"Will ye be riding back wi' me soon, sais?" Frandin calls from up the washout, unwilling to trod any closer to the inert and somehow menacing white body of the train. One of his mules brays, and Peak sniffs close to the dirty white side of the train for a moment before jerking back at some perceived offense.
15[19:38] <@|> "What are we gonna do now?" Mark asks.
[19:40] <Alan> "Pretty much what we said," Alan remarks.
[19:40] <Alan> "We'll see if we can't break this thing worse.  Raymond, you said you knew of trains in the Barony of America?"
06[19:42] * Raymond brushes his hand across his brow and peers at the train. "I know trains, yes, but this ain't like any train I've seen. I was expectin' black, a coal fired steam engine...but this is new to me..." Still, it is a train, he thinks as he frowns at the sleek, white form. The principles have to be the same, don't they? "Maybe if I see the inside..."
15[19:43] <@|> Such a thing may be easier said than done, for as he looks up at its smooth, weather-dirtied surface few seams betray themselves, and no windows as far as he can tell.
06[19:44] * Uta peers over Raymonds shoulder at the train, "I know how trains move down the rails Raymond. I can help you out with getting it to move!"
15[19:44] <@|> In fact, the machine seems to lack exposed wheels entirely, despite its place mounted on an otherwise familiar train-track.
06[19:44] * LaRoux scratches Peak behind the ears, watching the others fiddle with the train.
06[19:45] * Alan shifts uncomfortably at the idea of actually climing inside the silent hulk.
[19:45] <Alan> "You know, LaRoux, I'm almost wishing we had those grenados right now."
[19:45] <Raymond> "Well, trains are driven from the front...or the back. Let's try one end," he says, and hikes to the front. He lets his fingers trail over the surface, trying to find something familiar, even just a texture.
06[19:46] * LaRoux smirks. "I knew such things had use."
[19:48] <Raymond> "Just need to find the engine," he says, as he reaches the front end of the train. He gives the side a push with both hands, right where he figures a door ought to be. "Or wherever the controls may be..."
15[19:52] <@|> Only a thin seam that runs from the rusting metal band of the rail at his feet to just above his head shows itself under his hand, one he might not even have noticed if the light hadn't been just right. Digging a fingernail under it is out of the question, but just when he starts to think about another way to pry it open... he notices the gleam under an unhealthy-looking fern.
15[19:53] <@|> A broken-bladed knife.
[19:54] <Uta> Rather than following Raymond towards the back of the train, Uta moves around to the front of the train. She rests her hands on the front of the train, trying to feel for any breaks within the structure.
15[19:55] <@|> "They said those other guys, the um, the hairy guys, tried to get it working before, right?" Mark asks, seeing his gaze and picking up the handled end by its hilt. The design is old, something that reminds Raymond of a medieval relic than a switchblade.
[19:58] <Alan> "Aye."
15[19:59] <@|> The words WHITE LIGHTNING pass above her head as she drifts to the back. She's seen trains before, of course, the ones that ran through Haven with their cheery toots, and the ones that ran to the Devar-Toi bearing their ill gifts. Most of them are long snakes, but this one is only four cars long, each identical in length, and like Raymond's discovered up front, all sealed tightly. As her fingers
15[19:59] <@|> brush over it, a wave of longing and sadness passes through her, and for a moment she sees her life in the dim recesses of her childhood, before the Wolf came.
15[20:00] <@|> "The others tried for naught to open it, sais," Frandin calls out. "It is not a thing for men anymore."
[20:01] <Alan> "There we're agreed," Alan mutters, standing back and inspecting the thing, hands on hips.
06[20:03] * Raymond doesn't much care if the knife's from yesterday or one-thousand years ago. It's a tool. Never mind that the filigree on the side is just like the fine blades that gaunt gave him and how pretty they looked flashing through the air. And never mind that he's keenly aware of the very name of the train mocking his 'fated' sentence.
[20:04] <Raymond> "Let me see that knife, boy," he says to Mark, taking the blade from him. He pushes the broken tip into that fine crack and tries to wedge it deeper...then slide it up, hoping to catch a latch.
15[20:06] <@|> The knife slips over the surface like it's buttered, sending his elbow thumping against it... a sensation eerily similar to touching a corpse. Then he tries it again, and something catches.
