Never cross The Track. That’s what they say. Stupid rule if I have to break it. Aidan thought to himself while glancing at the thermometer.
“148. Huh, not too bad.” He checked his mask with his one free gloved hand to make sure it didn’t have leaks and he squinted through the tiny plexiglass screen in front of him. Can’t…this dust is wicked.
Aidan rode and walked inside a Beetle. That’s what they call it. Half suit, half vehicle, the wearer leans forward to scramble with their hands and feet as the Beetle assists and drives forward. Its shell is made of a series of solar voltaic metal plates that cover the body like armor, serving to protect the wearer from the deadly heat of the sun and the harsh dust storms. The panels power three all-terrain wheels and a cooling system for the body. The wheels attach to a motor and a simple frame attached to the panels.
There are small, tinted plexiglass windows on the front and both sides that allow vision without too much sun coming in. Besides a few simple electrical signals and dials there is little else. The bottom is open to the ground and the wearer can push and drag up and over obstacles while the wheels are deployed. Aidan wore a full face mask respirator, strapped to the Beetle by his shoulders and waist.
I can’t remember the last time I left the tunnels. To fix an air vent last year? Looks worse than ever.
A harsh wind caused him to crouch close the ground, letting the aerodynamic shape of the Beetle deflect. A moment later the wind cleared a view in the dust storm and he saw a pale orange mountain looming in the distance.
There it is. That’s the water source. But there was no Track here when we laid the pipe…
Before him, shining in the glare of the sun, a meter wide strip of metal, flat to the ground shined like a blade from one horizon to the next.
“Don’t cross The Track. Blah blah blah,” he said, his voice muzzled by the mask.
Aidan let the wheels of the Beetle carry him the rest of the way to The Track. He looked left, he looked right. No Bullet. No drones. He put the vehicle in drive and ran with it to the track and up and-
Like running into a brick wall, the suit stopped in mid air and Aidan banged his head hard against the plate armor.
“Aughn! Ow! What the…“ Aidan’s muffled shout was lost in the wind.
The suit fixed fast in place and refused to budge. The rubber wheels were on the track, but the entire suit seemed held in place by an invisible hand.
“No no no no no!” Orien yelled. I can’t be stuck. I can’t I can’t I can’t LIVE outside this suit. Through the tiny window to his right, the one facing the track east, a shining glint of metal rapidly increased in size.
-
“Obstruction… on track,” came the soft female voice of The Bullet, a high speed personal transport pod. Her voice was like velvet, smooth like a lullaby, it could soothe you to sleep, “100 miles.”
The four of them sat at a white table inside a white, rounded room with no visible door, windows, or discernable features of any kind except the blue light that pulsed from the center of the ceiling whenever the disembodied voice spoke.
“Now what does that supposed to mean?” Asked Mia, her brow furrowing.
“Babe, I thought the drone took care of -” Emma began.
“That on the track,” *blue light blink, “there is an obstruction.”
“Ugh, that was a rhetorical…“ Mia stopped herself, “Bullet?”
“Yes Mia?”
“Please make The Bullet transparent-“
Emma waved her hands frantically at the blue light, “No!”
“Yay!” The two girls cheered in unison.
*blue light blink*
“Ok, Bullet… Keep the floor solid beneath us-“ Mia gave Emma a wink, “But make everything else go away.” Emma groaned.
The white color in the walls, like smoke in a strong breeze, vanished. The family of four now appeared to be sitting at a table on a tear drop shaped white disc that hovered above a single straight line of metal that extended in front and behind them to the horizon.
“Ugh,” Emma sneered. “It’s not so pleasant is it girls?”
Mia squinted. “Is this at fully transparency, Bullet? It looks kind of hazy.”
“Full transparency would cause permanent damage to your retinas,” Came the voice of The Bullet, “What you see is toxic haze. I used a filter to improve the quality of the image.”
Hundreds of miles of dust wasteland surrounded them, pock marked with piles of rock and indiscernible objects. Beside the track was a pile of shattered solar panels in a heap, smoldering, quickly becoming coated in dust. The orange dust was everywhere. A persistent haze in every direction.
“See? There’s nothing to see girls,” Mia said. The girls both looked disappointed.
“Track Rat! Track Rat! I KNEW IT!” squealed Amu.
Mia looked shaken, “Amu quiet.”
Through the transparent walls of The Bullet they saw a man rise to his feet out from under the smoldering heap and stagger towards them.
“Babe… it’s a man,” Emma said.
The man shielded his eyes from the sun with his hands and stared into the side of the craft, his face about knee high to the family in The Bullet, within arm’s reach of Tani in her booster seat if there wasn’t the invisible barrier. Tani stared back at him, wide-eyed.
“Track Rat! Track Rat-“ chanted Amu.
“Shush…” Mia put her finger to her lips and scowled at Amu, “Bullet! What is a man doing out here in the no-man’s land?”
*blue light blink*
“She didn’t respond, babe,” Emma grabbed Mia’s hand.
“I know Emma.”
“It looks like he’s staring at Tani!”
They could see the scars on his head where his hair was missing. His skin reminiscent of moldy bread. His beard caked in dust and filth. He looked like he was about to cry.
The man shut his eyes hard and covered his face with his gloved hands and stumbled, before collapsing to his knees.
Emma gasped, “Bullet! What’s the temperature outside?”
“One hundred and fifty-two.”
