Chapter 29 - And Hope Came Shining Through

Melanie sat stone still on the sofa as Layton managed to this time easily disengage the laptop from her hold.

"You?" Came the disbelieving whisper.

"Go ahead and laugh." Layton offered as he set the laptop aside.

But Melanie only continued to stare up at his voice for a moment, then slowly shook her head. "I'm not laughing." She replied finally. "But Layton, you...you don't just walk into an engine room and start working on an engine."

"And I suppose I don't just come up from the Tail and start leading the train either." He answered her.

"Look, you've said it yourself many times. The engine can be very...temperamental...on a good day."

Layton crouched down in front of her. "Look, I know this is probably the craziest idea I've ever had..."

"No. That was us living together."

Layton rewarded her with a small laugh. "Ok. The SECOND craziest idea I've ever had..."

Melanie shook her head. "No. That one was us SLEEPING together."

Layton paused for a moment. "Do you like...have a list or something?"

Melanie nodded. "And just so you know, it's fairly long on this subject."

Layton sighed. "OK. It is one of my 'crazier' ideas. But I'm not talking about a degree from MIT here."

"Good. Because I happen to know they are not handing those out right now."

Layton smiled at her. "I'm just talking about the basics."

"Layton, there are no basics in an engine. And look at me! I am a trained engineer. I have the diploma and years of experience. I built this train. And yet I STILL got injured. And by a stupid, careless mistake. An injury that could cost me my sight. This isn't a game!"

Layton let his voice drop off to a more serious tone. "I know that." He replied. "But I think I should know at least something about how this train works. Don't you? I mean...I have literally NO idea what 99% of anything on this train does. For instance, I have no idea what...what Hydro-syncro-biopumps do."

Melanie gave a small sigh. "Hydro-syncronized envirocentral pumps."

"Point made. I can't even call them by the right name, let alone know what they do."

"They're the reason you get to take a nice warm shower in the morning or turn on a faucet and get clean water."

Layton fanned his arms out. "You see! I didn't know any of that five seconds ago."

Melanie stared back at him for a few moments. "Tell me you're not just doing this so I have something to do. Because, Layton, it isn't worth it."

Crouching in front of her, Layton shook his head at her again as he took her hands in his. Even knowing she didn't see it, he thought she might at least feel the movement.

"I'm not going to deny it would be good for you to have another project to work on."

"But Laudreys..."

"...plan will practically run itself now. We've laid the ground work for them, Melanie. Who's the one always telling me to make people on the train do more themselves?"

"That plan isn't a third grade class experiment, Layton."

"And it isn't rocket science either, Melanie. Now, they're all adults, what we're asking them to do isn't that far outside of the realms of what they're doing now. All that's required to make it work now is a little cooperation."

Melanie pulled her hands free as she crossed her arms in front of her. "In case you missed it today, that was not the prequel to a bunch of people who work well together."

"And I'm not saying to just turn them loose and hope for the best. We'll check on them from time to time. Get reports from the people over them in those areas at the counsel meetings. We'll keep watch. But that doesn't mean we have to be standing there every second of every day.

Now you have to admit to the benefits here all around. You get to do something new and different, I get to learn something more about the train. And who knows, I may get that MIT degree yet."

Melanie sighed as her arms dropped back into her lap. Maybe this would be a good thing. Maybe somewhere in it all they could get their relationship back on track.

"Well?" Layton asked when she didn't say anything.

Melanie sat for a few more moments, but then finally nodded. "All right." She conceded. "We'll start in the morning. But ONLY the basics, Mr. Layton. If you show me you are serious about this and you can learn what I teach you, we'll move on from there."

The next morning, as promised, Melanie followed along beside Layton as she allowed him to lead her to the engine room. He was actually a little surprised she agreed to the idea so easily. To his knowledge, since he took over the running of the train, only two people entered the engine itself. Melanie and Bennett. On occasion Javi also worked there, but only under Melanie's direct supervision.

