Chapter 272
DISCLAIMER: See first chapter for disclaimers.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here is another stop on Xander and Faith's tour of the multiverse. Thanks to Storyseeker for beta-reading this. As usual, if you have any comments or preferences, please don't be shy. RandR.
Rising of the Shield Hero & Tales of the SCP Foundation (SCP 507)
And now…
Buffy The Vampire Slayer and …?
Hello New…Wait. What?
The portal deposited them in a desert. There didn't seem to be anything around to explain their presence there, so the two started walking. They would occasionally see movement in the distance, but nothing approached them. It turned out to be a relatively short walk. Not quite 30 minutes after arriving, they found something strange; a freestanding door.
"New portal design?" Faith wondered.
Xander shrugged, and they walked toward it, only realizing once they got close that it only looked like it was freestanding. The wall was simply painted to resemble a continuation of the scene.
"Very realistic." Xander noted, touching the wall. "I think it's not just paint. There's some technology involved."
Faith shrugged. "And?"
"Just something to bear in mind. Wherever we are, the tech is likely more advanced." He opened the door, and they stepped out onto an open-sided platform. "Okay. This is unexpected."
"No shit." Faith offered, staring out over the barren landscape to either side of the platform. "Are we on a train?"
Xander looked around the platform, the bridge, the tracks beneath them, and the shape of the structure they'd just left, and the one ahead. It sure looked like a train.
"Seems so." He indicated the door across the bridge. "The last one had a desert in it. What do you suppose will be in that one?"
"Hopefully, dessert. We haven't eaten for two jumps now."
Xander refrained from commenting, only reflecting that he really had been a bad influence on her, and walked across the bridge. Twisting the odd handle, he opened the door and took a careful look inside. There seemed to be a snowy field with a few trees. Warily, the two started walking through. The car contained nothing dangerous or even interesting, and they moved to the next car. And the next.
In the fourth car, they finally found another person. There was a young girl, no more than eight or nine, sitting in some kind of metal pod, staring at a screen built into its lid. On the screen was a weird little talking ball that was carrying on about personal problems and numbers. The two hunters looked at each other, baffled.
The video ended and the girl started shouting at the monitor, banging on it. Xander could understand her reaction, as the video had raised far more questions than it had answered. They quickly moved to help her, but ended up startling her. The girl heard them coming and jumped up, tripping and falling out of the pod, but quickly scrambled to her feet.
"It's okay." Faith said, trying her hand at being comforting. "We're here to help."
"Who are you? Did you bring me here?!" She looked wildly around her surroundings, likely fearing that other strangers were about to sneak up on her.
"No." Xander shook his head as they stopped a reasonable distance away to reassure her. "We're as confused as you are by this place." He looked around. It appeared to be a rocky, barren plain, with a few very odd rock formations dotted around. There seemed to be nothing threatening at the moment. "I'm Xander. This is Faith."
"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."
"You saw the vid." Xander shrugged. "Are we stranger than whatever that was?"
She considered for a moment. "Okay, good point. I'm Annie."
The two demon hunters nodded. "Can you tell us how you got here, Annie?" Xander asked. "What happened?"
"Not sure." She told them she'd been taking a walk around her neighborhood to cool off after having a huge fight with her big sister. Only a block or two from her house, she found two metal rails set in the street that she was sure hadn't been there the day before. She was still puzzling over what that meant when a train had come thundering along the tracks, and that made no sense, either. It seemed to appear out of nowhere.
The train had stopped with a door and a short set of steps directly in front of her, and above the door was an electronic sign with a display that read, 'Away from Suzy'. It hadn't made any sense, as how could a train and its tracks be where they had never been before, and why would the train know her sister's name?
"I probably shoulda run away from it," Annie admitted, looking away from the two in some embarrassment, "but it was just so weird. I had to take a closer look. When I went up to the door, not even touching it, it opened. There was a bright light from inside, and everything went black."
"Then you woke up here?" Faith asked.
Annie nodded. "With the little ball thing talking to me. Did it do this?"
