Sheentastic Voyage

by Gary D. Snyder

Epilog:

The following day Jimmy, Cindy, and Libby were sitting in the Candy Bar, eating sundaes and talking while Goddard dozed beneath the table. "Thanks for offering to treat us to some ice cream, Jimmy," said Libby.

"Well, I figured it was the least I could do considering everything that you all went through," Jimmy replied. "I would have done it yesterday after I got you and Sheen back out but it took me a little to bring all of Vox's other systems back on-line and run through the start-up diagnostics. I'd forgotten how many systems there are in that lab."

"Sheen offered to help you with that," Cindy reminded him.

"Yeah, well, I think I'm going to wait until I put a few more safeguards in before I let anyone else use my system." He looked around them in curiosity and turned back to Libby. "By the way, where is Sheen?"

"He had…umm…had something to do," Libby answered evasively, looking somewhat embarrassed. "He should be here in a little while."

"Is he writing those suggestions that he said he was going to send to that game company?"

Libby looked relieved at Jimmy's question. "Yes," she answered quickly. "That's what it was."

Libby's expression and the speed of her reply told Cindy that, whatever Sheen was doing, it wasn't that. She decided not to pry for the moment and risk embarrassing Libby in front of Jimmy. Besides, she thought, I'll find out soon enough, one way or another.

"Hi, guys," a familiar voice called. "I'm back."

"Oh, hi, Carl," Jimmy returned. "Back from Llama Camp already?"

"Yeah," said Carl said happily as he slid into the booth next to Libby. "It was so cool. There were classes on llama grooming and llama riding and llama training and –"

Cindy couldn't resist a sarcastic interruption. "So I'm guessing that everything in Llama Camp had something to do with llamas?"

"No," Carl retorted defensively. Then, in a meeker voice, he admitted, "Yes."

"Well, at least you didn't have those one of those lame arts and crafts classes," Libby commented.

Carl nodded eagerly. "Oh, yes we did! I took llama pottery and llama weaving and –"

"I said 'lame', not 'llama'!" Libby objected.

"Oh. Right." Carl looked thoughtful before speaking again. "Oh, before I forget, I saw Sheen a few minutes ago and he asked me to tell you something. He thought you'd understand."

Jimmy smile wryly. "Did he want to hold her hand?"

Cindy snickered at this but Carl missed the reference and continued with a straight face. "No. He was at the comic store and said that –"

"That's okay, Carl," Libby interrupted. "You can tell me later."

Carl refused to be put off. "No, I'd better tell you before I forget. Sheen said that they were all out of Ultra Lord Adventures but that he'd get you The Adventures of Ultra Lord and that he hoped it would be okay."

Libby buried her face in her hands as Jimmy and Cindy began laughing. "Thank you, Carl," said Libby, her voice flat.

"You're welcome," Carl replied happily and headed to the counter to place his order.

Cindy managed to catch her breath. "You actually wanted to read an Ultra Lord comic book?" she teased Libby.

Libby re-emerged from behind her hands and sighed. "Yes. After everything I saw when I was in the system I decided that maybe I should try to understand this whole Ultra Lord thing a little more since it was so important to Sheen."

Cindy stopped smiling and looked suddenly empathetic. "That is so sweet," she said. She glowered at Jimmy. "How dare you laugh at her like that?"

"But you –" Jimmy faltered.

"Forget it, Neutron. You have all the sentiment of an adding machine." She turned back to Libby. "Go on, Libby."

"Well, it was Sheen's conception of Ultra Lord that eventually saved us. I used to laugh at Sheen a little because I always thought he lived his life in some kind of ridiculous dream world full of unrealistic ideals. But then when I saw what Ultra Lord was without them, I began to see just how important those ideals can be." Libby looked thoughtful. "I guess in a life without dreams life is just a nightmare."

Cindy looked impressed. "Wow. That's pretty zen-like. Who said that?"

"A lot of people," Jimmy put in, "but this is the first time I've heard it put that way. I guess I'll have to remember that."

Libby spooned more ice cream and syrup into her mouth. "So what was happening out here while we were in there? You two really didn't say anything yesterday."

"I felt it wasn't the right time," Jimmy replied. "You two had been through a lot. But I suppose that it's okay to tell you now. With all the power you and Ultra Lord were pulling during your final battle the reactor was on the verge of overloading."

Libby stopped with her spoon halfway to her mouth. "I take it that was bad."

"Very bad," was Cindy's somber answer. "Jimmy nearly launched the lab into space to prevent the explosion from destroying Retroville. We were about thirty seconds from launch when Jimmy decided to cancel the plan. About ten seconds before the reactor would have overloaded things suddenly began to correct themselves. I guess that's when Ultra Lord sacrificed himself."

Libby swallowed another mouthful of dessert. "It sounds that things were just as hairy out here as it was in there."

Jimmy shrugged. "I had some good advice to help me. But it was hairy."

"Yes," Cindy agreed. "Still," she continued after a moment's reflection, "I admit that it was kind of sweet when Jimmy hugged me when he thought we only had a few seconds left to live."

Jimmy had been nodding in agreement with Cindy's narrative but suddenly glared at her last statement. "What?"

Cindy looked at him. "What 'what'?"

"What to you mean that I hugged you? I distinctly remember that you grabbed me first!"

"I did no such thing!" she huffed. "You were the one that started it!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"I'll prove it," Jimmy snorted. "Goddard!" Goddard stirred and emerged from under the table. "Replay data records from yesterday, beginning time reference 15:18:30. We'll see who hugged whom," he informed Cindy grimly.

"Yes, we will," Cindy shot back.

Goddard, who was far too intelligent to get in the middle of Cindy's and Jimmy's arguments, looked from Jimmy to Cindy and back again before shaking his head. From inside his chest compartment there came a faint whine as data records were selectively erased.

"Goddard!" Jimmy protested, aghast. He slumped back in his seat, looking angry. "Man's best friend," he muttered.

"Exactly," Cindy answered in an accusing tone. "I'll bet that you probably have him programmed to do that every time he can prove that you're wrong and I'm right."

"I do not!"

"You do so!"

Carl arrived back at the table with his confection as Cindy and Jimmy's squabbling reached a crescendo. He took a seat next to Libby and watched the altercation for a few seconds before remarking, "So I guess things were pretty much the same while I was gone?"

"Yup," Libby answered as she scraped the bottom of her bowl. "Same old same old."

THE END

Author's Notes:

Some readers may notice that I've used both "epilog" and "epilogue" in my stories. "Epilogue" is definitely correct, while "epilog" seems more an American form (perhaps unique to me) of the word, such as "prolog", "catalog", and similar words. I assume that no one objects to these variations (e.g., "license" rather than "licence", "flavor" rather than "flavour"), and so forth. I doubt anyone will ever mistake me for anything other than an American.

Although I left Jimmy's decision as to which button to push in the last chapter somewhat ambiguous I hoped that Cindy's advice to him would help underscore just how much everyone actually depends on and trusts each other (especially Sheen) even if they don't consciously realize it. As to who hugged whom…well, that's up to the reader to decide.

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