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Delay always breeds danger.
Miguel de Cervantes
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Why was it that there was always uncomfortable silence in long lines? It made me feel almost guilty for what I said to Lise. I didn't think that she would take so much offense to it. She was beautiful, and girls like her had to deal with it all the time. Or so I had thought. Apologies weren't my style usually, but I wasn't allowed to botch things up with Lise.
"I'm sorry, Lise." There. I said it.
"You didn't need to apologize, Harper."
"Then why were you giving me the silent treatment?"
"I wasn't...I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"Beka, when have you been here before? Was it a long time ago?"
She was avoiding my question, but I wasn't going to push her. She had been through enough already without that.
"I used to be the captain of the Maru, the ship we took down to the planet, before I was on the Andromeda. For awhile, my brother and I did most of our business here on Utrecht. So he and I frequented this place a lot."
At the mention of family, Lise became visibly uncomfortable. After growing up on Earth and losing my family to the Magog, I was all too familiar with avoiding the topic of family. "Is there any dancing or singing inside?"
"There used to be, but I don't know if there still is. It was one of those fads."
"If there is, am I allowed to dance or maybe sing?"
"I don't dance." I had two left feet when it came to dancing with women. I was somewhat accomplished at swing dancing when Del died. She was one of the greatest dancers I'd ever seen.
"Everyone can dance. You just have to have a good teacher to show you where to put your feet. Have you ever seen Dirty Dancing?"
"No...I think you're gonna have to show me." I knew she was referring the movie, which I hadn't been able to get my hands on. It was on my list of movies to acquire.
She laughed. "I have the movie in my bag, and a few others. Baby couldn't dance at all, but then Johnny taught her. And she was great after that."
"What other movies do you have?" I wondered if she had anymore that I'd been looking for.
"Hmmmm...I know I have Titanic and the first two Austin Powers movies. I threw some others in, too, but I can't remember which ones. Probably some eighties movies and chick flicks that you wouldn't want to see. How did you get a television and VCR after all these years?"
"It wasn't easy. I had to search for a year to find one that wasn't in working order. Then, fixing it was another challenge. But now it works just fine."
We had worked our way up to the front of the line. The guard at the door was a very large man with rippling biceps and abs that showed through his torn black shirt. Guys like that scared the hell out of me. I made a point never to cross them.
"Is she old enough to come in?" He had a deep baritone voice with an edge.
"Yeah, more than old enough." Beka smiled.
"Is that you Beka?"
"You've changed, Greg!"
"You know each other?" I didn't think Beka associated with this kind of people.
"We're old friends." Greg warmed up to all of us. "Come on in. I'll have Eric take over at the door."
The club was filled with fog and dimly lit. I could tell most of the drunk people slumped over the bar stools were frequent customers. They all reeked of alcohol, and half of them looked like they were flash addicts. I wrapped my arm around Lise and tried to turn her away from that crowd. They weren't the kind of people she needed to see. We headed over to a table away from them, closer to the dance floor and stage.
"What have you been up to since we last saw each other?" Beka asked.
"I've worked here on and off. I tried to start a business, but that didn't really work out. I almost got married, too. Are you still on the Maru?" Greg plopped down at the table.
"You've been busy. I still have the Maru, but now I'm working on another ship as first officer."
"I told you you'd go places, Bek. Did you get your dark and handsome stranger?"
"Not yet, but I'm still looking." She laughed.
Music started playing, and I could feel Lise's foot tapping under the table. "Can I please go dance?" She looked to Beka and me with pleading eyes.
"Of course." Beka continued her conversation with Greg.
Lise jumped up and started off onto the dance floor. I chased her, grabbing her shoulder when I caught up to her.
"I thought you didn't dance, Harper."
"Well, I don't."
"Then why are you here with me?"
"These guys do dance, and that's not all they want." I discreetly gestured at the other men on the dance floor.
"I can handle myself. What are they going to do to me here in public anyway?"
"More than I care to think about."
She took one of my hands and put it on her hip. She grabbed the other one and started dancing while I just stood there. She exasperatedly sighed. "Aren't you at least going to try to dance?"
I started to moving, but I stepped on her foot before I had taken ten steps. "I told you I can't dance."
"You have to feel the beat. This song is in four four time. Just move on the second and fourth beats. One, TWO, three, FOUR." She moved her hand off of my shoulder and to my hip, trying to show me where the beat was. I started to feel it, too, and moved with it. "That's much better! See, you can dance."
