On the Train

by Harry Turtledove

  Gently patting them on the back, Eli hummed a little soothe-song charm she had learned from her mother. She rarely used it anymore, since it was meant for babies who needed help going to sleep. Fortunately, the children didn’t have enough energy to go into full-on hysterics. The song seemed to work, for they both quieted. Willin stopped flailing and let her snuggle him a bit. Rinatta leaned heavily against her.

  Someone knocked on their door and then opened it. Another uniformed conductor leaned inside. Unlike the sweating man on the platform, he made no extra effort to be polite, even though everyone here was riding first-class.

  Eli could tell he meant business. His face was all points, from nose to chin, with eyes as narrow and savage as a rat.

  “Tickets. Tickets,” he ordered. That Eli understood. Was he speaking Traintalk?

  Slowly, all of them produced their tickets. Eli noticed the couple’s tickets looked different from hers, and the hooked nosed man’s was different from both. The couple had large papers, folded over many times, while the man had a plastic card. Yet they were all covered in the same variety of writing, lines and lines of different languages.

  The conductor unbuckled a long wand from his belt, with a flat metal head. He waved the wand over each ticket and it made a small beep.

  The man gave them a tight nod, more like a little jerk of the head. Clearly, all of their tickets passed his inspection, for he reattached the wand to his belt. Without another word, he backed out of their compartment, his head down, so that chin tucked into throat. Eli watched through the aisle window as his hunched body moved on down the aisle. Even with this retreat, Eli felt a strong anxiety among her new companions.

  The plump woman took a deep breath and muttered something under her breath. Eli didn’t need to know any Traintalk to understand that it was a word unbefitting their refined surroundings. However, it made the men laugh, breaking the tension in the compartment.

  From out on the platform, Eli could hear thumps and scrambling feet. All The Train doors were being slammed shut. Someone blew a whistle, a high shriek, and then The Train blasted its own in reply. Mechanical squeals and shifting gears shuddered to life beneath them. With a little tug, The Train began to move. Eli could feel her body gently swaying, rocked by The Train’s movement. This was it! They were really going!

  Growing up next to the Railroad, she had daydreamed about this moment many times. Excitement began to replace her nervousness. Little details, things her imagination could never have brought to her, leaped out. Her cushioned seat, soft yet strangely dense, seemed to have molded itself under her weight to grant her perfect comfort and support. She rested her chin on the top of Willin’s ruffled hair and gazed out the window. The red earth of Sao Lindros flowed steadily past. For an instant, she spotted a woman steadying a huge basin on her head with one hand while swishing a stick at a herd of geese with the other. Then she was gone. The tracks panned away from the center of town, traveling closer to more of the red-brown huts with their domed roofs. People were ducking out onto their back porches, jumping and gesturing at The Train. Eli’s eyes blinked past vegetable gardens, rabbit hutches, and rows and rows of laundry, strung up like so many flags waving good-bye to her. Surely these were things she would have seen in Ugara as well. How strange to be finally on the other side.

  The Train surged forward, falling into a steady rhythm of speed. Slashes of green began to dot the red ground, first little flecks here and there, but then showing up thicker and deeper as the settlement fell behind and jungle reclaimed the land. Trees rose before Eli’s eyes, filling up everything that lay before them and soon covering just as far behind them as she could still see. Unlike on the high ridge, where she had walked so many nights, now The Train made its way deep into the jungle. The arms of the trees bent together above them, weaving into an endless leafy tunnel. Patches of sunlight still broke through, but the outside world seemed dimmer and stranger than ever before.

  “When are we going home, Eli?” Rinatta asked quietly, still resting against her.

  “Not for a while. I don’t know how long it will be exactly.” Eli always tried to speak plainly but truthfully with her charges. “Your mama, she’s very important and she’s got some things to take care of out in the world. That’s her own business, not ours. She’s just taking us with her, to keep her family close.”

  “We never even get to see her,” muttered Rinatta. “Sela comes round more.”

  “Well, maybe it’ll be different now that we’re all on The Train. Or maybe it won’t. But no matter what, we’ve got a lot of new things and places to see and people to meet.”

