ICEBREAKER
Part X - Left Behind
Sitting still behind the snow covered mound, Layton was carefully watching two different times.
The time Wilford had stated he had set for the device on Icebreaker to detonate.
And the time for Snowpiercer to return.
By his estimates, they had only a few minutes to the destruction of the train.
Turning to Melanie he could still see that utter desolation in her eyes.
Although he never thought there was anything on the whole frozen planet anyone could find that could take the place of her beloved Snowpiercer in her heart, he felt in the last hour they had managed to do just that.
Her connection to this train was just as powerful and just as deep. Something about it ran right to her core. And losing it was going to devastate her.
As the fifteen minute mark struck, Layton pulled her a little tighter to him. Even though she hadn't checked the time once herself, he was sure she could have counted off the seconds with an accuracy that would rival any clock.
For some time they sat like that. Waiting.
But no explosion came.
Layton was now counting the clock forward.
One minute.
Two.
Five.
Still no explosion came.
Ten minutes.
No explosion.
Layton finally turned to her, meeting her equally questioning stare.
"Well?" He asked.
Melanie sat silently for a moment.
"Maybe he lied." She stated with the smallest hope hidden deep in each word.
Layton shook his head. "That's not Wilford's style. If he thought he had a chance to trap you, he wouldn't waste that opportunity on a wild goose chase."
"Then what?" She asked.
Layton paused as he turned to the horizon in front of them, looking for any movement there.
"We wait." He finally replied.
(1:06minutes to return.)
Frank Jackson was in the engine room in a matter of only several minutes.
"What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?" He asked in his most proper English accent.
Hes quickly turned to the man. "I need to contact Eliah on Big Alice."
The man returned a look that suggested Hes had just asked him single-handily end the freeze. "For what purpose?"
"I need questions answered." Hes replied. "And we need information."
"Any contact puts her in danger." Jackson reminded the train's new leader firmly. "Without clearer details, I will not allow this."
Bennett got up to take a stand by Hes. When he had earlier heard Hes lay out his reasons for wanting to speak to Jackson's contact on Big Alice, he knew the request would meet with resistance for several reasons. The greatest being the one Jackson had just laid out.
"Wilford is attempting to take control of the train." The Second Engineer quickly explained. "He plans to leave Melanie and Layton behind and take the train back to the main track. We need to stop him."
Jackson stood facing the two men, considering the new information against the danger such contact could pose to his daughter. But finally he reached into a pocket in his tailor trimmed black jacket and pulled out a small cube with several lights on it and a single signaling button.
"I will ask." He stated in a tone that promised nothing. "The decision will be Eliah's. If she says 'No', it is 'No'." He added with equal firmness. "There will be no further discussion on this matter."
Turning to the signaling device, the man quickly tapped out the code reserved for talking with his daughter. "If she is with Wilford, she will need to get away to answer the question. So this could take a short time."
"What did you asked her?" Bennett questioned.
"Only that you needed information." Jackson looked up at them. "That leaves it open for her to decide what to do."
For several minutes all three stood watching the small box in Jackson's hand. Just as Bennett was about to ask again how long the wait could be, the small box suddenly came to life. But the activity was quick and short before the box went dark again.
Bennett looked up at Jackson. "Well?"
Jackson returned an unquestionably displeased look. "She only answered one word." He replied.
"Which was?"
"Border."
(45 minutes to return.)
"Layton, sit down!" Came the irritated tone over the communicator in his helmet.
Layton turned back to her.
"It will be at least 45 minutes before they come back." Melanie stated. "Standing there isn't going to make anything happen faster."
Deciding she was right, Layton walked back over to the small hill and sat down next to her.
"Waiting isn't one of my fortes." He commented.
"No kidding."
"How long since the bomb should have gone off?"
"Almost a half hour ago."
Layton gave a small shrug. "May he did lie, just to scare us off the train."
"To what end? He must have figured we wouldn't just leave. That we would investigate after a certain amount of time."
"Then we'll wait for Snowpiercer to come back. When it returns, we'll decide what to do. At least then we can talk to Wilford. Find out what game he's playing."
"Maybe the bomb was defective." Melanie offered. "Maybe that's why it didn't detonate."
"And maybe that was what he wanted you to think and the fifteen minutes was really a half hour? Or an Hour? Time for you to go back to the train and feel comfortable nothing was going to happen."
"You're giving him an awful lot of credit here, Layton."
"And I don't think you're giving that devious little mind of his enough. The point is, we're facing a lot of 'Maybe's'."
Melanie hunched back down around herself. "Snowpiercer should be back in less than an hour. I guess all we can really do is wait for them to come back and decide what to do then."
But Layton suddenly had what he thought was a better idea than sitting on a snow covered plain behind a small hill of said snow. "Wait a minute! Why don't we just take the Track Scaler and go meet the train?"
Melanie shook her head. "They aren't transport vehicles, Layton. And by the time I wired a way to communicate with it internally, Snowpiercer will be back. We're better off waiting for them to come back for us."
Layton hunched back down in the snow. "Can't we at least just go sit in the thing then? At least it would be warmer."
"They don't run much heat." Melanie replied. "Only enough to keep their own components from freezing. Plus, if there is...an occurrence...the Track Scaler is sitting too close to Icebreaker to give much protection. And besides, Snowpiercer should be back in just under a half hour."
Layton hunched back down again.
A half hour and one battery swap later, Layton was standing a bit away from the hill, facing the direction Snowpiercer had taken in it's track reversal.
