| Synapse, Pt. 2 |

The dimly lit railway station put Marsia at unease. Oncoming sparks, harsh screeching, clattering iron. Her senses were overwhelmed as she looked ahead to the oncoming subway, the tracks from here to a better place.

“I’m tired,” Locri grumbled behind her. She checked her watch over and over—they’d left the Lilia Estate twelve hours ago and been on the run since.

“As am I.”

The train blew her hair all over as it came to a chaotic halt. Its parts seemed a nudge away from total destruction. Along its side, written in peeling paint, were the words ‘Callosum Railway’.

The station speakers, busted from overuse, clicked on. “Arrived at Triton Station. Next stop, X2 Monument, Overside. Please watch your step.”

Marsia, bundled in her trench coat, eagerly bounded into the train car. It was more spacious than she’d expected, much dirtier than the limousines she was accustomed to—somehow, she didn’t mind.

Locri stepped in with less anticipation, grabbing onto a handle as the doors shut behind the two of them. Perhaps understandably, the car was empty, without a single other passenger.

“I have this strange feeling we’re going to crash,” Marsia said. She looked out the cracked window, watching the lights pass by while the train began to roll. The wheels sounded rickety and loose.

Locri turned, a bit stiff in her suit. “You know, Lady Marsia, saying it out loud like that might ‘jinx’ it, so to speak.”

“That’s not how that works,” she replied.

“Maybe it is.”

“If the train’s going to crash anyways—you know, loose bolts and all—saying that won’t somehow make it happen.”

“Who are we to say how reality works? Maybe, if you think something hard enough, it’ll come true.”

“It won’t. Because I’ve been dreaming of running away for years, and even this is only temporary.”

Finally, the subway really got moving. Rocketing through the night, Marsia caught glimpses of the even, symmetrical skyline which defined the Overside. As was common order, most lights were off this time of night.

The only grid required to stay lit was routed to the spotlights surrounding the Overside Monument. Originally meant to imply equality between the two hemispheres, Oversiders only saw it as a symbol of their own status. In fact, Marsia figured her own parents knew nothing of its Underside counterpart.

As she awaited her freedom, she began to doze off and daydream. She liked to imagine herself living free in the Underside—her own personal paradise. But right now, her thoughts refused to hide there.

She directed them towards something else instead—the past few hours. She and Locri had taken all manner of public transportation to avoid being caught. Her parents had sent out missing child reports in the few thirty minutes of her absence. Maybe they did care about her; more likely, though, they cared about the wealth she brought them.

Everywhere, they kept seeing the warrants for Arufa’s and Skyler’s arrest. She was surprised they hadn’t been caught yet. Thoughts lingered about Arufa’s innocence, though she’d partially decided that was her own bias interfering with her judgement.

What confused her most was her reaction every time she’d seen the warrants: fear, panic, anxiety. Feelings it made no sense for her to have, she thought, and yet she’d felt that way each and every time—as if some part of the warrant distressed her.

“Arrived at X2 Monument, Overside. Next stop, X2 Monument, Underside. Please watch your step.” The monotonous words, though scathing at first, filled Marsia with glee. She would get more than just a couple of hours this time, and she would make every minute count.

Just in front of open doors, Locri sighed. “Last chance. We could die down there.”

“I’m so tired of living the same day every day, Locri. The threat of death might give me something to live for.”

“An illogical, emotional decision. I’m all for it.”

The doors shut on her past. She was ready to move forward.

Except, the train had other plans. As they approached the section which would take them to the Underside, Marsia heard a loud screech from outside her cabin.

She poked her head out a shattered pane. The tracks ahead had been rerouted—straight into a ‘do not enter’ zone. She would have pondered what caused the shift, had she not been more preoccupied with sheer panic.

“Locri! We’re going to crash!”

“Lady Marsia, calm down. What’s happening?”

