Chapter Six: Aboard the NAUHSR

General Summary

On the evening of January 28th, 2162, the now aligned expats of Fuyao Beimei had entered the Cincinnati station for the North American United High Speed Rail (aka the NAUHSR), and were about to board the Century Line to Las Vegas. After a brief stop for popcorn prompted by Wei, Emily Asbury escorted the group along with Pete Deyes through the busy station to their train. With Emily's corporate influence, a concierge motioned them through to board their Virgin Galactic provided rail car, complete with clean white overlay displaying their logo and name. With a quick security pat down where James was still able to sneak on a butcher knife, the expats were able to board.
Wei, Sebastian, Scoot and Raymond all first sat down in the seating area, where each of them had a small cubicle set up with a holographic interface and a reclining chair comfortable enough to sleep in. James instead inspected what turned out to be the dining car. Before the train left, James and Sebastian made a quick search on one of the holographic interfaces to see if there had been any news to outsiders about what happened to Fuyao Beimei . A search through the Associated Press' app revealed nothing about the nation, recent news or otherwise. Sebastian was worried that Delaera was just like their home country and censoring the news. Scoot quickly suggested otherwise as he toiled away on his own interface, keeping mostly to himself.
Everyone was introduced to their personal concierge on the train: Nathaniel. He explained how to order food through the holographic interfaces on the dining car, and let them know he would be checking in with them on a regular basis. The group decided that they would start their trip with a celebratory "exotic" meal. Raymond ordered as many whiskey and cokes as he could handle as well as poutine. Wei discovered true decadence with a slice of chocolate cake. Sebastian ordered a ham and cheese sandwich, amazed how an old favorite of his was improved with a simple addition of cheese. James helped everyone navigate the menu and read off the descriptions. Pete walked in soon after, also ordering a slice of cake with a cup of tea. As he marveled at the expats enjoying these foods for the first time, Pete received a call on his Personal Pocket Holographic Projector that seemed distressing, and he walked away.
At 9pm, Nathaniel offered blankets to all the passengers in the car and the lights dimmed for nightime. Appreciating this opportunity for true rest and comfort, the expats slept deeply. Raymond even slept in the dining car, amazed with the ease he could get more drinks. The only one who didn't rest well was Scoot, still preoccupied with whatever he was reading on the interface in front of his seat.
Around 5am, Raymond was the first awoken by a brunette woman offering a cup of green tea in the dining section of the car. Raymond took the glass happily. Wei similarly took a glass offered by the woman. When Sebastian was offered he strongly refused, but as the woman went up to approach James, Sebastian was struck with the familiarity of her face, thinking he had worked with her before. He quickly tried to motion to James to not drink the tea but was too late to stop James from getting a quick sip. As soon as the woman was no longer looking Sebastian voiced to James his concern. James quickly induced himself to vomit in the bathroom to counteract the small sip he had already taken. The expats convened and looked over the facts. Only those from Fuyao Beimei were offered tea, and Emily their contact from Delaera was not. Scoot pointed out that Nathaniel had only instructed them to order from the dining car, and in his broken mandarin exclaimed "No button no tea!".
Sebastian finally recalled that woman, named Ria Fan, was working security with him at Fuyao Beimei, and was worked closesly with Tao Lin. They woke up Pete, who had barely slept the night before, about the situation. He hastily let Emily know, who quickly got on her "Pip" and sequestered herself to the dining car to make the appropriate calls.
Soon the train stopped moving in the middle of the tracks. The expats looked out the windows only to see darkness enshrouding the whole of the desert around them. No luck in seeing anyone running away from the NAUHSR itself. After 30 minutes, the train resumed it course, apologizing to all of its passengers. James suddenly felt very ill, and rushed to the bathroom. The expats realized that there was some intentional serving of the tea, since Ria in her train employee disguise handed the tea over to each person who accepted it. James emerged from the bathroom, worse for wear, and after speaking with his fellow expats, confronted Emily on the situation at hand and how he had almost been poisoned. Emily did convey that she had tried her best to find this person but the security team on the train was able to verify the identity and proper ticketing of all current passengers on the train. James was unconvinced of the effectiveness and returned to talk to the rest of the group.
As they discuss what's next, Sebastian being understandably paranoid about who to trust and Raymond and Scoot theorizing (internally or externally) the ways in which people could act against them and why, Wei reasoned that they are on this train and that Pete has been a man he could trust all this time. He argued that they are on this path now, that they are protected because of their necessary testimony to Neutral Party, Incorporated, and also that no one had thought to provide a description of Ria to Emily in order to assist the security team. After everyone agrees to stay the course to Delaera, James helps Wei and Sebastian give a proper description of the alleged poisoner.
At just after 6am on the morning of January 29th, everyone calms down briefly in the dark morning as they see out the window the concentrated brilliant lights of Las Vegas, the brightest lights that any of them have ever seen in their lives. And yet from there, the trip will not be over.

Character(s) interacted with

Pete Deyes, Emily Asbury, Ria Fan, Nathaniel the train host

Notes

The food on the train was definitely the richest the characters have ever had in a long time if ever.