ICEBREAKER

Part XXII - Welcome Home

The reunion played out much as Layton imagined. As soon as the ramp, something he akinned to a boarding ramp at an airport, extended to the door of Snowpiercer's engine room, it was more than Bennett could manage to keep Alex or The Horde from swarming through it to the new engine.

Stopping first, of course, to express gratitude Melanie was safe, the Horde exploded onto the new engine like a swarm of children at a county fair while Alex simply wrapped herself about her mother for a good deal longer before the call of the new engine even led her to explore around the docking bay.

A slightly more organized, but definitely more schooled group of the Senior Engineers followed them, making similar acknowledgements to the head engineer, although a good deal more formal in their delivery.

Last to come through the extended ramp was Bennett and Hes, the former of which expressed his inability to control the exuberance of the apprentices with a slight shrug before gathering the First Engineer into his arms and engaging her in a long, welcoming kiss.

Following behind him, and only giving the display a passing glance, Hes welcomed Layton back with a firm hand shake and a firmer slap on the shoulder.

"Good to have you back onboard finally." He state. "Was almost as much fun as first time."

"I have warned you about most of the council not taking directions very well, Hes."

But the blacksmith shook his head. "Weren't them." He stated in an irritated tone. "Were that snake. He be the one causing all the trouble this time."

"So Melanie and I thought. Where is 'the snake' now?"

Hes gave Layton a pleased smile. "In cage. Still trying to make trouble."

Layton raised his eyebrows. "In a cage? You put him in the brig?"

"Aye. None to happy about it either."

Layton gave a laugh at the news. "I can imagine. And I'm looking forward to your report on all that happened while we were off the train. But well, done, Mr. Jacobs. I'm pleased to see Snowpiercer was in such capable hands."

"That she was." Hes replied. "But will be pleased to be handing command back over to you now, gathering up any of mine that mistakenly thought they heard Hes say 'Free Day', and going back to forge."

Layton looked a bit taken aback. "No interest in the new engine, Hes?" He asked.

The blacksmith looked around the area for a moment. "Is engine." He finally replied in an utterly bored tone. "Have seen them before." But he was immediately distracted as something else caught his attention. "Ralo! What are ya' doing on that ladder, boy'o?! Did ya' find a personal invitation to get on it hanging off one of the rungs?"

As Hes went off to try and corral his own apprentices back onto Snowpiercer, Layton turned back to Bennett, still engaging his roommate in an extended kiss.

"Why I'm fine, Bennett." He finally commented, standing next to the two. "Thanks for asking."

Bennett pulled back for a moment with a deep sigh before turning to the train's chancellor. "Glad to hear it." He replied without an ounce of sincerity before going back to his previous activity.

By that time several others had ventured over to the new engine, including Till and Roche, who were looking around with the same awe inspired wonder of the others.

"This is utterly amazing!" Till stated in a hushed whisper. ""This engine is enormous!"

"And you haven't even seen the half of it yet." Layton told her. "But tours will have to wait. Right now we need to get to work. Roche, I'll need you and Till to organize the Breechmen into work details. Till, you still have good connections with them. Meet with Angela Makers and start setting up shifts. They'll be working alongside the apprentice engineers, so make sure they're aware of that. Since they like working alone mostly, we may ruffle some wrenches with that.

Roche, you'll be working with Bennett to get his side of things organized. We also will need strict limited access to Icebreaker. I know everyone is excited about the new engine and will want to see it, but it isn't a new toy at Christmas. It's vital to our survival and needs to be protected. So no free access."

At that point several young men ran past the group headed back to Snowpiercer across the access bridge. A loud voice bellowing behind them.

"Last five into the forge will not be seeing breakfast this morning! Will be working instead!" Hes lumbered past the group after his apprentices with a smile on his lips. "Proper motivation always works best." He said as he walked past.

Melanie turned to Bennett. "Well, Hes seems to have gotten his apprentices on task. How about yours?"

Bennett gave a small sigh as he pulled back from her. Leaning over the railing of the catwalk they were on, Bennett scanned the level below them before finding who he was looking for.

"Stackson!" He called out suddenly.

Within what seemed like only seconds, a short engineer with bottle thick glasses appeared in front of Bennett with all the poise of an army cadet waiting for inspection.

"Sir!" Came the crisp reply.

"Get your crew together. You'll be taking first shift on the work detail over here."

"Sir!" Came the equally sharp reply, though Melanie didn't for a minute miss the pleased half smile the man was working hard to keep down.

