Artifact: Josh

Josh embarks on a cross-country adventure to deliver a mysterious object.

Artifact: Josh  

 

            More at ease at two-hundred miles-an-hour than a pokey thirty-five, Josh sat gripping the wheel with white knuckles. His eyes darted right, left, fore, and aft. Josh knew deep in his core that he shouldn’t sweat it because the commuters around him sure wouldn’t worry about something as minor as him and his car. That didn’t help his nerves. Unnerved and on edge, Josh didn’t know what might lay ahead.

            Easing along in rush-hour traffic that didn’t rush by any stretch, Josh tried remaining inconspicuous driving the most conspicuous car on the road. Blending in with the normal city flow was literally impossible; nevertheless, he tried by matching the other cars’ speed, maintaining his proper lane position, spacing, and following distance to avoid any undue attention. Without self-deception, he realized driving his visually distinct vehicle among the self-driving plain-Jane cars could never go unnoticed�"if anyone bothered to look.  

Upon entering the city three-quarters of an hour ago, this urban sprawl proved just another on his high-paying, cross-country delivery run, and he’d just keep his driving conservative and cautious�"for now. Josh glanced down at his valuable but unremarkable cargo lying on the stark, steel floorboards, an old, dusty unassuming cigar box with “marbles and jacks” scribbled across the top. Before embarking, Josh examined the box’s contents one more time, but he still didn’t know what the object was inside the box. Finding the box with its odd contents among nearly worthless junk and then locating a prospective high-paying buyer for it had proven heaven sent. He didn’t give one iota over its identity, origin, or function because the healthy half payment paid with the other half due him on delivery made his personal transport of the object well worth the trouble.

As the sun settled below the horizon and twilight began to mute the city’s sights, Josh wished he were out on the open road where he could exercise his supersonic car and make wickedly fast time while enjoying the high-speed rush. Nonetheless following orders, he putted along with the slow traffic trying to avoid the exposed wide-open roads where he could run the car wide open and really attract attention. Central in Josh’s recall and concerning him a bit, his anonymous well-heeled client had firmly emphasized avoiding predictable driving patterns or an obvious destination.

Why? Josh wondered.

Trying to relax and take in his urban surroundings, John J. Johns Boulevard proved a normal, busy way home or the most direct way out of town depending on your destination�"like Josh’s. Sitting at a red light, his enhanced eye caught the streetlights lighting one at a time, less than a microsecond apart with the separation impossible for a normal eye to discern yet lighting the way for Josh like landing lights at an international airport. The lights stuttered on at light speed like rapid-fire military laser discharge which evoked a deep-recessed memory of high-tech warfare. Josh shook it off. With a nervous glance, he took in his neighbors and their practical, economical, and environmentally sensible vehicles. His car possessed none of those qualities, and physically, he was as different to those people as his car was to theirs. The light turned green.

 Around him, placid commuters headed home in comfort with almost silent vehicles. Their Einivans with electric motors humming emitted no more noise than the rushing wind and whining tires on the warm pavement. Couples sat and chatted face to face ignoring the traffic and Josh, thankfully, sipping cappuccinos made on-board as AAI computers followed pre-programmed routes while automatically maintaining proper lane assignments. Crash avoidance systems kept proper following distances while scanning for pedestrians and road hazards in a number of scrutinizing methods to assure a safe, serene stride of vehicles across and out of town. Children in the back sat affixed to the latest satellite downloaded movie or played the latest virtual reality game on their PlayStation 11 with gestures quite bizarre to witness.

            Here and there gaudy neon lights flashed aglow advertising their owner’s wares like General Smiths’ rotisserie turkey that boasted in eye-watering red-orange neon, “Better than finger lickin’ good, you’ll want to eat with your feet so you could lick your toes too!” The new branch of Ma’s Tofu and Hummus Café steadily filled up with the upward mobile crowd of clientele under a garish violet and pink glow. Since the war, retro neon lighting had achieved a widespread revival that most people loved, but the flashy, bright lights bothered Josh’s eyes. He averted his attention.   

            As the boulevard curved west around a long, gentle bend toward the orange setting sun, all windshields except for Josh’s facing west dimmed with smart tint, masking the few crepuscular rays that shone heavenward through a thin layer of cirrostratus and scattered altocumulus with sparkling bases yellow-gold. Squinting, Josh held a hand up. His eyes momentarily fixed on the picture of Barbara that hung from the roll cage. He recalled those better times, but maybe he was destined for good times again. Josh sensed a presence.

             A single infant strapped in her car seat of a Sinivan turned, stretched his way, and pressed her little button nose against the side-window’s glass to look at Josh’s strange vehicle. Josh made fleeting eye contact with the youngster until the sun glinted off the shiny blue hi-density solar panels on the Sini’s roof. Josh hoped that she was the only attention he’d draw on his way out of town. His brown and green eyes flicked back to the road, cautiously controlling his distance behind an antique Prius he trailed in the center lane. He assured himself that his out-of-place vehicle, even-though standing out visually, wouldn’t be attracting any attention audibly with his SHUSH harmonic dampening equipment efficiently canceling out the exhaust noise of his powerful W-10 engine. The un-dampened rumble of his highly modified motor would draw every commuter’s eye and irritate every safety officer within twenty miles.

            With traffic thinning, he scanned the side streets for any public safety patrols that may be on the look out for the stray speeder like the clichéd over-caffeinated computer programmer venting his frustrations after being dumped by his CEO girlfriend. Josh smiled imagining the scenario. Not that the programmer’s electric car could exceed the speed limit by all that much with the governmental-mandated governors built in, but on full charge he’d have just enough speed to give public safety a little excitement. Josh smirked a bit at the thought though still wore a furrowed brow. 

