Game for a Little Game, Part 1

Posted on Thu 23rd Aug, 2018 @ 7:46pm by Carlo Rienzi

1,469 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Orchids & Jazz, Deck 600/Deck 1553
Timeline: MD 15, 1830

Reon looked down the short line of those waiting to enter Orchids & Jazz. Normally, there was no line at all, but tonight there seemed to be a lot of people on the Promenade. It surprised him because of the casino opening in Tivoli Gardens. His eyes swept over familiar and unfamiliar faces, and then backed up to focus on one. He grinned, startling the woman in front of him.

"Do you have a table in the balcony?" she asked, uncertain what his smile meant.

Reon brought his eyes back to her, "We call it the loft, but I believe I can arrange that. How many in your party?"

"Oh, only me," she answered, "unless ... no, never mind. Only me."

"Then there is definitely a table with your name on it, right next to the railing, where you can see the dance floor," he promised, never realizing that she'd like to actually be on the dance floor, and with him.

In a few minutes, the line had shortened to one, the one who had caused Reon's smile. "Look who the targ brought in," he said. "Where have you been lately? It's been at least a month since you visited Orchids & Jazz."

"I've been keeping busy, prepping for the grand opening," Carlo said. "I don't get too many folks coming from the casino to my place, but I do get folks wanting to eat at my place before heading down to the casino. Seems almost a shame to me, considering the spread Hunt's got at his buffet, but I'm not about to complain about people wanting a quick bite to eat at my bar, first. How's business been on your end? Pretty crazy?"

Reon considered the last three days he'd been on duty, and shook his head. "Not bad actually, until tonight. Maybe a few more, but nothing that sent us to the hiring halls. Besides, those AIs really pitch in to do anything. Can't beat 'em for hard work. Tonight has been pretty intense, but I don't know if it has anything to do with the Casino. Maybe just what Jade calls 'Friday Date Night' numbers. She's queen of the odd phrase." He shook his head with a fond smile.

"It's your lucky night, though. I'm about to go off duty. If you don't have anything else going on, want to head down to the casino and see how it's changed since last time we were there? We haven't had a chance to talk in quite a while, since ... before all this pirate stuff, really."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Carlo agreed. "But the next thing we do together, we ought to widen our horizons. There's way more stuff to do on this starbase than just go to a casino."

Daneel came over to the two men. "I'm ready to take over, Mr. Velasquez."

"Oh, great! Danny, this is my friend, Carlo. He owns a pub up on Deck 595, if you and your friends ever want to go drinking. Great place, and very safe."

"Hi, Danny. Good to meet you," Carlo said and offered his hand. "Come on over any time."

Daneel gave a practiced smile as he nodded at Reon's friend. "I'll remember that, should occasion require it," he said.

Reon clapped him on the shoulder, and stepped away from the entrance. "So what do you say? Are you game for a little game? If I recall, I beat you last time."

"That you did! Let's see if I can win my money back!" Carlo said cheerfully as they walked away from Orchids & Jazz. "Is Danny one of the AIs?"

"He is. Sometimes it's hard to tell now. They are still a little more formal than the rest of us, which is why I tease him and call him Danny. He doesn't complain, but then ... he's an AI. There are four men and two women ... you know, they are so human-like, it's hard to remember they aren't really men and women!"

Velasquez stopped suddenly and looked at his friend. "And ... I just realized you were coming into Orchids & Jazz. To get something to eat? Did I just deprive you of your dinner?"

"Yeah, but I got a much better offer," Carlo said with a grin. "Besides, any good casino will have a buffet, so I definitely won't starve."

Reon nodded and resumed walking in the direction of the turbolift they had to take to the trolley that would take them down into the depths of the base. Thinking about the work of the underpinnings of things they seldom saw, he said, "It must have been some fun to design this base and how all the gentle beings would get from one place to another when it was more than 30 decks."

They stepped into the lift and realizing he didn't actually know much about Carlo's history, he asked, "Have you spent much time on other starbases?"

"Nope," Carlo said. "I was born and raised on Manhattan Island on Earth. Lived there all my life. Came here when a friend of mine told me about a sweet deal on a little starbase bar. I'd been tending bar at this really rough dive, saving my money, hoping to buy the place from its owner. When that didn't happen, I started looking at other places, and that's when my friend talked me into buying 10-42. I'm really glad I did. What about you? Where are you from? How did you meet Jade Lantz?"

Reon glanced away, realizing he should have known the question would come back to him. After a moment that had extended almost too long, he answered, "I was kicking around Earth, not making a lot of myself, just a punk kid, really. Then I walked into her restaurant. She'd just opened her first place, but it wasn't called Orchids & Jazz. In fact, Jazz didn't have anything to do with it." He smiled at a memory, staring down at the floor.

"I don't know why, but we got to talking and she offered me a job, tending bar for her in the evenings. Probably saved my life, the way I was going." He looked up at Carlo and grinned. "She hasn't been able to get rid of me since."

"That must be why I like you," Carlo said. "A barman and a punk kid. I'm a bit of a punk kid, too--which is hard to be in an Italian family, but I managed it. The nuns didn't know what to do with me."

"Nuns?" Reon asked, as they stepped off onto Deck 1553, along with a few other people. "As in Catholic nuns? The kind who shake their heads all the time and sigh a lot?" Reon asked with a laugh. "I knew a few of those. And heard about how I was a disgrace to the fine old Velasquez family, too."

"There was this one nun, Sister Mary Sophia. She had a disposition like a Buckingham Palace Guard--really stoic. I made it my mission to make her crack a smile by the time I graduated high school," Carlo said.

"And did you succeed?" Reon asked, as they ambled down the sidewalk toward the casino, neither one in a particular hurry to get any place.

"Nope! But not for lack of trying," Carlo said with a chuckle. "So what's the 'fine, old Velasquez family' like?" He shot a sideways glance at Reon, half-expecting him to not answer the question, since Reon didn't seem to like recalling his punk kid days. And if he hadn't liked the path his life had been taking back then, he probably had good reason not to want to recall them.

After a few steps, Reon said, "Ah, yes. About what you'd probably expect. The family traces back about 1500 years to Basque sheepherders, but the age is given more publicity than the occupation, of course. Among our family, there are many politicians, a fair number of artists, even a bishop back in the early twentieth century. Although it isn't mentioned at all, there are probably just as many horse thieves, lawyers, and rebels," he chuckled.

"My branch of the family left Spain over 500 years ago for adventure in the new world - or that's how I look at it. La Señora Velasquez, my mother, views it as foresight and increasing the family fortunes. There are cousins still playing vaquero on the southern American continent, but mi madre holds court in the old state of Tejas - Texas for you greenhorns. I haven't stepped foot on that ground in a long time. Might never again."

He looked around at the night lighting and crowds walking toward the casino's front door. Then he looked at Carlo. "I find the pastures here greener, and the cows less stubborn."

 

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