Buck Rogers: Future's Past

Created & Written By: JS. Rogers

Based on Buck Rogers

Created By: Philip Francis Nowlan

Chapter One: Rhythm and Rhyme

Today was a gloomy day for many people. The rain dropped hard and fast in New Chicago which kept most of the citizens at home. Regardless of how little amount of citizens roamed the streets, Ground Control still had a job to do and today, that job fell upon Gavin. Lieutenant Galloway and Lieutenant Darby walked the streets along the boarder of New Chicago and Old Chicago, bored as everything. “Man is it raining cats and dogs out here.” Galloway commented. Darby turned and looked at him, shaking his head. Everyone in the Directorate have gotten to the point of just shaking their heads when Buck or Gavin make these type of comments and vary rarely does anyone ask what they mean, anymore. Off in the distance they could hear a little girl talking and sounded as if she was having fun.

They walked over to where the girl was and stopped to watch her jump in the puddles. She couldn't have been more than nine years old. She looked at the two officers and started saying. “Hip hop, you're a cop. When you talk I gotta stop. Hip hop, you're a cop. When you talk I gotta stop.”

The rhyme caught Gavin's attention and as he stepped up to her, he asked, “Hey, where did you learn that?” The girl looked at him again and giggled. Gavin could tell that she was about to run so he told Darby to go back to the Rover. As she ran, Gavin chased after her trying to catch her. 'Wow, she's a fast little thing.' He thought. The little girl ran into the streets of Old Chicago and down an alley way. As Gavin turned in the alley he saw a glimpse of her hand inside a door just before it disappeared. Gavin slowly walked up to the door way, waited for a moment, took a deep breath and knocked.

A man who looked like he was in his late twenties opened the door. “May I help you officer?” The man said, surprised but at the same time, concerned.

Gavin wasn't sure what he was going to say. “I'm sorry to bother you, Sir, but I think you're little girl was just out here and she was reciting a rhyme that I'm curious about.”

“Is she in trouble?”

“No, no, not at all. It's just it was something that sounded familiar to me.”

“Please come in. Get yourself out of the rain.”

“Thank you.”

As they walked to the living room, the man called for the girl. “Marissa!!!!” This was the second time today, that Gavin was shocked over something he had heard.

“Yes daddy?” She said as she walked in the room. It was definitely the same little girl that Gavin saw outside.

“Sweetie, this gentleman has some questions for you.”

Gavin took that as his cue to ask his questions. “Marissa, could you please tell me that rhyme you were saying outside?”

“You mean, Hip hop, you're a cop. When you talk I gotta stop.”

“That's the one. Where did you learn that?” Marissa's father indicated for Gavin to have a seat.

As he sat, she replied. “I've known it my whole life.” She looked at her dad. “My daddy taught it to me.”

Gavin looked at the man, who didn't need any questions asked of him. “I learned it from my father who learned it from his father. Fifteen generations have been saying that silly rhyme. I'm curious officer. That rhyme seems to be important to you. “Why?”

“My younger brother, Anthony and I made that rhyme up. We lived in a rough side of Boise Idaho and we created that rhyme to show the cops that we were friendly to them.”

“You're younger brother? How? Like I said, it's been in my family for fifteen generations.”

Things were making sense now and Gavin needed to know, just to make sure. “How well do you know your ancestry?”

“Very well. Here in Old Chicago, if anyone needs their ancestry done, they come to me. Why?”

“Can you tell me about the ancestor who started passing that down? Please.”

The man couldn't understand why a complete stranger would want to know about his ancestors, but he thought, what ever. “Well, it was created by my fifteenth great grandfather,.......”

“Anthony Aaron Galloway Jr.?” Gavin remarked.

The man sat there shocked and highly confused. “Y...e...s. And his brother,......”

“Gavin Scott Galloway.”

“How do you know that?”

“This might be difficult for you to believe, but, I am Gavin Galloway.”

“No. He died on.....”

“A space station when the disasters hit? Namely the asteroids.”

“Yes. But it can't be. How?”

“The station that I was on didn't get destroyed. Through several events, myself and the other astronauts that were aboard, were frozen in time. We were awaken nine months ago.”

“That sounds like an interesting story, but how do I know that you aren't trying to scam me somehow?”

