Neptune Part 4

Part 4 – Earthly Passion

From Neptune's Green Sunshine
Act 1 Scene 1
(The scene opens with Merle and Nate running from stage left holding hands. Nate seems to be pulling Merle along. Nate is wearing clothes that make him appear to be a labourer. He runs with a slight but visible limp. Merle is wearing what appears to be something a prostitute might wear, but covered with dirt and stained red.)
Merle: (shakes her hand out of Nate's grasp once they are mid-stage, looks back towards stage left, taking a couple of steps) "Are they really gone, Nate? Are we really alone?"
Nate: (continues looking towards stage right) "Yes, Merle. Yes, they're gone. We have to hurry, or else we'll be gone too."
Merle: (turns towards Nate) "It's the end of the world. That's what they're all saying. Where do you go when the world ends?"
Nate: (glances over his shoulder) "You go with me."
Merle: (sits down quickly) "But where? Where do we run? We may as well just wait here until we die, too."
Nate: "Get up. We'll find a way to survive. We'll get off the planet together. We'll go to Luna."
Merle: "Luna? They don't accept newcomers anymore! If we try to go, we'll be shot down."
Nate:  (takes Merle's hand) "Better to try and be shot down than wait here to die. Come on."
Merle: (gets up with Nate's help) "I guess you're right. It's strange, though. I've never been free in my life. What do you think it will be like?"
Nate: "Worse than this. It will probably hurt more than anything we've ever done. At least we'll be able to be together, though."
Merle: "Together?" (pause) "Nate...  I don't ever want to be apart again."
(cue song: 'End of Time With You')
***
Nova Seven sits on the hotel bed looking up at me with a small smile on her face. I do not meet her stare but I can feel her gaze, I can see her smile from the corner of my eye. "You're always all business, aren't you Errol?"
The jacket to my suit is already hung up, my tie carefully laid out on a nearby table and I am carefully unbuttoning the white dress shirt. "I do not want to look unprofessional at the Luna Council meeting tomorrow should I choose to stay the night." Ruffled clothes never look good and raise questions that I would rather not address, especially given my reputation for being carefully groomed. I pull the shirt off and begin to fold it.
"Some say that being undressed by your partner is the best part," says Nova, her tone teasing. "And your little strip tease here is less than exhilarating." She crosses one leg over the other and props herself up on her hands.
Just being in her presence is exciting, and it does take some effort to keep my eyes off of her and my excitation in check for now. I loathe using florid prose, but her touch and her movements seem mystical, like they have some kind of healing properties. I deposit the shirt on the table and say to Nova, "I prefer to undress everyone involved in these things."
She pauses for a moment and then laughs, a pleasant kind of sound coming from her. "Your sense of humour is too dry for me!"
"You still laughed."
She nods and stands up, "So I did." She rests her hands on the buckle of my belt and looks down at my face. I finally meet her gaze. Cognitively, I know that androgynes do not possess anything resembling a sex drive, but Nova manages to create a very powerful illusion. She appears eager, as eager as I am. I suppose it's a part of the job. I let myself be convinced by her show. I would rather believe it true than otherwise and therefore it's absolutely true.
She unbuckles my belt. I can feel my heartbeat increasing and I cannot keep myself from whispering the words that I know I'm not supposed to: "I love you..."
Nova stops and steps back from me, shaking her head, "Errol, no, we've talked about-"
I cut her off. "I know. I have a wife. Children. You're a prostitute. I'm a politician. My career couldn't handle the controversy. But that doesn't change it. That doesn't change that I mean it."
She shakes her head at me slowly. "No, Errol, you don't love me. You don't mean it."
"Of course I do."
"No, you love that I'm beautiful. You love that every moment you spend with me is a moment that you feel good. You love that I'm not your wife." She strokes my cheek lightly and pats me on the side of my face. "You don't love me."
Maybe she's right. Maybe I don't. That still doesn't change that I find her company more satisfying than anyone I have ever met and it doesn't change that I want to spend as much time with her as possible. "Fine," I say, trying to mask how upsetting I find this exchange. How upsetting I always find this exchange. "Should we do this another time, then? I didn't mean to upset you."
She nods and reaches down again to pull my belt through the loops. "Another time? Not a chance."
***
"Errol?"
I'm snapped out of my daydream by the hushed voice of Cleveland Blake, a black furred fox recom, another member of the Lunar Council. He's one of the few council members who I do not consider a complete dolt. Most are pompous windbags, interested only in empty rhetoric and seeking re-election and less concerned with finding legitimate solutions to the problems.
The speaker, an antelope recom whose name I still cannot remember because of her complete lack of relevance and her likely inability to maintain her position on the council, continues droning, "...and that is why I am proposing increases to Lunar Council pay rates."
