Brother Malcolm would rather die than be the first one to step through the hatch into this magnificent and frightening place, so he shuffled toward the toilet room as soon as the shaggy-haired lady released his seat belt.
A tall, golden-haired man stood just outside the hatch, greeting each guest with a warm handclasp or a slight bow. Sister Rebecca took his hand and felt comforted in body, mind, and soul. Liberty blushed when she looked into his penetrating eyes. Marsha steeled herself for the encounter, and offered neither hand nor eye contact.
When Brother Malcolm finally peeked out of the toilet room, all the other Lyceum members were gone, and the shaggy-haired lady was waiting for him.
He swallowed and shuffled toward the hatch. Last place was safest, he knew.
At the bottom of the ramp, the golden-haired man bowed deeply to Brother Malcolm, put his arm around the simple Lyceum member, and together they made their way along the boarding tunnel.
Kibi, standing at her console, let out a deep sigh. “In a way, reptiles are easier.”
Ilika swiveled his chair and grinned. “With our own kind, many levels of cultural and emotional concerns come into play. You did better than I would have!”
Sata and Boro, just finishing the shut-down procedures at navigation and helm, turned and smiled.
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“I was . . . wondering about quarantine . . .” Boro began thoughtfully.
Sata shook her head. “Lyceum’s planet is pre-approved, and we haven’t been anywhere else.”
Boro
nodded.
“Let’s go hear Jenny’s music, shall we?” the captain proposed.
Beyond the boarding tunnel, a dimly-lit passage brought them directly to the visitors’ box, a room with a few dozen comfortable seats that looked over a low railing into a vast indoor theater. Row upon row of spectators were getting settled, and a large circular stage, currently empty, filled the bottom of the huge space. A ring of water encircled the stage, with heads bobbing and flippers splashing. Little bridges spanned the water at several points.
Elegant tables along the sides of the visitors’ box offered finger foods and beverages, and several Lyceum members were filling plates. The tall, golden-haired man stayed with Brother Malcolm, holding his plate while the simple man selected food and drink with a child-like grin.
Suddenly Ashley stood before Ilika. “This arena . . . theater . . . whatever
. . . is full of birds and lizards and dolphins and . . . I don’t know what else!”
Ilika smiled. “Is it?”
Kibi and Sata, both within earshot, suppressed the urge to snicker, but couldn’t help smiling.
Sister Rebecca decided to rescue Ilika. “You didn’t think humans were top-dogs in the universe, just because we are on our planet, did you, Ashley?”
“Well . . . actually . . . I . . .”
Rebecca grinned and interrupted. “Rachael and Sarah are at the railing, seeing how many different kinds they can spot. I bet they’d love some help.”
Ashley’s scarred face twisted in thought. “I . . . guess I should . . . take another look . . .”
Ilika and Sister Rebecca looked at each other and exchanged silent laughter.
Over the next quarter hour, hundreds of musicians set up their instruments on the circular stage, leaving a large open space in the middle, and aisles between their sections.
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Sarah and Ashley bounced up and down with excitement when they finally spotted a few humans in the audience, and one or two among the musicians.
Eventually, everyone in the visitors’ box was seated with food, drink, or both.
The lighting in the vast theater, from unseen sources, slowly dimmed. The entire audience fell silent, thousands of hearts beating in anticipation.
The musicians created the opening phrase of Jenny’s symphony, first one voice, then three, then seven, all played in perfect harmony for the first time.
Shafts of light found two large fanators circling, each with a slender monkey mammal riding. The birds moved their huge wings to the rhythm, turned and banked to the musical phrases, then back-winged, almost face to face, just above the center of the stage as the symphony’s first exciting crescendo ended. The musicians rested, and the large birds touched the floor with strong feet.
A tiny white light hurried through the air to catch up.
Rini and Mati slid from the birds’ backs and bowed to them.
The fanators bowed in return and walked up the aisles into the audience.
Brother Chad, basking in the memory of the music he had just heard, leaned back with a contented smile on his face. Shawn wore a puzzled expression. Marsha stared with intense, judgmental eyes.
