“I can’t really see Skopec agreeing to a party, can you?” Wallace laughed. “Anyway, psycho-analysis aside, we should go. The situation is deteriorating - the Skinner’s Guild knows the military will overreact to provocation and alienate the citizenry. I was very clear on this, but naturally I can only do so much!” She said this while still moving to the music, though her majordomos could’ve been mistaken for statues either side of her.

Freyr looked around in the crowd to try and identify the voice in her head. “I don’t wanna go yet! The party is just getting started.” Freyr raised her stim stick to her lips and breathed deeply. The colour green billowed across her vision. The crowd throbbed around her, nearly knocking the stick from her lips. A hand crawled under her arm and another grabbed her thigh; she felt herself leave the ground as someone lifted her up and towards the top of the barrier.

From her elevated position, Freyr could make out Réunion in its full glory. Flashing blue lights, like the ones on police vehicles, raced up and down the lakefront promenade. “Ooh, pretty.” She said to herself, as whoever it was placed her on their shoulders. From there, she could see just a small gap between the otherside of the barrier and the stage.

“Give it up for Miss Marchenko on bass!” The singer screamed, as the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIj-1IRXtDk]music[/url] changed again to a more electronic type sound. The tall, willowy, black clad girl standing off to one side of the stage with a large bass guitar leaned into her mic.

“Why you callin’ at 11:30, when you only wanna do me dirty?”

The rest of the band cooed into their mics in response. Freyr tapped into the lyrics with her implant and shouted along, waving her hands in the air.

“Oh, fuck!” Wallace breathed, eyes glazed over as she received another report from the ship. The dancing stopped. “No, no, no, what are they doing!? Nirann, grab Dr Lang and meet us back on the ship. She then turned to Marae and put a reassuring hand on the Rothian’s shoulder. “Come on dear, lets head back. We need to be inside the ship, just to be safe.”

“Why’d you always wanna act like lovers? But you never wanna be each other’s?” Miss Marchenko crooned while fingering her bass. Everyone else in the band pounded the beat as hard as they could. Even the singer had picked up a drumstick and was working on one of the drummer’s crash cymbals.

“Wooo!” Freyr slurred. “Put me over the barrier!” she shouted. The man between her legs obliged, holding onto the barrier and leaning forward so she could clamber over.