Dick pauses mid-stream, looking at Jackie over his host glasses.
“Baby… wanna take a music break?
What’ve you got lined up for tonight?”
Jackie, velvet-soft voice with a slight tremble—almost a whisper:
“Well… I’ve got one more song… from Nova Liría.
She wrote me a letter…”
She opens the holo-screen. Her voice wavers slightly with excitement.
“‘Jackie, I’ve been listening to your broadcast.
I see you’re a fan of the Saga Of Code.
So I decided to make a gift for you
and your listeners.The song “Hundred years of me”
— from Saga Of Code.By the way… I invited Laze—
the one you know so well
as TWO PACKS SHAKER.And if you want—
play our hip-hopera cover
made specially for you
and for our fans.✨💖💫 with love,
NOVA LIRÍA.'”
Jackie rubs her hands together, like anticipation just took over her whole body.
“So… Dick. Should we play it?”
Dick took a small sip of Johnny Wanker™ straight from the bottle, then replied in his baritone:
“Baby… how could I ever say no to you? Go for it.”
When the symphony faded, Dick exhaled—like there was a drunken cosmic philosopher living inside him.
“Baby… people used to be so damn short-lived.
Heh… a hundred years of me…
Back then, that was eternity.
Now?
Now people live to a hundred and fifty like it’s nothing.
And the record holder?
One-ninety-two… and still won’t drop dead.
Like he’s doing it out of spite, just to piss off statisticians.”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose, thinking.
“Here’s the sad part…
Life got two, maybe three times longer.
But did the meaning grow with it?
Or did we just stretch it across three lifetimes
and still waste every single one…
leaving behind debts, emptiness…
and walls that remember more than we do.”
Dick glanced at Airi—then remembered Zeros.
“The ones like Airi-chan… and Zeros…
they’ve got eternity.
Time like dust in space.
And still… you wouldn’t say they’re any happier.”
He shook his head, snapping back into host mode.
“Alright… what the hell am I doing.
That’s enough philosophy for one drunk-ass evening.
Yeah, life’s hard…
but we’ve still got a trash planet to fly to.
Let’s get back to our idiots.”