I felt a bit embarrassed about dancing in public, but no one here knew me. I wouldn't ever see them again. Hopefully. And Beka was so into talking with Greg that she surely didn't notice us. "This is all there is to dancing?"
"No, now we're going to try some more advanced technique. This isn't my best dance style. I'm more for swing dance, but I can work with this. Maybe I can go talk the deejay into playing some swing music."
She was more for swing dance? She was more like Del than she'd ever realize. "Maybe we should just leave the deejay alone." It was too late, though. She was already dragging me through the crowd towards the deejay.
"Would you play some old Earth swing dance music for me?"
"If I can find the disc, yeah, I'll play it for you."
"Thank you so much!"
She pulled me back through the crowd again. Why did I let Beka drag us here in the first place? One thing was for sure. I wasn't going to forget this any time soon. Maybe the deejay wouldn't find the swing dance music. The current song came to an end, and a song that definitely fell into the category of swing dance began playing. I still knew the routine Del and I did, and I was guessing Lise would catch on quickly.
We began dancing, and a large circle of spectators formed around us. The dance was going great, and I was actually enjoying myself. I ran several feet back from Lise and did a running flip. I hadn't ever nailed one of those before, and it was a major rush. I was surprised I hadn't cracked my skull open on the hard tiled floor. The number ended too soon. We took our bows and received a round of applause. Dancing had never been so much fun for me.
"Where did you learn how to do that, Harper?" Lise and I sat down at the nearest empty table to catch our breath.
"From a friend a long time ago." I decided mentioning Del was a bad idea.
"You said you couldn't dance."
"Beyond that, I can't. And I'm not very good at swing dancing."
"You're a lot better than my other partners. They're all too tall and only one of them could flip. They were too afraid they'd hurt me dancing, too. You really got into it." She smiled.
"Thanks." Women rarely complimented me, which made it feel even better when they did.
"I'm thirsty. Is there anything around here that I can drink?"
"They might have something if we go and ask." I stood up and went to the counter with Lise.
The bartender was an alien with a dark complexion. "What can I get ya?"
"Do you have anything non-alcoholic?"
"Ummmmm...yeah. We've got sythetic cranberry juice that we use in our Nebula cocktails."
"I'll take a glass of that and a Nebula cocktail."
The bartender fixed the drinks, and I paid for them. Lise sipped the cranberry juice. She didn't seem to be particularly enjoying it. I took a gulp of the Nebula cocktail. I'd heard of them, but I never tried one. The kick it gave on the first drink was nothing short of amazing. I wondered what else was in it.
She leaned towards my ear. "I need to go to the ladies' room."
"I think it was near the entrance."
"Come with me."
"Okay." We walked over to the entrance and found that I was correct.
She stood by the door and looked at me. "I'm afraid."
"What are you afraid of?"
"What if someone in there tries to kill me or hurts me?"
"Are you asking me to go into the women's restroom?"
"Yes."
"I'll stand outside the door. You'll be just fine."
"But Harper..."
"I do a lot of things I shouldn't do, but going into women's restrooms is NOT one of them!"
"You don't plan on coming back here any time soon, do you?"
"Nope."
"Well, then, you can come with me because it will be forgotten soon enough. Just pretend your drunk or something. Pretty please with sugar on top. Look at all these women. They're so much bigger than I am, and they could inflict a lot of damage on me."
"Fine. I'll go with you." What was I doing? I was going to regret this. And Beka wouldn't let me forget it for a minute.
She opened the door, and I followed her inside, covering my eyes with my hand. I didn't hear any noise and hoped I had been lucky enough to come inside when no other women were there.
"You can uncover your eyes."
There was a window at the far end of the room near the sinks. I heard the door open and ducked into one of the stalls. It was just a couple of women looking at themselves in the mirror. They left as quickly as they came. I dared to leave the stall and waited for Lise. She was washing her hands when I heard a shriek. I ran over to the sinks as fast as I could. It was a group of cloaked figures grabbing her.
"Hey! You leave her alone!" 'Major mistake. There's one of you, Harper, and like four of them,' I thought, regretting my decision to immediately come to Lise's defense instead of going to get Beka or Greg.
"Run!" Lise screamed. One of the figures jumped at me, rendering me useless.
"Beka!" I screamed in desperation over and over again.
Eventually, they pulled out a gun. I felt the pain of the shot before I blacked out.