“At this moment, I can't prove anything I have said. But if I am related to you, I would like to get to know you and the family. All I ask is that you think about it.” Gavin stood getting ready to head out.

Before Gavin was able to move, the man stood as well and asked. “Officer Galloway, when is your birthday?”

“April third, nineteen eighty-eight.” With a nod, Gavin remarked. “Have a great day.”

“You too, ….. Officer Galloway.” He said as Gavin walked out the door. As the door shut, Gavin looked back, wondering if this could possibly be true. He had only hoped that if these folks were related to him, It would reveal itself soon. Until then, he had planned to do some looking himself.

Chapter Two: Is The Past, Past

It was a bright and sunny day, unlike yesterday. It was Gavin's day off and he was determined to see if these guys were related to him. It would be amazing if they were and although they were distant relatives, they would still be related. As Gavin ate, he was trying to figure out where to start and thought of one person who could help. Once he had fished eating, he headed over to see Wilma at her office. “Good morning Wilma. I got a question for you.”

“Good morning Gavin. As you would say, shoot.” It was definitely becoming obvious that Wilma was hanging around Buck and Sarah too much.

“I need to look up some ancestral stuff. Would I do that with Doctor Julius at the Archives?”

“Not exactly. It is in the Archives, but Doctor Julius is in a different section.” Wilma paused for a moment. “I'm not really doing anything. I'll come with you and help you.”

“You're a life saver.” As they walked to the Archives, Gavin told her everything that happened yesterday with those people. “..so I want to try and see if I can find anything on them.

“Unfortunately, we're still discovering a lot about your time period. Even during the following one hundred years, information was sketchy. People didn't start keeping public records until a hundred and ten years after the disasters and even then, they were poor at best. They tried collecting records from private citizens to hopefully get some sort of history going.”

“I try not to think too much about it. Up until yesterday, I thought that my family had perished.”

“I'm sorry. I honestly never even considered what you, Buck, and Sarah must be feeling and going thorough. Loosing your families like that.”

“From the beginning of our mission, we were going to lose some of our family. We were supposed to be in hibernation for only fifty years.”

“Wow. I can't imagine the strength you had to have to even do that.” Wilma looked at him for a moment. “Okay, so what exactly are you looking for?”

“How far back do the Archives go?”

“Um, so far a little over three hundred years.” Wilma started looking in the computers for the earliest date. “I believe..........Here it is, the year twenty-one seventy-six.”

“Is there a list of names of families on record?”

“There is.”

“Awesome. Let's see if we can find Galloway.” Wilma began scrolling thorough the names, realizing that there were a lot more there than she thought there would be. With Gavin looking over her shoulder and as she approached the GAL section, she slowed a little. “There. Stop.” Wilma stopped where she was and waited for Gavin to tell her further where to go. As she waited, she couldn't help but notice the alluring smell that came off Gavin. Even though she liked it, she was uncomfortable saying anything. “Go up a little.” As she did so, Gavin pointed to a name. “There. Click on Marissa Galloway.”

“It says that she was the daughter of Calvin Galloway who was the son of Even Galloway who was the son of Anthony Aaron Galloway Jr.”

“That's it. That's my little brother.” A huge smile crossed Gavin's face. “Wilma, can we send this and all files related to it to my screen in my quarters?”

“Of coarse.” With a few taps, the screen displayed 'Files Sent'. “There you go.”

“Thank-you so much.”

“You're welcome. Would you like some help sorting through them? I know our computer systems can be confusing some times.”

“That would be wonderful.” They left the archives and headed straight to Gavin's quarters, they didn't stop, they didn't pass go, they went straight there. “Make yourself at home.” Gavin said as they walked in the door. Gavin's apartment was the same size as Bucks old apartment with a few exceptions. The kitchen and the bedroom was on the opposite side of the room. “Would you like something to drink, Wilma?”

“Yes please. A coffee will be fine. Uh, nothing in it.” Gavin fabricated the coffee and and handed it to Wilma. “Thank you Gavin.”

“You're welcome. I never could get into coffee. Buck, however, is one of those people that you have to ask, 'Would you like some coffee with your cream and sugar?'

“How long have you two known each other?”

