The rest of the trip to San Francisco happened with little incident. Flying past Nevada, they saw the ethereal shape of a classic flying saucer zoom past, from the north and way up above. To Vicki, it had looked like a poor special effect, translucent and with a black border. To Judd, like a sketch moving across the sky's blueprint paper. Rayford missed it entirely.
"That's pretty normal" Mr. Lawrence had said "we're nearby what used to be Area 51, so... yeah. The actual airbase is smack in the middle of a red zone, so we're not even going to try to swing by it."
Rayford's change of route after the fight had paid off after all; they'd get to California in time and with the fuel tanks just above reserve levels. The small amount of turbulence had only meant that Judd had been conscripted to help the second-shift crew secure the cargo, an experience that he'd enjoyed.
The Bay Area had maintained most of its beauty through the Tribulation, and in the years after the Glorious Appearing, it had managed to recapture the best of its history, half hippy paradise and half hotbed of innovation. One thing that had helped was that the entire region had taken anti-seismic measures long before the global earthquakes; a significant amount of infrastructure had simply remained, and was being put back into use as the population increase dictated.
Rayford had spent all his professional life around airports, and was used to both the hustle and bustle, and the great variety of people one would meet both in the terminals and on the tarmac. After landing the Perdix in what used to be a Boeing maintenance hangar, minus the roof and plus a number of cranes and gantries for rapid transloading, he decided that there was time for Vicki and Judd to play tourist for a few hours - they'd landed in the morning - and for the crew to get two shifts off. The Perdix would get unloaded of the construction materials brought from Chicago, and pick up a small but valuable cargo of solar panels. Heh, now Baltor would actually have a reason for boarding them...
Two of SFO's terminals were still intact; one even had a pilots' lounge. Rayford made his way there. This part of the airport looked like nothing at all had happened, no Rapture, no Tribulation, no Armageddon. It was a bit of a guilty pleasure for him; put non-prescription sunglasses on, and he could tell himself that everything was as it had been. In the last few months, they'd even reactivated some of the moving walkways; the one letting people move past the ruined terminal was arguably better than the old ones, a meshing system allowing for the middle section to go a lot faster than the ends. Rayford climbed the stairs - the escalator didn't work today, but he made a point of getting a bit of cardio in if he could, just as he had before the Rapture - and found himself in the captains' lounge. The place was pristine; flat screens had been replaced with CRTs and projectors, captains and pilots napped on the comfortable seats or chewed the fat in small groups, and there was even a full bar. The only thing that was different was more ornate and varied uniforms - a change that Rayford approved of - and different labels on the drinks. After converting, Rayford stayed away from alcohol, but couldn't begrudge moderate drinking in others. After all, a small pick-me-up between flights was enshrined tradition...
The lounge had wide windows, from which one could see planes, flying boats and airships come and go. "What'll you have, Captain?" a blonde girl asked him as he sat down on one of the couches. The place smelled of recently cleaned laeather with a hint of cigar - smoking bans had gone the opposite way of the dodo, even in a progressive city such as San Francisco.
"Pineapple ginger sparkler, please. And a mashed potato, fully loaded, veg-bacon."
"Coming right away, Captain."
Rayford tuned out the waitress' green hair, and watched a Fokker trimotor take off from the bayside runway. For a moment, all was perfect in the world.
Judd and Vicki got off the airport train. It was more or less as they'd imagined it: loud and smelling of, well, people. Judd was wearing the jacket of one of Rayford's spare uniforms after he'd assisted with an oil spill and got his own change of clothing messed up, which would have made him look a bit overdressed most anywhere, but not here; while he was definitely overdressed, it didn't look any weirder than the average San Francisco denizen. Vicki had reassured him that it made him look distinguished.
"Carl and Cole, Haight Street..."
"Weren't we supposed to get off at Embarcadero?"
"It's all good, we can walk a few more blocks. I didn't want to miss it and end up in the tunnel, it scares me a bit."
"Oh, don't worry. The tunnel hasn't worked since the big quakes, and - Oh, wow, that's a really old map! Trade you?" The girl's smile was friendly, but her appearance made Vicki shrug and back off half a step. "Uh, we're fine, I think, thank you."
Walking up and down hill within a city was something that neither of them were used to; it wasn't particularly tiring, so much as strange to have to mind traffic while using hiking muscles. San Francisco was, of course, a lot more compact than the suburbs of Chicago; the sheer density of people was fairly new to the young couple.
