Chapter 1

"We got a gig," said Debs.

"Really," said Errol not removing his attention from the display.

"It's amazing! You won't believe where we get to go," said Debs.

"Is this another normal gig?" asked Errol.

"You don't understand it's-"

"Look, these normal gigs are going to be the death of me," cut off Errol. He sighed and looked up at Debs.

"The last three gigs we had were normal gigs. We had to learn all these cover songs and that's hard. And of course, we don't seem to get enough time to practice so we are scrambling and then in the end you want to add more songs and then change the harmonies up and then you switch parts we sing! I just want to do our songs!"

"We will have all the time in the world! Just listen-"

"We barely have enough time now. At least you're not making me learn all your depressing songs. The last time we had to learn one of those songs, I could barely keep myself from smirking through the whole thing."

"Barely? You DIDN'T keep yourself from smirking. You had that same sardonic look the whole time and I was going to punch you. You killed the mood of the song!"

"Did you read the song? I mean, it was dripping with sentimental cheese and sadness, I should have just played raindrops instead of a piano part," said Errol.

"That was a special song to me, and you know how close I am to it. Why can't you sing it with any seriousness?"

"Those are not emotions I understand, let alone fake," said Errol.

"Look, are you going to sit there and insult my work, or do you want to hear about the gig?'

"Well, if it's a normal gig, I don't know if I want to hear about it," said Errol.

"You are incorrigible. It's on a star cruise! If we accept we can go on a star cruise gig for the next 6 months!"

"Oh. Wow, seriously?" Errol was surprised, he couldn't really believe it.

Debs sat down on an old beaten armchair as she threw a book onto the coffee table. Her naturally large eyes were grinning with excitement and Errol reached over to pick up what he now realized was a tour advert.

"The Orion Express? Wow, that's a pretty swanky gig you got us. How the heck did you get us on that cruiseline? Do we have to dress up?" asked Errol.

"Someone found our website and saw that we did extended tours!"

"Since when did we do extended tours? We've never left the city!"

"THAT's why I made you put that in there," said Debs.

"So, what's the deal? We get booked for six months? They feed us, I hope," said Errol.

"They provide room and board. We just bring our instruments, and we play every night," said Debs.

"And we play normal songs," said Errol.

"Yes, but we are there for six months! We can throw in the occasional fun song if you want."

Errol was liking this idea. They had been a duo band for more than a year and although they weren't very successful, they enjoyed the small amount of local fame they had accumulated for themselves. The did not play popular music. In fact, the indie, niche markets that was rather popular with the trendy crowds were still too mainstream for them.

"And this person who found our website, they know what type of songs we play and they still want us?" asked Errol.

"They heard some of the normal songs we recorded. He liked the way we sounded," said Debs.

"Ah, it's a 'he'. Understood," said Errol as he grinned.

Debs shot him a look. She was young, in her late twenties, but she looked much younger. Dark, curly hair framed her face but her main feature were large, brown eyes that many of their male fans found endearing. Errol always teased her with the number of male groupies they had accumulated.

"It's not good form to date the guy wanting to book us. Imagine if you guys broke up, then we'd be in trouble," warned Errol.

"I am not dating him!" said Debs.

"Well, you just can't be too careful," said Errol.

"Do you want this gig or not?" asked Debs.

"Of course I want this gig. We DO get paid on top of the room and board, right?" asked Errol.

"Yes, we get paid. He's sending us the details later," said Debs.

"And we get our own rooms, right? The last thing I want is to bunk with you as you date all the men on this ship," said Errol.

"You are a pain," said Debs.

"That's why you love me," grinned Errol. He got up and walked to his room.

"When do they want us?"

"This Friday," said Debs.

"What? Do you even have your passport?" asked Errol.

"I have it. We should be fine," said Debs.

"I better get ready then, that's rather quick. I don't even know what to bring. I mean, six months on a ship is going… wait, will we have internet access?"

"Uh, well, they usually don't during hyper space travel," said Debs.

"And when we are on remote planets. Oh no, this is going to kill me! Sub space com is awful. I may as well just listen to a radio. Now I have to get a collection of vids and books going to occupy us for six months. And what about our local stuff? How are we going to keep marketing updated?"

"We could get people to post stuff for us," said Debs.

"I will probably have to pay an arm and a leg to get access from a star cruise ship. Man. This is going to kill us in a marketing sense," complained Errol.

"Look, just get ready. It will be fine," said Debs.

"That's easy for you to say, You will have men to date. I will be bored and alone forever," said Errol.

"Bah, it will be just be six months. That's not forever," said Debs.

She glanced at him to see that his characteristic grin had fallen somewhat. "Besides, I'm sure they will have boardgames there or something."

"May as well be forever," said Errol.

"How is that different now? You're just alone now as you will be in six months," said Debs.

"Oh, that's cold, Debs. Really cold," said Errol.

Debs laughed and went to her room.

"Go get packed. I'm going to go pick up some stuff from the store.

Errol went to his room. It was a bit on the messy side, but no where near as messy as Debs's room. They had been roommates now for about half a year, and although they were polar opposites in almost anything they attempted, they surprisingly got along together really well.

Errol flicked on a display and started searching for vids he could watch. He didn't think he could get everything downloaded and ready in time, but it wouldn't be for lack of trying. He wasn't going to be stuck on a ship with nothing to do. He also started to find some really long RPG's. That should keep him occupied.

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