  At that, Rinatta looked curiously at the three adults sitting across from them. She did not flinch when she saw them all look directly back at her. Instead, she stuck out her tongue at them, which made the older woman chuckle. The woman seemed surprisingly jovial, definitely more amused than insulted. Eli suspected she’d had children of her own at some point to develop this talent.

  “Rinatta, do you remember the words Sela used to say hello?” prompted Eli, trying to rein in the girl’s manners.

  Despite her attitude problem, Rinatta’s mind was quite sharp for her age. “Kei kei,” she blurted out, even remembering to bob her head in a little bow.

  The other passengers exchanged glances and then each repeated the greeting back to her. Willin, perking up and trying to follow anything his sister did, shyly chanted, “Kei kei, kei kei,” more to himself than to the grown-ups.

  Now it was Eli’s turn. She pointed to herself and said, “Eli,” and then touched each child on the head, naming them as well.

  The woman was positively beaming by then, her entire face becoming as rosy as her cheeks. “Ahn Pria,” she identified herself, then gave her husband an encouraging nudge.

  He coughed, making his mustache twitch. “Ahn Uma,” he said, confirming that they shared the same family name.

  The hooked-nosed man gave Eli a long, curious look before speaking. “Nassan.” He wore a beautiful scarf, twisted up around his head, with a long tail of extra fabric hanging down his shoulder. It was dark gray, with thick bands of gold thread woven through it. Eli wasn’t sure how old he was. Older than her, but not beyond thirty. She smiled hopefully at him, and he at least didn’t frown. She sensed he was still not happy about his Train compartment filling up with children.

  But he surprised her. He reached under his seat and lifted out a wicker box. From it, he took out a glass container with a rubbery lid. He popped off the lid, and showed the group its contents: blue, round berries and slices of banana.

  He held the fruit out to Eli and the children, holding up one finger, indicating how much they should take. Eli took a banana slice and the children each took a berry, staring at Nassan in great curiosity. Did he consider these special treats? Eli wondered that he should share some of his tiny supply with them, already feeling her heart warm toward his sudden generosity.

  Rinatta rolled her berry between her fingers, giving it a close inspection, but Willin immediately went to drop his in his mouth. Quickly, but gently, Nassan reached across and grabbed his hand.

  “Bou.” He shook his head to indicate “no.” Nassan lifted his hands palm up, to show they should wait. Willin froze, his mouth still hanging open, but more curious than scared.

  Slowly, Nassan raised his hands to the scarf draped over his shoulder. He moved it to the side and tucked it behind him. Willin gave a yip of delight.

  On his shoulder was a lizard. It had red-brown and green scales, with a fanlike crest around its neck. Its eyes were a dark orange.

  Knowing what was expected of him now, Willin scooted out of Eli’s lap, holding the berry up to the lizard. Eli was again impressed with Nassan’s gentleness. He showed Willin how to place the berry in the palm of his hand, stretching his fingers out, tight and flat. The lizard, already smelling food, marched down Nassan’s arm and straight up to Willin. The boy was stifling giggles, but did his job proudly. Quick as could be, the lizard�
��s tongue darted out, nabbing the berry and popping it whole in its mouth.

  “Ew!” said Rinatta, looking revolted. But her exclamation was immediately followed with another one: “My turn now!” She got in front of her brother and offered up her berry. The lizard gulped it down with ease, leaving Rinatta flailing her hand up and down, delightedly squealing, “Ew! Ew! Ewwww!”

  Eli’s banana was devoured equally fast, the touch of the tongue like a puff of air. She and the children learned how to say thank you in Traintalk.

  After its snack, Nassan called the lizard back up to its perch on his shoulder with a tap of his fingers. It settled down, spiraling its tail around his neck.

  The Train riders settled down as well, the more experienced passengers glad to get back to the rhythm of their travels. Eli was pleased to see that Nassan’s introduction of his pet had worked like magic, making the children forget the strangeness of the new place. They were chattering away to each other, getting along far better than they had in the carriage. Inwardly, Eli rejoiced, hoping they could keep it up.