The Embarcadero waterfront was, much as their old pre-Rapture guide had promised, full of buskers and people plying a trade; the difference might have been a greater proportion of sailboats from the era of cheap gas, but Vicki suspected that the sheer variety of people was a product of the place rather than the times. She and Judd played tourist for most of the day, dropping off the occasional dollar and mite to artists painting surprisingly realistic vistas with water pistols on corrugated cardboard or doing nigh-impossible handstands and acrobatics on the waterfront's balustrade.
Vicki was genuinely worried about being approached for fortunetelling or something lewd, but Judd held her hand in his the entire time, and she caught him darting a meaningful look at people who looked less than savory. Overall, they had to admit to each other, the place looked prosperous, maybe even more so than their home.
Vicki collided with an old woman who might have walked out of the Snow White cartoon, or at least a play of it: she was hunchbacked, with a long nose, and a squint and wearing a black cowl. Judd immediately checked his coinpurse; this was a classic scam. The two women fell over, with the older lady ending up pretty much sprawled on top of Vicki; Judd managed to help both of them up. After the obvious apologies, the old woman touched Vicki's belly.
"Congratulations! Akna has blessed you two! But she's not a bullet for the war."
"Eh? Sorry, we don't want any." What was she talking about?
Judd and Vicki walked on; she was worried about getting catcalled, but instead, Judd attracted a bit of attention with the incongruous combination of a captain's jacket and a pair of jeans. Before returning to the airport, they decided to visit a church, and found on their map - which must have been fairly old indeed, since overall they'd gotten three offers to buy or trade it - that the closest was the Old Cathedral. Their map had identified it as a Catholic church, but after asking one of the street vendors, they learned that it had been put back into commission as a Christian church after surviving the earthquakes. "Hey, mister, that map-"
"You know what? Fine, I'll trade for a current one."
And that's how Judd ended up as the puzzled owner of a top hat with a feather on it, since the vendor felt that just exchanging maps wouldn't be a fair trade. Vicki mock-fawned on it, announcing to the world at large that it made Judd look really dignified and receiving a few cheers for that from passersby.
"This whole place never really stopped being crazy, did it?"
"Oh, come on. It's all in fun and it's a better souvenir than most of the stuff we saw on the Embarcadero."
Judd sighed, took Vicki's hand again, and the two walked uphill to the cathedral. The old brick building was, in fact, still there; any damage from the earthquake had been repaired early on after the Glorious Appearing, and by the look of it, it had resumed its function as a house of faith. Vicki and Judd took a bit of time walking around it before entering.
"SON, OBSERVE THE TIME AND FLY FROM EVIL - ECC-IV-23" the Art Deco plaque said under the clock; a small sign under it explained that the clock was still indicating the local time when Armageddon happened, and that a decision had been made to not restart it. The inside was dark and cool without being gloomy, and the two were heartened to see a few people kneeling at the pews even if no service was going on; one of the ushers was asking another couple to cover up before coming inside.
"Still looks kind of Catholic" Vicki commented after a glance at the statues. Judd had just taken off his new hat when another usher came over to explain. "The people here wouldn't have it any other way, this is one of the few places that survived 1906, even though just the walls and bell tower were left after the fire. We Paulist Fathers preach sola scriptura now... and tolerate the occasional tourist."
"We're with Children of the Tribulation."
"The orphanage?"
"Boarding school now."
"Really! Interesting. Say, here in the Bay Area there used to be a seminary up north, and we're looking at reclaiming..."
Vicki left Judd and the usher - deacon, rather, as it turned out - to talk shop and knelt in front of the altar. Quiet and peace settled on her as she prayed silently, thanking the Lord for a safe trip and asking for a safe return.
She thought back at what the old woman had said. "Lord" she dared ask "am I pregnant?"
Vicki felt shaken for a moment. The chaotic chiming of a few things dangling inside the church, and the distant thump of a door closing, told her that it had been one of those frequent little earthquakes that the Bay Area is subject to normally, but to her, for a moment before she realized what it had been, it had felt like a baby kicking.
"Thank you, Lord." She'd talk to Judd and Rayford later; for now, she just took a few more moments to kneel before the altar, enjoying her happiness.
Judd helped the deacon put a few fixtures back upright, then went to check on Vicki; she beamed at him when he asked if she was all right.
"I'm better than ever!"
She told him about her prayer, and the unexpected answer it'd gotten. Instinctively, he put a hand on her tummy. There wasn't anything to feel yet, obviously, but it didn't stop him from looking awed.
"Wow. What are we going to call him?"
Vicki smiled. "There you go, just assuming it's a boy. Well, you tell me, then!"
"How about Raymond? In Raymie's honor."
"I think Captain Steele will like it. And if it's a girl... Selah. Good Biblical name."
