices. The false Diamond Dogs were here and ready to protect him!

Jack dashed into the fight, just as the Diamond Dogs, who had broken down the door to Eva's room, came sailing out of the window and onto the ground. Jack didn't care about their multiplication, however- with the addition of the false Diamond Dogs, it had turned into a fair fight. "Brother Jagger!" he yelled as he stabbed at a dog with his knife, taking care not to move his arm any more than he had to. "Why are you here, my droogie? Like defending me and such?" Together they moved in sync to bring one dog down, and Jagger cackled insanely.

"We are here to defend you indeed, Child of Bog! The dogs attacked us in an alley and we had to find you and save you!"

Their conversation was cut off for a moment to bring another dog down, and then Jack said, "How did you know I was here?"

A dog came bounding up, and Jagger tackled it, with Sledge's (who had been fighting nearby) help. When they had wrestled it off, Jagger shouted, "We just knew! Now, droogies, it is time to itty off! OUT OUT OUT!"

"Where to?" Widdy shouted from somewhere behind Jagger.

"Poacher's Hill!" Jagger grabbed Jack by his injured arm, and Jack screamed in pain as Jagger tugged on him. "What is wrong, Child of Bog? Are you like hurt?"

"Yes!" Jack shouted. "Never mind! OUT OUT OUT!" They hurried off, the Diamond Dogs howling at their feet and screaming on Jack's mind. DEATH TO THE ARESIAN! DIE, DIE, DIE!

"Where are like your skates, brother Hallowe'en Jack?" Jagger cried as they fled through the night, Jack panting and sweating beside him as he tried to keep up. Jack shrugged, having no time to answer the question, and winced as the movement triggered pain to flare up in his injured arm.

The eternal question of "will they come?" had been answered. The Diamond Dogs had finally come, and were bringing death and destruction in their wake. Everywhere in sight, innocent passersby who were hurrying off to their homes screamed as the Diamond Dogs descended on them, tearing them to pieces and feasting on their blood. The prostitutes that walked the streets wailed and tripped over their high heels in the midst of the Diamond Dogs' chase. The clubbers who were queued up to see Aladdin Sane and All of Bog's other Holy Angels scattered in terror, racing through the streets. And within the Hole In The Wall, Aladdin Sane himself was preparing for his concert, oblivious to the danger going on outside.

He applied his face makeup with a shaking hand, and blinked in mild exasperation. His hands always seemed to be shaking now, and he dreaded what this could mean for himself. Not only could it be a sign that the Aresians' healing power might not be working its wonders on him for alcohol overdoses after all, but the consequences of such a thing could be disastrous. How was he to pull the trigger when it came time for his death if his hand was trembling so badly? Sighing, Aladdin Sane put the white paint away and searched his dresser for eye shadow and mascara. He didn't like having to wear makeup for these shows, but in order to shock and awe the crowd he had to look the part of the rock and roll God they believed him to be.

Aladdin Sane was halfway through applying the finishing touches to his eye shadow when he heard the sounds of shouting and barking drifting through the door. Quick as a flash, Aladdin Sane opened the vanity's drawer and took out his loaded pistol, forgetting in the heat of the moment, as he always did, that the single bullet inside of it was meant for him. A split second later, he remembered and spun the pistol slackly around in his hand, listening intently to the noises beyond his dressing room's door. It hadn't been his imagination or a product of the vision that had been floating before his eyes more often recently- there really were dogs barking outside, and their voices were getting louder and louder. Then a voice in his head cried ARESIAN!, and Aladdin Sane was knocked violently through the years in his memory, back to the time when he had first been attacked by those evil Diamond Dogs…

He spun around and faced the mirror, his face reflecting the extreme fear he felt inside. Leaning forward, Aladdin Sane dug the cold pistol into his chest for comfort, his hands growing sweaty. The dogs began to throw themselves at the door- bang! Bang!- and Aladdin Sane closed his eyes, letting his second sight take over entirely.

