Blame the Train

The sun was shining in my eyes and I had to shield them with my hand to get a better look at my surroundings. I was lying down on something hard and uncomfortable. I tried to get up, but my body was stiff and unable to move. I heard a sound and turned my head to see a train speeding by. I was on a train and I had no idea how I got here. I finally got up and headed to the other car on the train. There was nobody on this train that I could recognize. Ahead coming in my direction I could see the ticket handler checking passenger tickets. At that point, I checked my pockets. I have no train ticket on my person.

I turned around and headed back in the direction I came from. Then all of a sudden I heard a stern voice directed at me. "Ma ‘am, excuse me... Ticket please." Not knowing what to say I just told the truth. "Sorry but I don’t seem to have a ticket." "Ma ‘am, you need a ticket. But that’s OK, I can sell you one now." I replied, "I don’t seem to even have my wallet or ID on me." "Ma ‘am, please come with me." The ticket handler escorted me to a cargo car. "Wait here my supervisor will be here shortly to question you." "OK", I said. The ticket handler left, I was alone in this cargo car. I am so confused, think I have to think. The last thing I remembered was that I was at the Coffee Shop with Brigetta. "WAIT! I don’t even know what day this is."

Train supervisor Dave Mathers entered the train car. He sat down in the chair opposite Sara who was nervously twisting her hands together. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I need to ask you some questions." "Of course Inspector," I replied, my voice trembling slightly. Mathers took a deep breath before starting. "Am I to understand you not only don’t have a ticket but you have no form of identification on you at all?" “That’s right! You won’t believe this but I don’t know how I even got on this train." Mathers could see the pain and confusion in my eyes and I can tell he felt sorry for me. "I'm sorry, but we have to do a thorough investigation. Let’s start off with your full name and address?" "My name is Sara Finnegan, and my address is 3496 Brighton Dr, Burnaby BC."

"Hold up! Where would you have boarded the train then?" "I don’t understand what you mean?" "Sara do you know where this train is going?" "Like I told you before I have no idea about anything?" "We just left Athens station heading to South Gastonia station in South Carolina." Sara’s eyes popped out of her head… "WHAT IN SWEET JESUS, HOW IN HELL DID I GET ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE FROM VANCOUVER CANADA?"

Mathers reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out his cellphone. "Is there anyone we can call for you?" "Call my brother Brian at 1.604.210.8744." Mathers with a confused look on his face responds in a gentle fashion. "Sara, I don’t really know how to put this but phone communication is a letter-based system, not number based!" Sara shakes her head, "No, no, no, NO… This has to be a dream, a very bad dream AT THAT!" "OK Sara, just sit tight and we will get you off at the next stop." Interrupted by a train worker. "Supervisor Mathers, you are needed in the caboose, it's an urgent matter!" "OK, Sara, I will be back. Bring her a drink and something to eat."

As Mathers works his way to the caboose, it is very apparent that the passengers appear to be a bit unedged. "What's going on here?" Mathers asks as he approaches the conductor. "I don't know sir. I've never seen anything like it." The conductor replies. Mathers looks around and sees that the passengers are starting to get uneasy. A man in a blue aqua suit yells, "The train can't STOP!" Children are clinging to their parents and a baby is screaming. Mathers turns to the conductor and says, "I think we need to get these people off the train." The conductor agrees and radios ahead telling the engineer at the front of the train to stop the train.

Mathers goes over to two women and tries to calm them down. He tells them that everything is going to be alright and that they are going to get off the train. The women start to calm down. He then goes to the man in the suit and tells him that he needs to settle down and stop scaring the other passengers. The man in the suit continues shouting... "The train can't STOP!" Mathers is confused why the man in the suit is saying the train can't stop. "Where did you hear that the train can't stop sir?" Mathers ask... "A man, who looked very important came up to me and told me that the train is having problems and it can't stop and I should let people know." "Well, you heard wrong! I would suggest you not spread false information onboard this train AGAIN!"