“Oh wow, let's see. I believe since we were fourteen. So, a little over twenty years. I tried dating her in high school, and that's when I found out that she is into women.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, but she was cool about it. We became best friend almost immediately.” Wilma listened intently to everything he said.

“Well, shall we take a look at this data?” Gavin and Wilma sat very close to each other as they viewed the screen. They spent a couple hours going over the data and at one relative Benjamin Galloway, they got stumped. It was almost as if Anthony's line just disappeared off the face of the Earth. Gavin became a little frustrated with it and stood up to stretch his legs. Rubbing his neck a little he went to get something to drink. He wasn't sure if he should give up or try and continue. “Gavin, come take a look. I think I found something.” Gavin walked up behind Wilma, leaning over her as they looked at the screen. Wilma took note at how close their faces were, but continued. “I found another Marissa. Marissa Polski and it even has a picture.”

A picture of the girl that Gavin chased came up and Gavin got excited. “That's her. That's the girl that I chased into Old Chicago.”

Wilma continued to click names, only going back, instead of forward. “It says here that her father is Anthony Polski, who is the son of Amber Write, who was the daughter of Timothy Write, son of Becky Gleason and then it stops there. There's this gap between Benjamin Galloway and Becky Gleason.”

Gavin stood there for a moment, thinking. “Of coarse. That has to be it!”

“What it?”

“Benjamin and Becky are the same person.” Gavin stood up straight.

“They're what?” She asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

“They're the same person. Benjamin transitioned to Becky.”

“What do you mean transitioned?”

“In my time we had a lot of people who felt that they were the opposite gender, so they would become that gender. We called them Transgender.”

“You mean he gender swapped? Yeah we have people like that as well. We just call them by the gender they swapped to.”

“We found them. We found my brother's line.” Gavin was a little in awe that they were able to find the line they were looking for. Placing his hands on Wilma's shoulders, he squeezed them a little.

Wilma placed her hands on his and asked. “What do we do now?”

“Now, we need to prove that Anthony is my brother.”

“What about that phone thing you have? Do you have pictures of him on that?”

“Wilma!!” Gavin bent down and kissed her forehead. “You're brilliant. Thank you.” He went to his bedroom and grabbed the phone, putting it next to his door for tomorrow. “I think I'm going to go into the market tomorrow to get something to eat and then head to Anthony's place.”

“I would love to see how this all turns out.” Wilma said as she stood up from the table.

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” Gavin said, giving Wilma a deep hug. Wilma put her arms around Gavin and closed her eyes. It had been a while since she has hugged a man like that. She knew it was just friendship, but the hug still felt wonderful.

Chapter Three: Into The Past

The weather outside was fairly decent. There were clouds in the sky, but it wasn't raining. The sun was barely out as well. As Wilma's and Gavin's food came Gavin insisted on paying for both meals. The two talked about almost everything under the. . . . . 'clouds' as they ate. “Tell me about you Wilma. Do you have any siblings?”

“I do. An older brother named Tyrone and a younger sister named Alberta.”

“Middle child, nice. Do they live around here?”

“My brother and his family does. My sister moved to the planet of Kalgar about two years ago. She's doing well.”

“How often do you get to see your family?”

“Not as often as I'd like.”

Gavin could see that the questions were causing a little bit of issues, so he changed the subject. “Do you have a favorite color?”

“I do. Yellow.”

“Interesting.” Gavin noticed out of the corner of his eye a girl running up to them. “Marissa?”

“Mr. Officer. My daddy wants to see you.” She grabbed his hand and pulled Gavin all the way to her house. Wilma smiled the entire time she followed them. In her mind, she was thinking that Marissa was the cutest thing. As they walked through the door, Marissa was yelling, “Daddy, daddy, I found him.”

Wilma looked around the house, noticing how old the furniture was. There was nothing in the house that was modern, in fact, nearly everything about the house screamed old. “Please, have a seat.” He looked at Wilma, “I'm......”

“Anthony Polski. I'm Colonel Wilma Deering of the Earth Defense Directorate. It's nice to meet you.”

“Colonel. I see you did some checking up on me.” He said to both of them.

Gavin spoke as both he and Wilma took a seat. “We did, but not just you, the entire family line. Yesterday. We were able to trace the entire family line for Anthony. I was also able to find this picture of me and him together.” Gavin pulled out his phone and opened the folder that had pictures of himself and Anthony, showing Anthony the pictures.