"I like it! For now, if you aren't tired, Brother Marcion said that we should check out the Exploratorium before we go back to the ship."
Vicki laughed gaily. "Listen to yourself! If you aren't tired... what will you do when I'm showing, put me in a safe?"
That mental image brought a similar, far darker one to mind to both of them, and their faces turned serious.
"Actually I think I'd like to just go home."
"Yeah, me too. Nice place to visit, but I would never live here."
Judd helped Vicki on her feet, the two thanked the deacon, and crossed themselves before leaving the church. In the few moments they'd been inside, the noise in the street had changed; it was quieter, but felt like calm before a particularl nasty ion storm. Judd and Vicki looked both ways before crossing the street and saw two large groups of people facing each other in the street; what little automotive traffic there was had left pretty quickly.
Neither of the couple really knew what was going on, other than it was pretty obvious that these two groups of people were wanting a fight; both factions, four or five dozen people or so each, were breaking out sticks and baseball bats. Judd saw nobody with a firearm; San Francisco didn't have much of a gun culture before the Appearing, and didn't now. Vicki saw no sign of law enforcement anywhere.
The two groups came to a stop at an intersection, shouting things like "mutants" or "freeloaders" at each other. Vicki yanked Judd's arm, prodding him to go back inside the church - the deacon had opened the door and was urging the few remaining passerbys to come inside.
Judd urged Vicki to take shelter, and took a step forward.
"I am with you in this" he heard a slightly un familiar voice say, for this occasion in a pleasant West Coast accent.
Vicki watched her husband firmly settle the top hat over his head and stride forward, epaulets shimmering in the midafternoon sun. On most other moments, it would have looked ridiculous, but here and now there was a presence about him. Moments later, Judd was standing in the middle of the intersection.
Facing the faction that he thouhght was most aggressive, Judd took the top hat off, knelt, and began shouting.
"Our Father in Heaven!"
"Mic check!" someone yelled.
"Hallowed be thy name!"
A few other people reprised the prayer, Vicki loudest of all, tarrying at the door. Some took a picture.
"Thy kingdom come!"
A few boos from both contingents of would-be rioters were shut up from within the respectice ranks. Marcion stood guard outside of the church's door, and repeated the prayer after Judd, along with Vicki.
"Thy will be done!"
A tall, wide-shouldered woman came out of the group of people facing Judd, and bowed. "We're sorry, sire."
Judd wanted to say that he had no right to be called sire, but figured that he should keep going with the Lord's Prayer instead. He slowly raised his hand hand at the woman.
"On earth as in heaven!"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it!" An incredibly hairy man from the opposite group slouched over to where Judd was, and raised a huge arm; Vicki had to catch herself from running to her husband's defense.
"Give us this day our bread!"
Most people were repeating the prayer, with some uncertainty. The hairy man stared at the big woman, and also raised a hand. Next to the still kneeling Judd, the two shook hands.
"And forgive us our sins! As we also forgive our debtors!"
The last phrase, everybody repeated, then Judd was allowed to finish the prayer without interruption. Vicki noticed that a few people from both groups went as far as joining Judd in the Amen; the others had simply started talking to each other. From what she could understand, whatever the dispute was, it would be settled in a game of soccer. The two groups started mingling and dispersing, most people headed towards the Bay, a few towards the church.
Judd was left thoroughly confused by a pat on the back from the man that had felt like it came from a gorilla, and an attempt from the woman to kiss his cheek that had instead turned into kissing his hand when he flinched. He quickly rejoined Vicki; Marcion was telling the people who had taken refuge in the church that it was safe now.
"That was weird. Especially that lady. Kept telling her I'm not the Emperor of anything..."
Vicki smiled, and gave him a peck on the cheek. "I'm not jealous, you know. And hey, you look pretty fancy, with the hat and-"
Looks like someone had made off with the hat while the small crowd crossed the intersection, after having been pacified.
Judd shrugged. "Makes for a better memory than a souvenir, really..."
"Says Emperor Pouty Face."
"You make a good Norton, man" one of the tourists that had taken refuge in the church commented. To Judd and Vicki's surprise, the tourist handed them a business card. "Send you the photo by email if you poke me."
"Er... thank you."
After this little adventure, Judd had an easier time talking Vicki into skipping a visit to the Exploratorium - they both wanted to be back on the ship at sundown.
While waiting for takeoff, Vicki poked the address she'd been given, a small robotics company, by the look of it; a couple minutes later, she had a handsome picture of Judd in full regalia marching straight in the middle of the impending riot. The photo's contrast was a little off; his face, half-shadowed by the hat, looked like it had one of those 1800s sideburns.
"Judd! Come check this out!"