Frozen In Time - Rescue

Part XIII - Putting A Plan In Motion

As the group moved through the corridors, Melanie kept a careful watch out every window they past. As that Big Alice was meant only to be a supply train, it wasn't built with the same considerations as Melanie put into Snowpiercer. And viewing windows as an unnecessary luxury on the supply train, she had kept them to a minimum, with only two or three small ones for each car. And they weren't always at eye level. Sometimes they were only there to supply a source of light and were set higher up near the ceiling. But at least one per car was set low enough that she could see outside and get a sense of where they were on the train.

Confident that 'E' was leading them in the right direction this time, Melanie relaxed her vigilance a little. Instead she watched the two people walking in front of her.

Up ahead, Hes had taken to walking just behind 'E', but still close enough that they could carry on a conversation. Mostly the talk was in hushed tones, but occasionally one would say something that set the other off and voices would start to raise, only to quickly quiet down again.

But for the most part, to Melanie, the conversation seemed civilized.

It amazed her how one misplaced incident could turn two enemies into something that could almost be seen as friends. But as she reflected back on her own relationship with the train's chancellor, she guessed it wasn't so far fetched after all.

Up ahead of Melanie and her daughter, Hes was carrying on his conversation with the girl.

"Shame 'bout your mate." He commented quietly. "Hope the lad'll be all right."

The girl gave a half-hearted nod. "He'll be ok. Had worse."

"Glad ye' be ok, too." Hes offered.

"Take care of myself all right." Came the stoic response.

"All right? Girl, ye' be a tick from havin' your head based in back there."

"Not the first jackie what would have gotten the uppers on me, Socky." She replied in a slightly raised irritated tone. But she quickly dropped her tone again. "My mates had my backside."

Hes gave a slight huff. "Your backside was about all they were going to have left of you, girl."

'E' gave a slight chuckle to the comment as she walked on. But eventually she turned to the burly Scot now walking next to her, lowering her tone. "Would be thankin' ya' proper though...for ya' help back there." She added softly with a slight nod of her head. "Good fighter. Take ya' along in scrap any day."

Hes echoed her soft chuckle. "Had my fair share." He answered.

The girl turned a suspicious look to him. "Oye! Walkin' mountain like you? Whose daft enough to have a go at that?"

Hes turned to her. "Anyone whose deep enough in his bottle."

The girl answered him this time with a good laugh as she patted him on the arm. "You be all right for a Sweaty Sock." She answered him.

Before Hes could say anything more, a man suddenly came running down the corridor they were in, looking none too happy. The two started conversing quickly in a language that sounded slightly Russian, but Hes couldn't be sure. By the time Melanie and Alex had caught up to them to see what was going on, 'E' already seemed to have settled the matter as the man took off again as quickly as he came.

"Be leavin' ya' here for a bit, missus." She stated to Melanie. "Got matters to take care of. But ya' be fine. Not far from the main tail cold lock now. Just up the corridor a bit there's a tunnel that comes out practically at the cold lock door. China plate just came from there. No sign of old man WIlford or his jackies. He feels they all be chasing their tails near the engine now. Since that been where they last seen ya'. Also been layin' false trails for them to be followin'. Keepin' the jackies busy."

Melanie gave the girl a small smile. "Thank you for your help."

"Be nothing, missus. Manny wanted ya' kept safe. That's what I be doin'."

"What about you?" Melanie asked. "Will you be all right?"

The girl gave a soft laugh. "Been on Big Alice seven long years, missus. Ole man Wilford ain't got wise to me yet. Some days I swear that one's thicker than a sack of stones."

Melanie gave the girl's appraisal a small smile. "Is there anything we can do for you?" She asked. "Any help we can...?"

To her surprise, the girl suddenly took her by the arm and quickly directed her away from the others.

Looking up hopefully, the girl asked, "Can ya' give ma' da' a message?"

Melanie gave her a questioning look at first. "Your d...your father?" She suddenly caught on.

The girl nodded quickly. "He be on ya' train. Know he worries 'bout me. Just...tell him I be doin' ok here. No worries."

"But who is he?" Melanie asked. "Who do I tell this to?"

The girl gave her a brief smile. "Just tell the train. He'll get the message. He'll know it's from me."

"But if we announce it to the whole train, it'll be heard on Big Alice. They listen to all our general announcements."

The girl laughed softly again with a shake of her brown, untidy locks. "No worries. Wilford's got so many leaks in his dike, he ain't got the time to go wastin' effort to plug this little one. I just want ma' da' to know I'm ok. Stop his fussin' 'bout me."

Melanie returned the girl's smile. "I'll make sure he gets the message." She promised.

