Our Tune (short story)

Our Tune was the seventh story in the anthology Iris: Fifteen. It was written by Ross Douglas. It featured a future incarnation of Iris Wildthyme with black hair.

Summary
The date is 15 August 2015 and Iris Wildthyme is in the headquarters of the Ministry for Alien Incursions and Ontological Wonders. A senior officer is outraged at something that Iris just offered to a group of bloodthirsty aliens via radio. Iris slaps the man and says that what she did will save the Earth from the aliens. They receive a broadcast from the aliens that says that they accept Iris' offer of a gathering on Saturn's moon.

The next day, Iris prepares a party at the temple of the Lord of the Clock using decorations and food supllied to her by MIAOW. She smiles as she sees a large spaceship land outside.

Two days earlier, Iris is playing a game of multidimensional poker against some bloodthirsty aliens. She loses, and the price for losing is death. To save her skin, Iris makes a bet with the aliens: in two days time she'll throw them a party with mountains of alcohol and she'll make MIAOW pay for it. The gamblers take the bet because they all hate MIAOW and Iris creates a recording that she tells them to transmit the next day. She then hops into her bus sets course for MIAOW headquarters.

Characters

 * Iris Wildthyme

Worldbuilding

 * The MIAOW senior officer compares MIAOW's communications technology to a broken Commodore 64.
 * Iris' birthday is 16 August.

Continuity

 * A Naxian is among the aliens that Iris plays poker against. (AUDIO: The Sound of Fear et al)
 * MIAOW first appeared in PROSE: Mad Dogs and Englishmen.