Interesting Places (Interesting Times #2) (18 page)

“This planet was conquered,” Artemis
said. “I would expect that, two months from now, there will not be a single
unconverted human left alive.”

“
Gods
,” Linnea whispered. “I
knew we were losing, but…” she shook her head. “I still had some hope.”

“Unfortunately, you were the hope,
Linnea, and your sister has removed you from the equation. In the correct
timeline, you cured the cyborg contagion and saved the world. And, in effect,
my own.” Artemis looked at Sally. “When the cyborgs finished conquering this
world, they used their teleportation technology to invade ours. Their victory
is assured there, as well. It is only a matter of time.”

Sally wrung her hands together.
“There has to be another way.”

“How long has it been since you
slept?” Oliver asked.

“A while.” She nodded at Linnea.
“This one keeps yelling at me.”

“You tricked me into coming out here
and handcuffed me to a chair.”

“You kept trying to run away!”

“Imagine that!”

“Enough,” Artemis said. She rubbed
her temples as Tyler returned from the kitchen with two Styrofoam cups full of
tea. He sat them down on the table and headed back for more. Artemis picked up
her cup, sniffed it, and made a face. “I suppose this will have to do.”

“It was all they had at the store,”
Sally said.

Artemis sipped the tea and put her
cup back down. “It is time we end this, Sally.”

“I’m not letting her go until after
the bombing,” Sally said. “She can go somewhere else and finish her work then.”

“I’d have to start over. Everything I
have is at Kholon,” Linnea said. “The war will be over by the time I’m done.”

“Then somebody else can do it.”

“We just went over this,” Linnea
sighed. “Do you really think if anyone else could do it I wouldn’t be on that
radio right now?” She looked at Artemis. “Maybe since I know there’s an attack
coming, there’s a chance? I don’t need long to make it work. I could get in and
get out, or at least evacuate the others.”

“The weapon,” Sally said. “Use the
weapon, instead. You finished that.”

Linnea’s eyes widened slightly. “How
do you even know about that thing?”

“It was…”

“Your code was discovered at a later
time,” Artemis interrupted. “After the cure was deployed.”

Linnea took a deep breath. “Well,
thank god for that. I was never going to release it, not unless it was the last
thing standing between the human race and extinction. It’s monstrous, Sal. It
doesn’t just shut down the A.I.; it kills the bots and the hosts die. There’s
no way to bring them back.”

“So what?” Sally asked. “You’ll live.
The cyborgs will be dead. The other world never gets invaded. We win.” She
looked at Artemis. “Would that satisfy you?”

“Do you think this is about my
satisfaction?” Artemis asked. “I assure you, regardless of what happens next, I
will not be satisfied in any sense of the word.”

Linnea took her sister by the
shoulder. “Look at me, Sal. There are twenty million cyborgs out there. Do you
really think I’d murder all of them just to save my own skin? Really?”

“They aren’t people anymore,” Sally
said. “They’re robots.”

“They’re really not,” Linnea shook
her head. “They’re just lost.”

Sally grimaced. “You can’t make her
go,” she said to Artemis. “I won’t let you.”

“I have no intention of making her do
anything,” Artemis said. “I have only advised you of the facts of the
situation. You may do as you please, Linnea, but I suspect you have already
made your decision.” Artemis went back to drinking her horrible tea. Tyler
returned to the room with two more Styrofoam cups, handing one to Oliver and
putting the other down in front of Linnea. Oliver sipped his tea. He had never
been much of a tea drinker before he’d met Artemis and didn’t have much of a
palate for it, but even he knew what was in his cup was awful. Tyler took a
seat next to Artemis and waited.

“You’re not leaving,” Sally said to
Linnea. “I don’t care. I’ll let the world burn before I lose you again.”

Linnea sighed. “Those really are the
only two choices here, aren’t they? You really would, wouldn’t you? Let our
world burn?”

“Of course I would. You’re my
sister.”

“Okay. You win. We don’t have to talk
about this anymore.” Linnea slid closer to her sister on the couch and put her
arms around her. Oliver saw her make eye contact with Artemis. Artemis nodded
ever so slightly.

Linnea stroked Sally’s back for a
moment and then pulled away. “Drink your tea,” she said. “I have some other
things to say to you.”

Sally took her cup and sipped it.
“This really
is
bad.” She laughed. “I could never make it like yours,”
she said to Artemis.

“It does help to purchase a higher
quality of product,” Artemis noted. “I doubt you would find anything suitable
for human consumption at a convenience store.”

“It’s got caffeine,” Sally said. “I
think it’s all that’s been keeping me awake the last few days.”

Linnea watched as Sally drank her
tea, then took the cup out of her hand and put it down on the table. “Look at
me, okay? I love you so much, Sal,” she said.

