Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Chapter 1: Piano

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"Careful!" Levi said, as they lifted the piano from the stage.

The drop wasn't far, but this was the only piano on the planet, and he didn't want it to break. Harper and Lully grunted their assent and they managed to set it down lightly on the floor.

"Why does this thing weigh so much?" Lully panted. "Seriously. They couldn't print it lighter?"

"I don't think this was printed," Levi pointed out. "I think this was made of real wood."

Lully peered at it with a newfound interest. Levi placed his crutches on top of the piano, so he could help wheel it down the hall of the Aeneid.

"Did you ever learn to play?" Lully asked Harper as they navigated the piano to the loading dock. Lully followed behind, carrying the bench. He had parked the hover there; hopefully it would be easier to lift the piano that way.

Harper scrunched up his face, shaking his head.

"Absolutely not," he said. "Ugh. I was more interested in anything else. Mostly tekcom. Why, are you hoping to get lessons from Levi?"

"I think I'm a bit busy for that," Lully remarked. "And even if I wasn't, I don't think I'm coordinated enough. Speaking of, we still need to plan that dance party. We talked about it, but then I think we all got busy."

"I'm not doing anything until Cameron says so," Harper declared. "I have learned my lesson. I think it would be a sunshine idea. The base is just steeped in...you know."

Sadness. Despair. Anger. It had only been a little more than a cycle since Landing Day and there wasn't anyone who was unaffected. Still Levi wanted people to have a chance to forget all of that and be reminded that there was a lot to be thankful for. They didn't have to behave like their parents.

"What you should do, Levi, is learn how to play some of your holo-rib tunes," Lully suggested. "Then we could sing along. Or rather, Esperanza can sing along; no one lets me sing."

"You sound like a broken holo-rib trying to cry," Harper joked. "What are we doing for lunch after this?"

"Is Esperanza free?" Levi asked. "We could invite the girls, have lunch at my place. I think I have everything for baked potatoes."

They paused the conversation to lift the piano over a broken panel and then continued to the door. Lully wormed around the piano to set the bench down, helping guide through the narrow doorway. The hover wasn't much farther.

"I'll message Cameron when we get closer to the base," Harper promised. "Seasons, this piano. It better be the most impressive thing I've ever heard, Levi. Because it's cursedly heavy."

"I thought you worked in builds," Levi laughed. "You can't lift a piano?"

"Bite me," Harper grunted. "You owe me lunch, Levi Hark."

It took a moment of finagling, but they got the instrument strapped in the back of the hover. Lully passed down Levi's crutches and they clambered into the seats. Lully started the hover as Levi got his legs situated and the crutches placed where they wouldn't rattle.

Walsh had worked with Vertov to print braces for Levi's legs, and while they were extremely helpful, Levi couldn't move quickly without the crutches as well. Still, he had more freedom than he did in a wheelchair and he was grateful to Walsh for his help.

"Oh no, we have to get the piano out of the hover," Harper groaned.

"I have cheese and bacon for the potatoes," Levi told him.

Several conflicting emotion flickered across Harper's face until he settled on determination.

"You know my weaknesses," he admitted.

"We all do; it's lifting pianos," Lully laughed.

Levi rested his head against the seat, looking up at the lavender sky. It was hard to believe they only had a couple days until the next earthstorm; it was so beautiful out. He was glad they had made the trek.

"Merci for helping me with this," Levi told the two men. "There's no way I could have done this alone."

"Anytime, Levi, you know that," Lully said. "And this got me out of cleaning our berth today. I love Esperanza, but I don't believe that the bathroom needs to be scrubbed every week."

"And it's good to have an excuse to get outside," Harper agreed. "Didn't Ibsen say this earthstorm was going to be a bad one?"

"Impossible to tell since we only have data on two earthstorms," Levi complained. "And the last one was mild. Regardless, you're right. It's good to get some sun."

"Add some freckles to your face," Lully teased.

Levi made a face at his friend as they pulled up to the base entrance. Lully and Harper moved the bench first and then came back for the piano. Levi untied the straps and helped push it to the edge of the hover. It didn't take as long to get inside the base as getting it out, and soon they were pushing the piano down the corridors and getting strange looks as they did so. Levi had petitioned congress to put the piano in the meeting hall, which they had agreed to readily. Everyone was looking for a way to reclaim the room from its memorialized state of horror.

"No one knows what this is but you," Harper noted.

"Esperanza knows," Levi protested. "Surely, some other people played it in the century it's been sitting there."

The meeting hall's lights were off and the room felt sterile and unused. No one went in here. Levi moved to get the lights so they could navigate the tables and chairs Lully's eyes flickered over the seats before he focused his efforts on the piano.

"Please tell me we're not putting it on the platform," Harper begged.

"No, just out of the way is fine," Levi said. "Here."

They moved it against the back wall and Levi set up the bench, lifting up the cover to touch the keys.

"It's out of tune, of course," he said. "I'll have to figure out a way to tune it. But this is what it sounds like."

He found the sheet music he had played four years earlier when they had first gone to the Aeneid, and just found out about the Canary. Even thought he had been in cryo for most of that time, it still felt like ages ago. He was rusty, but enjoyed playing. The base needed more art and music and beauty; Levi had been fighting to add poetry and music back in the curriculum. Congress was divided on its use, and Levi hoped that the piano would help sway them. Harper and Lully listened through the whole song until Levi was done, replacing the cover over the keys.

"Oh." Harper remarked. "Worth it. I concede."

"So, lunch?" Levi suggested. "We can meet at my berth in twenty minutes? I want to swing by Alcott's berth and invite her too."

"Sunshine," Lully said. "See you in a bit."

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It begins. Kicking it off with a bros chapter, because we can always have a little more bro with these fellas. They are pretty hilarious when their ladies aren't there to rein them in, right? Thanks for reading!