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“Who is in number twelve?” Rafe asked himself.
Under normal circumstances, he might have been using the dragon’s sense of smell to make a map of the other passengers’ doors as they traveled back to their compartment last night.
But with the power out, his priority was getting Jade and Gus to safety.
“I am not allowed to share passenger information,” the droid replied, though Rafe had only been asking himself out loud.
“Is that for our safety?” Jade asked.
“This is for your safety,” the droid said at the same moment.
“What happened to being nice to droids?” Rafe teased her.
“I guess my niceness ends when I start feeling like I’m being left out of important information,” Jade said. “You’re concerned about this.”
She had read him right.
“The power went out last night,” he said. “And now someone is missing. I have to consider it as a potential threat.”
She nodded, her blue eyes serious.
Three minutes had passed. Somewhere, on one of the sleeping cars, a door was being forced open.
8
RAFE
Rafe remained standing in his post, blocking Jade and Gus from the rest of the car as the train continued on through the tundra.
The bots weren’t talking, so he had no idea what they had found in the sleeping compartment. But the fact that the emergency lights were still on, and everyone was still trapped in the dining car, told him enough.
Something had happened to the passenger in number twelve. There would be no reason to continue the lockdown otherwise.
After what felt like an eternity, the train began to slow. Rafe kept his eyes scanning the crowd. A quick glance out the windows let him know that the town was coming into view, and he couldn’t help but wonder what Jade thought of it.
If she were from a wealthy planet of the Inner Rings, she would surely be disappointed at the collection of small buildings and farms that made up the town of Rothbart.
But few Terrans grew up in luxurious circumstances. Most of the Terras were poorly terraformed, and populated by desperately poor beings who longed for any escape. It was entirely possible that Jade would see a virtual kingdom when she looked out that window.
Everything is perspective, his commanding officer had told him once.
In fairness, the man had been referring to using your controls to determine distance due to actual oddities in visual perspective that could be caused by dust, light, and even the slight curve of the glass viewing window in the old ship he was taking practice runs in at the time.
But it applied to most things in life, Rafe found.
With a loud squeal of brakes that had some of the already-anxious passengers gasping in surprise, the train jerked to a halt.
But even after they had come to a complete stop, the emergency lights stayed on, and the bots made no move to open up the doors.
The passengers of the dining car eyed each other nervously.
After a few minutes of anxious silence, the doors slid open, and a man stepped in.
The bright light from outside was momentarily blinding in the dim car, but Rafe could easily make out the distinctive silhouette of a Sautrin wearing a cowboy hat and duster. The figure stood stock still as he looked around the train car and the passengers gathered there. His three legs were in a wide stance, and two arms were folded across his chest, while the third held the door open.
He let the door close behind him after a moment.
Without the backlighting, Rafe could see the sheriff’s badge on the man’s vest and the long scar going down his left cheek.
