Watch For The Approaching Compartments Please

Being drawn into an animator’s dream is like living in a perfect world, an elastic, out-of-the box world. Out the window against cutout backdrops and exaggerated landscapes, we watch public sites fly by. Our animator has been busy creating magical destinations connected by trains.

Point-A to Point-B trains, horizontal trains, perpendicular trains, trains which never stop, exchange compartments and move people without pause. Trains side-by-side converge, diverge, re-converge, then match speed for a moment, then off — one left, one right.

Stacked rails, transitional rooms, aligned passageways, elevated couplings, worlds briefly conjoined then released. Orchestral dashboards blink and sing. Buses drive on and off trains in-flight as staged components Google preparatory checklists and instruction sets. Everyday transportation meets automation: “Input your destination please.”

Signals sound, worn GPS devices navigate and direct. Overpopulation and having to make the purposeful trek are less intrusive thanks to invention. “Reverse is to the left two compartments, forward is to the right one” as drafted and planned and actual data is interfaced to Production Control for analysis and comparison.

Travelers love the way they move so fast. Families on vacation, commuters on early morning missions, laborers tired after immensely productive days, or just lost souls soothed by the continuous hum and vibration. “Two compartments to the right is the express train.”

“In four minutes, one compartment up and two to the left, a train travels east.” Having to stop to collect and dispense cargo is such a waste of time when the world is large, always growing, always moving, never stopping, never wanting to wait to live — and so 21st century…

It is always about the journey they say: fast, moderate, slow speeds, never still, applied to express, airport integrated, local lines traversing long, midrange, and short distances. Each change procedure passes boarding and disembarking audits.

With a beep in your ear, our attentions are diverted. “This is your stop. Follow the arrows toward your destination please. If you miss this transition, please wait for the next car — ETA: 5 minutes, 20 seconds. Have a nice day.”

The blue light indicates you are ready. Object loaded, carrier unlocked and then relinquished. Like clockwork the carrier is received, locked, its clip secured, transition quality checked, and status updated — “Object Delivered.”

And the green light indicates the manifest match was successful.