I like trains.

A.K.A Chapter 13

“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this before.” Muttered James in amazement. The Datapad in his hand was covered in lines and graphs that didn’t make any sense to Quake.

“What’s up?” Jeck asked from where he sat, shirtless, the white substance on his jaw also covered a significant portion of his torso. Little wires connected to pads were placed all over his body in key locations, like the temple, the heart and other places. The same wires covered his own body too. To monitor his bodies functions, Jeck told him.

“Your biology is just…fascinating, are you two aren’t some kind of experiments?” He asked, giving them a suspicious look. “Because I’ve dealt with experiments from mad geniuses before and you two have all the hallmarks of one.”

Jeck looked up curiously. “Really, what kind of experiments?”

James waved him off. “The usual, enhanced metabolism, stronger than the average member of it’s species, super-computer for a brain; you two show all the signs of being tampered with. You especially, Jeck. I’m don’t know how exactly your body is doing it, but you’re producing energy from solar radiation, which is normal in humans to an extent, but you also produce energy from the absence of it, which is just super weird, that type of dichotomy just doesn’t happen in nature like that. You don’t even need to breathe! I’d love to know how you became what you are, you used to be human right?”

Jeck nodded slowly, deep in thought. He knew about not needing air, the Drained Oceans void didn’t actually have any. If he understood it right, and he did after using his [comprehension] on it, it actually operated on an entirely different set of physics.

“Yeah, I was, till I fell through a portal, passed some kind of museum, smashed through one of its exhibits and onto the plains. It was somewhere in between the last two that I changed.”

He thought for a moment longer. “What do you mean by super-computer for a brain? Why do humans absorb sunlight? Back on Earth if you absorbed enough solar radiation and you got cancer, not energy.”

“Really? How odd, all humanoid species can do it to some degree. As for your first question, you and Quake both-“ Quake perked up from where he was staring at the flashing monitors. “have computers for brains, essentially. Jeck yours is bio-mechanical in nature, Quakes is entirely mechanical. The circuitry is very sophisticated, I’ve only ever seen this kind of wiring in AIs and other mechanical species.”

Quake looked at Jeck, was that good or bad? He didn’t have a clue what was natural to humans and what wasn’t, and he quickly realized that Jeck wasn’t exactly an average person.

Catching his unspoken question, Jeck looked at him and shrugged his shoulders. It was still odd knowing that he was missing an arm. Logically, it didn’t change anything but it was still sort of weird, especially the point where the bone grafted back into the skin of the shoulder. The jagged edges around the mark indicated that whatever removed his arm had not been gentle with it.

He asked him about it, last night. Why didn’t he tell him about his arm? Why cover it up? He wasn’t going to freak out on him at the sight of mere bone.

Jeck had just laughed and said that he didn’t cover it up for his sake, he just didn’t like looking at it.

James continued. “What that means, is that you should be able to interface with machines and computers when you get to the city. I’d let you practice here but,” He jerked a thumb at the computers behind him, “government secrets, classified information, you know the deal.”

“Dope. What’s the city like?” Jeck asked enthusiastically. “Is it big or small? Advanced? It has to be, you have flying cars. Are the girls pretty? Is the food nice?”

He rubbed his hands together. “I’m getting pumped up now. What about you Quake, excited?”

Was he excited? He didn’t know, he’d never been, well, anywhere, before. This compound was the only interaction he’d ever had with other sentient beings (Big Ball didn’t count), let alone another species.

It was loud and weird and smelled funny and he didn’t really know what to think of the other people. Jeck promised him that not everyone was out to get them, but he didn’t sound like he believed it.

Despite all that, he couldn’t say that he wasn’t. Living in and around the cliffs of the Quarry had been boring, mind numbingly so. Jeck was like the breath of fresh air in his life that he desperately needed. That was why he decided to follow him. Despite the funny smells and weird places and loud noises it was fun! It was what he didn’t know he had been missing in his life until now.

There was a whole world out there just waiting for him explore, people to meet and things to do.

Was he excited?

He offered Jeck a grin that he received back in kind.

“You bet I am!”

***

“Y’know, I miss those two. It’s so quiet now that they’re gone” Said Terry sadly.

