Interesting Places (Interesting Times #2) (14 page)

Chapter 15

Oliver had an idea where this
conversation was going. “You want to go get the time machine,” he said. “We’re
going after Sally?” Artemis nodded. “Why do you even think it’s still there?”

“The time machine itself does not
move,” Artemis said. “It has no form of propulsion. It will be exactly where
Sally left it.”

“Then it’s still in Santa Clara.
Okay. You do realize that’s an hour away from here by freeway? And that’s on a
good day.”

“I do recall the location of the
vault, Mr. Jones.”

“It’s impossible,” Oliver said. “We
barely made it here from Geary Street, and that’s only about 30 blocks or so.
How are we going to get to Santa Clara? How did you even get here from…wherever
you were.”

“We had help,” Tyler said. “The San
Diego Resistance fighters are some serious badasses.”

“So they’re around here somewhere
waiting for us?”

“No,” Artemis said. “While I was able
to convince Commander James to smuggle us into the city, it was with the caveat
that it was a one-way trip.”

“Then how?” Oliver asked.

“Perhaps I will perform one of my
many miracles, Mr. Jones.”

“I don’t think sleight of hand is
going to help us this time.”

“We have a plan,” Tyler said. “Check
this out.” He left his chair and went upstairs. When it was obvious he wasn’t
going to return immediately, Oliver took the time to eat some of the soup
Artemis had brought for him. Jeffrey stared at the bowl longingly until Oliver
bit a piece of shrimp in half and offered him some. Jeffrey downed it with much
gusto.

“This really is good,” Oliver said to
Artemis.

“Inform Mr. Jacobsen of your
approval,” she said. “It is another of his family recipes. There are also
muffins in the kitchen for you to enjoy.” Oliver nodded. He’d get to those in a
minute. Tyler also happened to be an excellent baker.

After about ten minutes Tyler came back
down the stairs, now dressed in a black bodysuit covered with cyborg armor
plating. He turned around once so Oliver could get a good look. The suit was
remarkably convincing, although Tyler lacked the glowing blue eye all cyborgs
had. Oliver pointed that out and Tyler shrugged. “It’s not perfect, but from a
distance it’ll fool them. I’ve made a couple trips out wearing it without
anyone looking twice.”

“You see?” Artemis asked. “Dressed in
this manner, you should have no problems finding a vehicle. With it, we will
make the trip to the vault.”

Oliver thought it over. “I haven’t
seen any cyborgs your size,” he said to Artemis.

“There are none,” she said. “They do
not convert children, as they find the physical growth that is typical in
younger humans incompatible with the process. Rather, children are held in
guarded facilities until they are fully grown. Once they determine that
physical maturation is complete, the conversion process is initiated.”

Oliver had trouble believing what he
was hearing. “Are you saying they have kids in
concentration camps
?”

“I might have not chosen that
terminology, but you are not incorrect.” She sipped her tea. “You are thinking
of liberating them, of course. Tyler felt the same way. Put that thought from
your mind. We have no more use for children than the cyborgs do.”

Oliver’s mouth dropped open. “Did you
really just say that?” he asked. “That’s…that’s
inhuman
.”

Artemis stared at him. “And what
exactly do you think I am, Mr. Jones?”

“I don’t know. You won’t tell me.”

“Not today. Perhaps I will tomorrow.
One never knows. Calm yourself, Mr. Jones. Understand that when we fix the
timeline, those
camps
will never have existed.”

“I didn’t like it either, Oliver, but
it makes sense,” Tyler said. “The only way to save everyone is by keeping this
whole thing from happening in the first place.”

Oliver went to the front window and
looked outside. Two cyborgs stood in the street less than a dozen feet away,
staring directly at him. Oliver jerked, but the cyborgs had no reaction to his
presence. After a moment they turned away and began marching down Filbert
Street in the direction Oliver had come from.

“They really can’t see us in here,” Oliver
said.

“Nope,” Jeffrey said, coming up
behind him. “Sometimes I get up there and put my butt on the glass. ‘Look at my
butt, you jerks!’ I say.” Oliver gave him a skeptical look. “What else am I
going to do?” the cat asked. “I’m stuck in here all day. I get bored.”

“If we may return to the subject, we
will not need a suit for me,” Artemis said. “You and Tyler will obtain and
operate the vehicle. I can stay hidden inside until we reach Santa Clara. Once at
the vault, it will be irrelevant whether they become aware of our presence. When
we are below ground, I will destroy the access point, if need be. Even if any
cyborgs should manage to make it inside, the security system there will be more
than they can easily deal with. It is quite efficient.”

