"Do you think he could pull us out?" Justin asked, watching the tractor's slow progress. "He's not stopping,"
"Honestly," Sarah muttered. She pulled off Monica's arm, left her leaning on the fender and stalked off, rolling up her skirt as she walked.
"He'll stop." She raised her arms and began trotting toward the road, waving her arms.
"You're shameless," Monica called after her.
"He's stopping," Justin said.
The tractor or whatever it was rumbled to a stop. The bill of the driver's cap swiveled toward them like the bill of a hawk that'd spotted a mouse.
Sarah reached the side of the vehicle and in a few seconds it was bouncing slowly across the field toward them. It stopped, turned and backed close to the car. The driver was climbing off with a chain in his hand when Sarah reached them, smirking at Monica. The driver was a young guy. Not tall but solid. He looked around.
"Funny you didn't make no tracks gettin out here." He considered the unbroken grass leading to where the car sat in deep ruts in the middle of the field for a few uncomfortable seconds, then knelt down and hooked the chain up somewhere under the car. He stood, wiping his palms against each other.
"What happened to her?" he asked, watching Monica hop in a circle until the open door was behind her and lower herself into the back seat.
"She's a klutz," Sarah said over her shoulder. "That's what happened."
"Ow," Monica shrieked as Sarah gave her foot a push and closed the door. Sarah opened the driver's door and turned to Justin.
"You coming?" she asked, then ducked in and slammed the door.
The man watched them for a second, nodded once, then climbed back up onto the machine. With a roar the chain was taut and they felt a yank.
"What's wrong?" Justin peered into the windshield. He'd tugged at them then stopped and was climbing back down. He walked up to the driver's window and leaned down.
"You in neutral?"
"Neutral," Sarah's forehead knotted. "Right." She laid a hand tentatively on the shifter knob, biting her lower lip. She gave it a push.
"Easier with the clutch in," he observed.
"I know I know." She pushed a pedal down with her foot and gave the shifter a shake. "There," she said triumphantly.
"You alright in there?" He peered curiously into the car.
"Fine," Justin called in a voice that the guy would've heard if he were still parked at the farm with his engine running. He leaned over the seat, waved and smiled like a new father in a delivery room. "Everything's fine. We're all good here. Thanks." He nodded his head up and down and beamed. The man nodded again and climbed back into the tractor.
"Smooth," Sarah muttered in disgust as they began lurching across the field. "Why not just wave a flag and say we're creatures from the future?"
"Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll think we're from Mars," Monica said.
At the speed the thing travelled it took almost five minutes to cover the short distance to the road. They stopped and the man climbed down, crawled under the car and unhooked the chain.
"Thanks," Justin leaned out the window and called again. The man took a last long look at them, nodded and turned back to the tractor. "See you." Justin kept calling. "Thanks."
"He's gone you moron."
"I don't think he suspects anything."
Sarah shook her head, both hands on the wheel, staring at her feet. She slowly pushed down a pedal and turned the key in the steering column. A long roar and a screech and she let the key go. The car made a low, humming sound. She set her hand on the shifter and moved it.
"Clutch, shift, gas, clutch," she muttered.
"I thought you said you knew how...ow...hey..." He got his hands up too late. His head bounced off the windshield as they shot forward a couple of feet then squealed to a stop.
"What're you doing?" He rubbed his head.
Monica leaned over the seat. "Have you ever driven one of these?"
"If the two of you would just shut up for a minute." She twisted the key again and frowned at her feet. "Clutch, shift, gas, clutch." They leapt forward, stopped, lurched, then spun out trailing an arc of gravel in their wake. "Got it," she said triumphantly.
"Monica?" Justin looked over the seat then twisted to his knees and pulled Monica up off the floor. He turned back toward the windshield. "Do you know where we're going?"
Sarah glared at him but didn't answer. They crested the hill sending a small flutter into their stomachs and came down on the other side. The road stretched out straight down the hill and up another in the distance.
