Largo al factotum

Posted on Sun May 29th, 2022 @ 6:31am by Captain Samuel Woolheater

Mission: Rejoinder
Location: Mark V Torpedo - Just entering the Sol System
Timeline: The present
Tags: Emily, Splatter, Largo al factotum
2485 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

=== JUST OUTSIDE THE SOL SYSTEM - A FEW HOURS AFTER TORPEDO LAUNCH ===


In the latter part of the twenty-second century and well after the final collapse of the business conglomerate founded by Mellon Wusk, it was decided to never again allow corporations to have that much influence ever again over a society. It all started when a few influential “business societies” banded together. And that all started with a few energy concerns. The Society for Petroleum Industry Logistics and Leadership (S.P.I.L.L) was the first group that joined the trillionaires acquisitions. Not long after that, what was left of the remaining fossil fuels industry came under his influence…well…World War Three helped a little. They fell under the umbrella group of the Society for More Coal Energy (S.M.O.C.E). Now that those two were in Wusk Foundations’ portfolio, it was a no brainer that such a large and responsible corporation should then be entrusted with the Earth’s fissionable energy providers. The Key Atomic Benefits Office of Mankind or, (K.A.B.O.O.M) was absorbed into the Wusk Group on the eleventh of April in the year twenty-two and ten. And for many years, if you believe the news that is, everything was fine.

Everything wasn’t fine. And that can be traced all the way back to the early twenty-first century when the entrepreneur himself started having a taste for collecting social media platforms. Historians tend to get lost in the weeds about exactly how those unfortunate events shaped the future of the companies but suffice it to say that too many dollars and not enough sense is not a good combination. And the man with the loudest bullhorn starts to believe his own press. In days of old, we called that by the maxim “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” What archivists do agree on is that Mellon Wusk was a talented and charismatic person. And, in the beginning, humanity’s foray into space owes him a great deal indeed. But that is all another story.

It was right about mid-twenty-second century…oh…the twenty-one sixty’s that Earth had had enough. The Wusk Foundation had by then morphed into a many headed Hydra and simply had to be dealt with. The Earth had so much garbage in orbit that a new Earth organization, “The Federation” and its exploratory arm “Starfleet” had to clean things up. The Wusk Foundation was calling itself the “Splatter Group”. A kind of conglomeration of some of the more key industries, SPacex, tesLA, twiTER made up the largest portions and as usual when these kinds of things are left up to a faceless committee the “Splatter Group” gathered all of what remained of the Wusk empire and consolidated it.

In a move that even dazzled the then Grand Nagus Buck of Ferenginar, in late 2162, the Splatter Group, Ltd., successfully argued in Earth court that they could not possibly be held solely responsible for cleaning up lower and upper Earth orbit because they did not own the lower nor the upper orbits of Earth. They were simply “common carriers” of those regions and as “common carriers” it should be the responsibility of the new Earth government to clean that mess up. Besides, the Lunar, Mars and Titan franchises had proven to be expensive investments and they had shareholders to report earnings to.

As brilliant as that argument may have seemed at the time, it took seven more years for the issue to be settled. The Federation, now running the show around the Sol system, did enforce the ruling that the Splatter Group, formerly the Wusk Group, formerly the SPILL, SMOCE and KABOOM enterprises, were responsible for cleaning up their mess.

It was at this time that humanity learned that the Splatter Group had been spending what was left of their enormous profits on expanding their reach into space. Based on an idea from a thousand years ago, they setup satellites on what was then the “fringe” of known space. Basically, in the neighborhood of what we know today as the Ort Cloud. Starfleet liked that idea so much that they built upon them and now we call that same system the “Sub-space Relay System”. So, you see, there was a point to all this exposition and that brings us right up to the point where our story begins.


=== THE PRESENT ===

A Mark V torpedo casing, with Samuel Woolheater nestled inside sped towards Earth at a fantastic speed. A large, clunky, communications satellite, that no longer worked, and looking like something the fell off a circus train bearing in large bold letters on the side, “From the People who invented Communications - Splatter Group, Ltd.” Slowly spun, lifeless and dead. It suddenly exploded in a thousand pieces as the Mark V torpedo carrying Sam hit it straight on.

