Train Rides

Calian POV

And what would you know, Jill had somehow booked us into the first class seating on the train! Well at least two of them, the private train won't be the same. Yes, Jill hacked into the system, again, at the last minute, to pull out 5 first class tickets for us which I will be eternally grateful for because this is a wonderful experience.

Like a lot of trains, this one's rails is built above ground on an elevated railway. There's a reason why it is built above ground rather than into the ground. Tunneling in the moon or anywhere in space is difficult and building on the moon instead, is easier. Another perk, we get to enjoy quite the scenic view up here.

When I say scenic view, I mean an almost endless gray landscape filled with craters and no sign of life except for an occasional moon buggy or two and some domes, both small and some as big as the Ligeton. It was quite... fulfilling, you don't get to see these kinds of sights everyday. Isn't it incredible, I'm on the moon!

"This will be a long ride, won't it?" V inquired in the middle of our serene silence as she gently sipped down on a glass of first class wine. "Total ride time of the three trains? More than 3 hours, that's for sure. I got us the first class ride for a reason you know, not to get our asses cramped throughout each train," Jill got the last part right, better seats, less cramps.

"Well then, for such a long ride, let us set our prayers for safety. Oh Gods above, if you're watching, please bless us so we won't get any surprise ambushes throughout the three train rides, amen," Crynn said as sarcastically as he possibly could which I'll just wholeheartedly agree with. No one in their right minds would hope to be ambushed on a train ride and I am included on th elist of right minded people.

And God bless, there really isn't any ambushes for the next three train rides.

***

It's not difficult to summarize really. We rode the first train, got to our destination and then immediately hopped on the next train. We didn't get to sight see around the place, Jill just pulled us out and pushed us back in, there done. The next train, we stopped onto the Shadows of Lariet, whoever named this dome as such is probably insane both because of his bad naming sense and the first governor's name is Lariet which means this dome is his shadow and it's just arrogant.

So much so that the citizens have successfully propelled an application into the dome's government body. An application for a fair vote to remove the name for a new, minimalistic constructed name. And they just happened to succeed and roughly, only ten voter voted to not change the name so we know who won.

The name change will be effective a few weeks later, a shame we still need to put up with the 'Shadows of Lariet' for just a bit longer. It's the same as before, Jill pulled us out and pushed us into a different train, only the way is dissimilar. This time, Jill had us go into a random little building in the dome, used our fake UCU identifications and enter.

We got an elevator down and would you look at that, a secret underground base, full with different people and different objectives of different corporations. We did not stay for too long as Jill professionally led us right through to a special and exclusive UCU underground train station. Damn tryhards right?

So, the train station doesn't use tickets, as long as you've got UCU credentials, you can ride right on so right now, we're on this train, in this darkish tunnel, going to an unidentified location on the moon. "Next stop, Lunar Palace," that's it, that's the place of our destination, the magical Lunar Palace, reminds me of an ancient Chinese Myth about a moon goddess and some rabbit.

Anyway, 'Ding', yup we've arrived. And so far, my one opinion of the Lunar Palace from it's underground train station is... well, it's not good. "This place looks deserted," Ariane made an observation in which I can agree on. "Blood, anyone?" Crynn dragged a finger on the edge of a pillar, showing a tinge of blood on it.

"Maybe we still have time to turn back?" V is obviously getting a bad feeling about this and the blood stain doesn't help. There's definitely something wrong and I'm no coward to these situations so I'm gonna play Sherlock and get to the bottom of this or is it the Scooby-Doo Gang, I guess we're like the Scooby-Doo Gang, aren't we.

"Let's get going, here take a pistol, and you a pistol," Jill gathered everyone, handing both Crynn and V a pistol each. I took out my umbrella as well, Ariane with her laser pistol (I so envy that), and Jill with the mighty shotgun. Then, after that, we get to action. First things first, going up the stairs and be always alert, must keep vigilance for any ambushes.

We turned a corner and... wow. All I can say and no It's not what you're imagining a wow to be. it isn't a jam-packed hall, not a load of party animals, no balloons but blood, oh so many blood. And did I mention bodies? A lot of bodies as well. Now, my conjecture of something happened here is strengthened to a maximum.

"This is a slaughter house," I can only say that because this is not good, not good at all. "Someone's coming?" Crynn warned us as metallic footsteps appear from a room on the left with the door opened. A metal foot stepped out of the door with a clang to reveal a bloodied machine gun wielding robot, looking like it had just massacred John Connor's family

Oh boy, here we go again.