"What's the point of the GPS?" Sarah tapped a finger on the screen embedded in the dashboard. "There's only one road."
"Slow down," Monica called from the back.
"Do you actually know how to operate this thing?" Justin asked nervously. "It didn't occur to me that we'd actually have to drive it." He pressed his hands against the dashboard.
"You're not supposed to be here," Sarah snapped, eyeing Monica in the rear view mirror. "This is my mission."
"Ah, don't you actually have to watch where you're going in these things?" Justin asked as the right tires rumbled onto the grass. Sarah yanked them back onto the road and across the double lines marking the center. He braced himself against the dashboard as Sarah gripped the wheel in both hands and pointed them back into the lane.
"Ow. Be careful," Monica said from the back, trying to keep her swollen ankle on the seat with her back braced against the door.
Sarah shot another menacing look into the mirror before turning back to the road in front of her.
"I know how to do it," she snapped. "It's just these old things are a lot more complicated. Pedals, shifters. All I normally have to do is point it and tell it to go faster."
They drove in silence, fields and farms slowly giving way to lawns and houses.
"I never expected it to be so different," Justin said as they started seeing signs of a city. The houses got smaller, older and closer together. Apartment buildings and store fronts appeared, along with traffic lights and traffic. "It's like going back in time."
Sarah gave him a stare and shook her head. The day was cloudy and Sarah pulled a switch in the dashboard.
"What's that?" Justin asked her.
"Headlights."
"You mean you have to actually turn them on?" A car passed. Then another. There was more traffic as the houses grew closer together with apartment buildings and businesses were sprinkled in. "Huh. Some cars have them on and some don't."
"Brilliant. Now I see why they picked you."
"So how'd you learn to drive this anyway?" he asked without being able to keep the admiration from his voice as Sarah lurched past another car. "I mean, how'd you know that car coming at us wouldn't hit us?" he asked as she crossed back over the double yellow line, the honking horn of the passing car blaring at them.
"Just don't ask me to start it," she said. "I practiced a few times but only got it about half the time."
"I think you proved that," Monica called from the back. "Wasn't that light red?" The long blare of a horn followed them through an intersection.
"I didn't expect so many lights." Sarah frowned at the windshield.
"It really hasn't been that long, what, twenty-four years?" Justin went on. "So..." he straightened. "That means there's two of me here, right?" He looked back and forth between the two of them, his face shining in excitement. "Why didn't I think of that before? I'm out there somewhere. I could actually go and find myself."
"Steady Tonto. We don't have enough time to run around socializing or," she glanced up into the mirror, "...for anyone to get any ideas about getting in the way."
"Getting in the way?" Monica asked innocently, catching Justin's eye as he frowned over the seat. "And keep you from getting the tape?" She lifted her eyebrows and nodded her head toward Sarah. "Why would I want to stop you on your approved mission?"
"You look ridiculous,"
Sarah said. Monica looked up and caught Sarah's eyes in the mirror. "Honestly Monica," Sarah said with a shake of her head. "You are the most unslick person I've ever known." Her eyes shot across the seat to Justin. "Well, maybe the second most unslick."
"Alright then." Monica gripped the back of the seat and tried to pull herself forward. "Let's cut to the chase. Why don't you tell your partner here what your real mission is?"
"Real mission? What're you talking about? What's she talking about?" Justin's eyes darted back and forth across the top of the seat. "We're here to get some tape aren't we? They really didn't tell me much more than that. There's an attack and we need to get the security tape."
"Go ahead and tell him."
"I'm warning you Monica. Stay out of it."
"Stay out of what? Our mission's to get that tape and come back without anyone seeing us, right?" He looked back and forth between the two of them for confirmation. "That's what they told..."
"Go ahead. Tell hiiiiiim...hey, owwwww."
The car skidded to a stop in a chorus of squealing tires and honking horns. Sarah pulled the shifter until it moved loosely.
"Sarah what're you doing?"
