I Married a Heptapod

Manda and I looked at each other, and I was, like, "Don't drink anything here unless you buy it yourself, Manda, and then you gotta watch them when they pour it."

Good that we had Bluey and Mickey with us, as well as the others. They were the sorta guys that hung out in a place like this, and they were my friends, so I wasn't worried about it for myself, they'd look after me, even if some guy did slip me a roofie that I didn't spot, which wasn't likely because I did keep my eyes open, but Manda wasn't one of them, not that I was, but I was close, and they liked me. Manda? It was the first time she'd been here, she wasn't used to it, all the guys knew about her was that she was with me, and she didn't know how to handle guys like that, that weren't really interested in whether a girl said yes or no, coz Security was a bit sporadic down here, and they didn't really care what happened to anyone down here as long as you'd paid for your air, and if you didn't need air anymore they just tossed you in with the organics to use as fertilizer in the agricultural tunnels.

"Hey, dolls," Bluey said, and he'd found his way back to our table. "Band's gonna play soon, and Ziggy's just arrived. This is gonna be cool."

"Can we go, Bluey?" Manda said, and there were a few guys looking at us. Her, anyhow, because she was new, and hot, and she looked like what she was, a Level Four fuerdai girl slumming it. "I'm scared."

"Listen to Ziggy play first, Manda," Bluey said, tossing back his Jinxing Kingstar and waving for another. "I'll take care of you, doll. Promised I would."

"Yeah, you wanna stay and listen, doll. Ziggy's the most," Mickey said, sitting down on the other side of Manda, and she did look a bit happier now that we weren't alone, and the guys looking stopped looking at her, and it really was the sort of place where girls on their own were on their own, but if you were with a guy, you were okay, especially if the guys were JoeBoys, which Mickey and Bluey were, and Manda didn't complain when Bluey slid a bit closer, and slid his arm around her shoulders too, and she didn't pull away either, which was about the friendliest I'd ever seen Manda with a guy.

"Hey, he's coming on," Mickey said, and I looked, and I was, like..... "huh?"

Coz I knew right away what Ziggy was.

Not who. What.

We'd been doing current affairs that afternoon at school, last class, and it was all about the war with the Spiders, and how that was going, and there were a couple of other alien species out there fighting the Spiders, but they had their own work cut out, and they weren't too helpful to us, and they weren't that friendly, my Dad said. But a while ago, we'd found these new allies, the Heptapods, and they were far more friendly, and they sort of wanted to fight alongside us, even though communicating with them was a bit difficult, but for both of us, it was sort of a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," because the Spiders had just started attacking them, too.

That was the thing about the Spiders. Nobody had ever managed to communicate with them, and they attacked everything.

The Spiders, they were a cancer. A disease on the galaxy, and theory went right out the window, because the Chinese Hegemony's Peoples Liberation Space Navy was out there fighting and dying to save the human race from annihilation; didn't matter if they were enlightened workers or racist capitalist scum, it was us fighting that disease because we knew our duty to the workers, and as the Glorious Chairman said, the Party led on behalf of the workers, and sometimes we had to lead by example, and now it was us and a few more, coz some of the other countries dirtside like the fascist Second Americans had seen the light of the cause of the workers, and the Heptapods were sort of coming on board, although they weren't really workers like Xi-Maoist-Marxist-Leninist theory set it out.

There were rumors of a couple more species out there on top of the ones we knew about, because our Hegemony warships, they'd found traces, and Dad showed me some of the reports he got that weren't, like, for general circulation, and we'd sent out a few task forces looking for them, because the Spiders, they didn't care if you were a hero of the workers and peasants, or racist fascist capitalist scum, or revisionist running dogs, like those Russians. They attacked, they killed, and they ate you.

We'd found that out the hard way when they overran a couple of our colony planets we were busy terraforming, and they'd hit Rockwell and Neues Adlernest too, which was why the Second Americans were lined up beside us, even though they didn't like us that much, and it turned out the Spiders had eaten a couple of planets worth of heptapods too, before we bumped into each other out in space.