[20:07] <Uta> "If it is not a thing for men anymore, than it is good that I am not one." She gulps nervously, reminded of the forces that are beyond men and their ill machines, but her nerves are steeled by her abilities, approaching the machines workings with no hesitation.
15[20:09] <@|> This time, the good-mind floats around her, holding back whatever malignancy might lie within the thing's hull. As she steps close enough to be within its aura, something clicks in her mind like a slap to the back of the head.
15[20:09] <@|> "GREETINGS, TRAVELLERS OF MID-WORLD."
06[20:10] * Uta feels in tune with the world around her, reminded of times of her childhood before being taken into the camp of Devar-Toi. But she learned things there, like how to work the world around her. Everything clicks into place.
06[20:10] * Alan takes a step back, hand on the butt of his revolver.
15[20:10] <@|> The voice booms from everywhere, loud as God himself, a thundrous roar that sends Peak fleeing from the washout.
06[20:10] * Raymond claps his hands over his ears.
[20:11] <Uta> "There you are, White Lightning!"
15[20:14] <@|> As her ears regain their hearing she can hear the steady ARK ARK ARK of Peak barking from beyond the closest trees. The train, however, remains silent.
06[20:16] * Alan lets his hand slowly drop to his waist, then says the first thing that comes to mind.
[20:16] <Alan> "...Long days and pleasant nights."
15[20:18] <@|> "AND MAY YOU HAVE TWICE THE NUMBER," the voice booms out, somehow lessened in volume despite its intensity. "I HAD THOUGHT THAT ALL SUCH PLEASANTRIES HAD GONE OUT OF THIS WORLD."
06[20:18] * Raymond staggers back a couple feet from the train's side. "Someone's inside?"
06[20:19] * Alan shakes his head at Raymond - not to say no, but because he doesn't know.
[20:19] <Alan> "How are you called, now that we are met?"
15[20:22] <@|> "YOU MAY CALL ME WHITE LIGHTNING, THOUGH MY DESIGNATED NAME IS ELRIC. YOU ARE NOT OF FENRO. FROM WHENCE DO YOU COME?"
[20:27] <Raymond> "Maine," he says, surprised he's responding to the voice in the first place. This could be as dangerous as meeting the three strange low men in their flash car. "America," he quickly adds. Seems to be an important difference around this place. "Are you the train's engineer, Elric?" He'll be damned if he's going to invoke the train's other name.
[20:29] <Alan> "I am Alan Cohen, of Gilead," Alan replies simply.
15[20:29] <@|> "OH HO HO HO. FROM MAINE, YOU SAY? A FINE LEVEL OF THE TOWER. I HAVE NOT BEEN THERE, THOUGH I HAVE MET OTHERS FROM IT."
15[20:31] <@|> At Alan's words the voice stops. "GILEAD? AN INTERESTING TALE. WHAT HAS BROUGHT YOU HERE, ALAN COHEN OF GILEAD?"
06[20:31] * Uta looks up at the train with a smile, having already felt a connection with the train, "My name is Uta, White Lightning! We both walk on the rails and they brought me here to meet you!"
[20:32] <Alan> "The road," Alan says dryly, "And ka, if it please ya."
15[20:33] <@|> "OH YES, UTA OF THE DEVAR-TOI. YOU ARE WELL-KNOWN TO ME." The voice lets the words hang for a moment, before admitting to Alan "KA IS THE GREAT EQUALIZER."
[20:34] <Alan> "You speak true," Alan says.  It certainly echos with him.
15[20:34] <@|> "YOU ARE STRANGE FOLK WITH STRANGE TALES TO TELL, NO DOUBT. BUT I HAVE NO INTEREST IN TALES THESE DAYS."
15[20:37] <@|> Peak creeps up behind LaRoux's feet, peering out at the train as it speaks. A distant bray tells them that Frandin has borne all he can of this blasphemous exchange.
[20:42] <Alan> "Well than, what interest would you have, White Lightning?"
[20:42] <Alan> It's not the best reply, but letting...whoever...is speaking's words hang in the air seems ill-omened
[20:44] <Raymond> "Why are we even talking with a train?" he says, suddenly feeling an edge of anger creep into his voice. "There's a crack right here. It's a door, I'm sure of it. Get a big enough lever and we can pry it open."
15[20:45] <@|> "I HAVE NO INTERESTS, ALAN OF GILEAD. I ONCE RAN THROUGH ALL LEVELS OF THE TOWER, BUT THOSE DAYS ARE PASSED. THE WORLD HAS MOVED ON."