"There are survival suits on the lower levels. They'll work in the bay in groups of five at a time alongside the breechmen. The others will be at the nose platform, supervising the work. See that your crew is made aware of these instructions."

"Sir!" Came the snapped response as the man quickly disappeared.

Melanie turned back to him. "Does he actually know any other words?" She asked with a teasing smile.

Bennett thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. He's an army brat. He just does what I tell him. It's the reason I made him the lead among the senior engineers. He gets things done and he's well organized."

Melanie gave a short nod as she turned to Layton. "We'll only have the senior engineers on the engine to start. I'll keep the horde on Snowiercer to take over the duties of the senior engineers while their working on Snowpiercer's maintenance in the bay on Icebreaker."

Layton gave a short nod of his own in response. "I'll leave the organization of the maintenance activities up to you and Bennett. Roche and Till will be helping with the work details on their side." He paused for a moment as he turned back to the train quietly sitting in the bay now, small columns of steam rising every so often from the sides. A small smile came to his lips as he looked the train over. "I never thought I would see her this way again until we found a safe place to start over." He said, turning back to his roommate. "She really is a work of art, Melanie. You built something incredible with her."

Bennett was equally looking over the train sitting in the docking bay. "Well, she may be one work of art, but this was our masterpiece." He said, looking around the vast expanse of the bay now. "I still can't believe you found him." He stated, turning back to Melanie. "Is he operating all right?"

Melanie answered him with a pride filled smile. "Like Wilford never left him sitting on a back track for seven years."

Bennett had gone back to looking around like he couldn't quite believe where he was standing. "Can you imagine what this will mean for Snowpiercer?" He asked, turning back to her. "To have this level of power at our disposal?"

"In addition we have extra food stores now." Layton quickly put in.

Bennett looked surprised at the news. "Food?" He asked, turning back to Melanie. "There was food left?"

"Most of the stores from the look of it." She replied.

"Well, what the rats didn't eat." Layton put in quickly.

Bennett's expression melted into a smile. "The news keeps getting better. The food we had on Icebreaker could likely feed the entire train for several months. But it's likely better to keep it as an emergency supply in case anything happens to the fresh food supply. Anything else?"

Melanie gave a small sigh. "The news isn't all good, Bennett." She said.

Bennett immediately picked up on her own change in mood as his smile faded . "Meaning?"

"We found some of the crew outside the engine where we found Icebreaker." She replied. "We still have no explanation for what happened to them."

Bennett took the news in silence for a few moments. "Some of the crew?" He asked in a quieter tone. "Where are the rest of them?"

"We're hoping on Big Alice."

"But they were scientists." He stated quietly. "Nuclear engineers. Physicists. Builders. Why would Wilford kill them?"

"We don't know that he did, Bennett." She answered. She knew he would take the news badly. Many of the crew were friends. People he worked with closely building the engine. "All we know is they didn't survive with the engine. They were all carefully placed together and there were no marks or wounds on the bodies that we saw. We're not sure what happened."

Bennett paused for several moments before he shook his head. "And knowing Wilford, we never will."

"Wilford doesn't know what we found yet." Melanie quickly put in. "If any of Icebreaker's crew are alive on Big Alice, their skill and knowledge would have been their safe guard until now. Wilford needed them. But if he ever gets a hint of what we found, he'll likely want them kept quiet."

Layton turned back to her. "That, I am assuming, is just a nice euphemism for 'have them killed'."

Melanie nodded.

Layton turned back to Bennett. "If any of the original crew are still alive, they would be extremely useful in helping run Icebreaker. Make a list of anyone you can remember and get it to Jackson. He can pass the information on to Eliah. While Wilford is still on Snowpiercer, we can see if we can get any possible survivors off Big Alice."

Bennett gave a quick nod and headed back across the ramp.

Layton finally turned to his roommate.

"Ready to go home?" He asked her.

Melanie gave him a tired smile. "Ready for a good night's...or day's sleep." She replied walking past him towards Snowpiercer.

Layton gave a soft chuckle as he followed after her. "Now that sounds like the best Idea I've heard today."

Early the next morning Melanie made her way down to what served on Snowpiercer as a jail. Though rarely used, as most criminal matters were handled with swift justice by the governors within their own jurisdictions, it did currently house one prisoner.

Wilford looked up as he heard footsteps approach. A quick smile came to his face when he saw his visitor.