"Tunnel's just down the corridor, then two more cars." The girl directed her. "Shouldn't be no problems."

Melanie didn't have a chance to say anything more as the girl quickly turned and headed off down a side corridor.

Listening, Melanie only heard her footsteps go a short distance, then the corridor's blackness only returned silence.

Figuring the girl must have entered a tunnel, Melanie quickly turned to Alex and Hes.

"I guess we're on our own again." She stated, trying to give the situation a confident smile. "'E' said the cold locks are just two more cars forward from where we are, which from what I've been able to track of our progress sounds about right."

Heading down the corridor a bit more, Melanie managed to quickly find teh tunnel and ushered the other two inside before following them, shutting the door after her.

Alex quickly turned back to her mother with a concerned stare. "But we can't go outside the trains with them traveling at full speed." She sated in concern. "They would need to slow down."

Melanie quickly reached into one of the pockets on her suit and pulled out a small box that just fit into her palm. Pressing a button on the side, a small red light appeared on top of it.

Turning back to her daughter, Melanie answered her concern with a small smile. 'They will be soon." She replied.

Alex looked over the small box before turning back to her mother.

"Now what?" She asked.

"Now we wait."

Back on Snowpiercer, in the engine room, Bennett sat at the helm. Usually his attention would be fixed out the front window, scanning the horizon for any trouble. But this time his attention was divided between the front of the train and a small box sitting on the console in front of him.

For the better part of three hours he had watched the box, his anxiety rising another notch for every minute that passed that the little box sat idle.

But suddenly a small red light on top of the box lit up.

Bennett practically came out of the helm chair as he turned to the other three people behind him.

"That's it!" He all but shouted. "We got the signal."

Layton looked up immediately from where he was seated by one of the back consoles. He quickly turned to Javi and gave a slight nod.

The third engineer instantly reached above him and began working over several panels. In response, the train suddenly gave a slight shudder at first, then a stronger one a few seconds later. After the second shudder ran through the train, Javi began working switches over the panel again and the train returned to its smooth run.

Frank Jackson stepped up to the second engineer.

"Well they get the message?" He asked.

Bennett nodded. "Everyone will get that message." He replied. "Melanie feels the train better than anyone I know. There's no doubt she felt Snowpiercer brake. My guess is, Wilford also..."

But that was as far as he got when a small red light on the console panel lit up.

Bennett turned to Layton with a quick nod.

Layton waited a few moments, then picked up the phone by his station.

"Layton." Was all he said.

A slight dismissive sound answered the greeting. "Mr. Layton." Wilford drawled out in an almost bored manner. "I would like a word with your engineer."

Layton didn't hesitate in answering this time, putting a firm note of decisiveness in his tone.

"She's busy."

"I would like to talk to her." Came the almost demanding reply.

"She's busy." Layton repeated.

"To busy to save her train?"

Layton paused as he glanced at Bennett, who was already out of the helm chair and headed back to where Layton was sitting.

"We're already aware of the problem with the breaking system." Bennett replied. "We're working on it."

"Ah, Mr. Knox." Wilford's tone as now coming across with nothing short of loathing underlying each syllable. "Mr. Layton, I would like to have a talk with your First Engineer. Not her apprentice."

"Melanie just headed down to the engine core to check on some systems a few minutes ago." Bennett replied, giving Wilford the impression that he had personally just seen Melanie. "I'm sure she felt the brakes engage and is aware there may be a problem. In the meantime," he quickly added, "we need to cut the speed of the trains back to half. Another hit of the braking system could do further damage at this speed."

The line went silent for a few moments.

Then a slow, thoughtful tone came over the line. "You saw Melanie a few moments ago?"

"Yes. Now, can we count on you to cut your speed?"

The line remained silent.

Bennett upped his game as he repeated the message with more urgency this time. "Wilford! We need to cut the trains to half speed. If Snowpiecer brakes again and Big Alice doesn't, you could derail the back cars and start a chain reaction." Bennett quickly turned to Javi and gave a nod.

The third engineer repeated his sequence over the controls and the train's brakes engaged again against the wheels, causing the whole train to shudder slightly. But as he quickly released them, the train returned to it's smooth ride.

"Wilford!" Bennett repeated with growing urgency. "We need to slow the trains! Acknowledge!"

The phone line remained silent for a few moments and Layton and Bennett exchanged a worried look. Maybe the man wasn't taking the bait. Then what?

But then a slow, suspicious response came from the phone. "Reducing speed by half." And the line cut off.

Bennett gave a deep sigh of relief.

"OK. That's our part."

Layton turned to his second engineer. "Now we wait."

Bennett turned to the box sitting quietly on the helm console, the light now darkened again.

"Now we wait."