“If you destroy the elevator we’ll be
trapped down there,” Oliver said.

“If we fail in our mission, it will not
matter much whether we are trapped or not.”

Oliver found that difficult to argue
with. “I suppose you have another one of those suits for me?”

“Upstairs,” Tyler said. “Well, we’ll
have to put one together, I mean. We have a lot of parts lying around.” He
frowned. “You know, it seems like there should have been a more delicate way to
say that.”

“You have
parts
?” Oliver
asked.

“Maria amused herself by hunting at
night,” Artemis said. “She did need to eat, after all, although she killed
rather more of them than she required for sustenance, and the killings were
quite…I suppose the word I am looking for is
dramatic
.”

“She was pretty pissed off,” Tyler
said. “She took John Blackwell’s death really hard.”

“I heard her crying sometimes,”
Jeffrey said. “She was sad a lot. I let her pet me, even though she was a dark
fiend of the night.”

Oliver reached down to scratch the
cat. “That was very nice of you.”

“I
know
. Her hands were
cold
.”

“In any case, Maria brought us a
variety of pieces we will be able to use to provide you with a suitable
disguise,” Artemis said.

“You know how sometimes I bring you a
dead mouse and you get all cranky?” Jeffrey asked. “Some people
like
when you bring them presents.”

“It’s not quite the same thing,”
Oliver said.

“I don’t see how it’s not,” the cat
noted. “You could wear the mouse as a little hat, if you wanted to. I don’t
judge.”

“We have their weapons, too,” Tyler
said. “As long as we don’t get too close to anyone, we’ll be able to pass as a
patrol.”

Oliver sighed. “Okay. So when are we
going to do this?”

“Tomorrow,” Artemis said. “Things
will have quieted down outside by then, once the cyborgs have directed their
search for you and Mr. Jacobsen elsewhere. Tonight you should eat and get some
rest. Things are about to become rather more complicated for us.”

“That may be the understatement of
the century,” Oliver said.

“Not at all, Mr. Jones. I believe the
understatement of the century was…” she trailed off. “Never mind. It hardly
seems relevant right now. Finish your soup, Mr. Jones.”

“Did she tell you I made muffins?”
Tyler asked.

“Yeah. I think I’ll go grab one…”

“Soup first, Mr. Jones,” Artemis said
sternly.

Oliver ate his soup.

Chapter 16

The next morning dawned foggy and
cold. Oliver stood at the living room window as he sipped his morning tea. No
cyborgs passed by outside, and he couldn’t see anything overhead to indicate
the area was still being searched. If the cyborgs were still looking for a
werewolf carrying a man in a hospital gown, they were doing it somewhere else.
It increased their odds of success, Oliver thought, if only by a little bit. At
this point, though, he was willing to take what he could get.

When breakfast was finished Oliver
and Tyler dressed up as cyborgs. Tyler had his own suit ready, and Oliver had a
wide assortment of pieces to choose from; the room Maria had been sleeping in
looked like an abattoir. Jeffrey watched them closely. “You guys look
ridiculous,” he said.

“The real question is do we look like
cyborgs?” Oliver asked. He turned around once as if he were modeling new
clothes. “What do you think?”

“I’d run away if I saw you coming,”
the cat said.

“That’s good, I suppose.”

“It would be because I’d be afraid if
I didn’t, I’d die laughing.”

Oliver sighed. “They don’t convert
animals, do they?” Tyler asked.

“Not yet. I hope we’re not next. I
wouldn’t like being a cyborg cat very much.”

“You never know,” Oliver said. “You
didn’t like being a
talking
cat at first, but you got used to it. You
could get a little suit of armor. You might like it.”

“You’re mean,” Jeffrey said. “If your
bed was here, I’d pee on it.”

Artemis was waiting for them
downstairs when they were finished, another one of Tyler’s muffins in her hand.
She looked them up and down. “You look acceptable,” she said. “I remember
chastising Maria for bringing her work home with her, but in hindsight, I am
glad she did. The assortment of pieces she collected saves us the trouble of
going out to find new ones.”

“That’s one way of looking at it,”
Oliver said.

“With their weapons, which Maria also
favored us with, you should be able to pass as a patrol unit to any casual
observers. I would prefer it if we could do something about your eyes, but it
cannot be helped. Avoid any close contact with others and you should have no
trouble. Remember to walk, and remain emotionless. I don’t want you two
cracking each other up while you’re marching down the street.”

“Yes, mom,” Tyler said. Artemis
stared at him until he looked away. “Sorry.”

Oliver glanced at the door. “How is
it we won’t forget about all of this the minute we’re out there? I’m not going
to go back to thinking a vampire just busted me out of the hospital?”

