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We’re all suddenly stuck here in this desert, forbidden to communicate with our parents or the outside world, and we’re feeling oppressed. Insecure. So what do we do? Why, it’s natural—we get a mass hallucination. Nothing but nothing happened in Old John last night, except we all freaked out. So forget it. It’ll probably happen again tonight till we all go crazy and get ourselves shipped to the funny farm.”
    Bodenland stood up.
    â€œPeople don’t go crazy so easily, son. You’re just shooting your mouth off. Why, I want to know, are you so keen to discount what you actually saw and experienced?”
    â€œBecause that thing couldn’t be,” retorted the student.
    â€œWrong. Because you try to fit it in with your partial systems of belief and it won’t fit. That’s because of an error in your beliefs, not your experience. We all saw that fucking thing. It exists. Okay, so we can’t account for it. Not yet. Any more than we can account for the ancient grave up there on the bluff. But scientific inquiry will sort out the truth from the lies— if we are honest in our observations!”
    â€œSo what was that ghost train, then?” demanded one of the girls. “You tell us.”
    Bodenland sat down next to Mina again. “That’s what I’m saying. I don’t know. But I’m not discounting it on that account. If everything that could not be readily understood was discounted by some crap system of belief, we’d still be back in the Stone Age. As soon as we can talk to the outside world again, I’m getting on to the various nearby research establishments to find out who else has observed this so-called ghost train.”
    Clift said quietly, “I’ve been working this desert fifteen years, Joe, and I never saw such a thing before. Nor did I ever hear of anyone else who did.”
    â€œWell, we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
    â€œJust how do you propose to do that, Mr. Bodenland?” asked the girl who had spoken up before. Supportive murmurs came from her friends.
    Bodenland grinned.
    â€œIf the train comes again tonight, I’m going to be ready to board it.”
    The students set up such a racket he hardly heard Mina say at his side, “Jesus, Joe, you really are madder than they are …”
    â€œMaybe—but we’ve got a helicopter and they haven’t.”
    Toward evening, Mina climbed with Bernard Clift to an eminence above the camp and looked westward.
    Joe had been away most of the day. After having persuaded Larry and Kylie to stay on a little longer, he had ridden out with them to see if they could track down any signs of the ghost train.
    â€œWhat’s out there?” Mina asked, shielding her eyes from the sun.
    â€œA few coyotes, the odd madman rejecting this century, preparing to reject the next one. Not much else,” Clift said. “Oh, they’ll probably come across an old track leading to Enterprise City.”
    She laughed. “Enterprise City! Oh, Joe’ll love the sound of that. He’ll take it as an omen.”
    â€œJoe doesn’t believe what we’ve got here, does he? That’s why he’s allowing this train thing to distract him, isn’t it?”
    Mina continued to stare westward with shielded eyes.
    â€œI have a problem with my husband and my son, Bernard. Joe is such an achiever. He can’t help overshadowing Larry. I feel very sorry for Larry. He tried to get out from his father’s shadow and rejected the whole scientific business. Unfortunately, he moved sideways into groceries, and I can see why that riles Joe. No matter that he’s made a financial success and supplies the whole southeastern area of the USA. Now marrying into Kylie’s family’s transport system, he’ll be a whole lot more successful. Richer, I should say.”
    â€œDoesn’t that please Joe?”
    She shook her head doubtfully.