Carson’s transport rolled through the opening and waited for them to follow. When they were all past the entrance, Val said, “Blockbot wants to know if we’re ready.”

“Ready for what? Aren’t we going down?”

“Um.” She paused to converse with the droid via Virg. “Oh, are we ready to close the door?”

“Oh, yeah. Close it up.” Erramir replied.

The sight of metal melting up into its previous shape was even stranger than watching it melt down. Val shivered, “So weird.”

Erramir didn’t think it was strange at all, the rock bugs were creepy as fuck, but he was intrigued by the steel. He found himself with half a mind to touch the metal while it was liquid to gather some more data about it. He didn’t though, if the metal did something to him, Val might be left alone with two unconscious teammates.

With the entrance sealed, blockbot raised Carson into a seated V position, with both his head and legs elevated, and went directly toward the stairs. “Look at that, now he’s in a wheelchair.” Val laughed.

Erramir grinned–it was funny. One of Carson’s arms dropped over the side, and his head began to tilt that way. Before Erramir could react, a block emerged from the treads and lifted the arm onto Carson’s lap, and the seatback blocks tilted, pushing his head back and resettling him in the center.

“Huh, I think it’s done this before,” said Erramir. The new seated block arrangement looked much safer for descending stairs. It kept Carson from sliding and allowed for a shorter tread base that gave blockbot more clearance to traverse the vertical drop.

For whatever the reason, the little robot knew its business, and it descended the stairs flawlessly. Val and Erramir followed, both of them a bit giddy at the comic value of seeing their friend hauled around in such a manner.

“He kinda looks like a drugged-up cripple,” Erramir said.

Val laughed. “You’re so right, look he’s even drooling.”

“Augh, I feel a little bad. This is what he gets for saving our asses. Passed out and picked on." He smirked and chuckled. "Whatever. It's funny. Although, I hope he didn’t do permanent damage.”

“Nah,” Val flicked a hand dismissively as she turned the landing on his right, continuing down a second flight going in the opposite direction. “He has some requirement where he needs to stress his essence channels to evolve one of his affinities. Remember? Something to do with increasing his magic capacity?”

“Yeah, I remember.” Erramir nodded. He just hadn’t expected the fall-out to include several hours of unconsciousness.

At the bottom, blockbot turned right. Val followed, but Erramir looked left and saw something interesting. Is that... He moved closer and smiled. It was a trio of ore carts on rails, the tracks leading off into the dark in either direction. Twisting to look up, he peered into a vertical chute several stories high.

That’s an ore chute. They rolled ore carts into the entry tunnel and dumped them here. This is how they transported mined ore for refining. “Hey!” he called. There was no response. Turning around, Erramir found Val and blockbot gone.

“Hey, where’d you go? I found us some transportation.” Then added–“Well, sort of.”–to himself. With a slight scowl, he walked back, passed the stairs to the opening blockbot had been leading Val toward. Through the doorway, the passage went right down a short corridor, and he continued. “Val? You down here? I found some ore carts.”

Val’s response came from beyond the corner at the end; it sounded distracted. “Ahhh. Over here.”

Erramir rounded that bent to the left, took one final, slow step and stopped to stare.

He was standing in the middle of a narrow, stone-carved platform that was nestled alongside what could only be a subway tube. He was reasonably confident of this at first sight because in the center of the platform, sitting quietly, was a train car. Although calling it a mere train car was to vastly understate its elegance.

The machine was all smooth silver curves and sleek lines that would cut through air at high speeds. Both ends tapered to low points, making it equally able to travel in either direction. As long as a bus and with an ellipsoid shape tall enough for even Erramir to stand, the car appeared to ache for speed. It was beautiful.

It was a marvel out of time and place, like a piece of modern technology.

Although considering the technical sophistication of Undavir, Erramir supposed that maybe it wasn’t quite so misplaced.

Even so, this silver beauty had a look and feel that eclipsed the mining robot. There was just something about its appearance. Maybe it’s just my obsession with things that go fast, he thought with a smile.

Val was walking over toward it. She looked back at him. “Blockbot says that it works.”

Erramir broke himself free of the shock and followed her. Standing beside the silver bullet, he could gaze along its exterior into long tunnels that carried parallel tracks off into darkness. The rails themselves looked to be made of the same material as the slick subway car and the entry door to the station were. It reminded him of stainless steel with a bit less shine.

