by Mark Lingane
The young lady next to him hid her smile behind her fan and pretended to listen. “Gosh, aren’t you clever knowing that. The drag coefficient is practically reduced to single digits once the wings are fully extended. Their diametric nature enhances the aerodynamic performance whilst simultaneously venting cool air into the substructure.”
Wings thought Sebastian. Could it fly like the machine Oliver described?
“Oh.” The man stumbled for his words. “Where did you read that?”
“Nowhere, I worked it out.”
“Well, that is very clever of you. Did your father or brother help?”
Her smile behind the fan faded and her eyes narrowed.
“The wings are a pretty color, aren’t they?” he said.
“They say there’s a big storm coming in from the west. I wonder if the turbulence has any impact on its downdraft.”
Sebastian watched Prevaricator and his men run past the window. They returned and Sebastian slipped onto the floor between the seats.
“Are you all right with your feet? I only mention it because you’ve been down there a long time,” said the young man.
Sebastian thought the man had the loudest voice he had ever heard. It attracted the attention of Prevaricator, who started to look in through the windows.
“I’m playing hide and seek with my sister, and she’s won the last five games,” he whispered.
“Right you are then,” the young man replied. The train hissed and jolted. Sebastian gasped then crawled out quickly into the corridor. He saw the reflection of Prevaricator in the window, his weasel-like face glancing earnestly into the carriage. Then he was gone. Sebastian sighed in relief. He scrambled up and ran off down the carriage looking for an exit onto the platform. Each door was locked. The train lurched then slowly pulled away, its heavy puffs echoing in the cavernous roof. He was locked in. He frantically rattled the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge. The crowd on the platform jerked sideways as the train lurched again. He surrendered. The next station would be his only chance to get off and come back. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long.
He didn’t know how fast two hundred miles an hour was in real terms, other than it being a big number. But he was dying to watch the scenery fly past at that speed.
He opened a glass door to a private cabin. It was empty so he sat by the window with his backpack resting on his knees. A long, slow whistle sounded, followed by the loudest release of steam he had ever heard. People were following the train along the platform, waving at departing loved ones.
The face of Prevaricator suddenly appeared against the window, as he smacked his palms against the glass. Sebastian leaped back in surprise.
“There he is,” he shouted. “Stop the train!” The men ran alongside, banging on the windows and trying to wrench open the carriage door. They didn’t see the end of the platform and crashed over the end into the dirt below.
A big grin spread across his face as he watched the men tumble and the station slide away. He folded his arms against the windowsill and rested his chin on his arms.
The train began to pick up speed and gently rocked from side to side. A loud whistle blasted twice as it surged forward. Sebastian watched the pile of Prevaricator and his team disappear around the curve of the track.
The carriage shuddered as something on the roof clunked. Sebastian craned to see and just made out the edges of giant golden wings as they unfolded, curving out and down over the side of the train. Imagine, he thought, a train so fast it needed special wings to keep it on the ground.
Time wore on and the scenery, half concealed by the great golden wings, continued to flash past. A new plan started to form. He needed to get back to New Toowoomba, which meant changing at the next station. Hopefully Isa wasn’t the next one. He reclined into the sumptuous velvet seat and folded his arms across his stomach, which rumbled. Prevaricator’s appearance worried him. He wondered what his interest was in finding him. The door to Sebastian’s cabin opened and a tall man in a blue uniform stepped in.
“Tickets please.”
Sebastian checked his pockets for the ticket and handed it to the tall man.
The man examined it carefully and gave Sebastian a look of annoyance. “What are you doing here? This is first class.”
“I’ve got a ticket.”
“This isn’t a first-class ticket. And this train is going to Isa, not Toowoomba. You could be thrown off for this. Where are your parents?”
“My father’s dead and my mother’s in hospital. The man gave me the wrong ticket, but he wouldn’t change it.” He burst into tears. They weren’t real, but he hoped the tall man in the dark blue uniform wouldn’t notice.
“All right, calm down. That sounds like the Ticketing Department. Is this the first time you’ve been on a train?”
Sebastian nodded as he wiped away the tears.
“We’ll call this a warning. But you’ll need to move to the back of the train, in the coach section. Understand?”
Sebastian nodded again and got up to leave.
He travelled along the train, but in carriage after carriage all the seats were taken. He reached the final one, which was so full that people were standing. He sighed. Then he noticed a door at the far end. It had a sign on it saying: KEEP OUT. PRIVATE. The passengers were engrossed in their own interests or were too polite to investigate, but he was a young boy, which meant he could get away with things.
He quickly opened the door and sneaked through. It was the last carriage in the train. And it was empty. Completely empty. No windows. No seats. The walls were unusual. He knocked on them and they clanged. A closer inspection revealed they were lined with studded metal. The door had the largest lock Sebastian had seen and it was on the inside. Someone obviously wanted to keep people out. He clicked it shut.