"Don't touch anything." Was her sole comment as they entered the engine itself.

As soon as he stepped into the forward engine, Layton half expected something to physically reach out, grab him, and throw him back out the door. But as he cautiously followed behind her, and no such attack was forthcoming, he settled in to looking at the area around him.

It didn't surprise him in the least that Melanie was able to navigate the area without so much as a single mis-step. Only occasionally did she reach out a hand to guide herself. But for the most part she led him, unaided, through the front area to where she wanted them to be.

Without much flourish, she turned back to him.
"Welcome to the engine, Mr. Layton." She stated. "Always keep in mind that one wrong move in this area could be your last. So I expect you to follow my instructions and only do or touch what I tell you."

Layton was actually glad she couldn't see the smile that came to his lips. He had seen her in just about every situation the train had to offer, but never so completely in her element. When he had first come to ask for her help she had only been in the front area of the engine. Barely ten feet past the access door. Where she had led him to now was far deeper in the engine then that had been. By his estimates, they had walked a good five minutes to get where they were now.

But standing there, watching her, Layton felt like he was truly facing down his train. The very heart and soul of it all wrapped up in this remarkable woman.

"What is this place?" He asked finally, looking about at the area they stood in. To him it appeared they were standing in simply another corridor, flanked by rows of panels that beeped or clicked or hummed while displaying an array of lights that never seemed to stay still.

"This is the heart of your train." She explained. "If something were to go wrong, this is the first place you will want to come to get the real scope of the problem. While it's true the other engineers monitor the engine from the main control room, that only gives a certain amount of limited information as to what may be wrong. Always think of that as your starting point. It will tell you what is wrong in basic terms, and where. For instance, do you remember my telling you about the Hydro-syncronized envirocentral pumps?"

"From last night. I remember."

Melanie gave a slight nod of approval. "They are spaced every ten cars down the train. They have to be kept synchronized to each other because they are all connected to the main pump in the forward engine. If one falls out of synchronization, it sets up a chain reaction. The main pump doesn't know what's wrong. It only knows something is. It responds to that data. Likely there will be a shut down. Water pressure down the train will drop and all systems supplied by those central pumps will stop working. This isn't critical in and of itself immediately. You'll have time for a deep analysis of the situation. An hour...perhaps two.

For that, you need to come here. These panels run constant diagnostics on the engine. It's the first place I come to every morning to assess the condition of the engine. But you need to know where to go to find the information you need. To accomplish that, you'll need to learn each of these panels and what they represent."

Layton was extremely glad she couldn't see the look on his face now as he carefully looked up and down the long corridor of enclosed panels they stood in again and began to take in the scale of what he was facing. But he was the one who suggested this, and he wasn't about to back down less than ten minutes into it.

After half the morning had passed with them hardly moving ten feet from where they started, Layton was beginning to think Melanie was just having fun with him. Trying to see how long he would keep this crazy idea of his going as she talked almost non-stop, pointing out one panel after another and the specific area of the engine each reported on.

But he did think a little clarity of his intention was in order.

"Melanie." he finally called a halt to her instruction.

The head engineer turned back to him. "Yes?"

"Could we maybe back up a little here?"

"Back up?"

"Yeah. I may have gotten a little lost along the way."

"Lost?" She questioned. "From where?"

Layton thought for a moment. "I'm thinking from the point past where you said 'Welcome to the engine'."

Melanie frowned at him. "Really?"

"I'm kind of getting the idea that you're treating this like some sort of joke on me. A 'Let see how confused we can make the poor dim-witted police detective while we try to explain complicated engineering concepts to him until he just gives up in frustration'."

Melanie simply stared back at him in silence for several seconds. "You honestly believe I would do that to you?" She finally asked in a lower tone.

Layton could hear the hurt in her voice and quickly back pedaled.

"Look, maybe it's just that you're not used to teaching."