Three long, oval windows were spaced along its side, and they were reflective, like one-way glass, and there was no gasket or separation between the window and the frame. This made them appear like nothing but shiny oblong sections, so flawlessly integrated that Erramir began to consider if they might not be windows at all.

Val was standing beside the center window. Blockbot had set Carson down and was beside her. “Blockbot says this is the door. I’m going to try and open it.”

Erramir looked at the area she was indicating. It looked seamless to him. In truth, the entire train car looked like it was cut from a solid piece of steel. “Are you sure? I don’t see a door.” He said, taking a couple precautionary steps back. “Maybe it opens in the front?”

“Only one way to find out,” Val said, and then she touched her tattoo to a spot between the first and second window.

The center window disappeared. It didn’t vanish, leaving an opening; no, it turned into steel, making the middle part of the train one solid panel of metal. Immediately, an arcing line appeared, melting a border around the entire panel and creating what looked to be the outline of a ten-foot-wide door.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The door section flashed from solid to glossy fluid, and just as they’d seen above, that section liquefied into the car floor. Even though they’d seen the metal do this once already, Erramir found that this time it was far more remarkable. Maybe it was the larger size, or the speed at which it melted away, or the fact that the window had changed too, or it could have been due in part to what was revealed inside.

Whatever it was, Erramir felt like a kid with a new toy. “Soooo cool.” Breathily, he stepped inside.

“Yeah, that shit is pretty amazing.” But, Val really sounded more concerned than impressed.

The interior had molded seats made of the same metal, mounted in groups of three beneath the ovals, which were, in fact, windows. Opposite the door was a storage area with shelves and vertical racks for hauling all manner of boxed goods or weapons and armor. It was empty. Val’s stomach rumbled, Erramir had to laugh.

“Jesus Val, you eat more than I do.”

“I know. I’m trying not to, but I can’t help it,” she wined.

Erramir dragged his pack over his shoulder and pulled out some dried beef for both of them. “I like this jerky, the hard cheese, too.”

Tearing off a bite, he began to chew, then tipped his chin toward Val and offered her a mischievous grin. “So. Where to naviguessor?”

“Naviguessor, my ass. The only time we don’t use guidance is when we rally. And when you’re driving, I always get the directions right.”

“Really? What about that time in the mountains last year?”

“What? We were literally in the middle of nowhere. Your stupid car went so far off the map I’m surprised we weren’t picked up by Eskimos.”

“Hey... lay off my ride. You told me where to go. It’s not my, or my badass car’s, fault that you grossly underestimated our capabilities.” He paused, then with a sly grin and a mocking tone, added, “Besides, don’t blame the arrow.”

“What? Screw that,” Val barked in reply. “Even if I was the indian in your dumbass saying, how the hell are you gonna blame the indian who had her metaphorical eyes poked out by the moron who insisted we turn off the satnav and use the stars to navigate.”

“It was emergency preparedness training. And you agreed to it. Hell, it was half your idea. And it worked too. We learned a lot. If we have to bail into the mountains to escape the zombie apocalypse, we’ll totally be able to find South.” Erramir lifted his chin, then snorted a laugh. “Just so long as Jupiter is ascending.”

Val smiled. “That was an awesome trip, wasn’t it. You remember Carson on that one descent, the one where we had to drop over the lip?”

“Oh shit, I forgot about that. He was screaming like a teenage girl.” Erramir chuckled. “Honestly though, that was pretty hairy. We had at least a half second of freefall. I’m not ashamed to say I was white-knuckling that one.”

Val was smiling at the memory. “Yeah, good times.” Then her expression got serious again. “Okay, back on task. If I’m the naviguessor, that makes you responsible for driving this pill.”

“That’s fine. It’s on rails. I can’t crash something on rails.”

“Famous last words. You find the controls. I’ll check the map.”

Erramir clapped his hands together, rubbing them briskly. “Okay! Where’s the pilot’s seat?”

As it turned out, there was no pilot’s seat. At the front and rear of the passenger cabin, there was a broad, narrow window at eye level, a viewing port to look down the tracks. But no controls to speak of.

Below these windows and set within the broadest part of the tapering cone, there was a seat, but it wasn’t for a driver. Erramir knew it wasn’t a driver’s seat because of four things.

One: It seemed to be mounted on a rotating gimbal. Two: There was a jet airplane-style stick that stuck up between his legs when he sat down. Three: None of the glyph marked buttons on the small console beside the seat did anything to wake up the train car when he pressed them. And Four: In front of the chair, there was a transparent panel. Behind it and concealed within the nose cone was an enormous metallic gun.

