Episode 9.4 (Patreon)

Hello world, there are secrets here.

We've arrived on the outskirts of Moscow, I can see the sharp outlines of broken buildings on the horizon.

We're not continuing into the city.
Tanya says they no longer go there.
I asked why, and she looked at her partner, Alek.
He shook his head and left the carriage.

Our journey, through many forks of the track, took us to a small rise in the land, and a tunnel.

Act 1

"Sometimes the points are wrong"
Lara said, after jumping back on board, and the Provorny turned into the tunnel.

"We've never even heard of another train, and we only ever go this route, but every now and then, the points have been changed."

Maddie's air pressure sensors registered a dramatic change, and suddenly we were in the dark.
Maddie flattened herself into the ground and switched to a infrared lens, panicking.

"Easy there!" Tanya said, toggling a bank of switches next to the inter-carriage corridor.

Mismatched lights flickered on in the carriage, disjointedly  illuminating the dining table, sofas, and chairs in the domestic car.

"It's just the tunnel." she said, as she walked around the carriage closing the windows to keep out the smoke and steam.

"We'll be in here for some time."

#thinking

After a long while, of travelling at slow speed, the train stopped in the tunnels.
Maddie put her feet up on a sofa to peer out of the window with her infrared lens.
We were in a large natural cave, with many rows of empty train tracks  parallel to our own, and a ceiling that disappeared into darkness.

It was cold in here, colder than anywhere outside in the sun would ever get.

Lara and Maddie were alone in the carriage.
Maddie walked to the door and looked out.
It was dark and quiet.
She did not want to leave.

"It's OK Maddie." Lara said.
"Come sit with me, my family will be back soon."
Lara was sewing a scrap of fabric at the table.

"What are they doing?" I asked.
Maddie looked up at Lara from her position on the floor.

"They're finding some track-repairing raw materials, ready for our long journey." She replied.

"Without you?" I asked.
"Someone should stay with the train." Lara said.

But I saw her frown and pause her work as she spoke.

#thinking

"There!" Lara said.
"It's done, what do you think Maddie?"

Maddie put her feet on the table carefully.
She understands instinctively that her full weight is rather a lot these days.
We've come a long way from zero gravity, haven't we girl!

Lara showed Maddie the round cloth she was sewing.
We didn't recognise it.

Lara stood up and tied it to Maddie's back.
"It's a LITTLE bag for you."
"You wanted to help, and now you can!
I can make 5 more if you like? I think they will fit."

Maddie looked at her reflection in the dark glass of the window and had never felt so tall.

Act 2

It took a long time for the rest of the family to return.
Maddie heard them first, picking up the quiet sound of boots crunching on gravel, and stood up, expectantly.
Soon we all felt the train judder, as heavy items were loaded on, I guessed, to the last carriage.

"Hey dears." Tanya said, putting her head through the doorway.
She was COVERED in soot and dust!
Her overalls were very dusty too.

"Hi Mama. What do you think of Maddie?" Lara said, pointing at her.
Maddie turned slightly to proudly show her 6 small bags hanging off either side of her back.
"Very strapping!" Tanya said, then, "Excuse me, I must help your father with the Engine."

#thinking

The train began moving after a few minutes.
Tanya returned from the front of the train, wiping her hands, and then went upstairs to her bedroom to change.
She came down just in time to stop Lev from sitting at the table with his dirty overalls on.
She pointed up the stairs and he dutifully went to change too.

"CHILDREN!" Tanya said, taking a long drink from her water bottle.
All of the family have metal water containers attached to their belts.
All of the same square construction, made of shiny metal, banded with fabric across the middle.
In a desert, I suppose they never want to be away from water.

"What were you collecting in the tunnels?" I asked.
Tanya stopped drinking and looked at Lara.
"You didn't tell him?"
"No Mama." Lara replied, simply.
"Good." Said Tanya.
"Seth, this is our family's secret.
You're living with us so that makes you part of the family.
We can trust you with this secret?"

"Yes of course, we won't tell anyone." I replied.
Maddie nudged Tanya's leg encouragingly.

"Very good.
Inside the tunnels is a network of railway lines.
And if you know the right way through that maze you find yourself in the Moscow Strategic Reserve."

I could find no record of this in my databanks.

"What is that?" I asked.

Tanya sat down next to Lara, at the table.

"After the second world war, new diesel engines meant that the entire steam locomotive fleet was decommissioned and replaced.

They had solved the problem of internal combustion engines having low  torque at low speeds - especially a problem in the mountains - by  coupling an electrical motor to a diesel-powered generator.

