02 - Homeward Bound

Through busy crowds and filled-up hallways, I was finally able to make my way over to an unoccupied seat. The carriage I found myself in wasn’t full, though my direct view of the first class carriage made it seem like it was.
The cruiser was multi-leveled, which resulted in my spot being on the bottom-most floor. I found myself sitting next to a window, and even though the views would maybe not be as spectacular, I was happy to find peace in the, generally quieter, lower carriage.
I was sitting opposite of an older man, who looked like he was from the south as well. The look in his eye as he glanced over the station on our left confirmed this thought for me. He seemed impatient, twisting his fingers while simply staring out the window. Apart from that, he looked nothing out of the ordinary, though having spent a week in Cratos made me doubt whether ‘ordinary’ was still a thing around here.
As we sat and waited for the cruiser to depart, people still came wandering up and down the hallways in the middle.
How many times a day does this stupid train depart that it's so insanely busy here?
I thought to myself as I gently shook my head and dove back into the paper in my hand. It was an old newspaper, dating a few days back. Unfortunately, it was the Cratos news, the news that I actually didn’t care about at all. But I still skimmed through it to pass the time.

“THE HEAT IS RISING: How to deal with hotter temperatures in Cratos”

“Increased reports of stolen goods from local tech companies”

“Groovy Tunes are performing their final show in the Starlith”

It was all junk.
I dropped the newspaper in the bin that sat between me and the man in front of me. He gave it a quick look, but swiftly turned his eyes back towards the window without much care.

DIIING

A muffled sound suddenly waved through the cruiser, followed by another calm transit voice:
“Dear passengers, this cruiser to, FREYLON, will be departing in, TWO, minutes. Please find a seat and fasten yourself for departure. Thank you, and we’re wishing you a pleasant journey.”

DIIING

The sound echoed again to signify that the announcement was complete, but they might as well not have played it, since the people hadn’t particularly taken any interest in listening.
I remembered from my last ride that a steady seat really is half the work in the cruiser. The takeoff especially was a wild and shaky ride that I would probably not have survived standing up.
The cabin had settled a bit, most people were sitting down, but not all seats were filled yet. However, near the doorway to the first class carriage a group of 3 still stood standing and chatting. I wanted to say something to them, but then realised that they probably knew better than the announcement. Besides, it would be fun seeing them fly all across the carriage when the cruiser would eventually start turning.

I had just pulled my head back into my seat from poking out in the hallway, when I felt something bumping into my shoulder. Before I was able to turn my head back to the pathway, a soft voice already spoke to me:
“Deeply sorry sir,”
What seemed like a Llosai woman, mid 30s with the typical fiery yellow eyes, hastily looked over at me before turning back to the doorway. I felt her eyes burning as she briefly looked at me. She smelled nice—different from the people of Cratos. Was she from around here? There was however little time for conversation as her head quickly flew back the way she came. Before I knew it, I was only left with her lingering garden-like smell as she quickly rushed for the doorway ahead.
I turned my attention back towards the man in front of me, but he still couldn’t be bothered to even interact with the world around him in the slightest. I just noticed his tight gaze out the window and his twisting fingers out in front of him. Charming.
I looked for the woman again. But right as I saw her vague figure fade into the first class carriage, the cruiser started moving. Almost like an impulse, my eyes shot over to the trio in front of me. This’ll be fun.

The cruiser gently started going forward, calmly brushing past the station on our left. The carriage gradually turned darker and darker as we eventually left the station part and made our way over into the tunnel, leading us back up to the surface.
The climb began, and I already started regretting getting onto this cruiser again. I have never been a fan of roller coasters or high speeds, it turns my belly upside down. I tried to focus my attention on the trio next to the doors to the first class carriage. The speed was manageable at this point, but they already seemed to be tightly holding on for the climb.
As soon as the cruiser left the tunnel, the carriages got flooded with light. Outside, the outskirts of Cratos were still visible. A distant crater on our right, along with some lone-standing homes and farms.
I was relieved for a moment to be done with the ascent, but then we started really accelerating. I had to focus on myself in order not to throw up over the man opposite of me, but as the speed kinda clicked, I pointed my head again towards the group of people still standing. To my surprise, they were all standing upright, talking to each other as if nothing had happened, as if we were not approaching speeds of 250 kilometers an hour while shooting across the wastelands.
Whatever, I guess not then.

