A.I.

Chapter 1

15th May 2033  10pm    

       The night was cool as Ryan nervously looked around for the hundredth time. They had arrived at the small town in a rented car twenty minutes ago. He had left it parked at a service station with the keys locked inside as per instructions from the rental company. Someone would pick it up the next morning.

It was spooky sitting on the dimly lit platform of the small railway station. It was on the edge of town in a poorly lit area. The brick station building once had a staff of three or four, selling tickets and consigning freight. But like so many small stations business had declined over the last few decades, and now if you wanted to buy a ticket you had to do it online, and freight was no longer dispatched from the station. The large grain silos were the only reason for the nearby sidings where grain trains would fill with the precious cargo and haul it five hundred kilometres east to the shipping ports.

It was a dark night. No moon or stars, just a black overcast and a slight breeze. There was only one fluorescent tube lighting the station platform as Ryan kept straining to look up the tracks in the direction the train would come, hoping to see the glow of the headlight.

He had booked a twinette cabin on the interstate train called The Trans. The timetable showed that this train only stopped here if someone had booked a ticket. He hoped the train driver knew he had two passengers to pick up.

He turned to look back down the road towards the small town half expecting to see a car speeding towards them. Had they got away? The Centre would be searching high and low for them. He had used a false name and paid cash for the rental car, and he had also paid cash for their train tickets at the railway booking office in a larger town a hundred kilometres away, but their pursuers were probably still not far behind them. Where was that train? It was already twenty five minutes late.

He glanced over at his companion sitting silently on the seat next to him. Anna didn't look nervous or worried at all. She was dressed very smartly in a white blouse with a light grey jacket and a knee length maroon skirt and black boots. Her long dark hair hung over her shoulders, and she looked straight ahead like she was deep in thought.

He looked again back towards the lights of the town. It was ten fifteen and all was quiet. Maybe everyone went to bed by ten o'clock in this small town. Wait! Was that car headlights in the distance coming in their direction?

"Ryan?"

He turned around to see Anna pointing along the tracks, the two silver rails reflecting the bright light in the distance. At the same time he heard the diesel whistle. Thank God, the train was here at last. 

A minute later the locomotive rolled past them hauling a train of stainless steel carriages, glinting slightly in the dim light. The driver timed the stop nicely with the door of the fourth carriage stopping directly in front of them. A young woman in a uniform stepped out to greet them.

"Mr and Mrs Jones?" she asked with a smile, "You're right here in Car Three."

She ushered them aboard. Ryan climbed in after Anna, pushing their suitcase ahead of him.
The passenger attendant said something into her portable radio and climbed back on board with the train already moving as she closed the door.

"We're running half an hour late," she explained, "The driver is trying to make up time. "Your cabin is third on the right. I'll be back in a minute to get you settled in." She stepped into a nearby staff compartment.

The train was picking up speed, and as Ryan bent to pick up their suitcase, he gasped in horror. Out of the carriage window from the direction of the town a car with its headlights on high beam was speeding towards the train. The road turned to run parallel with the railway line and now the car was driving alongside the train. He could see red warning lights for a level crossing flashing up ahead, then he heard the engine let out a long and piercing whistle. The train driver must have seen the car and was worried the driver wouldn't stop. The car raced ahead of the train which by now must have been going at around eighty kilometres per hour. The car looked as if it was going to try and get across the crossing before the train, but the car driver braked sharply and stopped just in time as the train rumbled across in front of it. The car disappeared in the distance behind the train.

Ryan let out a sigh of relief. It was them. It had to be, but they had got away. He silently said goodbye to the town of Condoblin, what a name for a town, and followed his 'wife' into the sleeping cabin. It was small with two beds, but it had an ensuite, and it was clean and smelled fresh.

The passenger attendant returned, introduced herself as Fiona, and showed them how the compact ensuite worked. She also explained where to get food in the last car of the train.

"If you want to get a late snack or a drink it's open till eleven o'clock," she said, "and it opens for breakfast at seven in the morning." She smiled and left.

Ryan watched her go.

"You like her, don't you?"

He turned around to look at his companion. She was standing near the window watching him.

 "Yes, Anna, I do like her."

"Do you think she is attractive?"

She had an uncanny knack of knowing what he was thinking. "Yes I do, but for now I am going to bed. It's been a long day and I'm tired. Which bunk do you want, top or bottom?"

"I'll take the top."

"OK, you go into the ensuite and get changed."

Anna nodded and went into the compact room, closing the door behind her.

Ryan stripped down to his boxers and lay on the lower bunk. He looked out the window. There was nothing to see but blackness. They were speeding along through the middle of nowhere. He wondered where the car which had chased them, had ended up. The road obviously didn't follow the railway line. There was no sign of car headlights out there anywhere.

A couple of minutes later Anna came out of the ensuite wearing a nightie. She climbed the ladder to the top bunk and for a moment he was treated to the sight of her perfect legs. Wow, she was something. It was so hard to believe that she was...

"Goodnight, Ryan," she said softly and turned off the light.

When Ryan awoke in the morning the sun was up as the train made its way west towards their destination which was still over twenty four hours away.

Anna was already dressed and sitting silently at the window looking out at the scenery.

"Good morning," Ryan said as he swung his feet over the edge of bunk, "How did you sleep?"

She ignored his question. "We stop at Port Augusta at ten o'clock for half an hour. That's where they'll come aboard. But they won't be able to search every cabin in the train, they don't have that kind of authority."

"What do you think they'll do then?" Ryan asked.

"There'll be two of them. They'll get seats in one of the sitting cars and watch everyone going past to the food car till they spot us. We have two hours till the stop."

"Right then," Ryan said, "I'll get dressed, then go to the food car and bring back enough food to last us until Perth tomorrow afternoon. We'll just stay here in the cabin until we get there, then we can try and slip off in the crowd without them seeing us."

"That's a sound plan," Anna gave him a smile.

She looked so beautiful when she smiled. Ryan mentally kicked himself for feeling attracted to Anna. He had to keep in mind who she really was, and in any case, after the handover was made in two days he would never see her again.

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter enough to continue reading.
Anna and Ryan are on the run. How far will they get?
Don't forget to vote before continuing :)