139 Years to the End of the World

The Winter Train, Part Five

With engines still running, the train rumbled gently beside the platform of Tikika. Men twice my size, with muscles bulky enough to break off their bodies and start a new state, loaded the Cryo-Tube from the cargo carriage onto a ridiculously large trolley, something which I found weird. Not the men, but the fact that they were using a manual trolley instead of an autonomous one.

I leaned over to Leila and asked, "Where are the automated cranes?"

"Oh..." she replied hesitantly. "The Forum has cut off electronic trades with this city."

"What? Why would they do that?"

She looked worryingly left and right, "We shouldn't talk about this is in the open." A reply which I found eerily similar to something out of an espionage film. "Let's get to the car."

I followed her to the front of the station, noticing just how empty the public place was. At most, I saw about two dozen people, even though the time was clearly midday. Even the passengers that exited the train were no more than the number of good fingers and toes I had left.

"I know the situations isn't exactly peaceful in the world right now, but where are all the people?" I asked as we reached the steps of the station. A black van waited for us at the foot of the steps.

Leila ignored my question. Or more accurately, refused to answer. Leading me down to the vehicle while I hastily followed behind her. The door opened from the inside, with Doctor Parker greeting me. We got into the six-seater, with me and Leila taking the middle passenger seats. Parker moved to the front, and Newton waved to me as the driver.

Once the door slid shut, Leila began, "We haven't told you everything, dad. We didn't want you to worry."

"Wait, Lei," Newton said, "Are we really doing this? I thought we discussed that there's no point."

"That's right," Parker added. "He won't even be here for everything."

Angered, I exclaimed, "Can you guys stop talking about things as if I'm not here? And what's this situation that you all don't want me to know?"

Leila sighed and said, "Look around you dad."

"What do you-"

"Just...look around."

I did as she asked, staring out the tinted window to the underground road, but did not see the futuristic world I had expected. Surrounding the station entrance were just a handful of citizens, cycling along on bicycles and horse drawn carriages. The ones on their feet ogled at our van as if it was a monster from another dimension.

I could hear Newton letting our a surrendering breath as he started the engine, the sound of which drew even more wilting stares. As he drove off, I heard the deafening quiet of the city as our tires screech rang louder than blasting rock music into headphones.

Almost breathless at the archaic looking streets, I asked, "What happened?"

"Like I said," Leila continued. " The Forum cut off electronics trade to Tikika. That means anything with a chip or anything else metallic in it has been embargoed here. Even cars. You're sitting in one of the last thousand vehicles left still working in the city."

"Why would The Forum do that?"

Parker said, "It's a long story Milton." Then to Leila, he reprimanded, "One that he does not need to know."

"He has a right to," she replied.

"But there is nothing he can do!"

Agitated by being ignored again, I raised, "But she's right! I have a right to know what's happening to the world that I'm supposed to save!"