The private set for the Founder's Club was a little short that night.
It was the height of tourist season and the gang was running on proton fumes after another busy shift of running Mercury burgers, pouring cold ones, and entertaining guests. Even Wert couldn't lend another ear. And he had six of 'em.
Sonny Eclipse had powered down his vintage Astro Organ and made it about seven steps from his raised stage before he gave up and settled on a stool at Cosmic Ray's famous center bar. Ray was already seated and nursing a tall Saturnian Amber. The bartender droid offered a chittering of filtered beeps and Sonny tapped his three-fingered hand on the steel bar top.
"Another one for the books, kid." Ray said after a moment. Through the kitchen door you could see Sparky, the auto-Chef polishing the same nutrient-dispenser for maybe the fourth time tonight. The bartender droid returned with a bright green liquid in a dimpled cocktail glass.
"Tell me about it." Sonny said after lingering on the first sip of his neon concoction.
"Don't you ever get tired of it? 30 rotations of the same set of tunes?" Ray asked.
"I mix it up from time to time." Sonny countered.
"Some of the songs you flip up the order. But those last three are always the same. Bright Little Star, Gravity, and Planetary Boogie." The two sat in silence for a few moments.
The whirl of several cleaning bots moving around the lounge filled the silence. Sonny set his empty glass down on the bar and tapped his hand again. The bartender droid chirped.
"And two shots of rocket fuel." Sonny said. "You have time for a story, Ray?"
"Always for you, kid." Ray answered, putting a steady hand on the shoulder of Sonny's sparkling purple blazer.
"It starts back home on Zork." Sonny began.
"It always starts with Zork." Ray said closing his eyes.
The hum of the cleaning droids started to blur together like the ambiance of a busy Yew Nork street.
"I'm just saying Chip is going to see more planets with Star Command than you would ever see working for Star Tours. Especially as a customs security guard!"
Several hover cars whizzed past the stoop Zzzyxxx and I found ourselves sitting on. He stuffed the Star Tours application back into his pocket.
"Sonny..I know you love your brother. I love him too. He's my favorite cousin. But there is no way he is going to get higher than the rank of sanitation engineer with Star Command."
I laughed at that and took another sip of Quantum Cola as the flash-fried meat vendor at the corner started to loudly advertise his offerings again.
"How am I not your favorite cousin, Zzzyxxx? We're going to tour together!"
"I'd hardly call a corporate event on Zorkon-Beta a tour."
"It's just the beginning, Z. Let's finish loading and get going!"
The hover bus driver who was standing at the bottom of the stoop seemed to agree as he reached out his hand for my Astro Organ case.
Zorkon-Beta was a medium sized moon that found itself unlucky to be caught in Zork's proximity. It also had the misfortune of being the pet project of Yew Nork real estate tycoon and X-S Tech CEO, L.C. Clench. Clench had built a lavish corporate retreat named the 'Chairman L.C. Clench Grand Zorkon Retreat' a few rotations ago. Everyone just called it 'The Clench'. You know how Yew Norkers can be.
Our flight up was quick and smooth. It was one of the nicer shuttles I had ever been on at that time. Sleek, diamond shaped viewports. Neon running lights illuminating the neutral carpet that covered the floor. The seats were a plush purple color with a pattern of stars and moons. I bookmarked that design in my mind for a later use.
Z and I were happy to see upon landing and unloading that we weren't playing an X-S Tech event but a retreat for a The Yew Nork Free-Press & Sub-Space Syndicate. They were big backers of WZORK which was one of our favorite radio feeds. We also knew they had a pretty far reach across the galaxy. If it wasn't for the building being built by X-S Tech the whole arrangement was actually looking pretty good.
I met Z by a floor to ceiling panoramic view port that would be the backdrop to our performance.
"What a view, cousin!" I said placing my Astro Organ case down. "Zork seems so peaceful from here."
"If only it was, Sonny."
"We do our part to make it feel like it is, Z. That's why we play." I kneeled down to start setting up.
The gig started off as normally as it could have. The Yew Nork Free-Press team sat at large round tables draped in a royal looking silk. An efficient wait-staff ushered elegant trays of food and carafes of exotic looking beverages to and from the space. It was a couple million steps up from club Algorhythms back home.
Between dinner and dessert Z and I had the opportunity to scarf down some staff meals before our next set.
"This food is delicious but I'm a little concerned about the quality of this structure." Z said with his mouthful of a Martian delicacy called 'green eyed smarf'.
"What are you talking about? I think we were worried about nothing." I kicked the wall panel closest to me in the service hallway we were eating in. The panel fell off the wall with a loud bang on the unfinished floor of the off stage area. "That's probably fine."
