Chapter 15 : The Newsman

“Go to cell 188. She’s going to vomit now, zoom in on that.”

Grinko, the colony’s leading newsman, spun round in his chair and beamed a smile at Jack and Crystal, showing a perfect, sparkling set of teeth. Grinko's teeth were undoubtedly his best feature. His thin graying hair was swept back and matted to his scalp with sweat. It looked like he had been stuck in that seat, in front of a wall of screens, for years. His fat had set into the chair like jelly in a mould, and extruded at little through the gaps at the side. His face was fat and round too, with skin stretched over it as if he were being gently inflated from within. His baggy shirt, cut from a luminous blue fabric and covered in big white silver stars, said that he wanted attention, and he seemed to be getting it continuously as assistants hovered around him and whispered messages discretely into his ear.

“Princess !”

Grinko held out his arms to Crystal, and as she leant down to greet him he kissed her on the cheek.

“I knew you’d come back to me in the end”, he said dramatically.

“Jack and I are friends, and …”

“You’re a couple ? That‘s great news, you two can come on the show tonight and talk about it”, Grinko said elatedly. H ereturned his attention momentarily to the array of monitors.

“Cell 749 - the doc says the old woman will probably be dead by tomorrow. She looks about ready to go. I want a deathbed interview. Get Minky over there and this time I want tears from that girl. Minky’s supposed to be an actress. Put some pressure on and let’s see what she can do.”

Jack thought he recognized a cadaverous face on one of the screens. It could be the woman he had seen briefly through the window on his first night in the habitat. There was a tube inserted into her neck now and she lay completely still.

Grinko turned to Jack. “Why don‘t you let me plant a camera on your ship ? I can cut a deal with you on that. Our sponsors will be very interested.” Grinko waited a moment for a response, and noting Jack’s disinterest, tilted his chair back and laughed loudly at the ceiling.

“Who watches this crappy show ?”, Jack asked.

“We have an audience of ten to twelve million. On Earth of course - we don’t broadcast it here. It’s a show about us, not for us. This habitat is a microcosm of human life, Jack. It’s a daring effort to build a new world. Birth, procreation and death. Joy and despair. Triumph and degradation. We distill it, package it, and sell it to people whose lives are gray and predictable.” Grinko had dropped the theatricality and was now focused and businesslike. “Our channel is really the only export we have. It’s serious money and the government needs it. But they want to present a sugar-coated version of the colony. They set the balance of the show, so for every death and divorce I have to broadcast hours of domestic trivia and dinner parties. If I could only crack this place open and show the shit in there, we would really make it big.”

Crystal had wandered to the opposite side of the office and seemed to have found an old friend.

“Hey Princess”, Grinko shouted. “How’s that house I had built for you ?”

Crystal turned and looked angrily at Grinko. Struggling to find an effective rejoinder, she raised a fist at him instead.

“Hey Jack, can I put a camera on your ship ? A feed there would boost ratings, I’m sure. I can pay well. What you you think ?”

Jack rolled a chair over and sat down. “No it’s much too sensitive. But listen Grinko ... I’ll let you put a reporter in there and do some interviews and look round. There’s no charge. The Fleet is a service, not a corporation. But you should get Crystal to do it – that would make a better show. She can show viewers around. I can’t, I’m terrible in front of a lens.”

“Yes Sir, Captain Buffalo”, Grinko said with a salute and a smile. “You must travel a lot, Jack. Are you going to settle down here with Crystal, or fly off and leave her heartbroken ?”

Jack found the question disarming. He wanted to ignore it but couldn’t stop himself looking at Crystal, as her lilting laughter rose above the office chatter. For a moment he was transfixed by her shapely figure. Unexpectedly she threw a glance at him, and a playful smile. Jack looked at Grinko again, and decided not to answer but instead to stare him out. The contest ended when the newsman turned to give another camera direction.

“That’s enough of that little brat in 550.”