Day 28: Bus 2

[misterprince]

The group hadn't made it to the Twin Pines before the nurses started ushering them back to the buses. Sanji didn't believe the small sack dinner he was handed would make up for the meal they would have had at the restaurant, and aside from that he'd still wanted to check the place out. Now he had no way of comparing it to what they served at the

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[unmocked_lawr]

The townspeople had been frustratingly evasive when it came to giving answers about Doyleton's location, but that was only to be expected; no doubt they'd been instructed to do so. After several fruitless attempts at interrogation, Javert had been forced to give up. Still, the trip had allowed him both fresh air and a chance to stretch his legs. For that he was grudgingly thankful, and he was in a somewhat better mood than usual as he neared Magus Park.

Of course, that good mood quickly dissipated when the buses came into view again. Good Lord, did they really expect him to get on one of those things again, now that he had a general idea of how they worked?

He accepted his dinner with poor grace and boarded the nearest bus. It was, he noted with some irritation, practically empty, save for a boy and a short, rather rotund man. The idea of sitting alone on the trip back to the asylum didn't particularly appeal to him, and a conversation would probably take his mind off of the ride itself. With this thought in mind, he dropped into the seat in front of the short man, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Get much done today?" he asked without preamble. The traditional "So how long have you been here?" had never really appealed to him.

[small_fortune]

Mark had gotten halfway through the sandwich already, his stomach, or rather Gorge, slightly soothed by the unhealthily speedy eating. He hadn't tasted a bit of it. It was probably for his own good that another patient was rounded up and, upon entering the bus, chose Mark's seat as a good place to start a conversation. Letting any of his Gang run free right now was... well, with this little food, Gorge couldn't work to his full extent, but Mark still didn't savor the idea of choking to death on food inhaled for stress relief. Whatever he lacked in patience at eating, he at least retained in manners, and paused to swallow and wipe his face before answering.

"Well, I established that I'm certain that I'm not sure where I am." Mark offered as a weak joke, looking up at the taller man. "Otherwise, no. My name is Mark." After all, the man was apparently the type to get right to the point, and going through titles and Vor-s hadn't helped Mark any thus far.

[unmocked_lawr]

"Javert," offered Javert, with a wry twist of his mouth, as he began to unwrap his own meal. Best not to say more than his name; there was no telling who'd recognize it, even without his former title, and he felt inexplicably uncomfortable with the idea that someone would.

"I don't believe any of us knows precisely where we are," he continued, "though general consensus seems to be America." So this fellow was new, then? Or close to it? Hard to tell. "I've no idea where in America, though; I'd never left Europe before I arrived here, so it's all rather unfamiliar to me."

[small_fortune]

Javert? Javert... the name was familiar. From his bulletin board notes? He couldn't recall immediately, so it probably was not anything too startling--such as, say, being a sword in a human's body. Possibly just one of the many French names he'd taken down, noting how many people of French or Japanese descent seemed to be in this place.

"Europe, hm? I spent a few years living in London," Mark commented, glancing out the window briefly. "I couldn't place our location either, although it would be nice if we were on Earth." The right Earth. Right dimension, right time. All of that business was a headache; first figuring out how they got to this place would probably explain where they actually were. Not that he had any way of determining that either.

[unmocked_lawr]

Another one like Reynolds, then, judging from the "on Earth" comment. This time, instead of disbelief, Javert only felt a mild curiosity.

"I'm quite certain this is Earth," he responded, smirking slightly despite himself; it felt decidedly odd saying that. "The patients who've been here longer seem to be of the opinion that it is twentieth-century America, and I suppose they know better than I. I take it you aren't from Earth, then? There seem to be a few of you about."

[small_fortune]

"I'm not so certain," Mark answered frankly. From the sounds of it, this fellow was also displaced in time here, although (if it were really Earth) not by world. "I've been places that looked a lot like this on other worlds. I suppose you could say I'm not from Earth, in the sense that I'm not a native, and I don't live there now. But I spent a good chunk of my life on Earth.

"I picked up a little history while I was there. I'll admit it seems like 20th century Earth to me. Maybe a little earlier or later. I'm not an expert." He glanced up, to the ceiling of the bus. "It's too bad I never took much of an interest in visual astronomy, or I might be able to tell from the position of the stars where we are, Earth or not. Assuming that isn't an illusion too. Considering the circumstances, we can't really be sure of anything based on the environment our captors show us."

[unmocked_lawr]

[Sorry about the wait! D:]

Javert's eyebrows drew together. "I must admit the possibility of this not being Earth had never even occurred to me. Has technology truly advanced that much in the past century and a half?"

The idea itself was disturbing in the extreme. Still, he couldn't help but feel more curious than ever before. If such things were possible in the future - now - he'd do well to learn as much about them as he could.