Mati, standing beside Rini in the center of the circular stage, looked around at the thousands and thousands of Nebador citizens, and just as many sparkling points of light of many different colors, and filled her lungs with the rich air of the local universe capital. “The monkey-mammal girl who discovered the beautiful music you will hear today had no other path she could follow in her mortal life.”
The tiny white light settled onto Mati’s shoulder, who glanced at it, then continued. “Jenny accepted that situation gracefully, far more gracefully than I once accepted a similar fate.”
Sata translated for the Lyceum members in the visitors’ box.
Mati giggled when the little white light swirled around her several times.
“On this mission, in addition to my usual piloting and engineering jobs, I had to keep this freckled boy, whom I love dearly, from falling over his own feet while he brought Jenny’s music to Kerusemia.”
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The white spec of light jumped to Rini and danced in the air in front of him as he stood chuckling, unable to speak for a long moment.
Eventually the light settled onto his shoulder, allowing him to think. “My little brain barely held all that wonderful music!”
The audience roared with laughter and other sounds of humor and sympathy.
“Now that the music has been completely recorded, scored, analyzed, synchronized, taken apart and put back together, I can relax and try to remember what my name is, how to do my job, stuff like that.”
As the audience howled and Sata translated, Sarah and Ashley grinned at each other.
“The only sad part,” Rini went on, holding in a smile, “is that Jenny cannot be present to hear her symphony performed for the first time.”
The tiny white light started bouncing against Rini’s head, trying to get his attention.
Rini smiled and pretended not to notice while the entire theater filled with cackling, honking, and happy roaring once more.
The visitors from Lyceum looked confused. With a huff, Sister Marsha flopped backwards into her seat and crossed her arms, frowning.
The lighting of the vast theater dimmed again.
The symphony began once more, this time quietly, with a subtle, tentative feeling. Soft horns carried the melody, while strings created a background as dancers came down the aisles with flowing arms or wings.
The little white light bounced to the rhythm and swayed to the melody, sometimes around Mati and Rini, who had taken seats in the front row of the audience, sometimes around the dancers, sometimes all by itself.
Brother Malcolm stood and did a clumsy dance for a moment, then sat back down and looked around to see if anyone was mad at him.
When the second theme began, the horns and strings teamed up on three of the voices, and reptiles, suddenly illuminated by unseen lights, brought in a strong rhythm with drums of many sizes. Sparkling points of light flowed into the air from somewhere high above, pulsing to the music, a different group for each musical voice, a different color for each tone.
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The tiny white light seemed overwhelmed for a moment, and hid behind Mati. After a moment, it carefully crept up to her shoulder.
Shawn was trembling and sweating. None of this looked like he had been taught to expect. He glanced at Liberty, who appeared ready to hop up and dance with Malcolm.
The first bridge in the music was so intricate that the horns and drums rested and a section of insects began tapping on their keyboards, legs moving almost faster than eyes could follow. Rich sounds, that no simple instrument could make, filled the theater as birds took to the air and wove a pattern that somehow complemented the music perfectly.
The little light on Mati’s shoulder found it’s courage and floated up to join the birds, quickly picking up the pattern.
Shawn breathed deeply, held Liberty’s hand tightly, and tried to focus on the beauty before him, instead of the theological analysis in his head.
When Sister Marsha saw who — or rather what — was playing the keyboard instruments, she closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping her stomach under control.
The next theme began suddenly, and several furry horn players stood to pick up the melody. The lone white light was ready for the transition when the birds departed and many colorful shapes, made of pure light, began to dance in the air and on every surface. It chased the dancing lights, mimicking the shapes they made, dashing from avian to equine, insect to ursine.
Then the little light entered the visitors’ box and quickly traced a shape, for each person, in the air before them — a diamond or spiral, circle or triangle.
But when it came to Ashley, it stayed much longer, and soon the young gymnast had an elaborate snowflake, made of light, etched into her memory forever.
Sarah watched and giggled with delight.
Brother Kenneth saw that Marsha was in distress, so he reached over and touched her hand. She jerked it back and opened her eyes, then silently reconsidered, grabbed his hand, and held on for dear life.
When the first musical transition came, the audience was almost startled as the entire theater went completely dark for several heartbeats.
