It is easy to run, but hard to jump off an elevated platform.

But falling off an elevated platform?

Easy as slamming into the ground.

Okay, I didn't fall. But there was a place were a perfect noob climbing tree was nearby, and I could see that I was close to the smoke signal. I knew there were ladders spaced around every so often, but I didn't want to wait.

Because the silence appeared much thicker up ahead on the track. I really really wanted to get off the track.

So I left the track and climbed onto a tree.

Well, I can safely say that the trees in steam punk world disliked me as much as the trees on earth. Why is the bark so pokey? But the noob tree was relately kind outside of that, and I was able to basically walk down branches like stairs.

When I dropped to the forest floor, I expected something interesting to happen. But nothing blew up and no one died suddenly. Zombie Queen didn't reappear to attack me, and Barney was just a disturbing concept in my mind.

It was a forest. There wasn't a lot of undergrowth, but there was moss and lichen and little purple flowers. The mist swirled around, and I saw that I was very close to the smoke signal.

So I started moving toward it, aware of the imposed time limit.

The ground under my feet was spongy and springy. I had the feeling that not many people took hikes through here. There was a denser grove of trees, and I ran through it like I was back in high school doing cross country, my steps a familiar 'springy bouncy don't want to be last, but don't want to hurt myself on uncertain ground'. I felt my hair slip free from the hasty bun again. It never stayed in place, even with pins and hairspray, and I was getting ready for bed before I was iseikaied, so yeah my hair was crazy.

I broke through the trees and saw a shelter.

It was different than I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be a little stone cottage.

It was.

But it was inside a massive a glass dome, with hexagon shaped glass pieces fitted into a metal frame. The air inside was clear. There were two ninja wannabes there, one standing inside the dome, at an opened hexagon that swung up like a door, and the other still standing outside. For some reason, the mist stayed outside, even with the door open.

The group clearly had heard me and my nonninja steps and were waiting for me. Either they had excellent poker faces and were hiding their fear, or they didn't view me as a threat at all.

Probably the first one, as I am pretty scary.

I stopped short when I recognized the people.

Because the one standing inside the dome was Chris Pratt.

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Okay. Probably wasn't Chris Pratt. But boy did he look like the guy.

Apparently I get starstruck, because I couldn't look at him without feeling nervous and afraid I'd do something wrong. So I looked at his companion, a younger guy who looked like Rock Lee but with normal human eyes and not an anime character.

Apparently I didn't break too many social standards, because Rock Lee nodded at me and took a few friendly steps toward me, meeting me in the middle. "You are the ward of the Deputy Constable." He said. I vaguely recognized that he had been riding on the same train car as me. "Do you bring news?"

"Yep..."

Well, last time I talked to people it didn't go so well for me.

But I didn't get my name stolen, so it didn't go poorly for me. With my trusty dead coil, what had I to fear? Beyond death, barney, and failing my exam tomorrow...

"There is a situation on the train. A name bound."

That got their attention. Boy was Chris Pratt cute when he paid attention. "How many?" he asked.

"One person attacked but they stopped him."

"There will be more. There probably are more already. No wonder the Constable asked us to search. It would be terrible if one of the Forest Blessed was tainted."

"Um...so...." I wish Hawthorn was here. Or Yu Lin. But I mean...Chris Pratt was a good guy in real life. This dream delusion of mine shouldn't stray too far from reality. "There were two foresters with a...I don't know the word for it...the zombie queen? The name stealer? They appeared on the track, but I got away...So..."

What if they thought I was a zombie now? Should I have mentioned that?

Rock Lee and Chris Pratt shared a look...

"I'm fine. I told her off and explained accounting pricinples to her. She was so stunned by my mnennic that I broke her and her face started going weird."

"We believe you." Said Chris. "How good is your focus James?" He asked Rock Lee.

"Pretty solid. At least 1.25 britts."

Chris Pratt shook his head, evidently disappointed. "Barely solid. What are we to do? It will be difficult enough to lead the people to shelters, even if there was enough space? During a Name Bound attack? What could we do?"

I almost raised my hand, like I was back in grade school. "We have a Steam Engineer. We can fix the train. If we have the right pieces. Are they in the Shelter?"

"Yes." Said Rock Lee/James. "A whole stash. But I don't know much about technology."

"I know what it looks like."

The two exchanged a look. "Then come into the dome."

"Okay..." well, I hope I wasn't about to get murdered. But I took some more steps and entered into the dome. The air smelt fresh but a little coppery, and the grass around the stone cottage was extra green.

"Well, at least we know you are telling the truth." Said James.

Chris Pratt slapped James on the back on the head. "She obviously has a very high Britt rating." said Chris Prat. He actually had almost an American accent. "And excellent training. I didn't doubt her."

My phone buzzed again, the fourth timer. Twenty minutes had passed.

That's fine. I just needed to find the piece and hitch a piggyback ride to the train.

"What piece do we need?"

"Jump Drive." I said. The other pieces would be nice, but without that one we weren't going anywhere.

We entered into the cottage. Apparently it was not locked. There was light from the windows, but the inside of the cottage felt quite cold. It was just a one room structure, though it was large. On one end of the room there was a ladder that led 'down' quite ominously, and there was the sound of some kind of machinery down there. On the other side of the cottage was a bed with bedding in clear bags, and the rest of the space was filled with boxes bearing different names and other supplies.

I did not find a blue paw print, so no help from Blue's Clues. But Chris Pratt moved and pulled down a large box. He opened it.

It was like that scene in Men In Black, where the case opens and there are all the cool guns. Except it was weird pieces. Dozens and dozens. They were labeled, but I didn't know what the labels meant. Not that I couldn't read them, but everything seemed to be abbreviated.

Well, dang it.

If my phone was right, we had less than 10 minutes to find the right piece, run through the forest, fight off a zombie invasion, and fix the train, before the steam-starved showed up and destroyed the train, then wanted to make a new friend with all the people.