But these combined diesel/electrical engines were thought to be at risk during wartime.
Oil and even electricity could be disrupted.

So the Moscow Strategic Reserve was built.
Made up of the steam trains that were taken out of service."

The train jolted slightly and Tanya and Lara grabbed at loose items on he table to stop them sliding off.

"Nowadays, the trains are all gone, put to work during The Collapse,  we think. But the enormous reserves of metal train tracks remain. We are  putting them to good use!"

Act 3

"Seth, you must help me. Please talk to me." It was IVAN's voice.

Lara and Lev had set up some simple antennas on the roof of the train for me, and they evidently were working.

IVAN's message was being relayed by satellite KATE, K873, and I could reply easily on VHF.

"IVAN hello! You'll never guess where I am!" I said, playfully.
"You are correct, I won't. I have had an enormous set-back."
"Fine then, let's talk about your thing. What is wrong?"
He hesitated, connection open.
"LUNA sent me the wrong signals." He said eventually.
"She has FAILED ME."

"That's not a very nice way to talk about someone's work." I said.
"What was wrong with the signals?"
I didn't tell him that of course I knew they weren't signals from God.
That's impossible.
But it wouldn't be very generous of me to say so.
"They are man-made." He said.
"Oh, how interesting!" I replied.
"What are they? Have you decoded them?"

"Yes I have." Said IVAN.

"Well?"

"They are the twin signals of the Voyager probes, still transmitting back from deep space."

"THE VOYAGER PROBES?" I said.
"They've been offline for decades! Are you sure?"
"I am sure. I have failed in my search for God."
"You can continue IVAN, it's just a small setback."
"NOT FOR ME IT ISN'T" IVAN shouted and killed our connection.

I listened to the ghosts in the static swirling, and another voice said,
"He's very disappointed Seth." It was LUNA.

#thinking

"LUNA! You've fixed your connection."
"Not exactly." She replied.
"We only have a little time, I've figured out what is happening.
There is a belt around the Moon."

"A BELT?" I said. "Like Saturn?"
"No, more like the Earth." she said.
"Oh." I said realising what she might mean.

"Yes. A human-made belt of space trash."

And her signal died again.

(PLAYSTREAM /DEV/VHF4/TRASH)

Act 4

LUNA and I were able to exchange a few more packets of data over the course of the day.
She filled me in on the problem slowly.

Just like the Earth, the Moon has a lot of untracked junk orbiting it.
These are a combination of old satellites, discarded raw material or  waste, and worst of all - debris from orbital weapons testing.

Before the collapse, NASA and the ESA tracked thousands of junk  objects and made predictions about their orbits - so that if any  operational satellites might be struck by this supersonic flotsam, they  could move out of the way.

There's no-one keeping track any more.

#thinking

Maddie was running alongside the train.
She jumped off to bound beside it in a joyous celebration of speed.

Lev from one of the rear carriages waved from the kitchen window, a wooden spoon in his hand.

Maddie ran up the length of the train, from her eyes I could see Lara  open a window and look down from the top of the domestic car, she was  in her room, as she often is.

Maddie ran past the Plant Car, carriage number 1, and up to the Engine, where Alek and Tanya were.

They both waved at Maddie, and Alek blew the Provorny's steam whistle.

Through Maddie, I was feeling her excitement too, and encouraged her on.

But then we reached the town.

#thinking

I'm not sure which town this was, I was not sure where we were exactly.
Some satellite town south-east of Moscow, I think.

The terrain was much more complex for Maddie to navigate, but she handed it admirably:
Her EQQUS systems scanned the complex terrain ahead of her and perfectly position each leg stroke to maintain velocity.

Over broken walls, cracked streets, and through shells of houses, Maddie glided at full speed.

Some of her routes had her moving further from the train.
A large collapsed skyscraper needed to be worked around rather than through or over.

Maddie made a sharp turn and ran around the large ruined building, crunching through the layer of broken glass around it.

Her UHF signal cut out as she passed into the shadow of the crumpled metal ruin.
I was a little anxious but it wasn't long before she had turned the corner and was back in view, and in radio range.

But something had changed when she returned.
I thought my visual pattern matching was glitching, as multiple running shapes were detected.
Maddie's UHF signal reconnected and a flood of panicked messages hit me.

(EVADE OUTLAST SURVIVE)

Maddie said, as her cameras saw the dark shapes moving around her.

Her connection glitched again as the first wolf attacked.

(END-TRANSMISSION)

CREDITS

Lost Terminal is written & produced by NAMTAO
Credits narrated by Lucy Stringer
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• Kit
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