Comet! (an Ell Donsaii story #5 ) (35 page)

Emma said, “We’re thinking we’ll go dance on the stage in that spot he saved for Donsaii. What do you think?”

Joe’s eyes widened, “Oh man, Gordon’s been talking all night about how he’s hoping Donsaii’ll show up and dance there.” He shrugged, “But it
doesn’t look like she’s coming…
be better than nothing I guess.”

Emma
glared at him
, “Joe! What do you think we are? Chopped liver? He should be grateful we’re willing to grace his stage. Right… B-Belle?”

Ell nodded solemnly, trying not to laugh. “Just let us work out our routine, then you can take us out there. Right Joe?”

“Oh man. I’m too sober! I
should have had a drink!”

Ell and Emma worked a little longer on their routine
,
then one of Ell’s favorite Velos songs started and she said, “Let’s go!”

Emma grabbed Joe’s hand and said, “Show us the way.”

“Oh man. You gotta promise not to tell Gordon I was involved in this plan!”

Ell grabbed his other hand, “Come on, you’re my ‘friendly boy,’ you owe me this.”

Shaking his head in dismay
,
Joe led them out to the backstage area and around to the right wing where they could see the open area Gordon had insisted be set aside.

Gordon’s eyes widened as
a
girl danced out into the area he’d had left for Donsaii.
Was it her?
Then they narrowed as he realized that the
girl was
Belle
and Emma was with her. He rolled his eyes,
I’ll look like an ass if I try to shoo them off the stage
;
I’ve got to play along.
The verse ended and there was supposed to be a one line instrument break so he leaned to the mike, saying, “These are our friends Emma and Belle, give ‘em a hand.” His eyebrows rose as he realized that the girls were doing a pretty nicely choreographed routine together. He turned back to the mike for the chorus, watching them out of the corner of his eye. When the song wound down he said, “Emma and Belle! Give ‘em another hand!” A little surge in the applause came up. Then he said, “We’ve reserved this little space that Emma and Belle danced in for Ell Donsaii. As you know, she’s danced at a couple of our previous shows and whenever we’re here in
North Carolina
we hope she’ll grace us with her presence again!”

He started strumming the intro to the next song, listening for the beat of the little echo in this auditorium.

More songs passed and Gordon’s hopes were crushed. It didn’t look like Donsaii was going to show.
Would it sound desperate to repeat the invitation?
What the hell, maybe word’ll get back to her and she’ll show up at the next show.
He started the intro to the next song, a gentle arpeggio on a mildly distorted wah-wah guitar patch. The fans in the audience burst into applause
. As their cheers calmed down Gordon leaned to the mike, “If any of you know Ms. Donsaii, please tell her about the spot we’ve saved for her on our stage whenever we’re in
North Carolina
.”

Some guy in a hoodie and sweats vaulted onto the stage from the crowd! Despite being pissed
,
Gordon’s eyes widened at the sheer physical ability evidenced by the move. The guy had leapt up on the rail on the edge of the “orchestra pit
.
”
The pit
really just served to keep the crowd
away
from the stage. Then
the guy
leapt right across the 6 foot pit and onto the stage, landing on his hands and flipping to his feet to begin moving to the music. For a moment
Gordon
considered letting it slide, he doubted there was anyone else in the crowd that could duplicate that feat! But he didn’t want anyone trying either, “Hey man, really, that spot is saved for Ms. Donsaii.”

The guy had been swaying to the slow arpeggio, he unzipped the hoodie and flipped back the hood
to reveal… strawberry blond hair
.
A beautiful face, a stunning smile…
It
was
Donsaii
! She flashed him a big
smile
and then did a slow twirl to the beat
—
during which the hoodie came off and landed at the back of the stage.
She
had
a leotard
under it
! The sweatpants no longer
looked like
a guy
’
s old sweats. Somehow, now
it seemed obvious that they
were bloused
,
slinky dancing
pantaloons
that clung sweetly to her hips and emphasized her slender
muscular
thighs.
Gordon leaned to the mike, “Ladies and gentlemen… I give you… the grace of
…
Ms. Ell Donsaii!”

As the arpeggio gently rolled on she
continued
swaying and gently spinning. Gordon was so entranced he nearly missed
starting
to sing
the chorus
of his own song
, then at the last moment
realized
where he was
and
leaned to the mike, head
still
turned so
he could watch Donsaii dance.
She doesn’t seem to be doing anything that anyone else couldn’t do, but… there’s something about the way she moves… such grace… and
al
though it’s slow,
such athleticism. Somehow her swirling turns, though
leisurely
, look like slow
ed
motion
video
versions of a fast and physical dance. What’s she going to do when the chorus comes in at double the tempo?

