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This section covers the concert played for Marita.
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A Musical Tribute
In the evening George and Kerstin with Ivan and Eva made their way to Undepoldus House. As they reached the building George said. "Hang on, something is wrong. The door isn't opening. Undepoldus usually opens up just as I arrive. It looks as if he isn't at home."
Kerstin asked. "Did you let him know that we were coming?"
George answered. "No, Kerstin, I didn't. I have just remembered something. If you look over there you will see what I forgot."
George pointed to the marquee. He said. "In a few minutes time we will start to hear Inchworm" I was so lost in thought that I forgot his concerts. Last night's concert was cancelled because of the storm. Marita, would you have told Undepoldus to continue with his concerts tonight?"
Marita's voice answered. "Of course George. The weather last night was exceptional in more ways than one so there was a good reason to cancel the concert. Tonight it is calmer and my physical presence means little to tonight's audience, so there was no reason to cancel tonight. Tonight my Undepoldus part will be able to enjoy the concert from the other side. Even for me it is a bit spooky to know that I will be there in spirit. Mind you, there are compensations in being a ghost. Ivan and Eva, I think that you will have to wait to meet my other half. Undepoldus will be busy for the next few hours."
Ivan said. "If we can get in, we might as well hear Undepoldus. It is something I have been meaning to do before he left but I have kept putting it off. Now is as good a time as any to hear him. Can you get us in George?"
George answered. "That is no problem Ivan. As far as Undepoldus is concerned, I am the number one VIP. There are always five seats reserved for me although I guess that they could soon be reduced to four."
As the four approached the entrance to the marquee, George heard a familiar voice through a marshal's communicator.
It said. "Hello George and Kerstin, I am glad that you have brought Ivan and Eva with you. I just love the way Undepoldus can use comms networks. Everything is prepared for you. The concert will start soon. It will be a new experience for me to hear the music from the other side. Even for me it will be a bit weird to be with Undepoldus in a spiritual form."
As they entered the marquee Marita continued: "It is nice to see you and I look forward to being with you all after the concert. I hope that you will like it because Undepoldus will be performing all my favourite music. I dare not show my face to you at the moment but Undepoldus will show an image of me when he introduces the concert. Now I must fade away and let him take over."
Undepoldus said. "I gather that a lot of nice things were said about Marita this afternoon. She doesn't know yet that you have honoured her passing but she will realise that it was something that had to be done. I love having Marita with me, she has been chatting with me all day. As I do not have a human body I could not experience the pleasures that you have. Today has been a revelation. Marita was able to share with me some of the experiences she has had with you. I wish that I could have saved that beautiful body of hers but I could not. Now she will have to live on her memories, but now she is with me, she will be able to savour them as often and as completely as she likes. Her memory is as good as mine now so she can remember all her experiences. I now know what it was like for her when she landed on the planet where I was picked up with some rocks.
It is nearly time to start performing so I will talk to you again later. I hope that you will like Marita's choice of music."

The concert included a lot of Swedish music, and from time to time, Kerstin let Marita take over to hear some of her favourites from the position of the audience.