It's no wonder that Cleveland decided to whisper to me at this time. I quickly flip through the documents that I was handed at the beginning of this meeting. I stand and object, "Lunar Council pay rates are already high enough to maintain a very comfortable way of life," I trace my fingers to see who I am talking to, "Ms. Saritaro."
She looks over to me and says, "Not all of us have the benefit of owning a trading operation on top of this position. I have two children to feed, and our compensation is not high enough to maintain the same standard of life that I possessed in my previous employment."
"And yet it's still almost twice as much as the average recom makes. The reason one should seek a position on this council is to provide legislation that is advantageous to the electorate, to Lunarian society, not so that we can become fat on their tax dollars. If you are here to make money instead of representing whatever public interests you're supposed to be representing, Ms. Saritaro, I suggest you hand in your resignation." I sit down and shrug at Cleveland, whispering to him, "Sorry, I must have lost my concentration. I did not sleep well last night."
I can feel a gaze on my back and I immediately stop whispering to Cleveland and right myself in my chair. In the Lunar Council, there are three members who hold eight year terms, five who hold four year terms and seven who hold two year terms. Each of these three groups tends to be seated together, and I fall into the first category. Blake sits on my right. Kelley Suller, a serious middle-aged rat recom and tough as nails businesswoman, sits on my left. She gives me a stern look and continues listening. I passively turn my attention back to the speaker.
Saritaro, who is a two-year councillor, continues speaking, "We play an essential role in the running of Lunarian society and we ought to be given the same compensation as similar places of employment."
Suller stands up and Saritaro seems to lose her confident posture. I smile. Given that Blake has tried to block every pay increase for the council in the last six years and that I had just expressed my distaste for the increase, Suller standing could represent the crushing blow to Saritaro's bill, since if all of the eight-year members are in accord, any bill can be vetoed. In fact, if any of the three categories are in complete accordance, a bill can be blocked. Lunarian politics seems to have come embedded with all kinds of strange rules, but the system has served us well. Suller speaks: "Ms. Saritaro, with all due respect, our place is to act as public servants, not to lord over the populace. As Mr. Blake has said many times, our pay is not only high enough, but it's too high. We've just adjusted for inflation three months ago. Besides, if we pass your bill, you won't be around long enough to even benefit from it."
Suller sits down and I offer her an approving nod. With elections coming up in only two months, and these ones being full elections (meaning that the entirety of the council is up for re-election), voting for pay increases for ourselves is political suicide. I am ideologically opposed to increasing any perks offered to members of the council, but Suller's positions seem to vary with this kind of political timing.
"I have nothing to add," says Saritaro dejectedly as she sits down. In two months, I won't need to remember her name, because her political opponents will inevitably release the originator of this proposal.
I don't stand up, but I still speak, since I am conducting today's meeting. "We will move on to the voting and then we will be finished for the day."
***
"What a gaffe. Is she intentionally trying to screw up her political career?" laughs Blake, as we walk down the sidewalk together, since we live in the same neighbourhood.
"Unlikely, but if she is, she made the right move." As I thought, Saritaro's motion was not only defeated by a majority of members, but would have been vetoed by Blake, Suller and I had it managed to make it that far.
Cleveland looks at me, putting on a serious face now, but I can tell that it's just a front. "I've noticed your boy has been coming by to play with Kari more often lately. I only hope that his intentions are honourable."
I raise my eyebrow at that. "What?"
Thinking I misunderstood, Blake says, "It seems like Tash has been taking a liking to my girl."
"If that's true and my 'boy' is stopping by so much, I'll definitely have to have a talk with 'him'," I say, carefully. If Natasha has been passing herself off as a boy to Kari and Cleveland, I'm not going to be the one breaking the illusion, but it's definitely something worth discussing with her.
"I don't actually mind, Errol. He seems like a nice kid and if it's anything at all it's puppy love," says Cleveland, missing what I actually mean.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I raise my finger at Cleveland and say, "Excuse me, I have to take this," glad to be out of this surreal and awkward conversation. I put the phone up to my ear and say, "Hello."
A tired voice sounds from the other end, "Errol, I'm coming over. I can't sleep here. I'm so tired."
"Tamara?"
I hear the sound of a click at the other end as the call is disconnected and put the phone away. "Sorry, Cleveland, we'll have to catch up later. I have company coming."
He nods and says, "Well, I'll see you at the next meeting. I'd like to talk to you and Suller beforehand about something, though."
"Of course. Send me a message about it, and I will be there at whatever time you set out." I offer a wave and start running back home. I have to be there to greet my guest, after all.