“Lights.”
The computer turned on the lights in Marcus bedroom, slowing bringing them up to 25%. Looking over at the clock reading 4:45 in the morning, he raised up on one elbow and listened. There it was again. A voice, muffled to the point of barely audible. He tossed back the sheets, threw on a robe and walked out into the apartment, built into the Lounge above the Blue Room. Pausing he heard it again. Walking out into a corridor leading to the Kitchen and storage area he strained his ears as he came out onto a staircase leading down into the Front Lounge. The lights were dim and he could barely see the stair case opposite, leading to the main entrance out onto Phoenix Boulevard.
Once at the bottom of the stairs he heard a cry, coming from the Blue Room. Now he was certain what he was hearing. Quietly he entered the Blue Room. All of the tables were dark, save one near the stage. Laying upon it was his assistant Ms. Kent. Her legs tossed high into the air and standing between them some young man he did not recognize. Her cries became more strident as his exertions intensified.
Not wanting to spoil the moment for them Marcus leaned against the wall in a deep shadow, but not so far he could not watch. It was only a moment longer and the pair of lovers reached their plateau , the young man nearly falling over her.
Now that the moment had passed Marcus stepped from the shadow and began applauding.
“Oh my God!” Ms. Kent screamed. She knocked the man off of her sending him sprawling to the floor.
“Mr. Dinn….. Oh my god.. uh……uh….” Was all she could manage to say as she leapt from the table searching in vain for her clothes.
Marcus walked up, picking a dress off the floor and handing it to her. “This what you’re looking for?”
She grabbed the Black cocktail dress and held it in front of her. “I’m ….I”m … so sorry.”
Marcus nodded and stepped over to his private table. “No harm done Ms. Kent. Just a little surprised,,, and here all this time I thought of you as so…….proper.”
The young man had managed to dress and was starting for the door. He started to say something but looking at Marcus he instead just ran for the front door.
Chuckling Marcus watched him go. “You would think I was your father.”
Ms. Kent pulled the flimsy dress over her head and looked around for her clutch.
“Over there.” Marcus said pointing.
She started for the door. ‘Am I going to be fired?”
“Fired?.. No I don’t see why. Although I would suggest you find better accommodations in the future.”
“Yes Sir.”
She nearly ran herself out the room leaving Marcus to replay the scene in his mind.
Sonia had left the week before and now the emptiness of his own bed was all the more impressed upon him.
Slapping the table he decided he need a break, a change of scenery. An hour later he was in a taxi heading for the space port. Leaving XON a note that he would return in a day or two.
As the sun broke the horizon he brought his Viper craft out of the hanger and pointed it west along the Covington River. Taking his time this trip he watched the forest pass beneath him. The trees a dark green, the river glistening, reflecting the rising sun.
In a couple of hours he passed over what looked like wreckage and he brought the craft down on the river bank. The ground was moist under his feet as he stepped out and started toward the burned out hulk of a shuttle craft. The top half of the fuselage was gone, it interior pockmarked and black. He surveyed the area and saw a skeleton tied to a tree trunk. Looking closer it was obvious what had happened to the poor man.
Kneeling in front of the rack of bones “What did you do?”
“He tried to kill me, that’s what he did.”
Marcus spun around, standing near the waters edge was T’Ros, her wet naked form reflecting the sunlight.
In an instant the sounds of the morning rang in his ears, as she walked toward him.
“You owe me a transporter.”
“You owe me restaurant location.”
Off.
Marcus Dinn
Owner of RICKS
Commander T’Ros
Mayor of Vorta Rome (NPC
