EPILOGUE

The song is by Queen.

Pete had been listening to her humming for the past forty-five minutes. But it was only within the past forty-five seconds that he realized what she was singing under her breath. "Never thought I'd hear that song again..."

"Huh?" she asked, startled as she turned to him.

"That song you're humming," he clarified.

She chuckled. "Oh. Yeah. Well, ya know... it was good music!"

"What music?" Galen questioned, curious.

"What she's humming," Pete answered him. "It's probably nothing at all like your music now."

Alan considered it for a moment. "You know, honestly, I don't think I've even heard music here..."

"Oh, we have music," Galen assured him. "At parties. At upstanding social gatherings."

Pete smirked at the idea of an ape-run disco club. "Right."

The conversation fizzled out. Christine began humming again. This time, she was less subtle about it, hitting her thigh and snapping her fingers in time. Pat, pat, snap! Pat, pat, snap! Pete found himself chuckling to himself again, though now it was more at the look Galen was giving the girl. "Is that your music?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Huh?" Christine was once again startled out of her song. "Oh. Yes." She smiled. "It's one of those songs that you only ever hear in a stadium. But you hear it in every stadium."

"Stadium?" he questioned.

"It's real simple." She stopped, right where she was standing, and let her backpack fall off of her shoulders. The other three came to a halt as well, the two humans looking around for any sign of danger before turning their attention to her. "Just use your hands and pat your legs - or stomp your feet if you're so inclined, though I never really was much for stamping feet - and clap on the third one. I was snapping because I didn't want to be intrusive."

Galen "oohed" and nodded, but after a moment's pause it was clear that he hadn't the slightest idea what she was saying. Alan chuckled. "Like this Galen," he demonstrated, hitting his leg twice and then clapping. He repeated it, and Christine joined him on the second time around.

"And... that's it?" Galen asked as he watched the pattern. It seemed entirely too simple and repetitive to provide amusement for too very long.

"No, there's lyrics to it, too," Alan informed, still patting and clapping.

"Ooh..." Galen nodded... then tipped his head to the side. "What lyrics?"

Alan stopped, then Christine. "Oh, I don't remember them all in honesty..." Alan mumbled. "It's been too long. But maybe Christine does."

He gestured to her, and three sets of eyes turned. She laughed a bit. "I know some of them. Not all."

"Oh!" Galen seemed thrilled by that. "Well, please! Share what you do know."

She flushed, and Pete smirked again, then hit his thighs. Alan joined in on the clap, and even Galen tried - though the coordination wasn't really there for him like it was for the three humans. It took him a moment to find the pace.

"We will... we will... rock you..." She was still slightly red in the face, eyes down, voice wavering slightly. She wasn't terribly comfortable being put on the spot, especially when she clearly didn't know the words to the song. That wasn't surprising. It was only about five hundred years older than she was... He certainly didn't know songs written back in the 1400s...

Pete took over.

"Buddy you're a boy, make a big noise, playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday; you got mud on your face, you're big disgrace, kickin' your can all over the place singin'..."

"We will, we will rock you!" Alan and Christine both joined in for what they knew. He glanced at her and saw her eyes bright, the blush gone as she beamed ear to ear. "We will, we will rock you!"

"Buddy you're a young man, hard man, shouting in the street, gonna take on the world someday; you got blood on your face, you're big disgrace, waving your banner all over the place..."

"We will, we will rock you!" This time, even Galen joined in the singing, and it was all Pete could do to keep from busting out laughing. He couldn't help but wonder if Queen could have possibly fathomed that a thousand years in the future, three human fugitives and a renegade talking ape would be singing their song. "We will, we will rock you!"

"Buddy you're an old man, poor man, pleading with your eyes, gonna... something something be someday; you got mud on your face, big disgrace, somebody better put you back into your place."

Christine was laughing at the forgotten words. She almost forgot to join into the chorus. "We will, we will rock you! We will, we will rock you!"

Pete smiled to her her, then Galen, then Alan. His gaze lingered there for a long moment as he shared knowing glances with his collegue. Somewhere in the back of all their minds, the lingering sound of an electric guitar solo lifted their spirits... Only a memory...

The End