"Melanie!" He exclaimed in his usual jovial manner whenever anyone came to see him. Be it a guard or someone bringing him food, to him, every contact was a chance at escape. Though until now, while all his attempts had failed, he saw these as mere setbacks. Was everyone on this train simply above bribery anymore?

"Good morning, Joseph." The Head Engineer greeted him in a less than friendly manner.

Wilford quickly replace his smile with a less than serious frown. "Oh, 'Joseph'. That usually means your in one of your moods. Going to have a talk then, are we?"

Melanie gave him a slight nod. "Yes, we are."

"All right then." He stated, taking a seat again in the cell. "Let's have it. Tell me what a bad boy I've been."

"I'm not interested in trying to impress any morals on you, Joseph." She replied stoically. "I gave up hoping you had any a long time ago."

"Oh, a good shot across the bow, my dear." He answered her with an approving gesture. "Not up to your usual quality though, I must say."

Melanie continued to stare down at him through the wires that made up the cell.

"So then," Wilford took up the conversation again when she didn't say anything more, "you docked Snowpiercer with Icebreaker. Directly against my advice, might I add."

"Yes, we managed to dock Snowpiercer so it can get some much needed maintenance."

Wilford was on his feet now, pacing slowly about his cell. "Tell me, Melanie, have you considered all the ramifications of the two trains being linked?"

Melanie tilted her head slightly. "I believe I have. But I can already tell you think otherwise."

"I have tried to warn everyone on this train of the dangers of doing so." He stated. "But it appears no one has the good sense to listen. That engine is unstable. That is why I left it on the back track."

"I'm not entirely sure why you abandoned Icebreaker on the back track." She replied in the same stoic voice. "But I seriously doubt it had anything to do with any instability of the engine itself."

Wilford fanned out his arms. "Whatever else possible reason could there have been?"

"I told you. I'm not sure yet. But there are a lot of unanswered questions about that engine, Joseph."

"For instance?"

"What happened to the crew?" Melanie asked bluntly.

"There was no 'crew'. Icebreaker ran ahead of Big Alice with a small group onboard to run it. When the engine began to show signs of instability, I made the decision to leave it on the back track and the men on it came back onboard Big Alice."

"And the pile of dead bodies?" Melanie asked flatly.

Wilford looked confused for a moment. "Dead bodies?"

"Layton and I found a pile of dead bodies stacked near where the train was left."

Wilford shook his head. "I have no idea..."

"You said a group of your people ran that train, Joseph. Now you're telling me that you didn't notice well over half didn't return to Big Alice?"

Wilford gave her a smile. "As with Snowpiercer, Melanie, I have no idea how many little 'rats' managed to stole away on that engine. Nor, therefore, is it my concern what happened to them. All of my crew survived and returned to Big Alice."

"So it wasn't an outbreak." Melanie stated more to herself.

"An outbreak?"

Melanie ignored the question. "What about the trap you set." She stated. "That note was clearly from you..."

"Standing there when I wrote it, were you, my dear?" He quickly cut her off.

"The note clearly stated you were the one who set the trap, Joseph."

"More likely one of the crew having a little joke." He replied. "You have to admit, from what I have heard of the incident from that most annoying Scotsman, it was a jolly good laugh."

"You threatened to blow up the engine, Joseph! And that note couldn't have been more directed to me if you had put my name on it!"

"And yet here you are, safe and sound."

"Because rats chewed through the wires and stopped the detonation signal from getting to the explosives placed around the emblem. Or did I just imagine those?"

"Again, my dear," Wilford stated calmly, "were you there? Did you actually see me do any of these things? Now, I'll go so far as to admit I did tell my head engineer on Icebreaker I didn't want that engine to be found due to it's potential danger. And there may have been mention made of making sure if someone did find the engine that protocols needed to be put in place to stop said person from starting up the Tokamak again. But I completely deny setting any 'trap' for you. A bit foresighted of me, wouldn't you say? After all, I did everything I could to make sure no one would ever even find that engine."

"And therein lays the greatest question, Joseph." She stated. "Why?"

"Why?"

"Why were you so desperate that no one ever find that engine?"

Wilford gave an exasperated sigh. "We have been OVER this, my dear." He replied with dramatic flare. "The engine..."

"Was not unstable, Joseph." She cut him off firmly. "Layton and I more than proved that."

"By doing what? Driving it for a few hours!?"

"Three days!"

"And in those three days you gave it good going over, did you? Checked all the systems? Ran diagnostics on the Reactor? Checked the outer hull for breaches?"

