Dark Energy Supernova - An Anthology of SF SD Shorts

Part 4 - Full Circle

Kennedy blinked against the swirling light.  And when her eyes opened, she found herself back in the ready room on the base.  And across from her, Jasper deactivated his percussion rod and slowly lowered it to his side, the big man's expression thoughtful.

"That was,...surreal," he quietly noted, earning himself an agreeing nod from his partner.

"I'm not sure I like finding out that we're being watched by a powerful race, ready to hand out its own version of justice if it figures we've done something wrong," she rasped, the images of first the humans tearing into the zombies on the platform going across her mind's eye.  Then came the images of the reclaimers shooting those newly turned humans in the back to return them to their zombie state.

"What a horrible existence, to be trapped like that.  Neither living nor dead.  Those poor people!"

Jasper carefully replaced his percussion rod into its sheath on his back.

"Makes you wonder just exactly what they did to earn that existence.  And what we need to do, to avoid it," he mused in that same quiet voice.  He turned and took something out of his locker before beginning to make his way to the door.

"Jasper, wait.  Where are you going?" Kennedy asked, holstering her Helixes to take a half step after him.

"To start working on my report," the big man replied without turning around.  "The commander is going to have a hard time believing that we actually went through that without saying it just so."  He then held up what he had pulled from his locker.

It was an ancient style audio recording disk, made out of etched vinyl called a LP.  Such things were extinct, but somehow Jasper had managed to not only find several, but a device to play them on as well.  He had often said it connected him to the past, when Humanity was more colorful and alive.

The LP's cover had a name and an image she recognized from the hundreds of times he had shown it to her: Led Zeppelin.  It was a LP from his collection.  Not as treasured as his Grateful Dead collection, but just about.  Considering their recent discussion of Gods and judgement, suddenly the image of the angel and the stairway slowly climbing into the heavens on the cover became that much more poignant. 

"And I'm going to listen to this from beginning to end," he softly stated, finally looking over his shoulder at her.  "Because, despite all our power, I've just realized that we can't use it to buy a stairway to heaven.  And yet, there's still hope.  Because if we all call the tune, then the piper will lead us to reason.  And a new day will dawn for those who did things right here, in this place."

Then he was moving again, the door opening automatically in front of him as he did, head lowered as he read the liner notes on the back of the LP for most likely the thousandth time.  And as he disappeared down the hallway, Kennedy caught a last snatch of sound before the door closed:

"Well, I ain't always been right, but I'm never wrong.  Seldom turns out the way it does in a song.  Once in a while you get shown the light,"

"In the strangest of places if you look at it right."