Beauty in the Bones: Season 1

Episode 39 (Part 1) Tidings of Discomfort and a Ploy

"Goooood evening, ladies and gentlemen. Coming live to your holo-display from the GMG Chrome Angel Towers on the glorious colony of Celestine, this is the Society News Hour. Introducing your host, the daring, the candid, the audaciously fashionable, Mr. Salinger Reid!"

Mr. Reid's face appeared, his smile and pompadour shining with his obnoxious brass microphone. He winked and waved. Jazz intro music jounced in cadence with the camera cuts. Images of celebrities and aristocrats flipped between, marking the show's most momentous coverage throughout its nearly five decades of airtime. The Society News Hour was almost as old as the War itself, and yet it remained more of a gossip and lifestyle broadcast than genuine news. Tonight's episode was different, if what Reuben and Tamsin said was true. 

Gerald and I lounged in the common room at Lyons House with Reuben, a large bowl of buttered popcorn between us. The holo-display cast a brash blue and silver glow along my friends' profiles.

"Welcome to our pre-Yule broadcast, friends across the worlds! We have so many amazing stories for you tonight. Absolutely stunning." Mr. Reid glanced over his shoulder at someone off camera. "Yes, and one is rather...unusual. But first, the latest on the garish split this week between socialite Gertrude Kaylis and lev-field mogul, Peter Makulich."

Gerald sighed. "You'd think with this big news they'd skip all the fluff and get right to it."

"It's just how GMG does things," Reuben said with a shrug. "Most of our viewers care more for the antics of vacant-brained actresses and heirs than the serious goings-on. We have to please the masses first."

I grabbed another handful of popcorn. "How typical."

"Why can't you just tell us what it's all about?" Gerald asked.

"Not my style to spoil a moment that's sure to set both of your families' company far ahead for the foreseeable future," said Reuben.

Gerald tossed a piece of popcorn into his mouth and crunched loudly. "Alright, then. I hope it's all that. My father has no love for the Prynnes, so I'm sure it'll make his day."

We chatted through the first segment, and the dull commercial breaks. Then, at last, Mr. Reid adjusted his tie before the camera, the studio lights glistening like stars across his sequined suit jacket.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have most fascinating news. An anonymous parcel arrived here at our headquarters on Celestine last week. And what information it contained! I'm sure you all will love to hear this letter which arrived with the most scandalous files."  He put a pair of spectacles on, and unfolded a piece of paper. "It reads: Dear Mr. Reid and staff of Gable Media Group; my identity is of no concern, but be certain I am a viable witness. I have close contact with the upper management and executive board members of Lovejoy-Prynne, and have been privy to their inner circles for many years. For reasons both moral and personal, I present to you this evidence of illicit business dealings on the part of Vice President and Chairman Mr. Miles Prynne. I've smuggled this out of the company database, at much risk to my own person. Please review the material, and present it on your broadcast for all to see. The worlds must know how such a scoundrel is endangering free society with his selfish endeavors, and as such he must answer for his treason and greed. Signed, A concerned citizen."

Gerald's eyes and mouth rounded in shock, and he spilled popcorn across the floor. "What the...are you joking? Mr. Prynne's in hot water?" He laughed. "Oh, this is sweet. What has he done, I wonder?"

I waved a hand to silence him. "We're about to find out."

"Here is the first of several shocking security cam files and document files we received," Mr. Reid said. "All have been verified as authentic, and bearing the official signature code of Lovejoy-Prynne. Whoever sent these has access to highly confidential levels of the company. We can only guess who it is, but this pales in importance when you see the magnitude of Mr. Prynne's duplicity."