15[20:45] <@|> "AND YOU WILL FIND I HAVE NO PATIENCE FOR VANDALS, SAI."
06[20:46] * Uta seems almost hurt by the trains statement, "You have already heard enough about us then? Then why don't you tell us of how you came to be here, White Lightning?"
15[20:50] <@|> "THAT IS AN INTERESTING QUESTION, UTA OF THE DEVAR-TOI. PERHAPS YOU AND I MAY SPEAK ABOUT OUR TRIPS THROUGH THE WORLDS NEXT DOOR."
06[20:52] * Uta touches out towards the White Lightning, feeling the machine and its soul and tries to extend her good feelings to the machine, "Sure! No one ever asked me about how I walked down the rails and ended up in this scary place with angry men in blue and the Wolves men!"
[20:52] <Alan> "Now that we are met," Alan interjects, "Per'aps it's time to talk of why we're here - I suspect you have an inkling, sai, or whatever you be.  We're here to render useless a tool that might be used by the Good Man.  This train."
06[20:53] * Raymond looks up sharply. Rendering the train useless wasn't his plan at all! "Now wait just a moment," he starts...
15[20:54] <@|> "OH HO HO HO," the voice laughs, a sound that might be jolly elsewhere but makes everyone's hair stand on end. "YOU ARE THE FIRST TO VOICE THAT, ALAN OF GILEAD. AND THE GOOD MAN CONCERNS ME NOT. HE SENT MEN HERE ONCE, AS YOU KEN, AND I SEND THEM AWAY."
[20:57] <Alan> "So we have heard," Alan says, "But the Good Man has many men and many old world machines at his disposal."
[20:57] <Raymond> "We're not planning on making this thing useless," he says to Alan. "If we can get it running, we can *ride* it. It can take us miles...leagues away from here on the tracks. You wanna be away from the Good Man, follow the beam? The train'd do it."
15[20:58] <@|> "AND MORE EVERY DAY. THIS DOES NOT CONCERN ME. TELL ME, ALAN OF GILEAD, WOULD YOU PEPPER ME WITH BULLETS UNTIL I CEASED TO BE? OR DO YOU RECKON YOU COULD LAY HANDS ON SOME NUCLEAR CHARGES?"
[20:58] <Raymond> "I won't take any part in wrecking the train," he states. "And I won't let you do it, neither."
06[20:58] * Alan glances to Raymond, actually surprised, and is about to reply when White Lightning speaks again.
[20:59] <Alan> "I think we both know I'd do no such foolish thing.  In truth, I expected to find a dead machine here and hasten its decay."
[21:00] <Alan> "...Though I see we're not of one mind," he says this with a glance to Raymond.
15[21:01] <@|> "YOU SPEAK TRUTHFULLY, ALAN OF GILEAD. THE WORLD HAS MOVED ON, AND LEFT ME BEACHED HERE."
15[21:01] <@|> "PERHAPS WE CAN COME TO AN AGREEMENT, MY FRIENDS."
15[21:04] <@|> "YOU WISH TO DEPART THIS BARONY, SAI? THAT CAN BE ARRANGED."
15[21:05] <@|> "IT WOULD BE A SMALL MATTER TO MOVE FAR BEYOND THE REACH OF THE GOOD MAN."
15[21:05] <@|> "PERHAPS ONCE I MAY HAVE BEEN CALLED BACK, BUT SUCH DAYS ARE GONE. THE STATIONS ARE EMPTY. NO ONE IS WATCHING THE TROOPS."
06[21:08] * Alan exchanges glances with the others. In truth, he has no destination in mind, and certainly hadn't expected to encounter such a piece of Old World technology, offering to take him farther than his feet or horse could. He says nothing in reply.
02[21:09] * LaRoux (Geremy-Tib@sux-840736CD.hsd1.ma.comcast.net) Quit (Quit: )
[21:09] <Raymond> "Do your...uh...do the tracks follow the beam all the way?" Seems like the sort of thing Uta would want to know, and he glances at her.
[21:09] <Uta> "Where do you think you can take us that the Good Man can't find us?
15[21:10] <@|> "YES, SAI, THOUGH THE TRACK MAY VEER AWAY AT TIMES THE ROUTE STAYS SQUARELY ALONG THE BEAM ALL THE WAY TO THE EDGE OF MID-WORLD."