Delay always breeds danger.
Miguel de Cervantes
----------------------------------------------------
Why was it that there was always uncomfortable silence in long lines? It made me feel almost guilty for what I said to Lise. I didn't think that she would take so much offense to it. She was beautiful, and girls like her had to deal with it all the time. Or so I had thought. Apologies weren't my style usually, but I wasn't allowed to botch things up with Lise.
"I'm sorry, Lise." There. I said it.
"You didn't need to apologize, Harper."
"Then why were you giving me the silent treatment?"
"I wasn't...I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"Beka, when have you been here before? Was it a long time ago?"
She was avoiding my question, but I wasn't going to push her. She had been through enough already without that.
"I used to be the captain of the Maru, the ship we took down to the planet, before I was on the Andromeda. For awhile, my brother and I did most of our business here on Utrecht. So he and I frequented this place a lot."
At the mention of family, Lise became visibly uncomfortable. After growing up on Earth and losing my family to the Magog, I was all too familiar with avoiding the topic of family. "Is there any dancing or singing inside?"
"There used to be, but I don't know if there still is. It was one of those fads."
"If there is, am I allowed to dance or maybe sing?"
"I don't dance." I had two left feet when it came to dancing with women. I was somewhat accomplished at swing dancing when Del died. She was one of the greatest dancers I'd ever seen.
"Everyone can dance. You just have to have a good teacher to show you where to put your feet. Have you ever seen Dirty Dancing?"
"No...I think you're gonna have to show me." I knew she was referring the movie, which I hadn't been able to get my hands on. It was on my list of movies to acquire.
She laughed. "I have the movie in my bag, and a few others. Baby couldn't dance at all, but then Johnny taught her. And she was great after that."
"What other movies do you have?" I wondered if she had anymore that I'd been looking for.
"Hmmmm...I know I have Titanic and the first two Austin Powers movies. I threw some others in, too, but I can't remember which ones. Probably some eighties movies and chick flicks that you wouldn't want to see. How did you get a television and VCR after all these years?"
"It wasn't easy. I had to search for a year to find one that wasn't in working order. Then, fixing it was another challenge. But now it works just fine."
We had worked our way up to the front of the line. The guard at the door was a very large man with rippling biceps and abs that showed through his torn black shirt. Guys like that scared the hell out of me. I made a point never to cross them.
"Is she old enough to come in?" He had a deep baritone voice with an edge.
"Yeah, more than old enough." Beka smiled.
"Is that you Beka?"
"You've changed, Greg!"
"You know each other?" I didn't think Beka associated with this kind of people.
"We're old friends." Greg warmed up to all of us. "Come on in. I'll have Eric take over at the door."
The club was filled with fog and dimly lit. I could tell most of the drunk people slumped over the bar stools were frequent customers. They all reeked of alcohol, and half of them looked like they were flash addicts. I wrapped my arm around Lise and tried to turn her away from that crowd. They weren't the kind of people she needed to see. We headed over to a table away from them, closer to the dance floor and stage.
"What have you been up to since we last saw each other?" Beka asked.
"I've worked here on and off. I tried to start a business, but that didn't really work out. I almost got married, too. Are you still on the Maru?" Greg plopped down at the table.
"You've been busy. I still have the Maru, but now I'm working on another ship as first officer."
"I told you you'd go places, Bek. Did you get your dark and handsome stranger?"
"Not yet, but I'm still looking." She laughed.
Music started playing, and I could feel Lise's foot tapping under the table. "Can I please go dance?" She looked to Beka and me with pleading eyes.
"Of course." Beka continued her conversation with Greg.
Lise jumped up and started off onto the dance floor. I chased her, grabbing her shoulder when I caught up to her.
"I thought you didn't dance, Harper."
"Well, I don't."
"Then why are you here with me?"
"These guys do dance, and that's not all they want." I discreetly gestured at the other men on the dance floor.
"I can handle myself. What are they going to do to me here in public anyway?"
"More than I care to think about."
She took one of my hands and put it on her hip. She grabbed the other one and started dancing while I just stood there. She exasperatedly sighed. "Aren't you at least going to try to dance?"
I started to moving, but I stepped on her foot before I had taken ten steps. "I told you I can't dance."
"You have to feel the beat. This song is in four four time. Just move on the second and fourth beats. One, TWO, three, FOUR." She moved her hand off of my shoulder and to my hip, trying to show me where the beat was. I started to feel it, too, and moved with it. "That's much better! See, you can dance."
