Chapter 1602
See What Happens
CamNet's two female Terminators, Lena and Tina, were about to move the Gray's body outside. One of the drones picked up a possible threat. A second drone picked up a different type of threat.
"It looks like we have a homeless person headed in this direction." Lena said.
Tina quickly checked her phone. The other drone image worried her a little more.
"It looks like there are a couple of cars of gang members driving around as well." Tina said. "I don't think they're looking for us. They're probably looking for the white van."
Lena was aware CamNet tried to put a lid on what happened earlier. The gang members must have gone out to search for the rest of their crew.
"I think there's a pretty good chance they're out looking for blood." Lena said. "I think since two different gangs were involved, it's probably just a matter of time until they 'rumble'."
Tina was pretty sure once the gangs found out what happened, they were probably going to do more than 'rumble'.
"The more of them who terminate each other now, the better the future will be." Tina said. "It will just be fewer Scavengers to deal with in the future."
Lena wanted to get the body dumped and the building secured before the homeless person came too close to the area. It might result in another termination. Tina held the door for her as she carried the body outside. Tina moved some of the debris in the big dumpster and she dropped the body on top of the other man.
Tina replaced the debris and covered both bodies. Neither one of them were apparent unless someone was really looking. There was a chance it may be exactly what the homeless person did.
Lena checked the interior of the building one more time. She was satisfied everything was in order. She made her way back outside and secured the door. She was glad she hadn't forced it open.
CamNet alerted them the homeless person was very near.
Tina was a little concerned the homeless individual might look in the trash.
"We're not going to be able to drive away before they spot us." Tina said. "They seem to be in a big hurry."
Lena looked over at the dumpster. They might need to add one more person to it.
"There's more room where we dumped the two Grays." Lena said. "Let's see what happens."
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Temporal Mission:
Past Timeline:
November 26 1963
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Cameron knew the length of Tunnel 20 was 6,940 feet. Tunnel 26 was 7,369 feet. They were constructed just over a quarter of a century apart.
"We can park and walk through the tunnel if you want." Cameron said. "It won't take us long."
Young Allison was still a little unsettled about their experience earlier in the day inside Tunnel 26. It was only a one way journey. If they were to traverse Tunnel 20, they would need to do it in both directions. It would take considerably longer.
Cameron stopped and pulled off into the dirt. The car was pointed at the eastward facing portal of Tunnel 20.
Young Allison was a little surprised to see a locomotive emerge from the portal.
Cameron hadn't expected to see the locomotives when she stopped. She recognized the lead locomotive as an F7A. It was still painted in 'Black Widow' colors. She noticed right away the red stripe on the frame was painted in Scarlet rather than Daylight Red. She was pleased to see someone took the time to make sure the paint job looked nice, even if the color was a little off. She doubted they could get a hold of Daylight Red anymore. Daylight Orange was used on the ends of a bay window caboose, as well as the slanted sides of the bay window.
It was followed by another F7A facing backwards. The second unit was painted in Gray and Scarlet. There were three locomotives behind the two F7A units. She identified them as SD9 units.
Young Allison watched the boxcars behind the locomotives. There was a mixture of tank cars as well as hopper cars. There were a dozen flat cars carrying dimensional lumber.
"I can say I didn't expect to see a train as soon as we stopped." Young Allison said.
She didn't want to go through another tunnel at this time. She knew it was probably a good time if they were to do it. Since one train passed through, there might not be another one for a while. There was no guarantee. When they traversed Tunnel 26, there was a train in each direction in a relatively short amount of time. The same thing could happen there. The train could be followed by more. The Central Valley Line was a busy line.
Young Allison thought about the time period when the tunnel was constructed. It was only a half a dozen years after the Transcontinental Line was completed. She figured the majority of the work needed to be done by hand. There weren't a lot of machines back then.
"Was this tunnel constructed the same way?" Young Allison asked. "Was it dug from both faces to meet in the middle?"