“Why does this thing have two dedicated gunner positions but no driver controls?” Val asked, sounding a bit concerned.

“I know, right?” Erramir echoed her concern. “What’s down in these tunnels that they needed all this firepower for?” He looked back toward the other end of the car. “This is definitely a troop transport. Hell, it almost looks like a strike team drop-ship on rails.”

“Do we need to man these things?” Val asked.

“Not if we can’t go anywhere. We can’t even get the door closed. We’ve got to be missing something. Let’s look again.” He ducked down to poke about the gunner’s seat once more.

Val turned to head back to the other end, then stopped after a step. “Waaait.”

A moment later, blockbot rolled into the cabin, and its uppermost block tilted slightly to the side. For a robot made of bricks, it was an uncannily accurate impression of Val’s thinking pose. “Haha! Look Err, look at blockbot.”

He ducked back out of the nose section. “Oh my, that’s precious. Did he learn that from you?”

“I don’t know. I do that though, don’t I.”

“You do. Every time you communicate with Virg, you do that with your head.”

“Huh.” Val shook her head in mild disbelief. “Clever robot.” Then rotated back to Erramir. “We’re gonna need to get Carson strapped in and then buckle ourselves in too. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this right off, but Blockbot can make this thing go.”

“Ahhh... shit. Of course, he can.” Erramir chuckled. “Alright, I’ll get Carson.”

When he had Carson inside, blockbot turned things on. It wasn’t much of a show, other than the door flowing up and resealing, the only other change Erramir saw was the runes on the gunner’s panel glowing softly. What blockbot did next was a bit more intriguing.

In the center of the car, before the cargo racks, a rectangle liquified and flowed away to make a hole, then blockbot assembled itself in. The scene was a bit like watching enormous Legos fly into a hole sized just perfectly. The floor of dull silver suddenly had a strip of tarnished brass bars, right in the middle.

Inspecting the seats, it turned out that there were harnesses tucked in beside and behind them. Like everything else, the belts were made with a woven mesh of the dull metal. While they got Carson and then themselves buckled in, Erramir took note that the strap lengths were set up for beings of his size. He had to cinch them way down for Carson, and Val did the same.

“Okay naviguessor,” Erramir said. “This show is all you. Where’re we going?”

“Right, no driver needed,” agreed Val with a wry smirk. “So Blockbot’s map isn’t complete, but we have a few options. We can go to the outpost, that’s straight ahead and the closest. We can bypass the outpost and take a branch track toward an area marked with the Varden sigil, which seems promising. And, there’s also one of those vertical shafts over there, not too far from the station.”

Val considered, nodded, then continued, “We could also head toward that other vertical shaft, the one we first looked at. This version of the map shows another settlement over there about a-quarter the size of the canyon. But it's further from the tower. Or, there’s another track we can take going in the opposite direction that goes beyond the edge of the map into unknown territory.”

Val made a circle with her arms. “From what I can see, the tracks are laid out the same as the cities, roughly like a wagon wheel. Right now, we’re at six o’clock on a small feeder.” She pointed down the tunnel. “Down there, we’ll join up with a main spoke that will take us toward the outpost, or we’d split off to the left and go clockwise on a ring track to the Varden base.”

The access shaft is also over there but on a ring out further from the Tower. In all, it’s about the same distance as the Varden base. If we want to go off the edge of the map, that’ll take us on a track that splits right and goes counterclockwise.”

Val’s nose scrunched in distaste, then she looked at Erramir. “Umm… Let’s not do that. Just hearing it aloud makes me cringe.”

“Agreed.” Erramir smiled emphatically. “Edge of the map sounds like a bad idea, at least right now. I think we should head toward the Varden base; better chance of tracking down their commander.”

“Yeah,” Val nodded. “There’s bound to be another major spoke route over that way. I also don’t think covering ground or backtracking is going to be a problem. This sucker can move.”

“Really? I mean I figured from the outside, but how do you know?”

“I can get a few partial images and impressions through Virg’s link with Blockbot.” She looped a thumb under her shoulder strap. “These harnesses aren’t just for show.”

“Alright then.” Erramir gripped his straps with a goofy grin, looking exactly like a guy on a rollercoaster. “Let’s do this!”

Grinning, Val focused momentarily, then yelled, “Spit Fire!”

On cue, as if launched by a catapult, the sleek rail car rocketed out of the station. Inside, the two conscious occupants howled with glee.