So the heptapods, they were our new best friends, even though they were pretty strange, and it'd taken quite a while before we could talk properly with them, and the party congress was still debating where they fitted in the greater scheme of things, because they sure as heck weren't like us at all, and Xi-Maoist-Marxist-Leninist theory didn't really have a place for them, so there was a lot of work going on there to figure out the politically correct viewpoint, and my Dad, he was one of the party intellectuals, so the Chairman had called on him a few times lately, so he was sort of totally persona grata again, and he'd kinda of struggled, I knew, because I'd watched him popping capitalist Advil like they were candies.

So yeah, Heptapod. Ziggy was a heptapod.

Sort of like a giant human-sized squid with seven tentacles, and these huge soulful saucer-sized eyes, and he just flowed onto the stage, along with the rest of the band, and he was holding a guitar in two tentacles, and another guitar in two more tentacles, and his skin was all rippling colors, and he looked really happy, although I had no idea how I knew. He just looked like he was having a real good time.

"Wow," I said, because he just flowed so smoothly, and I could see his muscles rippling coz we were real close to the small stage, and they were starting to plug in and tune up, and the drummer was already riffing, when one of the guys from behind the bar jumped up on the stage and grabbed the microphone.

"Yo, cats," he bellowed over the din, and believe me, Bowies was NOT quiet, and nobody stopped to listen, so yeah, he bellowed, and Manda winced. Me, I was used to it. Been there before.

"Yo, cats, tonight is retro night, and this is BOWIES, so the Spiders from Mars are gonna play... wait for it... ohhh yeah, they're gonna be playing old David Bowie numbers for the rest of the night..."

"Who?" Manda asked, and I was, like, what? Don't you know your musical history, but no, Manda didn't. She was into all that Cantopop stuff from dirtside.

"Bowie," I yelled to her, over the noise. "Old English singer from the twentieth century, I did a song of his at the School Concert, you know, that China Girl one."

"That was weird, Stardust," Manda said. "I mean, okay, you're a good singer and everything, but that was so old fashioned..."

"Barbarian," I said, but I didn't say it loudly, coz she was my bestie, and the cat up there was bellowing again, and I was listening, and Bluey and Mickey were just pounding the table, and I'd had no idea they liked Bowie too. Or that they'd even heard of him. I didn't know that many cats that did.

"On the drums... on the drums we got Kilgore Trout, give Trout a hand, cats... and right here, we got Weird on the keyboards... yeah, give Weird a hand, cats.... and doing vocals, we got Gilly, and ain't he good, ain't he the best, and now, the cat you've all been waiting for, the hepcat of all the hepcats, we got Ziggy on guitar, and we all know Ziggy can't sing, but cats, we all know Ziggy plays guitar... so give Ziggy a hand..."

The club went wild, and oh boy, that Ziggy, he had two guitars, and my Dad played guitar, it was my Dad's hobby, the way he relaxed, and Ziggy had a bass guitar in two tentacles, and a lead guitar in two tentacles, and he kind of riffed a background to the dude with the mike, and I was on my feet just like everyone else, yelling and screaming coz I did get a bit carried away over music, and then the cat handed the mike to Gilly and jumped off, and the band just cut loose, and Gilly was singing in English, and I knew the words, of course I did, and I was just screaming them out....

And you, you will be queen

Though nothing will drive them away

We can beat them, just for one day

We can be heroes, just for one day

We all learnt English at school, and I was good at anything language and art and music, really really good, actually, and I was singing too, as the band just went straight into that fast hard rhythm, and Ziggy had that base beat going with one guitar, overlaid by that lead guitar, and Gilly was just into it, and the drums and the keyboards were perfect, and wow, Ziggy played guitar alright, and it was totally just so cool, and I was mesmerized by Ziggy's tentacles, just blurring as he worked those guitars like they were part of him, and they were really pounding out that song...

And I, I'll drink all the time

'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact

Yes, we're lovers, and that is that

Though nothing will keep us together

We could steal time, just for one day

We can be heroes, forever and ever

What d'you say?

Oh man, it was just so perfect, and the only version I'd ever heard that could compare with what these guys were doing was that old twentieth century Motorhead cover of the song, and Ziggy, I was sure he was as good as Lemmy on that bass guitar, except he was doing Phil Campbell on lead as well, and wow, I'd never have believed anyone could do it better than them, but Ziggy was, both of them, simultaneously, and I was just rapt.

Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim

Though nothing, nothing will keep us together

We can beat them, forever and ever

Oh, we can be heroes, just for one day...

On and on and on, and I was just totally into the music, and I couldn't take my eyes off Ziggy, and those colors rippling across his skin in these weird patterns as he played, and I knew heptapods talked with their tentacles and color patterns, and those patterns seemed to fit the song somehow, and he had these big black soulful eyes the size of saucers, and somehow when he looked at me, our eyes seemed to meet and I just felt that connection, like somehow something had just reached into my soul, and we both looked and looked and looked, and those guitars, they played for me, I knew they did, and then the song ended and they went right into "Wild is the Wind," and Ziggy just killed it, and then he killed Starman, and Changes, and Rebel Rebel, and Jean Genie, and then they did Lady Stardust, and he looked at me the whole time he was playing, and I was, like, totally overwhelmed.

"Hey cats, gonna give the band a break for ten minutes, anyone with the balls to get up here and give it a try..." That cat from behind the bar was up there again, and the band, all except Ziggy, they were kicking back with beers, all of them except Ziggy, and he was just sitting there riffing his guitar, just playing on by himself, and I dunno what came over me. I just jumped up and waved, and I was, like, "I'll do something."

"Stardust?" the cat said, and he did look a bit surprised. I mean, I'd been there a few times, he'd sorta done his best to pick me up. All the regular cats that hung out here had, but no dice. I was nice about it, but this was Level Twelve. If my parents found out I'd so much as looked at a guy I met down here, forget grounded, it'd be Ganymede for sure.

"Yeah, go Stardust," Manda screamed, and she'd been drinking from Bluey's beer, which, if she was gonna drink at all down here, which I never did, except water I bought myself, was about the smartest choice, because at least it'd be his roofie, and not some cat she didn't know. I was going to have to talk to her after, though, because even with Bluey, she was pushing her luck, and I really shouldn't have brought her down here. This was just totally not her sort of club, and she was way out of place.

"Come on up then, Stardust," the cat from back of the bar said, and I was about to clamber up on the stage when Ziggy just leaned forward a bit and two tentacles whipped out about six feet, and picked me up and lifted me onto the stage like I was a feather, and he did that riff from Lady Stardust, and he said, "Lady Stardust?"

I almost had a heart attack, and then I released he had a vocoder on a sort of harness thing he was wearing, and it was a bit robotic, but I recognized the Chinese, and I smiled at him, sort of wondering if he knew what a smile was, coz there was no mouth there, just eyes, but he was here, playing in a band, so he must be pretty good at communicating, but I did wonder how the heck. I'd have to ask my Dad, but then again, maybe not, because then I'd have to explain being down on Level Twelve at Bowies, and...

Ganymede.

Nope. Not asking my Dad.

"What? Song?" he said, slowly, and his eyes just looked at me, and I was losing myself in those eyes. Great pools of jet black, as dark as the darkness of space in earth-shadow, and I realized I'd stopped breathing, and I breathed in, and my mind was blank, but there was an old acoustic guitar leaning against the side of the keyboard stand, and I just kept on looking into his eyes, and the mike that Gilly'd been using was still there, next to me, and I played the first thing that came into my mind.

Back row of the drive-in show in the flickering light

Popcorn and cokes beneath the stars

Became champagne and caviar

Making love on a long hot summer's night

By the time I was about five lines into that song, Ziggy was playing along with both guitars, his tentacles just teasing those notes from his guitars, and he had the tune, he had the notes, he had them perfectly, and it was like he knew what I was going to sing before I did, and I laid that acoustic guitar down, because I didn't need it, and I took the mike in my hand, and now I was singing to him, singing to those great black limpid eyes that I was drowning in, and I just knew that behind those eyes, there was a kindred soul.

A soul like mine, hurting, fighting, wanting something good and kind and caring, but seeking something, seeking something that I hadn't found yet, but that I knew I wanted, and that I knew was there somewhere, if only I kept looking, and I knew that I needed whatever that was, but I hadn't found it yet, but I could feel him, his soul, strong, like steel, like a sword, and I knew his was a warriors soul, a fighting soul, and I knew Ziggy was a fighter, a guardian, and Ziggy's music was the closest I'd come to finding what I was looking for that I hadn't known I was looking for, not until then, and the words poured out, soaring out into the smoke-laden air of that twelfth level dive, and Bowies, it'd gone real quiet.

