THE SUN AND THE MOON
Chapter 7 — The Bug Man In Blue Jeans
If you give love you may find love, and
If you sell love you may lose love, and
If you buy love you may never have love.
He was known as The Sun, because of his radiant smile.¹ She was known as The Moon, because she was pale and cold. Her expression never changed as she went about her life.
She was famous for her multitude of marriages and the numerous scandals they evoked. He was a happy-go-lucky bachelor with no intentions of marriage. Both being born of significant houses, it was only a matter of time until they would meet. That time came when he and some of his friends attended a remembrance banquet that The Moon was hosting for her last husband. Her parties were renown for their lavishness and were always well attended. Other ladies especially vied for the party favors that she offered.
The banquet was set in The Great Dome of The Principle City.² The Great Dome was crystal clear and the night sky was beautiful with a million stars shining. The feast was perfect in decorations and the food was plentiful and delicious. Servants moved between the tables and the guests lacked for nothing.
Having feasted and seeing that most of his associates were preoccupied with the bevy of ladies present, The Sun decided to retire into the night to the local gaming establishment, so he turned to his best friend, a heretic, and invited him to come along. At that instant, The Moon glanced up from her table of honor to see them and her eyes met The Sun’s. Perhaps the challenge was obvious to both souls, but the heretic sealed it. Seeing the expression on his friend’s face he said, “Forget it, you would not last a day of marriage to her!”
Turning to his friend and smiling, he replied, “I will take that wager, my Friend. What will you offer as formal terms?”
A night and a day later, the lawyers and the odds makers had forged the gaming contract, which by that time had many names of wealthy individuals taking one side or another. And needless-to-say, everyone knew the terms, including by this time, The Moon, herself.
…
The Moon had a daily procession from her home to The Import Market having a taste for the exotic luxuries and delicacies from the other worlds. With her carriage leading the way, a half dozen or so of the city’s elite ladies followed with their servants. The workers looked on with amazement and a little disdain at the spectacle. About halfway along, The Sun stepped out of the crowd and walked toward the entourage in a clear violation of protocol. There was a gasp from both the ladies and the bystanders. One of the ladies even whispered in admiration, “This is a brazen one!”
When he approached The Moon, the servants quickly surrounded him, but she waved them away and calmly asked, “So, you want to marry me?”
“Of course!” he replied. “But you must know, I have gamed the event.”
“I know. Since you have been open with me, I must tell you that a pool of your gaming associates is offering to split their winnings with me.”
“That would make it more interesting, but you should also know that none of the winnings can be used to benefit you?”
She turned away and had a quick consultation with her personal advisor who was nearby. Turning back to The Moon, she resumed, “Now that I was not aware of, but it does make sense. It appears that I shall have to deal with a few dishonest individuals.”
Taking his cue, The Sun closed the deal, “Without a marriage, there is no contract and you will have no just cause against them.”
She was silent for a few seconds. “That would also appear to be true.”
“So, will you marry me then?”
“Yes, I will marry you.” she said coldly, ignoring the snickers from her associates over her being out played so easily.
…
On the day of the signing of the marriage contract, The Moon sat in her wedding chapel with her favorite ladies and waited for The Sun to arrive. The room was rigged and would easily contain him and his fate would be sealed. If he failed to sign the contract then he would be dishonored by his family and become less than a heretic in the eyes of the world. His carefree days would be over.
Although she showed no emotion, she was surprised when the heretic friend of The Sun walked in.
“And what is a foot?” she asked.
“I am here to witness the signing of the marriage contract.”
“Ok, but you are aware he must sign it first and he is nowhere to be found.”
“Oh, it is signed.” He produced a signed copy for her to see.
“I can refuse to sign that you know.”
“Of course, but can your reputation afford that? You would be seen as admitting defeat.”
In a rare display of anger, she grabbed the contract and quickly signed it. “Why are you cooperating with him? As I understand it you will lose a significant wager after only the first day.”
“That is true, but I stand to win either way. The Sun is splitting his winnings with me and he has made me the beneficiary of all funds that he does not personally use. In only a day or so I will break even and in a year, I could be the wealthiest person you know.”
“Clever.” she said coldly.
…
Having been denied a quick end to the game, the The Moon turned to the business of extracting damages from the gaming associates that tried to deceive her. She put out a formal complaint to The Gaming Cartel and a summons to the individuals she accused. As her courtyard filled with the implicated souls, it soon became obvious that they were all bachelors.
