Cara thought out loud. And Thien and some of the older band members including their electronics expert, Nicolas, hurried over to confer. Because this band really was something of a front. They had been recruited, given roles. But the phenomenon that was the Singer of Terandria had started and stopped with Cara.
The [Singer] smiled. And Rae, relieved, nodded. She stepped back. And as Cara stood up, her band looked at her. Thien, Nicolas, Rae—even Greg. The [Singer] turned her head; even through the soundproofed magic, she could hear a dull roar.
A pair of backup [Singers], native Terandrians, grabbed the microphone. They joined Cara and two members of her band. And she disappeared behind a screen. Came out strutting. With a hat and casual suit. She grinned as Thien began to lay down a fast beat.
Thien left his drumset. He grabbed another drum. Terandria had a lot of the instruments that Earth did. Not the same, but close. No pianos, which is what Cara wanted, along with some brass instruments and electronics, obviously.
But then the [Singer] began to sing. And Thien grabbed the drum and a large, rounded mallet. He hooked the drum to his front. Because he wasn’t using a normal drum, a drumline. And he began a rhythmic beat that went through the ground.
Cara motioned, and her backup singers nodded. She pointed, and Thien stepped off the stage. The [Bodyguards] fought to clear them a path, but the [Singer] cleared the path herself. Her audience moved back as she walked with her band, following Thien.
Cara motioned, and her backup singers nodded. She pointed, and Thien stepped off the stage. The [Bodyguards] fought to clear them a path, but the [Singer] cleared the path herself. Her audience moved back as she walked with her band, following Thien.
Thien brought his drumsticks down hard and the audience jumped. The backup singers shouted into their microphones. And Cara’s voice went lower. Growling. Screaming.
And the person on the other side was also from Earth. Not that they’d ever spoken to him. Greg, the [Guitarist], had tried, and Thien had put him in a headlock. The [Drummer] knew the score.
Abebi was one of the oldest, with Thien. She’d seen some real sights. But even she hadn’t known Cara from the beginning, only after the star had risen quite a ways on her own. She listened now to a name she’d heard once or twice—and then usually with a lot of explicit language.