Holding hands 'neath the paddle fans

In Rick's candle lit cafe

Hiding in the shadows from the spies

Moroccan moonlight in your eyes

Making magic at the movies in your old Chevrolet

Oh a kiss is still a kiss in Casablanca

But a kiss is not a kiss without your sigh

Trout was back, behind his drums, that rhythm merging effortlessly into the song as I sang, and Weird was behind his keyboards, his notes easing in as if he'd always known this song, and Gilly was humming along as the words floated out, and Ziggy, he just looked at me as I sang, and his tentacles played along...

I love you more and more each day as time goes by

I guess there're many broken hearts in Casablanca

You know I've never really been there so I don't know

I guess our love story will never be seen

On the big wide silver screen...

Singing the rest of that song, the words coming without thought, without anything, and Ziggy played like he'd always known the music, and I sang like I was singing it for him, and he played like he was playing just for me, and his eyes never stopped looking at me, and mine never stopped looking at him, and those final lines poured out...

I love you more and more each day as time goes by

I love you more and more each day, as time goes by...

Those last words, and I sort of stood there in that silence as the words and the music faded, and the club was silent for a long moment, and I wasn't really paying too much attention to anyone or anything except Ziggy, and then the club kind of erupted in a storm of whistles and cheers, and the guy from behind the bar was up there beside me....

"And a big hand for Stardust, everyone, and now the Spiders from Mars again..." and Gilly had the mike, and they were cutting into that old Bowie song, Space Oddity, and I was jumping down off the stage, and Manda was looking at me like I was some sort of superhero or something.

"Wow, Stardust, that was amazing...." But me, I was still looking at Ziggy, and Ziggy was looking at me, and I knew I had to talk to him. I had to, somehow, and I didn't know how, or what to say, so I just sat down and I kept looking at him, and Ziggy kept looking at me.

"Bluey's taking me home, Stardust," Manda said, about an hour later, and I made the right noises, and when she asked me if I was coming too, I sort of shook my head, and told her I was staying, and I did, because when I looked at Bluey, he looked back and grinned at me, and the way he grinned, I knew he'd look after Manda and get her home okay, because under that JoeBoys image, Bluey was an okay cat.

I sat there and I listened, and I watched, and Ziggy never stopped looking at me, and everyone I knew had gone, everyone except Mickey, and he was only here because I was, and I knew I had to go, and in the end I looked at Mickey and I knew I couldn't stay here by myself. Any later and Dad, he'd call Security and they'd ping my com-unit and they'd know where I was, so I stood up, and Ziggy put his guitars down and he flowed down off the stage and over to our table, rippling colors, and he stopped in front of us and straightened his tentacles until his eyes were level with mine, and he looked at me and he looked at Mickey.

"Are you pair-bonded?" his vocoder said.

Mickey and looked at each other, and "No" we both said, coz I guess we both figured out what he meant.

"Lady Stardust," Ziggy's vocoder said, and his color patterns were totally agitated, and I just knew he wasn't sure about this, but I already was. "Is it permitted for me to escort you to place of abode?"

"Huh?" Mickey said.

"He wants to walk me home," I said to Mickey.

"Yes," Ziggy said. "Escort to home of Stardust. Is this permitted?"

"Uh...," Mickey said, looking at me. "This is Level Twelve, it ain't that safe out there, cat."

"Stardust is safe with me," Ziggy's vocoder said.

"She will be," Weird said, and he'd slid down off the stage to join us. "Ziggy's a Tentacle Leader in the Heptapod Space Marines, bro. He's a Spider-Killer, he can look after himself." He looked at me. "And you, doll, you'll be fine with him. Ziggy's a righteous cat."

Mickey looked at me, and I know he sorta felt responsible for me, and I looked at Ziggy, and I knew I had to do this. I wanted to find out more about Ziggy, about the music, and the way something about him called to me, and I didn't know what it was, but I had to find out, and I knew Ziggy could look after me.