"No idea." Faith admitted. "Let's find it, play kick the can for a while, and ask politely."
This got a reluctant smile out of Annie. It took a bit more coaxing, but she agreed to go along with them, mostly since she didn't want to be alone. As they looked for the exit to the next car, they talked about the video and the things they had seen since arriving. So far, there didn't seem much rhyme or reason to any of it.
Annie didn't respond too well to the revelation that they were on a train, and it was not easy coaxing her across the bridge to the next car. The notion of what would happen to a person who fell off the bridge didn't thrill any of them, but Xander and Faith knew not to focus on it. It was only the sight of something like a giant cockroach running alongside the train that got her to pick up her pace.
The next car contained a forest full of talking trees, none of which had anything interesting to say. They were caught up in what seemed to be a philosophical debate regarding the nature of love, or possibly the love of nature. They weren't sure, and did their best to stay out of it.
The next car contained what looked like a shopping mall, if the mall had been part of a post-apocalyptic movie set. The place was trashed. It had either been done by a natural disaster or a small army of sugar-hyped, unsupervised kids.
Or both. Xander amended, seeing spray-painted graffiti on some of the walls.
"Apex?" he wondered aloud. "Apex of what?"
"It means top of the food chain." a tired voice answered. They spun around to find a teenage girl emerging from one of the buildings. They could see others, younger children by the looks of them, peeking out from various doors and windows. "That's what we called ourselves in our pride." She looked over the small group. "I'm Grace. New to the train?"
"Yes." Xander answered. "What is this place? What's going on?"
"Let's have a seat and some food. I'll explain as best I can." She showed them to a picnic table and had some of the younger kids bring out an odd assortment of food. "It's catch as catch can around here." she explained. "The train provides food and water, but it's not exactly a stable or healthy diet." There were some fruits, various types of candy, hotdogs sans buns, and various other odd things, some of which Xander couldn't identify, but Grace assured them they were safe to eat.
"The train exists to help people. At least, that's the premise. It brings people aboard that have problems in their lives, and dumps them without any explanation or assistance into this weirdness. At least, it did that with us. I'm told that the conductor has started making videos."
"We saw it." Faith grimaced. "Made no sense at all."
"Not surprising." Grace allowed. "I'm told the conductor is a machine, and it basically sees us as just numbers." She sighed. "I didn't get any video, neither did my friend Simon." She went quiet for a moment, remembering something painful by the look on her face. The kids all looked away, frowning or sniffling. "Ya see…" She began telling them a rather long and complicated story about the assumptions and mistakes she had made when she was brought on board.
Annie stared at her, seeming as horrified as Xander felt. He honestly wasn't sure what to say about Grace's story. He couldn't understand how such a belief system could have developed. The trees, denizens that he'd met, seemed harmless, if somewhat annoying. It hadn't occurred to him to think of them as anything other than people, though. He certainly wouldn't have deliberately tried to hurt them.
"I could make excuses about how it all seemed logical and such at the time, but I won't… can't do that. My main focus now; is helping these kids get their numbers to zero so they can go home." She looked at the three before settling on Annie.
"Your two friends look like they can handle themselves, but the train can be dangerous, even without the ghoms; the roach things," she offered before they could ask. "If I haven't scared you off already." She offered Annie a self-deprecating smile. "You're welcome to stay here. Safer than wandering the train."
"So, you're set on getting them home?" Faith asked, and Grace nodded. "I guess that's a good way of making up for past mistakes." She winced at the memory of a few of her own. "Trust me; I know what it's like to want to make up for things you've done that can't be fixed."
"There's no need to decide now." Grace said. "This place is safe. Rest here for tonight, if you want, and give us your answer tomorrow."
They agreed, and one of the kids offered to show them around. She introduced herself as Lucy, and started the tour, starting with the various shops, mostly looted, that had been put to purposes ranging from gardens to bedrooms to an armory. The armory had once been a sporting goods store, and contained a variety of improvised weapons.
"Reminds me of that group of demon hunters we came across in Cleveland." Faith offered. "When the new Council first set up shop. Mostly teenagers with a couple of army vets running the crew."