Anthony's eyes widened as he saw the first picture. “Gavin, yesterday I did some research of my own. I pulled out every piece of hand me downs that I had, from fifteen generations ago, to my own grandmother. It's all here on my coffee table, but before we dive into my past, which I guess is your future, I wanted to show you a picture, the picture that started the entire collection.” Anthony opened a thick book to the front page and slowly turned the book around, placing the lit phone next to the picture. Both pictures were exactly alike. Both Wilma and Gavin stared at the pic in awe. “If only he knew that you were still up there.”

“There was nothing he would have been able to do and I'd still be here.”

“Perhaps so, but now, you're not alone. You have a lot of family here. Most of us live in Old Chicago now and the rest have stayed in Boise. I guess that would make you my what, fifteenth great uncle?”

“Yes, but you can just call me Gavin.”

“What do I call you?” Marissa asked.

“You.....Can call me Uncle Gavin. You know, my mother's name was Marissa. It's a name only given to the most beautiful girls and it's a name perfect for you.” She reached out to Gavin and gave him a hug. Wilma sat on the couch watching the entire scene play out thinking how wonderful of a man Gavin is. He accepted them with open arms, no questions asked, treating them as if they had known each other their entire lives. In Wilma's eyes, that was very admirable.

“Gavin, This is your future and my past.” Anthony turned the page and pointed out to him that the next few pages were dedicated to him, by his brother. There were pictures of Gavin in a playground, on his bike, swimming and one particular one where he was in a dress wearing his mothers high heals. He was about five in the picture.

Gavin laughed at the sight of the picture remembering back to when it happened. “This picture was taken around Halloween. My mother asked me if I wanted to get my costume that day and I told her I had a costume. She asked me what I wanted to be and I showed her. Oh I loved my mom so much. For years I wanted to be just like her. I was five at the time, but when I turned seven, I grew out of it. Your fifteenth great grandfather, my brother, was only two at the time, but when he saw me in that dress, he just started cracking up laughing. I ended up being Spiderman.” They all laughed with him after he told the story and Anthony continued with turning the pages. Anthony showed him pictures of the family after he had gone up onto the station. In the book were pictures and writings from each generation. There was even a letter that his mother wrote to him, which Gavin read intently.

My Sweet Gavin,

April 03, 2025

The family misses you something fierce. We think about you everyday as we try to survive during these rough times. I know you are up there somewhere, hibernating and every time I look up at the stars, I think I see you pass by us.

When you come back to Earth, I hope this scrap book we have made, finds you well. I'm afraid that we have left a mess for you and your friends to come home to. Hopefully you will be able to make sense of all of this.

Your nieces and nephew say hi and can't wait to see you when you come home. One last thing. Happy Birthday my sweet son. We found a birthday cake and I will make a wish and blow out the candles for you. I miss you and I love you, so much.

With all my love, Mom

After Gavin had finished reading the letter, tears rolled down his face. Wilma grabbed his arm and pulled him to her, holding him tight in her arms, letting him cry. She realized that he never reconciled with what happened to them or that their entire lives and families were lost in the past and that they would never see them again. Wilma didn't know what she would do if that happened to her.

They all allowed Gavin to take it in and in his time and let them know when he was ready to continue. They spent the rest of the day and a good portion of the night getting to know each other, going over the scrap book and learning of what each other and the family has gone through to get where they are now. The journey that Gavin's family had to take was long, difficult, and at many turns fearsome. They lived day to day, not knowing who was going to survive and who would live on. Diseases that had been eradicated resurrected themselves and had turned on his family and other families. Gavin was, however, not surprised that his family had continued on, the Galloway gene was tough no matter what the circumstances. In many ways, he wished that he was with them, but he knew that he was there, in the twenty-fifth century, for a reason.

Chapter Four: Family Reunion

As Wilma and Gavin walked home from his new families house, they talked about what had happened. Wilma had her arm though his, insisted by him, and he expressed his gratitude to her for showing him such comfort. He asked if she would attend the reunion with him tomorrow as today's events helped him to feel closer to her. “I wouldn't miss it for anything.” She told him in a very sweet voice.

