“And just where have you been?” A very ornery looking angel asked as I returned to my train. The new cars had slotted in quite nicely, but I had to maintain eye contact for the moment.
“Getting new cars,” I replied slowly, like a husband who had just entered his home with his wife who thought he’d forgotten their anniversary.
“New ca-” she turned and I saw her eye twitch as soon as she spotted the artillery car. “WHERE did you find that?”
“Locked room in that warehouse,” I replied while pointing a thumb back at the building in question. “It could only be opened with this key,” I continued while showing off said key that currently dangled from my neck.
“Of course there would be a Titan-locked room in the tutorial plane,” the angel pinched the bridge of her nose in consternation. “Were there only Titan Engine cars, or...”
“There were just the three, dozens more for normal trains.”
“Good, good, that makes my job a lot easier,” she sighed, then turned to me. “My boss just contacted me, and said that I am to travel with you, to make sure you don’t go crazy and try to blow everything up.”
I did my best to not let the surprise I had at that statement reach my face. “I’m not entirely sure what to make of that,” I replied. Does whoever brought me here, and put me in charge of the Wrecking Machine do so by accident, or are they second-guessing themselves now or something?
“Alright, if I’m stuck with you, what will you be doing while on board my train?” I finally asked.
“Well, I’ll still be helping you with System related information,” she replied. “All Conductors eventually require a Quartermaster to keep track of inventory of their items within the train, I’ll be taking over that spot so you will have a slight edge over most others in that regard.”
A new screen popped up in front of my eyes.
Accept Angelica Dovefeather as your Quartermaster?
[YES]
[NO]
“So, your name is Angelica,” I said slowly as I hit the yes button. Her cheeks grew red in embarrassment. I also got a ding about gaining some more EXP, bringing me most of the way to my next levelup.
“Y-yes, it is. Angelica Dovefeather, at your service.” She curtsied lightly and then straightened up. “If you’ll give me a little time to get acquainted with your train, I’ll have a tally of exactly what you have currently stocked. We can also go over your skill purchases at that point as well.”
“Sounds good to me,” I said with relief. “I’m going to go check out the new barracks-slash-armory car.”
Said train car was set up right behind my Engine, in place of the original box car. In fact, the entire layout of my train had changed! Where it was box car, then flatbed, then caboose, now it was barracks/armory, artillery, barracks, forge, gondola, wrecker/flatbed, plain flatbed, both box cars, and then finally the caboose.
Getting up the stairs onto the car was as easy as it has ever been, what with me only being in this area for the last half-day or so, but the near-constant exercise was starting to take its toll on my endurance. I took a minute to catch my breath at the entrance to the car, then walked inside.
I was half-expecting to find the entire interior all dark and rusty, but I was mistaken. The lights were on along the ceiling, revealing that the upper halves of the walls were painted white, and that there were light rust stains along the seams of the wall panels. The lower halves of the walls were painted in a dull olive drab, and the floors were a dull matte black.
I leaned down to take a look at said floor, and noted it was entirely in diamond plate. Leaning up, I took a look at the first door on my right, noting that it slid into the wall with ease as I opened it. The lights here were off, but there were open windows along the outer wall, letting in the natural light. Armored shutters were ready to slam down at a moment’s notice above each window.
Within the revealed room were ten bunk beds. The beds each would not look out of place in a World War Two American barracks, with a woolen blanket, and a feather pillow. At the foot of each bunk were two vertical lockers, clearly for the occupant’s usage. In the rear were another two doors, the one on the right was a small commode, easily able to fit five occupants at once. The left, which shared a wall with the hallway, led to a small shower room, surprisingly comfortably able to fit half of the occupants of the room at a time.
I left the room and looked to the other side of the hallway. The door I found there, offset by a door’s width from the one I just exited, led to a copy of the bunk room. As I walked down the hallway towards a very clear security checkpoint, I noticed a pair of stairwells on either side that led upwards.
I put investigating those late on my to-do list as I walked up to a closed door at the end of the hallway. A lock identical to the one that sealed the room I’d found my new train cars in kept the door sealed, though I did notice some damage along the sides of the frame, as if someone had tried getting in with a crowbar and failed.
I took my key out and inserted it into the lock, which thunked to the ground and left a small dent in the floor. I reached down and retrieved my key, while also putting the lock into my inventory. I’ll figure out what to do with it later.
