What Happened to the Cards?

Jared Greagory was in his element. Although Earth and the space around them was in the midst of war and social reform, the New Year's bash on Lunar Center Base was not a party to be missed. The Lunar Base was located near the divide to the dark side of the moon. The facility, which was run by the flamboyant Ms. Dorothy Catalonia and backed by the wealthy Winner Cooperation, seemed untouched by the turmoil surrounding it.

Jared took a large gulp of his drink, body relaxing and violet eyes closing in contentment  as the alcohol warmed his body from the inside out. Hooch was one of the things he missed most about Earth life. 'It's entirely too dry on the moon, if you ask me. Too dry, and too cold,' thought Jared as he basked in the warmth of Central Base's lavish main hall. 'It's entirely too lonely out there too. But I guess that's the price I pay for chasing adventure and fortune.'

Eyes of midnight blue caught Jared's eye, and his curiosity. Jared scampered closer for a better look. The object of the American Lunar colonist's eye was at the side of one Dan McGrew, who was one of the colonists who had struck it rich in figurative gold, and who had enough to risk gambling. The human decoration hanging on McGrew's arm had a slender figure, and was dolled up in an old-fashioned red lace dress and multiple layers of rouge. Though it had been nearly a decade since Jared had last seen Michael Okawa, no one who had ever associated with the pretty young man forgot him. All of a sudden Jared was back in New Washington. In his mind's eye he was once again a army recruit in a time of peace, young, rash, and in love for the first time. The unruly brown hair Jared remembered had given way to strawberry-blonde tresses, and though the get up was completely different, the elegant mannerisms and arrogant stance were reminiscent of Jared's days on Earth. Those intense blue eyes were the same as they'd always been.

Jared then decided that getting thoroughly intoxicated was a good idea. The violet-eyed lunar colonist had bitter-sweet memories of Michael Okawa, and Jared wanted to be rid of those for the night. Jared searched the room for more alcohol.

Half an hour (and several rounds of hooch) later, Jared noticed that an odd hush had settled upon the hall. The half-drunk Jared whipped around frantically in search of the cause of the (lack of) commotion.

There! By the airlock.

'Why would anyone arrive through the airlock?'

It was a stranger, dressed in a well-worn space suit, and Jared had the feeling that he wasn't there to celebrate the Terrain New Year. He looked half-dead, for one thing; with one foot in the grave, and the other roasting in the fires of Hell.

The stranger unlocked his helmet, exposing her face to the crowd.

'A woman!' Jared was floored. Because of the female majority's heavy involvement in the ongoing wars, women were rarely seen on the moon. Jared was struck by the taunt, harsh look the woman had. 'And she's young too; not much older than me,' thought Jared. 'She's awfully familiar, somehow.' Jared whacked his brain for the woman's identity; her face was tauntingly familiar to the American, but his alcohol-frazzled mind wouldn't co-operate with him. It was frustrating to gaze at the enigma of a female, yet Jared found he could not tear his eyes away.

Someone offered the woman some liquor, breaching the unseen barrier between the stranger and the rest of those assembled in Central Base. All around Jared people were retreating back into their usual patterns, but Jared kept his full attention upon the stranger. He almost had a panic attack when the stranger tuned around and fixed her frighteningly penetrating eyes squarely on Jared.

No! those bloody eyes were looking squarely behind Jared. The American Colonist turned around. There sat Dangerous Dan McGrew, and on his arm, with the blood rapidly draining from his face, was Michael Okawa.

Jared's gaze returned to the captivating new arrival just in time to catch the tail end of  a mocking smirk. The smirk then turned into a toothy grin, and the woman made her way through the crowd of people. She flopped down in front of the old grand piano, and one the many relics of Earth assembled in Central Base, looking like an idiot in her dirty space-suit. No one protested, and the woman shucked off her heavy gloves to reveal callous hands, and started to play.

'Heavens! That girl can sure play!'  thought Jared.

The music the woman coaxed out of the humble instrument was captivating; more so than the sight of the woman. The tune was lonely, and the harmony melancholy. Jared found himself thinking of long months spent on the dark side of the moon. There the Earth and the sun were never seen, and the stars were all the more tempting for their brightness, emitting a sparkle Jared was sure he could hear. The music was reminiscent of the rising of the mother Earth; gloriously warm, yet so far away and so sterile.

'Now Earth doesn't want me anymore,' thought Jared. 'She is content to forever starve her errant children, for betraying her.'

Then all of a sudden the music changed; throbbing, angry and so soft that Jared strained to hear. He felt his heart wrench, and his blood boil, and his knees weaken. So caught up in golden dispair and rage, Jared almost didn't hear Dangerous Dan McGrew say into the near hush, "I guess I'll make it a spread misere."

'How can that man think of cards when this woman is playing?' thought Jared.

Then there was silence. Jared was raising his hands to applaud the fine performance, when the music started up again and hit him hard. But it was no longer music. It was the kind of sound Jared imagined the darklings in Hell frolicked to, all bloody and harsh, ancient and shrill. Jared's vision tinted red, and dread sunk into the American's guts.

The music stopped, and Jared felt both relief and longing. The woman, still in a dirty old space suit, stood up. For the first time the stranger spoke.

"You don't know me, and none of you give a damn," says she in a hoarse alto. "But I want to state, and my words are straight, that one of you is a hound of Hell." The stranger smiled, but there was nothing joyous about it. "Care to tag along with me on my journey into darkness, Dan McGrew?"

In a rush of revaluation, Jared realized just whom the strange woman was, and what it was she had come to collect. But it was too late then.

A wild current shot through the hall in a loud crackle of electricity, shattering the lights. Jared ducked as he heard two guns blazing into the dark. Someone screamed; Jared thought it might have been himself. Then there was absolute silence.

When the emergency lights kicked in a while later, Jared realized that somewhere along the way he'd emptied the contents of his stomach upon the floor. With a slight case of vertigo, the violet-eyed colonist stood up as gasped. Pitched on his head, and pumped full of lead, was Dangerous Dan McGrew. It was with a bit of guilt that Jared realized he didn't think much of Dan's death. He had been more worried about Michael, who was the kind of person who could inspire devotion in those who should logically hate him the most.

Jared found the said blue-eyed boy kneeling by the grand piano, with the head of the stranger in his lap. Blood stained Michael's hands, just like tears stained the boy's eyes. Jared, who was starting to feel sick to his stomach, heard him whisper "Thank you, Dorothy."

Because of the untimely death of the head-of-management of Central Lunar Base, the New Year's party was canceled. Jared was on his way back to the dark side of the moon within the hour. He never saw Michael Okawa again, but shortly after there was a complete overhaul of the management system of Lunar Base. He heard it said that the new head-of-management was a sly character. Jared didn't doubt it.

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