"I am very used to teaching, Mr. Layton." She quickly countered. "I've been helping Javi for seven years learn as much as I can teach him about this engine." She quickly pointed towards the direction she assumed was the main engine room. "I have a whole room out there of apprentice engineers, some of them brought up from the Tail, might I add, who had a desire to learn."

"OK," Layton tried to calm some of her ire, "but have you ever tried to teach someone who for most of this morning has literally had no idea what you're talking about?"

Melanie quickly stopped, and there was a long pause as she silently stared back in the direction of his voice.

"I'm sorry." She finally said. "And maybe...maybe I was being harder on you than I should have been. I just...I wanted you to understand what you're asking here, Layton. This isn't teaching you how to mediate problems on the train or how to delegate authority. This is hard core engineering. This is how this engine runs."

Layton sighed quietly. "Well, maybe we need to back up a bit more."

"How far?"

"Maybe we start out in that main engine room. If I had more of an idea about what happens out there first, maybe I'll have a better idea of what happens in here."

Melanie paused for a moment, but then nodded slightly. "All right. We'll start with the main engine warning systems and work from there."

And so the rest of the morning was spent out in the engine room. But Layton also suddenly found himself no longer the sole object of Melanie's attention. Since she was going to be teaching him, she deemed the time best spent as also a refresher course for the other engineering apprentices, who numbered about ten currently in the engine room.

The structure of the lessons also changed dramatically. Melanie quickly switched from simply relaying a seemingly endless list of information to running the class as more of a Q and A session, with her fielding the apprentices questions to answer, calling on them each by name. And there was no lack of enthusiasm on their part. To Layton they seemed more like a class of students all vying to be teacher's favorite. All waiting with an eager expression on their faces to be the next name called.

By early afternoon, Melanie called a halt to the class, much to the disappointed grumbles of the apprentices. Layton listened as each of them went back to their assigned duties, but not without each first stopping to thank Melanie for the class and voicing how much they missed time with her teaching them directly. Two or three of them actually dared a quick hug, and not one didn't miss the opportunity to wish her a quick recovery so she could come back to the engine.

"They sure seem to miss you." Layton commented to her when the last one left back to their station in the engine room.

Melanie didn't answer him, but he also didn't miss the small wistful smile.

"I wasn't aware you spent that much time with the apprentices." He finally said.

"Well, who did you think taught them?"

"Bennett?"

"Bennett helps, most certainly. Otherwise I'd be doing nothing but teaching all day. But before my...accident..." she added with a note of caution, "I spent part of every day here teaching them."

"They sounded like they missed you...a lot." Layton added.

"They miss learning." Melanie replied stoically as they left the room. "Because Bennett has to help Javi cover my shift, he doesn't have time for lessons right now. So of course, they simply want..."

Layton stopped her just outside the main engine room, turning her to face him as he cut her off. "They miss YOU." He repeated.

Melanie paused for a moment in his hold before finally shaking it off and continuing down the corridor. "Can we just go get some lunch or something?" She asked.

But Layton didn't miss the smallest smile on her lips even as she turned away from him.

After going back to the cabin for a quick bite, Melanie brought him back to the engine, stating she would go over the panels with him again, as with his morning lessons, they may make more sense now on how the warning systems and the panels were connected.

While it did tend to now correlate better for him, Layton also appreciated the fact that Melanie was going over each panel more slowly, and making sure he understood what she taught him by making him repeat it back to her as he understood it.

The new teaching method proved to be quite effective and by the end of the afternoon, Layton felt he was already getting a solid understanding of how things worked in the forward engine.

Just as they were finishing up, Bennett appeared in the area they were working in.

"Thought I heard voices." He stated with a touch of surprise. "What's our new Chancellor doing in the forward engine?"

"Layton wanted to start learning some of the basics about how the train works." Melanie replied quickly.

"Good." Bennett answered her. "When he gets bored here, send him forward and I'll start teaching him the helm. We could use another driver."

Layton immediately pulled the brakes on the suggestion. "Whoawhoawhoa! I'm not ready to drive this train, Bennett!"