For a moment, the little white light was alone, until it dashed into the
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sound box of a reptile’s stringed instrument, causing him to hiss with laughter.
Soon, a shaft of light revealed a green bird dancing with strong movements in the center of the stage, a single wind instrument took up the haunting melody, an energetic blue avian joined the dance, a stringed instrument added a bold harmony, a red bird leapt into the dance, and a powerful drum completed the ensemble.
Emerging from it’s hiding place, the little light spun itself into the air with delight.
Sister Nancy, so comfortable with machines large and small, decided in that moment that she was going to add something new to her life — music, dance, painting — she wasn’t sure exactly what, but something.
The next musical bridge was majestic and triumphant, and all the musicians created a rich sound as hundreds of colored lights filled the air again, pulsing brightly to the rhythm.
But the orchestra did not resolve the tension it created, until suddenly a single feathered horn player stood in a shaft of light as the rest of the stage darkened. In its clear voice it began the next theme, while the other musicians, still in near-darkness, took up the quieter voices.
The white spec of light hovered for a long moment, transfixed by the horn player.
Brother Chad always enjoyed hearing this theme, so relaxing and comforting. For the first time since the symphony started, he turned his head and looked around. Thousands of creatures of every size and shape were sitting or perching with rapt attention, listening to the same music he had attempted to record in Lyceum’s little studio. His heart throbbed in his chest at the realization that he had been a small part of something so great and wonderful.
Ashley was grinning, and felt nearly overwhelmed with happiness. She had never, in her wildest dreams, imagined that more than a few people would ever want to hear Jenny’s music. With few exceptions, only old people listened to symphonies.
Marsha’s mind raced. She had admitted to no one, and barely even to herself, that she was attracted to the handsome doctor beside her. Now that
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he was holding her hand, she could not stop deep feelings from welling up inside her. Somehow the music was making every cell in her body throb with a yearning to know life on all levels, and no longer hide from it just because
. . . there might be germs or side effects.
Seemingly in anticipation, the little white glow dashed back to the comfort of Rini’s shoulder.
The part of the symphony began that Brother Chad called The War of the Worlds. Probably the most complex passage of Jenny’s song, it brought the bone-scraping tension to a peak. The musicians provided everything from the shrillest whistles in Voice Two, to the throbbing drumbeats of Voice Seven, while lights of many shapes and colors dashed around the theater, colliding, recoiling, tangling and untangling.
When the musical tension reached its climax, suddenly equines and tall giraffadae came thundering down all the aisles, and the little white light again dashed for the safety of a stringed instrument’s sound box.
Ashley frowned slightly, as she had never been comfortable with this part of the song. Brother Chad had assured her that it was important, in order to emphasize the beauty of the themes that followed.
And indeed, nearly half an hour into the symphony, Ashley’s favorite parts began. All the stringed instruments created flowing, undulating melodies and cool, quiet harmonies. A variety of different musicians executed the section Ashley called The Playground. Its frolicking tunes and laughing rhythms reminded her of the times, years before, when Jenny had been able to play with her in the park.
The tiny white glow was out again, bouncing and spinning joyfully, sometimes forcing musicians and dancers to pause, laugh or grin, then re-find their place in music or movement.
Brother Chad knew the symphony was nearing its end when the part he called Thunder began, booming and crashing, with tiny, delicate melodies appearing just in time to be purposefully drowned out.
Then all the themes from the entire symphony returned, as if to say farewell. Countless balls of colored light glimmered, dancers filled the aisles and the stage, birds filled the air, and everyone sat wide-eyed, remembering their favorite parts. Suddenly all the voices came together in a completely
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satisfying chord that made all the listeners feel they were bursting out of deep water and into air, or out of a dark and frightening cave into daylight. All the musicians stood to enrich the ending with the power of their instruments.
Brother Kenneth squeezed Marsha’s hand tightly, and they exchanged smiles.
Ashley and Sarah embraced each other.
Shawn and Liberty kissed deeply.
Malcolm stood and did another little dance.
Finally the beautiful chord faded, all the musicians and dancers bowed, and the audience roared with applause, whistles, honks, stomping feet, squeaks and splashes, and many other joyful noises of appreciation.
The little white light settled into Mati’s lap, completely exhausted.