A/N: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT.
In this story, the trains are a bit more animal-like in their behavior. I also imagine them as a little more flexible and softer than real life machines. Sort of bio-mechanic.
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Chapter 1
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Lily and Patch both took a deep breath as they arrived at Sodor with Lady. Burnett had sent them on a little vacation, and had asked Mr. Conductor to keep an eye on them. Actually, he sent them and Lady here every year at this time of year, but this was the first time he allowed them to go alone with Mr. Conductor. Lily had protested a bit, she thought they were old enough to go without a babysitter. She had been driving Lady alone many times throughout the last years. She leaned out of Lady's cab to look at the nature unfolding. There were always such fresh air here in Sodor. It was always a pleasure to visit, and this time they were going to stay here for a month, like every year. She had never gotten any explanation to why they had to bring Lady here at the same time every year, for such a long period.
"Look how gorgeous the nature is in springtime!" Patch said with glee.
"I agree! Let us go for a little ride around the island. We're on vacation after all." Mr. Conductor said.
Lily smiled and patted Lady's side. "I'm sure Lady don't mind!"
A happy whistle confirmed that the pink steam engine were more than happy to go on a sightseeing. Lily closed her eyes towards the wind. Lady were always so full of energy during spring, much like the horses at the field, who were jumping and bucking around after a long winter. Being a magic engine, she sometimes took short trips on her own too, something she usually did not do.
"Mr. Conductor? Why do we always have to bring Lady here every spring?" Patch asked.
Mr. Conductor coughed and cleared his throat. "I'll tell you later, ok?"
"Sure…."
They approached Vicarstown Dieselworks, hearing mechanics and other workers shouting, talking and sounds of work.
"Look, how nice the new dieselworks is!" Patch said as they stopped on the rails right outside the fence. There was much activity inside. Lady wheezed, whistled and tried eagerly to drive forward, but Mr. Conductor held her brakes.
"No, Lady, we're not going inside." He said and patted her side. The small engine trembled in excitement.
A lot of noise came from the main building. They heard a frustrated roar, a loud horn sounded shortly after, like from a ship, deep and powerful. Then a lot of swearing, metallic noises, like someone dragged knives along metal bars, clanking and more frustrated roars.
"Get Mavis out of here! She's making it worse!" a mechanic shouted from inside.
"But, I need to fix…"
"Not in here! Fix her in the back shed! Not in here!"
Shortly after a small female diesel engine backed out of the main building, accompanied by even louder and frustrated roars and sounds like an animal trying to break out of a cage. Mavis went around the building, into another shed. A lot of swearing could be heard over all the roaring and noises from the main building.
Mr. Conductor laughed to himself. "It's that time of year again."
"What time?" Lily and Patch wondered.
Mr. Conductor blushed, but kept his smile. "I suppose you guys are old enough to get to know this by now. I'll tell you when we arrive at our cabin. I need a cup of coffee and a sandwich first."
Both teenagers looked puzzled.
Lady tried to pull on to the tracks leading inside the dieselworks, but Mr. Conductor forced her the other way. "No, Lady!"
"Why does she want to go there?" Patch asked.
Another diesel, which Lily recognized as Arry, chugged by, the male engine eyed Lady with huge interest, but did not disobey his driver. Two other diesels followed, reacting the same way towards Lady's presence.
"The engines act kind of weird…" Lily murmured. "I thought they were used to Lady now… at least they didn't act like this when we were here last Christmas."
Mr. Conductor just smiled to himself and mumbled. "It's just the time of the year…"
Finally, they arrived at the cabin, placing Lady in the shed Burnett had built specially for her. Mr. Conductor locked the shed carefully. Lily frowned.
"I just don't want her to run off to the dieselworks…" he started to explain, but then shut up and grabbed the bags with food to carry them inside.
"Ahh… it's wonderful to be here again, isn't it?" he asked as he sat down in a recliner in the tiny livingroom.
"I'll make coffee!" Patch declared and walked to the small kitchen. Lily took out the lunchboxes from her rucksack, handing one to Mr. Conductor and put Patch's box on the table.