We made our way back to the stage for another set of pleasant, background appropriate Zorkian Jazz while the guests enjoyed some sirius sundaes that were bigger than some of Z's higher pitched Nebula-Drums. We were the first four bars into Dabaja's Cosmic Serenade when our amplifiers cut out and so did the Gaar-origin lighting. It seemed the power for the whole complex had failed.
"I told you!" whispered Z as the room froze in silence.
The headwaiter stood up on a chair near the back of the room and asked for everyone's attention.
"Honored guests of the Yew Nork Free-Press, the automated X-S Tech complex administrator has alerted us that the experimental hyper electron power grid has failed. Please remain calm while a service team is dispatched to resolve the issue." The guests of course did not remain calm. Worried conversations began to break out and surround the space in a tense atmosphere. The pitch blackness of the room certainly did not help to make anyone feel calm. I leaned over to Z.
"Cue up Bright Little Star."
"Are you outta your mind, Sonny?"
"I have an idea, just go with it."
Z begrudgingly worked through the opening drum fill to Bright Little Star as I came in with my Astro Organ. At first the room didn't seem to notice we had started playing. Then my stars began to kick in. My Astro Organ had an analog feature where the pressure from each key press generated some air pressure, which was then collected and pushed through one of several tubes that led out to small turbines powering twinkling lights. That caught the crowd's attention.
As we gaze at your loving starlight
We will know that, when wishes are right
They will always come true
By the end of the tune the crowd had largely settled. Their worried eyes reflected the sparkling lights from my organ like tiny bits of hope.
Then there were cheers, first I thought it was for Z and I but we saw people pointing behind us. Out the viewport the X-S Tech Service Shuttle was beginning its landing sequence outside the retreat complex. As the landing gear hit the ground we saw a quick shower of sparks. Silence again filled the room. Then came the sound of forks clanking against the Gaarian chandelier as the artificial gravity gave a lurch.
"Honored guests, I bring news from the X-S Tech Service Support shuttle which just landed. They severed the Atmospheric Stabilizer connectors and will be adding that to their schedule today while visiting the fabulous Chairman L.C. Clench Grand Zorkon Retreat."
Groans echoed across the room. Then the attention returned to us.
"S..Sonny. What do we do now?" Z asked as his Nebula-Drums began to drift upward.
"Start laying down a stomping beat." I said as I faced back out to the crowd.
Z began to give us a repetitive boom pressing his foot down on the Nebula-bass pedal, which in turn kept his full set of drums anchored to the floor.
I stood up and motioned to the crowd to grab whatever was in front of them and begin to stomp their legs to the beat. It looked ridiculous but it began to anchor people to their locations.
I started up the most appropriate song for the situation.
Gravity
You’ve got a hold on me
Yes, you do
Yes, you do
Gravity
You’ve got a great big hold on me
It was fortunate Z and I knew these songs by heart because my brain was working in overdrive. This was not supposed to be the gig. We were the only thing giving these people peace in a moment of fear. I never wanted to experience this again.
We were nearly done with Gravity, even with adding in the extra lost verse and two solo blocks. The door to the service hallway opened for a moment revealing an X-S Tech worker in a fully shielded work suit as their partner in the back was slamming a sonic wrench against a large chrome pipe that was emitting a sub-zero fog. Frost was racing across the floorboards creeping toward the banquet space we occupied. The door shut but I felt what was coming with a shiver.
I shouted as loud as I could before the headwaiter could make his inevitable announcement.
"Hold on to your seats, folks, ‘cause we’re gonna crank it up! Here we go now!"
We transitioned straight from Gravity into our most energetic and sweat-inducing dance number, Planetary Boogie.
As frost began to form on my eyelids, I hoped it would be enough.
"Mother of Mars! What happened next, Sonny?" Ray waved away the bartender droid.
"The crowd danced as long and as hard as they could. Lucky for us right as we were all about to become native Plutonians, a League of Planets cruiser arrived at the Clench. Pulled us out."
"What about the tour? What happened to Z?"
Sonny took care of the Rocket Fuel that Ray had left untouched on the bar.
"That was it for Z. Won't visit a moon anymore either. Went off to Star Tours and works a desk job next to a Pan Galactic Pizza. He's happier but I was right about Chip seeing more planets."
"He was right about the janitor part though."
"Hey!"
"So the songs are what..to keep the curse away?"
"Bright Little Star to give 'em light, Gravity to keep 'em grounded, Planetary Boogie to keep 'em moving."
Right on cue, the last remaining safety lights on inside Cosmic Ray's flickered out.
"You still have that organ out?" Ray's voice cackled from the darkness.
Sonny pushed Ray off his stool.