The Halo Effect

This was a very short one and I think the theme was to tell a tale from a character's future. I chose Halo Jones who is still one of more all time favourite 2000AD creations.

When I look back at my past it’s like looking at somebody else’s life. I used to be so many different people. I guess we all did.

There was that young girl back on earth, the one obsessed with the clothes she wore. The biggest problem she had to deal with was shopping, or some freaky cult. That girl is gone now.

So is the young woman who worked as a waitress on a starship. She danced with a fairy tale Prince, saved a King, slayed a Dragon, and met someone really important, I just can’t remember who that was.

The woman who went to war is gone too. Amidst all the blood and the horrors she found the most precious thing in the universe, and then she threw it away.

After the warrior there were other women: the slave, the gladiator, the rebel. And then, for a short while, the Queen. That woman killed a man, and as she did so she killed something else inside herself.

All those women are dead now. There’s just me. My future self will probably call me a pirate, but I’m just doing a job. I have this ship and my crew. People pay us to go some place, find something or someone, and then take them somewhere else. I do things that others won’t do, but when you've fought in a forgotten war nothing seems that hard any more.

I wish I could find that young girl from the Hoop. I’d like to talk to her and tell her some stuff, maybe warn her, maybe tell her what to watch out for. But I can’t, she’s dead. They’re all dead now.

My name is Halo Jones.

I went out, and I’m still out there. Somewhere ... somewhen.