“I’m right here you know?.” Quake yelled.

“I know right? Sometimes, I swear I can still hear their voices.” Alicia said, carrying on the joke.

Quake snorted. “Haha. Very funny.”

The group stood inside the second structure they had seen on their approach to the Outpost.

The large, rectangular black building with the portal back to Nuvalt in it. On the outside, there was little to say of it other than “Big”.

On the inside of it, it was quite surreal, thought Jeck.

‘It’s like stepping into train station.’

Mostly because it actually was a train station.

‘Your power of observation never ceases to astound me.’

Gray concrete platforms lined both sides of a single track. Workers bustled about on both sides of the train, removing heavy boxes on dollies and replacing them with empty ones to be refilled and shipped back with the next train in.

Lots of greens, he noticed. Fruit, vegetables and seeds of all kinds were being pulled out, box by box, out of each train car. Seeds shipped here under Gillians orders, once the portal was destroyed, the outpost would have to be self-sufficient.

His eyes were drawn towards the end of the station. To the train sitting right next to the portal. A fascinating machine, to be sure. Shaped like a steam engine, yet produced no smoke. It didn’t have the equipment, no firebox or water tank that he could sense.

A cursory glance over the engine with [Comprehension] told him what powered it. Another Mocking Drive, like the one on the Dragonfly, except programmed differently. He always loved trains, back on earth he used to stop whatever he was doing and stare as they went by.

‘Have you given some thought to what I said?’

With a thought, he was inside of his own head, staring into the abyss that opened its eye and stared back.

Jeck was prideful, he could fully admit that. It was something of a flaw of his, he hated being wrong. It almost physically pained him to admit it.

That didn’t mean that he wouldn’t though.

He was prideful, not arrogant.

‘Some, I still think my caution is necessary. Gillian did end up betraying them in the end.’

Ghost noted his choice of words.

‘Yet the others didn’t. You do not fully trust them.’

‘Of course I don’t, some of them still tried to kill us.’

He was not arrogant. That did not mean that getting a concession out of him wasn’t like pulling teeth sometimes, Ghost thought to himself. Perhaps he should ask the real question.

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‘Jeck, if you keep withholding trust from others because you are scared you’re going to get hurt, you’ll never trust again. It’s only by allowing people in, do we give them the chance to truly harm us. You keep your distance, not from the people who can hurt you physically, but the ones who can hurt you where you’ll really feel it.’

His gaze lingered on his heart.

Ignoring Jecks baleful glare he continued.

‘Let me ask you this, if you had met Quake under different circumstances, if he were less naïve, more knowledgeable in worldly matters, would you still trust him like you do now? Quake is inexperienced in the matters of friendship. Do you trust him, or are you taking of advantage of him.’

Jeck opened his mouth to retort, then froze.

I’m not…

That’s not true…is it?

He stood there with his mouth open as he really thought about the question.

I would definitely trust Quake, right?

Would I?

I don’t know.

Though he had no mouth to sigh from, or head to shake, Ghost did both.

‘See what I mean? Take some time to relax when you get to the city. Take Quake around, see the sights, figure out how you really feel. If the answer you come to doesn’t satisfy you, then strive to rectify it. Again, for his sake, if not yours.’

Jeck avoided his eye and looked at the ground, then took a deep breathe before nodding.

‘Yeah, okay, you’re-‘ He sighed. “You’re right, I need to get my head on straight.’

‘Good, now if I’m not mistaken, you have a train to catch.’

A shrill whistle, muted by the murky landscape of his mind, yet still crystal clear, echoed through the darkness.

Still deep in thought, Jeck just waved him off and returned to the real world.

Snapping back to reality, he walked over to the group of soldiers standing on the platform. Hiro, he noticed, was ignoring them all, choosing to board immediately.

Sticking a hand out, he approached the group.

“Well, it’s been fun guys, but we’d best be going now.”

He offered them a genuine smile.

“It was nice meeting you all.”

The soldiers, Terry and Alicia all shook his hand firmly and waved the two of them goodbye. Quake, not really understanding the meaning behind the handshake, gave one regardless and hopped into the train. James waved him over.

