Two days later: 6:49 P.M. Same place

Kevin Silliger could not stop looking at the judges with absolute fury. He could barely see them to glare at them, but he knew where their chairs were so he knew where to look. He was furious. Absolutely furious.

The crowd had given his improv group a standing ovation at the end of the first round–and the second round and had loved the group's successful attempt at improv. Kevin had been completely overjoyed by every crowd's reaction to him and his friends, and had enjoyed his time in this competition. But those judges had almost ended it after the first round. They had passed them by only one point–one point! The act before them, a Lorvorian singer who missed three notes, passed by more than twenty. The improv group got a standing ovation! And the judges had only passed them by one point.

Then the second round came yesterday. It went well, and another standing ovation from the crowd. And the judges hadn't passed them into the next round–and they had passed that Lorvorian singer, who missed two notes in the second verse of his song. The crowd, being ever faithful, had managed to "boo!" the judges into changing their minds, after a lengthy five minutes.

He really hated those judges now.

But he was confident now. He, Evan, Bryan, and Rosy had been brainstorming until 2 A.M. last night, thinking of an out-of-this-world final act that even the judges wouldn't be able to deny. He hoped anyway.

The Lorvorian singer was again before them on stage right now, and he had just missed yet another note in his song. Yet the judges loved him....maybe it was a racial issue....

The Lorvorian singer finished the song with a high, flat note, and abruptly cut off his last word's consonant. A few people clapped, but a majority stayed silent.

The announcer came up, thanked the Lorvorian,–some guy named Calavar or something–asked for another round of applause for him, then let him sit back down in his seat. He then called up the last act before the improv group: a stand-up human comic from the Badar II colony.

Next to Kevin, Evan grunted. "Man, why are we always last?" he snapped in a whisper.

"Man, who knows," Kevin responded.

Rosy shrugged. "Maybe they want to keep the best for last?"

Evan grunted again. "Naw. Those judges don't give a shit about us so why would they put us last? They don' think we're worth shit."

"They're racist," Bryan said with a stone pitch, looking on stage, and not at any one of them. "Yeah, seriously," Evan joked.

"I wasn't kidding."

The other three stared in shock.

"–What?–"

"–Huh?–"

"–What?–"

"It's true, I'm sure."

"How do you know?" Kevin asked.

"You know the woman judge that sits in the middle up there?"

"Yeah," Kevin answered. "She's the Surkosian bitch that always gives the evil eye at us. To tell us to stop."

"Yeah well, she called me last night while I was at the Lounge. It was after you guys had all left to go to bed. I don't know how she knew I was alone, but she called me right after you all left." He took a breath and continued. "Anyway, she offered to give me 150 rebs if I dropped us out of the competition. So I told her to fuck off."

Evan groaned in disgust.

Kevin looked in even more shock at Bryan. "What the fuck?!" he whispered fiercely.

Rosy was gaping. "Are you serious?"

Bryan nodded at no one. "Yup. But listen, there's more. Before I told her to fuck off, she explained to me why she was offering. You see, guys, this competition has a history of being terrible. Everytime they hold it, all they–all they–all they get is bad acts. The audience never really likes anybody." He leaned towards Rosy, who might have been the only person in the group who would know what he next sentence meant. "It's kinda like American Idol only where the contestants are all William Hung."

Rosy snickered humorously.

"Anyway, the audience never really likes anybody. Until we came. So far, in the last––I think she said eleven years, we are the first act ever to one: do improv, two: actually impress the audience and the judges. But that's not the problem. The problem is this, and I quote from her exact words, 'I'll be damned before I ever give one-hundred rebs to a group that's lead by coloreds.'" He turned his head slowly at the twins. "And that's when I told her to fuck off."

Evan's face turned stern in furious anger. His hands gripped the life out of his armrests, and his eyes lit ablaze, a fire against the room's dimness.

His brother hoisted himself halfway out of his chair, his expression the same as Evans', before Bryan reacted and grabbed a handful of his clothes, keeping him from rising completely out of his chair and drawing attention to himself.

