It's the end of the very last day to do the weekend post, so I scraped together another installment of Chelsea. This really is the end. Almost. Needless to say, this is a tribute to Ray Harryhausen and the Marx evil space guys. (See also The Space Guy Who Doesn't Care.) As usual, the table of contents is at the end.
The same day Diane and
Frank separated, Shad received an invitation to the BIG center for a special
showing. Of course, Chelsea went with him, somewhat confused. They were seated
in the center of the uppermost tier, with John and Tilly. “What’s this about?”
Chelsea said.
“Well… remember what I
was working when I was in the… special place?” Shad said. “They put it in a
movie. This is the opening night.”
“But the Center almost
never shows anything new,” Chelsea said. “How did…” She shook her head.
But of course, it turned out that all was not as it seemed. The captain and the chief of security were really under orders to find alien weapons that could be used in a war with Russka. They first sabotaged one of the 3 landing craft, killing the Edonian members of the expedition. They began to plot with the high priest, who sought their aid to seize control of the city. When the lady scientist discovered the plot, the captain sent the robot to kill her, but the hero and a resourceful Russkan ranger rescued her and escaped into a maze of tunnels under the city. There, they met the Beetle Men, really a race of genetically engineered humanoids with exoskeletons, who had once served the king who built the city. With the aid of the creatures, they defeated the forces of the priest and the captain. The hero faced the captain and the robot with only a knife, and narrowly defeated them both just before the captain could call on the mothership to destroy the city. Then the priest summoned the Guardian, which attacked the city. The princess summoned a mammoth, and there was a great battle which ended with both the creatures dead and another lander destroyed. While their crewmates escaped, the hero and the lady remained behind with the ranger, who married the princess and became the new king, and it all ended happily.
Shad was elated as they drove home. “It was all based on the works of the Masters, only it was mostly stuff they never got to make in the Mainline,” he said. “I was doing the work even before we met, I’m sure I told you about it…”
Chelsea interrupted him
with a kiss. “That was wonderful,” she said. “I’m so proud of you, I’m
definitely giving you therapy the moment we get home. So… do you want to do
that again? Making a movie, I mean?”
Shad frowned. “I don’t know,” he said. “This was my dream for so long, and I don’t regret one moment of it. But now, I have you.”
Chelsea smiled. “Well,
here’s something else to think about,” she said. “Remember what I said we could
do by our second anniversary?” It took him a moment, but only a moment. “Well,
I had my implant turned off today. And you never did get one of your own, did
you?”
Shad shook his head. “I
didn’t really need one,” he said. He took a breath. “Well, it’s not like it’s
going to happen right away. They say they fixed that with the latest model.”
“Wow,” Chelsea said, “if
you weren’t already getting it, you would totally have struck out.”
Another six weeks later, Chelsea met with Daisy, the Siptar girl. She proved happier than she had ever been. “So, Daisy, this is probably going to be our last meeting,” she said. “You seem to be doing well in your new housing situation, so we’re ready to close your case.”
“That’s fine,” Daisy
said. “Really, I’m doing great. I’m living with my dad’s uncle now, he’s cool.
And I think I have a boyfriend now. He keeps watching me, then he says he’s
not, and yesterday he asked me to the movies. Say, did Spike’s Motorcycle Gang
really try to whack you?”
Chelsea cleared her
throat. “Well, we did have a problem with them,” she said. “That’s all over
now.”
“Okay, fine, don’t talk
about it,” Daisy said.
“You can still talk to
me,” Chelsea said. “I’m putting my number in your file. If you ever are in
trouble or just need someone to talk to, just call.”
“Sure,” Daisy said. “Say,
are you knocked up yet? It seems like you’ve been trying. I can usually tell.”
“Well, it’s not like
that,” Chelsea said. “You’ll understand, when you’re older.”
“Fine, don’t tell me,” Daisy said. “Later…”
That night, Chelsea
returned home through the second-story entrance of their townhome unit, to find
Shad waiting with a grin. “Listen,” he said, “remember what Frank was working
on?”
