Main > Series > Chapters > Fame Book 2 > Chapter 10

'When was I born?' Doris said.

     Will Gunther guided his spacecraft around a hurtling chunk of debris, and zapped two smaller rocks that were tumbling in its wake. A pink saucer scuttled from behind one of the explosions, and he picked it off for a fifty point bonus.

     'She didn't know the date,' he said. 'The month is March.'

     'My favourite colour?'

     'Lime green.'

     'Favourite movie?'

     'It's a Wonderful Life.'

     'Dessert?'

     'Anything chocolate.'

     'Sexiest actor?'

     There was nothing for it; he was going to have to go into warp drive. The bombardment slowed to quarter-speed, but he was almost out of power. 'Somebody called Michael J. Pollard,' he said. 'I never heard of him.'

     Doris shook her head, as if she couldn't believe it. 'You and Julie really were talking about me,' she said.

     'I told you.' The warp ended, and he was out of juice; his spacecraft drifted for no more than two seconds before busting into a yellow flower. 'Your turn.'

     They swapped places in front of the video console, but Doris wasn't really concentrating on the game. 'I don't even know where you're from,' she said as the screen set itself up again.

     'Houston, originally. But we travelled around a lot when I was a kid.'

     'Houston,' Doris said, marvelling. 'That sounds like Mars to me, it's so foreign.'

     'It's not all that different. It's full of people, some real, some phony. Not many of them as real as you are.' He nodded towards the screen. 'And you just got blown up. You've got to pay attention,' he said.

     Doris didn't exactly seem cut up about her zero score; she moved aside to let Will take over his end of the Universe. It was lunchtime, and Kickers wasn't officially open; all of the barrels were up on the tables, and the only sounds were the zaps and pows of Meteor Madness as they played.

     'Will,' she began, but he grinned.

     'Won't work,' he said. 'I'm concentrating on the game.'

     'Do we have a relationship?'

     'I'd say we were working on one.'

     'Well . . . you know what Woody Allen says about relationships.'

     'Nope,' Will said, pouring out the photon torpedoes. 'What's he say?'

     Doris couldn't believe it. 'You never saw Annie Hall? You are of this planet and you never saw Annie Hall?'

     'So? I bet you never saw True Grit.'

     She laughed, and reached across the console for his hand. 'I need to get in touch with your agent,' she said.

     'How come?'

     'Because I'm gong to draw up a contract for you and me, and he'll probably want to look it over. You know how agents are.'

     'What's the contract going to say?'

     'That for the rest of our lives, no matter where we are, if one of us needs the other, the other person will be there.'

     Will Gunther smiled, but there was nothing mocking or cynical in it. 'And what'll the password be?' he said.

     'Meteor Madness.'

     He nodded. 'Meteor Madness. You got it.'

     'That way, as long as we're alive, neither of us can ever be alone.'

     Will's attention was no longer on the game; as soon as he turned from the screen, the pink saucers moved in for the kill. He reached out to Doris, and lightly touched her cheek.

     The kiss that followed was so gentle, it wouldn't have left an imprint on a soap bubble.

     And, like a soap bubble, it caught the light and held rainbows.