Bryan could tell just by looking at Kevin's blazing eyes–and Evan's–that he wanted to kill that judge. Literally kill her. But that surely bode well to the twin's future. So Bryan sat him back down, though he got noticed enough so that a murmur escalated from part of the crowd. Not looking back–but wanting to–at the judge's table, he pulled Kevin's ear close to his mouth. "Don't Kevin!" he whispered fiercely. "That won't help us very much." He released him and let him fall back into his chair, Kevin's eyes still glaring behind him. "You'll only be helping her. Believe me, the greatest harm you could do to her will never be more enjoyable than forcing her to give you those one hundred rebs to you by winning this competition. We've got the audience's support and, boy, we are damn good!" He smiled proudly at him. "We will win this, and then we can laugh in that bitches face all we want. All right?"

Kevin still glared over at her, eyes now appearing to be tearing up, wet and red, though Bryan could hardly tell in this light. Maybe it was just a reflection. It did look real though. But he calmed down, breath eventually returning to a safe and non-want-to-kill level.

"It'll be all right man," Bryan said confidently. "We'll get 'em."

Kevin finally looked at him. It took a moment of hesitation, but he finally nodded, and then turned to face forward.

Satisfied, so did Bryan. Until Rosy tapped him on the arm. Leaning towards her–something he always loved to do–he said. "What?"

"I can't believe they would do that," she said with respite.

Bryan shrugged. "Their bitches, what more can I say? She also said she spoke for every one of those judges and I believe her. But I'm not tellin' them that," he told her, referring to the twins.

"Hmmph," Rosy sounded.

On stage, the comic was just finishing up his bad stand-up act, and got a mild clap from what sounded like only ten people in the crowd. The announcer did the same routine with the comic as he had done with the Lorvorian–thanked him, all that stuff–and practically shooed him off the stage, then called up the final act––the improv group.

"Don't let it get to you guys," Bryan whispered to the twins as they all stood up. "Just go up there and do as good as you've done for the last two days."

So the crowd roared excitedly, and they marched up onto the stage. Again, they planned to do three acts. The first, of course, was Freeze, and the second was Question's Only. When that was done, the third was going to be the traditional third, Movie and Theater Styles, but Bryan decided to change that at the last moment, and it was he instead of Evan that walked up to the microphone at the end of Questions Only.

"Excuse me Evan, excuse me everybody. I've decided, if it's all right with the group, that I'd like us to try another kind of improv game besides Movie and Theater Styles. It's called Three-Headed Broadway Star. In it, we have to–me, Kevin, and Evan have to be a mysterious three-headed Broadway Star–Broadway is a place in New York City on Earth where theater is big, and musicals are even bigger–and what we do in this game is me, Kevin and Evan sing a song to Rosy, one word at a time. And what I need now is the name of a fake famous Broadway show..."

The audience started shouted many different names of many different fake musicals until Bryan singled out one and chose it. "I heard 'Tongue Fungus: A Sad Musical.' Good one guy. Okay, now I need the name of the hit love song from that musical..."

More shouts, and this time it was Kevin who singled out a good one. "'Green Taste Buds!'" he shouted to Bryan.

Bryan laughed and announced that to the audience. They laughed and "ewwwww"'d but supported it nonetheless. He then noticed Rosy jumping down the stairs off the stage. Confused, he called after her, but she didn't stop. Until she reached Maxie's table, and, grabbing her arm, tried to make her stand up. Maxie resisted, also confused, and the two exchanged words that got some laughs from the audience. At last, Maxie allowed Rosy to pull her out of her chair and they both ran back on stage. "What's going on?" Bryan asked.

"Your going to sing to both of us," Rosy said into the mike. "Hey everyone, this is Maxie from the Faith. They all tried to talk her into joining the group, but she wouldn't." She grinned at Maxie. "But she told me last night that she was sorry she didn't join. Because she said it looked fun. So now they're going to sing to her now too."

The crowd cheered, and some "awwww"'d adoringly. Rosy went off and grabbed two stools from offstage and brought them into the light, and the two woman sat on them.

Bryan grinned into the mike. "Okay guys, here we go. The song is 'Green Taste Buds' from 'Tongue Fungus: A Sad Musical.'" He set the mike stand off stage and took his position in the Three-Headed Broadway Star formation–in the middle, Kevin to his right, Evan to his left. "We need love song music, if you have any," he told the pianist.

The pianist searched through his stack of books and picked one, opening it and placing it in front of him. He positioned his hands over the piano keys and nodded to Bryan. And so the music started.

