let's be honest, no one ever truly believed this could be done in the real world. Even in the most optimistic scenario, after all the government subsidies, private investments and all the political pressure that had been exerted, this would only result in something like six thousand new miles of railway track. So what if they did it and it actually worked? The government would still be stuck with a railway it didn't need to connect two regions that were in no hurry to meet anyway.
As the train was coming to a stop, the woman in front of him reached up and pulled back a chain dangling from the ceiling. There was a jingle as the lights in the carriage came on.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"We're at our stop, sir," the conductor said, getting out of his seat. "Best to move on down, if you please."
He pushed his way out of the carriage and walked down the platform to find himself standing in a tunnel lit by a faint, orange glow. As his eyes adjusted, he could see that the tunnel was very wide, with curved stone walls supporting arches of the same strange orange material.
There were more seats on this level, facing a large table which took up most of the floor. There were some comfortable-looking seats along the wall near the entrance to the tunnel, but he chose to stand instead, preferring to get as close as possible to the mysterious figures he was now surrounded by. All of the women were dressed in dark robes, the colors varying in intensity from midnight blue to deep, brooding purple. Every one of them held a glass of something thick and viscous in their hands. As he watched, they all raised the glasses to one another, making hissing noises before drinking deeply. There was a dull thud as the liquid slid down their long, pale throats. He couldn't see any of them move their heads as they swallowed, and yet somehow their mouths seemed to keep pace with their throats as they swallowed. The sounds they were making were strange too, as though their throats were too narrow to allow them to fully drink the liquid they were offered. It had to be something more than that, because he was sure if they'd tried to take in the liquid the same way a human being would, it would have choked them.
He pulled back from the table, his heart pounding. He didn't want to be close to these creatures anymore, and yet he couldn't get his mind to release its hold on the idea that he might be able to reach into their minds and share their thoughts with them.
Another one of the women got up, this time from the table. "Follow me," she said, smiling. "You will be shown to your chambers, and then brought before the Queen."
She turned and went back into the corridor, leaving him alone. The only remaining person in the large group was the woman with the chains. He went to her. "Please tell me what's going on."
She shrugged. "We are the Children of the Mind. That is all you need to know."
"Please, I know I saw a carriage, and it was being pulled by a train, but I don't understand what's happening."
The woman sighed. "We live and we die in a world of shadows, of light, and of power." She reached up and pulled at the chain around her neck. "One day all men and women will come to understand what it is we do, and they will come to understand how to use the power that is their birthright."
"What if they don't?" he asked.
"Then they will be extinguished, just as we were."
She opened the window behind her, and climbed out, leaving him alone in the brightly lit corridor. A few moments later she opened the other door and began to crawl through it. "Come on," she said, waving him over. "I'll explain more in your chamber."
The woman led him down the corridor. It took a few minutes to realize that the people were no longer wearing the same robes as they had been on the train. In fact, everything had changed. They no longer looked like people at all, but small, pale creatures with long legs and arms. All of the men were still the same length, but the women were slightly shorter.
They reached another door and walked through it to find themselves in a large room with a bed and a tall stone fireplace at the far end. There were torches set into the walls at regular intervals and they had lighted them so they could see one another's faces. The woman walked past him and stared at the stone wall. "One day everyone will know what you are."
He followed her to the edge of the bed, which was far too large for one person, even one as small as the woman he'd been travelling with. There was no sign of the woman who'd brought him here, but he couldn't worry about that right now. He had his questions and he wanted them answered.
"How can you not know?" he asked. "How do you even know you're alive?"
She turned toward him, her dark eyes staring at him like hard black pits. "You mean because I can think and I feel?"
"Yes," he replied. "If I tried to answer that question, there would be more questions, and more answers, and I would end up in a room like this with you."
"No, you wouldn't," she said. "You'd end up somewhere else, with someone else, doing something else."
"How do you know?"
She laughed. "Are you really that naive? When was the last time you saw someone going through the same emotions over and over again? They change, and if they don't, then something has gone wrong. We will continue to change, even if we do not understand how."
"What do you think is going to happen?" he asked. "The world has never seen people like you, who can control time and space. And you say you have the ability to bring others here. Even if we don't understand you, I know that we're not going to want for things to be done for us. We're going to fight you. We will fight the people who come here, and they'll fight us. Whoever wins, the people who follow us will not be very happy."
She was smiling now. "You think you can fight us? What do you know about us?"
"More than you think," he said. "More than you know, anyway."
"You're just making things harder for yourself," she said. "But we're used to people who try to do that. Come, let's see what you're really capable of."
The woman smiled, reached out and placed one hand on his head. It felt like a very light pressure, enough to hold him in place, but not enough to hurt. He could feel her hand through the air, but he could feel the touch in his brain as well. She was in there, inside him, and the same way he could reach into other people's thoughts, she could do the same to him.
His thoughts swam like the sea in his head. All the images and ideas and emotions flooded past him, leaving him almost speechless with surprise. Then there was a point of clarity, like a spear of crystal ice, and everything around him snapped into focus.
His thoughts began to dance before him, like a great, brightly lit disco. The woman's thoughts were more beautiful than any he'd ever had. He could feel how bright they were, how full of colors, how smooth and how clear. He could feel the sound of her thoughts too, the sound of her voice and her laughter and the gentle hum of her emotions. He could feel that she was proud of him, that she was interested in him, that she loved him, that he was special to her. And yet, she was cold and unresponsive, a stranger to him, and he was an intruder.
He was suddenly no longer standing in the bedroom with the woman. There was a rushing sound in his ears, a muffled pounding of blood in his head, and a blurring of colors. Then he found himself standing in the middle of a field of grass that grew to the horizon and then beyond it, to another horizon. He was alone, with no idea of where he'd come from or where he was going. A chill wind blew through his mind, bringing with it the smell of fresh air and of flowers and of grass. The grass rolled back and he could see where the sun had set. It was just on the point of disappearing below the horizon, and yet there was a man running toward it, his face smeared with blood, his clothes torn, his hair in disarray. There was a sword in his hand, and as he ran, the blade began to light up with a golden glow, its edge sharp as razor-blades and sharp as a laser-cutter. The man leapt into the air, his arms spread wide in a great gesture of acceptance as the light flowed out through his fingers.
The man fell toward him and as he did, the glow of his sword disappeared, his arms slowly closed and his face returned to normal. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth and a long white worm slid out of it, like a snake from its sleeve, sliding along the man's chest and down through his body. The man gasped as it came to rest in the