She couldn’t give a response. Chaos was an entirely new experience for her. She watched the train ram through the holographic barricade and fly ahead, gaining new speed as it descended elsewhere into Underside.

Inertia flung them both backwards. Locri, hanging onto her handle, pulled a stabilizer off her tool belt and affixed it to the ceiling—the AG activated and flipped their local gravity upside-down.

Prepared, she somersaulted and landed on her feet. Marsia, however, did not. Crumpled into a pile of grey fabric, she wobbled upright. Her usual strategy of deep breathing did not calm her. “What was that for?!”

“The train is flipping over and speeding up. If I hadn’t done that, we’d both be bloody pancakes on the wall right now.”

Wind rushed through the corridor, disorienting Marsia. The world was zooming past her—it was hard to get her bearings. She saw the alleys of Underside outside, more like momentary blurs than real city streets.

“What do we do?!”

“We figure out where we’re going first. Then…”

“Then what?!”

“I don’t know, Marsia!” Locri shouted. “This is really bad!”

On instinct, Marsia decided she had to get to the head of the train. She slid open the emergency door to cross between cabins and stepped over the treacherous gap, feeling her adrenaline spike as she saw the starry sky below her.

“Where are you going?” Locri called.

“The front! Come on!”

When she crossed into the next cabin, gravity forced her back to the ground. Her long red hair had fallen all over her face; she stood up, swept it out of the way, and kept on marching, Locri just behind her.

Bizarrely, each new car they trekked through held no passengers. The Callosum was the only legal outlet between the two sides—it baffled Marsia that no one used it, but she wasn’t very focused on that fact.

Reaching the front, Marsia found the door locked—a safety precaution against the dangerous Undersiders, she was sure. Locri grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

“Leave this one to me.” She turned to her side and, in a single instant, kicked the door open with enough force to break it off its sliding tracks.

“You’re strong!”

“Thank you, Lady, but this really isn’t the time for flattery!”

They rushed inside the locomotive and searched for a pilot. To Marsia’s dismay, it was artificially-controlled. She looked out the front window to see their destination.

“Next stop: X2 Monument, Underside.”

The monolith in question laid directly in their path. In fact, the holographic tracks seemed to route straight for it. Not even thinking, Marsia gripped the steering controls and pulled them back.

She watched in horrific awe as the purple tracks shifted direction and averted the Monument. Instead, the train shot straight for the sky—Marsia fell back, tearing through a map of X2 on her way down.

Locri sat up beside her, the two now horizontal relative to the train. Marsia breathed a sigh of relief, though they were still in imminent danger. Just… less.

“You adapt well,” Locri said.

“Like you said, not the time for flattery, Miss Lonestar.” She pointed up at the control panel, which they could no longer reach. “Do you have any more of that artificial gravity?”

“I do, but…”

“But what?”

“When I run out of supplies, it notifies my higher-ups. In this case, meaning your parents. They’d be able to track us down.”

“If it were just my life, that would be one thing. But I won’t risk ours both. Use it. They’ll track us down. It’ll be okay.”

“Lady Marsia, are you sure?”

“Certain. Now, please, use it before we fly out of the atmosphere and die in space. Thank you.”

Locri attached her second stabilizer to the floor and braced herself as the two fell down. Marsia, invigorated, shot up and grabbed the control sticks once more.

“Stop.”

Marsia heard an unfamiliar voice and snapped her head in its direction. From the back of the locomotive car, a woman in a government uniform and black sunglasses stepped out. Her white, shoulder-length hair blew in the oncoming wind.

“What do you want?” Locri questioned, stepped in front of Marsia—as was protocol.

The woman smiled and shook her head. “I didn’t mean to startle you, Marsia.”

Locri’s hand twitched over her pistol. “That doesn’t answer the question.”

“I’m not here to take you back, if that’s what you mean.”

“Who are you, then? Some kind of spy?” Marsia asked.

“No. My name is Agent White. I’m here to offer you a choice.”