This is set in the "Tales from the Blind Pig" universe.
With Kerry at work and me permanently at home (per the court’s request, which was accompanied with a leg bracelet and a radio link), I had a lot of time on my hands. I tended to stay in full morph more often, even though I have absolutely no time limitations anymore. I also napped a lot more, which I am sure is not healthy. I had set up a meeting with Mr. Ecker, an author who is writing an analysis of the Phoenix Riots. How he figured out where I live and the adventure I had in escaping the riots, I will probably never figure out. He contacted me about a week ago to interview me about my part in the disaster that left the United States with one less member, and a sizable portion of land that was now considered 'hostile territory' to almost anyone. Normally, I will not do interviews. Especially interviews without Kerry being present. But he wanted to speak with me alone, and he also wanted to interview Kerry alone and both of us together. So, I talked it over with her, and we decided to do the interview. I figured that it would at least set the record straight about what really happened in Arizona.
The AVIS system I had installed at the Ranch also functioned as a very
irritating alarm clock, and woke me up at 14:30 as requested. The interview
was at 16:00, which gave me enough time to give myself a quick run through
the shower, and make the 'standard' phone calls that the court dictated me
to make. It's annoying, completely useless, but I had to comply with it if
I wanted to remain out in the 'real world', instead of drugged to insensibility
and locked in a zoo cage for the remainder of my life. (which was looking
to be pretty damn long, all things given.) Kerry was in her usual black
humor when I called:
RING A LING!
"Hello?" Hi Kerry, it is me. "Kitty! How ya doin? Been sleeping again?" Yes.
Sam woke me up for the meeting, and I just got out of the dryer. I wanted to
make sure you were coming home as promised. "Yep." And the 'other' thing,
as well. "Oh. The usual? Feeling sane? No killer instincts? No desire to plow
through buildings?' She said the last part with an amused tone in her voice.
'Yes, Yes, No, and No. Silly lady.' "Coming from a silly kitty, I'm hurt.
I'd love to chat, but the band just walked in. Gotta run. Love ya." I replied
back, and hung up.
I had about ten minutes to go, so I moved some chairs out of the kitchen in order to provide Mr. Ecker some room to set up his recording gear, and also tidied up the place a bit. Then Sam signaled that someone had entered the perimeter. the monitor in the kitchen switched to one of the outside cameras in the parking area, and I saw a male human get out with a small bag and head to the outer door. I made sure that the table was cleared save for a pitcher of water and a glass. I then put the voder on and dropped to my full-morph form as the doorbell rang. The intercom turned on, and after a quick exchange, I popped the door and instructed Sam to lead him to the kitchen where I was lying on my bench.
"Mr. Tiger?" The gentleman asked as he entered the kitchen's dining area, and saw me. "Just Tiger" My voder rang out. "That's a very good voice print on your voder. I almost thought you didn't have one, during our phone conversations." I nodded. "The print is very close to what my voice was. but enough pleasantries. I understand you are here to hear me tell about my adventure escaping from Arizona?" Mr. Ecker nodded. "Very well. Let me make one last phone call while you set up your equipment, and we can get started." I stepped down from my bench, and went into a small-ish room of the main hallway. Nudging the door closed, I muttered, "Sam, record this entire meeting if you have not already started." Sam acknowledged, I stepped out of the cloest into the main living room. "Sam, call Kerry's cell again." There was a happy sounding chirp, and then a ring. "Kerry here." "Kerry, this is Kitty, Mr. Ecker's here, and we are starting. You might want to cut out and head home if possible. Can you pick up some oranges on your way?" There was the briefest of pauses, and Kery responded. "I'll be home in about 30, depending on traffic. The band that showed up wanted the nickel tour. They were impressed with the Nazi net, by the way. And I'll stop by the local store and get some oranges for you as well." She hung up, and I padded back into the kitchen. As I passed by Mr. Ecker, I caught another whiff of what had set me off initially. It was something I had smelled a long, long time ago... but I shook it off. He had his equipment set up: It was an old style audio recorder which uses the old SD cards. Sure, it's outdated, but the standard is still supported and the stuff lasts forever. I notice that it's a bit beat up, but otherwise it looks like it's been well taken care of, at least. I get back on the bench, and get comfy. “Where would you like to begin, Mr Ecker?” He grins slightly, and starts.