The drummer
began the
roll
that introduced the chorus
and Donsaii answered Gordon’s question
by dou
bling the speed of her footwork. As the chorus came into its own
,
she flipped
end over end from one side of the stage to the other.
She twirled then flipped back to the other side of the stage.
She’d be on one side, then she’d leap into the air, her feet would go over her head and she’d land on her feet on the other side of the stage. Gordon’s breath caught on the first one because she’d been so
very
high in the air in the air
at the midpoint! Gordon glanced out at the audience and saw them gaping
,
but then his own eyes tracked back to
this
amazing danc
e
. The drums dropped out and the bass came in for the next verse. Donsaii slowed ag
ain, doing different but once again
entrancing
ly graceful
moves.
For the next chorus there were
more gymnastic moves but again somehow, even though they were things only gymnasts do, the
y
were
performed perfectly
in time to the music and seemed like the most amazing dancing
,
rather than something that belonged in a gym
nasium
! For the thunderous bridge of the song she ran
at the right side of the stage. F
or a moment Gordon feared that she was leaving. Instead she ran up the wall at the side of the stage and flipped over twice before landing
and flipping her way back over next to Gordon, another
gracefully
slow
twirling interlude
for the last verse and then the final chorus during which Donsaii went absolutely
freaking
wild
—
doing
aerials
and
twisting double
flips
one after another
—
still making these phenomenally athletic feats fall
exactly
on the beat and seem like a dance. Admittedly
,
a dance no one else in the world
, no one at all
,
could possibly do
,
but still… a dance. The music crashed to a stop except for the gentle arpeggio trailing off. Donsaii landed
from a twisting
,
flipping
leap into the air
that Gordon couldn’t even begin to follow
, right on the final cymbal crash,
bent,
arms outstretched to the
upper corners of the stage. She
twirled gently over next to Gordon as he played that final arpeggio. “Take a bow.” she whispered, bowing sweepingly low as he tipped with her
,
though he bent only slightly so that he’d be able to
keep playing.

“Meet me after the show?” Gordon whispered urgently. She turned, smiled that beautiful smile
at him
, shook her head, snatched up her hoodie and somehow managed to leap off the stage onto the railing at the edge of the pit, then over the
mass
of people at the edge of the pit to land in a small opening
amongst them
. She faded
tracelessly
into the crowd.

Despite watching video over and over
Gordon
never could see the hole in the crowd until she landed in it.
Nor could he see how
Donsaii
disappeared into the throng like a pebble sinking into a pond. He knew he couldn’t be in
love;
he’d never even
really
met her
, or talked to her, or gotten to know her in any real sense
. But he could close his eyes and see that final smile she gave him. It
had
to be simple infatuation
,
but he wanted so desperately to send her messages proclaiming his… his… whatever it was, he wanted to proclaim it…

***

Emma stopped Ell. She had a grin from ear to ear, “Hey, I got the spectroscope set up and shot an analysis of the atmosphere of
that
third
Tau Ceti
planet
through the port on Heinlein.
”

“And?!”

Emma shrugged her shoulders, “Well… there just might… maybe…be…”

Ell
grinned and
punched her in the shoulder, “Spit it out!”

Emma rubbed her shoulder
and stuck out her lower lip
, “Ow!”

Ell said, “Oh, come on, that didn’t really hurt!”

Emma grinned slyly at her, “Oxygen?”

“Oh!” Ell threw her arms around Emma, “you’re lucky that shoulder
doesn’t hurt worse than it does
! What
else
did you identify
?”

“Hmmm, there might be… let’s see… maybe…”

Ell drew her hand back.

Emma threw her hands up in surrender, “
I give, I give. N
itrogen,
CO2, water vapor.”

Ell shrieked and threw her arms around Emma again. They bounced up and down together for a few minutes.

Roger walked over, “What’s got you ladies so excited?”

Ell grinned slyly at Emma
and stage whispered
, “Do you think we should tell him?
”

Emma looked up at Roger, “Yep, but we should make him wait ‘til tonight when we take him out with us to our celebratory dinner.”

Roger’s eyes widened, “Nooo, you wouldn’t do that would you?”

They went to dinner at
La
Mez and
made Roger wait until after dinner. A
fter
Ell had finished her own dessert and half of Emma’s
,
Roger leaned back and looked from one to the other, “Well?”

Emma grinned and in a sing
-
song voice said, “We’ve been keeping a se
e-
cret.”

He raised an
eyebrow and waited.

Ell leaned closer to him, “You know there’s no theoretical limit on the distance we can send something through a single ended port, right?”

He looked back and forth at the grinning girls.

Ell said, “Nor any limit on how far we can get data back through a
PGR
chip, yes?”

R
oger’s eyebrows shot up, “You
opened a port to a
star
?!!”

Emma turned to Ell and stage whispered, “See, I told you he wasn’t as dumb as he looks!”

Roger gaped, “Alpha Centauri?”