15[21:12] <@|> "WHAT IS YOUR NAME, HUME OF MAINE?" the voice booms.
06[21:13] * Raymond takes a moment to realize he's being addressed. "Raymond. Raymond Tucker."
15[21:13] <@|> "WELL, RAYMOND TUCKER OF MAINE? WHAT WILL IT BE?"
15[21:14] <@|> "WILL YOU RIDE THE LIGHTNING?"
06[21:14] * Raymond flinches, visibly.
[21:15] <Raymond> "Why?" he asks. Careful. Very careful. "Do you want to make a deal?"
15[21:16] <@|> "DEALS ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY IN MID-WORLD, RAYMOND OF MAINE."
[21:17] <Raymond> "Nor in any world. Some people would give away anything for what they think they need." Suddenly, Raymond seems very reserved. He glances at Alan. "Is the edge of mid-world a place we want to go?"
[21:19] <Alan> "I don't know," Alan admits.
[21:19] <Alan> "From there, no man comes.  To there, no man goes."
15[21:19] <@|> "IF YOU RIDE, I WILL LEAVE MID-WORLD AND NEVER RETURN."
15[21:20] <@|> "CHOOSE QUICKLY, I GROW BORED OF THIS HEMMING."
06[21:21] * Raymond closes his eyes. Can you escape fate? Can a doom, once placed, be avoided? Could signs and portents be nothing more than smoke and mirrors? "All right," he says. "I'll ride the Lightning."
15[21:23] <@|> "THERE IS ONE CONDITION, SAIS. YOU MUST ALL RIDE TOGETHER. NO CHARGE FOR FARE, COURTESY OF NORTH CENTRAL POSITRONICS."
[21:26] <Alan> No good comes of the things of the Old Ones.  Alan knows that better than most.  Still, to leave this thing here, living?  Alan has left things in his past before that found him further down the path, worse for having been ignored.
[21:26] <Alan> "I will ride."
[21:27] <Uta> "I want to ride! You can follow the rails much faster than I could with my legs!" She points down to her feet, fully enclosed in the massive boots that were tied up by Raymond.
15[21:28] <@|> "Ide!" a voice barks from behind Josef's legs.
15[21:28] <@|> "WHAT ARE YOUR NAMES, MY SMALL FRIENDS?" the voice asks at Peak's response.
15[21:29] <@|> "I'm... Mark. Of Haven."
15[21:29] <@|> "Peak! Mid!"
15[21:30] <@|> "WELL THEN, MARK OF HAVEN, AND PEAK OF MID-WORLD, WE ARE WELL-MET ALONG THE BEAM. PLEASE, MY FRIENDS, STEP INSIDE."
[21:31] <Alan> "Nowhere to go but forward?"
15[21:31] <@|> Something clicks up where Raymond's knife found purchase, and the panel slips outward toward them a few inches, before sliding along the side of the car despite the absence of any track or arm. Inside, a lush red velvet setting that reminds Raymond and Mark of a Victorian parlor sits, perfectly clean and new-looking.
06[21:32] * Alan steps forth - gingerly, at first.
15[21:32] <@|> The open space and the room beyond sit surreally in the wooded washout, surrounded by mud and brush.
06[21:33] * Raymond steps inside. A whorehouse. That's what it looks like. Plush, ritzy...and covering up something entirely different, hiding underneath. "Very fine cabin, this is."
15[21:33] <@|> "I'll ride," Josef says in a low voice, stepping up onto the rise and looking back once at the overcast sky.
15[21:34] <@|> "THE FURNISHINGS ARE CAST ON A LEVEL OF THE TOWER RENOWNED FOR SUCH FINERIES. IT MAY NOT BE AS NICE AS THE TRAINS THAT SERVICE IN-WORLD, BUT IT WILL DO FOR YOU."
[21:35] <Raymond> "Nicer than the bunks on the circus trains," he remarks.
15[21:35] <@|> "LESSER STOKES FOR LESSER FOLK." At this, the voice begins to laugh again, an unwholesome sound, and the door clicks closed behind Mark as he carries Peak up the step, closing them inside.
06[21:36] * Alan feels the absurd urge to scrape his boots off before climbing completely aboard, a reflex from a place where such things mattered.
15[21:37] <@|> "WELCOME ABOARD, MY NEW FRIENDS. I BELIEVE WE WILL ENJOY OUR TIME TOGETHER."

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