Cameron knew it was much more complicated.
"There were eight faces working at the same time." Cameron said. "Three shafts were sunk along the length of it. Work commenced in both directions from each shaft. It was to speed construction."
Young Allison needed to think about what Cameron just said.
"They did all of this in 1875 and 1876, using nothing but hand tools, and lined everything up with no problem." Young Allison said. "I think it's amazing."
Cameron checked her files.
"Yes they did." Cameron said. "There were multiple problems encountered. They ran into numerous deposits of oil, shale, and underground springs. One of the shafts ended up turning into a 'well' at one point when the pump inside of it failed. Both faces they were working on, as well as the shaft itself, flooded with water. The water rose until it came out the top. New pumps needed to be brought in and the shaft drained. Once it was, work commenced again. Tunnel 20 has even more water in it than Tunnel 26 did."
Cameron didn't mention there were numerous cave-ins during the process. The total number of workers terminated was never released. It was believed to have been substantial. Since most of them were imported from China, no one really cared at the time. It was easy to cover up the truth.
Young Allison thought about what Cameron said. She mentioned oil.
"Was the oil related to the other nearby discoveries?" Young Allison asked. "I tend to think of oil as being deep in the ground, not in the side of a mountain."
Cameron indicated the area around them.
"You'll see hundreds of wells around this area as we pass through it." Cameron said. "There's a lot of oil around here. The Pico Oil Field and the Pioneer Oil Refinery, are just on the other side of the western facing portal of Tunnel 20. They both were in production by the time the tunnel was completed in July of 1876."
The train was through the tunnel. They spotted the bay window caboose on the end. There was some diesel exhaust smoke which drifted out of the tunnel after the train was gone. It wasn't much. It wasn't like what they experienced in Tunnel 26.
Cameron pulled back onto the paved road. She crossed under Route 99 above them. There was something just ahead on the right side of the road she thought was worth mentioning. There were no good natural passes through the area. It was one of the reasons why the tunnel needed to be constructed for the railroad. The other choice would have been a maze of track through the hills above them to get to the other side and back down again. The grade always needed to be kept to a certain percentage in order to be able to haul freight. It usually didn't exceed 2.2 percent. There were some places where it could for a short distance.
Wagons needed to transport goods around the area as well. Eventually one entrepreneur decided to create a usable path. It could save hours off any journey. There would be less chance of a wagon of goods down the side of a hill. There could be a loss of the animals, as well as the teamster.
"There was a Wagon Road constructed through a narrow gap off to the right side." Cameron said. "Beale's Cut dates back to 1854. It was deepened to lower the grade and widened somewhat over the years. It was eventually replaced with the Newhall Tunnel. It was four hundred thirty five feet long, and seventeen feet wide. It made for some tight passes. The tunnel was eventually 'daylighted' by removing the earth above the top of it. We'll pass through its location just ahead of us."
Young Allison was aware the location of Beale's Cut was fenced off in more modern times. Cameron took her there anyway. There was a gap in the fence so they were able to walk through it up to another fence which looked over an abandoned industrial site. She remembered there were four historical markers there. Three of them were missing. Vandals stole them to melt down the bronze they were made out of for resale. It seemed to be a common occurrence in multiple locations. She wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson if they ever observed anyone do it. She reached down and touched her Hi-Power. Maybe she would have Cameron bust them up instead. It wouldn't take her long. She was ready to move on.
"Are we going to pass through Newhall and Saugus to follow the alignment of the tracks?" Young Allison asked. "I know we can continue on Route 6 and bypass it until we reach Soledad Canyon Road."
Cameron knew the pass they were in would save them some time if they skipped going through the communities Young Allison mentioned. She did think something was worth mentioning though.
