I'm reading the Stardrifter series by David Collins-Rivera, and reviewing each book as I finish it. The short story Another Show at Twenty-Two is a sequel, of sorts, to the haunting Street Candles novel.
This review contains spoilers. It's a short story, so by discussing it at all there are contextual spoilers, but this review does spoil a reveal. Don't read on if you haven't read this story yet and want to experience it fresh.
The terse review of this story is that it's Star Trek's The Conscience of the King in the Stardrifter universe. I've always recognized the poetic justice of The Conscience of the King, but I admit it never really affected me. I imagine that people who lived through the political turmoil of the 1940s to the 1960s probably found the episode therapeutic.
Another Show hits its mark because we've read Street Candles. We were all there the day the worst of the political demonstrations took place. People we cared about died that day (er, that chapter, I mean. I know it's a work of fiction, honest I do).
A washed-up comedian performs at a small night club somewhere in the expanse of space. The crowd doesn't love him, he doesn't much care for the crowd. He gets a few chuckles, and some guy in the back coughs a lot. When his set is over, he gets off stage and takes a walk in the park.
In the park, the comedian is approached by somebody from the night club. It's Ejoq, and he heaps compliments onto the comedian. Great act, funny jokes, had me in stitches. The comedian is flattered, so he lets Ejoq stick around to chat.
The conversation is what you'd expect between a fan of convenience and a smalltime performer. A couple of awkward moments but mostly obligatory small talk peppered with some verbal pats on the back. Until the conversation turns because Ejoq mentions a planet familiar to them both.
THE COMEDIAN IS PAOLO.
Paolo, the master of ceremenies at one of the horrific pivotal sequences in the Street Candles novel, has left Barlow under an assumed identity. No longer a popular talk show host, he's been reduced to a circuit stand-up, writing his own material probably for the first time in a long time, and generally wearing thin as a performer.
I won't spoil the ending, but this short story had me musing about a few things.
First, it's interesting to see Ejoq lean so heavily into social engineering. I knew he was nobody's fool, and I knew he could fake his way through a wide variety of situations. But he had me going for the first half of the story, back when I thought Paolo was just another comedian. I really thought Ejoq just happened upon him in the park and thought to talk to him just to give him a little boost to the ego. Sure, it doesn't really seem like an Ejoq thing to do, but then again maybe Ejoq needed to connect with somebody for a moment. It happens to the most introverted of us.
But by the end of the story, it's clear that Ejoq followed Paolo out into the park. His "oh hey you're that comedian!" conversation starter was feigned. His compliments were hollow. He had exactly one thing on his agenda, but you'd never know it if you stopped reading half way through.
Secondly, it's interesting to see what fame does to a performer's repertoire. Back on Barlow, Paolo got deafening applause and laughter for a simple hand gesture or for just saying a familiar catch phrase from his talk show. When you reach a certain level of familiarity, you don't have to try any more. People just hand you praise almost before you ask for it, much less earned it. Seeing him around strangers, begging for a response through an act he probably cobbled together out of desperation is, in retrospect, awfully satisfying. Sure, it's more satisfying because of what he did on Barlow, but it's an interesting aspect of fame and recognition either way.
And finally, this story is significant because the sequence of events here are different than other encounters Ejoq had on Barlow. Obviously the circumstances are drastically different, and that probably has a lot to do with the decision Ejoq makes at the end of the story.
But the thing is, we don't really know why the decision gets made. We don't get that much insight into Ejoq's thinking this time around. We see the events of the story, but it's not in Ejoq's voice. We don't know for certain what causes Ejoq to do what he does. I appreciate this a lot, because it absolutely invites you, as the reader, to consider what you'd have done in his place, and why.
Like most things that happened on Barlow, there aren't any easy answers. Another Show at Twenty-Two is a short story, but it's likely to inspire a lot of thought.