He was standing in front of the mirror in his dressing room, his breathing speeding up and his hands clutched tight around the gun in his hand, its barrel angled towards his heart that would not stop beating. The voices of the Diamond Dogs sounded terrifyingly in his head. We will murder you, filthy Aresian. The first time was not the last. You always knew we would be coming back for you. You could see it in your head. Now we are here to make your nightmare-dreams come true. The cruel, all-too-human laughter of the Diamond Dogs surrounded him, and he swallowed hard and gripped the pistol tighter, feeling a trickle of sweat roll down his forehead. I will never give in, he thought angrily towards the Diamond Dogs. I will never give in. But their laughter filled his head even louder, and he began to doubt himself. Did he have the nerve to kill himself, or would he give the Diamond Dogs their long-awaited wish for death at their own paws?

Aladdin Sane opened his eyes and felt tremors rocking through him as the Diamond Dogs pummeling the dressing room door began to shout in his head, the exact same words he had heard them speak so many times before in his vision. This was it, then. This was the exact moment he had seen happen so many times, only now he was living in it. Aladdin Sane squeezed the pistol tightly, swaying on his feet at the sound of the Diamond Dogs' horrific laughter. All these years, and he had never known just how scared he would truly be. Every instinct, every bone in Aladdin Sane's body was screaming at him to run. But run he could not, with the door being blocked by the Diamond Dogs. And run he would not, as he knew what was to come.

The door shuddered on its hinges. Any moment now the Diamond Dogs would come rushing into the dressing room, and Aladdin Sane still hadn't made up his mind about how he was going to die. Why hadn't his vision given a clearer view of it? On the one hand, Aladdin Sane hated the thought of allowing those terrible dogs to win- he at least wanted to die with grace and dignity and not as some martyr, giving the dogs the satisfaction of destroying the Aresian they so hated. But on the other hand, Aladdin Sane shied away from the idea of killing himself. So many people on Ares had done the same to themselves, succumbing to the depression that each member of the race had in varying degrees. He wondered weakly whether it was worth it to pull the trigger.

But then the door shuddered tremendously once again, and Aladdin Sane's mind was made up. They were coming. "Oh, Bog preserve me," Aladdin Sane whispered, and forced himself to pull the trigger. He slumped to the floor just as the dogs came bursting into the room, flowing over and shredding his dead body.

Once out on the main street, the false Diamond Dogs were joined by other teenagers who lived in Hunger City, and began to fight off the true Diamond Dogs in hordes. Jack, exhausted already from running and with his shoulder wound aching, could barely handle more conflict. As the false Diamond Dogs worked at driving the true Diamond Dogs back with joyful yells, Jack shouted in Jagger's ear. "Oh my brother Jagger! I must itty off to Poacher's Hill at once! I believe sister Kylie is ittying there as well."

"Be careful, Child of Bog!" Jagger yelled back, kicking a Diamond Dog in the ribs. "Be very very very careful." His voice was intensely worried, and Jack longed to assure him, but there was no time to spare. He said a hasty goodbye and a "Promise you'll meet me on Poacher's Hill when this is over," and then took off on sore feet, ready to fight his way to the other side of town.

The rest of the night consisted of a ferocious struggle past the dogs to get to Poacher's Hill. Jack didn't see why, if they wanted to kill him so badly, they didn't just leap at him and finish him off. He was only armed with a knife. But then again, no matter where he went there was always a teenager to dash out of the shadows with a cry of "Child of Bog!," who would then help him fight off the next wave of Diamond Dogs. Jack was astonished that he should be so recognized to the teenagers- Jagger's word must have gotten around quickly. He never said a word to the teenagers, just let them distract the dogs while he made for his final destination- Poacher's Hill.

In the end, Jack finally found himself at the edge of town, stumbling about looking for a Diamond Dog to sink his knife into. It took him a long time to recover from combat mode, and he sheathed the knife and checked himself for wounds. Several places on his arms and legs were bleeding, but they would heal. Jack began to scale Poacher's Hill, clutching at his wounded shoulder the whole way. He was sure he had sprained it, or maybe torn a ligament of some sort.

Up on Poacher's Hill, Jack fell to the ground with a sigh. He buried his face in the cool grass and lay down for a moment before sitting back up and bunching his knees up to his chest, then wrapping his arms around them. Jack sat on Poacher's Hill by himself for the rest of the night, waiting for Kylie to show up. But she never did.