Author's Note: The primitive html processor on ff.c-o-m does not support block indents or block quotes. For that reason, all dialogue from the plays performed by Karidian's troupe will be center aligned. Italics have already been assigned to telepathic communications. I apologize for any readability issues and welcome any suggestions for alternatives.
Seated under the dimmed lights of the observation deck, Uhura's stare followed Kirk's late entrance to a seat a number of rows in front of her. She'd left a casual message inviting Jim to this evening's play, Eugene Ionesco's "Exit The King", as her escort.
She'd received no response, yet here he was at tonight's performance.
Karidian made his entrance, captivating the assembled body:
"Sun, chase away the shadows and hold back the night! Sun, sun, illumine every tomb, shine into every hole and corner, every nook and cranny. Creep deep inside me!
"Who except the king can release you from your duty to be king?"
Jim's noisily hasty exit did not distract those watching from the tour de force performance of a master actor. Nor did it affect the entrance of a brilliant young thespian, Karidian's son, Xerxes:
"Force can do that, the force of events."
