Max and Lucas boarded the Time Train and immediately greeted with respect by the train's cabin crew when they saw the ticket.
"Welcome aboard our train!" A tall woman wearing formal clothes exclaimed enthusiastically, then she pointed at the area in the front of the train and said, "Let me take you two to your seats."
Max, who had never experienced something like this grinned said, "Thanks!" Then he followed the woman into an area different from the rest. Unlike the normal seatings, the seats here were visibly larger in size and longer in length. The seats where farther apart with a personal cupboard beside. In the whole area there were only three rows of seats, with three seats on each row. The seats formed a square in the premium area leaving a lot of space around for movement. In front of each seat, there was a projector that could project films and videos clearly without a screen. It was one of the most advance gadgets that only the premium seats have.
"There they are!" The woman pointed cheerfully at two seats next to each other on the second row. "You can take your seats and if you have anything you can call me with the red button on the side of the armrest to your right! Thank you for choosing us and have a nice trip!"
Max nodded and muttered, "Thank you." Then walked quickly towards his seat and comfortably sat down enjoying the softness. The seats were snow white without any sign that it was used before. It was made of a high quality artificial made material tested to be the softest of all materials.
"Wow, this is so soft!" Lucas exclaimed as he laid down on his seat. Compared to their beds at the orphanage, the train seats were heaven. Not only were the seats comfortable, but Max and Lucas also kept discovering new abilities the seats have. Massaging, changing the angle, adding heat...
"Wow, the seat can even rock back and forth!" Max gasped pressing the tenth button.
"That's what you call premium guest!" Lucas explained happily enjoying the pleasure of the luxury that they had. Max smiled; he too was more than happy to enjoy the train's luxury. He looked curiously at the projector and wondered out loud, "How do you use this thing?"
Max's thinking was disturbed by Lucas, who had already worked it out and showed Max, "Look, there's a screen on the side of your left armrest. You can twist it, so a screen comes facing up. That's the screen of control!" Max did what Lucas told him to do, and a bright screen caught Max's eyes. Max tapped the screen and immediately it lightened up and the projector started to project what Max saw on the screen. The screen was divided into categories such as movies, search engines, games... Max touched the area labelled 'Movies' and the screen immediately took Max to the home page of movies. Bright covers of movies made Max gasp in disbelief, since his memory loss when he came to the orphanage, he had never remembered anything about watching movies or doing the things that kids in the same age as he was did. He switched open a random movie, Avengers, and twisted his body to fit comfortably into the seat and began to enjoy his first time watching a movie.
The colourful scenes immediately got Max's attention, he felt as if he could ignore the rest of the world and imagine himself in the world of the movie. Passangers passed all around him, but he didn't notice them. The seats began to be filled.
"Train will depart in two minutes, have a nice ride!" A voice coming out of the speaker brought Max back to the real world. The movie also stopped as the train gained energy to departure. Max glanced sideways at Lucas, who was also confused why had the movie turn off. Lucas, like Max, had also never been to the cinema or watch a movie. Max could heard a light humming from the engines almost covered up by the chatter of the passengers aboard. He could also feel the light vibration of the train preparing to take to at high speeds. Max could almost imagine the fascinating image of the Time Train taking off, how it was there milliseconds before and gone without any warning. Max's heart burst with excitement, as he felt his stomach do a somersault.
The sound of wind like a tornado boomed outside, even though the train had a soundproof wall, but the sound of the sound of wind could still be heard. The time Train was already poking through the Earth's atmosphere before Max and Lucas could realise what was going on. The Time Train had entered space as it the sounds disappeared completely, replaced by the noisy talking from the normal passengers. The premium area was isolated from the rest of the areas by a tall and thick wooden door, allowing premium passengers to have quiet among themselves.
With the movie on, Max felt time pass quicker than he had ever experienced, he enjoyed to quickly pass time. With headphones on, he felt the whole world disappear while all sounds he heard was the ones coming from the movie. Suddenly, he felt a fat little finger poke on his shoulder, he turned around to see a chubby boy smirking at him. He wore brightly polished posh clothes that costed amounts that normal people can't imagine. He was the boy that sat behind him with his rich parents. Max could see that he was bored.
