The Station, Part 51

I follow my mind’s eye toward the horizon. Beyond it lays the Junction. The Junction That place I saw in that last dream. Once there, I will find the final path that will lead me to Frontier and ultimately home. Getting there, that will be a complete journey unto itself I think.

As I make my in this new land…Land. Heh. I’m starting to accept it. As if any of this were actually land and not a construct—I walk freely now, fully appreciating what my latest form can now do. The unseen ground may be ice, rock, or something akin to a metallic hull for all I know, but my soles easily grip it. My powerful legs have grown bulkier and longer still, making the push through the snow but a little effort. And my body, now completely covered in white—no, make that clear fur—shines with the reflection of the snow. To the unaccustomed eye, I am likely all but invisible against the dunes. I feel immensely powerful. I am powerful. But compared to this world… Yes, it is a world unto itself. Using chamber is a word to describe the places I’ve seen should now be put to rest. Compared to this world I am so small. So ultimately at its mercy. The old me, the original me, would not have survived these ordeals of real and simulated nature. That much is certain. I have no doubt that not only these physical changes of mine were meant to help ensure my survival. As for my mental lapses, I suspect they are not meant to harm me. That would make no sense at all. I think I still right about them—that the images given to me in dreams and the waking experiences have been supplanting other knowledge. Replacing what is not apparently necessary for my survival here. I’m being streamlined inside and out. Being primed, modified and molded to survive here. But the big question is why?

Under any other circumstances, a person could lose their mind in a place like this. I know I thought I would. But walking among these dunes under what passes for a bright day, I feel at home. Comfortable, not too hot, cold or even out of place. I’m part of some mysterious club. So far I’ve seen no other members, but with the exception one empty world I briefly visited, there has been life everywhere I go. Now I anticipate it. This can’t be a wasteland. It can’t be all for me. It has the capacity to house a menagerie of its own. So where is it? Where are you? What new thing will I discover today? I promise I won’t take you away from your home. I now see the error of my ways in that respect. Fred did not. Fred just didn’t make the connection that did. If he had lived where would he have ended up? Was he just another resident that went astray? Was he the cat that curiosity killed? But if he was trapped here like me, am I finishing the same journey that he failed to complete? Listen to me. I’m doing it again, jumping to conclusions. The only thing that I’m doing is finding a way out. Fred, if he was indeed imprisoned as I am, was more than likely following the same course and the same purpose. Great minds think alike. Free minds desire a whole freedom, the body and the mind together. It’s just the only reasonable explanation. And Fred ultimately found his freedom. Just not as he intended. But by the stars, he tried.

And what of that other poor soul that didn’t? The one I found within another station. I knew that one didn’t I? The one that ended his own life. I knew him I think. Did I know him? Doesn’t matter now. He failed to face up to the challenge. I will not be another failure.