A Rib Cage

Part One

Sleek and black and white, the streamlined passenger train pulled into the busy station. Enna lay in Robin's arms, her head resting on his shoulder, still sleepy from waking up before dawn with motion sickness. The captain and his wife could be seen standing by the water, waving to her through the glass walls of the station. Enna gave a halfhearted little wave in their direction before letting her head slump against her brother's chest.

"Wow. Classy," said Alva staring at the disembarking passengers and the shiny train, "It must be one of the newer models."

Enna noticed that the train floated about six inches above the tracks, held there by powerful magnets attached to the track and the train. We must look very out of place , She thought, noticing that there were no other children in their vicinity. Alva and Robin were in their scarlet Nylon Jackets and black track pants, Willow was wearing her neon green jacket with blue leggings, her short dark hair pulled into a tiny high ponytail. Enna was clothed in bright blue and purple. It was hard not to feel uncomfortable when every one else was clothed in black, white, and grey work uniforms.

"All passengers heading west that are in possession of a Q line ticket may now board the arriving train," an automated female voice said through the station speakers.

"That would be us," Alva said, glancing down at their steel strip tickets, printed with the letter Q.

Enna noticed a large number of people in army and medic uniforms standing over near the train and quietly pointed them out to Robin. "I wonder if they're all going to the same place as we are," she whispered, eying the crowd.

" Most likely," Robin replied.

"Let's get on before the train leaves without us," said Willow. Enna groaned at the thought of the swaying train.

"Just remember if you start to feel sick get as far away from us as possible," Alva joked as they ascended the pristine ramp into the first train car. The lavishly decorated car consisted of several compartments, complete with cushy white couches, pale blue colored walls and small fold out eating tables. Enna and Robin followed Alva and Willow into compartment number 17 where they stowed their bags beneath the seat. Enna flopped down on the white leather couch and was tempted to fall asleep right away. Alva and Robin plopped down on either side of her and opened their books while Willow stared avidly out the compartment window, watching people enter the car.

" Guys, look, it's Dad!" Willow shouted. Enna jumped up and led Robin and Alva to the window, and they began to wave and whoop. The General turned around and saw them. He gave a little wave and then silenced them by putting his forefinger to his lips. The army was being led by a silver-clad robotic attendant over to the large company compartment made for parties of ten or more. Enna sighed.

"For a second I thought he might come over and talk to us,"

"He's busy, Enna," Robin said, retrieving the touch tablet that the four of them shared. It was small, but created a holographic screen that floated above the device, allowing them to CamComm their tutor, Ms. Mehgan. To keep the location of the crawler a secret, no internet signals were allowed. It made Enna sad to think that Ms. Mehgan wouldn't be seeing her for a year or more.

There was a loud clanking and scraping as the metal gangways were retracted onto the storerooms between the compartments and the train's powerful electromagnetic propulsion engines lifted the train high of the ground. The robotic female voice came over the intercom.

"Please keep all objects inside the compartment until we come up to speed. An announcement will be made that will unlock the windows."

"Of course," Alva remarked, "we wouldn't want to get decapitated by a signpost while looking out the window." Willow kicked him under the foldout white metal table.

They ate sandwiches and potato chips that they found in a small white cabinet with refrigerator and freezer compartments. Each also grabbed a bottle of water from on top of the food case. Enna finished her sandwich and sighed contentedly. She curled up with her head in Robin's lap and let sleep overcome her.

They awoke to find the train coasting along. It was moving so fast that the gnarled trees outside were no more than blurs of gray-green outside the windows. The robotic female voice came on again, informing the foursome that the time was 18:27 and that they would be arriving at Desert Terminal in half an hour's time.

A while later, there was an announcement telling all passengers to disembark here if they possessed a Q line ticket westbound to Duston. The four travelers dismounted the train and arrived on the platform in Desert Terminal in Duston, West Marannha. It was an entirely new experience for all of them.

They saw their father coming out of an armored train compartment three cars in front of them, and they ran to him. He motioned for them to follow him, and they fell into a line behind him.

The Movare family walked towards a sheet metal door with a small slit in the wall next to it. The General pressed his thumb to a card that he pulled from his pocket, leaving a glowing thumbprint on the card. He then slid the card into the slit in the wall and the door slid upward into the ceiling. Enna and Willow gasped as the metal sheet slid up to reveal a tall building bustling with soldiers. The building was almost five stories tall, revealing a huge arachnid shape behind it.

"The Crawler," whispered Robin.

The Crawler was metallic on the outside, but instead of being the normal steel of the army, it was a dark iron color. There were small glass windows at intervals around the perimeter of the robot, but they were tinted, not allowing any prying eyes to glimpse inside the robot. Their father gave Alva the directions to get to their compartment, then left to help load the robot.

As they approached loading dock C2, they saw other strange ships at other loading docks. Enna pointed out a large flat ship at loading dock A71 through a large glass window. Willow tightened her grip on Enna's hand. Enna then noticed, in a wave of shock, they were the only kids in the whole loading dock. Willow glowered at the boys, who were laughing at each other's jokes. Enna tugged on Alva's sleeve and gestured for silence. They quieted down after that.

At loading dock C2, a tall man stood by a microphone and read off a clipboard of names and ranks. Suddenly the man looked surprised and muttered "kids?" into the microphone, and Enna heard him. As the line began to shuffle forward, Enna got excited, but the man stepped out and stopped Enna from going through. Willow bumped right into her. Robin then explained who they were, being the oldest. Finally, they got to board the Crawler.