"We all know that the Riots were directly caused by the fact that the Arizona State Legislature passed the SCABS Re-location and Compensation Act of 2008, despite the outrage of the entire worldwide SCABS community, the Federal Government, and several large businesses that had set up R&D facilities in Arizona. The Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff SCABS populations came out in force the day after it was signed, and were promptly met by and equal amount of Anti-SCABS supporters, as well as a large amount of police forces who made a futile attempt at keeping the peace. It was mostly peaceful, until someone in the Anti-SCABS camp started shooting. We also know what the result of that shot was. Over 100 dead, mostly peaceful SCABS who were either trying to get out of harms way, or were shot by the police or the supporters. The retaliation from that one incident not only sparked incidents across the country, but started a flurry of riots and general anarchy in the Phoenix area for three months afterward. What I'd like from you is a narrative from your point of view, and later Kerry's point of view, as to what happened from the week prior to the act being passed to when you left the state."
This was agreeable, and I went ahead and started. "We were lucky, in a way, that we got out before the worst could befall us, although we did have an incident about 40 miles from New Mexico which bears telling at least. The studio was planning on moving out anyway for a variety of reasons other then the legislation, but when we found out that the bill was due to be put up for a vote, the studio accelerated it's plans. A week before the vote was scheduled, we had everything all set and ready to go in case we had to move out quickly. The owner had made arrangements with the leasing company to break the lease early with only a moderate penalty (We were originally going to leave in three months, so that was the penalty assessed to us.) In the city... tensions began to grow. There were more anti-SCABS incidents, which for Phoenix was actually quite unusual.The police went on the news about two days before the vote urging people to accept the results peacefully. We had heard about the protests, obviously, but decided to work on getting out of there if the vote went against us instead of walking down to the capital building. The studio had a staff meeting about it, actually. We all agreed that it would have been tactically dangerous to go down there, and focused our efforts into packing up the equipment, sorting what could be abandoned, and getting out if it turned ugly. The day of the vote was somewhat anti-climatic. there was an overwhelming police presence on the streets which kept crime to a non-existent level, and when the vote came in, the entire studio decided to work without pay getting the critical stuff packed up that night. The law would not take effect for two months, but we had decided that everyone needed to be out well before then."
I paused the playback at that point, as I saw that Alex was writing down questions on a pad of paper. "You want me to answer those now, or when the whole thing is over?" I asked. He shook his head. "Later, when it's over. Is that why you stopped playback?" I shook my head no. "I have to use the bathroom, actually. 'Bio-break!'" I stated as I stood up and wandered to the facilities. The break was about ten minutes, in which we both went, and I brought out a fresh pitcher of water, and some more popcorn. We both got settled back in, and I resumed the playback.
The first night passed by just fine. The reports from everyone the next morning was that of a tired bunch of critters. Most of us had spent the night packing. Grumpy stated that he'd allow us to take an hour break in the morning to handle any personal business, but that he wanted everyone to stay in the building, primarily for safety. The big roller shutters stayed down those days, and everyone helped break down the equipment and pack the stuff that we were moving. We had about ten empty pallets in the back of the building, and by the end of the day, all ten were filled and wrapped up for the moving company to pick up and deliver to the storage facility in the city that we were relocating to on the east coast. We kept a few systems online at the studio to wrap up operations for a month, but the recording gear and the internal network was the first thing that was taken down and packed up. In addition to having a moving company haul the large stuff across country, a small group of us (José, Grumpy, Kerry, and myself) had rented a 40 foot truck for our trip. Grumpy picked the truck up the second day, and spent it with José getting his studio apartment packed. The owner of the studio was already back east getting a suitable building to move into along with making arrangements for getting a block of suites for most of the crew to move into temporarily. I had already made a scouting expedition some months back during a conference, and had purchased a suitable house and also stumbled upon an excellent deal on a 100 acre lot that turned out to be ideal for the plans I had forming. Grumpy had a place set up already, as did José: they both had family back east that agreed to take them in while they found something.
