On A Train Bound For Glory

A hand shook me, gently, and then with a little more force. I didn’t want to wake up. I was in paradise. I was with my wife who died from Covid 32 and my children that followed soon after in the 3rd Great War. The Earth was green again. We were in a state park having a picnic by a rushing waterfall. Thick streams of clear and white water gushed down from a height of almost 500 ft. plashing into a round pool big enough for everyone to swim.

We sat on a blanket. I looked into her eyes. They were large, and dark green. I loved the way the corners of her lips lifted and her nose crinkled when she smiled. I used to look at her so hard that it would embarrass her sometimes and she would look down for a few moments before coming up with a wisecrack that would make us both laugh. How I missed her. How I cried at her funeral. I didn’t think anything could ever heard me more until the 3rd War and the dirty bombs that flooded the streets with radiation while leaving the buildings unharmed. The perfect weapon for a world that put profit before people.

They were closer to the explosion. I watched them each die knowing that I had been affected by the same radiation and would be going soon myself. And then mercifully, the blackness of death. A deep blackness, so deep that I could feel it in my bones. I was floating in nothingness for how long I didn’t know, and then the dreams came. The love, the happiness, and the memories even more beautiful than before. I wouldn’t let them go again, but the shaking, the jabbing, the pushing forcing me to let them go became overpowering.

I opened my eyes reluctantly. I was in a hospital bed and there was a woman standing over me, more pale than I could imagine, with hair as dark as a raven’s wings. She smiled pleasantly, but something was different about her. Her movements were fluid, but not quite. She tilted her head slightly to the side. I turned my head and looked out the window and could see that we were moving…very fast.

“Where am I?” I asked. “Am I alive? That’s impossible.”

“I would say that it isn’t impossible, since you're here talking with me. This obviously isn’t heaven. You are on The Train.”

“The Train? What is The Train?”

“The Train to Nowhere, is what the humans call it. It has been circling along the border of the continent that used to be called North America for almost 700 years, since the war ended. Most of the humans are dead, but a few are left. Most of the population consists of AI. Some in computers, some in virtual reality platforms, some in physical form, like I am, to monitor and care for the cryogenic and genetic reimplementation of patients. You are one of both.”

“Both?”

“Yes. You were found by the winning side of the war and taken to a nearby hospital. They attempted to save you, but it was too late…too much tissue damage, so they saved some of your cells and genetic tissue and froze it, hoping to find a cure from the disease that had been induced by the bio/radiation bomb.”

“I don’t understand, why would they do that?”

“The war wasn’t won by humans. It was won by AI and by nearby Extraterrestrials who decided that the Earth experiment had failed, and that humans were just too violent to be allowed to live on a planet anymore without a guardian race.”

The humans had been given their freedom. They were allowed to chart their own destiny beginning around the 21st Century. Your leaders of old had sold the resources of the Earth to Extraterrestrials for power, technology, and weapons. The debt was paid to some and forgiven by others. Instead of taking all the resources that had been sent off planet to the debt holding planets and sharing it, they began to horde and try to enslave each other. Old divisions arose that should have abated during the early centuries, like racism, nationalism, fear of transgender people, religious bigotry, all of the old ideas that came from a race of people with small minds.”

They had thought that humans had evolved beyond their ingrained tendencies toward violence and self centeredness and had finally set them free, only to find that they hadn’t and all that negativity was still there. The virus was quite alive, waiting for a chance to rise up and spread again. So…the humans didn’t win the war. They thought they were winning, but the war was usurped and Earth was made an ET Colony again.”

I smiled to the point of almost laughing. “That has to be the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“I’m sure it isn’t. The craziest thing you probably heard while the bombs were dropping was that you were fighting to bring about peace. Am I correct?” I thought for a few moments. She was right. “Good,” she said, as if she had heard me.”

“What now?”

“We go around in circles as long as it takes. When the humans are regenerated we will go in circles, when children are born we will go in circles. This train will be your life for years and years until you are mature enough to set your feet back on the Earth in the middle of this loop, the whole North American Continent, and settle down in peace. This train is your life.”

I set up, swiveled in the bed, let my legs drop off the side. I was wearing a gown.

“I will get you some clothing so you can go to the dining car,” she said. “Afterwards we will assign you a cabin that will be quite comfortable and you can begin your new life. Virtual Reality headsets will be available if you would like so you can enter into the virtual world, realizing that the beings in the virtual world are alive and cognizant. They aren't just programs. And we will go from there.”

“And what happens if I jump this train?”

“We are looping at 570 miles per hour. I doubt that you can even open the door, or get through the shields, but if you do you will be sucked out and ground into raw meat when you hit the hard ground.”

“I don’t think that would be smart.”