When the entire group was assembled and the gates were locked, she addressed them. “Let me inform you that I have warrants issued by The Gaming Cartel for all of you. I will let you buy your warrants if you can or I will execute them and sell you for domestic service for whatever I can get on The Fair Market.”
One of the less timid of the group spoke up, “My Lady, you can not actually have warrants!”
“The Gaming Cartel has agreed to provide them.”
“Have you checked the status on your complaint?”
Losing patience she turned to her advisor who was checking a communication screen.
“My Lady, we offered to split our winnings if you consummated the marriage within the first week. However, none of us would win anything in that time frame, so we would be splitting nothing.”
The advisor whispered something to The Moon and she became livid. “What to you mean? Declined!”
The gates opened and the courtyard emptied in a flash as no one wanted to tarry and deal with The Moon.
“Clever.” she said coldly.
…
The game played well for The Sun and his followers and poorly for many other souls. He never appeared at the gaming halls or any public galas as many thought he would. Some even came to think he was off world, but he did not risk using the transit terminals, he stayed close to home. The Moon for her part passed him from time to time with her procession, but never recognized his disguise as a lowly worker.
As more individuals lost their assets, a few placed new wagers in support of The Sun, but most others joined the growing army determined to expose him. Thus as the game was about to enter the second year one prominent lady who had bet a fantastic fortune that the marriage would not last a year became fearful. She used the remainder of her assets to hire a large number of the discontents and post them at every conceivable public place and she hired professional hunters to track down The Sun. Of course, nothing worked.
As it turned out, the ex-wife of The Sun’s heretic friend had never remarried and she still held his warrant. So, in desperation the wealthy lady bought his warrant and imprisoned the heretic, letting it be known that dire things would happen if The Sun did not surrender.
And being a person of honor, it came to pass that the next day The Sun came to The Moon as she led her procession, but she did not recognize him until he smiled.
“You have won.” he said.
“Not really,” she replied, “Where have you been for an entire year? And why are you dressed so drab?”
“I have been working with a religious order toiling with the righteous and doing good deeds. No one ever pays attention to a person performing a lowly service.”
“Clever again.” she said coldly. “How did you abstain from the gaming halls for that amount of time?”
“It truly was difficult. Much more so than I thought it would be. Many times I saw you pass and I wanted to jump into the street and shout ‘I am here!’ After time though, I came to find fulfillment in the toiling.”
“I am amazed. I have never dealt with one such as you and I feel I must offer you an alternative. You know what I want from marriage and although I abhor it, I will offer you the opportunity to become a heretic.”
“I can not do that, I am a traditionalist. We must do it correctly.”
For the first time in her life The Moon smiled.
The Sun spoke again, “I do make one request, can we wait just a few more days so that the dishonorable soul who imprisoned my friend is destroyed?”
“You have made me happy in ways I could never imagine. You shall have another full year of freedom, but I have a condition.”
“Yes, my wife?”
“No more stupid bets, my husband.”
…
A year came and went and everyone spoke of the scandal of it all. The dishonorable perished. The religious order received a large gift and changed their name to the Communion of The Sun and The Moon. The heretic friend of The Sun became wealthy beyond his dreams.
When The Moon held her remembrance banquet for The Sun, the crowd was so huge that The Great Dome could not hold them. Auxiliary pavilions had to be employed and there were still many left standing outside. Some of the ladies were disappointed that there were no party favors, but most understood. The Moon had kept the reproductive sac of her lover for herself.
She would never remarry, but their offspring would rule for generations.
The story has a moral: Life is short, never question true love.
End Notes:
¹ It should be noted that his species could easily be referred to as hideous in polite company and never raise an objection. Some scholars believe the very use of the term “smile” applied to their language was an obvious attempt at irony; however, the translators have another version to tell. The universal translator, not being able to associate any known facial expressions to any common words, merely assigned features based on the frequency of use in their language as compared to the common tongue. Hence, “smile” was an arbitrary word associated with a non-aggressive facial expression.
² This translation uses the XHMF format for proper names due to the impossibility of even vaguely translating the frequencies involved. XHMF translates roughly to the use of a signature mark “X” as an alternative to the actual Highly Modified Frequencies involved. Proper names are thus expressed as capitalized generic nouns preceded by a capitalized article whereas actual generic nouns have no special attention.
This story is part of the series called The Bug Man In Blue Jeans. If you view my About data, a list of all the other stories can be seen.
