CHICAGO, ILLINOIS U.S.A – Northerly Island Hyperloop Terminal: APRIL 11, 2141AD – 4:55am

Although Emmeline had lived in Chicago most of her life she had never taken the Hyperloop but she knew all about it. The principle was simple enough, put a maglev train in a giant tube and suck out all of the air. In a complete vacuum there was no resistance allowing the vehicle to move along the tunnel at incredible speed. The train itself had no need to be aerodynamic and although the designers had done their best to make it appear pleasing to the eye, packing the most passengers into the interior was the main goal. So it looked, quite frankly, like a slightly crushed Pringles can with a windshield (no pun intended) at either end. The sides of the train had large curved windows giving riders a full panoramic view of the countryside as it whizzed by at 1500mph.

Cindi had expedited all the pre-boarding and customs paperwork so Emmeline and Richard flew through the massive open air terminal on Northern Island and found there seats in first class just in time. The hostess for each compartment gave them pre 'take off' instructions including warnings about G-Force induced headache and vomiting and not long afterwards they began moving slowly out of the rail-yard. They chugged slowly up a thirty degree incline, sounding more like a rollercoaster going up the first hill than a high velocity super train, then eventually leveled off in the main tunnel about forty feet above the ground. At this point the train entered the airlock and stopped. Overhead televisions screens showed them a rear view of the airlock door spiraling closed to seal them in. A flashing yellow display showed the parts-per-million percentage dropping to zero as air was sucked out of the tube. Then the airlock in front of the train opened and they slid out onto the main tube-way. The short trip through the southern end of Chicago was nothing spectacular as the Hyperloop's speed was heavily regulated in the city but once they entered the countryside the pilot came over the public address system and instructed everyone to be seated and the hostesses came around to ensure harnesses were properly fastened and loose items put away. A young woman with a crying baby somewhere near the back of the train seemed to cause a commotion of some sort but it was quickly dealt with and the captain announced the countdown to acceleration.

{Emmeline please relax your heart rate is dangerously high...} Cindi said from inside of her thigh pocket.

Richard gave Emmeline a concerned look but she shook her head and said, "Audio off..." through gritted teeth. 'God, we must look like a crazy people!' she thought. Richard had split the seam in his jacket and her dress was filthy and torn at the shoulder where she hit the vault door. All of the other people in first class were dressed impeccably. This was not, after all, a cheap form of transport.

The green counter on the over head screen reached ten seconds and began to flash red and yellow against a black background. Emmeline let herself sink back into the soft cushions of her seat as she had been instructed. Richard reached over and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Four... three... two... one... suddenly it felt as if an elephant were sitting on Emmelines chest. Three Gravity's of pressure pushed the air from her lungs and she struggled to take a breath. It only lasted twenty seconds but she felt that she might never breathe again. The screen had changed to show the G-forces at work and they slowly dropped from 3G's to just half a G. Emmeline was gasping as were many others who had never experienced the Hyperloop. Richard had the opposite reaction to the heavy G-forces... he was asleep. The business man to her left, obviously a seasoned traveler, gave her a small smile as he retrieved his news tablet as if nothing had happened.

A short time later the captain informed them they had passed the speed of sound and, were it not for the fact that they were in a complete vacuum, they would have heard a sonic boom.

By the time they reached the outskirts of Gary Indiana the train was at maximum velocity, according to the information screen they were traveling at 1509mph. The scenery outside was nothing more than a blur of farm land and trees so Emmeline polarized her portion of the window and tried to sleep.