My name is Lucy, I am the conductor of a train, but this train is not what you'd expect. I know many would expect a space ship or at very least some sort of flying transport if you wish to travel between worlds, however this train does just that. It can do this as it portals through dimensions. Let me tell you a tail of how I came to be the conductor of this train. I apologize, for I know not which dimension this train hails from, nor it's original mission, however I can tell you the story of how I came to be it's conductor, and maybe later tell you what I've done since.
~~~~~~~~~~~~***5 Years Ago***~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shit, I'm late for work… Can't this buss go any faster? I know a buss isn't the most reliable mode of transport, thankfully my bosses know I… "What the Fuck!?! Is that a train?" I said after seeing what appears to be a train land on the street in front of the buss, as if it just fell from the sky but can keep on going even though it's not on any tracks.
"Holy mother fuck'n goddess!" I hear the driver swear.
The train suddenly stops, causing the driver not to be able to respond in time crashing into the back of the train. The force of the collision knocks me unconscious.
~***Point of view, Lucy's Second Man, currently just a crewman***~
I feel a jar from behind me, Obviously some vehicle of this world crashed into us, I just hope it won't be a problem.
"Crewman, to your station!" My conductor yells at me.
I Immediately run to the Dimensional Mapping room, or I would have, but it's been destroyed.
"Fuck!" I shout. I then say over the walkie "Conductor, the map room and further back have been destroyed!"
"Understood, go outside and help in the recuperation efforts, this dimension is safe." he replies.
I honestly still can't get use to the fact that we are traveling dimensions. I don't know the mission we have, but I do know we have one.
Once outside I see that only the back of the bus is sticking out of the caboose I take out my universal tool and switch it to being a ladder. I climb on top of the bus and remove the hatch from the top. I peer into the bus to see that everything forwards of the hatch has been destroyed. I put the ladder inside the buss and climb in. I see only 3 humans that look at-all like they may have survived the initial impact, however two of them are already dead. The third, a woman, is unconscious and bleeding out. I take my cauterizing antiseptic cream out and spread in over the worst of her wounds to stop the bleeding and disinfect the wound. After she seems to be out of immediate danger of death I pick her up and carry her out of the buss, climbing up the ladder and then moving it and climbing down outside the buss. I reclaim my tool and head to the medical car of the train… thankfully it's further forwards than the map car was.
"Doc, she's in really bad condition… all the others on the bus were DOA." I say to the doctor when I come in.
"Put her on the bed, thankfully all on our end were either dead on impact or got out with only scrapes and bruises. And we only had 3 deaths." the doctor says in return.
I do as he said, "Hay doc, who was it?" I ask, inquiring about the deaths.
"The Second and his family aboard. They died while in the middle of a family dinner, near as I can tell they thankfully felt no pain." he says while scanning the woman with his medical scanner. "This woman has no internal injuries other than a few bruises and strains. Although I can tell that these external injuries were quite severe, you are O- right, she'll need a transfusion."
I start rolling up my sleeve, "Yes I am, go for it."
The doctor hooks us up to each-other in a way to give my blood to her and guarantee no blood goes the other direction.
Not too long later the doctor says "That should do it, she should be fine. You, young man, may have just saved this woman's life."
"I'm glad, I know we are not here to kill, so if we cause injury or damage we should do all we can, with exception to anything that may impede our mission, to repair what has been damaged." I retort.
~~~~~~***A Few Hours Later, Lucy's POV***~~~~~~
I awaken to three men around me. Two seem to be dressed in attire for those who would work on a train, the third as a doctor would dress.
The older of the two says "How is she my problem?"
The younger says "We caused the damage, the least we could do is fix as much as we are able."
The doctor says "Also, until she comes to what else is there to do?"
At this time I decide to speak up, "What happened?"
The doctor answers, "We were traveling in our cross-dimensional train when we ended up at the wrong coordinates. If we had not stopped when we did we would have destroyed a school buss. The front of the train is way more durable than the caboose."
"I went out to assess the damage, the caboose and last car were completely destroyed along with the front half of the bus, I entered the bus to see if there were any survivors, and you alone survived." the younger man says.