He lay on the floor, placed the backpack under his head and rocked gently as the train rocketed along. He felt something sticking into his back. He ran his hand along the floor and discovered a long curved object wedged between the floorboards. After several minutes, he managed to prize out a long cylinder wrapped in paper. The object had the words MACQUARIE BANK stamped on the side. He ripped it open and the neatly stacked coins tumbled to the floor. He quickly scooped them up and counted them. Fifty dollars. He slipped the coins into his pocket. It made him feel a bit better about the price of the ticket.
He longed to see the scenery scream past the window. It was his first time. Surely he was allowed some special treatment. When he was king things would be different.
Prevaricator glanced around and cautiously approached the abandoned shed. An hour on horseback out past the New Toowoomba boundaries agitating the bruises from the station and had put him in a foul mood. Being this close to the city was also a risk. He yanked open the towering rusty door and the sunlight spilled in. Prevaricator was expecting it, but it was still a shock to see what or who was inside. Light shone through holes in the roof, highlighting the dust and buzzing flies. The smell was overpowering, like decaying meat. He was presented with a large back.
“You got brass turning up here.” His voice was full of anger.
@redFive turned and stared at him, his pale face hideous with the scaly skin. Another cyborg stepped in behind Prevaricator and closed the door. They stood in the boiling room spotted with dots of light, face to face. The cyborg’s breath nearly made him gag.
“Who is veterinarian?” @redFive stumbled over the long, foreign word.
“What vet?”
“One that help boy escape.”
“The one who helped him escape. The vet? He’s just the town vet. No one.” He glanced defiantly up into the menacing eyes.
“Probability trees say he can’t exist. His involvement changes trees.”
Prevaricator shrugged. “Your trees can’t know everything.”
“Trees know everything. We have him. We get truth.” @redFive’s fist clenched.
“You won’t get nothing of value from him. I’m the one w
ho knows. I’m the man with his ear to the ground, his fingers in the pies, who’s got all the information. You don’t need anyone else. What is your fascination with this brat? It’s not for anything … unseemly, is it? As I’d have to charge more for that.”
“He is tesla.”
“So was that other idiot on the Birdsville train. He didn’t put up much when you set about him.”
“Weak. Not true tesla.” @redFive turned away and stepped into a cooler point in the room. He reached into a pack and pulled out a small black cylinder that fizzed when he opened it.
“I’m bleeding sick and tired of running all over the bloody countryside hunting down these little vermin. How do you know this is the one, anyway?”
@redFive sighed as he knocked back half a mouthful of water. “He is one.” He turned back to Prevaricator, slowly marching back with each step hissing. “You lose him.”
“I nearly had him in me hands. He managed to slip through the net. He is a cunning rat, certainly.”
@redFive’s hand shot out and grabbed Prevaricator by the throat. “You get him. No excuses. You make me lose my annual bonus over your incompetence, then life is short.short. Understand?”
Prevaricator staggered back, rubbing his throat as @redFive released him. He glared back at the large cyborg.
“You need to be careful with people like me.”
@redFive whipped out his laser and placed the end against Prevaricator’s temple. He raised his hands.
“Careful? Why will I stop to save your small life?”
Prevaricator slowly moved the end of the weapon away. “I know where he’s going.”
“Really? That is helpful.”
“A morsel of information. Nothing like a champion for a cause.” He gave the cyborg a slimy smile.
“Maybe you stay alive longer. Where?”
“Isa.”
“That brings him to us. Why?”
“I would have to conclude even that is beyond me expansive understanding.”
“Follow him. Find why. Earn your money.”
Sebastian was woken by a crippling headache. It rolled over him, a thousand daggers stabbing into his head. The pain was unrelenting, causing him to flounder on the floor. He gritted his teeth and forced open his eyes. And the pain continued, clawing at his face. He could hear shouts and screams from the other side of the door, then a roar like thunder passing overhead.
The train surged forward only to lurch backward again. Screams erupted followed by the ear-piercing screech of metal being torn apart. The train slowed. Something heavy landed on the carriage, denting the roof, accompanied by another deafening roar. The screaming stopped.
The roof closed in on him as he stared up. He could feel heat through the metal and the walls became warm to the touch. Three giant claws, larger and thicker than Sebastian’s arms, punched their way through the roof, slowly and terrifyingly.
The train came to an erratic halt. Another set of claws sank through the roof and clenched. They lifted up, tearing the roof open and exposing Sebastian. He cowered, vulnerable, in the corner as the large head of the beast craned in, searching for him. He could hear cogs turning as its eyes moved backward and forward trying to get him into focus.
Sebastian could see scratches and tears over the face of the beast. It was made of metal. It wasn’t a living creature.
He suddenly realized that despite the beast’s close proximity, he wasn’t writhing on the floor in agony. His body felt like he was being pounded by a thousand punches, but he could tolerate it. It wasn’t as bad as the previous times. Sebastian wondered if being surrounded by metal had anything to do with it.
Eventually the beast settled. Gears whirred and the mouth opened. He caught a distant eruption, which he assumed was from deep within the beast’s body, and saw a small flame dancing at the front of its mouth.
“No!” he shouted. Sebastian could feel the force within him strike out from his body into the heart of the creature.
