Beyond the Distance

Chapter 3

Acton stood in line inside the transport station. Its gray and silver interior contrasted against the late spring sun that warmed him on the walk there. Most of the line was composed of white-collar workers buying tickets to reach their jobs in the western time zone of Binneste, but there were a few travelers heading off to Kaptolan or one of the western districts of Keske for the evening. He picked at his nails as he waited so that he wouldn't accidentally make eye contact with anyone looking to start up a friendly conversation, and for a moment he held his mother in his mind with exceptional focus on making the conversation they shared feel real within his heart. He thought it unfortunate: her concern left him no comfort, and the release of her embrace always left him cold. And in this crowd of strangers with their own concerns, Acton felt equally distant, faded into the gray tiles and stepped upon without a second thought.

He shook the preoccupation off and approached the ticket booth, where a man with balding, white hair inspected him.

"What'll it be?"

"District 27. Ten twenty."

"District 27? That's a good district. Residential. Wealth and class. The great Allan Green lives there."

Acton bit his lip and glanced at the wall behind the man.

"What business do you have in District 27, boy?"

He shifted his weight to the other foot. "Family."

"It looks like you'll be staying for quite a while too, by the looks of your bags."

"A couple months," he replied curtly, digging coins out of the pouch in his pocket. "How much?"

His dismissal rendered the man speechless. "Eight fifty."

"Eight fifty," he repeated, placing the coins on the counter. He extended his hand and looked the man in the eye. "The ticket."

"Right here." He blinked. "Here you go."

"Thank you."

"Enjoy your trip."

"Sure. Have a nice day," he replied, heading toward the portal area with the ticket clenched in the palm of his hand. He dragged his bags along and read the digital signs of each portal, their scrolling red text noting the destination and the departure time. After passing several waiting areas, he reached the one he would be taking and joined four other men as they waited for the conductor to approach the gate and unlock it. Acton allowed the other men to enter the portal first, and after they gave their tickets to the conductor to be stamped, he approached the entry, setting down one of his bags so that he could show the conductor his crumpled ticket. The man adjusted his spectacles to verify the information on the ticket and then marked it with red ink, handing it back to Acton with a smile. "Enjoy your trip!"

Acton entered as the conductor moved to the authorized area to program the machine with a keypad. The lights in the dome dimmed, and a low hum vibrated across the platform at his feet as he waited for the conductor's programming to fully load into the portal's system. Teleportation was the Ionad's primary means of long-distance travel, and with it, civilians could reach the other side of their world in roughly ten minutes. After mastering the physics of it several hundred years earlier, modern civilization had eliminated its need for other vehicles except in local situations. There were public transportation lifts that took people into the rural parts of the districts in timely intervals, trolleys that carried people to various spots in the cities, and private taxis on the city streets of Kaptolan, but it was nearly impossible to attain a license except for commercial vehicle occupations, and never did a person own the vehicle they were licensed to drive. Aircrafts were designated primarily to transport large items that would not otherwise fit in the capsule of the transports, although government aircrafts still existed in cases of emergency or to reach the forbidden ruins of Lunsera...