The door slid open by itself with the creaking of dry bearings, revealing a window on either side of the small room it opened up into, as well as another door. On my left was a sign that said [Pickup], the one on the right said [Order].
I gingerly stepped in and the door behind me closed. After a moment, a green LED flashed three times, I heard a pleasant beep, and the previously closed door opened up into a brightly lit hallway, painted the same as the one I had just left.
An armored counter ran for ten feet on either side of me as I walked in, and I noticed rows upon rows of--with few exceptions--empty weapon and armor racks, as well as a freight elevator heading up into the second, and presumably a third, floor. Dual staircases flanked the elevator shaft, which I made a beeline to.
Upon reaching the second floor landing, I did confirm that there was indeed a third floor above me, but what really caught my attention was the fact that half of the floor was blocked off by a large armored wall with two wide doorways that were currently closed.
The other half of the area was filled with more clearly marked racks for weapons, ammunition, and armor, in addition to a mess hall that took up half of that area. Aside from a few scattered boxes of various sizes hiding within the ammunition racks and shelves, they were all empty. There were no windows, but there were several rows of what I could only assume were fluorescent lights, or their LED equivalent, lining the ceiling. I even spotted what appeared to be inactive small red light fixtures running along the edges of the walls and paths through the storage area.
I turned to the closer of the two large doorways and approached it. A green light above the door frame activated as I got within five feet, and the doorway split in half. Each half slid into the wall, revealing that it was a good twenty-four inches thick, with the doors half the width of said wall. Lights within the room turned on, revealing to me something that reminded me an awful lot like what I was working on back home on Earth.
Well, found The Morgue, I thought to myself with a smirk. I walked in, spotting that only one of the sixty maintenance and storage bays was occupied. Tool racks were mostly empty, however their former contents were scattered around the place haphazardly. Tiny screwdrivers, wrenches of every size and type, hydraulic spreaders, hammers of many types, and clamps, were all scattered around the floor. I spotted a few sizes of rivet gun in the tool racks, as well as welding materials tucked neatly at each bay.
I walked into the room, heading for the lone occupied stall. The object of my interest fascinated me, for it looked both familiar, and was definitely not, at the same time.
“Haven’t worked on one of these in six years,” I mumbled as I stopped before the unarmored power-armor frame. It, like the suits I was used to working on back during the North American Unification War, looked remarkably like what you would have found in the later old Fallout games. There were differences, mostly in the rear where the power supply for the suit was housed. The ones I had experience with were rounded and quite bulky, whereas the one before me was more angular, still bulky, but had a more industrial look to it.
People disparaged the suits when they were first introduced, saying they were “useless sci-fi garbage” and “completely impractical and a waste of resources”, I reminisced as I knelt down at the adjacent console to activate it. But they made a name for themselves when facing those damn Canadian Berzerker Corps. The northern half of the old USA was left an irradiated wasteland thanks to those Canucks. I occasionally still had nightmares whenever I heard a goose honk outside my old apartment’s windows, or saw kids playing hockey outside.
I had joined the Army when I turned eighteen, a year after the war broke out. I’d been immediately tossed into the Engineer Corps, and was lucky enough to have been part of the first teams to have worked on the suits two years later. For the next decade, I helped improve the next few generations of suits based on feedback from the soldiers on the frontlines, and at several points had to get into a suit myself when enemy forces got to my base in Minnesota.
I’d been one of twenty survivors, fifteen of whom were armor-jockeys or mechanics like myself who’d jumped into empty suits, in the aftermath of the last battle of the war in the North. Canadian soldiers, both normal people and gene-jacks of the wolf, bear, and moose variety had swarmed us in the dead of night, with armor, artillery, and the last of their aircraft. The first notice we’d had of the attack were the hordes of genetically modified Canadian Geese that were strapped with plutonium-doped incendiary explosives detonating over the base.
I shuddered at the memories that sprung up unbidden and took a minute to calm myself down. It’s all in the past, Thomas, none of that can hurt you now. The long scar running across my torso from right shoulder to left hip throbbed in remembered pain from a Gene-Wolfman’s military hockey stick that had cut through my armor like a cold knife through frozen butter.
I found the activation switch for the maintenance bay and flipped it on. A screen lit up on the side, letting me know the suit was in standby mode, and judging by the flashing red icons that were flashing all along a stylized version of the suit, was barely in operable condition. The only thing that wasn’t in red was the power supply pack on the back. It was green with flashing yellow slashes along it, indicating that it was out of juice.