“What’s up?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to work here? Or at least for the Nuvalt military? We could use soldiers like you. It’s still not too late to say yes.”

Working for someone else never really appealed to him, having to deal with all the rules and regulations of a countries military? He let out a laugh.

“The offer is appreciated but I’m going to have to decline…again…for the third time today.”

He stuck out his hand again. “But in all seriousness, thank you, James, for giving us the opportunity to rejoin the rest of humanity. If we’re ever in the area again, don’t hesitate to give us a shout, all right?”

James smiled kindly at him. He was quite glad he had chosen to take a chance on the two Plains Walkers.

“I think I might take you up on that offer.”

Another whistle blew through the station.

Jeck turned and watched the train slowly start to pull forward.

“Gotta go, bye!”

Running forward he jumped and wraithed through the wall of the coach. Quake started slightly as he popped up beside him. Jeck glanced at Quake and looked at him, really looked at him. Brown fur with blue streaks, about 4’3, really fluffy and adorable but don’t say it to his face or he’ll hurt you. He examined his energy levels. They were comparable to his, which was an enormous jump from where he used to be before Gillians attack. Those two must have had some sort of trick up their sleeve in order to push him to improve that far.

Strange, he’d pegged them as being rather weak.

He continued looking.

Did he trust Quake?

Yes.

Was it only because he wasn’t human?

Maybe.

Well then maybe he should correct that flaw.

He also made up his mind to make at least one new friend in the city they were going to. Or at least an acquaintance. If only to prove Ghost wrong.

Confused black eyes stared deep into his purple ones.

“Are you….okay?”

Realizing that he had been staring at Quake he quickly thought of an excuse.

“Yeah, I’m good, just plotting our next moves. So, Quake, you up for another lesson?”

Sufficiently distracted with the lure of shiny objects, or in this case, learning how to kill people more efficiently, Quake nodded eagerly.

“Good, we’re going into a crowded city, and I have no doubt someone’s going to try to take advantage of you, so I’m going to be teaching you how to defend against social attacks.”

“Social attacks?”

“Yeah, you see…”

The two of them continued their conversation throughout the entire train ride to capital city, and prime tourist destination of Nuvalt, Dello-Worl, Only pausing to gawk at what lay in between the two portals.

The two would later look back fondly and pinpoint this moment as one of the defining moments of their adventure.

***

The writer hummed to himself as his hand flew over the pages of his notebook. The notebook itself wasn’t important. You could look at it from one angle and he’d be texting on a phone, blink and he’d be typing on a laptop or typewriter or whatever medium you’d prefer. It didn’t really matter what it was.

Nothing about the apartment building itself was special either, not the chairs, the kitchens or the T.Vs. It was just a metaphor to better let readers understand what was going on.

He leaned back in his seat and stopped writing, well, writing about Jeck, he was always writing about something. He’s the Writer, it’s kind of what he does.

“Finished, Arthur?”

Infinity poked her head out of the kitchen from where she was baking. Croissants, by the smell of it.

The Writer, now identified as Arthur Note, placed a hand on the side of his head and pushed it to the right until he heard a satisfying click.

“For today, I’ve a few other things I’ve got planned that need to be fleshed out and planned but I’m free for now.”

“Cool, want to try one of my croissants? I’ve been practicing.”

“Sure, I’m actually feeling a little peckish.”

Probability walked in the door with Time and Space behind her. The two young boys immediately ran over the glass of the oven and pressed their faces against it, drooling profusely.

“Oh boy, Infinity’s making pastries!” Time cheered gleefully, looking for all the world like the ten year old he physically presented himself as, instead of a fundamental reality-piece.

“Well, I hope you made some for all of us, because we are starving.” She announced.

Forcefully separate Time and Spaces faces from the glass with a loud pop, Infinity glanced up.

“Yeah, there’s some for everyone. Are the others going to be home soon?”

Space piped up from the couch. “I don’t think so, Death said he was going to sort things out with one of the lesser deaths, he’ll be gone all day, and I don’t have a clue where Life is.”