February 14^th - 09:55 hours

Gavin's chime rang and as Gavin walked by the door, he yelled, “Come in.” Wilma walked in wearing blue pants and a yellow v-neck blouse. “How do I look?” He asked her. She walked up to him and fixed his collar, resting her hands on his chest.

“You look handsome.” She said, not realizing what she had just said. Her hands still on his chest, he looked down at her.

“Thank you. You look stunning in yellow.”

“Thank you.” Shaking her head really quick and placing her hand in her pockets, she asked, “Are you ready to go?”

“As ready as I can be for someone who is nervous.”

“You're going to be great and they're going to love you.”

“Of coarse they will. What's not to love?” He remarked with a smile.

Smiling back, Wilma exclaimed, “Exactly.” After a moment of pondering what had just taken place, Wilma said, “We should probably get going.”

As the two arrived at Anthony's house, Marissa ran up to Gavin yelling, “Uncle Gavin.” She wrapped her arms around his legs as Anthony came out.

“Nervous?” He asked Gavin.

“Just a little.”

“Relax. They're going to love you.”

“That's what I told him.”

“There's a park, not to far from here. We're all meeting there.”

“Sounds wonderful.” Gavin remarked. As they walked, Gavin noticed a flower stand selling fresh flowers. He walked over to it to check out the selection and picked out a bouquet of wild flowers of almost every color. After paying for the flowers, Gavin walked back.

Wilma had a confused look on her face and as he walked back up to her, she asked, “What's with the flowers?”

“Today is February fourteenth. In my time period, this day was a holiday called Valentines day. People would buy flowers and other things to give to someone they cared about. It could be a close friend, a lover or someone they were interested in.”

“What a cute holiday.” Wilma remarked.

“These are for you. Happy Valentines day.”

“They're beautiful Gavin, Thank you.” It didn't take them long to get to the park and when they arrived, the park was filled with relatives that were eager to meet the new celebrity of the family. There were relatives of all ages there.

Gavin had never seen so many relatives in one place. “Is everyone here a descendant of Anthony?”

“Yes. Remember, you and Anthony are fifteen generations back. Some of those descendants had many children.” After a moment, a woman and a fifteen year old boy walked up to them. “Ah yes. Gavin, I would like for you to meet your name sake. Gavin Scott Gleason.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you, Gavin. I guess you can call me Uncle Gavin.”

“It's nice to meet you Uncle Gavin.” They talked for a moment before Gavin went running back to the others.

With a smile on her face, Wilma stood by Gavin's side and felt a tap on her shoulder. Next to her was a twelve year old girl who looked ready to ask her question after question. “Are you his girlfriend?” Wilma wasn't sure how to answer that question considering how close they have gotten over the last few days. She just looked at Gavin.

“That's a good question.” He looked at Wilma. “Are you?”

Wilma's smile turned into a very wide grin. She grabbed his hand, holding it in hers. “Yes I am.” They walked hand in hand to the major part of the crowed to introduce themselves. It was a marvelous day. They had so much fun with games, food and jokes that had been passed down over the generations. It had been such a long time since Wilma had been to a family reunion, that she had almost forgotten what it was like to be apart of such a big family.

They enjoyed themselves immensely, getting to know Gavin's new family, but as all things in life, the reunion had to end. It seemed to take forever for Gavin and Wilma to say good bye to everyone. They felt loved in the family and looked forward to more days where they could hang out with them.

The night was clear and the moon was full, a perfect night for a romantic stroll. Wilma and Gavin took their time going home. With the bouquet of flowers in her left hand and Gavin's hand in her right hand, she had a smile that could be seen from space. Gavin walked Wilma to her apartment door, stopping to talk. “Today has been a perfect day. Thank you.” Wilma said.

“It's I who should be thanking you, Wilma. You have been with me through this entire process, helping me and comforting me. I do think that this would have been much more difficult without you. You are so beautiful and I can think of no one more perfect to be by my side.” As she looked into his eyes, their heads moved closer together and before long, they found themselves holding each other with their lips pressed against one another. After a short while, they parted and as much as they didn't want to say good night, their hands were the last to touch each other before Gavin leaving. Wilma opened her door and watched as Gavin left out of sight. She didn't know what the future held, nor was she sure she wanted to know. What she does know are the feelings that are developing for Gavin and she has full intentions of exploring those feelings and seeing where they may lead.