“Given a lengthy enough exposure, you
might. Mr. Jacobsen did not remember ever meeting you until he came inside the
house for the first time. However, his excursions outside afterward had no
effect on his restored memories. Nor did those of Maria. It appears that once
you have been placed back in your original timeline, it is difficult to pull
you out of it. I would avoid taking any vacations, though. Get a vehicle and
return here at once.”

“Where should we look?” asked Oliver.

“The cyborgs use modified SUVs and
Humvees pretty exclusively,” Tyler said. “It shouldn’t be that hard to find one
if we just march around for a while.”

“Pier 27,” said Jeffrey. Everyone
turned to stare at him. “What?” the cat asked. “I was outside, too. There’s a
bunch of stuff parked down there.”

“How do you even know where Pier 27
is?” Oliver asked.

“You think I can’t read signs? This
coming from the guy who made me talk?”

“Fine.” Oliver tried to imagine a map
of San Francisco in his head. It had been a while since he’d driven anywhere
without a GPS unit in his car. “That’s right off of Lombard. We should be able
to walk straight there.”

“You sure you don’t want me to just
transform and run down there?” Tyler asked Artemis. “It would take me five
minutes.”

“If this house had a garage in which
to hide it, perhaps,” Artemis replied. “However, as it does not, I believe that
if the cyborgs saw a werewolf steal one of their vehicles, they would likely
give chase. And once it was parked outside, they would almost certainly take it
back and resume searching this area.”

“That does make sense,” Tyler
admitted.

“Good luck, both of you,” Artemis
said. “We will be waiting.”

Oliver and Tyler stepped outside, assault
rifles carried low as was normal for the cyborgs, and Oliver was shocked to see
that time appeared to have stopped. Nothing outside moved and there was no
sound, no wind, and nothing to indicate that he wasn’t looking at a painting.
“That’s right,” he said to Tyler. “I forgot about this. It takes a minute for
the world to catch up to us. Or us to catch up to it.” Oliver didn’t know
exactly which thing was true, but he’d had the same experience the first time
he’d set foot outside this house six months ago. Everything would seem still at
first, and then slowly begin moving again. The last time he’d done this he’d seen
pedestrians frozen in mid-step, and he’d plucked a motionless leaf out of the
sky as if he’d been pulling it out of tar.

“We’ve got a few minutes like this,”
Tyler said. “I made it halfway to Geary before things started moving again yesterday.
Let’s take advantage of it.” They made a left turn and began walking up the
hill.

They’d reached Grant Avenue and made the
turn toward Lombard, passing one set of motionless cyborgs, before time slowly
started catching up with them. In the distance Oliver could see more cyborgs
slowly beginning to walk again, and a Humvee crossed the street ahead of them,
seeming to speed up as it did so. By the time they reached Lombard things were back
to normal. They turned right and began walking toward the water.

Oliver scanned the sky above them for
any sign of helicopters, or anything else that might spot them. “Try not to
look too interested in anything,” Tyler said. “Remember, they just march when
they’re out on the streets.”

“How am I supposed to keep an eye
out, then?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t know. Just look casual.”

Oliver wasn’t sure what a casual
cyborg was supposed to look like, but he did his best not to look at any one
thing for very long. As they marched another pair of cyborgs approached their
position on the other side of the street.

“Are we supposed to wave at them or
anything?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t know,” Tyler whispered back.
“I never really spent a lot of time watching them. I was always kind of busy.”

“Doing what?”

“Running away. Or killing them.”

“Let’s just ignore them.”

They looked straight ahead as the
other cyborgs passed by. The other two never gave them a second look. “Good,”
Tyler said. “Let’s hope things stay that way.”

“As long as nobody notices our eyes,
we should be fine.”

They walked until Lombard Street
abruptly came to an end at the turnoff for Coit Tower. “Oh,” Oliver said. “I
guess it
doesn’t
go all the way to the water.” They could see down to
the bay from their location at the top of the hill, but there was no easy way
to get there. If they hadn’t been trying to pass for cyborgs Oliver might have
been willing to risk trying to pick their way down the hill, but that would
look very odd to anyone who spotted them.

“Goddamn San Francisco,” Tyler said.
“Nothing about it makes any sense. Do you want to try Chestnut Street? That
might go through.”

“No, I think that one must end near
those buildings,” Oliver pointed into the distance. “We’ll have to go up to
Bay.”

“I swear to god, I tried to get
Artemis to move our office to Honolulu. ‘Lots of crazy stuff happens there,’ I
said. ‘Just look what happened to me!’ But no…”

“Hawaii doesn’t sound bad right now.
Do you think the cyborgs made it that far?”

