Legacy: Beyond the Veil

Planetside commute: Part one

Noah was so, so tired. He was pretty sure that he could sleep for a day straight if he got the chance, but it was nearly impossible to get anything resembling actual rest aboard a Leviline. Not that his body cared. No matter how many times the rough tracks or rowdy passengers aboard the train shook him awake, he'd be shushed right back to sleep mere moments afterwards. It was cyclical torment, but he could do little to escape it. Good thing there was something warm and soft he could lean against. It felt safe, reassuring. Like he was back home in his mother's arms.
His addled mind didn't quite consider that there wasn't supposed to be anything more comfortable than a mineral-polymer seat in the 3rd class. The cart he was in lurched again with a screech of metal-on-metal, more intense than any before. The sudden movement launched him out of his seat and jolted him wide awake. His eyes shot wide open and granted him sight of the studded metal floor, which was rapidly approaching.
A scream got caught in his throat as he turned his head away to brace himself for the painful impact, but a strong grip on his shoulder caught his fall.

"Hah, close one, right buddy?" Said a familiar voice. He couldn't quite place it. Not with his brain still caught between peaceful slumber and sudden shock. His heartbeat quickened in response to the unexpected threat, not realizing the danger had already passed. As if by magic, his weariness seemed to have been lifted, Noah felt as awake as he'd ever been, opening his senses up to all the things his weariness had filtered out.
The air in the cart was stale, recycled a hundred times over, though there were also more exotic scents, not all of which were particularly pleasant. He caught a whiff of synthetic meat, some fungus-based beverage, and even a trace of urine. He shot a look back at the slightly damp metal floor and shuddered, now extra glad his face had been spared a closer meeting with the dirty surface.

The strong hand started hoisting him up as if he weighed nothing at all which, in all fairness, he really didn't. Before he even realized it he was back in his seat. Noah turned to the mystery savior sitting next to express his thanks when a flash of recognition shot through him.

"Thanks Rosa." He said, feeling slightly embarrassed about the whole ordeal now that he remembered who he was with. "Was that the Hestia dead track?" He asked, partly to get his bearings and partly to give his companion something other than his near-fall to talk about. Rosa nodded and turned to look outside.
The squat and featureless towers of the Hestia foundries rose up like a forest stretching as far as the eye could see, each tree an enormous steel tower hundreds of meters high and as broad as this train was long. Now that Noah thought about it, the thick clouds of smoke coming from the tops of the foundry towers did somewhat look like a canopy of leaves, and the countless conveyor belts connecting the towers might as well have been branches sprouting from the trunks.

The resemblance ended there, though. Noah had never seen a real tree before, but the stills always depicted them as organic and asymmetrical. Nothing like the sharp, perpendicular angles and carefully planned layout of the foundry. The color scheme was off, too. The angry orange glow of liquid metals cascading down the towers was nothing like the gentle forest greens promised by the stills. Noah supposed the foundries were impressive to behold, from the right angle perhaps even strangely beautiful, but the sight still made his heart ache, knowing that he would likely never get to see a real forest hurt him in a way he couldn't really explain, so he finally turned away, his eyes settling on the girl next to him.

Rosa looked back at him and Noah realized she was in the middle of a rant of some sort, one he was only picking up on now. "–I mean that dead spot has been there for months now, Magtrans replaced the superconductors, like, twice at most before they gave up.
"They said, and I shit you not–" Rosa pushed her chin out, tilted her head, and added a slow, almost whining, undertone to her voice in a fairly accurate imitation of Magtrans' iconic announcer. "The extreme heat from Hestia Foundries burns our equipment out at such a pace that it has become unviable to conduct repairs until further notice. Please travel safely and have a nice day." Her delivery was spot-on and Noah only managed to stifle a snort because he knew Magtrans had banned people from their Leviline for criticism less than this. He quickly shot a look around, hoping that no-one was listening in. Luckily the other passengers all seemed too busy with their own business to notice.