"The 'wye' at Saugus is where the original route of the Coast Line deviated from the Central Valley Line." Cameron said. "The section of track from Los Angeles to Saugus saw a lot more traffic than it currently does. It was before the cutoff was built through Montalvo and the three tunnels were constructed in Chatsworth. The station at Saugus was able to avoid being torn down and was eventually moved to a nearby park. It's still next to the railroad tracks, even if it's not in its original location."
Young Allison saw the Saugus station in more modern times in the park it was now located. She was glad it wasn't one of the many burnt down by vagrants over the years. It seemed to her more things should have been done to clean up the problem of the original group of homeless individuals. It was just another example of how a cancer left untreated would spread and consume the host.
Cameron could see Young Allison wanted to move things along. She skipped the disjointed junction with San Fernando Road and continued north on Route 6. Saugus and Newhall could be explored another time.
Young Allison was pleased they weren't going to take the detour. There was another place she read about.
"We can come back on some weekend and watch the races at the Saugus Speedway." Young Allison said. "I think a night when they do a Destruction Derby would probably be a good choice."
Cameron felt a mild glitch impulse. The needless destruction of perfectly good machines bothered her somewhat. She was aware all the vehicles used all saw better days. Either way, they were still functioning and running. After the Destruction Derby was over, all of them were headed to the scrap yard. The thought of being crushed, and then melted down bothered her, even if she didn't try to think about it.
"We can do it sometime." Cameron said. "We can watch the races as well. It's a shame the only action happening there in modern times is little more than a glorified swap meet."
Cameron viewed it as people purchasing things they didn't really need, just because they thought they might be getting a good deal. She doubted anything ever purchased at such a location was used very much before it ended up in a closet, or a corner of a garage.
Young Allison looked at the multitude of pumping oil wells above them on the rim of the cut. There appeared to be hundreds of them. Something struck her as rather alarming.
"I can see all the oil wells above us." Young Allison said. "The area we're traversing right now, in modern times, is full of houses. I wonder if the people who purchase them know the land their house is situated on was part of an active oil field at one time. Something tells me the fact was probably left out."
Cameron was aware of the massive development in what would later be called Canyon Country. She thought there was something even more alarming than the houses being built on top of oil wells. It was the houses which were built down in the Santa Clarita riverbed. The riverbed was extremely wide in places. When the Southern Pacific railroad built the tracks through the location in 1876, they found the wide open riverbed a perfect place to quickly lay the track.
Southern Pacific needed to move its tracks higher and higher seven times over the years. The riverbed was extremely wide for a reason. The water is what carved its dimensions. It was mostly just a trickle of water through the riverbed until a major storm would hit every seven to ten years. The riverbed would fill up to its pre-existing banks. She remembered one storm a few years back where the houses in the riverbed were flooded when the water overflowed the narrowed river banks where they were constructed. She was pretty sure those who were driven by greed, didn't really care what happened after they made their money. She believed there should be some type of accountability, even if it was based on stupidity. Maybe when they returned to the time period they left from, she would have CamNet erase their bank accounts. It was the only thing which would actually affect them since everything was based on greed.
She looked at the landscape. There was an area up ahead where she could turn right. There was an important discovery made there in 1842. The section of Route 6 where she was currently on, would be where the 14 Freeway would deviate from the path of what would be known as Sierra Highway, when it would be constructed years from now. She took her foot off the accelerator and downshifted into third, and then into second. The high compression of the big FE block slowed the vehicle quickly.
Young Allison was surprised when Cameron slowed and turned onto Placerita Canyon Road. She knew exactly where they were headed and what they would pass by.
See What Happens
It doesn't take too much
To end up in a quagmire
It all seems to revolve around
The events that will transpire
It's not so much about looks
As it is about character
It varies from person to person
On every form of encounter
Some things more than others
One tends to prefer
It all depends upon
They type of events that occur
The real journey seems to begin
When the trip is through the mind
There are many hurtles and obstacles
As to what one will find
Don't expect to see good will
Appear by the dozens
Just wait around a little longer
To see what happens
Nobody
