The good Lt. whose name I was a little fuzzy on carefully examined my bag. "You...brought everything."

"I didn't know what we needed. I grabbed some extras too."

"Many extra starrods."

"They were together in the box where I found them."

"You...took the entire box."

"I did! I didn't know what we needed."

"For our purposes, they are all the same." He said. He looked a little green, but I determined that was more so fear than turning into a zombie. And the zombies didn't look rotten, just really really angry. "And you put them all next to each other." he said. "Without oilcloth."

"Is that what that was?" I thought of the lavender handkerchiefs I had seen back in the now destroyed shelter. I didn't know. But nothing exploded...well, nothing exploded we didn't mean to explode."

He looked like he had a thousand more questions to ask, but enough common sense to know it wasn't time to ask.

"I didn't think that was a problem." I answered confidently.

"And you didn't explode."

"Not yet. The day is still young."

That got a smile out of him. The screams of the zombies dampened it.

He shook his head, and carefully closed the bag again. "Ms. Rogers," he called to Jesseme. "I recommend she brings the bag to you. I think she is doing a fine job of stabilizing, and at the moment I am struggling to maintain my own concentration." He admitted honestly. "I will trade places with the Constable."

I wonder if he felt he was safer fighting zombies than holding my bag. I...might be holding a bigger bomb than I realized.

Left ontop of the train, I hoped that Rock Lee was still doing well. I could hear the vague arguments of the different foresters expressing their different ideals, so I assumed nothing had changed. At least it sounded like they were almost fighting each other. That could prove interesting.

Jesseme looked at me with judgement in her posh, smudged face. "If you can, walk toward me. Ignore the fumes."

Welp, ready or not, I took the bag slightly more carefully than before and walked towards her.

If there were fumes, I didn't smell them. There was a smell slightly like a dry eraser marker and old rubber bands, but nothing more.

"Remarkable." she said. I handed her the bag. "Hold it for me." she said, in super crisp and precise English. How could her brittish accent be so sharp and superior sounding, and yet she was still likeable?

I gently opened the old pack lovely packaged by Mr. Prattalike. I really wish I had gotten his real name. He was an honest and decent man. I was able to make it out because he led those barney into a trap, and then went after the other dinosaur. If anyone escaped this train nightmare, it would be due to his bravery and self-sacrifice.

"You have an amazing gift, Miss." Said Jesseme. She carefully took some of the other parts out, leaving the star jump rods in the bag. "Hold on to those for me, dear. Just...think peaceful thoughts."

Well, I may have a super power here after all! It's "Doesn't Explode Girl!" coming to a comic book store near you! Overworked college student not included.

I wasn't dumb. Steam really seemed like a big deal here, but it seemed to have very little effect on me. I had technically walked through it twice. Although I had heard something about the Silver Master disappearing, and felt a little out of it for a few minutes, I didn't feel like I had any other bad side-effects. Maybe it was more like I was mostly inert to the steam? Was inert the correct term? I was interested in making money by accounting, not science stuff.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Jesseme was removing some damaged section of pipes with her gauntleted hand, and I saw steam start flowing out as soon as she removed the pipe. Why wasn't there some kind of stop valve?

"Watch me now." said the Steam Engineer. "Feel the flow of the steam."

And she did magic.

The steam moved through the pipes in a precise way. It was stretched and thinned, pressure building, disbursing, and rising. I didn't understand why it did what it did.

But under Jesseme's attention, the steam which began leaking out of the damaged section....stopped leaking.

Steam rises because it is lighter than air.

But under her attention, the steam was rallied and pulled, like a force was compelling it to follow a new pattern, a new pathway. Like the new parts where already in place.

She adjusted and concentrated, and the pattern became more and more complex.

There was a sound, and I knew without looking that Hawthrone was back. But he didn't say a word, and I didn't look away.

It was beautiful.

"I have to get the coil tighter." she said, more to herself. "The modulator isn't caplibrated quite right..." she muttered.

And the steam flowing in the complex pattern drew in tighter and tighter, the thin lines becoming thick streams as more and more were laid upon each other.

"Can you hold this for me?" she asked.

"Um...." well, this was certainly more interesting than Dead Coil, in a micro way. Dead Coil was the beginning of the double entry accounting system, which allows for companies to build empires and whatnot. But that was macro, large view approach.

This was just cool on it's own.

"I don't know how?"

"Just...keep focusing on it. It will exist as long as it is observed. You must observe it completely. Can you do that?"

I nodded. "I am really good at memory games." I said. And I focused. On the tightly wound patterned. Every line, every circle. I didn't know what each did, and it was weird to see it happen without seeing some kind of pipes forcing it to do that. If there were invisible pipes, that middle coil would be tighter, despite Jesseme's best attempt it was turning murky as clarity was getting lost as the steam curled together.

It cleared up. Jesseme must have fixed that section.

"That's it." said the Steam Engineer. And she started assembling the pieces I had brought with other pieces that she had set aside, her hands fast and swift and sure. She would be great at building models, probably.

I felt a little silly, imagining all the details. Some strain was building between my eyes. I know I blinked, but those were the shortest blinks of my life.

Was that corner supposed to round like that? Was I slipping? It wasn't like it was hard, but it was like watching a movie and they change the painting on the wall between scenes. You were sure that it used to be a picture of the Late Wife who is totally really dead and not plotting revenge, and then the painting is switched with a dog or something. You are almost sure of what you saw...but not enough to point it out.

"You are doing great. I can fix that corner. Just focus on the important bits."

"I don't know what the important bits are." This was like playing tetris or that really old game pong. It wasn't hard, really, but it could get complicated quickly.

Hawthorne's comforting hand found my shoulder, and the strain I felt between my eyes reduced. "You are very talented, Miss." he said. "From throat punches to parts retrieval."

I thought he would distract me, but the sense of pride only made me want to perform better. I decided that that one corner was more flared than rounded, and it reluctantly took that shape.

What can I say? I am a teacher's pet.

Jesseme was there, corrected the corner just a little, and started putting the new pieces in place. Right over where the steam pattern was in place, so that the steam followed where I couldn't see it. I was worried about those tight curls, but they lined up exactly with a piece that looked like a harmonica with springs attached out one end.

"That's incredible." said Lt. Bumdebum. I guess he came back too.

"It is remarkable." echoed Hawthorne.

"Now the difficult part." said Jesseme. "We need to insert the Star jump rod while the engine is hot. The train will start. We will have no way to control the speed or the stopping."

"And if we do it wrong, it explodes, doesn't it?" I said. I could look up now, feeling way more proud of myself than I should have.

Hawthorne was all in one piece, though it was clear he had been involved in some fighting.

"It does indeed. I noticed an explosion earlier. Was that..." asked my favorite constable.

"I...had a small part to do with that."

I really wanted to understand how this world worked. At this rate I wish I had just tried out the backrooms. At least there were no dinosaurs or ninjas or huge steam engines there.

There came an alarm. I almost checked my phone, but I realized it didn't come from it.

Hawthorne pulled out his fob watch.

"This is my very, very last alarm." he said. "We need this train moving, because beyond this point it is too late to run away and hide. We are past the point of no return."