"Now, tell us what's going on? Why do Lady and the other engines act so strange?" She demanded and took a bite of her sandwich.
Mr. Conductor chewed thoughtfully, not sure how to start.
"Well… there is a reason why Burnett send Lady here every year at this time…" he began.
"I've figured so, but why?"
"Ugh… not sure how to explain. Umm… you know horses, right?"
Lily rolled her eyes. "Duh… what do that have to do with trains?"
"Well, sometimes…." Mr. Conductor rubbed his forehead, trying to find a way to put it. "Oh, for goodness sake… horses get in heat, ok? So do trains, only for a little longer period at a time once each year. It means they are ready to mate."
Lily liked at him sideways, looking suspicious. "Uhh… right… how do engines… umm… just how?!"
Mr. Conductor shrugged. "Nobody really knows… nobody has ever seen them breed. Or give birth for that sake… but small offspring pops up here and there."
Lily thought of it for a while. Patch had been listening from the kitchen while brewing coffee, he peeked in. "So you say that is why all the engines act so weird? Why do Burnett send Lady here when she's in heat, among all these umm… horny engines?"
"This is probably the safest place to be for her… the Fat Controller had to take care of this problem many years ago. Back then, there was even fewer female engines than today, and every year the males started fighting over them… much as horses do in the wild, they fight to be the alpha and pass on their genes. This urge is very strong in engines."
Lily did not feel comfortable about where this conversation were going. "You're not hinting that he had them all neutered, are you? I know that they do that to horses to make them calmer…"
Mr. Conductor coughed. He was not aware that the two teenagers had this much knowledge about this subject. "Well, yes… all the male engines on Sodor are… uhh… geldings."
Patch cracked up, typical for a boy at his age. He motioned with his fingers, as if he was using scissors. "Snip snip!"
"Oh, sip it, Patch!" Lily giggled and turned back to Mr. Conductor. "Then I guess the engines on the mainland aren't… and that is why Lady is sent here among all these harmless male engines."
"Correct. Burnett does not want her covered. Female engines give off a certain smell when they are in heat, a male can sniff her out from far away… but geldings will notice the smell, but not be that interested. You might noticed that outside the dieselworks."
"Yeah…" Lily blew air on her coffee to cool it down enough to drink it. "The males seemed to notice her, but they were still obedient."
Mr. Conductor swallowed the last piece of his sandwich. "The only negative effect of neutering them is that they won't be as strong as they would be if they had their jewels intact. But on the positive side, they are much more docile and obedient. Easier to control, so the Fat Controller figured he could do with less strength as long as the male engines didn't rip each other apart."
A long, complaining whistle from the shed outside caught their attention. Lily and Patch looked at each other. "Aww… She doesn't like to be locked up…"
"It's for her own good, or she'll run straight to the dieselworks." Mr. Conductor took a sip from his coffee.
"Why the dieselworks? Not the steamworks?"
Mr. Conductor grinned. "You noticed the ruckus when we passed by, right? And Mavis being removed from the main workshop?"
Lily and Patch nodded.
"There is ONE engine who isn't a gelding… and he is kept there. They lock him up there every year at this time, or else… well, let us put it in equestrian terms again. I doubt that "stallion" will go easy on the islands "mares"… so they keep him locked up for a month, until everything returns to normal."
Lily sighed. "No… please don't tell me it's…"
"Yep… the one and only." Mr. Conductor murmured and took another sip from his coffee.
"Who?" Patch said clueless.
"Diesel 10…" Mr. Conductor sighed. "I doubt Burnett would have dared to send Lady here if he had knew about this… but as long as he is locked in his shed, there won't be any problems.
Lily put the rest of her sandwich on the table. She had lost her appetite. "So THAT is why Diesel 10 has a shed away from the others… and why it is secured with both metal bars and reinforced shed doors. I noticed that the last time I was at the works."
"Yep, that and the fact that he isn't a very docile and trustworthy engine… he can be dangerous even when he doesn't smell females in heat. You heard his frustration when Mavis was in there. With that brutal strength it would be fatal to release him in that state."
"Poor thing… locked up in a small cage for a month!" Patch burst out. The other two glared at him.
