It was harder than she'd thought to figure out how to make living creatures on the train. The hardest part was making sure it was stable. Each creature carried around it's orb as a heart and power source, if the physical form glitched or wasn't stable, there was a likely chance the heart would simply break. That would make two of them.

She'd selected an orb marked for a companion denizen- she figured it would give Alrick the highest chances of being stable. But it was still ridiculously difficult to manipulate into what she wanted.

You could say that again. Her once nimble fingers were cramping from the delicate work of programming. One's robotic hands couldn't feel pain hence the overly difficult way of making creatures- but she certainly could.

But at least unlike making scenery, the body was projected immediately- none of the wasted time programming each individual tree took. She had to be careful with how much time she took.

How many months had she wasted wandering around the train before she figured out how to get to the conductor? And then how many more years had she spent trying to learn how to work the train, how to make what she needed. One had been created with all necessary knowledge already implanted in his programming- there were no manuals, no instructions, no help, nobody to assist her, to bounce ideas of, to simply be with. There was no Alrick anymore.

How much time had she wasted lying in her unmade, dirty bed? Unable to get up and move- anchored to it by the cold empty spot beside her. That Alrick had used to fill.

Not for much longer. Soon she'd have a helper, an assistant, a friend-

-she clipped the final wire in the orb's workings and felt it hum with power. Charging its energy. Not long before projection now-

-a husband.

The orb's light shot on, bright as the reflection of light on a coffin's glossy lid, and then a translucent hologram surrounded it. Spreading outward from the orb to wrap it in a cocoon of skin- soft, warm, pale skin. With light coverings of blonde hair on his gangly arms and legs.

His face was featureless. Just a ball of flesh with dotted lines on it- like the sort a plastic surgeon would use. One had added various notes like "nose here" and "do NOT put an eyeball here" on the forehead- she had to laugh. How could a creature that understood humanity so little expect to help them! No wonder he refused to help her. She'd have to make sure she destroyed that insolent machine as soon as possible, after she finished here.

Alrick's eyes were unopened. But that was for the best. Having to look into his emptied eyes, knowing that he couldn't see her- that he wasn't even there- that was for the best.

But the featureless bulb he had for a head was very disconcerting. Even after all she'd seen. She flexed her cramping fingers, exited the pod she'd repurposed and hobbled over to her washbasin and bed. Where her treasure was.

She gently picked up his glasses- the only clean and obsessively wiped thing in her whole living quarters- and placed them on his face. Or what would be his face. She decided to save that for last.

She started on the rest of his body first. The birthmark she'd traced with her fingers, the moles on his arm that were burned into her mind, the appendicitis scar. His overly long fingers and his pillowy palms. She came out of her pod again to hold his hands. Ran her fingers over them to check- texture? Temperature? She somehow forced herself to drop them and went back to work.

Now his clothes. A few lines of code and he was in his graduation uniform, a few edits and he was in his suit. She quickly changed him into his casual clothes- the suit and his limp body had reminded her too much of the funeral service. A few more lines of code and he had shoes.

She put in the coordinates for his hair line and carefully watched it grow, weeding out straying hairs. As a young girl it had been the softest, longest hair she'd ever seen on a boy. As children she'd always played with it, idly ruffling it half as a joke half out of the desire she'd always had to touch him and never let go. She'd once asked him if he'd ever cut it,

"No," he'd replied, "I would never."

"why's that?"

"Because…" he'd said, suddenly shy. Shyer than usual, that is- was, "I like it when you play with my hair."

She smiled at the memory and let it grow a little longer. Longer than it had been as an adult at least, longer than at the time of his de-

Next to start on the face. She carefully shaved away excess flesh like a sculptor. She chiselled ear holes and nostrils into his head with her master computer before folding skin over them. He had ears and his characteristic hooked nose now. She'd used to plant kisses on it and how he'd laughed and laughed and laughed. She would have to be extra careful when making his audio files- if he was one note off she'd know immediately and everything would be ruined.

His body was finished now. He lay limp as a puppet on the worktable and she exited the pod to admire her work. He was so beautiful… He lay completely still, his hair not even rustling, not twitching. He looked as if he was peacefully sleeping, and now finally finally- after literal years, he was going to wake up.

