Chapter 4: Ziggy Played Guitar

“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...

I, I will be king

And you, you will be queen

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 you, you can be mean

And I, I’ll drink all the time

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.

I, I wish you could swim

Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim

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.

I fell in love with you watching Casablanca

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

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.

I thought you fell in love with me watching Casablanca

Holding hands ‘neath the paddle fans

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...

Please come back to me in Casablanca

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

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...

... Please come back to me in Casablanca

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 there 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.