Closing Ceremony
The competitions were fierce. Testing the mind and body of participants to levels they did not know they had. The first 72 hours made them numb the following 80 changed their bodies and faces perhaps for the rest of their lives. The Entertainer collapsed onto the Reporters bed. She watched him for a moment before joining him. "I will miss this." She said as she moved toward him. He welcomed her nesting her into his arms. She sighed heavily and fell asleep. The elderly man enjoyed the site of the old woman at his side. They had no paint when they laid down together. Being the same age they didn’t need to make a show of things. It was relaxing to know you were accepted. As an entertainer he had the ability to draw attention from birth like leaders. The thing that separated the two was after a person was drawn to a leader they wanted to do something. When one is drawn to an entertainer they just want to look at them. Growing up with an audience made it hard for him to make friends. In this moment he was able to enjoy the peace of being with someone who was relaxed. His hand wondered over her pulling her body over his before falling asleep.
A few hours later they awoke and began the process of washing up to face their public. As they dressed and applied the required layers of paint, padding and binding the elders reflected on how they were going to package their experience. The Reporter unpacked her scribe kit as she waited for her toes to dry from the fresh layer of polish. "Final day" she wrote, "I could list our wins but you will see them in the cart attached so I will report we did better than most and to me that is well enough."
The costume I am using today was provided by Ludon from silk embossed with lisiatus from the joining of my neck and right shoulder to my left ankle. It allows for movement by his signature generous pleating. The natural shades of tan from the silk are enhanced the introduction of a dark brown at its hemline. I like it.
I am joined by The Entertainer of the third ship. His costume is the unique fabric they form from single cell plants. The bold red and green vegetation are sprayed on and from that point fight. for domination. At a passing glance you would think of as brown but it is life cycles you see populating his body with several combinations of colors...
She continued to describe their surroundings as they strolled down the hallway. Because there was no natural light The Entertainers suit glowed. She took his extended arm holding it with her whole body. It was fascinating how quickly they were able to adjust to each other. His outfit married hers as if he was an accessory. She turned into his cape at angles also making the old man look like the super heroes in the comics of 1950s Earth. Lilith met them her husbands draped around her neck, her hands held them.
"Good to see you. I thank you for bringing our competitor. She looks lovely as do you." Lilith said releasing her husbands and tucking her hands into pockets. Her gown was beautiful the panel hid her pockets and who knows what else with bright yellow. Her skirt of see through layers tiny blooms of white . Her arms were muscular and bare.
"You are welcome Leader please take my arm if you are ready to win this our final event." Lilith came to his side and placed her hand on his forearm. The Entertainers outfit merged them with hers making the trio look like a team.
The reporter found her competition partner Trevor, to whom she was Belle. She noticed he was watching her as always and with her eyes singled him to come get her. Within three steps he was there. He never was more than 5 steps away. The two of them were the left and right eyes of their people. A task they were born to and did as well as breathing. On Earth we have reporters, journalist and spies. Trevor and Belle were all of those and more. When he reached them Trevor said, "You are beautiful. May I accompany you to our section? Forgive me for taking her from you but I must if I hold any hope to bring a win to my ship." He gave them a dazzling smile. The Reporter stepped forward and was spun to his side and wrapped possessively to his side.
"Our platform is the same yellow as my flowers isn’t that fun Entertainer." Lilith said after counting to five. He continued looking at the reporter as if he was a doll. Before she could take her hand away from his forearm he put his over it. Good to see he was alive. She looked at him look after the reporter until she was on her platform. "Her dress is exactly what I imagined in my mind as I listened to her. It will be hard to describe things as well as she can. I will be as good as I can."
"That is all I ask of you." The Entertainer smiled down at her. The flowered dress she wore suited his suit very well although she never liked dresses yet she often wore them to set others at ease. He directed his charge to their platform. "Yellow as our first light source isn’t it? When you describe colors use this perfect yellow as your zero point. Her violet 10. His red -10. That black elevation 10. That white sub 10. All shapes are on our bodies all angles accounted for. Break everything you describe into numbers. Shape, size, color, texture, firmness etc relative to this yellow platform and this platform only blank all other experiences out of your mind." Just to be sure she understood they described objects and people within their environment.
Once she was precise in descriptions he worked with her interpretation abilities. It was a minor part of Lilith’s leader training as she would have an administrator who would be tasked with understanding and interpreting for her. She and Morgan had a short hand that was nearly incomprehensible to others. When the Entertainer watched the two of them in their trial the speed of their communication evolution was remarkable.
Telepathy was a shadow ability of his tribe. He had probed Ichabod carefully for knowledge of Lilith and concluded she was a level 8. Level 8 telepaths could impose their emotions and ideas on others. Watering down her DNA so she would not have a child that was able to manifest a level on the manipulation of others scale. The matching of her with two males from a vastly different gene pool became a point of survival for the tribe. He used her for removing nearly all of the tribe born within her wedge. He would watch the new generation covertly to keep the tribe’s secret and develop its ability. The program he created for the children of this new ship will bring optimum results. He had overseen five generations of humans and this would be his best. All factions had their preferences but most humans can’t name their father’s mother, let alone pick a distant relative out of group. The Entertainer could. He could spin the web of familial bonds between any two humans in the universe. Yes Earth too. Although with our penchant for barging in to cause mayhem in tribes he would need the genetic profiles of human and their non human DNA.
He smiled at the woman who made his time off work enjoyable and the man beside her. They were partners he knew but never saw them near each other until now he did not like it. Husband and wife sameness was in the way they moved. He felt like punching the man when he took the reporter away from him, Lilith had kept him from following her. Distracted him with questions she did not need answered. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his love for his people and their love for him. When he opened his eyes the reporter saw he was over her. Absolutely no emotion his eyes and the eyes of the young woman next to him were unreadable.
The walk back to the ship was loud and energetic. Lilith’s cape of husbands fed her puffs in turn. The couples were updating them on their wins and asking about everyone’s competitions. Because they were interested the Entertainer detailed the competition. The words used to describe objects varied by ship but the over laying language was still the same.
He finished with, "I now have hundreds of words for yellow." as a uniformed man who was blocking the port way smiled at them.
"Hello I am"
"In our way." The group said as one. Get out of our way or we will hurt you. The relaxed fight stance they all went into by the time the word yellow was spoken said. The polite young group with jovial elder transformed to any who looked that way at the sound of raised voices to a very scary mob. It was only three words but instantly all who saw and heard were afraid of them.
The man stepped aside and the group went slowly into their ship. As they passed he told them about his overpopulated world and asked if they would take a some of their young couples. The Entertainer turned around filling the port and blocking the view. "Until this generation has finished establishing their planet they will not be accepting visitors to their world. To be sure they are left alone our ship has set a protective shield around them." His voice carried through the hall and the message was clear. Lilith’s ownership of the system was not to be challenged and the settlement of its planets undisturbed. The doorway closed and was sealed to a seamless finish as if it was never there. Their ship disappeared all devices planted by various visitors to the ship also were gone not just no longer transmitting but completely dismantled.