"I'm not talking tonight." The engineer replied as he walked off with a slight shrug, then quickly added, "I was thinking more of tomorrow night."

Layton stood staring after him for a second before he turned to Melanie. "He's joking, right?"

Melanie echoed the shrug. "Hard to tell with him. But you think I'm a hard teacher? Just wait. Bennett believes in 'practical lessons'. So don't be surprised if he starts your lessons by sitting you at the helm."

As they returned to the cabin, Layton insisted on a quick stop at the Market to get something to eat, stating his brain was too tired to even think about cooking that night. And as that one of her rarest pleasures was eating out, Melanie didn't put up much of a fight.

When they returned to the cabin, Melanie made a beeline for the sofa. Layton expected another repeat of the night before, with her grabbing for her laptop and presuming to work till the early morning hours. But to his surprise she sat down and, reaching behind her head, began to undo the wrapping that held the bandaging over her eyes in place.

"What are you doing?" He asked, walking over to her. "It's not time to put your drops in yet."

Melanie paused for just a moment, then returned to the task. "I'm tired of having this on." She stated firmly.

Layton quickly sat next to her, taking her hands to stop her. "Whoa, lady!" He stated. "That's not part of your treatment plan. The doctors said this has to stay on."

Half of a determined expression stared back at him. "For how long, Layton?" She stated, taking a solid stance on the matter. "A month? A year?"

"'Until the doctors say' would be nice." He returned with just as much force. "Your eyes are still healing. Give them a chan..."

But Melanie quickly cut him off. She was sick of hearing everyone tell her 'these things take time', 'be patient', 'give your eyes a chance to heal'.

"They are NOT getting better, Layton!" She all but yelled at him. "I'm blind. And that's just how things are. It's time you accept that. I have."

Layton expected her to respond with some sort of protest, but not with utter defeat.

"If you take the bandages off before the doctors say, you could very well be blind forever. WHY won't you listen to someone else for once!?"

"I HAVE been listening. But nothing's changed. And I am sick of having my eyes closed all the time."

In truth, Layton could see her point. It had to be aggravating to have to have bandages over your eyes 24/7, keeping them closed. Just being able to blink again had to give her some relief.

"OK, Compromise." He offered.

Melanie crossed her arms in front of her. "What compromise?"

Layton gave a quiet sigh. "You can take the bandages off at night, but you have to put them on again in the morning after you put the drops in that Dr. Castillo gave you. Deal?"

Melanie considered the offer, but finally gave him a curt nod. "Fine. Off at night. On during the day."

Layton carefully began helping her unwrap the bandages around her head. When they had finally gotten the wrapping off, Layton carefully took the two gauze covering off her eyes, then gently wiped them down with a saline solution.

When he was finished Melanie carefully opened her eyes. It wasn't the first time since the accident, but she didn't get to do it very often. But it was pure relief to her, even though she couldn't see, to just open her eyes.

Layton gently placed a few fingers under her chin as he tilted her head up. "OK. I guess at least this way I can see an express..." But he stopped suddenly.

Melanie immediately reacted to his broken statement. "What? Is something wrong? What do you see?"

Layton shook his head slightly with a small smile. "Your eyes...they're...they're green."

Melanie huffed at his statement as she pushed his hand away. "My eyes have always been green, Layton. What's the point?"

But Layton quickly took her head in his hands and tilted it up again, this time towards one of the lights by the sofa. "No, I know that." He stated in an enthusiastic tone. "But after the accident...there was a film over your eyes. I couldn't see what color they were. I would have called them grey then. But now...they're green now, Melanie. They are definitely green."

Melanie stilled in his hold, staring ahead at the darkness. "Are you sure?"

Layton nodded again, forgetting once again she wouldn't see it. "As sure as I am of anything. It's not totally clear, but I can see the color of the irises now." He kept his hold on her face, smiling down at her, his own hope evident in his tone. "And they're definitely the prettiest green eyes I've ever seen."