Kevin Bryan Evan

"Green" "Taste" "Buds"

"Are""Fungus." "I"

"Love""To" "Kiss"

"You""With" "My"

"Green,""Fungus-filled" "Tongue."

"When""I" "Look"

"At""You" "I"

"Have""To" "Drool"

"Be-cause""I" "Love"

"You.""And" "That's"

"Be-cause""My" "French-kissing"

"Tongue""Is" "Green"

"And" "Yours" "Is"

"Yell-ow." "You" "Are"

"De-li-cious," "You" "Are"

"Tas-ty,""You" "Have"

"Things,""You" "Love

"Green,"(snicker)"You" "You"

"Me""You," "I"

"Love""You" "And"

"You," ....."You" "Love"

"Me" "Too." "Feeling"

"Your""Tongue" "On"

"My""Fingernails" "Makes"

"Me""Want" "To"

"Kiss""Your "Little,"

.."Little,""Fungus-infect-ed" "Ass."

"If""I" "Ever"

"Look""At""You"

"Without""Any""Green"

"On""My" "TooooooOOooongue,"

"I""Hope""You"

"Beat""My""Ass"

"Into""The""Floor."

"Maybe""Someday""We'll"

"Kiss""With""Fungus"

"Again,""I""Hope."

"But unti–"(snicker) (snicker) "Until""That"

"Day""Comes""I"

"Dream""Of""Feeling"

"Your""Fungus-infected""Tongue"

"On""Meeeeeeee" (bass voice) "Babyyyyy."

The crowd roared in excitement and joy. Once again, they stood and gave the three singers a standing ovation. They parted from each other, beaming brightly out at the crowd. The audience continued to applaud and "whoop" and clap loudly, still standing too.

Rosy and Maxie jumped up from their stools energetically, "whooo"ing and clapping their hands over their heads. Bryan moved forward behind Rosy, grabbed her and picked her up in his arms. She yelped in surprise, then wrapped her arms around his neck lovingly.

Bryan smiled at her pretty face. "That song was about us, you know?"

She giggled. "Yeah."

He leaned in to kiss her. "Good job."

She touched lips with him. "Thanks. You too."

He set her down easy, and all five of them–including Maxie–took their earned bows.

The announcer came back up to the stage again, grabbed the mike stand, and moved it back on stage. He then thanked the group and called all the other acts up to the stage. They trudged, defeated, one after the other, lining up around Kevin, Evan, Rosy, Maxie, and Bryan. The announcer asked for a round of applause for every one of the acts, which the audience did with spectacular energy, though the improv group knew who they were really clapping more: them.

Then the announcer turned it over to the judges, who abruptly stood, the Surkosian racist woman in the center of the six. And it was as they all were standing up that Bryan realized a startling fact: five of the judges were all Surkosian. Only the judge on the left end was different, a Lorvorian. Bryan couldn't figure out why he hadn't noticed this before, but than that question was answered: the lighting in the room was brighter than it had been for the other two rounds. Now he could see them just fine, their white skin glowing somewhat in the enhanced lighting.

Bryan leaned towards Kevin. "Is this some kind of Surkosian colony you think?"

Kevin hesitated. "Who knows, man."

"Judges," the human announcer said. "I think you know the audiences opinion. Whom do you choose to win this competition?"

This time the crowd made their choice very apparent. First, a majority of them pointed to the four improvisors. Then, the crowd all started chanting "Improv! Improv! Improv!" over and over again, prompting gracious smiles from the four and Maxie. The audience turned to all the judges and chanted at them, pumping their fists with every "Improv!"

The five Surkosians exchanged glances with each other while the Lorvorian judge smiled brightly down at the group. As the crowd continued to chant, the judges stood still, hands clasped either in front or in back of them, faces in a stone cold expression. They waited patiently for the crowd's chanting to subside. But it didn't. They continued to chant, and Bryan, Evan, Kevin, Rosy, and Maxie had no intention of stopping them.

Bryan clasped his hands in front of him, imitating the woman Surkosian. He gestured for all the rest to imitate her too. They did, Kevin and Evan with the most serious confidence.

The woman picked up her microphone and spoke. "Please calm down, we are going to make our judgement now. Please quiet down." Her voice sounded as if a toad was trying to talk.