Now for his programming. There was only one place to get the sufficient amount of information and data about him- about his habits and hobbies, the sound of his voice the way he always knew exactly what to say to make her feel better. It was her.

Where her original passenger tape had gone she had no idea. And while she could search for it, doing so would waste time. Time that needed to be spent in the engine room. She exited her pod and knelt down before the memory steward she'd had shipped from the tape car, about to become the first person on the train to be conscious for the making of their tape. Not something she was looking forward to…

She sat there for a long time as all the years she'd spent with Alrick were pulled out of her head in ropes of tape. From there she extracted the data and uploaded it into the sphere he had at the centre of his body. She sent the steward back to the tape car.

"Now watch this…" she said, she'd gotten into the habit of talking to herself. There wasn't anyone else to talk to after all. "I'll press go. And it just won't work." She clicked her button and indeed, Alrick didn't move.

"See that's… that's not right…" Sadly casting her gaze downwards she caught sight of something written in her notes, "Unless…"

She amended the way she was pasting the data in, held her breath, and clicked her buttons again.

There was a groan from the work table behind her. An unmistakable, tired, alive groan.

Alrick blinked his aching eyes as the world swam into view. He felt so… strange… He shakily sat up and rubbed his temples before looking around him.

"Goodness gracious…" this wasn't his home. Or even his city. Looking at the strange metallic surfaces and flickering screens he was reminded of the terrible sci-fi films him and Amelia liked to watch for fun- and he had the sinking feeling that wherever he was, it wasn't even in England, "where the devil am I?"

It was then that he noticed the elderly woman standing at some sort of super computer several feet away from him. She had greying brown hair and she looked at him with wide eyes. She must be surprised to see a complete stranger in her house- if this was her house. Alrick was about to apologise when she suddenly smiled at him.

"There's no devil… it's just me love…" There was an inexplicable sadness in her voice. Maybe she was also lost, like him- he was lost, wasn't he?

"Madam, excuse me but where are we… what-what is this place?"

"It doesn't matter." she said with more passion than he expected and rushed at him, touching his face with wrinkled hands while laughing ecstatically. He couldn't help but notice that one of her palms was covered in what seemed to be a glowing tattoo. And though he'd never seen her before in his life there was something familiar in her old face now that it was inches away from his own, "You're here! It's really you! We're together again! At last!"

"Pardon me but who-who are you?"

The smile vanished from her face. "Who am I?"

"Yes. Do we… know each other?" Alrick asked awkwardly, taking a step away from her, "Have we met before?"

The woman didn't say anything for a while and then quietly whispered, "Yes... Yes we have."

She looked at her hands, turning them over as if noticing their aged appearance for the first time. Alrick watched in horror as she brought them, shaking, to her eyes to wipe away her tears. Though it was probably just a trick of the light, the tattoo on her palm seemed to...change?

"Now now keep calm. I'm sure we'll both find a way out of this place." Alrick tried to reassure her. But with each word he said she seemed to just become sadder. "Goodness what happened to you?" he asked in despair.

"I lost someone…" was all she said.

"I'm so dreadfully sorry. Were you close?"

"Yes. Yes we were close. So close…"

Alrick readjusted his glasses awkwardly. He never had been good with other people- especially not crying old ladies. Amelia was always the one who took care of these things when they had to deal with relatives or rude waiters. Where was Amelia anyway? What had happened to her? Why was she missing? "Sorry for your loss." he said sincerely.

"My husband…" the old woman sobbed.

"Oh dear. That is awful. I can't imagine how I would feel… If I lost my Amelia..." He looked around him for any signs of her but aside from an untidy bed and the strange machinery there was nothing. He was about to ask the old woman if she'd seen her when she put her hand- the one that wasn't glowing- in his.

"But I'm right here. Alrick don't you see… don't you understand… we'll never lose each other." she touched his face again and a green glow shone in his eyes, "We can be together forever."

"Amelia?" Now that he looked at her face up close he could recognise traces of his Amelia, her soft skin hardened by the years, her crowfeet deepened and her chestnut hair slowly fading to a grey colour like the metal machines around her, "But… you're so old."

"It's been years."

"Years?" Alrick repeated, "But… How and… what? What is even going on here? Where are we? And who… who did this to you?"