The beast went crazy. It thrashed its head, denting the carriage walls, which rocked dangerously from side to side. It jerked its head back out, ripping off parts of its own face. It landed heavily on the ground, and Sebastian heard it whipping around, smacking into the side of the carriage.
Another beast glided in low over the open hole in the carriage roof. It landed heavily on the ground. Crunching metal echoed throughout the carriage confines. Sebastian collapsed to the floor, giving in to the pain. As the darkness took him, the second beast soared off above, carrying the wreckage of the first in its claws.
Sebastian didn’t know how long he had been unconscious, but the sun was still high in the sky and the day was still hot. The door back to the other carriages refused to budge. The side door creaked and groaned as it slid fractionally to one side. He wedged himself between the wall and the edge of the sliding door and pushed with all his might, just managing to force it open enough to squeeze out. With his backpack slung over his shoulder, he staggered out onto the empty desert plain.
The front of the train was wrecked beyond recognition, now a charred and blackened mess. The magnificent locomotive engine had exploded, leaving only the wheels intact. The second carriage had melted and was a disfigured, twisted pile of scrap. No one could have survived this. He spotted the occasional bone or skull among the wreckage, but none of it invited further examination.
He reflected upon what had happened. The great beast had been right there, with that fearsome, deadly head a matter of feet away. Yet it hadn’t really scared him. The pain did, no doubt about that, but he felt sure he had known these beasts all his life; they weren’t completely alien to him.
Questions vied for his attention, the most important being, Why me?
There wasn’t much left to do. The train was dead. He didn’t know how long it would be until a search party was sent out. Probably the next day, or maybe in a few days, but that was something he couldn’t count on.
He looked up at the dark clouds in the west. They were rolling in fast, and he couldn’t see any shelter to be found here. He squinted across the plain to the south. He could spot some low hills with trees. He considered them his best chance of shelter.
Hanging around so many dead bodies gave him the creeps, anyway. What if they came back to life like the cyborg by the lake?
8
IT WAS AN hour before Sebastian hit the slow rise at the edge of the woodlands. He could see an outcrop of rocks to his left, warranting further examination. The wind had picked up and rain started to fall. It was gentle for now, but it wouldn’t be long before it became torrential.
Similar outcrops back home always had one part that provided protection—a recess, cave, or overhang. The wind blustered through the narrow crevices, forcing him against the jagged edges. His spirits lifted as he spotted a cave toward the rear of the outcrop. It looked dry and sheltered, out of the wind and rain, and he managed to scramble over the boulders and duck inside just as the heavy rains hit. Puffing, he sat and flicked the water from his hair.
A scraping emanated from the back of the cave. Sebastian sighed. An animal was inside with him. He was sure that whatever it was, it would undoubtedly be terrified when it saw him and instantly relieve itself, stinking up the place.
The creature groaned. That didn’t sound like an animal, he thought. It sounded human. As was the scent. It vaguely, disturbingly, smelled similar to Aunt Ratty.
Sebastian waited for his eyes to become accustomed to the gloom, and was shocked to see a figure wrapped in a blanket lying against the rear of the cave. It was damp and cool, and was certainly a recipe for illness. His mother was always going on about wearing appropriate clothing to avoid catching a chill.
Sebastian picked up a long stick and prodded the figure. Nothing. He prodded again. Another groan, but no movement. He repeatedly prodded until the figure rose, swore, and threw a rock at him. It was a girl a few years older than him.
He was at a loss, finding a girl in such an isolated place, an
d it struck him dumb while she unleashed her verbal assault on him. She eventually finished and glared at him. He stood there, unmoving. The girl sat there, disbelieving his unmovingness.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she said.
Sebastian nodded frantically.
“Well?”
“What?”
More silence extended between them as each tried to understand what was going on.
“I’m not a stupid little idiot, by the way,” he said.
“I didn’t call you that.”
“I know. I didn’t understand most of the words you used, but I got the gist. They’re mainly the words my mother uses when she’s riding a horse.”
She picked up another rock and prepared to launch it.
“What are you doing here?” Sebastian asked.
“What’s it to you? Get out of here.”
“It’s raining.” He pointed out to the tropical rain falling from the dark skies.
“I don’t care.” The girl coughed. “Get out.”
Sebastian stepped out into the rain. She glared at him. He looked forlornly back at her as the rain poured over him. It trickled down his neck into the back of his tunic. He shivered.
The girl sighed theatrically and rolled over to face the back of the cave.
He sneezed.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, come in. But stay over there. And go when it stops.”
He traipsed back in and sat with a squelch. He fiddled with the stitching on his backpack for several minutes until the silence got to him.
“What’s your name?” he said.
“I don’t have one.”
“Oh. I’m Sebastian.” He wondered if he should offer his hand to shake. His mother had many thin books at home with shirtless men on the cover, kneeling before a lady in frilly clothes—unsuitable according to his mother—kissing her hand. But it was raining here and he might get a chill if he took his shirt off.
“Look, you’re going in a minute. It doesn’t matter what my name is.” She coughed violently, curling into a ball. “Stop talking to me. You’re making me sick.”