Chelsea smiled. “You mean
the recording we made that nobody else is ever going to see?” she said.
Shad’s smile grew a little more awkward. “Well, Frank and I showed the department some of the recordings,” he said. “We got approval for a project for the Therapeutics Division.”
Chelsea continued to
smile, though her eyes were still critical. “And what’s the project going to
be?” she said. “Make more recordings?”
“Yeah… kind of,” Shad said. “They want us to do a sort of… database. They want us to record couples during therapy, with the rotocams. They’re putting out a call for volunteers from the department to join, with their partners, of course.”
“Nice,” Chelsea said. She embraced him with a smile that extended to her eyes. “About the… database,” she said. “Do you want to join?”
“Well, they didn’t really ask me,” he said. “My job is to set the criteria for candidates. There’s a lot of things people don’t think about. There is one thing… I told them you should be our narrator. One of them anyway. They’re trying out actresses, but none of them worked. And you did record public-service messages for the Department before. Really, we’re begging you. I’m begging you.”
“Sure,” Chelsea said. “Just as long as I’m not on camera.” And she said no more for a while.
That night, Chelsea lay with Shad, very happy. “I was just thinking… I change my mind,” she said. When he stirred, she continued, “I think I’d like to be in the project after all.”
Shad gave her a fuzzy, still blissful look.
“Okay, I’ll put in our names,” he said. “We’ll just be alternates, though.
There’s, like, 100 couples just from our division. …” He paused, and then spoke
more lucidly. “Hey, did you have something to tell me?”
“No,” Chelsea said.
“There’s nothing you need to worry about.”
* * *
Three more months passed. Diane moved in with them, Frank moved in with them, and once, Frank came to the door looking for Diane. The day after, Chelsea went to Diane at the office. “He wasn’t even loud,” Chelsea said. “He just sat down by the door. Then Shad let him in and talked for a while, until Percy came and drove him home.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Diane said. “I didn’t really want the separation, you know. But as long as we were partnered, we were going to keep doing therapy, and I just need to be me for a while.”
Chelsea looked at her intently. She was sure there was something evasive in her tone. Before she could pin it down, something else came to the fore. “Wait a minute,” she said, her eyes narrowing. “Why did you say `sorry’ about Frank, unless… You stuck-up prude, you did.”
“We’ve been talking again, all right?” Diane said defensively. “About the project. The fact is, we want in, just not together. Oh, dear Logos, no. Once we talked… Look, I told him it was just once, okay?... And your husband is mental. You’re mental. Shut up.” She buried her head in an orthopedic cushion.
In another month, Chelsea
was making no effort to hide the bulge in her belly. She was wary when Shad met
her at the door with a grin. “Hey, you know how we were going to start filming
today?” he said. “Well, here’s what happened. There was this one lady who was
really psyched to go. But right when they were all in the waiting room, she
screamed that it was horrible and we were all perverts, then she ran out and
went straight to the admin desk to file for separation from her partner. The
other couples backed out, too. We would probably have had to scrub them
anyway.”
“Okay,” Chelsea said.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re not
alternates anymore,” Shad said. He glanced at her abdomen and blushed. “If, you
know, you’re still up for it.”
She smiled. “Come here,”
she said in her most authoritative voice, “and I’ll show you…”
* * *
Weeks and then a month still went by. Finally, Diane and Chelsea both went to Deve’s home office. Chelsea made no effort to hide the bulge in her belly as she sat down. “Hello, Ms. Clairborne, and Ms. Feaghan-O’Keefe,” the multi-armed being said. “It’s somewhat irregular to see two people at once, but your complaints do seem to overlap. Now, for Ms. Clairborne, you have been one of a number of unpaired persons to volunteer. In the process, you have stated that you wish to remain separated from your only legal partner, Mr. Weber.”
“That’s right,” Diane
said. “Frank feels the same, now. You said the Department is offering a
settlement.”
