When he at last came to a stop beneath a starry sky, Rusty the steamer noticed first the salt on the air, which told him they had braked near an ocean. (He did not know yet which one, but he suspected the Atlantic.) He then saw lights in the distance across a large field wet with dew and noisy with crickets.
However, as he looked about to get his bearings, the young steamer frowned. He turned to the figure beside him. "Poppa, there ain't no rail tracks here."
The older steamer gave a mysterious smile - Poppa could have won an Olympic gold in mysterious smiles, a fact Rusty had become more and more aware of since the night he had won the great train race last summer. "Just hold your peace, son. We got work to do tonight."
With a stride that one wouldn't think his old limbs could muster, Poppa started across the field toward the lights in the distance. "We'll stay invisible for now," he instructed with a hint of laughter. "Don't want to scare no humans out this late."
Rusty followed obediently. Whatever Poppa had in mind had come from the Starlight Express - that magical Midnight Train - to help the young man in his apprenticeship. Ever since the Starlight Express had chosen Rusty to be his new avatar, the steam locomotive and his foster father (who doubled as his predecessor) had traveled all over the globe, helping trains who needed them. One never knew where the celestial rails would lead next, but as the two engines neared a small building, Rusty stopped and squinted at the figures in the fenced-off lawn.
"Are those… boats on land?"
"A maritime museum," answered Poppa. "Some of those watercraft ain't been on the sea in fifty years."
"What we doing here for?"
Poppa smirked. "You think the Starlight Express only helps trains now?"
"Well… no, no. I guess he'd help anyone," reasoned Rusty. "I just ain't heard of it before."
"Well, you didn't hear much back when you was a switch engine stuck in one yard," replied his foster father. "Now move your pistons, boy."
Singing rose on the wind as they neared. Many of the little lights were actually small fires which the stationary boats encircled. Reverent faces glowed in the rays of the orange flames, and several hands rose, stretching for the stars above.
So, these are boats, thought Rusty as he stopped, still invisible, to watch the antiquated group near the museum's front gate. A few speedboats often zipped up and down the river by his home rail yard, but they were usually in work mode, serving their human owners. What Rusty saw now was the watercraft equivalent of racing mode. From the waist up, the old vessels had torsos like trains, but instead of legs, they had decks and keels in a variety of styles. It reminded Rusty a little of merfolk, which he found fitting under the circumstances.
A distinguished boat raised his hands, and the singers around him fell silent. A crudely carved toy barge rested in his gnarly fingers. To Rusty's surprise, the boat suddenly swung it down, smacking it against the concrete beneath his lower parts. He spat on it thrice and tossed the toy boat into the flames. "Thus we defile the Barge," he told his neighbors.
"So must he be defiled," responded the others with one reverent voice. They each withdrew toy boats and did the same as their leader.
"Are you coming or what?" asked Poppa up ahead with a chuckle.
Rusty regained his sense and hurried after his mentor. "What's going on here? Some kinda cult?"
"Follow Poppa now," replied his senior, and the locomotive chugged toward a quiet corner of the museum's yard. Several boats slumbered in the dark, their snores the only other sounds besides the odd hymns, the crickets, and the sea breeze.
Poppa rolled toward the stonewall on the perimeter. An elderly boat slept with his bearded chin upon his chest, hands folded on his deck. A mast with a tied-up sail rested upon his navy-blue sailor cap. A lamp hung on the point of his bow, revealing wrinkled olive skin that contrasted with his white hair. A plaque stood at the end of a small concrete walkway which said this vessel, called the Barkus Boatner, had smuggled supplies to a French town during the Nazi occupation.
"Friend of yours?" whispered Rusty before he remembered the boats could not hear him.
"Hush," replied Poppa. He dropped his invisibility, which Rusty copied, and the wrinkled engine gave a soft clink of his alarm bell.
The veteran ship snorted, jerking upright. "I weren't napping, Admiral, sir. Just resting my eyes, I was."
"Evenin', Captain Boatner," Poppa said respectfully. "Permission to approach."
The ship yawned. "Permission granted," he mumbled, shaking himself. He blinked twice at the locomotive. "So, you're back then, train man?"
"Was in neighborhood," Poppa replied brightly, and the two antiques shook hands.
Captain Boatner rubbed his white head before his dark eyes fell upon Rusty. "That your boy?"
"One of 'em," grinned Poppa. "Rusty'll be coming to visit you in the future."
"I am?" mumbled Rusty.
Boatner snorted, picking at the dark-blue sleeve of his sailor suit. "Hmph, still not sure what interest you trains have in a boat museum." However, his dark eyes seemed to gleam with interest despite his efforts to the contrary.
Poppa shrugged. "Aren't we all museum pieces in the end?"
"The lucky ones," grunted Captain Boatner.
Rusty gestured toward the singing. "Some kind of party going on?"
Boatner shook his head. "That'll be the service for the Sun Barque."
