Soul of a Gambler

Part III - "Something To Lose"

Jax had terrible habit of waking up in strange places, and being awoken by unpleasant sensations. This rough morning was no different. The strike of a leather toe-cap pushed a little too hard into the soft meat by his kidney roused him from the utter nothingness he had slipped into on the barroom floor. He slowly opened his eyes, thankfully the room was still the same dim color as before he had fallen asleep and he was spared the stab of bright light into his already pounding head. He took a sharp breath and yawned, then rolled onto his back and sat up.

Kuria was staring down at him, well groomed and refreshed, wearing a red tie over a white shirt and black vest but no jacket. "Are you going to be alright?"

No. Jax thought, rubbing the red spot on his forehead the floor had left. "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. Your boss has some strong shit. You uh, ya' got any water? Something to get rid of this headache?"

He stood and stretched his arms up over his head and leaned back just a little. Kuria, out of her consideration for his rest, had already gone about taking down all of the chairs from the tables before deciding waking him. She went behind the bar and pulled a glass from beneath it, and used a variable dispenser to rapidly pour him a cup of water. His legs, commanded by his desperately thirsty body--Alemorii wasn't meant for humans, after all--propelled him thoughtlessly to the barstool and he sat across from her while she went about filling decanters and bottles from larger containers and setting them behind her. He took the glass of water in a shaking hand and brought it to his cracked lips, taking a slow drink of the wonderfully refrigerated water.

He tried thinking back to last night, he remembered the briefing okay. Blue, Red, and White stuck out clearly in his mind even though he wished he could forget White's know-it-all tone. They were going to find and steal a thing from a barge on an upper ring spaceport, then he drank the glowing booze and his memory lost all focus from there.

Had he seen his mother? He swallowed, relishing the sensation of the icy cold spreading throughout his desert-dry chest. Maybe he had. He remembered hearing someone yell, but thinking back with a sober brain it was probably just some transient that had been sleeping in the alley outside. But the voice knew his name, and the shape had her face. The more he thought about it, the more his thirst grew. Not his thirst for water, but for some chemical--any chemical--that would make his brain just shut up.

"Hey, uh, Kuria?" He asked after loosening his tongue with another swallow of water, "Got anything to eat?"

The bar girl knew the question was coming, and with a very professional smile she slipped into the back of the bar.

How far back does it go past Keres' office? Jax thought to himself while downing the rest of the water. The place had a kitchen, but where? Did it matter? He decided it didn't when she came back with a sandwich on a plate. Cut diagonally, just like mom used to--Stop! There it was again, the line of thinking that ended in the bottle. He put such thoughts away and took the sandwich, and took a slow, almost zombified bite out of the corner while Kuria busied herself with the other tasks on her opening docket.

"Where's Keres?" He asked between mouthfuls of sandwich.

Kuria didn't turn, continuing to go along the back wall of the bar refilling bottles and setting the empties on the countertop. "He will not be in today, he is overseeing his other venture."

He didn't need to be told what she meant. "Where? I wasn't given a rally point or anythin', just upper-ring spaceport."

She sighed in frustration and rapidly tapped one foot against the fake hardwood vinyl behind the bar. "Because like everything else around this damn bar I am supposed to accomplish that too! Not enough credit or coin in the Empire some days I swear."