"I remember." Xander said solemnly. "We integrated them into our operation pretty well. I doubt most would have lasted more than a year if we hadn't come along."
"There are groups like that all over, ya know." Faith added. "Most don't trust a big organization like ours to care about their homes and neighbors like they do."
"We felt the same way about the old Watchers' Council." Xander agreed. "This is different, though. These weapons weren't used for defense. They were used to terrorize and kill the 'denizens.' These guys have basically been acting like that group of bandits we met a while back. Taking what they want from the weaker and scavenging the remains."
Lucy didn't get most of what they were saying, but she understood the last bit and hung her head. It had been what Simon and Grace had wanted at the time. She didn't have a problem with the train people, but everyone had gone along with it for fear of being alone. Now that things were different, she couldn't help feeling both relieved and a bit lost at the same time.
OOOOOOOOOO
The conductor examined the data from every angle available. It definitely indicated something unprecedented. Only one new pickup had been made that day, and yet there were three passengers. Searching the records of recent arrivals turned up nothing. Had these two somehow come aboard without being processed? That should be impossible. If they didn't have numbers, they weren't passengers, yet they weren't denizens either. Yet, since they weren't denizens, they must be passengers. But they hadn't been processed so they didn't have numbers, which made them…
Breaking out of the loop with an effort, One-one focused on what was known. They were on the train, but they lacked numbers. At one point, all passengers lacked numbers. Somehow, there were passengers on the train that had not been processed yet. This bore investigation.
After considering the matter for a few seconds, a steward was dispatched, one that One-one could see and speak through. It would take a little time to reach the anomaly, so he would continue to track the pair of numberless passengers in the meantime.
OOOOOOOOOO
They were given beds in what had once been a furniture store. While the place was large enough to give each of the group his or her own space, some of the younger ones preferred 'dorm' style accommodations. Safety in numbers, Faith supposed.
She and Xander had discussed it, and come to the conclusion that this situation with the kids was the reason they'd been sent to the weird-ass train. The thing had been abducting people for who knew how long, for the purpose of helping them with their problems. That might be fine for some adults, but snatching kids as young as eight and dumping them in random cars seemed likely to cause mental health problems rather than resolve them. That didn't even touch on what the kids' families were going through.
What wasn't clear was what to do about it. Apparently, getting one's number to zero automatically opened a door to where they had originally been picked up. There was no other way off the train alive. Taking them through the next portal didn't seem like a good idea. There was no telling what kind of mess they'd find, and it probably wouldn't be the world the kids were from anyway. So far, they had managed to dodge questions about their own numbers, as they didn't have any.
Even if they did get the kids safely off the train, and that was a big 'if', unless something completely unexpected happened, who knew how many more there were? What was to stop the train's conductor from taking more? These were questions they couldn't answer.
They awoke to a commotion outside and quickly reacted, both being light sleepers and used to keeping weapons within reach when they slept. The rushed outside to find a machine of some sort scanning the area. Rather than a standard humanoid configuration, the thing possessed an elongated 'head' atop a mass of metal tentacles, each ending in a grasping claw. It wasn't the weirdest thing they'd ever seen, but it was up there.
Grace was walking toward the thing, frowning fiercely. "Steward." she addressed the machine fearlessly. "What is your business here?"
The thing focused on her, looming over her, but Grace stood her ground. The kids stayed in the building, watching with worried expressions.
"Hello!" a chipper and oddly familiar voice spoke up. "I'm your conductor, and I'm here to help."
"As much as circumstances allow, anyway." the voice's tone changed, becoming gloomy.
"One-one?" Grace' tone grew puzzled, and then angry. "You finally show yourself, after all you put us through?!"
"Put you through?" the cheerful voice asked, puzzled. "You were brought here so you could work through your problems. The denizens should have been helping you with that."
"Hmm." the gloomy voice picked up. "Perhaps the video wasn't clear enough."
"What video?" Grace demanded. "Most of us never got any video or any kind of explanation."
"They are a new feature," Gloomy acknowledged, "a modification to the program to assist new passengers that was only recently implemented. Maybe I should have done that sooner."
