He drove through the City as he never had before. A man with nothing to lose, he streaked towards the Federal building with a perfect blend of skill and abandon; moving through traffic as though he was lapping stragglers at LeMans, screeching to a stop in a RED ZONE in front of the courthouse like an elder Ace Ventura, and hopping out with the motor running. "Park the car Boys, and I'll meet you upstairs!"

 It was the last time we saw him. Waldron had kept the seriousness of his situation from us till the last minute, and it took us a while to realize that he had spared us, saved us from yet another ugly head-on with Reality. As we followed, like two calves sneaking through a slaughterhouse, we moved ever further into the dark heart of detention. Lopi had me convinced that October 2nd was "National Freedom Day", and when we were finally stopped by a locked door, I spent a good ten minutes in front of a speaker box, under the watchful eye of a security camera, demanding that as Senior Editor of FLYBYTE, I be granted an interview with the notorious Waldron Vorhees; who had just turned himself in on National Freedom Day... of all days.

 It didn't work. 

The safety door opened once and I was handed a manila containing Captain Clear Light's personal effects. An envelope we were now tasked with returning to the last woman who would miss him.
Reality.

 We heard him laugh one more time though. Deep within the concrete and steel bowels that had swallowed him whole, his bass laugh echoed through hidden hallways and buried offices as we turned to live life without him; no doubt as he made friends with the guards.

 Reality.

 Returning to the freedom that is San Francisco, we crossed the street, and meditated in silence facing the sheer wall separating us from our friend. It was time to go, and Waldron had given us a key to a mysterious PO Box in Mill Valley which we knew he was waiting for us to use. As we walked back to the car, Lopi told me he had made up "National Freedom Day", and we found ourselves laughing too. 

Driving the Captain's silver Toyota across the Golden Gate, toward the party beyond, I made a wish and held my breath until we reached the other side.

 A wish that has now come true, as Waldron remained safe for those two years in the dungeons of Lompar... and unbelievably, is an even BETTER man for the experience.