TRANSGALACTIC TIMES (28)
::FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE::
SUBJECT: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: LADY METEORITE/MARTA GREEN ON JUPITER JIVE
BY STAFF WRITER ANNO DAI'I
When young Marta Green left Ithir thirty years ago, she randomly selected the Zzaresk System as the place where she would reinvent herself and start a new life. She invested her life savings into an abandoned warehouse, some lights, and her first body mod: color-changing eyes. Over the next decade, she built her exclusive nightclub and entertainment emporium from the ground up, using a clever combination of investors, patrons, and business smarts to promote DiskoPunch across the galaxies.
With her extensive body modifications and fashion that pushed the bounds of both possibility and decency, Marta, now known as Lady Meteorite, has been a fashion and nightlife icon for over twenty years. However, more recently, she has become even more famous as the only person who publicly and knowingly admitted Jupiter Jive and the Jivers into her business.
As outrage and obsession swept across systems lightyears apart, Lady Meteorite has refused to comment every time reporters have approached her to speak out on her most notorious patron. However, when she walked into my office without an appointment, I immediately cleared my schedule.
In person, it is easy to see how Lady Meteorite has always commanded every gathering she attends. She is a tall woman with dark skin that is covered in swirling silver designs that shimmer and move with the light. Her eyes are mods, bright, currently crystal blue, and have sparkling, swirling effects that are mesmerizing. She is dressed simply, in a black Lou J jacket and perfectly tailored trousers, but her platform heels are encrusted with diamonds.
I would be lying if I said that speaking first came easily.
ANNO DAI'I (AD): "Lady Meteorite, first, can I say what an honor it is to finally make your acquaintance."
LADY METEORITE (LM): "I suppose."
AD: "Well, we are incredibly grateful that you've chosen to speak with us here at Transgalactic Times. What made you change your mind?"
LM: "I felt that the wild rumors spreading about one of my most loyal patrons needed to be challenged by some facts."
AD: "I see, and what do you think about Jupiter Jive?"
Lady Meteorite is silent, her eyes continuing to spiral until they change to a pale lavender.
LM: "That's complicated. Jupiter Jive has been a patron for nearly ten years, and what they do outside my establishment isn't really my business. Jupiter Jive is a thief, yes, but he or she is first, a performer, which I myself relate to. With galaxies and thousands of lightyears now open to us, it's easy to feel lost or unimportant. Some of us just try harder to be seen."
She laughs and gestures to herself. Her manicure is also tipped with small diamonds, coordinating with her priceless shoes.
AD: "Have you ever conversed one-on-one with Jupiter Jive? You've certainly known each other long enough?"
LM: "Multiple times, but less than you might think. Jive is notoriously shy in conversation, though their dancing belies it. And sometimes "Jive '' or the person playing them, is a man, sometimes a woman, sometimes indeterminate, sometimes alien. The identity seems to shift amongst the Jivers in public. However, I think the real Jive is only ever seen on the dancefloor, at the peak of the night, when everyone is too intoxicated or ecstatic to even focus on them."
AD: "Fascinating! So why do you think the dancer is the real Jive?"
Her eyes sparkle, and it isn't the mods. Something in her face suggests that even this experienced businesswoman isn't completely immune to Jive's spell.
LM: "The dancer is different from the others. Wild, single-minded, as natural as breathing. I don't think they care about anything else. To watch them is enchantment. After midnight, when the lights go up and the beat drops, they appear . . . there's nothing like it. Hours fly by. Sometimes they join the crowd, sometimes they join the DJ, or sometimes they take the stage and challenge clubbers to dance battles. Any type of music, any style of dance, it doesn't matter. Maybe they aren't always the best dancer, I'll say it, but they are always the best performer. I've seen Jive do splits and backbends, drop like they were shot, seem to reanimate, and pull out magic tricks and illusions like fire or smoke. Jive is the greatest performer I've witnessed in my entire career.
She shakes her head, her eyes wide with appreciation. "It's just really something to see."
AD: "Have you ever had trouble with Jupiter or the Jivers?"
LM: "Never. They pay in advance, and tip well. They treat other clubbers and staff with respect and courtesy. They're just there to unwind and have fun like everyone else."
AD: "What about Peace Keeper forces? They've made multiple statements about DiskoPunch and 'harboring Jive' since the news of Jive's patronage came out."