            His proximity alarm flashed and screeched. He noticed in his rearview Heads-Up Display that an older sedan erratically switched lanes behind him indicating that the driver manually controlled the shabby car. He silenced the alarm with a flick of a dashboard switch. He could see the driver was a frantic young woman. She came up to within feet of Josh’s bumper and quickly switched lanes again to pass him on the right. Her erratic driving habits warmly reminded Josh of the free-for-alls on the highways of the good, old USA. Actually, her presence and erratic driving reassured him that she’d draw the safety patrol out of hiding before he did.

            When the speed limit increased to 45K Josh gently shifted his eight-speed up to third letting the engine revs ease into the higher gear to make sure the sound dampening system would cancel out the engine’s exhaust noise. This one limitation occurred during gear changes that interrupted the smooth cancellation of noise because the electronics couldn’t adjust to fast changes in engine speeds. The system was designed for propeller-driven military aircraft that didn’t shift gears after all and retrofitted to his car. Josh thought he heard an exhaust burble but reassured himself that he probably felt the change of engine vibration in the seat of his pants. The engine firing probably switched between different cylinders and now idled along on five of the ten cylinders, sipping the scarce, precious gasoline. He had a mechanical carnal knowledge of his ride, and he drove constantly attuned to symptoms of possible malfunctions.     

            To Josh’s relief, traffic thinned out as commuters headed off for sub-divisions and other unknown destinations. On second thought, Josh couldn’t be sure if he was relieved with the light traffic or bothered by being more conspicuous. Taking a deep breath, he sighed and settled down. The buckles of the six-point safety harness clinked together in a musical, industrial sort of way. He glanced again in the rear view for any possible patrols or tails. His buyer had warned him stay alert for tails that might desire his mysterious cargo. Josh didn’t know how anyone else would know about the object, the sale’s transaction, or the delivery, but Josh took the advice to heart knowing that Neuronet transactions could always be hacked even on the super-secure White-Web.

The strip of glaring street lights ended abruptly at the city limits and suddenly the evening traffic became nonexistent. After a couple more minutes and well out of the city, Josh couldn’t see car lights in either direction. With evening’s gloom, he flipped the HUD back to the forward view and selected infrared enhancement. The HUD’s section of the windshield lit up like a strange, red-tinted midday.  

            Josh relaxed a bit more to concentrate on his mission and machine. He second-guessed himself taking on this delivery. Was it a mistake despite the money?  

He’d done some crazy things before but nothing on a scale like this. Maybe he could’ve gone by a different mode. Maybe he should’ve borrowed a nondescript vehicle. A cross-country trip in his one-off, distinctive machine would undoubtedly be a challenge with fuel being scarce and sold at a premium, and then the added possibility that competitors might be interested in acquiring his cargo didn’t exactly equate to a pleasure, sightseeing trip. It would be exhilarating without a doubt.  

He eased in the clutch and shifted into fourth. The engine vibrations gradually smoothed out as he could feel the sixth, seventh and eighth cylinders coming back on line. He shifted directly to eight and eased up to the speed limit as the ninth and tenth cylinders came on line. Happy with the low, smooth purr, Josh wished he could flip off the SHUSH sound-dampening system to enjoy the ear-shattering rumble of the engine like the old days, but there were no taking chances out here. Glancing across the dash board of machined aluminum, he digested the readings from the array of analog and digital gauges. Everything ran at the right values. He flipped the GPS mapping display to his HUD; then turned on his halogen LazerBeam headlights. The road lit up with the center road reflectors flicking by as shiny, flashing traffic lane guides of old I-70.

            Suddenly, an alarm screeched and a light flashed. The proximity read-out indicated that something gained on him from the rear, and it gained at high speed. For that split-second he thought it might be that woman again he had witnessed in the city. He knew better.

            Josh muttered to himself as the possibilities arose in his mind�"like those competitors. He quickly checked his speed, backed off a bit, and flipped back to rearview. He magnified the view. Sure enough, quite a ways back, the red, blue, and white lights indicated an officer of the law. Josh figured that outside the city it was most likely a police interceptor, a quite fast vehicle in its own right, but not fast enough to catch Josh if he wanted to run for it. He checked his speed, rechecked the cop car, drew in a deep breath, made a decision, and slowed down. With instant connectivity between agents of the law out on the highways, he decided to take his chances with a stop.

            As the cop quickly gained on him, Josh slowed more and found a wide shoulder to pull off. He didn’t think he was speeding�"yet. His car was more or less legal. Maybe he had a taillight out or something simple, but he doubted that. Maybe the cop was bored and had hopes of a pursuit or some other excitement. Josh eyed the box on the floor. As the cop pulled up overwhelming his electronic rearview, Josh dragged his jacket up from behind the seat and threw it over the box.

            He watched as the cop got out of the squad car, put on his hat, and swaggered up to the side of Josh’s special car. Josh slid the window back seeing there were no window mechanisms in the car, and he held his breath.

            “Well, well, young man, what do we have here?” The officer drawled, looking up and down and inside Josh’s car. Josh stiffened with the officer’s leaning in to look. The cop stood tall, so tall Josh couldn’t see his face, but Josh heard him just fine. “I’ve been lookin’ for you!”

            Josh gulped.

Author's Note

As you can tell after reading this is chapter one of a novel I have roughed out. Sorry if you thought it was a short story, but this story "Artifact" will have quite a few chapters with multiple characters covering almost a century. If you like it at all let me know!