I felt a bit embarrassed about dancing in public, but no one here knew me. I wouldn't ever see them again. Hopefully. And Beka was so into talking with Greg that she surely didn't notice us. "This is all there is to dancing?"
"No, now we're going to try some more advanced technique. This isn't my best dance style. I'm more for swing dance, but I can work with this. Maybe I can go talk the deejay into playing some swing music."
She was more for swing dance? She was more like Del than she'd ever realize. "Maybe we should just leave the deejay alone." It was too late, though. She was already dragging me through the crowd towards the deejay.
"Would you play some old Earth swing dance music for me?"
"If I can find the disc, yeah, I'll play it for you."
"Thank you so much!"
She pulled me back through the crowd again. Why did I let Beka drag us here in the first place? One thing was for sure. I wasn't going to forget this any time soon. Maybe the deejay wouldn't find the swing dance music. The current song came to an end, and a song that definitely fell into the category of swing dance began playing. I still knew the routine Del and I did, and I was guessing Lise would catch on quickly.
We began dancing, and a large circle of spectators formed around us. The dance was going great, and I was actually enjoying myself. I ran several feet back from Lise and did a running flip. I hadn't ever nailed one of those before, and it was a major rush. I was surprised I hadn't cracked my skull open on the hard tiled floor. The number ended too soon. We took our bows and received a round of applause. Dancing had never been so much fun for me.
"Where did you learn how to do that, Harper?" Lise and I sat down at the nearest empty table to catch our breath.
"From a friend a long time ago." I decided mentioning Del was a bad idea.
"You said you couldn't dance."
"Beyond that, I can't. And I'm not very good at swing dancing."
"You're a lot better than my other partners. They're all too tall and only one of them could flip. They were too afraid they'd hurt me dancing, too. You really got into it." She smiled.
"Thanks." Women rarely complimented me, which made it feel even better when they did.
"I'm thirsty. Is there anything around here that I can drink?"
"They might have something if we go and ask." I stood up and went to the counter with Lise.
The bartender was an alien with a dark complexion. "What can I get ya?"
"Do you have anything non-alcoholic?"
"Ummmmm...yeah. We've got sythetic cranberry juice that we use in our Nebula cocktails."
"I'll take a glass of that and a Nebula cocktail."
The bartender fixed the drinks, and I paid for them. Lise sipped the cranberry juice. She didn't seem to be particularly enjoying it. I took a gulp of the Nebula cocktail. I'd heard of them, but I never tried one. The kick it gave on the first drink was nothing short of amazing. I wondered what else was in it.
She leaned towards my ear. "I need to go to the ladies' room."
"I think it was near the entrance."
"Come with me."
"Okay." We walked over to the entrance and found that I was correct.
She stood by the door and looked at me. "I'm afraid."
"What are you afraid of?"
"What if someone in there tries to kill me or hurts me?"
"Are you asking me to go into the women's restroom?"
"Yes."
"I'll stand outside the door. You'll be just fine."
"But Harper..."
"I do a lot of things I shouldn't do, but going into women's restrooms is NOT one of them!"
"You don't plan on coming back here any time soon, do you?"
"Nope."
"Well, then, you can come with me because it will be forgotten soon enough. Just pretend your drunk or something. Pretty please with sugar on top. Look at all these women. They're so much bigger than I am, and they could inflict a lot of damage on me."
"Fine. I'll go with you." What was I doing? I was going to regret this. And Beka wouldn't let me forget it for a minute.
She opened the door, and I followed her inside, covering my eyes with my hand. I didn't hear any noise and hoped I had been lucky enough to come inside when no other women were there.
"You can uncover your eyes."
There was a window at the far end of the room near the sinks. I heard the door open and ducked into one of the stalls. It was just a couple of women looking at themselves in the mirror. They left as quickly as they came. I dared to leave the stall and waited for Lise. She was washing her hands when I heard a shriek. I ran over to the sinks as fast as I could. It was a group of cloaked figures grabbing her.
"Hey! You leave her alone!" 'Major mistake. There's one of you, Harper, and like four of them,' I thought, regretting my decision to immediately come to Lise's defense instead of going to get Beka or Greg.
"Run!" Lise screamed. One of the figures jumped at me, rendering me useless.
"Beka!" I screamed in desperation over and over again.
Eventually, they pulled out a gun. I felt the pain of the shot before I blacked out.