"Not your night to pray, I see," observed Poppa, earning a sharp glance from Rusty.
Prayer? Service? What was going on?
Captain Boatner stretched his arms behind his back. "Nah. We rotate and all. It's a never ending war we fight, so you gotta let your sailors rest if you wanna win a battle."
"What war?" asked Rusty.
Captain Boatner shook his head. "Uneducated landcraft! If it weren't for us boats, you would never see the sun again."
Rusty rose an eyebrow. "Run that by me again?"
Poppa touched Rusty's shoulder with an expression that said "Hush, boy." He then stretched a respectful smile for the aging boat.
"Tell Rusty that story you told me about the Sun Barque, Captain. I know he'll want to be educated in your ways."
"Feh!" said the captain gruffly, but the lamplight revealed a faint smile. "The first thing you wheel men need to know if you want to see your next birthday is that we pray each night so that the Sun Barque may return to the river above."
"You mean the sky?" asked Rusty.
"That's one name for it," answered Boatner, settling down. "No rails for you trains up there, but I'm sure the Sun Barque ain't picky about who prays to him."
"I'm sure he doesn't," said Rusty, shooting Poppa a questioning look.
However, the older engine sat down upon the nearby stone wall as the ship began his story.
Before land, there was the First Water. From the dark waves came the First Boat, who created herself. She had great power and great wisdom, and she sailed through the eternal night, commanding every drop and spray of mist.
Yet she was lonely in the darkness, so the First Boat sneezed upon the waves. From that sprang a great light, bright enough to blind anyone. This became her son, the Sun Barge. But from the ripples of his birth, a great Barge appeared. Before mother or son could catch him, the Barge escaped into the darkness where the Sun Barque's light could not reach.
Together, the Boat Mother and the Sun Barque brought forth life. As they moved through the sea, their waves created the rocks which became land and trees, and from the trees the first sailors built the mortal boats. In the stream of the sky river, the Sun Barque created the ships who travel the great night ocean as stars.
Yet all was not well. The ugly barge who had appeared at the Sun Barque's birth was in fact the Barge of Chaos, a vessel carrying all the evil and corruption in the world. Anywhere he went, the mortal ships began to rage war, and many sank beneath the waves to their graves.
The Barge hated the order the Boat Mother and the Sun Barque brought. In the First Water, everything had been dark and one. The First Boat had instead brought Order, which had made everything of opposites and differences. Wet and dry. Night and day. Sea and land. If the Barge could force the mortal ships to kill each other, then he could bring the world back to the chaos of the First Water.
However, the Sun Barque had compassion for even the lowly rafts of his creation, and he challenged the Barge to battle. They fought for five days straight before the Barge fled and disappeared into the Below Sea, beneath the horizon. Yet the Sun Barque knew his war had only just begun.
If the Barge could kill the Sun Barque, then eternal night would fall. Chaos could return then and rule. Yet rather than send sailors to fight in his place, the Sun Barque took up the task to challenge the Barge, far into eternity.
Thus the Sun Barque descends each day to battle the Barge of Chaos beneath the horizon...
"Did you say something, lad?" asked Captain Boatner, glancing up as Rusty made a noise.
The young steamer covered his mouth to hide his smile and shook his head. "And, ah, what do you think of, uh, scientists and their, ahem, idea that the earth goes around the sun instead?"
Poppa's elbow connected with Rusty's side just as Boatner's eyes narrowed. The sea captain folded his arms. "Just an illusion by the Barge to keep the faithful from aiding the Sun Barque. That old rogue will do anything to kill the source of light."
Poppa nodded kindly. "What comes next in the story, Cap?"
Boatner scratched his white beard. "Hmm, hmm, now where was I?"
The Sun Barque is not alone on his quest. The other boats of the sky join his fleet at sunset. The star boats who make up the winter constellations help him in the summer months, and the star boats of the summer help him in the winter, making sure light is always in the sky while the Sun Barque is gone.
The mortal boats aid him with their prayers. Services are held where effigies of the Barge are burned, which weaken the Sun Barque's terrible foe.
At each hour beneath the horizon, the Sun Barque comes upon a new pier and a new gate to pass through. Each gate is guarded by fearsome battleships of the Below Sea, but the star boats in the Sun Barque's navy assist him. At the first pier, the Ship of Venus comes forward and silences the guardian. The Ship of Venus returns to the sky above, her part finished, but the rest of the fleet travels that hour in peace.
At the second pier, the Sun Barque passes the gate, but now he travels upon a river of fire. Yet it does not bother him, for his own flames are like cannonballs against his foes.
At the third and fourth piers, the Sun Barque greets the ferries and rafts of the netherworld. These look upon the souls of dead boats and tow them to await judgement on their mortal lives.
But it is at the fifth gate, an hour after midnight, that he comes upon his great foe, the Barge of Chaos. All the prayers the faithful mortal boats have offered up during the night give the Sun Barque and his allies strength in this long hour.
