Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43557 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 218(@200wpm)___ 174(@250wpm)___ 145(@300wpm)
A perfectly perky anchor who is not really there grins broadly down the lens, safe in a remote studio, only her appearance beamed into the picture as she pretends to be part of the terrible events of the day.
“This is Anchor Jessie coming to you from the Aurora Plinth Arena, where the Lyric Walker Intergalactic Starlet concert was disrupted by unconfirmed explosions. We talk to several victims of today’s attack!”
They cut to a camera feed of a bloodied fan wearing a Lyric Starlet t-shirt. He is jumping up and down, screaming, but in a way that implies he is enjoying the experience in general.
“Best concert ever!” he screeches, breathless.
“Sir, you said your partner was killed in the attack.”
His eyes roll around in his bloodied head in a giddy sort of way. “Oh yeah? I guess? But totally worth it. Lyric Starlet is worth dying for!”
The camera returns to the smooth, smiling face of the anchor. “There you have it, folks. A concert so good you won’t mind the passing of your loved ones in bloody chaos. Lyric Starlet will be playing at the center of Orion’s Belt tomorrow evening. Get on down, see if you survive! Now to John, with the weather.”
Bleep borp. A holo-message is coming in. I have a sudden sick feeling that makes me not want to press the accept button, but I know it will be worse if I don’t.
“Pretty impressive, huh?” Simon Scowl appears to me in a smug cone of holography. He doesn’t have to say anything else. He just has to look so disgustingly pleased with himself and I instantly know he had people killed in order to promote the tour. He had fans killed in order to promote the tour. And a lot of them seem like they’re quite happy with that arrangement.
It’s sick, and it’s wrong, and it is very possible that nobody will care. Life has gotten progressively cheaper over time, to the extent that people rarely value their own lives anymore. It’s more about finding a fun way to stop being than clinging to existence. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the main one comes down to simple propaganda.
I know better. I know that the lives that were lost tonight are each and every one irreplaceable. I know that they mattered, even if they didn’t know they mattered. And I know that this is a tragedy few will mourn. It will be used as marketing, and that marketing will work.
I hate that I am a part of this, but I have no choice. Morality is a rich man’s luxury. By doing this dirty work, exploiting a human, and being complicit in the deaths of hundreds of people who should know better and yet don’t, I keep my people safe.
“We’re off to an excellent start,” he says. “There’s no money like blood money. I’m adding extra dates.”
“But she’s already fully booked for the next three years. How is she going to do even more shows?”
“Let me worry about that,” he smirks. “You keep her alive.”
“Not going to be easy if you kill people, Simon.”
“Sometimes killing people is part of a good manager’s job.”
“It’s really not.”
My response is lost on him, both because he doesn’t care what I think, and because he’s shut the communications channel.
I glance over at Lyric, sleeping peacefully in her rest pod. She still has no idea what she’s involved with, not really. She still hasn’t read the contract, and at this point it might be better for her if she never does.
5
Lyric
“Morning!” I wake up smiling as I look into Zayne’s handsome face. I have to say I love waking up this way. Every day I get to see my sexy dragon protector there with me, keeping me safe. I get a not-so-little thrill that zips from my heart all the way down between my thighs. I wish we had more time together, or rather more time with me awake. I’d love to wake up in his arms for once, but instead it’s always this bassinet-like pod that I cannot wait to clamber out of.
“Morning,” he says, handing me a protein shake full of minerals and amino acids and strawberries. I don’t start any morning without one. It’s how I know I am awake.
“We’ve arrived at the first planet around Alnilam,” he says as I start my breakfast.
Alnilam is not a planet proper. The central star of Orion’s belt does not traditionally have planets, I’ve learned. But where planets could be, someone will build them. Orionous Prime is the planet people have cobbled together out of bits of other planet.
I sip my breakfast as I mentally review my Alnilam facts. Every time I go to a new place, I like to make people feel like I know who they are, even if I have no idea. I know this is one of the most exciting human colonies, an entire planet terraformed from the core up. Every bit of this world was made by humans, and tonight is going to be a big celebration of everything we’ve done.