It was an early morning at the Packard and Co. yard. The machines were all sleeping in after a long night of discussing the body that had been discovered the previous week Isabella and Buster were snoring loudly as they had been struggling to get to sleep and had to be counselled by Kelly, Oliver and Nelson before having a long rest last night. However, everyone's peaceful rest was interrupted by the arrival of a police car and several news vans. The machines opened sleepy eyes as the policeman went inside to talk to Miss Jenny and the cameramen assembled things and the reporters got ready for their stories.
"Can't they just go away." Jack yawned.
"For an hour at least." Byron grunted.
"We need to get to work sometime." Nelson said.
"Oh shush, let us sleep for a minute!" Patrick grunted. However, Miss Jenny came out of the office at that moment, slamming down behind her and the disgruntled policeman followed after. The reporters came over with tape recorders or a pad and pencil in one hand and a cell phone in the other.
"Ok team, I want to get cracking into work today. So today, Fredrick will be coming back from his check up and he will be working with Oliver on digging the underground carpark. Meanwhile," Miss Jenny began but the policeman cut in.
"We require statements from several of you for our invest-"
"Anyway, as I was saying, Jack, Alfie and Isabella-"
"-Investigation about the corpse found in the forest-"
"-will be heading to the quarry to coll-"
"- last week and-"
"Oh for goodness sake, would one of you just finish talking!" Kelly snapped. Everyone looked at him and Miss Jenny stepped forward.
"So, Oliver and Fredrick are digging the basement, Jack, Alfie and Isabella collecting rock. Buster I need you and Byron to start smoothing out an area where the road will be and that's all the work today. Nelson, could you go and collect Fredrick please? And Oliver, Byron, Isabella and Buster, I need you four to come back here promptly this afternoon for an interview with this ever lovely police officer." Miss Jenny said and smiled sarcastically at the man, who snorted at stormed off with halve the reporters babbling questions at him.
"Get to work quickly!" Miss Jenny said and quickly rushed through the reporters. The machines exchanged looks and quickly began their work but were worried about what could happened.
An hour and a half later, Oliver arrived at the clearing and looked around. Pegs had been placed for different areas and Oliver could see tons of stuff was going on: several trees and numerous plants and bushes were being removed and placed in trucks on a siding and Buster and Byron were starting work on levelling the area for the driveway. Oliver looked at nice clear, smooth area and was signalled over by a worker.
"Ok Oliver, I need you to start digging here and dump the mud over there and wait for Max and Monty to arrive. Once you have got the ramp sorted we'll get Buster in here to smooth it out before we start clearing the area for the underground bit." The man said.
"Yes sir!" Oliver smiled and he moved away and started working. Within ten minutes Oliver had gotten a lot done. He had gotten a good rhythm and was about to dig another area when there was a toot of a horn and Nelson arrived with Fredrick on his trailer. The digger's paint was very glossy and he had new tinted windows. His rusting scoop had been replaced with a nice new one and his glasses had been cleaned and his moustache groomed.
"Hello then young chap." Fredrick said, smiling brightly. "You must be Alfie."
"I'm Oliver, Alfie's the little excavator that helped save you." Oliver explained as he rolled over and shook scoops.
"Oh my mistake, I have become rather forgetful with names." Fredrick chuckled as he rolled of Nelson's trailer.
"That feels better." Nelson said and Fredrick and Oliver chuckled.
"Ok, you're helping me out with the carpark." Oliver said and led and the digger over to the site.
"Seems simple enough." Fredrick smiled and quickly started to work. For a few minutes the two were chatting away like old friends, but suddenly Fredrick turned towards Oliver.
"Your digging seems a bit odd." He said. Oliver turned, confused.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you appear to be digging on a slope."
"Well, I am trying to prepare a ramp." Oliver scoffed.
"I think my scoop would be best suited for that job." Fredrick said warmly. "Why don't you try digging the rest of this area and I'll try doing the ramp, eh?" Oliver smiled and nodded and the two replaced each other. However, the excavator fumed angrily to himself. He had been digging his way from many years now and wasn't going to let an old coot get to him.
Later that day, the foreman rang a bell to signal lunch. Oliver deposited his last load and turned around. He and Fredrick had done good work and a worker had said they had dug to the right level and the ramp was perfectly level. The excavator was pleased with this, but wasn't going to give Fredrick the satisfaction of knowing this as he trundled up the ramp after him.