Supervisor Mathers walks frontwards towards where the engineer is located. He can feel the heat of the engine on his face. He's been working on the railroad for over 20 years and knows that the train is going too fast. After reaching the front of the train, Mathers sees that the engineering team is arguing. "What in hell is going on here? And why is the train traveling at a higher than normal speed?" Both engineers stop what they are doing, they look at Mathers. "The train is going too fast because the brakes aren't working properly," the first engineer tells Mathers. "The brake system is overheating and the brakes aren't able to slow the train down. We're doing everything we can to slow the train down, but it's not working." The second engineer adds. "The throttle is stuck. Which is why the train is going too fast."

Mathers looks out the window and sees the train barreling down the tracks. He knows that if it doesn't slow down, it will derail and potentially kill hundreds of people. "What can we do to stop the train?" Mathers asks. "We can't do anything, sir," the engineer tells him. Mathers is about to panic when he has a sudden idea. "Can't we use the emergency brake?" he asks. The engineers look at each other and then back at Mathers. "Yes, we can use the emergency brake sir, but we already tried it." One of them tells him. "Well let's try again!" Mathers shouts... Engineer one quickly radios the conductor and tells him to activate the emergency brake again. The train slows down slightly, but it's still traveling too fast. Mathers grabs the radio and calls all upcoming stations ahead, regarding their situation. Doing this assures all the tracks ahead will be cleared of any trains in its path.

Back where Sara is been held a strange man with a fedora walks in and closes the car door behind him. "Sara," he says in a deep, guttural voice. "I've been waiting to see you for a while now. I think it's time we had a little chat." "Sorry, who are you?" Sara replies. "I wouldn't worry so much about me right now, what's important is your mission. We don't have a lot of time, I've distracted Supervisor Mathers and the train crew for a bit. They think the train is going to crash, which in fact is not true." The fedora man continues. "You have to get to the second car at the front of the train, I'm not sure of the roomette number. There you will see a backpack with your initials on it. You will use your left hand to activate it." "Hold up! What mission?" "Sara, get the backpack and activate it. Follow the instructions and your memory will come back."

The fedora man walks towards the cargo door as he exits the car, he looks back at Sara. "Good luck Sara, you will need it!" Ok, that was strange, Sara says. First I'm on a train, not knowing how I got here. Then I find out the phones work differently here in South Carolina and now this strange fedora-wearing man telling me to find a backpack. Well, what do I have to lose? Can today get any more bizarre than it already has? I think I have to get this backpack. Sara peeks through the cargo door looking both ways. She sees that people are moving about frantically. This might work... Everyone seems so preoccupied. Sara decides to work her way to the front of the train.

"What is that blasted noise?" Mathers shouts. Engineer one squints his eyes trying to hear the noise for himself. "I think it's coming from the generator." "Yeah, it sounds like the generator supplying the traction motors." Replies engineer two. "That's not normal, right?" Says Mathers. "No, it's not normal. The shaft that drives the generator appears to be the culprit." Engineer one sends engineer two out the front to investigate the strange noise further. "The diesel engine that drives the main alternator that acts as an electric generator producing alternating current. It has become somewhat erratic, in an unexplainable way." Engineer one continues... "I've seen issues that all lead back to something I can pinpoint in the past, but not this!"

Sara finally makes her way to the second car at the front of the train. She opens the roomette on the left side. "Oh Sorry, wrong room." She closes the left side and then opens the right side. OK, where is it? Looking throughout the roomette Sara finally finds the backpack that she was told about. Using her left hand on the backpack, a zipper line appears. She unzips it, inside is a recorder with headphones, a pen and a notepad. Looking deeper she sees something that looks like hairspray. She puts on the headphones and hits play. "If your listening to this, then you've made it over safely. Yes Sara it's me, us, let's get your full memory back first. There should be a notepad and a pen, grab it. First, write this down on the notepad; r e v e r t e r e (space) a d (space) m e q u i (space) s u m. OK it should read as; revertere ad me qui sum. Listen very carefully Sara, you need to repeat those Latin words you've just written down out loud three times to get your full memory back." "OK, here goes, revertere ad me qui sum, revertere ad me qui sum, revertere ad me qui sum."

