Leigh remembered the pretty girls that used to dance in this building. He had bought more than a few of them drinks after watching them dance with their friends. Smooth complexions and tight bodies moving in the crowd shrouded by throbbing lights and loud beats. How they moved! He looked down at his feet. Only such young people could be so reckless with their good bodies, he thought. Once he took a dancing girl home. He remembered her.
The red-lit sign of Anzio’s Italian hung over the double doors, now. He walked in.
Leigh didn’t pay any attention to the garlic chicken that ticked up by twenty cents on the menu. Or the manicotti that disappeared from the selections. He kept glancing up and down. They always change prices around 7pm, he thought. Always around this time, Leigh saw it daily and knew it’d happen again. The cheese pizza dipped five cents. Leigh waved over the waiter like he was escaping from a rapid.
“I’ll take a pizza. Extra cheese.” He handed the menu over. “And olives.” he added and watched the waiter walk away. When he disappeared to the back, Leigh slouched in his seat and tapped the temple of his head. “Trident News.” he said.
Leigh always liked this part. His eyes widened as images took up space around him in his booth. Extravagant.
Tennessee has collapsed. The state part of the Eastern Alliance was surprised when Colorado unveiled The Avalanche two months early. Colorado dove into Tennessee’s pack of ships and easily dispatched the $11.2 billion dollar Country Swarm.
Leigh watched as a long spaceship with the name Avalanche displayed above roared into view as if it was lurking just behind him. The ship dove into what looked like a school of fish orbiting a planet. The battle took place over his table as the Avalanche picked off each individual ship with precise blasts of red lasers.
The incorporation of Tennessee by Colorado the voice said has given the lone star state an additional $32 billion in revenue and an annual stream of $5 billion.
“Here’s your pizz –”
“Oh, what!” Leigh rubbed his temple like he was nursing a headache. “Don’t scare anyone like that. Let them know you’re coming.”
“I’m sorry, sir? Here’s your pizza. Would you like anything else?”
“No.”
Leigh again watched the waiter leave. Waiters used to have class, he thought. Yeah, pizza in an old dance club. Some class. He tore off a slice then quickly tapped his forehead.
“Trident news. Avalanche.”
His view filled with The Avalanche. He floated over the ship, inspecting the black skin as it faded away.
Reports from inside Colorado claim the Avalanche will be fitted with an upgrade in thrust and overall speed, bringing it into the top fifteen ships in the country.
A list hovered over the pizza with Colorado’s Avalanche jumping ahead of the Pensky and the Gators.
“Friend list.” He mumbled in the empty restaurant.
Six faces appeared on the menu, each with a little green light over their heads.
“Group chat.” The six faces lit up over the napkins. “Country Swarm got what was comin’ to them.” Leigh said. “Can’t trust those Easterners worth nothing.”
One of the faces turned to meet Leigh. “Leigh!” Long grey hair, hinting of what was once auburn, adorned the face. “Got your 7pm snack, huh? You got some cheese dropping on you.”
The other faces laughed.
“It’s the best time for price changes. You know that. I tell everyone, every time.” He proudly said.
“We can hardly hear anything. How we supposed to hear you complain about the prices that grocery stores are charging you?” The head with white bushy eyebrows said.
“You’re California. You don’t know.”
“Should’ve moved when you had the chance, Leigh.”
Breaking Trident News
His friend’s faces faded to the back.
Empire and the Iron Well have disappeared from the map.
“What?” He heard his friends gasp.
Again, Empire and the Iron Wall have —- the hologram ended.
“Give me the check.” If those ships are gone.. “Get me the check!” He frantically searched around the dining room. “The check!” Leigh got up faster than he had in years and turned the corner where the waiter had gone.
“No. No.”
Leigh walked into the kitchen. The waiter was slumped in the corner and the only cook in the place just stood by the brick oven. Leigh hobbled over to the waiter, “I need my check, boy.”
The kid looked right by Leigh. “Sir?”
“Give me the check!” Leigh grabbed it from the boy and read the price in disbelief. $7,362.41
“What the hell is this?!”
“We don’t.. It was a hack. Empire’s gone. They’re coming for us now. We’re done.”
It was 7:32pm.
The New Martian 