"Nice work!" Fredrick said as Oliver rolled past.
"You two." Oliver replied, putting on a forced smile. Fredrick was suspicious but let it pass as the two came up to Byron, Buster and Nelson.
"That car park is going along nicely!" Buster said, smiling broadly.
"Thanks. It shouldn't take too long to finish." Fredrick explained.
"I bet Patrick is going to love all this extra work." Nelson said and they all laughed except for Oliver who signalled to Byron and the two moved towards one of the remaining trees.
"What do you think of Fredrick?" Oliver asked as soon as they were out of earshot.
"He seems alright, why?" Byron replied. Oliver explained about the digging and the bulldozer boomed with laughter before Oliver shushed him. "You're overreacting."
"But with Ned-"
"Oliver, you and I both now that Ned isn't the brightest bulb in the box." Byron said with an amused look. Oliver sighed and looked over at Fredrick who was talking to Buster and Nelson and they all laughed at a joke he made.
"I suppose you're right." The excavator said at least. There was loud laughter as Max and Monty roared into the area, cackling and disrupting several work stations. Byron rolled his eyes and went to tell them off, leaving Oliver to mull things over.
At Anopha Quarry, Jack, Alfie and Isabella were enjoying their lunch as well. Mavis was bustling about with numerous trucks and Isabella looked at her while Alfie went on about mud.
"Is something wrong Isabella?" The lorry looked around and saw Jack looking at her, puzzled by her unusual quietness.
"I'm fine." She replied and looked away but could feel Jack and Alfie's eyes on her cab and looked back. "Ok, I don't want to do that interview thingy this afternoon."
"Well that is understandable." Alfie said.
"You could try and get out of it." Jack suggested.
"But how?" Isabella huffed. They all exchanged looks, unsure of what to say.
"Hang on, I have an idea!" Alfie exclaimed, smiling. "We have to take the rocks to the hotel site, right?"
"Right."
"So, instead of going via Ulfstead, we could go via Arlesdale." Alfie finished, a broad grin on his face that Isabella copied.
"That is a brilliant idea!" She exclaimed. Just then, a worker came over and told them to get back to work. The three scurried off, whispering about their plan, unaware that Mavis had overheard them.
At the construction site, lunch was finished and everyone went back to work. Oliver and Fredrick were doing well with the car park when a workman came up.
"Hello, sorry to bother you two, but Max and Monty are annoying everyone so I thought I would give them something to do. Could you load them up and then we can send them away." Fredrick and Oliver laughed and the worker smiled before going to collect the dump trucks.
"Here's an idea, why don't you fill them up and I'll keep working on the car park?" Fredrick suggested. Oliver turned to him, a twitch in his eye.
"That isn't how we do it here, we-"
"I am aware how you guys do it, but there isn't room here for two dump trucks. I can just raise my scoop up, dump the dirt and dig up the next bit." The digger smiled.
"I don't think it'll work." Oliver grunted.
"Could we at least try it?" Fredrick asked. Oliver sighed and turned around and went up the ramp. Max and Monty rolled over, sniggering loudly.
"What's got your wires in a twist?" Max sneered.
"Did someone get your scoop dirty?" Monty asked and the two laughed loudly.
"Get out of my way." Oliver snapped and rolled between the two.
"Someone's in a mood!" Max boomed.
"Better leave the nasty old excavator alone." Monty added and they continued to laugh. Oliver scooped up some earth that he had placed there earlier and dumped it into Monty's bed with a loud thud.|
"Keep it down you lot!" Fredrick said, his moustache aflutter with anger. Max and Monty glared at the digger before whispering to each other as Oliver and Fredrick continued to work.
"I wouldn't let those dopey dump trucks get to you." Fredrick muttered to Oliver as he put some more dirt up. However, Max and Monty heard him and looked over.
"Dopey, are we?" Monty huffed.
"We'll show you!" Max growled and the two quickly turned on a ninety degree angle and rushed towards the ramp.
"OI YOU TWO, STOP RIGHT THERE!" The foreman yelled, rushing over. Byron and Buster looked over curiously as the dump trucks raced down the ramp.
"Oliver, do something!" Buster cried out. The excavator looked at the scene.
"Don't worry, I can handle these two!" Fredrick cried and scooped up a large amount of dirt and tossed it at them. The dump trucks were hit and spun wildly. Oliver rolled slowly forwards to see what was going on when the front of his caterpillar track went over the edge.