"What are you watching?!" The boy exclaimed pretending to be shocked by opening his mouth wide. "You're still watching avengers? That movie is super bad!" He commented and then added, "Probably as bad as you."
Max pulled of his headphones and glared at the boy, if stares could kill, the boy would have already died thousands of times.
"You think you're cool, staring me like that?" The boy grinned mischievously, "You're probably a thief that steals tickets from passengers, or else you wouldn't have a premium ticket." He stuck his tong out at Max walked away as if he saw something disgusting. Max didn't know what to answer, he gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists, he gaze followed the boy as he returned to his seat behind Max. He began to recall how he and Lucas had been a laughingstock for the rich boy yesterday. Why was they always get bullied?
Lucas had saw and also heard the comments. He maturely shook his head and, knowing Max's heart, said softly, "Ignore those people, they are the ones that don't know how to behave."
Max made himself calm down and began to understand Lucas' words. He turned to the fat boy who smiled back with an annoying smirk. Max's eyes now eyes turned from hatred to pity. He shook his head and pretended to be sad, "What a shame, I thought wealth people behaved better, but now I know their no better than a tramp or a thieve."
"Says you, who's the thieve!" The boy immediately snapped back, but Max had wiped the smug expression from his face and ignored him completely and focused on his movie. He looked at Lucas who smiled and mouthed, 'Good job'. The rest of the train trip could be counted as a success, although the boy behind always tried to get Max's attention, but each time he had failed. Max got one more reason to ignore him every time he tried to get Max's attention.
"After ten minutes we will arrive." A calm voice came out of the loudspeaker, overcoming the sounds of his headphones. They had almost completed half of their journey! Max felt and rush of excitement in his heart, he couldn't wait to get to the training grounds. He could almost imagine himself training on land, on the ocean, in the forest... He could almost imagine himself training in an area around half the size of Earth. He suddenly felt good to be himself, not someone else. He had always envied the richer kids, or even normal kids, able to go to school, no labour to do every day. Have a full tummy every evening. But he was the only one in millions to have the potential to become a Mech-man, joining the Protector Squad. He might even feel bad for the rude boy behind him if he had been nicer.
"Arriving at train station." The familiar voice came from the loudspeaker speaking cheerfully. "Space Station 100-300. Thank you for choosing us and have a nice trip!"
As soon as the voice ended, Max could fell the Time Train slowing down furiously and then coming to a stop. Music began to play from the speakers, calm piano music that probably was hundreds of years old, invented by generations before them.
"We arrived!" Max turned and called Lucas with excitement in his voice. "Come on! Let's go!"
Lucas looked up yawning and said slowly, "No need to worry, we still have to wait in the station for one and a half hours."
Max nodded but still pulled Lucas up quickly as the doors opened in the premium area, "We can go already!"
Lucas sighed, Max was way too energetic, he seemed to have unlimited energy. Lucas stretched and quickened up his pace to follow Max outside.
Train station space seemed different, first of all, it was more modern than the one on Earth. The walls shone under the lights; The shops were bigger than once on Earth. Max and Lucas walked around, not knowing where to go.
"Let's go and find where our train platform is." Max suggested looking around not knowing where to go. Lucas nodded in agreement, although he was more curious about the Space Station.
"Wow! Look there!" Lucas suddenly pointed in a direction. Max looked towards where Lucas was pointing but not getting what he meant. But the next moment he saw it. It was a window where passengers where able to gaze what was outside of the space station. He could just make out the outlines of tiny shinning stars in the distance.
"Space is so fascinating!" Lucas gasped as he and Max squeezed each other to see the view, it wasn't everyday where you can see outer space. Stars littered the view like diamonds, faraway spirals of galaxies shone in many different colours. From that moment, space became one of Lucas' favourite subjects. Being a Protector would be more than just a dream come true. He could already picture himself in a hi technology Protector suit in a spaceship of to a mission. He had heard enough stories about them to picture the adventure he would have.
"Come on!" Max pulled Lucas away from the window, "If you want to fly with the stars, then the quicker we arrive at the Training grounds the quicker we can be in a spaceship!" Lucas opened his eyes in disbelief only met by Max's confused face. Max always seemed to read his mind. He smiled and followed Max to find their platform.