“They haven’t yet. After the airports
got shut down the military started shooting down anything that got close.
Commander James said they’ve been trying ships but nothing’s made it through
the blockade.”

They turned and began walking back
down Lombard. “I can’t believe we wasted that much time,” Tyler said once they
reached Bay Street. “Artemis is going to be pissed.”

“As long as we get back with a car
we’ll be fine,” Oliver said. “I’m surprised we haven’t seen more cyborgs.”

“Most of the ones in the city are
working in the nutrient factories,” Tyler said. “And a lot of them have gone to
the battlefront. There’s only a token force here, really.”

“How many is that?”

“Maybe fifty thousand. But they’re
mostly on the other side of the city, near the ocean. There shouldn’t be more
than a few thousand around here.”

“Nothing to worry about, then,”
Oliver grumbled. Then his eyes caught something strange and he stopped in his
tracks. “What the hell is that?” he asked. Ahead of them, Oliver saw a patrol
of four armed cyborgs crossing Kearney Street heading toward Fisherman’s Wharf.
That by itself didn’t seem odd, but next to them he saw a girl in her late
teens with long blonde hair skipping along beside them. She wore a green tank
top with a golden ballerina skirt that reached to just below her knees. A pair
of black ankle-high Doc Martens completed the outfit. While she clearly hadn’t
been converted, she showed no fear of the cyborgs whatsoever. “How do they not
see her?”

Tyler followed his gaze up the
street. “See who?”

Oliver pointed. “Her.”

Tyler looked again. “I see cyborgs.
That’s all.” He gave Oliver a worried look. “You okay, buddy?”

The girl skipped in a wide circle
around the cyborgs, who ignored her entirely. Then she looked back at Oliver,
gave him a cheerful wave, and disappeared with the cyborgs up Kearney Street.

“That was weird,” Oliver said. “I
swear I saw a girl with them.”

“If there was a girl there, the
cyborgs would have gotten her.” Tyler frowned. “You may be having some kind of
time thing.”

“Time thing?”

Tyler shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe
she was there at some point in the past and that’s what you’re seeing. The
past. Like a side effect from being in two different timelines.”

“A
side effect
?”

“Give me a break. If you’re worried
about it, ask Artemis. But let’s get moving. We’re almost there.”

There was significantly more cyborg
activity down at the pier. As Jeffrey had said, plenty of vehicles were parked
in the area, much of which had been razed and repaved with weapon turrets
spaced along the waterfront at regular intervals. Oliver wasn’t thrilled about
the fact that it would remain impossible for them to go unseen, but as long as
nobody got a close look they might still be okay. “Let’s get a Humvee and get out
of here.”

The nearest one was parked half a
block away, with one cyborg standing just outside the driver-side door. There
were unguarded vehicles farther away, but that put them much closer to the rest
of the cyborgs than Oliver cared to be. “Let’s get that one,” Tyler said.

“Do you think he’s not going to
notice when we steal his car?” Oliver asked.

“We’ll improvise. Just act like a
cyborg.”

They marched up to the cyborg in as
casual a manner as Oliver could imagine marching would look. The cyborg showed
no interest in them as they approached. “What is your designation?” Oliver
asked. He’d noticed the cyborgs always seemed fond of that question when they
interacted.

“PT-8556BA. What is your
designation?”

“SCI-3422XB,” Oliver said. It was the
only designation he knew off the top of his head. “We require this vehicle at
the medical center. Please step aside.”

The cyborg stepped aside without
objection. Oliver could barely believe that had worked. “Carry on,” he said,
stepping toward the door.

“Hey, you used to work at that
hamburger place in North Beach,” Tyler said, suddenly perking up. “I knew I
recognized you.” Oliver winced. Cyborgs didn’t get nostalgic about their old
lives. A moment later Tyler winced, as well.

“That is irrelevant information,” the
cyborg said. “You appear to be malfunctioning.” He took a closer look at Tyler.
“No, it is not a malfunction. Your conversion process was unsuccessful. Allow
me to assist you.” He held up his arm and an injector unit slid out of a panel
in his wrist guard.

Oliver stepped forward and shot the
cyborg at point-blank range, then caught his body as he began to drop. Tyler
helped him lay the cyborg down on the pavement. “Well, shit,” Tyler said. “Do
you think anyone saw that?”

“What has happened to PT-8556BA?” a
voice asked from behind them. Oliver turned his head just enough to see a pair
of cyborg boots.

“A malfunction,” Oliver said. “We
will take him in for maintenance.”