Day FiveFifteen
From the Passenger Records of Hiraya Sia
Raya
Keeping track of time mattered only when you ran out of it.
Days on the Elsewhere Express, like the train’s stock of dark-roasted coffee and excess baggage tonic, were in endless supply.
A new vial of the blue serum sat on Raya’s nightstand next to the calendar she had drawn on the train’s official stationery.
Today was her fifth day on board as far as she could tell, but she could not find anyone who could confirm it.
Fragrant steam wafted up from her cup of oolong tea.
Raya breathed it in and exhaled it slowly while watching passengers make their way down a cobweb bridge.
Raya had avoided the Dragonfly until Dev had requested that they meet at the dining car to discuss his offer for her to join the maintenance crew.
“Good morning.” Dev strode up to her table balancing a tray of congee and an assortment of dumplings and sauces.
He had changed faces, but Raya was getting good at recognizing people.
Their eyes stayed the same. Dev’s eyes were playful and kind, no matter their color.
Today they were the shade of buckwheat honey and smiled at Raya from the face of a man who was almost surely someone’s favorite uncle.
Raya smiled back at Dev, her first one that had felt real since she had moved into her compartment. “Good morning.”
Dev took a seat, his eyes on Raya’s tea. “Is that all you’re having?”
“I haven’t had much of an appetite lately.” The train’s menu was everything Lily had promised it would be, but Raya could not bring herself to eat more than a few bites of any dish.
“That’s a shame.” Dev arranged his condiments in a neat row. He nudged a little sauce bowl until it was straight. “The Dragonfly has the best congee.”
“I’ve heard.”
Dev took a sip of his tea. “So, have you thought about my offer to join maintenance, or do you need more time to think about it?” He dipped a shrimp dumpling into an angry-looking chili sauce.
“More time? Are you kidding me?” Lily had told Raya to take her time deciding which department to join and to try her hand at different jobs before making her choice.
But Raya had made her decision on a glowing beach long before Dev had officially invited her to join him.
“If I have to spend another day in my compartment staring up at the ceiling, I’ll go insane. When can I start?”
Dev laughed. “Most passengers enjoy having a little break before choosing a department. I didn’t realize that you were so bored. I would have asked you to join us sooner.”
Raya wished she were bored. The night Q leapt from the boarding car ran in a loop in her head. She paused and replayed it, rewatched it forward and back, scouring every second for anything she could have done differently.
Maybe if she had, Q would be sitting across from her at breakfast, smiling up from a cup of tea. Or did he prefer coffee? Raya hated that she didn’t know the little things about Q even if what she did know should have been more than enough.
Unlike the rest of the train’s passengers, she knew who she owed her life to.
When she erased him, there would be no one left who remembered what Q had done for the train.
His sacrifice would go unnoticed just like all the invisible battles people waged every day.
Getting out of bed. Smiling. Taking a breath.
Invisible victories for invisible people with invisible pain, where the only prize up for grabs was the chance to do it all over again the next day.
Lily walked through the mouth of the cave, greeting passengers as she made her way to the congee buffet. Today, she was a middle-aged woman with shoulder-length brown hair. She nodded at Raya and Dev.
“Lily doesn’t like smiling much before her shift, does she?
” Raya had stopped trying to call the conductor anything else.
Even when she looked nothing like the fiery-haired woman who had welcomed her on board, to her, the person behind Lily’s new eyes looked the same.
“It’s almost as if her smile is set on a timer. ”
“I wouldn’t feel like smiling much either if I had to do what she does every day.” Dev popped a dumpling into his mouth. “It can’t be fun making sure that everyone’s happy and following the train’s rules.”
Raya warmed her hands around her cup and stared into her tea.
“I’m sorry Q got turned into an Echo,” Dev said quietly.
Raya nodded, looking forward to the day when she could believe this story. “I’m sorry too.”
“I don’t think I would have invited him to join maintenance, though,” Dev said.
“Why not?”
“Q would make a better conductor than a plumber.”
“Really?” Raya tried to imagine Q in the conductor’s crisp uniform. She got as far as the third button of his black blazer before the image of him leaping from the boarding car shattered all other imaginings of him like glass.
“It was obvious how much he loved being on the train. Not every passenger feels that way when they board. When I boarded, I—” Dev’s eyes widened.
Raya touched her chin. “Do I have something on my face?”