"It's Diesel 10! Hello?!" Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't you remember how he chased Lady? First, he caused her to crash… and then later, here on Sodor, he chased her until he fell off that viaduct. He's dangerous enough when he is "normal"… just imagine how he would be now!"
Patch looked down. "But… those times when he chased her… it was spring, right? Just like now?"
Lily and Mr. Conductor looked like someone had hit them. They had never thought of that possibility. "Oh…" they said in unison.
"I've never thought about it that way before…" Lily whispered to herself.
Patch looked out of the window to Lady's shed. "Maybe he didn't intend on killing her, just wanted to…"
"Enough!" Mr. Conductor interrupted. This was awkward enough to discuss with two teenagers, Patch did not have to paint nasty pictures in their minds too.
However, Lily had already gotten the inner images; she shuddered and stood up, then ran for the door. "I need to barf…"
Patch rolled his eyes, he found the subject rather interesting. He was about to ask more, but Mr. Conductor raised his hand and made him remain silent.
Lily came back in, grabbing a bottle of water from the kitchen, drinking as she went back to the other two. "Why isn't Diesel 10 a gelding too? Do they use him for breeding purposes? Like with exceptionally strong or fast horses, they use them for breeding, to ensure foals with the same traits…? Ugh… not sure I want to imagine that offspring…"
Mr. Conductor shook his head. "No, they tried a few times, as they would needed more engines with Diesel 10's strength, but the offspring were too unpredictable and uncontrollable. They had to be scrapped. The Fat Controller only keeps Diesel 10 because he has no other engine with the same strength and that claw. Most of the year Diesel 10 can be kept under control and be really useful cleaning up tracks and moving scrap metal from the scrapyard."
"That makes sense." Lily nodded. "But why would Lady run off to the dieselworks, even if there is an alpha male there? She's scared of him!"
Mr. Conductor laughed low. "This is out of her control… I told you these urges are strong in engines."
Patch on the other hand looked thoughtful. "I still think it's unfair to treat that diesel like an animal… would you like to be locked in a cage, barely able to move, for a month?!"
"It's the only way to keep him at bay, Patch. Imagine what damage he could do to the poor females… he is a huge engine!" Lily shuddered again, getting nasty pictures in her mind. "Can we please stop talking about this?!"
Mr. Conductor motioned with his hands that it was ok for him, more than ok, in fact. Patch pouted, he would love to know more, but clearly, he was not going to get another word out of the middle-aged man.
"Can we go to the dieselworks to see? I am curious. I have not seen Diesel 10 up close before. We can leave Lady here… we have bikes." He suggested and looked hopeful at Lily and Mr. Conductor.
Lily sighed annoyed. "Ok… but I don't want any more talk about breeding and such!"
Patch promised not to mention it.
Soon they were on their way to the dieselworks again. Mr. Conductor stopped to talk to one of the workers, telling that he wanted to show the two curious teenagers around.
"Ok, but I must warn you… do not go past the orange cones in the works. Diesel 10 is in a foul mood these days, and anyone coming within reach of his claw is in grave danger. He's calm now, but we never know when he starts acting up again." The worker said, allowing the trio to enter.
"Wow…" Patch muttered as they walked in the dimly lit building. He grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her towards the shed. Two eerie eyes followed them from behind the solid metal bars. The warship seemed tense. Lily felt nervous as they approached. It felt like it was quiet before the storm.
The huge, terrifying engine watched their every move. Lily held Patch back as they approached the orange cones signaling the limits of the warship's claw extension. "Not too close!" she scolded.
At the same moment, Diesel 10 shot the claw out between the metal bars and snapped it in their direction. Viciously, like a hungry beast wanting to eat its prey. Patch whimpered and stumbled backwards.
"I told you this is not an engine to hang around! Let's go have a look at the others instead…" Lily tried to pull his arm. She wanted to get out of here.
"Wow… he IS like a caged animal." Patch whispered.
"Yes, yes… let's go!"
"You poor thing…" Patch said with a calm voice, as if he was talking to a nervous horse. Reaching his hand out to show he meant no harm. "Good boy… nice and calm…"
"No, Patch… he is NOT a cute and cuddly pet…" Lily sighed, but Patch ignored her.
