The stage hand pointed down a flight of stairs. Rivqua and Zana looked at her.
"We're going to be in the basement?"
She nodded, "Sure!" and started down. "This is the Grand Galactica, right? Top of the Toss Vague-Ass show line. I mean, we do 'em all here. The full spectrum of entertainment. Music shows, like you guys, are what most people think of. But we also do circus-type acts. You know, with animal creatures, the whole teeth-and-claws bit, and that requires special handling. Then there's the effects-heavy magical shows. We get the holographic dance troupes, droideville acts, you name it. All right here in this ballroom. That puts certain requirements on the facilites here."
"Are you like a tour guide during the days too?" Zana asked as she and Rivqua followed her, hands on both railings. The steps were steep and heeled boots made them more so.
"You guessed, huh," replied the stage hand with a laugh. They reached the basement floor. There was plenty of standing room under the stage. They passed rods and pneumatics clustered behind protective cages, the podium machineries. PA amps flickered in racks. The stage hand stopped somewhere under centre stage.
"Stand here," she said and pointed to a square on the floor the size of a family dining table. "This'll take you up through the stage. The song starts, lights come on, and up you come out of the floor. Cool huh?" She grinned with excitement.
Zana and Rivqua stared. Striped tape outlined the steel rectangle.
"How fast does it rise?"
"It's not a catapult if that's what you're thinking. You won't come flying out of the stage floor like ragdolls out of a cannon. You'll rise up nice and slow, into the lights."
"Emerging like goddesses out of the bowels of the earth," Rivqua said.
The stage hand clapped her hands, "I like that!" and laughed again. A true tech nerd, this one. Loved the heavy duty gadgets.
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