The Barge has been defeated every night thus far, but he is always healed again by the next night. Even when the Ship of Sirius shattered him to splinters with her cannons, he was whole by sunrise. It is an eternal war, but it must be fought at all costs.
At the sixth pier...
A snort brought Captain Boatner to a stop. He glared at the younger steamer. "You find something funny, boy?"
Rusty, who had been shaking with silent mirth, bolted upright. His tan skin gained a hint of red in the light of the captain's lamp. "I, uh, no, no, sir."
Captain Boatner drew himself up. "I tell you that you landlubbers are alive today because us boats bring up the Sun each dawn for over a thousand years. If we decided to stop, night would never end. Then where you trains be, eh?"
"Surely, you don't really think - " Rusty started to say, but Poppa grabbed one of his holdings and yanked him back.
Poppa touched his cap. "We still got stuff to do tonight, and you've been generous with your time as it is. Good night, Captain."
"Feh!" the captain answered, looking away.
They returned to their invisible states as they left the museum. In the next moment the earth melted beneath their wheels, and the stars surrounded the two trains. Poppa led the way down the celestial rails, as fast as light, and soon the small bright bulb in the distance grew into the massive sun. If he had looked upon it with mortal eyes, Rusty would have undoubtedly been blinded.
Poppa braked, allowing himself to drift in the star's orbit before he turned to his protégé. "What did you go and laugh at him for?"
Rusty shrugged, sheepish. "I thought he was joking. Who believes the sun goes underground to a spirit world?"
"It's an ancient religion," frowned Poppa. "Not all boats follow it, but those who do are devout. Care must be taken if you want to teach them something different."
"If they ain't gonna listen to a science teacher, what can we even do?" Rusty turned away from the hot sun and studied his planet in the distance. The blue dot was a marble against the blackness of space, but Rusty could sense the Australian trains speeding beneath a bright, clear sky.
Rusty tapped his chin. "Why don't we use the Starlight's power and take the boats up here to see the earth spinning around the real sun?"
"And then what?"
"Then they'll see the truth."
"And then?" Poppa waved his arm to the burning star beside them. "What if they believe it's all an illusion by the Barge of Chaos to make them stop helping the Sun Barque and bring on eternal night? Would they ever listen to the truth then?"
Rusty pulled a face. "No, I don't reckon they would."
Poppa rested his hand on his foster son's shoulder. "You've been given a lot of power, son, but you can't use it to overstep your bounds." He tapped Rusty's forehead, not unkindly. "Remember the old rhyme? 'The Starlight Express hears your request. He's there all around. The Starlight Express will answer you yes. He's waiting to be found.' Notice it don't say 'he's waiting to force himself on your life when you're not ready for him.'"
Rusty had to admit Poppa had a point. Even though the Starlight Express had chosen Rusty to be his next avatar, the Midnight Train had not shown himself until Rusty was fully ready to believe in him.
"What do we do then?" asked Rusty.
"Tomorrow, you're gonna apologize and ask the captain to finish his tale. No smart-alec questions."
Rusty hung his head. "Yes, sir."
"Boatner is a good man," said Poppa. "He risked his life smuggling supplies to France during the war. Do his deeds mean less because he thinks the sun is a giant boat he prays to?"
"No, sir."
"If you show him respect rather than ridicule, eventually he'll start respecting you. Then he'll be more open to listen to what you believe in, even if he doesn't agree at first." Poppa's smile returned. "Bit by bit, he might start to think that the Sun being a star makes more sense than it being a boat. But even if he doesn't, you'll've built a bridge so that he could see the truth if he wants to."
"I guess that makes sense," agreed Rusty.
"That's my boy." Poppa swatted at Rusty's cap, sending it floating into space.
Rusty grabbed it with a grin. If Poppa had told him a year ago he would have the power to visit outer space, he would have snorted and told his foster father he had a bridge to sell him. It boggled his mind to think that the man who used to tuck him in at night could do all these things, but Poppa knew what he was doing. Rusty just had to learn what the old man had to teach.
Poppa held up a fist, giving a hiss with his piston. "Come now, we still got work to do before dawn breaks back home."
With that, they zipped down the starry rails to the blue planet ahead.
THE END
I had originally tried to work the Ra's underworld journey into a retelling with trains, but railroads were invented after man discovered that Earth revolves around the sun. Why would trains then believe a sun locomotive goes into the underworld? Then the idea came to me that since boats have been used since ancient times, it would make more sense for them to have sun-based myths. That said, in the CATS fandom, some writers will have the Jellicles swear by Bast, the Egyptian cat goddess. What if boats in the train-verse swore by Ra's solar boat, the Atet?
The bit about the Boat Mother is based on the version where Neith is the mother of Ra. My description of the Barge of Chaos hating order and opposites is based on Joshua J. Mark's description of Apophis for Ancient (put a period here) Eu.