Quiet Piggy: Close

It was six in the evening when I met with the members of Quiet Piggy and their solitary roadie. The meeting place was Rick's, a restaurant slash nightclub popular with apparatchiks and corporate types. I'd put Ziggy's axe in an old rifle case my grandfather had left me, it fit snuggly inside. I drew a dirty look from the maitre'd as I entered but once I explained what was in the case and why he just waved me through into the main bar area.

Rick was behind the bar cleaning a glass and gazing out over the patrons who at this time were few.

Quiet Piggy in fact made up the bulk of the places population and they all had the good sense to get a drink, which would have made Rick happy. I waved to Denny, then went to the bar and nodded to Rick.

"So Zane, haven't seen you in a while. How's things hanging?" he said.

"Hopefully pretty good Rick, give me a glass of Glenmor, neat," I said. He nodded and poured me my Scotch then passed the glass to me. I gave him a few bills and got change back. Glass of Scotch in hand I headed over to the table where everyone else had gathered. I placed the rifle bag on the table gently, took a seat and then took a swig of my drink.

"Is that what I think it is?" Ziggy said, there was a gleam in her eyes.

"It is indeed," I said and unzipped the bag, flipping the cover open to reveal her axe.

"So you couldn't recover the original case?" Nate asked.

"Fraid not," I said and took another sip. "Was it important?"

"No, not at all," Ziggy said. She extracted her axe and was gently cradling it like a mother cradled her newborn. She looked both happy and releaved at the same time. As if a great burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Glad to have been of service then," I said and knocked back the rest of my dram. "If either you or Denny can drop by in the morning at some point and Evie can talk you through finalising things."

"Sure no problem," Ziggy said. She put the axe back into the case then zipped it up. Then she and the rest of the band thanked me. After that we chatted for a while, they finished their drinks and then left. Ziggy wanted to practice, to get her rhythm back now that she had her axe returned to her. I waved goodbye then watched them leave. James remained behind, she nursed her drink and stared at me as I made my way back to the bar.

"Same again?" Rick asked.

"Give me a draft and whatever she's having," I said and I gestured at James.

Rick poured the drinks, I paid for them then carried them back to the table. I sat down and pushed the Tequila Sunrise over to James, she nodded her thanks. I took a swig of the draft.

"So what now?"

"What do you mean?" she said as she finished her first Tequila Sunrise.

"Do you know you're a dead ringer for a woman who is a Gunnery Sergeant in the Exploration Command Marine Corps. Special Ops type, trained for infiltration and intrusion, only her name is Tatiana Jablonski not Tania James."

"Maybe my doppleganger?" she said with a smirk. "By the way how'd you track down Jablonski?"

"Trade secret," I said. "You're the spitting image and yet she was born sixty years ago, circa 2176 CE, you don't look sixty plus. So I'm curious was she your mother?"

"I don't really know. Someone found me in a cryogenic tank in Dyson's Landing roughly a dozen years ago. I don't have any memory of anything other than that moment. So for all intents and purposes I am who I am, a veritable babe in the woods."

"So why were your curious about the case?" I took another swig of the draft. And watched her, watched her the way a vodyanoi watches a dog capering along the river bank.

"Ziggy's guitar has a storied history, the case apparently has a secret compartment, it's larger than a usual case. I was told that it contained something that could give me a clue to my missing memories."

"Did you ask her?'

"Not really, I had been hoping to get a look at it during a gig but that chance is gone."

Her story seemed preposterous, yet the records Evie had accessed indicated that the woman seated across from me was a decorated EXCOM Marine Corps soldier in terms of appearance. Still over the last ten years I had seen a great many weird things, Who hadn't on this world? Little did I know at the time that this would be the moment when I would end up forming a partnership with her. And that as a result of that act there was much mystery and mayhem that would unfold as a result.