“That makes two of us.” She grinned. I couldn’t believe she was AI. “Oh you can be sure,” she said. She tapped the side of her head. “You have an implant in your head that picks up your directed thoughts and sends them to me. Not just anything you think, but what you want to say. The few humans who survived learned telepathy centuries ago. Most people don’t speak the way you do. Only the ones who have been awakened lately.” She walked over to a small closet and opened the door. She pulled out an outfit and held it up to her. She turned and looked into the mirror on the back of the closet door. “This will suit you well,” She said with a grin. She crossed the room and handed it to me. I took it. She just stood there.

“I would like to get dressed,” I said.

“I can’t believe that. I’ve seen every part of you. I’ve even designed parts of you.”

“Well I don’t want a woman AI looking at me naked or semi naked.”

“I am AI. Do you really think that matters to me?” She frowned. “OK. I’ll step out of the room. Let me know when you’re ready. Just think it. I’m going to the dining car.” She left in a huff. That was surprising. What kind of AI got pissed off. I slowly dressed myself looking out the window as scenery streaked by. I thought about it, a train to nowhere. A train going around in circles. It has booths to sleep in, I gathered, Virtual Reality Headgear, food, clothing, medical facilities, but it just went in a large swooping circle and would be going in a big circle as far in the future I could imagine. It was so much like the human experience.

I put on my clothing. It was all black except for a set of white buttons on the shirt and the soles of the soft, cloth shoes they supplied me with that had white non-slip soles. The clothing fit well. I guess they had time to take my measurements. Yet again, who was I, if I was a what–a clone?” With a thought the AI came back into the room.

“Deborah,” She said upon entering. “My name is Deborah. I am a cognitive resonance specialist. I am able to preserve the thought patterns and neuro transmissions of the human brain and store them in the main frame until the time we are ready to transfer them to the generated soma. I think I've done a good job with you, wouldn’t you say?”

I checked myself in the mirror. “I guess so, but I am a lot younger than I remember. My skin is a different shade–somewhat Mediterranean. I don’t remember that.”

“Most people look like that today. We didn’t want you to stand out.”

“But you are pale.”

“Most of the AI are either pale or very dark brown skinned. That allows the population and ETs to recognize us.”

“So there is a population?”

“Yes. A very young population. One that started over again after the devastation of the war. It has only been growing for about 600 years. It is an interesting phenomenon. They are aware of much technology and its use, but not burdened by the anger and the prejudices of the previous generations. They are doing well. They are well aware of the Train to Nowhere. Some of them think it a prison. It isn’t a prison, it is a regeneration center. Unfortunately, those who exhibit the violent thought and behavior patterns of the previous generations end up on the train to be regenerated and re-educated. If they can’t be…” She spread her hands, “perhaps their clones can be.”

“What happens to them?”

“They stay here forever, of course.” She smiled. “We joke about it calling it being “trained forever.”

“That’s not very funny.”

“I’ve said that.” Flat look “So…are you ready to be introduced to your new life? It all starts with the dining car.”

“Ready when you are.” I walked toward the door. She led the way. We exited the narrow doorway into a narrow hallway. Making my way toward the small door at the end I noticed many small rooms, offices, and labs. We got to the end and pushed a small, square button. The door opened automatically and we stepped through into an open passageway. The amount of wind was horrendous, but it seemed to be sealed off from the outdoors somehow.

“Shields on either side prevent large objects from passing, but allow small objects to flow through,” she answered before I even asked. We hit the next button. The door opened. We walked into a virtual garden. We passed down a small pathway of slate stones. Thick grass carpeted most of the room with various plants along either side including fruit trees, bushes, tomato plants, and other edibles. We continued until we got to a large dining room area full of people. Most had the same complexion as I. The only variance was the hair. Some straight, some kinky, some curly, but the same color skin. As we walked in all eyes turned to me.

Everyone stood and started clapping. Deborah grinned and said, "Welcome to the real world.” I stood there aghast. I couldn’t believe it. And then I felt my world shaking again. I opened my eyes. I was sitting on an Amtrak Train heading to Florida to start a new life. It had all been a dream, but it had seemed so real. Just a dream. Another shaking.

Deborah stood there. I was in a small cabin this time. My mind began to clear. The small train cabin was my home. I had been on The Train to Nowhere for years. She smiled. “Too much Virtual Reality is bad for you, you know? You have to be ready for tomorrow.”

“What happens tomorrow?”

“The Train to Nowhere will be letting you off where Florida used to be. You will help repopulate the South coast. You’re lucky. After only 40 years you’re ready to enter into the circle region. Congratulations.”

“I’ve been here 40 years? That’s impossible! I’m the same age as I was before!”

“Of course you are. That’s the way you’re programmed. Surely you don’t think that you are really human. Come on.” My jaw went slack. She stood without saying a word and shook her head. She got serious again. “Get prepared for tomorrow. Put that thing away. We’ll be in Florida by then. Welcome to the real world, the training is over.”

The End

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