At such speeds, the torpedo casing remained undamaged. However, it had cost him speed. After all, several thousand pounds of space-junk doesn’t move on a dime; until now. Now it was smaller, spinning, space-junk.

Inside the torpedo, Sam was asleep thanks to ol’ Doc Michael’s ministrations with a sedative. Even so, the impact made Sam wince under the facemask. It was about the half-way mark in Woolheater’s journey to report to the Elysium on time. Seven hours had passed and as far as Samuel knew, the journey had been uneventful. One more piece of space-junk eliminated. The sedative helped Sam sleep and after the impact, Sam returned to his dream.

~~ He dreamt of Emily and of one event. ~~


=== THE PAST – THREE YEARS AGO – PACIFICA – CITY OF DAJ LOMAN ===

Samuel pressed the chime on Emily Hope’s apartment door and waited. He was dressed in a modern, Pacifican clothing style, tuxedo. Shiny black shoes with white spats. Black, pressed pants with a black silk stripe down the outer edges. A white, neatly tailored shirt and black, pleated cummerbund. The black dinner jacket and black bowtie would be familiar to most humans who were attending a black-tie” event. In the pleats of the cummerbund were the evening tickets to the opera. In his left hand he held a corsage. He had a fresh, neatly trimmed, haircut. Sam had saved up his leave and had a three-day pass.

Emily’s roommate, Katy, answered the door, “Who is it?” she said as she activated the door exterior camera. “It’s Sam. I’m here for Emily?” Katy looked at the monitor and licked her upper lip and said to herself, “oh…my…”

Katy opened the door and took a long drink of Sam. “Emily who?” she teased. Sam smiled and was embarrassed, a tiny bit. Who doesn’t like to be admired even for a fraction of a second? “Hi Katy…can I come in?” She corrected him, “You may.” And she let him pass through.

Closing the door behind him she admired the view, “Well…you clean up well. Where are you two off to tonight?” she asked playing coy. Sam turned and said, “Thank you. It’s rented but…every once in a great while I can look decent for a night out?” He smiled back, “We’re off to the opera. Is Emily here?”

Katy swaggered over and imagined other things they could be doing tonight instead. She said, “She’s here. I’ll get her” and she left the room giving him a look.

Katy entered Emily room and closed the door, “He’s here and oh-my-gawd-Emm!”

Emily blushed as her roommate gushed. She was dressed in an elegant evening gown. Tucked in all the right places. And made from a style of fabric exclusive to Pacifica. It shimmered and glowed and caught the eye quite nicely. On her shoulders, Katy put the wrap over her and helped her adjust the dress. They giggled and spoke in whispers. Emily asked, “How do I look?” Katy looked at her in the reflected mirror and said, “To die for girlfriend! You look absolutely smashing. Where are you going?” Emily said nervously, “To the opera. I wanted to do something classy for a change. Gives me an excuse to use my fancy dress. While I still can. Can you tell it’s been…adjusted?” Katy reassured her, “Its perfect. I didn’t know that you like opera?” Emily did some final hair placement and said, “Yeah, on occasion. When its with the right person.”

Katy grinned, “He’s gorgeous. And he’s an army guy?” Emily got her bracelet on her wrist, a gold and sapphire adornment and said, “Marine. Starfleet. Well?” she said as she took one last look, “Ready or not.”

Sam looked around the apartment. Not to be too nosey, he observed the clutter. Trinkets, little statues of birds and fish. There was a row of shot glasses with the names of the different bars. Almost half of them were strip clubs and Sam wondered whose shot glasses these were anyway. There were a few PaDD’s and plants about the front room. There were too many pillows on the couch, the chair and in the window. A cat came alongside him and rubbed his trouser leg. He looked down and said hello.

“I see that you’ve met Winston?” Emily asked from the entryway to the front room. She stood there a moment looking at Sam. He turned to see the loveliest thing he had ever seen. “Wow!” he said. He meant that to be silent, just in his inner voice, but it came out softly. “Emily laughed just once, “Wow?” she asked. Sam stuttered, “Oh, I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Wow is the right word. You look fantastic!” At this she smiled and came closer, “So do you. You look handsome.” He smiled back, “Thank you. Not often, but sometimes. Oh? Here? This is for you.” He indicated to the corsage in his hand. Emily came closer and he gave her a kiss, “It is lovely. Thank you.” Sam asked, “If you’ll allow me?” and he offered to put it on her. Katy watched from the hallway. “Thank you” Emily said as Sam affixed the blue Pacifican rose and lace arrangement to her evening gown.

