"It had to be Cubicle!" Ruff said.

"Seems likely," Nizumi replied.

Tumble only nodded and poured himself a Tanqueray and soda from The Fly Honey's well-stocked wet bar.

"Which is why I have my doubts," she finished.

"I don't doubt anything," Ruff said. "That sucka's been bitin' my rhymes for so long, he finally decided there was only enough room for him in the game. You've seen his numbers. He hasn't gone platinum in two albums. Homeboy's jealous." He looked up at Nizumi. She was pacing the titanium floor as she always did. "You got the Meridia authorities involved, right?"

She shook her head.

"What? Why the--"

She held up her hand.

"That's not the only reason I have my doubts." She walked over to the communication console and docked her ID cube. Sanchez's face flashed on the screen and Ruff knocked over a pair of half-empty cocktail glasses on the table besides him.

Next to him was the girl from the front row. Her face was smeared with eye shadow left behind by poorly wiped tears.

"Sanchez, tell him what you told me," Nizumi said.

Sanchez spoke. "She says she saw who fired the shot."

Ruff's jaw was slack. "No shit?"

"No shit," Sanchez said.

"Well let's hear it!" Ruff said. Tumble nodded his head quickly.

"Mr. MC Ruff, I...When...I..."

She swallowed, or tried to, but her tongue was tied. Ruff was anxious to find out what she had to say, but he knew she needed to feel comfortable first.

He tried to put on a congenial smile. "Take a deep breath, girl."

Her chest, graced by a tank-top bearing an image of Ruff and Tumble's first album cover, rose in an exaggerated manner.

"I'm only telling you because--"

"Yo, you don't need to explain. Just tell us who did it."

She sighed.

"It was Derek."

"Derek? Who the hell is Derek?"

"My boyfriend."

"It wasn't Cubicle?"

"What? Was he there?" Her face lit up momentarily. So much for fan loyalty.

"Have you told anyone else?" Nizumi interrupted.

"No," she replied. Her voice was choked. "I thought I should--"

"Good," Nizumi replied. "Did anyone else see him?"

"I...I don't..."

She was growing flustered again. Ruff stepped in. "It's okay. Look, don't fret, girl. Do you know why he tried to shoot me? I mean, I know a lot of peeps didn't like our change of direction on this last cut, but damn..."

She shook her head and her face lit up. "Oh no, Mr. MC Ruff! We both love Broke No Mo'. It's one of your best yet." There was that gleam in her eye that he saw earlier at Chubb's.

"So why'd he do it? Tumble was cuttin' so hard. Ruined his flow, man."

Tumble scrunched his eyebrows and looked indignant.

"Derek's a good dude," the girl said defiantly. "Something...I don't know. It was like he snapped. As soon as the breakbeats kicked in on the last song, he stopped moving and got real stiff. Then all of the sudden..."

"All of the sudden what?" Nizumi asked.

"You're gonna think I'm crazy." She looked at Sanchez.

"Tell 'em what you told me." he said.

She paused for a second and took another deep breath.

"I swear, it was...a laser shot out of his eyes. Or his eye. His left eye." Obviously still in shock, she was searching for the right words and memories. Ruff felt some sympathy for her, but then remembered he had to be on his guard. She could still be lying about this whole thing.

"Where is he now?" Nizumi asked.

"I don't know," she said.

If she was acting, Ruff thought, she was pulling it off.

"I lost him as soon as the crowd panicked. After the shot, he seemed to...wake up. He was still dazed and I backed away from him." She shook her head. "I was so scared, I didn't know what was happening. And then these big security guys pushed through, knocked me over, grabbed him and took off. I could barely stand up, the crowd was just going crazy. Even when I got to my legs, they were so shaky and there was a mad rush to the door."

"Security guys?" Nizumi looked at Sanchez.

He shrugged. "Not us," he said. "Chubb's lead says none of his guys were involved. He shamefully admitted none of them were even on the floor at that time."

"What did they look like?" Nizumi asked.

"They were just...big. It was too dark to see and they had helmets on."

Ruff could practically see the synaptic connections forming in his head of security's mind.

The girl continued. "By the time I got outside, Derek was gone. I asked everyone that was still around but no one knew anything.

"When I saw him asking questions," she indicated toward Sanchez, "I thought you guys would know where he was. I even hoped it was a part of the show."

"I had her call his ID cube," Sanchez said. "It's registering as disconnected."

The tears came bursting through again as the girl broke down.

"Come on now, girl," Ruff said. "We'll find out what's going on. What's your name?"

"Nina." Or something that sounded like that. Hard to tell through the sobs. "I don't know who really tried to hurt you tonight, Mr. MC Ruff, but I know it wasn't Derek. He would never try to hurt you. Or Tumble."

Tumble smiled.

"Sanchez, Metsk is already on his way to pick you up. We'll talk more when you're back on The Fly Honey."

The screen shut off and Nizumi stepped in front of Ruff.