"We're doing that now. And what are we going to find, Joseph? Any proo..."

"And the tracks, Melanie?" He quickly added, effectively cutting her off. "Have you considered them in all of this? You have just increased the load capacity on them by over double with Icebreaker's heavier weight."

"The tracks were built to the specifications needed to support this weight." Melanie fired back. But she quickly reigned in her temper and calmed her tone down. She knew Wilford's greatest skill was getting his opponent riled up to the point they would make some mistake in either their words or their actions. "As I said, Joseph," She added in a calmer voice, "I'm not here to cross swords with you."

Wilford gave her an almost interested look. "Then what brought you down here, my dear? A nice chat about old times?"

Melanie nodded to one of the guards, who stepped forward and opened the door.

Wilford looked at her. "And what is this?"

"You're being released, Joseph. You are allowed to return to Big Alice."

"So your Mr. Layton finally saw the error in allowing that impetuous Scotsman to imprison me?" He stated, walking to the door. "Although I won't forget this, Melanie. You make sure to tell him that."

"As soon as you return to Big Alice," Melanie continued as though she hadn't even heard him, "We will be separating the trains."

Wilford gave her a pleased, if not surprised look. "Separating them? So you've also seen the error of connecting Snowpiercer to Icebreaker? Good for you, my Dear! I am impressed."

Melanie simply held her flat expression. "We're not separating Snowpiercer and Icebreaker, Joseph."

Having already stepped through the door and starting down the corridor, Wilford stopped suddenly and turned back to her, genuine confusion in his expression now. "You're not...?"

Melanie quickly continued on. "Snowpiercer will continue on the main track with Icebreaker. Big Alice can go...whatever you choose."

"Big Alice?" He asked, walking back to her. "What are you talking about? The trains can not be separated. You saw to that."

Melanie nodded. "At the border, that is correct. But we are willing to sacrifice the last car to allow the trains to be separated at that point instead of at the border. Then, as I said, Big Alice can go on her way."

Wilford's whole expression changed, the anger coming up so clearly that the guards with Melanie quickly stepped forward. But Melanie put a hand up even as Wilford stepped right up to her.

"What lunacy is this?!" He stated loudly. "You CAN NOT separate the trains. And not just due to the logistics of it! Snowpiercer needs Big Alice!"

"For what?" Melanie fired back. "We sustain ourselves with our own food, Hes now makes the parts we need to keep the train running. Big Alice doesn't even have that many supplies left after seven years of running herself to be of much benefit to Snowpiercer. What exactly do we need you for, Joseph?"

Wilford faced her down for a moment, as though gathering his thoughts. "You need our additional power." He finally answered. "Big Alice's engine helps keep your people a good deal warmer than they used to be..."

"And you benefit from our food, OUR supplies, and our services." Melanie fired back.

Wilford pulled himself up, the customary smile on his face when he felt he held a winning card. "The trains work best when they work together, my dear Melanie. Surely even you know that. Why, we're both nothing more than parasites of each other. Each train having special services that benefit the other."

"Except that Big Alice has played all her cards, Joseph." Melanie answered him in a confident manner. "And Snowpiercer no longer needs you or your train."

Wilford stared back at her for a moment, trying to find his next angle. But slowly a smile came back to his features. "All right, my dear. I can see that you've made up your mind on this matter. But let me asked you a question." He added. "You state that Big Alice needs Snowpiercer, and that may be true. Maybe the times have changed. But tell me, how well will it settle on that conscience of yours, knowing that you are consigning several hundred people to a life on the very edge of survival just to satisfy your need for revenge?"

Melanie set a hard stare on him, saying nothing.

"You do such a fine job of making me out to be the villain in all of this. Perhaps it's time you took a hard look at your own motivations."

"My motivations do not even come close to the level of depravity of yours, Joseph."

"Really?"

"Icebreaker is the perfect example. You were going to destroy that train. Do whatever you had to to keep me from getting it. I did everything to save him, knowing the value of that engine to the survival of every person on this train."

Wilford gave a soft laugh at the accusation. "Don't get all moralistic on me, Melanie. You would have done exactly the same thing. You're doing it right now. You know very good and well Icebreaker can serve to add power to both trains. Making everything run more efficiently and safely. And yet here you stand. Threatening to cut Big Alice off from that benefit just to satisfy your own desire for revenge."

Melanie froze, staring back at the man while she tried to contain her anger.