Sara collapses, she's on the ground her body is shaking like she's having an epileptic fit. Then all of a sudden it stops. She stands up and settles herself. Looking into the mirror she says to herself, there you are Sara, good to have you back! She heads back over towards the backpack, she grabs the can of spray and sprays a square shape form in mid-air against the closet door. Then all of a sudden the sprayed mist turns into some kind of monitor. Using her hand she swipes upwards and an image of a man with detailed information beside the picture appears. It reads as follows; Sebastian Cross AKA Mooker; is an interdimensional traveler who can move between different universes and dimensions. He was born with the ability to do this and has been using his power to gain great wealth for over eighty years. He is responsible for us discovering the micro-chip one hundred years before we actually should have.

He has traveled to the world you're in now, called Earth B9. He intends to sell a frequency modulator that can be used to move, and levitate extremely heavy objects. If successful in this transaction, it would destabilize the world's economy. Eliminating sixty percent of that world's businesses. He is currently somewhere on that train you are on. Your mission is to find him and lock his wrist with a dampner coil. Once that is accomplished a locator signal will activate and we will take care of the rest. The dampner coil will also aid you in locating him on the train. The dampner coil is in two parts on the train. You will need to access car thirty-three row eleven left side, even if someone is sitting in that seat. Look underneath the seat, feeling around with your hands, you should locate the dampner receptacle. The other part is at the back of the train, the last car before the caboose. Looking in the direction of the caboose look up at the ceiling, the third light from the back will be flickering. Remove the cover and the coil connector will be there. Assemble the dampner coil and find Mooker... Good luck!

Speaking to herself Sara works her way down the aisle to car thirty-three on the train. I have to try and stay as normal as possible. Mooker could be anyone of these passengers. One thing's for sure, I will have to avoid running into Supervisor Mathers as much as possible. To be on the safe side in case I run into him, I should come up with an excuse for my memory loss earlier. Here we are in car thirty-three, row 15, row 14, row 13, row 12, and row 11. Hmm, an old couple is sitting there. "Excuse me!" "Yes," says the old woman. "I think I left my lipstick here, either on the seat or maybe it fell under the seat. Would you mind if I had a quick look? So sorry for disturbing you both." "Of course you can dear, Simon stand up and let this young lady look for her lipstick." The old couple gets up and stands in the aisle. Sara pretends to look on the seat, then makes her way underneath the seat. Feeling underneath with her right hand while she supports herself with her left hand on the seat.

"Found it... Thank you so much, and sorry for the inconvenience." "That's ok dear," says the old woman. "That doesn't look like any kind of lipstick that I've seen before." Says Simon. "Oh Simon what do you know what lipstick looks like anyways, it could be her lipstick case." "You both are so sweet, have a lovely day." Now to the back of this train I go. As Sara makes her way to the back of the train. Mathers's voice is heard over the intercom. "Passengers, may I have your attention, please? Some of you have heard rumors about the train not being able to stop. I am assuring you all that this is not the case. We should be arriving at Anderson station within the hour. So please sit back and enjoy the scenic route you are on."

Damm it! That’s all I need right now, is for people to be sitting down relaxed and not panicking. This only calls more attention to my movements. I have to avoid the train staff. I need to get this last component, assemble the device then find Mooker, and all within an hour. I need to move fast here, I am running out of time. Mathers opens the door where Sara was being interrogated, only to be surprised that she is no longer there. Hailing a train crew member over, Mathers asks, "Have you seen the young woman that I was questioning in here?" "No, I haven't," the crew member replies.

Twelve minutes later Sara arrives at the last car before the caboose. Counting the third light from the back, Sara notices the flicking of the light. She looks around to make sure no one is watching. I need a platform, something to stand on. She spots a crate box in the left corner. After placing the crate directly beneath the flickering light she stands on the crate and reaches up towards the light, as she attempts to pry the light cover open a slight shout is heard. "Hey, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" says a crew member... "Mathers asked me to inspect the." Sara is interrupted by the crew member. "Sorry but I don't know you." The crew member radios the conductor. The conductor is not responding. "Come down from there... Wait right here, I will be right back!"