“I love you, too.”

Linnea smiled wistfully. “You were my
hero when we were little. I want you to know that. You still are. You’ll always
be my hero.”

“Hey,” Sally said, patting her sister
on the arm. She reached for her cup. “Why are you talking like that? It’ll be
okay. I’ll talk to Federation Command. If they know what I know…” she looked at
Tyler and frowned. “Why are you crying?”

Oliver looked over at Tyler,
surprised to see that tears were streaming down his friend’s face.

“Tyler?” Sally asked. “What’s…” the
Styrofoam cup dropped from her hand, bouncing once on the couch and spilling
the last of its contents everywhere.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Linnea said.

Sally stared at her hand. “What the
hell? I can’t feel my fingers.” Her eyes widened and she turned on Artemis.
“What did you
do
?”

“What needed to be done,” Artemis
said.

Sally tried to stand up but her legs
failed her and she fell back down on the couch. “No,” she said. “No, no, no…”

Linnea put her arms around her sister
and pulled her close. “Come here. It’s okay, sweetheart. Just go to sleep. Go
to sleep.”

Sally made a quiet wailing noise and
pushed against her sister, but she no longer had the strength to fight. A
moment later she was asleep. Linnea stroked her back, tears now running down
her face as well. “I love you, Sal. I love you.”

“You
drugged
her?” Oliver
asked Artemis. “How? I never even saw you move.”

Artemis held up a small plastic bag
the size of a half-dollar. “Sleight of hand, Mr. Jones.” She smiled grimly. “She
is going to be very cross with me when she wakes up.”

Linnea laid her sister back on the
couch and stroked her hair. “You’ll take care of her?” she asked Artemis.

“Of course.”

Linnea took a ragged breath and
rubbed a tear from one eye. “Thank you. I never would have had a chance to say
goodbye if it weren’t for you.” She kissed Sally on the cheek. “I love you,
sweetheart.”

“The bombing hasn’t happened yet,”
Tyler said. “There’s a chance, isn’t there?” He looked at Artemis. “If she gets
in and gets out, she could still live, right?”

Artemis sighed. “No.”

“At least you’re honest,” Linnea
said. She took a deep breath. “Gods. I’m so scared.”

“Honesty compels me to be explicit
with you,” Artemis said. “Transmit the cure, and the cyborgs will be cured.
They will be made human again. But you will die. Nothing can save you.”

“Maybe you didn’t have to be
that
honest,” Linnea said. She chuckled ruefully. “It’s tempting, you know? I could
just run away. Take Sal and get out of here.”

“You could,” Artemis said. “I would
not prevent you. I cannot imagine you would last very long, though. The war is
in its final stages, as you are well aware.”

“Yeah.” Linnea stood up and Oliver
saw that one of her legs was trembling. She put a hand on her thigh until it
stopped. “Well, I guess I have to go save the world.”

“You are very brave, Linnea,” Artemis
said. “I always admired you. I would have you know that.”

“Thanks. I always thought you
were…very unusual.”

“I am that.”

Linnea looked at Tyler. “Take care of
yourself, big guy. It was good to see you again.” She looked at Oliver. “And
you…I guess you’re okay. Keep an eye on my sister for me. She’s going to be so
wrecked after this. She’s going to need a lot of help.”

“I will,” Oliver said. “I promise.”

“You may take our vehicle,” Artemis
said. “We will no longer have need of it.”

Linnea nodded and headed for the
door. A moment later Oliver heard their car start, and then it was gone.

“I believe we will have need of those
handcuffs,” Artemis said. “Before she wakes up, please, Mr. Jacobsen.”

Tyler took the handcuffs and fastened
Sally’s hands behind her back. “Do we really have to do this?” he asked.

“Oh, yes. If she wakes up and kills
the three of us in order to go after her sister, this trip will have been for
nothing. Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Jones?”

“You didn’t tell her,” Oliver said.

“Hmm?”

“You told her she was going to cure
the cyborgs. You never told her Sally would kill them afterward.”

“No,” Artemis said. “I did not. Do
you disagree with my choice?”

Oliver shook his head. “You know
what? I don’t know what to think about anything, anymore. But honestly, screw
this entire situation.”

“Well, that is one perspective,”
Artemis said.

“What do we do now?” Tyler asked.

“We wait,” Artemis said. The ground
below them rumbled for a brief moment, then stopped. Artemis nodded. “It has
begun.”

Chapter 21

The second timequake came an hour
later. It was larger this time, and lasted longer than the first one. The
rumbling was enough to rouse Sally into groggy consciousness. “What did you
do?” she asked, squinting as if the already dim light in the room was too
bright for her.