LM: "I am aware. I gave them my official statement, and it remains the same. DiskoPunch is a haven, a safe space. There are just three rules: No violence or weapons on guests, No private business transactions, No admittance without an invitation"
AD: "How did the invitation system start?"
LM: "With the beginning of DiskoPunch. I wanted somewhere to have a safe party with my friends. I also wanted to run a club that was the peak of style and comfort for any visitors. We're up to only about one thousand members, and nightly capacity is around three hundred. I don't plan to expand either, and after the leak, there was an extensive purge."
AD: "What do you think about the accusations that such exclusivity allows only the rich and corrupt a safe space?"
LM: (Swears) I'm sorry, but that's preposterous. They are all friends or friends of friends. Security is premium and highly skilled. My clubbers may live different lives I might not approve of, outside my walls, but inside my walls, they follow the rules or get permanently banned. Rank, titles, and money aren't how you get a membership at DiskoPunch."
AD: "So do you feel guilty or tempted enough to try to expose Jupiter Jive. It sounds like you might be able to?"
Lady Meteorite seemed surprised and offended by this question, and it took her some time to form her answer.
LM: "The way I see it, Jupiter Jive, outside of DiskoPunch, has nothing to do with me or my club. Inside the club, as long as they follow the rules, I uphold our contract: absolutely no personal information revealed."
Her voice is calm, but she is tensed to leave, so I resolved to steer from the script that corporate had hurriedly drafted when she arrived. She frowns at me and my crew before continuing.
LM: "Even this interview was a risk, as close to a breach of contract as I will ever come. However, Jupiter Jive themself authorized me to speak, and they sent me with a holo message for your net watchers."
She pulls a small silver disc from her suit pocket, and you can hear the collective gasp of the staff. This was not expected and not in the interview notes she provided.
LM: "May I?"
AD: "Of course!"
The holo-message materializes, about 1 meter tall and in full color, displaying a full-body sending of someone who appears to be Jupiter Jive. Tall, long-legged, with flowing hip-length hair that fades from blue to purple, Jive is wearing a long golden coat, tailored, flared green trousers, and a loose white shirt with a thin slit. Around their neck is a light-green scarf, and the upper half of their face is covered by a golden mask. Multiple necklaces and earrings twinkle like stars through the feedback of the holo.
"You might wonder why I'm choosing to speak to you." The voice is distorted, impossible to trace. "You might not care."
The holo bows, "I'm Jupiter Jive. And you must have millions of questions for me. Sadly, I don't have time to answer. But I will tell you why I dance, and why I steal. I dance because I must, but I steal because I can."
Despite the distortion, there is emotion in the holo's voice. "I dance because that is what I know. I dance because it is the greatest high, the purest freedom, the peak of experience. I dance to become myself. There is no Jupiter Jive. Jive is a feeling, a ghost, a construct. So stop trying to catch me. I don't exist." The holo bows again, and dissolves into glitter, ending the transmission.
(Holo-message can be viewed in full exclusively on our channel)
Lady Meteorite and I are both silent for several moments. I wonder if she watched the note before, or if this is her first time seeing it.
Finally, I put what I am feeling into a coherent thought.
AD: "But that's beside the point, isn't it? Regardless of who or what Jive says they are, someone still stole countless numbers of priceless artifacts, relics, and other objects under their name. Despite the few that have been returned, someone, or many someones, still have the rest, or disposed of them somewhere. Does Jive think the Galaxies won't hold them accountable?"
Lady Meteorite gives an elegant shrug, putting the holo disc on the table between us.
LM: "It doesn't concern me what or who Jive is. They are my patron. They have brought joy and excitement to my club, and they have never pocketed so much as a napkin. How the Galaxies hold them accountable is meaningless to me. I know nothing, and I will continue to know nothing."
She rises, towering over me as I sit and stare up at her. Her eyes are swirls of silver, hypnotic and alien looking in her sculpted face.
LM: "Am I entirely clear?"
I nod, because what else am I supposed to do? This interview is apparently over. No one on my crew makes a move to stop her when she leaves.
I hear later that the Peace Keepers showed up to detain her. They didn't find her or even see her. Money and power like hers is hard to come by, and even the Peace Keepers can't buy off her friends.
I don't know how I feel as I write this interview. But that silver disc sits on the table, waiting for me to watch it again.
I watched it ten more times.
Who are you Jupiter Jive? And why are we so obsessed?