"Shouldn't we be seeing something by now?" He asked, walking back over to her.
Melanie looked up from where she still sat behind the hill.
"It's not an exact science, Layton. It takes time to reverse the train. Give it that time."
Another fifteen minutes went by.
Then another half hour.
"OK." Layton commented, turning to the woman next to him. "Can I start being concerned now?"
"It's only been a half hour." Melanie replied. "What do you think is going on? Hes decided to take his second chance to get control of the train?"
Layton quickly shook his head inside the helmet. "That's the last thing I would be concerned about." He replied. "But Wilford was going to learn eventually we're not on the train. Leaving only Hes and Bennett to confront any schemes he may have to take control of the train. And what better why to cement his control than getting rid of the two people he least wants on that train?"
Melanie stared up at him through her own helmet visor. "Us." But she quickly shook her head. "He can't just take control of the train, Layton."
"What's stopping him? He's the control engine right now."
"And Bennett would put the brakes on every car right up to the border to stop him. Big Alice couldn't make the pull against that resistance."
Layton stood in the snow thinking over what could be going on on Snowpiercer right now that could delay their return.
But a sudden noise behind them distract them both from what was in front of them and had them turning once again back to the train.
The sound started as a low creaking noise that traveled eerily through the frozen stillness around them.
"What is that?" Layton asked, watching the train intently as the noise increased with each passing second.
But before Melanie could say anything, Icebreaker revealed the answer on it's own. With one loud popping noise, a solid sheet of ice broke loose from the side of the train and fell in a crashing cloud of snow and debris to the ground.
When the snow settled again, Layton could only stare at what the falling sheet of ice revealed with a renewed sense of awe. A section of the train from nearly one end to the other on one side was now visible. Under the ice and snow, the side of the train looked like a smooth, polished steel mountain sitting on the track it occupied for so many years.
"What...why did it do that?" Layton asked slowly. "It isn't like it's been warming up around here."
Melanie simply stood next to him, a please smile on her face. "The train is." She replied.
Layton turned to her. "What?"
"We started the reactor." Melanie explained. "When we left the train, I didn't have time to turn it off. Icebreaker is simply doing what it would normally do in this situation. It's clearing the ice around it."
As if confirming her statement, another large sheet of ice and snow near the front of the train's nose suddenly slipped free and was sent crashing to the ground.
"You mean the train is heating up?: Layton did some quick reasoning. "Maybe the bomb did exploded and it caused fires inside, causing the train to heat up from the inside out."
But Melanie shook her head, still gazing at the train with a proud smile on her lips. "This isn't the result of any bomb, Layton. The train is too well insulated that any heat on the inside would ever reach the panels on the outside. But Icebreaker was made to keep the outside of the train at a certain temperature. This was to facilitate it's movement and cut down on friction as ice would build up on it. Generally the train would be at around forty-five to fifty degrees."
"What about the inside?"
"Inside the train should be about seventy degrees by now."
Layton felt his while body give a slight shutter at the thought of being inside anything right now that was that warm. To conserve the batteries, he and Melanie had temporarily turned their suits down to fifty-five for an internal temperature.
"That sounds like a little slice of heaven." He whispered forlornly.
Well, get used to it for now." Melanie told him. "Because until it clears itself off, it will keep shedding the ice and snow around it."
As if in answer to her statement, Layton heard a loud noise from the other side of the train.
For the next thirty minutes they listened to one ice sheet after another break free and fall off the train. With her back against the small hill again, Melanie watched Layton pacing back and forth, stopping occasionally to glance up to see if there was any movement on the horizon.
But eventually she hunched back down, trying to will herself to feel any small amount of heat inside the suit around her.
At the border Hes, Bennett and Frank watched from the second doorway as Eliah walked up to the person at the check desk and presented her papers, stating her purpose for crossing the border.
Behind her, stationed on their side of the border, Wilford's own guards watched the woman leave the purposed safety of Big Alice and enter the unknown territory aboard Snowpiercer.
But just past the second doorway, and out of sight of the guards on her own train, Eliah was joined by the three men, who quickly fell into step with her hurried pace.
Although normally she would have greeted Jackson a good deal warmer, with the others present she gave the man no more of a passing look than she did the others.
"Talk fast." Was all she had to say. "My time here is very limited."
"Wilford is refusing to reverse the train." Hes quickly spoke up.
Eliah turned an irritated stare to him. "I know that, ya' big Sweaty Sock!" She stated, reverting to her 'E' persona. "I was sitting right there when you two were talking to him, wasn't I?"
Bennett came up beside her as they continued the brisk pace down the corridor. "Melanie and Layton are still back there at the other train." Bennett spoke up. "And they only have enough battery supply for a day."
Eliah kept walking. "Well, what do you want me to do about it? It isn't like I give Wilford orders, now, do I?"
A voice came from behind her. A harsh Russian dialect reprimanding her.
Eliah quickly stopped as she turned to her father. "Show respect?" She stated. "Do you have ANY idea how dangerous it is for me to be here right now? It was only by making your train give off some unusual signals that I was able to come over here at all. Now I have to get to the engine room and get some readings before I have to get back to Big Alice in a reasonable amount of time not to raise his suspicions."
Bennett stayed right next to the woman as she took off again. "If you're not going to talk to us, then why bother coming at all?"
By now they were at the subtrain station and Eliah quickly skipped the rungs as she slid down the rails on either side. Getting in the car, she leaned out to the others.
"We'll talk in the car." She stated. "More noise. Less ears listening."