  Suddenly, her ears pricked to a familiar phrase. “I have to poo poo,” Willin announced with some urgency.

  Eli surged with the sudden adrenaline those words give. “You mean in your nappy? Already?”

  “Nu-uh.” Willin shook his head. “I have to poo poo now.”

  “Okay!” Eli assessed the situation. Willin was getting better at recognizing his bodily urges, but it usually took him a while to work through an actual bowel movement. They definitely had a few minutes to locate The Train’s nearest washroom. She stood up. “Let’s go. Come on, Rinatta, you have to come too.”

  “But I don’t have to go!” the girl complained.

  “Well, you can try. If you don’t go, you can just wash your hands.”

  Eli pulled a small bag of toileting supplies and a dry nappy out of her rucksack. She looked hopefully at the plump woman, Pria. Not knowing what else to do, she unsubtly pointed to Willin’s bottom.

  Pria got the message and pointed that Eli should make a left out of their compartment.

  Eli smiled a thank you and they headed out into the aisle.

  “Follow me. It must be this way.” Eli marched the children along, not letting them take the time to gawk at their surroundings.

  The Train moved smoothly, but now that she was standing, Eli found herself wobbling a little—she felt any bumps and sways more. Eventually, she found her Train legs and made her way down.

  She had to push open a heavy sliding door and cross through a strange, short hallway with black, unsteady walls like a giant accordion. At the other end was another sliding door, leading into the next car. She made her way down through more first-class compartments, through another accordion-hall, and at last reached the lavatory car, which was divided in half for men and women’s use, marked clearly by white silhouettes.

  Eli hustled the children toward the women’s half. Unfortunately, Rinatta noticed the sign. “Willin’s not a girl,” she said, aghast. “He can’t go in there.”

  Eli gritted her teeth. “Yes, he can. He’s with us.”

  “But—”

  “Just come inside. It’s for families too, I expect.” Eli walked them through the partition that separated the genders.

  Then she stopped and stared. Surely The Train was already magic! The room was warm with fresh steam and smelled of lavender. The floor had become pink and white checkered tiles, with a pearly sheen to them, like the inside of the clam shells Eli used to dig out of the Ugaran River. Rows of shiny gold faucets lined one wall, mounted over a long porcelain basin. The opposite side held private stalls, each with its own latrine. In the corner, there was a hinged board attached to the wall, with the symbol of a baby painted on it. The steam came from the far end of the lavatory car, where several stalls were reserved for showering.

  Eli had never seen a washroom so grand! To her, the Baroness’s tiled outhouse with running water had been something to admire. Now she did not know what to think!

  “Gotta go now, Eli.” Willin tugged at her shirt in earnest.

  “Right.” Briskly, Eli took Willin into the closest stall and boosted him onto the seat. He sat, swinging his legs and holding onto the sides. He was really too little for it.

  Frowning, Eli stuck her head back out. “Rinatta, you go too,” she said.

  “But Eli, I don’t have to go!”

  “I’d think after all our stops by the side of the road, you’d be happy to use a real toilet.” Eli reminded her of their less attractive options.

  Still grumbling, Rinatta went into the next stall. A few moments later, Eli heard her yank the chain to flush.

  “I make pee pee too!” cheered Willin from behind her.

  “Good for you!” Eli congratulated him, turning around. “You’re getting to be such a big boy—Wait! Willin! You’re not done! Sit down, sit down, sit down!”

  Too late. Willin had been sitting too far forward on his seat and suddenly a yellow stream came flooding over the edge, instead of going into the basin.

  “Is that pee? Willin peed on the floor!” Rinatta bounced out of her own stall and came over to look. “Willin peed on the floor! Ick, what a baby! Baby!”

  Willin’s face grew red and crumpled in dismay. He shook his finger at his sister, letting out a wordless cry. He fell back on one of his favorite phrases. “Nooo, Eli, nooo!”

  “It was an accident. It’s all right, Willin. Everybody has accidents,” Eli tried to talk over their din, but she didn’t reassure him much. “Come on Willin, let’s go around the puddle—no, don’t step in it. Here, we’ll get you wiped up.”

