When the singers arrived I unlocked the theater and auditorium before retreating to my apartment. The confrontation with Brandon and lying to Seiko had left my insides twisted in an anxious knot. Even imagining Pamela in all her unmatched sensuality did little to distract me from a sense of implacable doom.
Dressed in a freshly printed suit, shiny black shoes, and matching black gloves, I watched the monitors, waiting for her to arrive. The minutes stretched out as daylight faded through dusk and night enveloped Nocturnia. Seiko came to mind and pangs of guilt sank my mood further. I considered calling Pamela and just standing her up. With my slate in hand I was ready to call when Pamela appeared in the monitor.
She climbed out of the car, a large off-road model that floated on an air cushion. Pamela wore a long heavy white coat with her dark hair flowing like a waterfall over the thrown-back hood. The thick coat failed miserably at hiding her glorious figure. All thoughts of standing her up vanished like fog and I hurried out.
Companion hung huge in the sky, rising in the east as the day’s last light illuminated its clouds of dazzling yellows and reds. I rushed down the steps, one hand on my hat in the stiff evening breeze. Pamela smiled, a wide happy expression, her perfectly white teeth shining out in the fading light. She took me in her arms and kissed me passionately. We fell against the car, my body pressing against hers, lost in each other’s ecstasy.
“We should get out of sight,” she whispered and I followed her into the car’s cabin.
Even before we settled in the car it lifted on its skirts, rocking like a boat, and began speeding down the street. I fell back into the seat, Pamela tumbling into my arms. Collecting a kiss as a toll, I held her tight, my hands exploring curves. She returned the affection and, thoroughly distracted, I almost didn’t notice we’d left the city.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” She grinned like a mischievous schoolgirl. “But I think you’re going to love it.”
I looked at the cabin. This was an explorer’s scout. There was room for a survey team and all their equipment.
“How?”
“Well, we can’t get out of the colony in a runabout, now can we?’
“Next you’ll take me for a trip in a flyer.”
She smiled, her lips closed but yet promising and inviting.
“Do you want to fly? It’s a little harder but I think if you really—”
“Only if you’re along.”
The car changed direction and I fell into her arms. Again we lost track of time. Under the coat she wore a thin dress. My passion grew and she surprised me by pulling back, cooling our physical zeal.
“Not yet,” she said, her voice soft and deep. “It’s part of the surprise.”
The ground rose and the hover-car followed, winding its way toward the coast. We stopped on a bluff, the whine of the engines dying away as the car settled. The door popped open, swinging up and out of the way. I climbed out and offered her my hand. She followed and we spent another breathless moment in each other’s arms.
I turned and saw a large, wide blanket spread out on the ground. Throw pillows, like those in desert adventure films, were scattered on it, and at one end a basket of food and drink waited. Placed around the setting, small lights on stakes illuminated the scene in soft red light. Above us the Milky Way was already starting to vanish behind Companion’s massive bulk, stretched across the sky.
I managed a soft “Wow.”
She took me by the hand and led the way up the gentle slope. As we crested the rise, Nocturnia was laid out below us, the city’s streets glowing in radiant spokes, and beyond the sea stretched to an invisible horizon. I turned back and realized that the bluff hid our own lights. Anyone looking this way would see only darkness.
“Do you like it?”
I nodded and then laughed when I realized the gesture was almost certainly invisible to her.
“I love it.” I stared at the city, the lighted blocks and streets, Founders’ Park with trails outlined by an occasional light, and the dark ring of districts not yet in use. The entire scene struck me with an ethereal beauty overlaid by a sense of fragility.
She took my hand in hers. “I come up here when I can. No one but you knows about it.”
I turned to her and we kissed. We moved back to the blanket and made love under the stars, our public nakedness thrilling. A chill breeze raised pimples on our skin but lust kept us warm.
* * *
Our passion spent, we lay in each other’s arms, our naked skin pressed together.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” she said. “But I’ll freeze my ass off.”
Reluctantly I let go and she climbed to her feet. Even climbing up off a blanket on the ground, in the middle of the night with a sea breeze making her shiver, she moved with grace. She ignored her discarded dress tossed on the dirt, retrieved her coat, wrapped herself in it and hurried to the hovercraft. I lumbered to my feet. On my best day I’d never match her easy elegance.
While she opened the vehicle’s storage compartment, I picked up my discarded clothes a piece here, a piece there. I began dressing, layer upon layer. Pine scent, carried on the night wind, wafted across the area, and the grass slick and wet under my feet threatened to send me toppling down the hill as I walked carefully to her.
