Bob Moore: No Hero

Epilogue and Extras

"Yeah," I responded softly.

He patted me on the shoulder, "It's been a long night, man. Sun's almost up. I'm sure we're gonna have some more questions for you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep. I'll see if I can keep them from calling you in before lunch."

"Thanks for that," I nodded at him, but I couldn't help but notice how intently Gale was watching me.

As he left, she walked over purposefully, the white fabric snaking around her angrily. Unlike before, she was wearing her customary molded eye mask. This one was white, to match the fabric, and trimmed with a silver wind motif. I thought it was a bit much, but it was clear she wasn't coming over to talk about masks.

"Gale..."

"Cut it, Bob. I want the truth," she whispered angrily. She sat where Kent had, only moments before, and leaned far in so that we were almost nose-to-nose. She must have had dinner plans. She was wearing the perfume she only wore when she went out.

"I'm not sure what you mean," I responded evasively.

"So that's your story? You get here, tell Arts about the microbots, and they turn on him?"

"That's the way it happened," I looked at the floor.

"And you're telling me there was nothing you could have done? Nothing that might have saved him?"

"No."

"Bob?"

I looked up at her, her hazel eyes so familiar, yet so distant.

"Yes?"

"Tell me you couldn't have done anything. Tell me you didn't let him die. Tell me you didn't orphan that poor girl under some pretense of justice."

"Come on, Wendi, you know me. Do you think I won't be asking myself that same question every night? Could I have found the code faster? I thought that would shut down the... microbots you called them... but it didn't. I didn't think they would hurt me. And they didn't, but at the time I didn't want to go diving through a cloud of them for the can." I sighed, "Sure, in hindsight, if I had grabbed the can first, maybe. But they went right for the brain from what I saw. I don't know that there was anything I could have done."

"It wouldn't be justice, you know," she stated, voice hard.

I thought about the daughter. Would she really be worse off without her father? I didn't know. "What do you mean?"

"It's revenge, pure and simple. Nothing you can do will bring her back. Bring me back."

"I know," I answered wistfully. "I know."

She stared at me for a long moment, skeptical, "Okay, okay. I know how these things are. I won't second-guess you. But you have to admit that you've never been a fan."

"That's an understatement," I said. "But do you really think I'd let the man die?"

She looked at me again. I met her eyes, happy to be this close to her again regardless of the circumstances.

"No, I suppose not. The man I knew wouldn't, that's for sure."

I nodded, remembering that man.

She stood, slowly, the cloth around her settled in to a comfortable position, "You know, you just called me Wendi, right?"

"Sorry, Gale."

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About the Author 

Tom Andry is the Associate Editor of Audioholics.com, the largest AV website in the universe (as far as he's concerned) and host of the AV Rant podcast, the rantyest AV podcast on the net. He's the father of three boys affectionately nicknamed Punkalicious, Captain Evil, and Neo. He's happily married and currently resides in Perth, Australia. His background is in drama, creative writing, and research psychology, which basically means his kids are in for a pretty rough time. His wife, Tanel, doesn't have it so easy either. If you liked what you read, he'd appreciate checking out his other works, reviewing the book so he'll actually do other works, and telling your friends.