  Ignoring Rinatta’s taunts of “Baby,” she cleaned Willin and got a fresh nappy on him. She made sure he was carefully dried and rubbed some of her mother’s salve on his bottom—sitting in the carriage for so long had given him a rash. She also had to stash his pants; they’d gotten some trickles of urine on them. What hadn’t? She looked around for something to clean the lovely pink tiles.

  She wadded up as much of the toilet paper as she dared use to sop up the mess. It still wasn’t enough.…Should she use one of the embroidered hand towels by the faucets?

  Still crouched by the puddle, Eli suddenly heard an exclamation of surprise. Glancing out of the stall, she saw a young woman wrapped in a silken robe. She was frozen, dragging a comb half way through damp, red hair, having just gotten out of the shower. She was staring at Eli.

  “No, no no!” Eli understood that Traintalk and clearly so did Willin and Rinatta. The woman continued to jabber, shaking her head and motioning for Eli to get up. She walked over to the corner and rang a bell. It chimed pleasantly.

  Eli was still gaping, not sure if she should get up or not, when a woman in a blue uniform rushed into the lavatory with a basket tucked under her arm.

  Spotting Eli, she gestured for her to get up. Bewildered, Eli obeyed, and the woman sprinkled a fine blue powder on the floor. Whatever it was, it stopped Willin’s pee from spreading any more—it seemed to freeze it into a solid mass. The woman, somehow squatting gracefully despite her uniform’s trim skirt, scraped it all up with a tool that looked like a spatula. She then poured it into the toilet, flushing it away. The floor was left spotlessly clean.

  “Uh—thank you!” Eli remembered to say.

  The woman shook her head and babbled at Eli, with several polite bows to the children as well. She was apologizing for not being there sooner to clean up the mess, Eli realized.

  Wait! She wanted to be able to say. This is wrong. You’re acting like I’m really first-class. I’m a servant, just like you.

  But she didn’t know how. Yet.

  The red-haired woman rolled her eyes and went off to finish brushing her hair.

  Numb, Eli got the children back to their compartment. She didn’t even feel embarrassed about Willin racing down the aisles without any proper pants on besides his nappy. She was out of her league here.

  She got them settled into their seats and re
ad some storybooks until they got tired. The light outside had dwindled away.

  Somewhere far away, a gong rang. Their companions began to get up.

  Pria patted Eli on the knee and pantomimed eating. Clearly, she expected them to accompany the group. Eli was getting hungry, and she knew the children would be soon. But she remembered the Baroness had told her to wait until she returned.

  “Go without us. We’re coming later,” Eli said, waving her arms to show they should leave without them.

  Shrugging, Pria, Uma, and Nassan all left.

  The compartment was strangely quiet—Rinatta and Willin both dozed. Eli noticed that someone, probably the tall Nassan, had hoisted their largest suitcase up onto the storage rack above their seats. Despite his stern face, Eli suspected he had a hidden sense of nobility.

  She wasn’t sure when she nodded off herself, but when she woke up, the lights were coming on inside The Train. An amber glow filled the room. Willin and Rinatta were both crashed out. The row opposite them was still empty—their companions still had to be at dinner.

  The door to their compartment opened smoothly. At last—here was Sela! The tiny woman chuckled when she saw the sleepy bunch. Even traveling so far in her old age did not faze her—her perfectly tattooed eye makeup and darkened lips always looked fresh.

  Sela held out a tray. “The Baroness regrets she wasn’t able to make it to the dinner. She decided you should eat here rather than go to the dining car on your own.”

  Huh. I bet she forgot she said she’d come back for us, thought Eli. From past experience, she knew that as soon as the children were out of her sight, the Baroness Vasri had trouble remembering their existence.

  “I bought these from a snack-seller,” the old woman continued. “They were a little expensive, but tasty.”

  Eli nudged the children awake and they devoured the seasoned vegetables and meat, served on bamboo skewers. They were juicy and delicious.

  “It’s been a long day,” Sela said.

  “Tell me about it,” muttered Eli.