He entered our car, looked around. Tall, very tall, thin with dark shoulder-length hair. A thin face and deep-set eyes. His coloring was pale, not the festive piñata coloring of other Humans on the train. A black trenchcoat. Jeans and boots, a workshirt. I'd seen guys like this in Mira Costa Community College; the trenchcoat was pretty important; it usually covered up a lack of muscle.

But he moved like it wasn't an issue. There was wiry strength in him; I suspected he was zero body fat, all corded sinew. His head turned but his eyes didn't move in their sockets. Expressionless. A bird of prey. Which was a bummer indeed, since he locked in and sat across from me on the other Human bench seat.

"Got a minute to talk?" Deep voice. Soft-spoken. Confident.

"No hablo el idioma, lo siento." I shrugged.

"You just got here, I know that. I think you're confused and scared, and it's understandable that you want to leave."

So reasonable. "Not even a hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Walsh. I have an offer to make, and I think you'll like it."

"I don't know you. I don't know how you know me, either."

"My people call me Covenant."

"Oh, this guy," said Lux in my ear.

He shrugged, having not heard her. "It's stupid, I know. I'm called Preston Covenant. My real name's Todd Peterson, but they tell me an epic struggle needs colorful characters."

"Nice to meet you, Todd."

"You're on the run. Who are you running from?"

"Everyone. And you, now."

"Of course. You got out of that jail, and you want to go to ground and get the way of things before making a decision. Maybe see the new world, right? You had a flying city spring you from jail and you ran from them. Why do that?"

"Too many bees."

"Those damn bees are creepy as hell. The Feast has lots of other crazy things living on it but those bees…" He shook his head, never breaking eye contact. "The culture has changed a lot. Perhaps you noticed."

"I did see a few things here and there, yeah."

He leaned forward. "Come stay with us. There aren't any unclean monsters. Just people."

I swallowed nervously. I'd never met an actual zealot before. "I'm pretty unclean myself, Mr. Covenant."

He shook his head. "No. Not yet, not at all. You're a Real Human. A Man, that's the name of our group. The Covenant of Man. We have a place for you. We need you."

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"I'm useless to anyone. I'm going surfing. In…uh…the arctic circle."

"That's actually possible, since the change. The Arctic Archipelago used to be where the North Pole and Canada met, right? But now it's all a resort. These eskimos have a primo spot and people love it."

"Inuit," I said. "You say Inuit; my friend in grade school is Inuit and he'd beat you up."

He frowned. "Whatever. If I could tell you about our plan, would you want to hear it?"

"Nope."

"We could change things back," he said, once again not listening to me. "We can give the eskimos back their ancient way of life. Inuit, I mean." He rolled his eyes at having to correct himself.

"Do they want that?"

"How could they not? All Humans are out of place now. Yourself included. And if you joined us, you'd be respected. Wealthy. You're a symbol, you know that?"

"A symbol of what? Wanting to surf?"

"You're a symbol of the change. And you belong to our side. You can make a difference, Owen. Maybe if we knew what you wanted, we could work with you."

I thought about it. For real, not just trying to say things that would make him leave. "The world I grew up in was a prison. This one doesn't seem like it, but I need to see more of it. I want to make my own life. Not have one given to me. Not one that I'm allowed to have by people in power."

"Table scraps," he said.

"Right. The place I remember was always a fight over table scraps."

"I remember. It was worse for me, I think; not that I'd belittle what you went through. You were in the 2020s, as I recall. I grew up before the change. Ever have to beat up another family for a bottle of drinking water?"

"No. But if I look out the window of this fun metal bug, things seem to have improved."

"Come with us and you'll see more of it. This utopia is a sham."

"No thank you. I'll give you my phone number and we can swap war stories, but I just want to be left alone. I do think you mean well."

Todd Peterson Covenant smiled wearily. "I formally recognize your refusal. Thanks." And he stood and left.

"Gotta leave the train," Lux said anxiously.

"Why? Bro wears a trenchcoat in the damn tropics, what's he going to do?"

"No idea–" The centipede lurched. It jackknifed; I could see another segment through my window. The passengers shouted in alarm, or hooted or blooped or whatever. My car tilted upwards as it crawled over another loop of train, then down again.

The forest outside had stopped sliding past. The train had halted.

"Go go go," said Lux into my ear. "Out out out!"

The exit hissed open; I grabbed my pack and fled into the forest. Whirring from overhead. I looked and hovering between the treetops was a quick, precise machine. Drones; I heard more of them nearby.

Great. Great. Now I was afraid and running. Around trees, under bushes. Winding randomly in a way that would be sure to get me lost if I didn't have Lux.

"This plan sucked," I said as I ran.

"I disagree," Lux said. "Their plan worked okay. Disabling the train and grabbing you in the confusion is solid. But you could have just pretended to join up with them and THEN run–"

"Not their plan–" I heard the whirring drone. Felt a sting in my shoulder. Fell. I skidded to a halt using my face as a brake.

"Uh oh," said Lux. "I'm locked in! This could be a probl–"

And that was it for a while.

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