Rachel Yan (11) | STAFF REPORTER
The lever slid back with a soft click. Travis pulled on the handle, guiding the train while it swung to the left. He settled back in his driver’s seat, listening to the bustle of activity in the train cars behind him.
Outside the front window, he could see a jet black sky and a glowing blue ocean. The train moved over the waves with the consistency of thunderclouds rather than water. Threads of light and sparks lanced through its depths. The only light in the sky was a small opalescent moon, the sky around it dark and cloudless. The top of the train was open to the air; all around them, the only thing that could be seen was more black sky.
Behind him, attendants in navy blue uniforms operated the levers. The nets extending from the sides of the train dipped below the surface of the sea, trailing through the water. Every few moments, a glowing form would drift into the net, ensnared.
The attendants drew the nets up when they were filled. The struts of the nets were raised, and the nets were emptied into the train. The glowing figures slid down the walls of the train, streams of vapour trailing from them. The attendants settled the spirits into the seats along the train, strapping them in. They were light and incorporeal; warm masses of air that could drift away as easily as a balloon.
“Hey boss,” one of the attendants called. “One of these… You might want to take a look at this.”
Travis checked the trajectory of the train, then left it moving while he went to the passenger cars. It wasn’t as if they would accidentally hit something out here. “What is it?”
One of the attendants – Jake, Travis thought his name was – gestured at the spirit in a seat. He was much less immaterial than the others, blinking and moving restlessly. Already, he was starting to consolidate, becoming more distinct around the edges. A few seconds later, his gaze focused on Travis.
“Where am I?” he murmured. “Wait – let me go back. Let me talk to Janice. I need to tell her…”
“What do we do about him?” Jake asked.
‘What are you doing?” The spirit fumbled with the straps around him. “Why am I here?”
Travis looked at the incandescent figures lining the seats to either side. “Just unstrap him. One or two of the group are like this sometimes. It’s not a big deal.”
Jake shook his head and unbuckled the spirit’s seatbelt, then pulled him to his feet.
“Hey, what’s your name?” Travis asked him.
“Anthony.” He looked around the train. “Where are we?”
“On the train, of course.” He tugged him towards the front car. “Since you’re awake, would you like to help conduct the train? Or take care of the other souls?”
“No, I can’t stay. I have to go back. My friend — she’s waiting for me.”
“Sorry mate, but you’re dead. You won’t be going back. Go on, have your moment — it takes a while getting used to.”
Anthony looked too shocked to process his words. “What did you say you wanted me to take care of?”
“Souls. What this train is carrying.” Travis opened the compartment door and gestured for him to take the driver’s seat. “I can teach you how to drive this. Or would you rather watch the first time around?”
“Um, I’ll watch.” Anthony sat on the ledge of the desk as Travis steered the train to the right. “Why do you want me to help you?”
“Well, it gets lonely out here,” Travis said, looking out at the endless sea, “what with just the crew on board. A new face would be nice. So we’re looking for someone to join us.”
Anthony only stared at him in disbelief.
“Now that you’re dead, you’re going to get assigned someplace anyways. Most people prefer your typical generic afterlife, obviously. But personally I think working on the train of souls is much cooler, even if it’s hard work. You should think about it. Souls aren’t usually lucid at this stage; maybe this is a sign you’ve got something special about you. We’ll just show you the ropes, and hope you consider it. How’s that sound?”
Anthony finally found the words to say. “What do you even do? Where does this train go?”
“Oh, we’re picking up souls from the dream tributary of the river. The recently deceased. Such as yourself.” Travis looked over at Anthony’s still disbelieving expression. “We bring them to the place of judgement, and then we ferry more souls to different afterlife realms. Some are upstream; some a lot further away. We go all sorts of places, really.”
“So where’s our next stop?”
Travis gazed out over the luminescent waves. “The underworld.”