[small_fortune]

[Not a problem! :D]

"Century and a half?" Mark repeated. He glanced out the window again, at the rustic little town. More advanced than some of the hidey-holes in Vorkosigan District, yet centuries behind the rest of the galaxy or the growing Barrayaran metropolises. "I don't know about your situation, but I'm from well beyond a century and a half after the time period this appears to be. And yes, where I'm from, faking all this wouldn't be difficult at all."

A dome set to simulate daytime and nighttime with the stars all in the right place for an Earth evening in some rural mountainous region, perhaps in America as some had guessed. People brainwashed into odd behaviors. Even the descriptions he'd read of the monsters could be duplicated with enough genetic tinkering...

There was a point. "Say, have you actually seen any of the monsters they say are around at night?"

[unmocked_lawr]

Not as far ahead as Reynolds and his crew, then - though chances were Mark and Reynolds might not even be from the same universe. Wonderful.

"I'm from 1832; this is all rather new to me." Javert glanced around at the inside of the bus, grimacing slightly. "Though, frankly, I could do without some of these inventions.

"I have seen some monsters - undead cats, a ghost that can summon fire with her bare hands and cuts whatever she touches, a creature with a metal pyramid for a head and a massive sword. There are others; I would show you a list, but I left my journal in my room. I take it you haven't seen any yet?"

[small_fortune]

A ghost that summons fire and cuts anything she touches? Lasers, maybe? But even placing aside the stories from other patients about their own worlds, it was stretching to say that this place was a creation of technology from his home. That might be possible, yes, but unfortunately he had the feeling that this place was not so primitive as it seemed by quite a degree. Alternate dimensions remained the stuff of holovids back home, yet this place dragged people from such strange times and places...

"1832, hm?" Mark smiled, trying not to seem overly interested. He had a bad habit of intimidating or repelling others when he took on an air of too much interest; he could be a little overly intense. "Did you ever have the chance to travel on a steamship, by chance?"

[Now my turn to apologize @_@; Sorry for wait...]

[unmocked_lawr]

Javert only smiled briefly at Mark's apparent interest. He didn't particularly mind; answering the question allowed him to take his mind off the bus. Besides, he found the idea that someone could possibly think life in his time intriguing in any way rather amusing.

"Afraid not - they're not particularly prevalent in my time. I have no plans to travel on one when I get back, either; I've no desire to ride something that could blow up under my feet at any second."

Like this bus, he thought, but didn't say that out loud. Mlle. Callahan hadn't thought anything of riding it, and she was - what - twelve, if that? No doubt M. Mark would find it laughable if he expressed his concern.

[small_fortune]

"That's a pity," Mark answered honestly, "I took an interest in them when I learned about them in a museum in London. They were rather fascinating devices."

Meeting someone from that time was odd, at best. And from France. A man who had arrived from interesting times. "I can't blame you for not wanting to risk unwanted explosions during your travel. They do have a way of ruining a trip." He wondered how well the time-displaced man was taking the rumbling machine they rode on now. Mark knew the risk of explosion was minimal, but to someone who was from Javert's time, the sounds and smells must be intimidating or at least worrisome. Javert's calm expression was a credit to his nerves.

[unmocked_lawr]

So steamships were in museums by his time? Javert supposed it was only to be expected, but it was somewhat disconcerting all the same.

He chuckled briefly at the other man's comment. "Indeed they do. Frankly, I've no idea how all of you can stand to travel like this on a daily basis. Everyone in the future must be half-deaf or worse."

[small_fortune]

"By my time, things have been quieted down quite a bit. Most of these engines are noiseless. And scentless, as well." Talking to Javert was fascinating, especially based on his own interest in Earth's nineteenth century. "If you don't mind a personal question... what did you do, back home?"

Considering the timing, it could be any number of interesting things... or perfectly normal things, disrupted by circumstances. He privately thought he'd rather prefer hearing about the latter. Javert might not care to talk about it, of course.

[unmocked_lawr]

Well. That was an interesting question, and one which brought up all sorts of memories he'd rather not dwell on at the moment. Still, he supposed M. Mark had a right to know.

"I was an inspector," he said at last. "First class." He couldn't help but add the 'first class'; he'd worked his way up to the position and, in his own unpresumptuous way, he was proud of it. "Part of the police force - plainclothes, but police nevertheless. You still have those in the future, I should hope.

"And you?" he added. "What do you do? Or will you do, as the case may be?"

[small_fortune]

"Right now, I'm a student of economics at a university." The idea of a 'Betan education' wouldn't mean much to his seatmate. "I've also got some investments active on the side. I suppose you'd say I'm a businessman, simply put."

The comment about hoping police still existed brought a nod from Mark, although not exactly a smile. He could appreciate Javert's high rank as an accomplishment, but his own encounters with official law authorities had never been pleasant. At the very best, they tended to show up with the right intentions but too late, and at worst, they were shooting at him. "Yes, we've police as well. They differ from planet to planet, but the Earth police tend to be rather reliably dedicated to their cause of keeping the peace and defending the law." It hadn't been their fault Mark had been on the wrong side of the law most of his time on Earth. At least they weren't like the police on Jackson's Whole...