Scenes From Space

Chapter Twelve: A Speech

The club was silent as we gathered round the stage before opening. Amber stood proud, tall, front and center on stage. There was a single yellow light cast over her. She looked powerful.

"I don't want to tell you that this is maybe the most important night of my life. I don't want to tell you how hard I've worked to walk the line between welcoming the Collective's money and staying independent from the Collective. But, tonight is an important night for us all. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world."

Wait, what?

"And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in this history of mankind. Mankind, that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. And you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but from annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live, to exist. And should we win the day, it will no longer be just a day, but as the day when we declared in one voice: 'We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive!' Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!"

Everyone cheered and I clapped along a little confused. I followed Amber so I could pull her aside. Graham looked at me with an eyebrow raised and I gave him a light wave to let him know everything was fine.

"Independence Day?" I asked once we were out of earshot.

"Yeah, most of these people have never seen it, cause you know, space and stuff," Amber said. "They think I'm a speech writing genius."

"Can I ask when you were kidnapped and what your career was on Earth?" I asked. Amber pulled a bottle off the highest shelf and poured us each a shot. I threw the pink liquid back without a second thought.

"2002, I taught Film Studies and Screenwriting at the University of Iowa," Amber said before throwing back her own shot and taking another right away. I waved off the second.

"I was doing administrative work at a hospital and helping my parents run a brewery," I confessed.

"I wondered where your waitress experience came from," Amber said with a smile. She took a breath and let it out. "Almost time to do this thing. Go make-out with your boy and get backstage."

"Yes Ma'am!" I gave a jaunty salute and went to find Graham. He was wiping down tables and setting up chairs on the stage level.

"Heya Handsome," I said. Graham threw the towel over his shoulder and smiled at me. "I'm under strict instructions from the boss to make-out with you and then head backstage."

Graham shook his head, smile still on his face, but he bent down and kissed me. It wasn't a quote make-out unquote, but it was a little deep, a flash of tongue, and a gentle squeeze of the hips.

"Get backstage, Gen," Graham said.

I stood up on my toes for another quick kiss before I scurried off to meet the other girls backstage.

The first number of the night was a slow, group routine to Why Don't You Do Right from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. All the girls were wearing masks, purple gloves, and slinky red dresses, of various styles. We did synchronized walks, drops, and crawls down the stage before going out into the audience to flirt with patrons. It was a quick but effective number.

I changed back into my waitress outfit. I had a little over an hour before a small group, then my solo routine, then another large group, and then back to waitressing for the rest of the night.