As the interval started with thunderous applause, George heard Undepoldus talking to him alone. He said. "George. This is only for you. I know about Ivan and Marita's association so I want to fix it so that Eva can have a bit of Marita to use now and again. Eva will not be aware of the change but Ivan will discover it before long. Marita thinks that Ivan was a good pupil in his younger days. She confessed to me that she pushed him into sharing with Admiral Nilsson so that she would be a little more gentle with all of the students. Admiral Nilsson mellowed a lot when Ivan was sharing with her. Ivan stopped her from feeling isolated and remote. Marita thinks that she owes Ivan a debt for his efforts although he benefitted from being Admiral Nilsson's favourite. I must stop talking to you alone now because Kerstin has just said. "Why are you so quiet George?" Tell her that you were thinking about Marita's selections."
George said. "Sorry, Kerstin I was miles away. I was just thinking about Marita's choices of music. I hope that you like the Swedish selections as much as Marita does."
Kerstin said. "That is typical of you George. You anticipated what I was going to say before I had hardly thought of it myself. You are a real sweetie."
George inwardly thanked Undepoldus for his suggestion and wondered if his powers now extended to telepathy.
"Kerstin, forgive me for thinking this but I have the feeling that Marita is trying to tell us both something with her choices. She wants us to be very happy together."
"That is exactly what I was thinking George. You must be getting telepathic. I felt that it was very special music for both of us. Marita will tell you what she thinks too."
Kerstin's Marita said. "Kerstin let me eavesdrop while you were talking. I cannot speak for my other half because I did not and do not know what music Undepoldus can perform. My other half evidently does. She has chosen everything I would have chosen if I could remember what a lot of the music was called. I recognised some of the classic folk songs and Jonsson's Theme for a Space Odyssey. Undepoldus has conveyed my feelings for both of you in the way he has performed the music. I am glad that you felt it too. When I reunite with my other self tonight, I will know what it is like to be on both sides at the same time. It is strange knowing that there are two of me and we both can have different experiences at the same time. It will be even stranger later when I will know what both experiences were like. Now relax and enjoy the second half together. I won't need to listen anymore because my other half will be listening for me. See you later George and Kerstin."
George wondered if the two Maritas could talk verbally to each other. He felt Kerstin's arm around his shoulders and her soft caresses on his upper arm.

Undepoldus performed a lot of music that George had not heard before interspersed with more familiar pieces.
At the end of the scheduled music Undepoldus said to the audience. "This concert was dedicated to a very special lady who died yesterday. She was my friend and a friend to everyone who knew her. I have performed a lot of Swedish music in her honour tonight but I feel that I should perform just one encore to complete the evening. It is a jolly piece that expresses some of the joy and gaiety that Marita Andersson shared with her friends including myself. It is Alfvén's Swedish Rhapsody."

As Undepoldus performed, George kept thinking words to the tune 'This is some happy music for my Mar-it-a, Mar-it-a, Mar-it-a.' as he and Kerstin wrapped each other in their arms and shed a few tears of mixed happiness and sadness.
As George and Kerstin released each other when the applause started again, George noticed that Ivan and Eva were wiping their eyes. Undepoldus had conveyed the same bittersweet enchantment to them too.

As Undepoldus thanked the general audience for coming to hear his music, he spoke to the four separately. "You four should go to my house now. Marita and I will join you soon. I will have to stay here a little longer to talk to some special members of the audience and my crew."

As the four made their way towards Undepoldus House they discovered that they were accompanied by a robowaiter carrying refreshments for them. George commanded the door to open and it opened more rapidly than it had done before. At the same time all the interior lights were switched on to reveal a dinner table laid for four. The lights dimmed as they sat down and six candles lit the table. Kerstin was surprised that the first course was a Swedish delicacy - crayfish. Kerstin looked a little worried by it so George asked her. "What is wrong Kerstin, don't you like crayfish?"
Kerstin answered. "I do, but the season for crayfish is not until August. In Sweden we never eat crayfish in April."
George said. "I think that Undepoldus wanted it to be a special treat for you tonight. These crayfish could have come from anywhere in the world where it is the season for crayfish."
The robowaiter said. "Madam, these crayfish come from Argentina where it is near the end of the crayfish season. I trust that they are satisfactory?"
Kerstin said. "Thank you for telling me," to the robowaiter.
To George she said. "I still have not got used to the idea that Spacers regard the Earth as just one place. I assumed that all crayfish came from Sweden. I must say that they taste just as good as Swedish ones."
Ivan said. "Kerstin, it will take you a very long time to think of the Earth as one place. You will have to spend a tour at Ganymede base to begin to think of the Earth as your home. There you will find that all you can see of Earth is a tiny crescent of light in the sky when it is in a favourable position. Then you will have to spend several tours in different places on Earth. You will find that you feel at home wherever you are."
Eva said. "I still think of the Earth as somewhere with lots of different places. I have been to Lagrange Five a few times and I have been able to look at the Earth and pick out a lot of countries as it rotated before my eyes. I could see the Scandinavian peninsula quite clearly and I thought of it as quite a different place to Britain. It is just one way of looking at things from a different viewpoint."

