"The Last Ride of the Wowboys"

This is a little something I scratched out between calls at work, titled "The Last Ride of the Wowboys."

A little background...

Ever hear a song titled "Mama Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings (I think). It's been used recently in a car commercial (don't ask what make and model). One night, while working at my desk at home, the commercial came on the television. Instead of hearing "cowboys," I misheard it as "wowboys." My mind twisted it around until I came up with the title, "The Last Ride of the Wowboys."

Don't ask me what a Wowboy is 'cause I don't know...yet.

Anyway, after a few days of bouncing around in my mind, this came out. So, to quote Joel Robinson...wha'dya think, sirs?

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“The Last Ride of the Wowboys”

            There are those who would call me a traitor, if they knew.

            In retrospect, I suppose that would be true.  My actions, as well as those of my fallen comrades, could easily be called into question.  To say we skirted propriety and engaged in activities that could only charitably be called legal would be an understatement.  We did what we believed to be in the best interest not of ourselves but of the world at large, the billions of souls we shared this world with.

            I only know that we did what we thought was right, and I alone remain to pay the price for it.

            Except that’s not quite true.  I’m not completely alone.

            Now I sit alone in the ceph-pod, adrift like a bubble in the aether between universes.  It’s rather comfortable for a prison cell.  One spacious room that serves as bedroom, living room, kitchen and study, filled with comfortable furniture.  The muted colors of the walls brought a sense of calm, easing the dread that sometimes comes.  The walls could be rendered transparent, should I ever wish to view the expanse beyond the pod.  In the center of the room was a central pillar, rising from floor to ceiling.  One side was a standard VR immersion rig.  The other…

            The other was the reason I say I’m not completely alone.

            While it did serve as a second VR rig, it was also a life support tube.  Within it floated the twisted remains of a single human body, the only person I ever truly loved.

            Harley, my dear Harley.  It should’ve been me in that tube.