I then say, "Thank you for saving me, but…"
I'm cut off when federal officers burst through the doors.
"Homeland security, you are all under arrest for suspicion of terrorism, please come peacefully." one of the officers says.
"I have nothing to do with these men, I was in the bus behind this.. umm… train? And they brought me here saying I'm the only survivor." I tell them.
The officer that spoke earlier says "You still need to come with me. If what you said is true you will be free to go home after getting proper medical attention."
The doctor looks at me with a look that says 'play along' then says, "She may be speaking like she is fine, but she is under heavy pain killers, else she'd be unconscious do to the pain, if you move her you could kill her. I'm a doctor, I know what I'm talking about."
I decide to play along by acting like the pain killers are starting to wear off. I scream out and then say "Doc, I think…" then I fake passing out.
The officer says "Fine, I'll leave some guards here right outside, don't try anything funny. You two, come with me."
After the door closes the doctor says "We're clear, good acting by the way. And don't worry, this room is soundproof."
I open my eyes and see that it's just me an the doctor now.
"Oh, and before I forget, I am Doctor Figinigimiham Sourtrout, but everyone just calls me Doc." the doctor says.
"I'm Lucy Bates, so what now?" I reply.
"That depends on you, are you willing to help me save the crew from your government? I don't see it being likely they will just release them. If you are unwilling then I do though believe if we wait a few hours you should be able to get away with just turning yourself over to them and being released like they said. However, if you are willing to help, you won't have that option any longer." Doc says.
I say, "I'll help you as long as you have a plan that may work."
"I do, this is a counter-agent," he says while showing me a crate of syringes, "It counteracts the effect of our trupe gas whether it is given before or after. Trupe gas knocks unconscious anyone who may be unfortunate enough to breath it in, however the effects only last 2 hours without the counter-agent. Trupe gas also can't be seen, smelt, or tasted. I figured I'd use the gas to incapacitate any who stand in our way and use the counter-agent to keep our allies conscious so it's easier to transport them. All of the crew for the train have trackers undetectable by most machines and unable to be deactivated by any form or radiation or electricity."
I say, "That sounds like a sound enough plan for me, lets do it."
We then both take a shot and start the portable machine that creates the gas.
I ask, "How long do the injections last?"
"4 hours" he replies.
He then opens the doors. Both men point their guns at us only to collapse moments later. We follow the directions of the tracker unimpeded due to the gas, We find all of them and bring them back without incident. At-least until we get back to the train, while they are making repairs many soldiers in gas masks show up around the train… we all rush inside, the conductor shouting "Get the engine, Lets get out of this dimension!"
The crewman who had saved me counters "We have no navigation, it's yet to be repaired."
The Conductor says "We must go now, even if it means driving blind."
Mere moments from the door the conductor gets shot in the head, the rest of us making it inside the train. As everyone else seems at a loss I take charge. "You should honor your conductors dying request, and leave to live another day free!"
All the crewmen shuffle to get this train underway, the one who saved me still standing next to me. "What's your task?" I ask him.
"To navigate usually, but our navigation is offline at the moment."
"There is no one to drive this train right now is there? If not, you should take the reigns, as obviously I know nothing."
He does as told, we then jump into another dimension that seems more futuristic than the train, thankfully this time outside of city limits. Me, that crewman, and the doc have a meeting. I learn that there were only two in charge of this train and they both died in my dimension, as I was able to take charge the doc suggests I take over and appoint someone as my second man, he specifically suggests I promote the crewman who drove the train due to my lack of knowledge.
"Why not the other way around?" I ask
"Because I can tell the men would take orders from you before they'd take orders from Mikel here, also anything you don't know we'll teach you if you do so, so you won't need to worry long about not knowing your way around the train." Doc replies.
Mikel, the one who saved me, says "I agree with Doc."
I decided to become the conductor, we made some agreements with the locals of this dimension and made our repairs and found out it was impossible to get back any information we'd lost, including the mission and their way back home. So the new mission I decided was to try to find their way back to their home, while trying to make as many good relations as possible on our way.
~~~~~~~~~***Back to present day***~~~~~~~~~
And that's how I became the conductor of this train. Hope you enjoyed the story.