“I knew it.” Dev laughed, slapping his knee. “I knew you looked familiar. I did see you when I boarded.”
“That’s not possible. You boarded the train long before I did.”
Dev shrugged. “Since when did the rules of time apply to the Elsewhere Express? I admit that I don’t have the best memory, but I’m right about this. And I can prove it. Meet me at my compartment after my shift.”
Dev’s compartment moved around a lot on account that it dangled from the collar of one of Mr. Goh’s cats.
The interior of the compartment was identical to Raya’s except for its walls.
Photographs covered it from ceiling to floor, surrounding them with stolen shots of conversations, smiles, and faraway stares.
“I know.” Dev smirked. “It isn’t for everyone.”
“It looks great.” Raya smiled, keeping her eyes away from a photo of her and Q on the beach.
“The hum of the Elsewhere Express is what I enjoy most about it,” Dev said. “You can feel it in the air. It reminds me that I’m never alone. And never will be.”
“Did you worry about being alone before boarding the train?” Raya said softly.
“I couldn’t tell you.” Dev’s gaze wandered over a photograph of a crystal fountain.
Stars flowed out of it like a liquid sky.
“I took Mr. Goh’s tonic as soon as I found my compartment.
That’s the clearest memory I have about my first night on the train.
The tonic tasted like the worst thing you can imagine, but after I drank it, I had the best sleep of my life.
I’ve heard that he’s improved its taste so that it no longer makes you gag.
At least, not right away. What did you think of it? ”
Raya clutched her tote’s strap. “I haven’t taken it yet.”
“Maybe you should.” Dev eyed her bag. “It helps with shoulder and back pain too.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take it before joining the crew. The job will have my full attention.”
“I’m excited for you to join us. You’ll make a great addition to the team. And I’m happy you stopped by. Is there anything I can help you with?”
“You were the one who asked me to come over, remember? You said that you wanted to show me proof that you had seen me before.”
“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Dev laughed, shaking his head. “I’m not making it any easier for you to believe me, am I? Luckily, I don’t have to rely on my memory for proof. I have photographic evidence to back me up.” He chuckled, leading her to a wall by the dresser.
Raya’s eyes flitted over the collage, unsure where to look.
“There.” Dev pointed to a photograph of a ship’s deck.
“See?” Red battened square sails billowed against a halved sky.
A woman, standing in profile, looked up at a bamboo mast. The image was small and slightly blurry, but it left no doubt about who she was.
Her lavender hair, tied back in the silk scarf Q had given her, stood out.
Wind whipped loose strands against her face and scented the compartment with the sea.
Raya gasped, salt air catching in her throat.
“I took the picture during my orientation. I meant to photograph the masts, but as you can see, I captured more than I intended.”
“I don’t understand.” Raya stared at the photo. “How could I have been at your orientation?”
Dev laughed. “Well, that obviously isn’t really you, is it?”
Raya inhaled sharply. “Is that the conductor? Was she wearing my face?”
“The conductor?” Dev shook his head. “No. The conductor isn’t in the photo, but I do remember what he looked like that night.
In those days, he always chose to look like the shortest person he could find—he hated hitting his head on doorways.
If you want to know more about this woman, you should ask him.
Rasmus has a much better memory than me. ”
Raya found Rasmus seated by himself at the Lotus, working through his second bottle of sake. He looked up from his cup and gave her a small wave.
Raya walked up to his table. “May I join you?”
“Of course.” Rasmus pulled out a chair. “Can I get you anything?”
“I’m good, thanks.” Raya sat down without taking her eyes off Rasmus’s face.
“The answer is no.” Rasmus sipped his sake.
“No?”
“I haven’t taken the serum,” Rasmus said. “You can stop staring and trying to guess if I still remember what happened with the stowaway now.”
“You said that keeping that memory was dangerous.”
“I did, but I’m beginning to realize that remembering that night isn’t as dangerous as forgetting it.” Rasmus drained his sake cup and refilled it. “Not until I find a way to keep another stowaway from putting the Elsewhere Express in danger all over again.”
“Isn’t that Lily’s job? Or does a retired conductor’s duty never end?”
Aki walked over and set a fresh bowl of deep-fried lotus root chips on the table. “Can I get you anything else?”
“Another sake, please.” Rasmus raised his empty bottle. “Thanks, Aki.”
Aki nodded and cleared a nearby table.