Chapter 3 Part 2

Nathan seated himself and inserted his card into the table bank. A small screen popped up and displayed the menu. Nathan selected a small appetizer and settled back to await its delivery.

A young lady had stepped out on the stage and announced that the evening entertainment was about to commence. She greeted all of the patrons and then introduced the first act.

"For your viewing pleasure," she began. "Our very own Harriet Whodeenee." There was a sparse round of applause accompanied by an electronic rendition of some classical piece as a tall and slender woman stepped out from the curtain. She wore a black body suit with a tuxedo coat, spike heels, and top hat.

She was obviously a magician of some sorts as she immediately removed her hat and let her hair tumble about her shoulders. As it did a pair of doves flew from the hat. Then she tumbled the hat about and suddenly she held a cane as well. She shook the cane and a long black cloth fell towards the ground making a miniature curtain. The woman gripped the curtain solidly with both hands and slowly passed it over her body. When she removed the curtain, the tuxedo coat had vanished.

A young man stood and stepped over to the stage and inserted his personal account card into the computer and tipped the entertainer. Again she passed the curtain across her body and Nathan noted that at no time did either of her hands leave the cane. When the drapery cleared her body once again, her blouse had disappeared leaving her in a lacy bra and tight fitting briefs.

Several other men likewise lined up to tip the stripper. She could view the amount of each tip via a monitor on the stage. When a particularly large tip was made, she would smile and drape the curtain out to brush against the tipper's head and hands. Her trick was only partly finished though, for when she repeated the process again, she wore nothing more than a skimpy brassiere and G string.

The other guests were urging her to perform the trick again and Nathan felt himself also desiring to see the rest of this enchantresses charms. He too walked up to the stage and made as sizable tip. He noted that her eyes widened slightly as she viewed the monitor, but he did not tarry long enough for her to thank him. He quickly returned to his seat.


The audience were urging her on. The populace was not to be disappointed, for when she yet again passed the curtain before her figure, the last of her clothing was removed. There was a brief glimpse of her finely chiseled body before a puff of smoke obscured the entire stage and she disappeared.

Nathan was startled out of his stupor by a caterer who delivered his order. He thanked the server and included a tip with the payment for his food. While another stripper sang a seductive song, Nathan nibbled at the breaded shrimp he had requested.

The singer was a medium sized woman with a light mahogany hue of skin and long black hair. She wore a costume made of numerous multicolored veils and was prancing about in some primitive dance which displayed various body parts quite blatantly.

She continued to remove veil after veil revealing more and more flesh. Just as she was getting down to the last veil, Nathan sensed his table move. He glanced about and found himself gazing into a pair of bright blue eyes. It was the magician.

"I wanted to thank you for the tip you gave me," she offered.

"I enjoyed your act. It was very unusual." How else could it be described, he wondered silently. "How long have you been a stripper?"
"I am a dancer," she insisted.

"A rose by any other name?" he returned.

"Perhaps, but it is what we call ourselves," she nodded to the dancer on the stage who was totally nude.

"Do you have a name?" he pressed.

"I do," she answered. "Harriet. Weren't you listening to the intro?"

"That is your real name or your stage name?"

"What do you think?"

Nathan laughed lightly. "A stage name. What is your real name?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"So I know who I am talking to."

"Does it matter?"

"You are very cryptic," he observed. "Why won't you tell me your name?"

She smiled. "As a rule, we never reveal our real names to strangers. For all I know you might track me down by my name and be waiting for me when I walk through my front door."

"A good point," Nathan conceded. "Okay, Harriet it is."

"Thank you for seeing it my way. What is your name?"

"Nathan." he answered. "Is the rest of your life so secretive?"

"Not really," Harriet answered. "Very few people are aware of my occupation and those are friends."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Nathan wondered.

"Not at the moment," Harriet replied. "Why, are you interested?"

"Unfortunately not," Nathan answered. But he quickly added: "You are indeed lovely enough to pursue, but I simply won't be on Mars long enough to get involved in a relationship."

"Then how about a nice innocent friendship?" Harriet offered. "It is so refreshing to meet someone who just wants companionship and not a trip to the altar."

Nathan smiled. "That sounds fine. What would you like to do?"

Harriet pointed at his snack. "You finish your food and we will go to the beach. For all I know you could still be an axe murderer, so we will have to stick to public places."

Nathan stuffed the last shrimp in his mouth and drained his drink. "I was not aware of any beaches on Mars," he said between chews. "I was not even aware that there was any free standing water."

"Well the beach is simply what we locals call this place. Actually it is a power station. You will have to see it to understand."

Harriet stood as Nathan finished his food. She led him out into the street and to the curb. A bus pulled up and the two boarded and found seats.

"What happened to your last boyfriend," Nathan asked.

"He couldn't deal with my profession," Harriet said. "He knew what I did before we started getting serious, and he promised that he would be able to deal with it, but in the end he simply gave me an ultimatum to choose between dancing or him."

"You chose dancing," Nathan concluded.

"Obviously. And yourself?"

"What?"
"What do you do?"

Nathan paused. "I work for the government. I am a military liaison." Not entirely accurate, but it fit this particular mission well enough to be the truth, he decided.

"Oh, are you here to audit me?" she asked laughingly.

Nathan wondered what she would do if he told her that he was indeed from MIRA. "No," he joined in on the joke. "The Market stopped doing that some time ago. Besides, I am not sure how they would view your worth. Just how much does a dancer like you earn?"

Harriet studied him closely for a moment and Nathan feared he might have asked an uncomfortable question. "Well," she finally relented, "on an average a good dancer can make fifty to seventy five thousand shares a solar year."

"That is not exactly easy street," Nathan admitted, "but it is a comfortable living. I would say that were you audited, you would be passed over as a positive contributor if for no other reason because you keep a significant amount of currency in circulation."

"That is true," she agreed. "What I make pays for my living quarters, food, and necessities with a little to spare."

The bus slowed and Harriet advised Nathan that they had arrived at their destination.
Exiting the bus, Nathan found himself in an industrial area of Ares Metro. The directory on the corner informed him that they were next to the twenty first solar station. One of the solar power plants that provided Mars with energy.

Harriet led Nathan to the station's maintenance entrance and spoke to a plant worker who sat at a control desk. He smiled as she approached and opened the door to let her through.

Nathan followed her into a long corridor at the end of which was a very bright opening. When they reached the exit, Nathan blinked his eyes in intrigue. Dozens of sunbathers were gathered around a pool of water. Far overhead, the large dome was made of multifaceted lenses which focused the sunlight to a large boiler which was supplied by the pool of water."

"The water is fairly cool when it comes back from the generator stations," Harriet explained. "It is pumped into that shallow reservoir and the boiler tower draws the water in as it needs to. There are twenty four of these stations around Mars. Only two or four of them are in direct sunlight at a time so they are the only ones in use at a time. But after they are shut down for the day, the ambient heat is very pleasant. You can still get plenty of sun in here." She began to disrobe. "A very pleasant side effect, wouldn't you agree?"

Nathan was about to join in when a chime sounded from his pocket. A quick glance affirmed his suspicion. He was being paged by the MIRA office.
"I am afraid that I must leave," he informed his companion. "I would like to have you show me some of the other sights of Mars though. How do I get in touch with you?"

"Well you could leave me your number, but I don't have anything to record it on. So you will just have to remember where I work. Come by again and we will see what happens. She smiled and Nathan promised himself that he would take her up on that offer.

Nathan left the power station still marveling at how the local inhabitants had taken a simple side effect of the station and turned it into what basically amounted to a miniature resort. He boarded a rapid transit shuttle and returned to the MIRA office.