His hands were warm and his fingers were gentle. He managed not to stick her with the pin and he didn’t even stick himself. Closing the clasp, the corsage adorned her. “There. Do you like it?” he asked. She looked at herself in the mirror and then Katy who entered the room now, “Of course she does.” Emily nodded and turned, “Of course I do” she said with excitement in her voice. “Do you have the tickets?” she asked. Removing them from the cummerbund, he produced four tickets. Emily looked at them, “Four?” she asked. Sam gave two to Emily and said, “Two for us to the opera. And two for Katy to the Stingray’s game tonight. Best seats I could get.” Here he handed to Katy two tickets to the basketball game at the sports arena just a few blocks from their apartment. She took the tickets and happily took them. “I might get lucky with these tonight.” They said their goodbyes and it wasn’t long before Sam and Emily were at the Pacifica Opera House in downtown Daj Loman.


=== PACIFICA OPERA HOUSE ===

Holding hands, they crossed the elegant lobby and went up the grand staircase to their seats inside. Tonight’s program was from Earth. The Rossini opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia , in honor of the first time they met on Earth in Spain just six months ago.

Sam sat next to her as she looked around the room. The opera house was large and highly ornamented. A big ass chandelier hung from the ceiling to illuminate the large space. The walls and lamps were decorated in Pacifican style. This was, of course, their home. This Pacifican style they knew. But even so, it was astonishing to see it all and to be here. Emily looked over at Sam. He had been watching her quietly. “What?” she asked as she took his hand. He squeezed hers back. His hands were warm and strong. “I’m just admiring the view. You look…amazing tonight, Emm!” She smiled and teased him, “You mean…as opposed to other nights when I look run down and worn out?” He rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean.” He brought the back of her hand to his lips. His stubble was already growing back, and it was like sandpaper on the back of her hand as he kissed it. She smiled and was only a little embarrassed at the public display of affection. She said, “I’m glad you accepted my choice for a date night tonight.” Sam replied, “Hey, I am all about culture. But, I have to say, I’ve never seen this story before. Why did you pick this?”

Emily grinned and replied, “You’ll see soon enough. Someone I know. Someone I met recently reminds me of the title character.” Sam took in the view and said, “Someone I know?” Emily squeezed his hand back. “MMMMmmm…maybe? This marine guy I know” she quipped. “Don’t worry, it involves some brash, confident, and handsome, rogue of a man. It’s probably one of the more famous arias from Earth and I bet you already know it. A splashy baritone aria begins the opera. His name is Figaro…and as Figaro makes his first appearance on stage and introduces himself to the audience. His skills as a barber and securer of favors from his many connections make his services in high demand, and Figaro sings about how this keeps him busy running errands all over the city of Seville. It’s a flashy, splendid, fantastically fun bit of music. And makes considerable technical demands on the singer and requires him to project brash confidence.”

Sam listened and added, “Brash confidence?” As the aria started, “Largo al factotum”. Emily looked over at him as the lights dimmed, the orchestra tuned up and the opera was about to begin…”Very brash, very confident…”

~~ Sam continued to dream ~~


=== THE SOL SYSTEM ===

Sam’s face was all smiles. The tragic events weeks ago on Pacifica were behind him and this was a good memory from Pacifica. The recent loss of Emily was, kindly and momentarily forgotten. The Son of Hypnos, Morpheus, with tender mercy, excised from him the pain and the grief. Granting him this happy and cherished memory. And Sam smiled and dreamed of her and of being loving. And of being loved in return.

The Mark V torpedo continued to speed its way towards Earth.


[OFF:]


1st Lieutenant Samuel Woolheater
“Saepius Exertus, Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas”
Division VI, MARDET 62nd Company "Spartans", 2nd Platoon CO
=/\= USS ELYSIUM - NCC-89000 =/\=