“Oh my god Mia, we’ve got to get him inside.”
Mia nodded and asked, “But… what do we do-“
“I don’t know Babe, but he’s going to die if we leave him out there. Bullet! Let the man inside.”
*blue light blink*
Emma turns towards the light in the ceiling, “Bullet! Do it!”
*cover your eyes and hold your breath family*
Emma grabbed Tani and wrapped a hand over the child’s face.
Mia glanced at Ami, “Ami! Eyes shut tight!” Ami squeezed her eyes closed. There was a horrendous whoosh and heat so strong it knocked the air from their chests.
“The man is in.”
He lay crumpled on the floor. The walls and ceiling were now solid white. There was no indication of the haze and sun and dirt outside, except for a rapidly disappearing swirl of dust in the air that was gone within seconds. The temperature returned to 68 degrees. Dinner steamed before them, the table set for five.
The man cautiously opened his eyes and stared all around him in amazement, then rested his gaze on Mia, who was standing.
“Well…” she said, “Dinner is served.”
___
Tani was the first to ask, “Where did you come from?”
Aidan looked at the plate of unrecognizable things before him. “From my town, Wray. Underground, like everyone else. Where am I?”
“Inside da Bulley!” Tani toddler spoke proudly.
“That thing!” Aidan leaned back in his chair.
Mia inspected the man’s face and voice with a wrinkled brow. He looked like a hermit from a fairy tale, but he acted and spoke like a young man in his late teens.
Amu overcame her trepidation, “Are… are you a Track Rat?”
“Amu!” Mia scolded.
Aidan stared at the girl and coughed dryly without covering his mouth.
“Are we stuck here?” Aidan asked the girl. Amu stared back.
“No,” Emma informed him, unable, just as little Tani was, to resist mouthing down a huge spoon-full of pasta as she talked. “The -“ *buuuurp* “Sorry! — drone eventually destroyed the trash…” she looked up at him, “The thing you crawled out from, and we are halfway to Seattle.”
“I don’t know what a Seattle is. I need to go to the mountain!” Aidan stood up suddenly and started scanning the featureless walls of the craft with his eyes.
“You were…” Mia hesitated, “Going to die. We had to do something.”
Aidan took off his heavy, torn gloves and slid his youthful looking hands along the perfectly smooth walls. “How do I get out? Where’s the tunnel?” He coughed hard.
Emma got up from where she was sitting and approached Aidan, standing awkwardly next to him with her palms open. “You are… safe here. You will get medical attention when we get to Seattle. I-I don’t understand how you got out here.”
“I live here!” Aidan cried before crumpling back to the floor with his face in his gloves and moaned while rocking, “Nooooooo…”
“Hav summm pa-asta!” Tani yelped, holding her spoon full of pasta outstretched from her booster seat towards Aidan, dropping most of it on the floor.
“I don’t know what pasta is!” Aidan hissed through his teeth.
Emma and Mia gave each other a concerned look. Mia made a twirling motion near her ear and frowned.
“Look-” Emma began to place her hand on the man’s back, stopped, hesitated above the greasy clothing and padded the air above him instead, “Maybe Tani is right. Come have food with us and we’ll figure this all out, mmm-k?”
Aidan tried to wipe the tears away, spreading the mud he made across his face in streaks, and followed Emma back to the table.
“I’ll show you!” offered Ami, “First thing. Number one. Most important. Take a big spoon in your ri-ight hand.”
Aidain nodded and picked up the spoon by his plate.
“Then,” Amu continued. Giving him a look of grave importance. “Scoop up a bi-ig spoonful of… pastah!” She finished the lesson with filling her entire mouth so full she couldn’t close her lips while she chewed, bits of pasta falling out.
“Ugh, Amu,” groaned Mia.
Emma chimed in while still chewing, “People don’t actually, normally use spoons to eat pasta, we are just weird-“
“Emma. I don’t think that’s actually helpful,” Mia retorted.
Aidan imitated Amu by first lifting a heaping spoonful of pasta into his mouth. Then, when he noticed his mouth wasn’t full, followed it by several more spoonfuls until his mouth was so full he couldn’t close his lips and he began to chew, elbow pasta cascading down his beard, some getting stuck along the way.
Emma and Tani both burst out laughing. An adult’s burst of surprise, a toddler’s giggle of pure enjoyment. Mia scowled and Amu spit out half her pasta while trying to laugh and began coughing. Mia got up and rushed over to pat her back several times until Amu replied, “Yes momma I can breathe.”
“Mmmh-hmmm-mmm?” asked Aidan through his pasta mouth.
This set everyone off, save Mia, once again. More pasta went flying from mouths. Tani threw a tiny handful of pasta towards Amu, but it landed in Emma’s lap. Emma looked at it, looked back up at Tani with a serious face, and flicked a spoonful of pasta right back at Tani with a little satisfied side grin.
“Emma! You’re worse than the kids,” objected Mia.
Then Amu threw pasta at Emma.
Mia looked on disapprovingly. “Come on guys, gross.”
A glob of elbow pasta smacked against Mia’s cheek and slid to the floor. Everyone looked at Aidan. His hand hovered in the air where he had left it after throwing the pasta.
“Is this right?” he asked. An innocent look of approval set across his face.
“Welcome to Seattle,” Announced The Bullet, “Mia, Emma, Tani, Amu,” *Blue light blink* “And Aidan.”