But the crowd didn't stop. They kept up their fierceness even through her announcement.

"Please quiet down!" She repeated more fiercely. "If you do not–!" The male Surkosian to her left drew her close and whispered something into her ear, not heard by anyone else. She smiled deviously for a split-second then returned to her microphone. "Very well then," she said. "Since you will not be quiet as I have asked you to, I hereby disqualify the Faith Improv Group from this competition."

And that was when things got ugly. The crowd "boooo!"-ed louder than ever. Many started throwing their drink glasses towards the judging table, causing all six of them to jump back hysterically in surprise and alarm. Luckily for the judges, that's basically all the audience could do. The judging table was hoisted on a terrace far up from the crowd, with only private access to it. So they continued to throw their bottles and glasses, but it wasn't going to do much.

Kevin stepped forward, and took the mike gently from the announcers hand; anxious, angry, and excited. "Disqualify us? For what, standing here you racist little bitch? Bryan told us what you offered him. Listen up ya'll," he said to the audience. He then gestured Evan to come over to him and when Evan did, he wrapped an arm around his brother's shoulder. "She offered Bryan over there 150 rebs, in cash, if he forfeited our act from the competition. What do ya'll say to that?!"

The crowd "boooo!"-ed and "noooooo!"-ed louder and fiercer than before. Now more began to throw their drinks at the judges.

"She's racist!" Kevin blurted out. "That's why we barely made it this far, 'cause they were all holdin' us back 'cause their racist towards black people!" He turned to Bryan. "What was her exact words again, Bryan?" He pulled his brother away from the mike. "Come and tell 'em."

Bryan walked to the microphone and spoke. "'I'll be damned before I give one-hundred rebs to a group lead by two coloreds.' Her exact words."

Same reaction from the crowd, only more violent.

Evan then leaned into the microphone. "I think the audience has chosen. I'd like my one-hundred rebs please," he addressed the stunned judges.

Now they "yeahhhhhhh!"-ed and cheered Evan on. The chanting now changed from "Improv! Improv!" to "Rebs! Rebs! Rebs!" and so on and so forth.

Then something surprising and caring happened. The bad Lorvorian singer that was on the groups right walked over to the mike stand and tapped Evan on the shoulder. He then proceeded to place three rebs in the twin's hand. The white-skinned Lorvorian clapped Evan on the shoulder and then shook he and his brother's hands' in praise. "'Ery gooed joob, biys," he said in his best English.

Evan smiled happily at the singer and gave him a back-clapping hug. "Thanks man. You did good too, though. Up here lookin' like a superstar. I thought Frank Sinatra was up singin' man, you were so good."

The Lorvorian smiled, a little confused but merry nonetheless. "Thank you." he then stepped back into his place in line.

Bryan smiled at this, but then his attention was driven away from it by some guy in the front row calling to him, "Hey?! Hey?! Bryan?!" Bryan looked over at him, and the human man gestured for him to come, so he did. The man extended his hand out to the pilot, and the pilot extended his hand out to the man, so the man could drop four rebs into it. Bryan stared in awe and shock at the amount of money in his hand, then extended it back out to the man. "I can't take this. You've been a great audience, but–" The other man shook his head and grinned, backing away into the thick of the crowd and disappearing. Bryan, though wanting to give the money back, stared at it a moment before reluctantly pocketing it in his clothing.

All of a sudden, that became everyone's idea. Rebs were being tossed onto the stage by the raging crowd with each passing second. Some accidently pelted the four on their bodies with the money. They cheered madly for the group as they did. Kevin and Evan tried to catch as many of the gracious "donations" as they could. Rosy exchanged smiles with Bryan, and then picked up some herself. Maxie, like the twins, grabbed as many of the coins for herself as she possibly could. Bryan would have scolded for it considering she was never really part of the group, but then he remember the financial problems she'd been recovering from in the last eight months, so he let her have the money she wanted.

Evan placed five rebs that he had picked up in his right hand, then, grinning thankfully, walked over to the Lorvorian singer and placed the rebs into his hand. He gave the man a back-clapping hug again and told him, "Thanks man."

Bryan stepped up to the mike, as the crowd still pelted the stage with rebs. "All right, all right. Stop, stop. Please stop. Rebs are a commodity this day in age, and we want you guys to keep as much as you can. Please, we have more than enough, thank you. Please...please..."