“To be sure,” Deve said. “Now, a number of single applicants have, in effect, resolved the matter, by making an existing relationship a formal partnership, or accepting an assignment from the Department. At least four partnered with each other, after meeting in the course of negotiation. That has left us with a total of 23 male applicants and 32 women. Mr. Feaghan and Mr. Weber have both said that there might be 6, perhaps 8 suitable pairs among them.”
He drummed the fingers of
four different hands. “What we are prepared to offer is to run the profiles of
the remaining applicants through the assignment system,” he said. “The most
compatible pairs will be granted provisional partnerships for the duration of
the project. What you might do after that will be a matter of choice. Of
course, if you accept, it is not guaranteed you will be given an assignment,
particularly given the disparity in gender…”
“Sure,” Diane said. “Put me down.” As she spoke, Chelsea frowned but said nothing.
“Now, Ms.
Feaghan-O’Keefe,” Deve said. “Your complaint is more… unusual. It appears you
took issue with something a technician said.”
“Yeah,” Chelsea said.
“The head of the finishing crew said they were going to edit my belly out, if
Shad and I participated.”
“It would seem reasonable,” Deve said. “We guaranteed to all participants that any images would have identifying features removed. Mutual anonymity is of utmost importance, even among the volunteers. If images were to appear of you in your current state, it would be quite easy for others to deduce your identity.”
“I don’t care,” Chelsea
said. “I’m proud of my husband. I’m proud of becoming a mother. I’m proud of
doing this. That’s why I want to be seen as I am if it happens at all. And don’t
act like you can afford to let me go.”
Diane spoke up then. “Why
can’t we do this the other way?” she said. “Edit some of the other sessions, so
we show the belly, too. I’d do it, if I’m chosen.”
Deve nodded. “It’s
workable,” he said. “It might even motivate others to volunteer. Very well; you
may go.”
“You’d think it would be
the other way ‘round,” Diane said as they exited the building. “You know, men
and women volunteering for this.
“It was, at the start,” Chelsea said. “Shad told me about it. Lots of guys volunteered because they thought it would be showing off what they think they have, or because they thought it would get them a girl. Almost always, the tests showed they weren’t right for it, and they’d probably back out anyway. The ladies are the ones who can go through with it.”
After a moment, Chelsea
spoke. “Listen, do you think Frank took that deal?”
For a moment, Diane just looked confused. “Oh, no,” she said. “You know Frank, he would never have trouble finding a girl. Anyway, we never even went through compatibility testing. After seeing how you and Shad did, I didn’t want to. If you couldn’t crack .6, what were are chances?”
Even as they spoke, there
was a buzz from Diane’s wrist organizer. She answered almost by reflex. “Hello?
Yes… No, that can’t be… I see. Yes, but…”
Chelsea leaned in close enough to hear a stern reply from Deve. “Of course, you aren’t required to accept this or any other assignment,” he said. “But we cannot make another offer without denying the same opportunity to another volunteer. If you decline, you will be out of the project, unless, of course, you are able to find a partner on your own.”
Diane looked up at
Chelsea. There were tears in her eyes. “You saw this coming, didn’t you?” she
said. “I certainly should have.”
“I don’t know,” Chelsea
said. “What happened?” She already knew, but she would still be surprised.
“I have a .91 match,”
Diane said. “With Frank.” As she spoke, she smiled.
“What are you going to
do?” Chelsea said.
“I think… I’m getting
remarried,” Diane said. And then her smile became a grin.
“What if Frank says no?”
Chelsea said. They both burst out laughing.
Table of Contents
Part II: The parking violation!
Part III: Capsule hotel destruction!
Part IV: The Kelsiraptor, and Harryhausen monster bureaucrat!
Part V: The restraining order!
Part VII: The trial, part 2, with the King Kong Moral Contraband film!
Part XI: The Arcostate Zoo, plus Spike's Southside Motorcycle Gang!
Part XIII: The Harryhausen monster fight!!!
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