Chapter Text
In a flash, Nicole found herself on a lonely road across a twilit plain, both seeming deserted, with nothing in sight but the flat land and straight road stretching to the horizon.
Nicole stood and waited by the roadside for a moment, gazing into the sunset, and presently she heard a whistling hum from her left and a strange machine came into view. It was unmistakably a car, but a car unlike any she had ever seen: black and glossy, smooth and streamlined, with blindingly-bright purplish headlights.
As it drew abreast of her, it came to a dead halt, without any stopping-distance at all. The lights dimmed and the whistling ceased. A window opened, and a man's voice came from within: "D'you need a ride, ma'am?".
Nicole answered: "Yes, I do. I'm going to";–– she paused to remember the former name, the name it bore before the Reich, before the War, before everything went to rack and ruin;–– "Santa Rosa".
"As it happens", he said, "so am I. Take the back seat or the front as you please".
Nicole looked for a handle on the car's back door, found none, and asked, "How do I open it?".
He answered, "D'you see that silver button on the door? Press that".
She did, and the door opened, to reveal a plain but comfortable seat, and nothing else in the cabin but some carpets on the floor. Nicole lowered her traditionally-built frame into the seat, fastened the seat-belt (fumbling a little with the unfamiliar lock), and settled down. The seat molded itself automatically to the curves of the body, so it was much easier than she expected. With the front seats before her, she could not see the driver, and there was no one else in the car.
Said the driver: "Anything else? Anyone coming with you? Any luggage? No? All set then? Right. Shut the door, and we'll be off".
Nicole shut it, surprised but pleased there was a handle on the inner side, with a second silver button on it that could only serve to unlock the door from within, and another to open the window.
With a merry "Here we go then!", the driver pressed the accelerator pedal and the car hummed into motion once more. "Where should I leave you?", he asked.
"Any vacant hotel will do", she answered; "I'm going to see my family, but I'll have to look around to find out if they're still there. Why are you going to Santa Rosa?".
He said, "I'm going to a friend's funeral. She died recently, and her mother was kind enough to invite me, even though things between us hadn't been of the best of late".
Said Nicole: "I'm sorry to hear that".
He answered: "Thank you for your kind feelings".
The voice sounded somehow familiar, so she asked, "What's your name? And who was your friend? Maybe I knew her".
He answered, "Maybe you did. My name is Artaxerxes Mithrenes, and hers was Nicole Marie Taggart. She died, they tell me, in a road accident not far from here. Funny thing to die of, in this day and age, when the roads are so safe!".
For a moment, Nicole was speechless. Then at length, she said, in an unusually small voice, "Artax, it's me; Nicole".
At that, the driver's bent back straightened where he sat. He released the accelerator and the car came to an abrupt stop. He paused, and turned around in his seat; or rather, turned his seat, which spun on the spot and clicked into place in reverse. A pair of deep-set dark eyes stared at her out of a long sharp brown face framed by brown-black hair. Long fingers pulled at a black moustache. The petulant-looking mouth opened, and the familiar voice said, "If my eyes don't deceive me, you are. But then who died in that road-accident, if it wasn't you?".
She said, "I don't know; just somebody who looked like me, I guess. I was in a real road-accident though, and I've lost my memory. I don't remember what happened in the accident or any of the days leading up to it".
Said Artax: "Lost your memory? Egads… that explains it! Well, I'm;–– blown! Ecstatic! Overjoyed! You're alive! And;–– and;–– and you don't remember… never mind that now! We've gotta get going! You'll be a guest at your own funeral, just as we always wished when we were children together! Ha ha! Let's go! It's tomorrow; my word, are they in for a surprise!".
Still laughing, he turned his seat forward again and took the controls. As they started on, Nicole said: "I'm surprised you believe me so easily".
Artax answered: "I know you well enough to recognize you when I see you. And no-one but the real Nicole would know how she mispronounced my name".
Nicole reflected privily this was not true, but she said nothing about that.