Before leaving for Cratos in the first place, I had educated myself just a little bit on the cruisers and their workings. It’s quite fascinating really. You see, there was this huge technological spurt of innovation when a company by the name of “Vulper Incorporated” started experimenting with the siphica mineral and its uses.
Apparently, the cruisers use magnetic tracks, which are built using Vulper’s ‘Shaper’. This device is a world-class invention, allowing for materials and objects to be stored and casted. The cruiser’s tracks are actually not a road of metal that lays rotting in the wastelands endlessly, waiting to be robbed or trapped. Rather, the cruiser flies through the country while building a rail of its own, crazy right?

As the cruiser started approaching top velocity, the feeling of insane speeds also started wearing off with it, calming me down a bit more. This allowed me to finally relax at the sight of endless wastelands around me. For a second, my eyes shut down as I tried to get some rest. After all, the journey to Freylon must have been like 8 more hours or so, plenty of time for a nap I’d say.
It didn’t last long however. About 10 minutes later, just as my consciousness started to fade a little, my nap was harshly interrupted by another figure crashing into me.
What was with these stupid seats? Can’t they design it so that you can just sit in peace!
In a moment of frustration, I opened my eyes again. But before I was able to turn to the pathway and see who or what was disrupting me this time, they already marched on through without even a slight sign of consideration for my private space.
Next to me came two large Mo’az fellas hurrying down the pathway. They were as muscular as I had ever seen. One of them was tall to the point he almost didn’t fit underneath the ceiling, the other was much shorter, but still tall for a wasteland dweller. They wore fancy clothes, it was an image that didn’t exactly click in my head, but I suppose they had something important to attend to.
Around me, I heard several others yell to the two men: “Watch it!”, “Hey!”, “Careful man!”
This led me to think they weren’t as considerate to the other travelers either.
I sighed heavily, not even bothering to look at the man opposite of me anymore, before resting my eyes once again.

The loud conversations and mechanical noises all around me started to sink deeper and deeper before I was fully able to zone them out. My attention was just with me, with my body humbly bobbing along to the rhythm of the cruiser. Just gentle movements, before I finally sank into sleep.

KUH DUUMM

An aggressive bump shook me back to life. Immediately, electrical hums filled my ears again. I can’t say that I missed their absence.
I slowly open my eyes, instantly being blinded by the lights from outside. I stretched, heaving my hands high above my head, before making myself familiar with my surroundings once again. The man opposite of me was still there, but as soon as we made eye contact, he rapidly turned his head towards the window. His hands however were ever fumbling and twisting. Odd type.
Outside, I still noticed boundless stretches of wastelands, meaning it would take at least a little while longer before our arrival in Freylon.
I had a look around the carriage, trying to spot either a map or a clock, immediately noticing that the group of 3 was now gone. Behind where they were standing however, hung a digital clock in analogue form, one that looked very modern and clean I suppose. It read around 4.30 PM, meaning we had been on our way for a solid 4 hours at this point.

I stared out the window once again. The landscapes around this part of the wastelands were actually quite impressive. The terrain was very rugged, with lots of height variation in rocks and other formations. It looked slightly more barren than the lands surrounding Cratos, though still very much like a place in which I wouldn’t survive even a single day.
But among the spiky rocks and weathered formations, something odd caught my eye. It went by quite quickly, so I couldn’t place exactly what it was. Atop one of the hills, it almost looked like two gimbo riders were standing, watching the cruiser. I could be wrong, it could have just as easily been the two animals on their own, but if I’m not mistaken, this is not per se gimbo territory.
It could be members of the Untethered maybe? They were the ones that lived in the wastelands, right? I brushed it off while lifting myself out of my chair.
Definitely Untethered.

I checked the pathway behind me. The seats were all filled. Most of the people were either chatting with one another, or fast asleep for the long journey.
Carefully, I made my way to the back of the carriage, trying my best to avoid bumping into someone along the way. With the bumpiness of the cruiser, I knew this was particularly tricky at times though.
As I almost reached the final door at the end of the pathway, it already opened in front of me. Behind the door was a little connective section, flowing into another carriage that was a bit different than the rest. This section was like a mini staircase, allowing the passengers to switch between all 3 levels within the cruiser. But just before that, was my destination for this trip: The bathroom.

Luckily enough, the bathroom was unoccupied, noted by the green light above the door. But just as I lay my hand on the handle, the cruiser started rumbling a bit more intensely.
I proceeded to open the door, but just as I did, my body got violently pulled away from the bathroom. I painfully hit the wall on the other side. For a moment, I found myself clammed against the wall. Then I noticed everything and everyone within the cruiser was also aggressively swinging. Up and down, left and right.
Something was terribly wrong.