Sarah half turned and draped an arm over the seat. She looked back and forth between Monica and Justin as passing drivers slowed to peer through their windows at them. "You don't understand," she said. "Neither of you understands. Especially you Monica. You think you do but you don't. You just...oh..." she shook her head and raised her hands, "...just go back to the pick up location and wait for me there."
"Wait there? Where are you going?" Justin asked.
Sarah unlocked the door, pushed it open and got out. She leaned back in. "It's still running. Clutch left. Brake middle. Accelerator right." She glared at Justin. "Monica can figure it out." She slammed it closed.
"But where? What? Why?"
"Ask Monica," Sarah answered through the window. "She knows everything."
"Do you have any idea what kind of a deviation this'll cause?" Monica yelled through the window, but Sarah'd already disappeared between the parked cars.
"What do we do?"
"First of all," Monica said, looking around. "Move this thing out of the street."
"Move it?" Justin stared around wildly. "Me? I can't operate one of these."
"Oh for God's sake. Open. Aaaagh." She slapped at the door. "How do you open this thing?" She found the latch and yanked it and pushed the door open with her shoulder. She pulled herself out, tested her ankle, it seemed a little better. "Damn." She pulled herself up by the door, hobbled around it and pushed it closed. Justin popped up on the other side of the car.
"Where're you going?"
"I'm going to see if I can catch her."
"Wait. Justin."
"Wait here."
"I can't wait here. Damn," she swore, watching Justin squeeze between two parked cars, trot away and disappear into the crowd walking back and forth on the sidewalk. No one noticed him. They were too busy looking at her parked in the middle of the street. "Damn," she said again. She stared at the driver's door a second, then pulled the latch. It opened and she turned her back to the car, maneuvered herself into position and squatted onto the seat. Cars whizzed past, occasionally honking and sharing hand gestures that she wasn't going to dignify with a response. Don't dwell on the fact that they're driven by people, not computers, angry people, angry people not paying any attention to the road. She almost managed to slam the door on her swollen ankle but missed somehow. Maybe things were looking up.
Monica looked around the cockpit, is that what you call it? Steering wheel, well ok, that one's obvious. Like her car's emergency joystick. Pedals on the floor. "What'd she say? Clutch left. Brake middle. Accelerator right," she muttered. She tentatively pushed a foot against the one on the right and the engine roared. OK. Accelerator. She pressed the one next to it. It went down a little, but not much. Nothing happened. Brake? Why hadn't they covered this in chrononaut training? Her heart pounded and she fought back the panic. Sarah did it and she could do it. Just stay calm. She reached for the pedal on the left. It was awkward getting her right foot on it so she tried her left. "Ow." That wasn't going to work. She shifted in the seat and pushed it down with her right foot. It went all the way to the floor.
"OK," she breathed, gripping the wheel with one hand and laying the other one on the lever sticking out of the floor that she'd seen Sarah use. "Clutch," she pushed the pedal to the floor, had to shift a little farther in the seat to get it all the way down. "Check. Shift." Shift? She looked at the lever, lifted her hand. There was a little design with numbers. One must mean the one you shift into first, right? That's so logical. She winced as she pushed the lever up and to the left, but it went smoothly. "Ha," she exhaled in triumph. Halfway there. She glanced into the mirror like an old pro. Now gas.
The jolt almost knocked the wind out of her. The car jumped forward then slammed to a stop. All the lights on the console in front of her flashed on and the sound of the engine died.
"Oh damn." She felt as if she were going to cry. She beat her fists against the wheel and it gave a little honk. "Damn. Damn. Damn." What more could go wrong?
The tap on the window almost sent her jumping out of her skin. She looked around at the thick black belt, then up. Her heart sank. That's what more could go wrong.
The cop gently pulled the door open and his head appeared in the car. "You alright miss?" Familiar. The thought flashed through her mind. How could he look familiar? She glanced into the mirror. How'd she missed his lights? Had he turned his siren on? He couldn't've. She'd've heard that. She looked up and tried to flash a smile but probably looked as if she had a stomach flu.