"She telling the truth?"

"We have to assume so." She shook her head in disgust. "Chubb's didn't even have their feeds running, so we have nothing to verify. It probably would have been useless through all of the smoke, anyway."

Ruff sat down again, exasperated. He noticed Tumble was already on his third cocktail.

"I'm glad to have you, Nizumi," he said.

"Don't be. You were almost killed."

"You couldn't have--"

"It's my job."

She was always too hard on herself. A trait that made her sometimes miserable to be around but, Ruff supposed, good at what she did.

"And you know what makes me most nervous?"

It was a question not expecting an answer from anyone but herself.

"You two are playing to a sold-out crowd at Ruebos in two days. After tonight, I'm supposed to keep you safe at one of the galaxy's largest festivals? Between now and then, I need to figure out who's got it in for you."

"We," Ruff said. "We'll figure it out. Look, I ain't frettin' over it."

Artists were used to lying.

Tumble shook his head in deep contemplation while his knees bounced nervously up and down.

"Man, what happened to the days of dissin' on records and battlin' on the mic?" Dado chimed in. "Now we got fools shootin' lasers out of their eyes? On the last track, too! You guys were tearin' it up."

Nizumi looked at him. "I'm going to sequester myself, turn up my nanobuds, and get to work. Let me know when Sanchez and Metsk are back." She walked off toward her quarters, her bootsteps echoing along the corridor.

Ruff contemplated what he should do next. He was shaken, but didn't want to show it in front of his crew.

A call was coming into his ID cube. He really had no desire to talk to the guy on the other end, but he knew he couldn't avoid it.

"Ruff, what the fuck is going on over there? You okay? I heard about it on the feeds. I can't have my prime source of income bleeding out on the floor of some little piss-filled club. You know how I feel about those shows. And what was Nizumi doing? She ought to be fired, Ruff. I'm sorry, but there's no excuse here. Nope. I know you have this thing for her, but if she can't--"

Ruff turned off the audio feed, but didn't hang up. His head hurt and he poured himself a gin and pineapple soda. After a couple of sips, he hit the button again.

"--and if you think that I'm going to let you play at Beat Street Fest without some extra security, you're fuckin' mad. Fuckin' mad!"

Ruff noticed his manager wasn't concerned enough to call the whole thing off altogether.

"We'll be fine, Sharky."

"Fine?" Ruff could almost see his manager tearing his hair out in clumps. "Fine!? I've made some calls, Ruff. Got the Meridia 7 police involved. Also filed a report with the Federation. I can't believe Nizumi didn't even--"

"Enough. Nizumi is why Tumble and I are still here. No one expected something like this to go down."

Sharky spoke in a low whisper, as if it made a difference. "Tell me, who do you think did this?"

"I really don't know. I mean, this girl's saying it was her boyfriend, but then I know I saw Cubicle in the audience."

"Cubicle? Well there we go. I'm going to call his manager. This shit has got to stop."

Ruff leaned forward on his elbows over the tiny table. "Look, Sharky, I don't know it was him. It was dark and smoky in there, but it seemed like it."

"Take care of yourself. Get some rest. Stay in orbit for awhile. I don't want you going anywhere, doing anything, until I meet you on Ruebos. That goes for Tumble too."

"Okay, dad."

Tumble snorted. He couldn't hear the conversation, but Ruff was sure he had a good idea at this point who was on the other end of the call.

"This ain't no joke," Sharky said. "You do what I say if you want to keep being relevant."

Ruff pulled away from the ID cube and scrunched his eyebrows at it like it was Sharky himself.

"See you in two days, pops" Ruff said and hung up.

He chugged down his cocktail, bid everyone a good night and headed back to his quarters.

Stripped down to his leopard-print underwear, Ruff spread himself out over his most welcome gold satin sheets.

What came next? They would arrive for rehearsal a day before the festival kicked off. He had a lot of faith in Nizumi, but it had been a long time since he had been shot at, let alone on stage. None of the story made sense, so far. Lasers being shot out of eyes. Some dude that may have been Ice Cubicle stalking them from the club floor.

Ruff fell into a restless sleep, dreaming intermittently about being a young man again. He was playing a block party with Tumble behind the tables. He wore a red Kangol hat, Adidas low-tops whose replicated blacks and whites were even deeper and brighter than the original issue, and a gold chain with links thicker than his wrists. Cardboard was scattered throughout. People clapped their hands while the breakdancers spun in circles and did their thing.

Ruff was about to kick off one of his favorite rhymes when the ground shook and people started to scream. He looked at Tumble who was wobbling around, trying futilely to keep his LPs from flying off the table and smashing into the concrete.

"Get up!"

His eyes stung. He needed more sleep. Nizumi stood at the foot of his bed.

"What?" he said. "What's up?"

"Unscheduled landing. The engine's burning up."

"Overheating?" Why did she need to wake him for that?

"No, it's literally on fire."