Consciousness returned like surfacing from deep water—slowly, with pressure in the ears and light that seemed too bright. Alex's first thought was that they'd fallen asleep at their desk again, because that would explain the strange dream about aurora and train whistles. The second thought was that their desk had never been this comfortable.
They were lying on something soft, wrapped in blankets that smelled like jasmine and machine oil. The combination should have been unpleasant, but instead carried an odd comfort, like a hug from someone who worked with their hands but never forgot to buy nice soap.
Alex opened their eyes to find themselves staring at a ceiling that curved gently overhead, painted in warm golds and reds that seemed to shift subtly in the light. Definitely not their dorm room. Definitely not anywhere they'd ever been before.
Memory crashed back in fragments: the aurora, the music, the feeling of being watched by something vast and incomprehensible. They sat up too quickly, head spinning, and immediately regretted the sudden movement. The room tilted sideways before settling into a gentle, rhythmic swaying that felt remarkably like...
"A train," Alex whispered. "I'm on a train."
The observation car—because that's clearly what this was—stretched out in elegant curves of polished wood and brass fittings. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered a view that made Alex's brain refuse to process what it was seeing. Stars. Not the distant pinpricks visible from Earth, but vast, blazing suns that hung in space like cosmic jewelry. Nebulae painted the darkness in shades of purple and blue that had no names. And beneath it all, rushing past in a blur of light and shadow, a railroad track that extended into infinite space.
"This isn't real," Alex said aloud, hoping that speaking the words would somehow make them true. "This is a concussion. Or a coma. Or a really elaborate prank."
"Oh good, you're awake." The voice carried a warm accent that Alex couldn't place, tinged with genuine relief. "I was starting to worry about you."
Alex turned toward the voice and immediately felt their brain stutter. A woman approached from the far end of the car, her red hair catching the light from the impossible stars outside. She wore clothes that looked like they'd stepped out of a vintage travel poster—elegant and practical in equal measure, with an air of adventure that most people only managed in their dreams.
"Himeko," Alex breathed, the name escaping before they could stop it.
The woman paused, tilting her head with an expression of polite curiosity. "Have we met? I'm fairly certain I would have remembered finding another person floating in space." She settled into the chair across from Alex with fluid grace, cradling a steaming mug that smelled like coffee and hope. "Though I suppose introductions are in order regardless. I'm Himeko, navigator of the Astral Express."
Alex stared at her, trying to reconcile the living, breathing person in front of them with the character they'd guided through dozens of missions. Every detail was perfect—the confident way she held herself, the slight smile that suggested she found the universe perpetually amusing, even the small scar on her left hand that the game had never explained.
"This is a dream," Alex said, more to themselves than to her. "A really, really detailed dream."
"If this is a dream, then I'm curious what your subconscious thinks of our coffee." Himeko gestured to a small side table where another mug waited, steam rising in lazy spirals. "Though I should warn you, Pom-Pom has very strong opinions about proper brewing technique."
Alex reached for the mug with trembling hands, half-expecting their fingers to pass through it like smoke. Instead, they found warm ceramic and the rich aroma of coffee that somehow managed to taste like comfort and adventure in equal measure. It was real. Impossibly, incomprehensibly real.
"Where am I?" Alex asked, though they already knew the answer.
"You're aboard the Astral Express," Himeko said gently. "We found you drifting in space near the Herta Space Station. No ship, no equipment, no explanation for how you survived in vacuum." She studied Alex with eyes that were kind but sharp. "Care to explain how that's possible?"
The rational part of Alex's mind—the part that had spent four years studying astrophysics—screamed that none of this made sense. People didn't survive in space. They certainly didn't get transported into video games. This had to be some kind of elaborate hallucination brought on by stress and too much caffeine.
But the coffee was real. The gentle swaying of the train was real. And Himeko's concerned expression was far too complex for Alex's brain to have simply invented.
"I don't know," Alex said finally. "I was in my dorm room, playing... studying for finals. There was this aurora, and music, and then..." They gestured helplessly at the cosmic vista outside the windows. "Then I was here."
Himeko nodded as if interdimensional transportation was a perfectly reasonable occurrence. "The universe is full of mysteries. Some are beautiful, some are dangerous, and some are both." She sipped her coffee thoughtfully. "The important question is: what do you want to do now?"
"I want to go home," Alex said immediately. "I have finals tomorrow. I have a life, even if it's not a particularly impressive one."
"I understand." Himeko's voice carried genuine sympathy. "Unfortunately, I don't know how to send you back. The cosmos has currents and patterns, but they're not always navigable in reverse." She leaned forward slightly. "However, you're welcome to stay aboard the Express while we figure things out. We have guest quarters, good food, and the best view in the galaxy."
Alex looked out at the stars again, at the impossible beauty rushing past the windows. Part of them—a part that had spent too many nights dreaming of adventure among the stars—whispered that maybe this wasn't the worst thing that could happen.
The rational part of their mind told that first part to shut up.
"Okay," Alex said. "Okay. I'll stay, for now. But I want to understand what happened to me. And I want to find a way home."
Himeko smiled, and it was like the sun breaking through clouds. "Excellent. Let me introduce you to the rest of the crew. I think you'll find them... memorable."
As if summoned by her words, the sound of excited chattering drifted from the direction of the other train cars, punctuated by what sounded like someone arguing with a conductor about proper safety procedures.
Alex took another sip of impossible coffee and tried to prepare themselves for whatever came next.