I reached the hovercraft just as Pamela finished dressing. She wore a long, heavy skirt, dark blue or black, and a matching sweater. She completed the outfit with sensible boots and gloves. Though everything was perfectly practical for a trip into the brush, Pamela gave it a repressed sexuality that only heightened her allure.
“Lovely,” I said as I finished pulling my tie tight and with a shrug of my shoulder I seated my overcoat.
She stepped over to me and placed an arm on each shoulder, gazing deep into my eyes as Companion’s light reflected off hers.
“Only because I’m with you.”
I pulled her close and kissed her. We stayed like that for a few moments and then she pulled away. She looked up at Companion, already high in the sky.
“It’s very late.”
“Yes,” I said. “Maybe you should come back home with me. Get a few hours of rest in a decent bed, but you’ll have to be out before people show up.”
My heartbeat raced as I waited for her answer. Strange that after our lovemaking, both here and the night before on the lobby’s floor, the idea of sleeping the night through together should be so exciting.
Her smile faded from her face, replaced by a terrible sadness.
“I can’t.” Her voice broke. “I want to, but I can’t.”
“Not tonight.”
“Not ever.”
Cold, a cold that had nothing to do with the night’s falling temperatures, gripped my heart.
“Tell me.”
She shook her head and hurried over to the rumpled blanket. Pulling it with harsh jerky movements, she began balling it into a crumpled mass, spilling discarded drinks and foods. I rushed over and grabbed her hands, turning her to face me.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
Tears streamed down her face and her breath came in short sharp sobs.
“You know about Seiko,” I snapped. “You know everything about me but I know nothing about you!”
She pulled her hands away from mine and held my face.
“Jason, oh my sweet Jason, I’m not a good woman. Surely you know that?”
“I don’t care. Tell me what’s going on.”
She buried her face in my shoulder, crying heavily, pouring her tears into my thick overcoat. I stroked her hair, letting the jag run its course.
“There’s another man,” I said.
The words came to my lips like some doctor announcing a terminal prognosis. She said nothing, just nodding into my shoulder. Mechanically, I stroked her hair, held her tight, and even if it wasn’t a surprise, the confirmation burned. My hand slid down her arm and as I took her left hand into mine, my thumb explored her long fingers for a ring.
“But not a husband.”
She pulled away from me and took a few steps toward the bluff.
“Not a husband,” she said. Her voice was soft and the wind nearly took her words away.
“So, leave. Just fuck him.”
Her voice carried a lifetime of despair and self-loathing. “I do.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m saying—”
She laughed, soft and musical. “I know. Let me have my little jokes.”
“You can have anything you want.” I moved over and stood close behind her, my arms draped over her shoulders, pulling her back firm and warm against my chest. “Including freedom.”
“I wish that were true.”
We stood there looking down on Nocturnia, dimmer than before as so many followed the foolish adage ‘early to bed and early to rise’.
“Just leave him.”
“It’s not that easy. He’s powerful, Jason. He gets what he wants, always.” She turned around and faced me. “Those little mysteries about me, that’s just a fraction of the power he has.”
Pamela buried her face in my chest.
“If he knew I was doing this, using his influence to see you—” Her voice faltered. “I don’t want to think what he’d do.” She shivered.
Hugging me tight, she said, “But without him I could have never found you. And I do love these—”
She suddenly jerked free. “I forgot your gift!”
She took off running for the hovercraft, her coat flapping behind her like a superhero’s cape. I chased after her and reached the back of the vehicle just a second behind. She opened a bag and hunted through it. Why is every woman’s purse a testament to entropy’s ultimate victory? After a few moments she shouted and pulled out a memory tab.
“This is for you, my love.”
She shoved the tab into my hands. I pulled my gaze away from her lovely blue eyes and saw handwritten on it the title The Apple Dumpling Gang.
As I looked into her eyes I faked a smile. I knew this movie was a mindless piece of pabulum intended to placate children and adults with childish tastes. I stumbled, searching for something to say that wouldn’t hurt her feelings and yet wouldn’t also be a lie. She laughed, throwing her head back in genuine joy.
“It’s not what it says, silly.” She took my hands into hers and held them tight. “Just make sure no one’s around when you watch it.”
“What is it?”
“A surprise.”
We cleaned up our picnic and loaded the vehicle. I tried several more times to pry the secret from her but Pamela excelled at secrecy.