CHOO-CHOO!
The ten-thousand-car Light-Year Sword-Rail Express roared out of Wormhole Tunnel #50 in a flash of warm golden light.
Up in the front cab of the engine, Old Yellow the Golden Dragon-Camel stuck his shiny, scaled head out the side window, chewing on a mouthful of roasted star-oats while the wind flapped his long ears. Beside him, Old Wei kept his scarred right hand steady on the brass throttle lever, easing the massive train down onto the newly laid yellow sword-beam tracks of the Crown-Star Sector.
In the dining car near the front of the train, Pei Xuan sat by the wide glass window with a porcelain cup of hot Sweet-Spring green tea in his hand. Across the table, Hong Ling was happily stacking neat bundles of paper Grain-Notes into an iron safe, while Abacus Su polished his round spectacles with a velvet cloth.
“Look outside, Young Master,” Hong Ling said, pointing a chubby finger at the starry sky beyond the window. “We just left the dark underworld rifts behind, and this Crown-Star Sector is full of gold! Even the clouds around those upper moons are dyed purple and gold!”
Pei Xuan looked out the window.
Sure enough, high up in the starry sky above the planets floated dozens of huge, glittering island-palaces carved from white jade and purple gold. Giant statues of proud men and women with glowing purple crowns on their heads stood on the edges of the floating islands, pouring dirty bathwater and kitchen trash straight down…
