I am Dron

The Train Ride

“...and if you are riding the special Rivercrest Academy Airline Trainbus, please report to the third space in section B. I repeat, if you are riding the special Rivercrest Academy Airline Trainbus, please report to the third space in section B. It is docking in ten to twenty minutes, and will only allow passengers on for ten minutes. So please be there with your ticket. Now if you are riding the regular Rivercrest Airline train, please report to section A. I repeat…”

 

I had my two trunks of personal items as I waited in the line for a ticket. Ms. Marx was my chaperone until I got on the trainbus. I never have ridden a train, a bus, a boat, or a plane. The fact that I’m riding on a hybrid of three of those is at the same time exciting and intimidating. Exciting because it’s new. Intimidating for the same reason. I got a book about trainbus travel, so that should help.

We moved up in the line, and that meant only two people needed tickets. And they were together. They looked like a couple, from the pictures I have seen. When we got up to the ticket salesperson, Ms. Marx told the worker what we needed and showed him the note Valdes gave her so she could get the tickets. Since it’s an academy bus, they have special papers for those who wish to buy tickets. I assume you can’t buy them without it, like it’s a permission slip or something.

We exited the line and walked to the train bus. There was four entrance/exit platforms, one for the conductors, another for staff, and two for people boarding the train. There were four other kids waiting for the train as well. Ms. Marx handed me my ticket and some cash to use on the train.

“I won’t be going on the train as I told you. I have my own station in Rivercrest, which is by the school. As you will soon know, RASO is only by Rivercrest, but I don’t live at the school. Instead, I live in the town. I am going to be on the normal train instead, but expect to see me soon, ok?”

“‘Ok.” She looked at me.

“You going to be alright?”

“Yeah.”

“Rivercrest Academy Airline Trainbus is coming into the station. Please report to the third space on section B if you are riding that train.”

“Well, bye then.”

“See you in a while.” I waved good bye and she left. I walked over to the student platform with my trunks and saw a Kinog girl that looked really familiar. She, too, was alone. She spotted me, and started to skip over. She paused to grab her three trunks with her.

“Hello again. Dron, isn’t it?”

“Um, yes.”

“Well, then how have you been?”

“Good. You?”

“Alright.” I looked over at her third trunk.

“Um...why do you need three trunks?”

“I like to invent things. This is my tool kit. It also has scrap metal and wires.”

“You....invent things?”

“People always have that attitude towards me. They don’t expect a sweet girl like me to be apart of technology advances, or to be interested in the field. What they don’t know is that I am.” We waited next to each other for a while as the bus hovered above our heads. It slowly landed. There were four parts: the staff quarters and piloting station, the what I think is the dining car, the students’ common area, and the fourth one, which I think is luggage space. It was dark turquoise with a name in white. The name was Aquitaine.  A Kinog girl, in a red outfit, stepped off the train by the door us students were to enter in.