The lesser deaths, one of the unique aspects of the apartment building. Every floor had it’s own set of concepts, starting at the bottom. These Lesser Beings were the concepts that mortals often interacted with, usually the ones on the first floor. Just like how Reality participates in these concepts, the concepts participate in the ones on the floor above them. They were to a concept, what a concept was to a Human. Of course, this extended up endlessly, until you reach the top.

That top, being the room Arthur was sitting in.

There was nothing above them, well, apart from the maintenance room, but only Arthur had ever been up there. That floor harbored the machines that kept the rest of the facilities in the tower up and running. Machines like ‘Is’ and ‘Isn’t’ and ‘The’, syncategorematic words like that, among other things.

C.R.S. was above them too, but he was above everybody by principle, so he didn’t count.

Infinity nodded in understanding, they all had to go and sort out the Lesser Beings sometimes, even he wasn’t exempt from this. The lesser writers, ones that weren’t even in the apartment building, scattered across creation, were often mucking up and making things that killed them. A particularly strange form of ‘suicide’ but he couldn’t exactly call them strange, knowing what he had planned ahead.

Death had it particularly bad, with trumped up mortals always thinking the best way to show off their new power was to destroy the concept of death. Thus, he had to take frequent trips into the mortal realm to replace them. Or to kill mortals who didn’t have a concept of death. That always took them by surprise. Layers were quite effective in ensuring an equal playing field across creation.

“I see, well, I’ll keep one warm in the oven in case they do come back early.”

She handed out the rest of the croissants and they all sat on the couch watching T.V. while they ate. The person onscreen was just receiving their Aspect, one of [knowledge].

“Ooh, that’s a rare one.” Exclaimed Probability

“It’s not often you see the information types of Lesser Beings handed out, they’re quite reserved in that regard.” Observed Infinity, taking a cautious bit out of her croissant. She smiled at the taste, pleased that her practice was paying off.

Arthur turned to look at them. “Have any of you ever given an Aspect to someone?”

The others all turned to look at him in unison. It was kind of creepy actually.

“I did, once, not to a person, but an object. A crown. Not for any particular reason, I wanted to see what would happen. Whoever wore it would have infinite power at their disposal.”

“Really?” Time piped up from where he was devouring his croissant with all the speed of a starving dog. “What happened?”

“The king who ended up wearing it eventually destroyed his kingdom in the crossfire of one of his attacks, luckily he wasn’t on the Boundless Plains when it happened, so no Caomhnaigh or Sábháilte, but he gave up the crown in the end and ordered it to be gotten rid of. Nobody else has found it yet.”

The rest of the people in the room nodded, shuddering slightly at the mention of the two Guardians of the Plains. One of the Lesser writers in the middling floors of the apartment building had gotten annoyed that his favorite mortal had died, and had tried to destroy everything below the apartment in a fit of immature rage.

Emphasis on tried

Not because he couldn’t do it, no, even the concepts on the first floor were capable of annihilating all of reality if they felt like it.

Tried, because the moment he moved to do it, the two Guardians had, somehow, climbed in his apartment window and beat him with his frying pans until he agreed to stop.

Nobody else in the tower was quite sure how they did that.

Those in the top few floors did, but it was funny seeing the lower floors spooked like that, so they kept quiet.

“I gave one out too.” Probability declared, not to be outdone by her sister. “I gave it to a mercenary warrior, he was funny so I decided to gift it to him. It was in the form of jewel, it fit into the pommel of his sword. he used it to unite the warring land and create a village where everyone lived in harmony. Then he hung up the sword, changed his name to First and ruled over the village as it’s leader.”

“Well at least that one ended happily, what about you two boys?” Arthur asked.

Time and Space looked up from the where the T.V had captured their attention. The channel had been changed to another show, this time about the superhero Lightshow and her heroic exploits.

“I was thinking about a new one, big spiky time-travelling robot, but it’s been done before.” Answered Time.

Space nodded in agreement, eyes swiveling back to the T.V.

“I see. I’ve never given one out myself, I’d prefer to work my magic from here.”

The other Greater Beings nodded in understanding and started arguing over the remote.

Arthur took a sip of the beer he had gotten from the freezer. Fortunately, this beer was not a metaphor and was indeed, booze.

Was there anything else he needed to do?

Oh right.