"Whoah!" He gasped as he became unbalanced and started to shake a bit, causing some of the ground to slip away. Fredrick looked up and gasped. Byron and Nelson began to come over but it too late as Oliver slid forwards a bit, rocking more violently. Max and Monty reversed out of the way as a larger chunk of earth slipped away and Oliver tipped forwards and began to fall into the hole. All of a sudden, Oliver stopped in mid air, half his body into the hole. He looked down and saw he had fallen into Fredrick's scoop. The digger was trying his hardest to keep Oliver upright.
"Hang on there!" He said, his face red and the pain and stress showing. Oliver was shocked by this and quickly stretched his arm out. Fredrick looked at this and saw Oliver putting his arm out onto the other side of the hole and he pushed down to try and force himself back onto level land. Nelson spun around and screeched to a halt.
"We'll have this sorted out in no time! Nelson yelled. Several workmen rushed forwards, one pulled Nelson's winch over and clambered onto Oliver, causing him to shake, and made the winch into a loop.
"Don't snap my arm off Nelson!" Oliver cried. Nelson half-smiled and started the winch. The wire quickly tightened and the transporter began to feel the strain. Oliver pushed back with his arm and Fredrick was able to push Oliver up slightly despite the pain in his bolts. Oliver began to feel flat land and quickly reversed and Nelson charged forwards but the two collided, both panting. Fredrick lowered his scoop to the ground with a crash, panting and red in the face. Byron and Buster came over and began whooping and cheering for Nelson and Fredrick, who smiled wearily. Max and Monty got out of the hole and tried to escape but a silver Land Rover pulled up and blocked them from getting out of the hole.
"What is going on here?" Miss Jenny boomed as she slammed the door of her new car. Max and Monty looked sheepishly at each other while the others laughed.
An hour later the sun started to set and everyone began to pack things up for the day. Several men were staying behind to wait for Jack, Alfie and Isabella. Fredrick was waiting by the railway lines for Nelson to collect him.
"I think Miss Jenny sent him to the airport." The digger looked around as Oliver came up alongside.
"Why is he at the airport?"
"I think he is meeting someone there and collecting them, I am not sure." Oliver fell silent and stared into space. He was about to speak when Fredrick interrupted.
"I talked to Byron." The digger said, smiling. "It's alright, I have had issues with people trying to change my digging style in the past."
"Oh." Was Oliver could muster and Fredrick chuckled.
"Don't need to be so nervous! And tomorrow you can dig whatever way you want to, as long as you don't fall into the hole again." Oliver smiled and the two began to head home and talked about old projects they had worked on and were soon good friends.
There are many things you never want to see on the road. Traffic jams, animals or people going across it, a car crash or some other blockage. A container would definitely fall under the latter.
"What are we going to do?" Jack huffed. He stared at the large container blocking three quarters of the road as Isabella and Alfie looked for possible ways around. The three had chosen to go past the Haultraugh Forest near Duck's branch line and were being held up by the blockage. The sun was setting and the sky was now a mixture of orange, pink and blue as night began to fall.
"I bet that Elizabeth dropped it here!" Isabella huffed.
"It is too big for her to have carried in the first place." Alfie said. "And too heavy for us too move!"
"Well, we could just go on the grass." Jack suggested. There was a slight hill along the road that made a gap between it and the forest.
"Fine, but if my tyres get dirty you'll never hear the end of it!" Isabella grunted and she began to trudge through the mud. Suddenly, her left wheels became stuck in some mud.
"Help!" She yelled.
"What's wrong now?" Jack asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Isabella snapped.
"We haven't had some good mud in a while!" Alfie grinned and began to dig. Jack helped but the two started to hear a strange noise.
"What is that?" Jack asked.
"What's what?" Isabella inquired.
"It sounds like…. a ticking." Alfie said. The three exchanged looks and looked at the container.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" They yelled and Jack and Alfie dug furiously as Isabella desperately tried to escape. But it was too late. The ticking stopped and the container exploded, blasting the three machines down the hill. They tried to scream but the sound of the explosion deafened them and they skidded away into the forest as bits of melting metal and smoke rose high into the air. The blast was heard across Duck's branch line and at Tidmouth, leaving everyone puzzled. As Jeremy the Jet Plane soared over the scene, he stared down and saw a black Ute rushing away for the scene.
"Well that's interesting…."