ICEBREAKER
Part V - Icebreaker
Back in the main engine room, Hes stood silently at the helm with Bennett as they watched the sled plow through the low snow drifts towards the lumbering mountain before them.
With a sigh he finally turned to Bennett.
"All right then." He stated. "Lets get on the horn to that one in the back and let him know he's about to become the front engine."
"He'll try to use this to his advantage." Bennett warned the man.
Hes only gave a small nod. "Aye. Sneaky as a snake in a pile of stones, he is. But dealt with a few of them in my day. Doubt this one will be any different."
Hes watched the sled for a few more moments before he turned to Bennett and gave a slight nod. "Go ahead and make the call." He said before turning to the Third Engineer. "Mr. de La Torres, prepare to reverse."
Javi gave a quick acknowledgment as Bennett picked up the phone.
"We're reversing?" Came Wilford's voice over the phone. "So Melanie came to her senses after all?"
"Not overly eager to let Wilford know what was truly happening, Bennett paused for a moment. "Something like that." He replied. "We just need you to reverse with Snowpiercer to start to move the train in reverse. Big Alice will need to put a lot of pull into the engine. Are you going to be able to deliver?"
Wilford quickly turned to his Second Engineer, who gave him a curt nod.
"That should not be a problem."
"Then begin reverse." Bennett stated.
Eliah began the sequence to reverse Big Alice's engine, effectively making it the front of the train now.
Standing next to her, Wilford watched as they slowly began to transverse the landscape they had just come over, a thoughtful look bringing his eyebrows down slightly as he listened to the cars react to the movement.
"Now, I wonder what brought this about?" He asked himself.
Out on the sled, Melanie and Layton both turned to the sound of Snowpiercer's horn as the train powered up again. As though the train knew it was leaving two of its passengers behind in the unforgiving cold, the sound was like a low mournful call across the snow as it began it's slow, steady reverse.
Layton stopped the sled for a moment as they both turned to watch the train slowly back down the track before turning a small smile to the woman sitting securely pressed up against his back, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
"Well, I guess that officially leaves us on our own." He said.
Melanie was already looking past him. "Not alone though." She replied, nudging him slightly. "Let get over there and see what this is."
Turning back to the wall of snow now less than a half mile away, Layton gunned the sled's engine and took off again.
Once they arrived, Melanie was off the sled and moving as quickly through the snow as she could towards the object before Layton had even turned off the engine. The only thing that seemed to distract her from her goal was when she paused to give the little track Scaler a satisfied pat as it sat patiently on the rails, waiting for new orders.
"Melanie! Slow down!" Layton called after her. "We have no idea what this is or if anyone alive may still be here."
"We weren't picking up any signs of anything warm." She turned once more to look at the imposing behemoth in front of her. "Thank heaven for small favors." She whispered.
"What?" Came the question over the communications in her helmet.
"I said there's little chance there's anything alive still." Melanie replied, pushing through the snow still until she had made her way right up to the side of the wall of snow.
Making his own path towards the object, Layton finally made it up to where she was anxiously brushing the loose snow away from the metal underneath. Finally her work paid off as she made contact with a sheet of metal. She pounded on it several times to confirm the find.
"Metal." She stated in a low, awed voice. "Bennett was right. It's metal underneath."
Layton stood back and looked up at the wall towering above them. "Well, that's going to make it a whole lot more fun to move." He commented in a less than enthusiastic tone. "I was just starting to look forward to spending several days just shoveling snow."
But Melanie had already pulled back from the structure and was eagerly pushing through the snow to the front of the object.
"Melanie, where are you going?!" He called after her, making his way to her trail and following in her wake.
"This can't be." He heard her over the intercom in his suit. "It just can't be."
"Just can't be what?" He called out to her, still several feet behind her in the snow. "Melanie! Would you slow down and tell me what is going on!"
By the time he reached her, Melanie had already pulled the small pick axe off the back of her own suit and had eagerly chipped away at the side of the object near it's nose. When he came up next to her, she was brushing to last of the ice and snow away from a plate secured to the metal underneath.
Layton looked up. The small area Melanie had cleared only showed what he figured was a small portion of the whole plate. All in all he figured the plate had to be several feet high and who knew how long.
On the portion she had uncovered he could clearly see letters. Or at least partial letters.
"Looks like an R." He reasoned out, running his hand over what her work had uncovered. "Maybe an E before that. Then maybe another R."
"K." Melanie corrected him. "It's a K." She swung the pick axe so it's flat side hit the object, the sound of metal striking metal echoing through the still air.
A sheet of ice rewarded her effort as it broke loose, this time revealing a larger part of the bottom of the panel.
Layton quickly brushed a bit more of the remaining ice off the panel as he read over the panel's lower half.
"OK. Maybe an A. And an E before that."
But Melanie was now standing next to him, not moving as she stared up at the panel, slowly shaking her head.
"It can't be." She whispered. "It just can't be you."
Layton turned to her. "Can't be who?"
Melanie turned back to him, her expression a mixture of excitement and sorrow, with tears just being held back in her eyes.
"Icebreaker!" She whispered. "Layton...this is Icebreaker!"