Knowing her time is limited Sara jumps back up on the crate and opens the light cover. She sees the coil part, removes it, and closes back the light cover. She puts the crate back in the corner. I need a disguise, where are you disguise? Looking around, why can’t I find a disguise? Sara continues looking around. There you are, Sara spots a scarf and shawl. After grabbing the garments, she works her way toward a washroom, once in there she covers herself up and builds the dampner coil device. Holding the coil in her right hand using the shawl to cover it she avoids the crew members' staff and scans the passengers on her way to the front of the train looking for Mooker. Where are you Sabastian, you've got to be close. As she enters car twenty-three the dampner coil pulls her hand hard to the left side of the car. There you are... Sara now knows who Mooker is, she continues to walk past him into the next car. She turns around and watches him through the car window back in car twenty-three.

Sara takes a deep breath and walks back towards Mooker in car twenty-three. looking past him with her head facing her left side, she begins small talk with one of the passengers. While at the same time just out of the corner of her right eye, she's able to keep Mooker in sight. She ends the conversation with a light chuckle and proceeds walking past Mooker. Within a quick moment, she pivots right and plants herself down right beside Mooker and in one motion clamps the dampner coil on his wrist. "What the?" Says Mooker. "Well, well if it isn't the famous Sabastian Cross AKA Mooker! Do you mind if I call you Mooker?" "Excuse me but no one calls me Mooker that's not in my brotherhood." "That's a shame, then Sabastian it is then!" "Who are you? And how did you find me?" Mooker asks. As passengers are walking by, Sara uses her scarf to cover Mooker's wrist from prying eyes.

"I guess you can blame the train! That quantum accelerator that you sold to the government in my world, well they took that tech from you and were able to build a quantum accelerator accelerometer. A cylindrical device that is about two feet in diameter and six feet long. It is mounted on a single train car and when activated, it creates some kind of powerful quantum field that can harness the energy and matter of any living organism. Which can only be used to jump onto a moving train in another world. I used it to travel here. It was a journey getting to meet you, Mr. Cross. When I jumped here I ended up in a cargo hold on this train with no memory other than my family name and information. I have never understood how one loses their memory when jumping between worlds. I'm still baffled that world-to-world transport is so advanced, yet you're always losing your memory in the process." Mooker interrupts Sara, "That still doesn't explain how you knew I would be on this train." "Funny you should ask. The ironic part is your previous frequency signature indicated you had jumped to these coordinates, which so happens to be near a train track, and as you know it's the only way my world can travel to other worlds. Via a train... Sabastian Cross!"

"I should have known this." "Known what?" Sara asks. "Using the train was smart." "How so Mr. Cross?" "You see every Earth-type world I've traveled to has a train system!" "Oh really... My government was wondering about this. We know you have traveled to a lot of worlds. I'd guess over a hundred or so, and on my world, we've only jumped to nine worlds so far. So this is great news! Thanks for sharing that nice piece of information." "That's not all I can share with you? Let me go and I can give you the solution to fixing that memory loss problem. Your world would be more efficient when jumping between worlds. You would be the talk of the town in your home world, not to mention the accolades you would possess." "Wow, how lovely and considerate of you Mr. Cross?" "You‘re welcome," Cross replies. "Nah, I don't think so. Your planning to sell very advanced tech that can destabilize this world." "You see," says Mooker. "I don't look at it that way. There is nothing wrong with giving a world a head start. I did the same for your world on many occasions. Do you even know home many Earth-type worlds there are?" "I don't, and I don't want to know Mr. Cross."

Mathers is pressing through the aisles with purpose looking for Sara when he suddenly gets a radio call from engineer one. "Yes!" "Sir we've fixed the problem, everything is working fine again. The train is traveling at its normal speed. I will radio ahead and update the stations on our status." Says engineer one, he continues to speak. "Strangest thing though..." Engineer one is interrupted by Mathers's voice! Mathers spot Sara sitting beside a man. As he gets closer to approaching them, all of a sudden Mathers hears a vibrating sound and everything appears to have slowed down around him. Passengers are moving in slow motion. But as he looks outside, everything he sees there is moving at a normal speed. Then at that same moment, Sara and Mooker start twitching, their frequency is noticeably weaker as if they were dissolving right in front of everyone. Then all of a sudden they were gone.