"My bad." Cheerful chirped.
For a moment, Grace looked ready to explode at the machine and begin shouting insults at it, her mouth opening and closing several times, as she started and then reconsidered what to call the thing. Instead, though, she reined in her temper and heaved a tired sigh. "What do you want?"
"I detected an anomaly in this car." Cheerful began.
"Two actually." Gloomy continued. "They're passengers without numbers, and that simply isn't allowed. They need to be processed."
"I don't think so." Faith said, as they approached the machine from behind. It turned to face her and Xander. "You've been getting away with this for long enough; taking children from their homes and dumpin' 'em in your oddball cars. You call that therapy? Bet they need it more when they get off, if they do get off."
"Simon didn't get the chance." Grace added quietly.
"What about their families?" Xander demanded. "Most probably think their kids are dead. Does your programming take their need for 'therapy' into account?"
"Their families don't know what happened to the kids." Faith said, glaring at the machine. "That can be worse than knowin' they're dead!"
"This is the train's function." Cheerful explained. "To help people deal with their problems."
"What about the problems you create?" Xander demanded.
"When their numbers reach zero, they're sent home, the train's function fulfilled. The train helps them solve their problems."
"If they have more problems later, they may come back." Gloomy allowed. "We did have a repeat customer recently."
"And wasn't that bizarre?" Cheerful offered. "It created quite the problem."
"You got a new one now." Faith glared at him.
"Can you alter your programming to any extent?" Xander asked, curiously. He raised a hand to forestall Faith from doing something violent and probably pointless.
"Why would we do that?" Gloomy asked.
"To avoid causing the kind of mental health problems you say you want to fix. Every time you brought one of these children here, you snatched a kid from their home, leaving behind a panicking family while dropping a scared kid into a situation they have no idea how to handle, despite your helpful video. All you have to do is stop taking kids. Adults can look after themselves better, and are less likely to be traumatized by your 'help.'"
"Hmm." Cheerful considered. "The idea has merit, but it goes against the train's purpose to ignore people with problems that the train can help to fix. This requires serious thought." It was silent for a moment. "Oh, well. Plenty of time to sort that out while you two are being processed."
"I don't think so." Faith said. "We're leaving." She pointed to the newly opened portal.
She regarded the portal for a second, frowning. Something was different about this one. "Xan?"
"Yeah. I know. Normally, we're jumping blind, but… I know this'll take us to where the kids can get help. Just don't know how I know." He shook off his confusion and looked to the kids. For whatever reason, his gut told him to trust this. "Who wants to go home?!"
There was a ragged cheer from the kids. For whatever reason, likely the same reason Xander had for trusting their 'tour guide' in this instance, they hesitated only briefly before coming out of hiding and approaching.
"Is that really our exit?" Lucy asked for the group.
"It is not!" Cheerful sounded offended by the idea. "I'm not sure what that is, but it's not a train created exit. No one in this car has reached zero yet."
"Don't care." Faith said, getting in the machine's way. "They're leaving with us."
"How can the train fulfill its function if people leave before they're ready?" Gloomy asked, reaching out with a metallic tentacle.
Faith grabbed the tentacle and pulled as hard as she could while running in a circle around the contraption, effectively hobbling it. She then stuck the tentacle that was trying to pull out of her grasp into the mass of trapped appendages, wedging it in place.
"Don't know. Don't care. Next question?"
Lucy was encouraging the kids who were hesitating to go through, as was Grace. Xander kept his distance. They didn't know him after all, and had no reason to trust him. The last one went through, and Grace turned to the two hunters.
"That's the last of them. You'd better go, before he gets loose." They glanced back to find he had already done so.
"Right. Time to go, come on." Xander took a step toward the portal as Faith walked through.
"No." Grace shook her head. "I'm staying. I've got too much to make up for, here on the train. I'll find other kids and help them get home. It's... It's the least I can do." She turned away from the portal, and from One-one, as she pulled on an elbow length glove, covering the number that was changing again. She neither knew nor cared where it would settle.