Your Favorite Band: Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood

For this installment of Your Favorite Band, Astra Elane from Atomic Bride goes on a space journey in her mind with Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. 

Hot steam jetted out of the polished chrome pipes of the young girl’s ship as she braced herself for lift off. She was told that her destination, The Earth, was only a day away by cosmicar. In the time it took her to travel there from her home planet, she could catch up on her reading, write a poem or two, practice her singing and maybe even paint a picture of the stars that dashed by her tiny window. How exciting to be on her own! The anticipations of a shiny new world swam through her head and the ship disappeared into the sky like a big red balloon.

She daydreamed. All her life she only heard tales of blue skies and golden meadows. Soon, in just a day’s time, she would see it all with her own eyes. Her imagination inspired her to write, and for the next hour she versed a magnificent song that she would one day bestow upon a special man that she did not yet know. She thought she was too elated to nap, but eager to dream, the reverie of it all lured her to sleep. As the girl drifted off she imagined a dashing man gazing deep into her eyes. She saw him take her hand and softly murmured words that she could not understand. She could not see his face, only the shadow of a tall, dark silhouette.

Hours later a bright flash of yellow light woke the child in the traveling spaceship. She was frightened! Her family did not tell her there would be a blinding flare of light during her journey. Come to think of it, they didn’t tell her much about what she would experience in the passage from one world to the next. Worry and apprehension slowly began to replace her curiosity and wonder. She tried to distract herself by singing a song, but no sound would come out of her mouth. She couldn’t hear herself! She couldn’t hear anything! She didn’t know that in outer space there was no sound. How could her family not have prepared her for this!? How would she ever make it to The Earth? Was the engine failing? FLASH!!! Another blinding ray of light pulsed through the cosmicar’s small window. What’s happening!? No one, not even she, could hear her own whimpering. The young miss fainted from fear. Silently, and out of control, the pod careened toward the face of the foreign world.

A rattlesnake silently glided between the ripples of the scorching Imperial sand dunes. Just like in outer space, there were no other sounds in the desert, no wind, no engines, no other signs of life. The girl could not hear the silence though, for she was lying unconscious, still buckled up tight, amongst the wreckage of her silver rocket ship.

The Earth rotated twice on its own axis before she woke again. She managed to disengage her harness and with a little effort, pry open the triangular hatch in the floor of her vessel. Hot air burst into the pod. At first she thought it might be the flames caused from the impact of her disastrous touchdown. But she was not burned, only startled by the heat. Weak and thirsty she descended from the cosmicar’s broken cabin, down the ship’s ladder, to the desert floor below.

Glitter in the sun turned the man’s head in the direction of the North Star. He was far away from it and couldn’t tell what it was, but he knew it was a large metallic object. A mirage? Or perhaps a fancy recreational vehicle? With a kick to the ribs he and his horse set off to the shiny beacon of light.  His gut was telling him someone was in danger. Instinct guided him through the blinding clouds of dust. He rode furiously knowing that he was chosen for this ride. A rider, a drinker, dry-mouthed and dirty, still knows when to ride.

The young lady spotted the man on the fumy horizon. She watched him as he approached. She could hear him coming! Yes! The sweet sound of pounding hooves hitting the soft sand! The crack of the leather reigns in the wind! The jangle of spurs spinning from his animal’s ribcage. The man and his horse made a cloud of dust as big as a mountain. As it settled, she was reminded of the steam that came from the pipes of the many cosmicars she had watched take off from the surface of her world.

A moment passed. He dismounted his horse.

She stood to meet this strange man eye to eye. The native tongue of this part of The Earth was not familiar to her yet, but it would be only a matter of days before she knew all languages of this world. At first, she would not speak, only listen. For the girl had much to teach these land-dwellers.

“You are just a child,” he stated. “Are you hurt?”

She did not answer in words, but still communicated her contentment.

“Where did you come from?” he asked slowly while surveying the wreckage of her craft.

Still, nothing but a suggestive smile from the girl.

“You can’t speak, can you? Do you understand me?”

Telepathically, she assured him that everything would be OK. That he did the right thing by coming here and helping her.

She gave him her hand.

“My name is Lee,” he said submissively and a little confused. “I will feed you, bathe you, and care for you.”

“Good,” she said with her mind. “And you shall call me, Nancy.”

Previously - Your Favorite Band: Guns N Roses.