When the main course was served Kerstin said to the robowaiter. Don't tell me that reindeer come from Chile too."
The robowaiter answered. The reindeer steaks are Norwegian and the cloudberries you will have later come from Sweden. The menu was chosen by Miss Andersson to complete a Swedish evening for you."
George said. "I certainly prefer this to a diet of rocks. I wonder how rocks taste to Undepoldus."
Ivan said. "I can't imagine how Undepoldus decides what tastes good to him and what tastes bad but I remember that he does not like glass very much. Maybe he can tell us when he arrives."
The robowaiter's voice changed to the one that Undepoldus uses. It said. "I do not taste the rocks I consume directly. I produce chemicals to break them down according to the sort of rocks they are. Some rocks like limestone are easy to break down and I do not have to produce strong chemicals to digest them. Materials like glass are resistant to all but my strongest chemicals and I find it unpleasant to have to use them. Then when the glass is dissolved, it provides me with very little nourishment with a lot of waste. I need to consume other rocks besides limestone but they do not require me to produce such strong chemicals as glass does. I understand by what you mean by taste because Marita has shared her memories of it with me. The nearest I can get to describing my interpretation of taste is to say that glass is like very bitter lemon and limestone is almost tasteless."
George said. "Undepoldus, you have been listening to us all the time you rascal. I wondered how a robowaiter would know about the origins of the food we are eating tonight. Now I know that you supplied the answers to our questions."
Kerstin asked. "Can I speak with Marita Undepoldus?"
The robowaiter answered with Marita's voice. She said. "I am here Kerstin. Undepoldus is still chatting to some of the people from Derek's construction company. I guess that it will be another ten minutes before we leave here. I hope that you have all enjoyed your dinner."
Kerstin said. "We haven't finished yet but what we have had so far is lovely. I did not know that southern hemisphere crayfish were available in London."
Marita said. "Undepoldus has only to ask for something and it arrives. It seems that thousands of people owe him a favour for the help and advice he has given them. Even more hope to win his favour for some purpose in the future. Another thing that helps is that Undepoldus is extremely rich through his trust. The sales of his recordings nearly equal the sales of all other recordings ever made. The advance orders for tonight's concert recording alone will keep his production plant busy for a week or more. I know that he has allocated the first million copies to Sweden and it seems that even more are required. I did not know what Hairy Undepoldus Music meant until I joined Undepoldus. Now I know that the recording industry is divided into two sections - Hairy Undepoldus Music and the rest. He has made 197 concert recordings and 221 selections from his concerts. Every recording has sold at least 20 million copies. The income from broadcast royalties is amazing. Now I am rambling on like Undepoldus does. It is easier to talk when one does not have to stop to draw breath."
George said. "It is good to hear that you are in good spirits Marita. You seem to be OK with Undepoldus."
Marita said. "You have got it wrong George, I am not in good spirits, I am the good spirit."
Eva said. "You seem to be happy there with Undepoldus Marita. What is it like to have your sort of existence?"
Marita said. "It is hard to say. When I had a body I thought about myself as me and my body. Now there is just me. I do not have the brain that I used to have that was slow and forgetful. The brain I have now is brilliant and I feel that there is more of me than there ever was before. I can replay my memories as if they are happening again and I can share the fantastic fund of knowledge that Undepoldus has acquired. It is a bit like being in one's own room with the ability to open the door and go into the Undepoldus room at any time. It is a bit of a novelty still. Not having any form of my own gives me a freedom I never had before. It is not like a continuous round of parties or a beautiful orgy of comfort sharing but it is nice here. If it were possible, I would have to think very hard about having a human body again. There are advantages and disadvantages being here. At present the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages by a small margin. When it comes to the vital point, if anyone gets into the same situation as I was, this sort of existence is the perfect answer. There is room for a lot more identities here but Undepoldus would prefer to choose his neighbours if his programming would allow it. We will be leaving soon and I will have to stop borrowing the robowaiter to talk to you. It has other work to do. I will see you shortly."

Ivan and Eva looked at each other, both thinking that they getting closer to the time of life when they would like to join Undepoldus if they could.

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The next section covers the meeting between Ivan and Eva and Undepoldus.
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