Sabotage on the Solar Express by M. G. Leonard

Author:M. G. Leonard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

NO TIME TO DIE

The group of passengers that had been visiting the driver’s cabin trooped back into the lounge.

‘That was amazing,’ Karleen exclaimed to Kenny. ‘A train as stunning as this one, that isn’t going to pollute the planet in any way,’ she enthused. ‘If this is the future, then I’m buying a ticket.’

‘Gotta admit, she’s a beauty,’ Kenny agreed.

‘A train that doesn’t need a driver! What is the world coming to?’ Bobby Benson was muttering to himself and shaking his head as he hobbled to a chair and sat down. ‘I like to drive with a hand on the throttle, an eye on the track, and using mechanical instruments, not screens.’

Kenny rubbed his stomach. ‘Do you reckon it’s nearly lunchtime? It’s been a while since brekkie and I’m starving.’

Leslie and Terry came into the room looking thoughtful. August followed them into the lounge, talking. ‘I really believe hydrogen is the future of the world’s transport industry, because there is no cleaner way to power a vehicle. The question is, do you want Australia to be at the forefront of this new industry, or do I have to go back home to America to achieve it?’

‘Hydrogen isn’t the only way,’ Terry replied. ‘Nuclear power provides a great alternative to fossil fuels.’

‘Pop!’ Marianne jumped to her feet, but he put his hand up, indicating that she had to wait.

‘Because believe you me,’ August went on, ‘I’m going to invest every cent I have in making this work.’ Putting his hand behind his back, so that his passengers couldn’t see what he was doing, August pointed to the driver’s cabin.

‘Come on, Hal,’ Marianne said with a huff. ‘Let’s go find Boaz.’ She linked her arm through his and pulled him into the corridor. Behind them, August was cheerfully promising the other passengers that lunch was coming soon and suggesting they enjoy the observation pod, as if everything were going exactly as planned.

The door to the driver’s cabin was closed, but Boaz opened it when he saw them approaching.

Michelle was leaning over the control desk, staring from one screen to another, tapping at buttons.

‘How’s she doing?’ Marianne asked Boaz.

‘Urgh!’ Michelle made a frustrated noise. ‘The new program is basic, but effective. All signals to the satellite are dead. The logins are corrupted. I can’t see much else in the code, and I can’t change anything. I’m trying to find a way to reconnect to the satellite, so we can get help.’ She hammered a series of keys. ‘Right now, no one knows the Solar Express has been sabotaged.’

‘What does the code do?’ Hal asked.

‘It’s a series of instructions to the train. I can get them up on this monitor. Look.’

Hal stared at strings of white letters and numbers that made no sense to him.

‘The only noticeably strange thing is that the train’s instructions don’t seem to go beyond three hundred and ninety-three kilometres, but Tennant Creek is five hundred and nine kilometres from Alice Springs.’

‘But that’s great, isn’t it?’ said Hal. ‘If the train is programmed to stop, that means it’s not going to crash.

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