He approached the warship slowly; the engine's eyes followed him closely.
CLANK!
The metal teeth of the claw missed Patch's face with only a few millimeters. Patch fell on his back on the hard concrete floor, crawling backwards until he hit the wall.
"I told you!" Lily scolded.
Some workers approached, rolling some barrels of oil towards the shed. They stopped by the cones, not daring to go any closer.
"What is that oil for?" Lily asked curiously.
The worker looked at Mr. Conductor, who gave a slight nod to tell him that teenagers knew about the state Diesel 10 was in now.
"In his current… uhh… mood, his engine runs constantly and nobody is able to stop him, so all we can do is making sure he doesn't overheat. His pistons are oil-cooled. But, this is as close as we can go… so we just push the barrels within his reach and let him fix the rest himself." The worker said.
"Is he really capable of doing that himself?" Both Lily and Patch were amazed. They both watched in awe as the workers used a long stick to push the barrel past the cones, towards the warship. A deep growl could be heard as the diesel lounged his claw and jerked the stick out of the workers hands, throwing it across the room. Then the claw grabbed the barrel and retreated carefully in between the metal bars. Patch walked closer to see better, but was held back.
"Not too close."
Lily turned her back to the scene; she wanted to see some friendlier engines. Maybe Mavis was still in the back shed. She had talked to that engine before; it was a far more pleasant acquaintance than Diesel 10. Patch hesitated, but then followed her.
They found Mavis and her crew in the back, where they worked on straightening out a dent in her side panel. "Hi, Mavis!"
"Lily! Patch! Good to see you!" the small diesel beamed. "I was hit by a rock in the quarry. Not much, just a small dent, really."
"Yep, we're done soon!" her driver said and patted her side.
"Glad to hear it is not serious." Lily said, stroking her hand over Mavis' livery.
"Why are you working on her back here instead of inside the works?" Patch wondered.
Mavis blushed red and looked another way, leaving the question for the crew to answer. The driver looked at Mr. Conductor, who nodded again. The teenagers knew.
"Because her scent drives Diesel 10 nuts. Even though his shed is sturdy, we fear he might be able to tear it down if he gets too worked up." They said. "Sadly, we might have to take her there to use the lift… one of her wheels needs to be changed. We just have to pray that the metal bars will hold."
Mavis' face turned red as a tomato.
"I want to see!" Patch said, almost jumping in eager. Lily sighed; she thought he had gotten scared when he almost got his face removed just a few minutes ago, but obviously not.
They both climbed into Mavis' cab along with the driver.
As soon as Mavis approached the entrance to the works, hell was unleashed inside. The noise was almost unbearable. Both Lily and Patch covered their ears, but stared fascinated at how the warship struggled to get to the female engine. His cursing and frustrated roars echoed through the works. He snapped the claw in all directions, pulling the bars, ramming himself against them and doing everything he could to break the obstacle down. The claw reminded Lily of a fierce crocodile as the teeth locked around one of the bars, trying to chew through them, the metallic grinding were painful to the ear. Sparks flew through the air.
Mavis licked her lips, her eyes glossed over by lust.
"Snap out of it, girl!" her driver scolded as he loaded her on to the lift. "Don't even think about it."
Lily slowly walked backwards to the safety outside. She did not like this at all; it scared her so much, her legs felt weak. Diesel 10 paused, breathing like an angry bull with his eyes fixed on Mavis. Then he threw himself against the bars again with a fierce roar, snapping the claw to grab the smaller diesel, but she was out of his reach. An oily liquid leaked from Mavis' undercarriage, the sight of this turned the warship howl in frustration, dragging the claw along the metal bars causing a deafening shrieking sound. Everyone covered their ears.
"Cool down!" a mechanic yelled and sprayed Diesel 10 with a fire hose. The huge engine backed into his shed until he rammed the wall, spitting and cursing, trying to avoid the water jet.
For a second Lily felt sorry for the fearsome engine. Spraying him with water at such high pressure was just mean! She leaped forward and pushed the mechanic holding the hose over. "Stop it! You're hurting him!"