Amelia sighed. "Time did this to me love. It's been a long time since we last saw each other. But never mind, it's all in the past. You don't need to worry yourself. We can just build a car with our old life and-"

"What do you mean build a car?" he interjected, "What do- what?"

"A train car." Amelia explained, "I can make our old home, our university… everything."

"What are you talking about?" None of this made any sense to him. Amelia was so different and she was so unlike the person he'd known, Amelia had always been so happy. So carefree and vibrant, but now... "Are you really my Amelia?"

"Yes! Yes of course I am!" she insisted, "I may look a little different but I'm the same person- same as you. Yes things have changed and your body is-"

Amelia stopped talking and cursed herself for mentioning that. But it was too late, Alrick quickly placed a hand on his neck, digging his fingers in as he searched for a pulse. He pressed until he was sure his skin would puncture but there was nothing! He gasped and realised that had been the first time he'd breathed since waking up. Terrified, he held his breath. After he'd mentally counted to 70 with no pain or discomfort he realised he no longer needed to breathe.

"What happened to me?"

"Nothing." Amelia said. Alrick gave her a look, "Nothing you need to worry about." she amended.

Alrick knew there was no way that could be true. He was a scientist by nature and all things had logical explanations- so all of this, Amelia's age, this strange place, his even stranger body. It had to have an explanation.

"You said you lost your husband. And that we hadn't seen each other for years…" Alrick said slowly, "How long was I asleep… I don't understand. I'm not dead am I?"

A strange, triumphant smile spread across Amelia's face, "No… No you are not dead. Isn't it wonderful!"

"No it isn't!" Alrick snapped, "I can't remember the last place I was. I can't…" There was a sharp pain in his chest as he tried to remember his house. He could see the building but the smell of the air, the feeling of the metal door handle- he couldn't recall it. And the pain just grew worse and worse the more he tried. "I'm trying to think but my memories are all so strange. I…"

Her computer screen flashed red. Amelia ran to it and started checking the error messages- trying to stabilise him. The train claimed that the animal companion orb she'd used couldn't withstand the huge database she'd uploaded to it, and now that Alrick was feeling fear, pain, existential terror like the sort an animal companion wasn't supposed to feel his system was being overexerted. A few more minutes of this and he'd break.

"Alrick no! Don't think about it! Don't think about the sad things! I didn't use the right kind of orb- you won't be able to withstand the strain on your system- you'll break yourself apart!"

"My system? My system…" Alrick had always adored science fiction. It took the technology he loved and made it something fantastical- light sabers, space stations the size of planets, robots. He suddenly remembered films about robots masquerading as humans- convinced they were human. His system she'd said. "Amelia this may be a silly question but is there a chance that I'm not actually human anymore?"

Amelia didn't say anything. And with each empty second the lack his heartbeat grew louder and louder.

"Please tell me that I'm being silly." Alrick whispered.

"You're still Alrick." Amelia told him gently, "Whether you're human or a machine doesn't matter- remember when I asked you to marry me? We really CAN bridge the gap between our two species."

"But why! What… what happened to my body?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does!"

Amelia frowned and nervously twirled a greying strand of hair around her finger. There was no easy way to tell your husband that he was, technically, a dead person. Not exactly something you can go to couple's counselling about- though there was a couple's counselling car on the train. She'd imagined being reunited with Alrick for years but never like this. "Very well, after you… passed away things were difficult for me," she said with as causally as she could, "but I found a way to bring you back- I can bring everything back! There won't be any more tears… isn't that wonderful?"

"No that's horrible!" Amelia looked at him in shock as Alrick broke down. The screen behind her flashed with warnings and bathed them both in blood red light, "What have you done! What have you done to me?"

"What?"

"Amelia… I'm not…" Alrick took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes to compose himself. He took a deep breath though he supposed he didn't need to anymore, though it felt natural to do so. But that didn't mean he was natural, "I'm not who you seem to think I am. My memories don't feel right- I don't think they're even my memories. They must be someone else's- the actual Alrick's. I'm not him. I'm not even… I'm not even a human my sweetheart." Alrick glanced at the beeping screen, catching the phrase SYSTEM SHUTDOWN REQUIRED, "You said yourself that my system isn't strong enough… so soon I won't even be alive anymore."

