Sitting alone at a table in the softly swaying lounge car, nursing a Dalwhinnie, Anja watched passing panoramics through the streaked window.

Memories bubbled up. Her father had traveled for work constantly & would bring Anja along regularly. He claimed trains to be a more tranquil, healing experience while flying was for getting places in a rush.

The nature of travel had changed since then but the concept held up. Planes skip supersonically to their destinations, the human cargo keeping down zero G sickness with pills.

The very route she was on took a full 2 days when her father would take it. Companies went bankrupt, tech industry billionaires stepped in and brought over foreign technology. Now the train trip from Portland to Los Angeles took around 6 or 7 hours.

With a flick of her eyes Anja brought up a google calendar. A few appointments and readings had been moved by her business manager. She clicked through confirmations mindlessly, paying more attention still to the passing nature scenes.