Diesel 10 whimpered as he shook his body to get rid of the water, just like a dog. It looked somewhat cute, even though the menacing engine was the complete opposite of cute. Lily smiled. However, the brief moment of cuteness stopped once the warship turned his attention to the female on the lift.
"That's enough. We just have to close the doors completely…" another mechanic said, pushing a button on the wall, making the sturdy metal doors slide shut. Behind them, they could still hear Diesel 10 slamming, cursing and raising hell. At least it felt a bit safer, having two sets of obstacles in front of him.
"We usually keep the doors open, to let the fans draw the exhaust out, but we have no choice when we have to bring a female in here. Phew… I'll be so happy when this period is over." The mechanic explained.
Lily looked at the shut door, hearing the diesel's frustration from inside. Mavis whimpered on the lift, still dripping. The situation felt awkward to the two teenagers, they walked outside.
"I don't need this knowledge about trains…" muttered Lily. "I prefer just imagining them as friendly, docile beings without these… needs…"
Patch did not answer as he found it rather intriguing. He knew he would not be able to sleep tonight.
Later that night. Patch made sure Mr. Conductor and Lily were asleep, then snuck out of the cabin. He overheard Lady's whimpers from the shed as he grabbed one of the bikes that were leant against the wall. Quickly, he raced towards the dieselworks.
Lily woke up as she heard Lady's frustrated noises, sneaking out to check on her. She opened the door and walked inside. "Poor girl… you'd rather be outside, huh?"
She put a hand on the small engine's face, stroking her carefully. A tear blinked in Lady's eye.
"I promise I will take you for a drive tomorrow, ok?" Lily promised and went back outside. Then she noticed that one of the bikes were missing. "That's strange…"
Then a realization hit her, and she ran back inside the cabin, only to find Patch's bed empty. She hissed as she suddenly understood what he was up to. He had shown an abnormal interest of Diesel 10 today.
"No, Patch… you can't be THAT stupid!" she moaned as she took a bike and went the same direction as Patch went only a few minutes earlier.
To her dismay and fear, she was right. As she walked inside the main building of the dieselworks, the gates of the shed were already opening. Patch stood by the control panel. Fierce, impatient wheezing could be heard from the shed.
"Stop, Patch! Hurry up an close the gates! This is madness!" Lily shouted, but had to move out of the way as the gates were forced open by the warship inside, the engine shot out like an arrow and didn't even wait for the turntable to rise before he raced off the edge and incredibly enough, landed straight on the tracks below. A few seconds later, he was gone.
"Wow! Look at him go, Lily!" Patch said in awe.
"You idiot! What have you done?!" Lily grabbed his collar and shook him. "The Fat Controller is not going to be happy… and how on earth are we supposed to get Diesel 10 back in the shed now? We are two tiny, weak humans… and as you saw, even that sturdy shed was barely enough to keep him inside! Oh my God…"
Patch looked like he suddenly realized what bad idea this had been. "I only wanted to let him stretch out a little… being locked up and unable to move must be awful."
"I understand, but you just released the most brutal engine on Sodor! We can only pray that his sense of smelling is bad enough not to find any of the female engines… or we're in deep shit, Patch!"
"Oh crap…"
"Yeah! "Oh crap!"" Lily mocked. "Not to mention… Oh no… Lady!"
The realization hit her like a bucket of ice-cold water. "This will be a disaster! She is the tiniest female on the island… and Diesel 10 is huge!"
Patch looked down at the grey concrete floor. "I'm sorry…"
"Yeah, you should be!" Lily shouted as she threw herself on to the bike and pedaled back to the cabin.
"No… no no!" she yelled as she saw the doors of the shed was open, the buffer Mr. Conductor had placed to keep her inside was knocked over. A wet track was left between the rails. "She has escaped… searching for a mate."
Patch looked like he was about to cry. Lily slapped him. "This is YOUR fault!"
In distance, they could hear a thin, seductive whistle peep. They both shuddered as they heard a deep, eerie air horn answer to the call.
"It's too late…" Lily cried.
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To be continued!