“What needed to be done,” Artemis
said. “I apologize for the restraints, but I did not entertain the notion that
any of us were a match for you, physically, and I could not risk you
interfering.”

Sally looked around. “Where’s my
sister?”

“She has gone to meet her destiny.”

“My god,” Oliver said. “Could you
possibly sound any colder?”

Artemis turned to him. “Have I
offended you, Mr. Jones? I have said nothing that is untrue. We must each meet
our destiny, in our own time.”

Sally tested the cuffs binding her
wrists. “Let me go. I can still save her.”

“You cannot,” Artemis said. “It is
too late. What is done is done. What happened before is now happening again.”

“And we’re talking in riddles now,”
Tyler said. “Fantastic.”

“I did not hear a riddle,” Artemis
noted.

Sally glared at Artemis. “She’s my
sister!” She looked at Oliver and Tyler, and then back at Artemis. “Let me go.
Artemis, I promise I’ll let her finish the cure and then I’ll get her out. We
don’t know when the attack is coming. I’ll take the risk.”

“I will not. The cyborgs have been
searching for your sister for some time. It was her transmission of the cure
program that allowed them to identify her location. Their missiles struck three
minutes later. If you went there, you would only die with her. She, of course,
was well aware of the danger she was in.”

“
What
? You never told me any
of that!”

“There was little reason to. In
hindsight, perhaps I should have. If you had known how important the cure was
to her, perhaps you would not have reacted to her death in the manner you did.”

Sally looked around, her eyes
frantic. “If you won’t let me save her, at least keep me from deploying the
weapon. You can do that much, can’t you?”

“Of course not.”

“Artemis…” Oliver began.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sally
interrupted. “You don’t have to uncuff me. Just go talk to the me at Federation
Command. Two versions of you yelling at me will be enough to stop me. Bring Tyler.
Explain what happened.”

Artemis sighed. “In a short time, my
other self will implore you not to seek revenge. I remember that conversation
quite clearly. You chose not to heed my advice. You will make the same choice
again.”

“But I didn’t know then what I do
now!”

“What is it that you know now,
Sally?”

Sally’s bottom lip trembled. “Damn
it, Artemis, I was wrong! Is that what you want to hear? I thought it was
justice, but it was just murder! I murdered all those people!” She looked at
Oliver. “You know I’m right, don’t you?”

As much as he didn’t want to speak,
Oliver nodded anyway. “Yes. I’m sorry, Sally, but it wasn’t justice.”

“There,” Sally said. “See, Artemis?
Isn’t he your moral compass these days? You can stop this!”

The ground rumbled around them for
the third time, and this time Oliver felt his chair rattling. “Unfortunately,”
Artemis said, “that is also a thing that cannot be changed.”

“
What
?”

“It is what happened,” Artemis said.
“It is done. We cannot change the past.”

“I think I’m proof that we can,”
Sally said.

“You are proof of how destructive
such an endeavor can be.”

“But it doesn’t have to be like
that,” Sally said desperately. “So what if the cyborgs survive? The war will be
over. Your world won’t be invaded.”

“But the timeline of my world would
shatter,” the girl said. “Even I cannot predict how destructive that could be.
When you asked me to help you, I agreed. But I told you that if need be, I
would burn your world to cinders in order to save my own. That world is my
first responsibility.”

“You mean you actually could save
everyone?” Tyler asked.

“The timequakes indicate that I did
not,” Artemis said.

“But you could have?” Oliver asked.
“And all it means is Sally never went back to Earth?”

“How many times has Sally saved your
life, Mr. Jones? Or yours, Mr. Jacobsen? If she had not been exiled to our
world, you would both likely be dead. And you are small things, compared to
some of the larger pieces on the board.”

“But all those people…” Sally said.

“They are already dead,” Artemis said
quietly. “They have been dead for a long time. If you had listened to me,
perhaps they would not be. My own world’s path would have been different. But
you did not. You did not listen.”

“And now you’re punishing me for
that?” Sally asked.

“I am not so petty as that,” Artemis
scoffed. “I am putting the history of our two worlds back the way it was
supposed to be. And given that the ground is still shaking, and my headache has
finally gone away, I can conclude that I was successful.”

Sally thrashed against her handcuffs.
“You crazy bitch!” she screamed. “I’ll fucking kill you for this!”

“Perhaps you will,” Artemis noted.
“But you will not do it today.” She looked around and took a last sip of her
cold tea, grimacing at the taste. “This is the final timequake. It is done.”

“Do we need to get back to the mirror
or something?” Tyler asked.

“Of course not.” She turned to watch
as the house’s windows began to crack from the increased shaking. “We were
never here.”

And then the world went black.