Editing Pop Music

== Pop Music ==

<br/>
'''Scene:''' Common room on the Summer's Gift. Rina is working at the table, numerous pieces of paper and diagrams spread out in front of her.  A noted and relatively new pop star named Rush (surely a pseudonym) sings his top hit, "Betrayed."  The words, for those listening to the catchy tune, are:<br/>
<br/>
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''It is not fair I have to live this way''<br/>
''whenever I went to her house it was either her way or the highway''<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(background: ''her way or the highway'')<br/>
''when the rest of her friends come over she always left me behind''<br/>
''why can't we all just combine?''
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'''Chorus:''' ''Friends are supposed to treat friends equally''<br/>
''this is just not fair, one day I will not be there.''<br/>
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''She better beware because next time I am there I am going to give her''<br/>
''a piece of my mind I always let her rule me I guess I was too shy''<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(background: ''I guess I was too shy'')<br/>
''But this time I won't let her be a wise guy''<br/>
''friend why do you do this to me I never did anything wrong''<br/>
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'''Chorus:''' ''Friends are supposed to treat friends equally''<br/>
''this is just not fair, one day I will not be there.''<br/>
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''I guess in your mind I don't belong''<br/>
''just remember I was true A true friend always to you''<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(background: ''A true friend always to you'')<br/>
''But I guess we didn't blend''<br/>
''I'm sorry friend But this is the end I guess I never was your best friend.''<br/>
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<td width='20%'>&nbsp;</td>
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'''Chorus:''' ''Friends are supposed to treat friends equally''<br/>
''this is just not fair, one day I will not be there.''<br/>
</td><td width='20%'>&nbsp;</td>
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<tr><td colspan='3' align='right'>taken from [http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/friend/poetry.asp?poem=12790 My Unreal Friend] by Jessica Lamb used without permission</td></tr>
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<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden walks in about half way through the song and pours himself some coffee.<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rina looks up from her notes and frowns at the speakers.  "''Diermo''," she says.  "Can we find anything more depressing to slit our wrists to?  ''Christ''."  <br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden looks up at her, then at the radio.  He shrugs, "I kind of like it.  Catchy."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She slaps her pen down and walks over to the Cortex console as the DJ announces, "'Betrayed' by the fast rising pop stat Rush.  I understand it's biographical in some...." His statement fades as Rina starts going up and down the music channels, looking for something else to listen to.  <br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden is stunned for a moment and overfills his coffee cup, forming a small puddle of coffee on the countertop.<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She finds something techno, not too bouncy but not to droney, and settles back down with her papers.  She's got some diagrams and schematics and she's marking them up pretty heavily.<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden is muttering to himself, "Well, I guess *that* figures."  He pulls off a few paper towels and begins to clean the mess up.  "He said he would be famous."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rina looks up from her work.  "You know this guy?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden looks up with a wry grin, "Yeah.  I know him.  Went to college with the... well, not nice person.  He never liked me though."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rina raises a brow at Arden, saying, "It's okay to swear in front of me, Arden.  I won't call home and rat you out if you do."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Old habits," Arden says.  "The sort of drilled it into you in the crèche."  Arden drinks a bit of his coffee.  "Whatcha working on?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"My dream dascha," she snorted. "Actually, it's something a little more practical.  I'm running up plans for a shuttle bay.  Since it seems likely that we're not going to be in the business of running cheap bulk cargo, we might as well protect our investment.  The shuttle's perfect for those small, discreet, and ''lucrative'' packages you want delivered ASAP."  She sighs and gathers up her papers and taps them into a tidy stack, rubs her eyes.  "If I were smart, I'd be doing this on the CAD board.  Old habits, as you say, die hard."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;She drops her hands and puts her feet up, and looked at Arden.  "So, you said you knew this bastard?  What did he do to you?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden pulls out a chair and sits down, "Russell, that's Rush's real name, Russell Kiling, was in my dorm back in undergraduate days.  He was a year or two ahead of me and the BMOC if you're familiar with that term."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden pauses, and then plunges ahead, "I never did anything to him, or rather I never did anything intentional toward him.  Before I got there, he was the center of dorm life.  He threw the best parties, got the best girls, you know the drill.  The guy that has it all and has it made and never had to work at it?  Anyhow, one of my first days there I won an intramural martial arts tournament and the announcement of my win coincided with something he had accomplished.  After the fact, I found out that all the attention went to me instead of where it rightfully belonged," Arden grins. "You know, to him.  Russell.<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"And somehow that established a pattern.  Any time I did something that got attention, won a martial art match, aced my premeds, or anything else, it happened to overshadow Russell's efforts at that time.  He took it personally, not sure why, but he did.  And a couple of mutual friends told me that he held a grudge."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"'Big man on campus', huh?"  Rina frowns and crosses her arms.  A muscle twitches on her jaw.  "I know the type.  And they rarely let things lie at the grudge-holding stage.  Generally, they act on it.  Does this tale have an ending, happy or otherwise?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"He graduated, I went to Grad school.  You know Life," Arden says.  "This was the first I thought of him in years."  The doctor pursed his lips, "No.  Wait.  I seem to remember that when I was in med school there was some talk of him making the club tour on Osiris.  If I recall, it took a while for his career to get going back then.  But if he is the pop star Rush, I guess things worked out for him."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden grins, "So I guess the ending is one of those petering out things.  I mean, what's the chance of running into him in the places we go?"  Arden leans back, "I haven't seen him in… oh, more than 10 years.  I doubt he remembers me."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"I doubt that.  You're not easy to forget."<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden laughs, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  These days I am beginning to want to be as anynomous as possible what with blowing up factories, infiltrating government facilities, and make unknown deals with people that we don't know that well.  I think I want to be forgettable, know what I mean?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Speaking of which," Arden says more seriously, "We never have talked about what happened back at the vet hospital at Hera.  Do you want to talk about it or wait until we get Christian and Nika in here too?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Are you shittin' me?  You're tall, dark, and handsome.  And without that damned sense of entitlement that most handsome men have.  It's more than a good thing, Arden.  It's refreshing."  Rina put her feet on the deck and stood up.  "As for the rest of it, yeah, we should.  But I'm checking Mike first.  Didn't you have him for the day?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Arden looks away the color in his face rising in embarrassment.  He clears his throat, regaining his footing, "Mike's downstairs in the cargo area right now, I think I saw him grab some magazine that was lying under Potemkin's bed, you know, that stack of … literature we stored in the closet in case we needed kindling or extra toilet paper?"<br/>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Oh, ''really''?" Rina's tone goes frosty and then warms again.  "Call the others and meet back here in twenty.  Does that suit?"<br/>

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