"Oh hi officer," she gushed. Geez. Tone it down. You're not sixteen. She glanced at the nametag, "...Michaels." Michaels? It couldn't be. Could it? It's a common enough name. She stared into his face, catching his eyes sliding down her legs. You old...well he wasn't actually that old. "Everything's fine. I just somehow mixed up the starting sequence," she added with what she hoped was a carefree laugh.
He nodded. Looked thoughtfully at her while she held the inane smile on her face. "I see," he finally said, nodding slowly. "Mind letting me see your license and registration miss."
"License and registration?" she asked, biting her lip. She gauged the odds. Push him down, jump out, hobble away on her twisted ankle, disappear into the crowd. About six billion to one that she even made it off the seat. Her only hope'd be to push him in front of a moving car.
"Look officer," she confided. At least she hoped it looked as if she were confiding. His brow furrowed as he followed her glance in both directions and leaned in to hear her lowered voice. "My sister took my father's car." She looked young enough to have a sister who'd steal their father's car. No question. "I got in with her to try to stop her but she left me here. I don't know how to drive a..." she waved her hand helplessly at the shifter. What the hell do you call these things? "I didn't bring my purse," she added, waving her hands in the air. Maybe if she waved them around enough he wouldn't notice how lame the whole thing was.
The cop nodded, then slowly shook his head and chuckled. "Well," he finally said. "I suppose you look harmless enough. Move over."
Monica swung her feet over the console and lifted her rear over it so she was in the passenger seat. The cop lowered himself into the driver's seat. He jammed his left foot onto the clutch pedal.
"Left foot," she said nodding.
"What?"
"Nothing." She smiled. He gave her another curious look.
Well she'd tried her left foot. It wasn't her fault that her left ankle was the size of a grapefruit and hurt like hell. He twisted the key and the engine roared to life. With a glance in the mirror he maneuvered his feet too fast for her to follow and the car leapt forward, stopped, then whipped back into a space between two parked cars.
"There," he said as he pulled out the key and handed it to her. "At least you're n
ot obstructing traffic now." He looked her up and down. "You'll be alright from here?"
"I don't suppose," she ventured. "You can tell me how long it would take me to walk here?" She tapped the GPS screen but he didn't answer. Just stared at her with the puzzled look he'd had when he'd first looked into the car.
"What's that you're wearing anyway?" he asked.
"Don't you like it?" she asked, her mind racing. Damn. "I'm a fashion designer. Trying to be anyway." She flashed him another smile. "It's my own creation."
"Oh," he said, smiling himself, but not all that convincingly. "Very nice." He looked up at the GPS. "Not too long," he said. " It's only a mile. Maybe a little more."
She smiled.
"You have something in your eye?"
"No I don't have anything in my eye," she snapped.
"It looked like..."
"My ankle's twisted. I need a ride." She tapped the GPS. "Here. Are you going to give me one or not?"
"Were you batting your eyes at me?" he laughed. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that."
"Never mind. I'll limp. Open."
"Open?" He looked at her and then the door. "Didn't you forget to say sesame?"
She pushed the door. Shoved her shoulder at it. Glared at it. Right. The handle. She yanked it. It flapped back. Nothing.
He pushed a button on his door. Snap. "Try it now." He was laughing at her. When she got ahold of Sarah... She yanked the handle again and pushed the door open until it scraped against the sidewalk.
"Your father won't be happy about that." She got out and kicked the door closed with her bad foot.
"Ow. Damn."
"Easy." He got out and looked over the roof of the car, watching her lean over to rub her ankle. He sighed. Walked around the front, took her by the elbow.
"What're you doing?" People watched them curiously as he guided her limping to the police cruiser. "Are you arresting me?"
"If I had any sense I'd at least take you in and find out what planet you dropped off of, but I'm ready to go off. Somehow I think my life'll be easier if I just give you a ride instead." He opened the cruiser door and she sat down and gingerly swung her legs into the car. "Besides," he leaned over her. "I'm dying to meet your sister."
Soul Source: Back and There Again Page 27