The second night was more interesting. The rioters had apparently taken time to plan things out, and there were a few incidents over night. John Q. Public saw very little of this, but for the most part on TV it was all analysis of this and that from various and sundry talking heads on CNN. The third morning, we stayed at home, and about 9am José and Grumpy came by with the truck. We spent a quick 30 minutes loading up, and drove into the shop in a caravan: Kerry in the lead, the truck, and me on my bike. José's bike was stowed nicely in the truck, and we had rented a car hauler for Kerry's car once we were ready to go, which was sitting in the back area of the studio. We still had a few small things to pick up there, and by the time we got done it was about three pm. The rest of the crew were making their way back east already, the voicemail on the company's phone had been turned on, the web site's 'closed for moving' set up, and the leasing agent had told us to mail them the keys. We had just finished loading up the server and the last computer when a police officer came by with full lights and sirens. "You folks better clear out. there's an angry mob heading this way, and they are out for blood. Y'all had better get the hell out of here, or barricade yourselves inside." he got back in his car and started back off. Grumpy had been carrying a case from his office, and right then and there he set it on the ground and opened it.
"I brought these in from my house. How good are you three with firearms?" The case held four Glock 21 pistols and eight magazines, each fully loaded. As he handed each of us a pistol and two mags, I noticed that the trigger guard had been modified on two of them to allow a large finger (or paw) to access the trigger. I dropped the magazine, cleared the slide back, and reloaded the pistol. Kerry looked at it like she'd been handed a dead fish. "I've used a shotgun, but I don't know how to operate one of these." José was just staring at his. Grumpy rolled his eyes. We'll load the motorcycle in the truck, and then drive out to my place. We'll get loaded up tonight, and strike out in the morning. José, you are with me, We'll lead. Kerry, follow me as best as you can. Tiger, you ever shoot anyone?" I shook my head no. "Well, I hope that won't change. You seem to know how to use that. If anyone starts being too aggressive or fires, fire back, and shoot to kill. No warning shots, you hear? Alright?" I nodded blankly. "Good. I'll explain when we get where we are going. Let's move, people!"
Mr. Ecker had interrupted the image of me on the TV and asked me who Grumpy and José was. "They were co-workers, Mr. Ecker. I think that's all I should say about them." He looked slightly disappointed, but asked me to continue. As he did, I caught another whiff of that odd scent again, but I just could *not* place it. Anyway, I shook my head to clear it and continued. We got out of there just as the mob turned the corner. Fortunately, we managed to lose them, and got out to Grumpy's place just as night was falling. His place was pretty large, and out in the middle of nowhere. We spent the night loading his stuff, and also getting checked out on the rest of the weapons he had in his armory. We finally got to bed around 1 am, and got up around 8 am. Grumpy had the TV on, and they showed us the burned out section of town that we had came from. The studio was one of the few places that didn't burn, namely because it was a solid brick building with a lot of stuff to keep people out. "HA! That's my work there!" Grumpy exclaimed. We all looked at him strangely. "The leasing company didn't know it, but I made just about the entire outside and roof of that place fireproof. Looks like it paid off, too. Anyway, Today we are going to do the practical checkout of your firearms, and then we are going to hit the road. I've already talked to the boss, he said to take our time and be safe."
At this point, I paused the playback again. It was approaching 2 am, and we were both tired. "Let's pick this up in the morning, shall we?" Alex yawned, nodded, and wandered off to bed. I told Booster to save the spot on the playback, and, turning off the lights, went to bed myself.
Onward!