Wilford leaned a little closer to her. "Be very careful, my dear," He added in a low whisper, "about how high up you climb on that moral pedestal of yours. Because it can hurt a great deal when you suddenly fall off of it."

Melanie gave him one last hard look before she turned and headed back to the engine room, leaving the guards to escort the man back to his train.

"So you let him guilt you into a decision?" Layton stated later in their cabin when Melanie had laid the situation out for him on why she no longer approved of separating the trains.

"He didn't 'guilt' me into anything, Layton." Melanie replied, walking across the room to where he stood.

"Of course he did. He knew exactly what buttons to push with you. Your care and concern for every last living person left on this planet. He knew you wouldn't risk losing a single one of them."

"Fine." Melanie riled back on him. "Say you're right. Say I...crumbled under some higher moralistic feeling than Wilford has. Where is the harm in allowing the trains to remain connected for now?"

"Because it lets him know what to hold you by. It gives him leverage over you."

"He'll always have that, Layton. If not this...he'll just find something else."

Layton crossed his arms in front of him as he studied his roommate for a moment. "All right. Then let's take his power away by taking that power away from you."

"What do you mean?"

"Put the matter in the hands of the council instead of solely in yours. Let them vote on the matter and we abide by their decision."

Melanie quickly shook her head. "We can't do that. They don't know all the facts, Layton. Half of them will happily stick their hand outside this train just to be rid of Wilford, let alone just raise it to vote. And...and there are practical points here to consider also."

"Like what?"

"Wilford is right. The trains run best when they run together. With Big Alice pushing, it takes the strain off of Snowpiercer."

"And Snowpiercer is currently riding the rails in Icebreaker's docking bay. So that is not a legitimate concern."

"Then there's the fact losing even one car negatively impacts the space we have. People need room to move about, Layton. To spread out. Hes can do a lot of things, but I think he would be hard pressed to build another train car. Let alone do we have the materials to do that."

Layton breathed a deep sigh as he thought over her words. Finally he turned back to her.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked. "Because I'm going to let this be solely your call. But know that I don't agree with it. I think we should cut him and anyone who wants to stay with him loose, and get as far from him as we can. We can stop Snowpiercer in a train yard and let Big Alice go past. Back on the main track we can run at a slower speed until Wilford is on one side of the planet while we're on the other."

Melanie set her gaze on him for a moment, a new problem coming to light suddenly for her.

"And do you really think that's wise, Layton?"

"I think it'll give me a lot more peaceful nights, that's what I think."

"Really?"

"Really."

"And while Wilford is on the other side of the planet, what do you think he'll be doing?"

"Trying to survive? Like us?"

Melanie shook her head. "He'll be planning, Layton. Just like he always is. At least attached to us we have some control over him. We have Eliah and Alex on Big Alice. While Wilford is suspicious of Alex, he still trusts Eilah implicitly. They can watch him, and let us know if something is amiss. Thousands of miles away, we'll loose that advantage.

And I can't ask Eilah to separate herself from her father again. If we separate the trains, she'll possibly never even have the chance to just talk to him again."

"So she comes with us. Anyone on Big Alice who wants to come to Snowpiercer has always been welcomed. Before we separate the trains we can make that announcement formally. Let anyone who wants to come over to Snowpiercer pass through the border and the rest can stay with Wilford."

Melanie gave him a small smile. ""I think that will leave Wilford a very lonely man on his empty train. The guards Frank gave me tell me half of his Jackboots would even jump ship if they just had somewhere to go. And while she doesn't have much, Big Alice does have some food stores, Layton. Plus, I'm not sure Snowpiercer could take on even a hundred more people. We all survive, but only because we ration and share what the train gives us. But it's a very tenuous balance. You know that. But I've been thinking of utilizing some of Wilford's cars to expand our own hydroponics. Something everyone would benefit from. We could increase our total food production by..."

But Layton waved her to a stop with slight chuckle. "Stop!" I know this tone. I don't need to hear the whole plan laid out to know you've thought it through."

The comment got him a slight smile in return.

But Layton quickly let his smile drop as he returned to a more somber tone. "Are you sure about this?" He asked. "You made some good points, and I listened. Maybe we are better off keeping Wilford where we can watch him. But the sword cuts both ways, Melanie."

Her expression now matched his. "I know, Layton. But in one thing, Wilford is right. Like it or not, we need each other to survive."

Layton stared at her for a moment. "For the record, between us, I don't like it."

Melanie walked up to him and let him wrap her in a protective embrace as she laid her head against his chest. "And for the record, just between us, neither do I."