"Don't say that… I worked so hard… I've been trying so hard for so many years. I can't lose you again. I finally got you back…" Amelia sobbed. The thing that wasn't Alrick put his arms around her and rubbed her back gently.

"But you haven't got Alrick back." It was strange to use his name in the third person but it was the truth wasn't it? Alrick was someone else, he was the one that was strange. "I'm a different person- if I even am a person. But I do love you. And… if the way I feel for you is anything at all like what Alrick felt then I can safely say: Alrick wouldn't have wanted this."

"Then what do you want!" Amelia screamed at him, "I've given you your life back! I can make our home again! I can give you everything! What more could you possibly need!"

"You." Amelia stopped as the thing she'd made looked at her with her dead husband's eyes and told her, in his voice, the thing she'd been running from half her life; "I need you to move on."

Alrick reached for Amelia's hand, noticing that the tattoo was some sort of number wih rapidly changing digits. It seemed to be counting down. "Amelia… you look so lost, you look so alone. Where are our friends?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen them in years. I've probably been declared dead by now."

Alrick watched the screen out of the corner of his eye. It now said SYSTEM SHUTDOWN INITIATED. "I think you should try to find them again."

"But I can't. I can never go back… not with your empty seat haunting me… Not with the hole you left."

"Now now darling. I don't know what it's like to go through the loss you have. If I had lost you then perhaps I would find myself in your position. But… but if that was the case and you were in my shoes you would be the one telling me to move on. Think about it. All the years you've been alone- you wouldn't want that for me would you?"

Amelia shut her eyes as she imagined an elderly Alrick slaving away, all his passions and hobbies abandoned, all his friends and family discarded, wasting his precious life just to bring her back. "No."

"Then why do you want this for yourself?"

"Because I- I can't move on… I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I could've brought you back." The number on her arm increased.

"But you expect me to live with myself knowing that you're living a lie?"

Despite everything she had to smile. Her number divided itself and retreated from her shoulder to her elbow, to her wrist, to just being on her palm. A little more and she'd be at zero. "I made you too well. That's just what Alrick would say. I never thought he'd try to talk me out of it, but of course he would."

The red light cast by the computer changed to a white glow on Amelia's smiling face. But Alrick wasn't looking at her. He was looking only at the words printed on the screen:

SHUTDOWN INITIATED.

"Oh Amelia. I'm so sorry… I'm so sor-"

Alrick collapsed onto the floor, shivering as his body shifted under his clothes. The painstakingly created limbs were undoubtedly shortening and growing bloated- the softness of his skin become hard and unmistakably green. He swivelled his mishappen head and beady black eyes stared back at her. The creature rolled onto its shell and stood back up.

The turtle, still wearing Alrick's glasses, trotted towards her and nibbled her sleeve.

Amelia didn't move. Just a few moments ago Alrick had been back. He'd been with her- talking to her, looking at her with his beautiful face. And now he was gone. Just like before, all it took was one minute for her life to be ruined.

Amelia shoved the creature away and slammed her hands onto the control panel to summon the unfinished car which now acted as a dumping ground for all her other failed experiments.

Many miles down the train the residents of the university, jam and whoopee cushion car were suddenly knocked off their feet by the world around them shooting forwards.

Amelia opened the hatch and tossed her failed attempt into the car, then slammed it shut and sent the unfinished car as far down the train as she could. She didn't even process that she had forgotten to take Alrick's glasses off it.

Her head started spinning so she sat down on the floor and put her head in her hands. How could this have happened? She'd been so close... so very, very close...

This was all the train's fault. These confusing controls, the lack of logic and science, if only One had simply given in and made the car for her! None of this had to happen! That was right… it was all One's fault for letting her suffer like this, for refusing to give her the one thing that would make her happy again- that would make him happy again, and it had claimed the train existed to solve problems. What problems had this train solved! It had only created more and more and now she was going to have to figure out an alternate way to making Alrick.

And she would make him. This was just a… minor setback. Trial and error did include error after all. Every great scientific discovery was built on mistakes. One day she would tell Alrick all about these stupid turtles and hear his beautiful laughter.

All she needed was a clean slate to start with- that was easily done. She summoned a new car. She went back to work and unseen, the glowing number on her arm trickled further up her shoulder and onto her neck as it multiplied.