The Chronological Man: The Monster in the Mist & The Martian Emperor by Andrew Mayne

Author:Andrew Mayne [Mayne, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Word Fire Press

4

Secret Passage

Smith’s private train roared across the track at eighty miles an hour towards the island of Manhattan. April looked out the window at the night sky. Sparse lights could be seen between the forests and small towns between Boston and New York City.

“The train, it’s so quiet,” said April. Other than a gentle swaying, it barely seemed to be moving at all.

“It’s electric. Powered by a dynamo and a large battery. An engine charges them when necessary. Otherwise, yes, it’s quite silent. Technically, we’re not supposed to be using these tracks.”

April turned away from the window? “What if another train is coming? Will your engineer have enough time to react?”

“Engineer…well, Miss Malone, there is no engineer. It’s controlled by an automaton. I mean, really. There’s only two directions, forwards and backwards. As far as colliding with another train, I have two systems to prevent that. One is a kind of microphone that listens for other trains. The other is a kind of sonic eye, I call it. There’s a device at the front of the train that blows air through a high pitched whistle. Another microphone, tuned to only that frequency, listens to see if it returns. If it does, then we know we have a problem.”

“Then what?”

“Then we have a problem.” Smith gestured to a map of the Eastern seaboard on one wall. Railway lines were marked out in sharp blue. Small metal trains magnetically stuck to the map appeared to move slowly. “That shows us where the trains are supposed to be. It’s updated from telegraphs time-to-time as stations send signals down the line.”

April sat down on a crush red velvet couch. The salon car looked far more fancy than something she would have expected from the eccentric, yet practical Smith.

“Is your room to your liking?”

“Quite so,” said April.

Smith nodded. “And your mother?”

“Excited, that I get to go to New York on such short notice.”

Smith had hesitated to ask April to accompany him. She’d insisted and he only made a slight protest. Things were still a bit foggy for him. He still wasn’t quite sure about much of his own history and he only had a vague recollection of her. He could tell, from the feeling in his gut, that he was very fond of her.

They’d only boarded the train an hour ago. After April had shown Smith the newspaper, he decided that it was urgent that they get to New York City as quickly as possible. At first he led her up a staircase behind the big door. He then stopped half way up and decided to take a different means of transportation and led her to the basement where his secret train was waiting. April wanted to ask him what means of transportation was waiting in the attic, but decided to ask him at another time.

She’d heard of underground rails in London and knew that there was talk in Boston of building one and a failed attempt of a pneumatic in New York, but to her knowledge, Smith’s train was the first operating one outside of Europe.

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