Clownworld

The deck of playing cards hung in the air then slowly opened up into a fan spread. The Queen of Hearts crept up away from the opening deck. "Need a little more punch on the key card. It's coming out too slowly." Said the naked man floating an arm's length away from the floating, expanding cards.

"Martin?. . .Sleazmrtnd? . . . Martin? . . . Sleazmrtnd?" Whispered the translucent box sitting at the corner of the stage. "Martin? . . . Sleazmrtnd?"

"Shit!" Martin said as he flipped a small stone from his hand at a discoloration on the pale wall. He reached out as the stone hit the discoloration. With gravity restored, the cards fall into his hand as his feet touched the floor.

"Martin? . . . Sleazmrtnd?" Said the translucent box.

"Beth. . ." Martin said as he picked up the translucent box, "turn off your translator function, it's damned annoying. It's translating your communication into Sluslunar. You haven't been asking them questions have you?"

"Oh, No! . . . sorry. . . Moy . . .There . . . sorry I, ah, have a problem here . . . I'm a bit . . . ah . . ."

"What is it Beth? Aren't you working a client?" Martin attached the translucent box to his bare shoulder.

"Well, yeah . . . one of those Pod People . . . ah . . . that's . . . the problem . . . you better get over here."

"Oh, Jesus! What now?" Martin said to himself and shook his head.

"I tried to get a hold of Jack . . . He over there in the space ship with you?"

"His name is Jarack. Beth you know he won't answer if you call him anything but Jarack." Martin looked across the rows of chairs to the door that opened at the back of the small theatre. "Yeah, he's just coming in." A tall, thin, totally hairless man stood in the door opening. He was also naked. He had no obvious features that indicated whether he was male or female. The extra thumbs provided no sexual indication. "Humans from my era need not such indications," had been the only thing Jarack had said about the subject, Martin remembered. Martin gave Jarack a quick wave. "Hold on Beth, we'll be right over." Martin shook his head again and said to himself, "Some kind of autonomous collective we have here. Ha! Seems like I'm the only one who can make a decision around here."

"Not only one!" Came the voice of Jarack over the box on Martin's shoulder. "Just quickest!"

"Thanks, I guess?" Martin pulled a heavily furred pelt off a chair in the first row and threw it over his shoulders. He pulled on the leather leggings that had been under the pelt. He picked up a pair of thong sandals from the floor and walked toward Jarack still standing in the door opening.

"Heard Beth's plea," Jarack stepped backwards out the door as Martin approached. "Came over."

"What could she possibly have done to a mass of technologically advanced colonial microorganisms?" Martin said walking toward the pale wall just outside the auditorium. As Jarack turned around an opening in the wall appeared. The deep green forest surrounding the Monad space ship was revealed. He and Martin walked through the opening. As they emerged the hull of the grounded space ship rapidly sealed, again to became smooth and black. Martin stopped to put on his sandals. Jarack continued to walk on.