The crowd cheered louder and the throwing of rebs slowly slowed and then stopped completely.

Bryan smiled warmly at them. "Thanks guys. Ya'll have been a wonderful crowd, and we were happy to entertain you. Thanks again. We hope to come back here soon. So until next time, this is the Faith Improv Group signing off." With a salute to them, Bryan stepped off from the mike stand and started for the stairs. With one last dark look up at the shocked Surkosian judges, he walked off the stage, Kevin and Evan in front of him, stopping briefly to allow himself to wrap an arm around Rosy's shoulders. And together, black and white, they exited the stage, the crowd roaring their cheers and saying goodbye.

--

Same day: 11:01 P.M. Faith Cruiser

"The Surkosians have three colors," Evan told Rosy, looking across the table at her. Her, him, Kevin, Dassa Frull, Maxie, and Bryan, when he came back, were having a little after-party in the Starlight Lounge. Bryan had been called to the bridge a minute ago by Captain Hiller. "White, black, and brown," Evan continued to Rosy. "Just like us. Guess which color thinks they're the dominant color?"

Rosy snickered sickly. "The whites," she said with a sip of her drink.

"Yeah," Evan answered, thinking back to the information he had accessed on the Surkosians a few hours ago. "The fuckers still have slavery of browns and blacks too." He scowled in disgust. "Man, seriously, you'd think that after being alive for more than 900,000 years..." He scowled again and gulped down the rest of his first drink.

"I know," Rosy answered. "I studied about them back on the Boundless, and I can't believe this. They seemed pretty––decent, you know. What I read said nothing about them being racist."

"Well of course they wouldn't," the Vost, Dassa Frull, responded, her odd language being converted to English by the universal translator. "Slavery's not that popular in the Alliance."

"Yeah, I know," Rosy countered. "But still, after this whole—brouhaha, I woulda thought the books would have something that–hinted at their racism, or something."

Dassa and Kevin shrugged. The rest just drank.

Rosy snickered again. "It's kinda funny; they're supposed to be all high tech and sophisticated people, you know?" She shook her head and took another swig of her drink.

Evan returned her snicker. "'Eah well, they may be high tech but they ain't sophisticated."

"Well anyway," Rosy continued. "It doesn't matter. We kicked those bitches ass's." She raised her glass to the twins, who individually "clinked" glasses with her.

"Sho' enough," Kevin agreed.

"Fuck yeah," Evan also agreed.

They all drunk.

"And I love you boys, and I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Evan smiled earnestly at her. "That's perfectly aight. We kicked their ass's in the end anyway."

Rosy chuckled and took another drink.

"You drink that any faster and you'll be out before 11:30," came Bryan's voice from behind her.

She turned to him and raised her glass. "That's cool. That way I don't have to pretend to listen to you on my way home."

"Oooooh," Kevin sounded. "She got you there, man."

"Ehh," Bryan waved the insult off, grabbing a chair from an empty table. "Like I'm actually trying. Need to save some energy for my mistress on the side, after all." He straddled the chair and sat next to his girlfriend.

Rosy gave him the evil eye, then slapped him on the shoulder her free hand. "Like you have one. Took all your lax skills just to get me to go out with you, remember?"

"This coming from the girl who kissed me first," Bryan countered.

Rosy shrugged playfully. "I was bored that day. Tried to liven it up a little and—" her eyes darted around in her sockets, thinking fast for an ending to that made-up sentence.

"Succeeded I'd say," Bryan finished for her. "Wouldn't you agree after all this time?"

Rosy giggled playfully. "No. Not at all." After Bryan rolled his eyes, she giggled again and, scooting her chair over, hugged his neck and kissed him on the cheek. Then pressing her face against his, told him, "Turn your chair around." He complied, and she hopped from her chair and landed, legs stretched completely out, on his lap.

Bryan rolled his eyes again. "All right, all right," he complied with her position. "Listen up people–I'm gonna tell the rest of the guys an' girls later, but here's our mission once we get outta here. The Faith has been completely repaired, so we are going to rendevous with the frigate–"

Kevin kept one ear towards the Commander, but he stared out the window one last time at Caresica. And he noticed; it seemed to be a bit darker, and its features much out of sync since he had first seen it two days ago.