I looked around for a fuel hose and charging cable like suits from home, but came up short. Suddenly, my Titan Technomat trait kicked in, and I banged my head against the fist of the suit as I half-jumped in surprise. Rubbing the injured part of me gingerly, I stood up and looked at the chest of the suit.
On the left side of the chest was the outline of a hand, to which I placed my right one upon. I felt something leave my body, and in response the suit made a whirring sound and began opening up. Unlike the power-armor frames I was used to, this one opened up from the front, allowing me to turn around and gently step back into it. The forearms, however, did not open up, just the upper arms. I had to duck my head under the chestpiece as I entered the suit. As soon as my limbs were in each of the suit’s limbs, it closed up around me and a blue box appeared in my vision.
Titan Power Armor Frame Mk. I (Extremely Rare)
Integrity: 63%
Power Status: 25%
Owner: Thomas Smith
Armor Parts: 1/20
Dormant Startup: 25% of user’s maximum mana to reignite the power supply.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
+50% Strength
+50% Endurance
+25% Vitality
More bonuses locked due to lack of armor.
As the armor closed around me, it felt like I had regained use of a long-lost limb, though it was a little tight around the gut. With a contented sigh and a feeling of safety, I lifted an arm up. There was some lag in between my arm trying to move and the suit responding, letting me know that this thing was in dire need of a tuneup. It did not help that I heard a grinding noise from the shoulder actuator, which gave out with the sharp acrid stench of what anyone who’s worked with electronics knows as the “magic smoke” leaving the circuits. I saw the Integrity percentage dip by a few points, and sighed.
Thankfully, whoever designed this suit had a similar opening-button as what I was familiar with, a small button just below the chin that when held for ten seconds activated the opening sequence. This time, the entire suit made unhappy noises as it opened up, and I groaned with annoyance as the chestpiece locked in place halfway up. The legs likewise froze halfway open, and I was left slightly annoyed at the designer. The legs swung in rather than out.
Extricating myself from the suit took several more minutes in which any sailor would be impressed at learning some new verbiage, but eventually I managed to flop out of the suit and onto my knees. It took me several minutes to stand up as my undignified flop had hurt something rather sensitive on the way down, but stand up I eventually did.
“Right, need to fix that later,” I squeaked out. I looked at the suit, schematics of several different armor designs running through my brain thanks to my Technomat trait. I was also slightly surprised that some tools around me lit up with a faint blue glow, which I understood as an indicator that they would be useful in repairing the suit.
I tidied up the area a little bit, putting tools that were glowing next to the bay, while placing tools that were not in my inventory, to eventually put back into an adjacent tool rack. I was thankful that there was one every third maintenance bay, which included a large tool chest with many drawers, several pneumatic hoses, a few hydraulic hoses, and a portable shop vac of all things.
I spent another two hours just cleaning up the room, and when I was done, every tool was in its proper place. I had many, many duplicate sets, but my internal Gearhead was very happy for that. My inner American, however, was warring with my inner Gearhead, as all of the tools were using the metric system of measurement.
Eventually, I reached the third floor, which had both bunk beds and workbenches, leaving me to think this was where the armorers were quartered. There were even windows up here, and mounting points for heavy weapons next to each one, along with a popup armored barricade behind each window, spaced two feet back.
The elevator car was on the third floor, and I took it down to the first. I exited the armored car the same way I entered it, with a profound impression that things were definitely going to be interesting in the future.
As I exited the car and looked to the ground, Angelica appeared from the artillery car.
“Ah, there you are,” she said, looking at me. Somehow, she had gotten a pair of square glasses and had switched out her white toga for a chaste gray business suit. Her hair had also gone from flowing down her back, unbound, to a tidy low ponytail. She adjusted her glasses up and then asked; “Are you ready to go over an inventory report of what your train possesses?”
“Uh, yeah, sure,” I distractedly replied. “Hit me.”
“In your rearmost box car, you have one ton of supplies located within storage crates.Ten crates of various military uniforms, six crates of raw sugar, thirty crates of many different spices, and three pallets of metal ingots.” Why is she glaring at me? “Within which, there are ten ingots of mithril, five of adamantite, four of orichalum, one of mythrum, ten ingots of gold, and the rest is of high-quality steel. You are a very, very lucky man.”
I shrugged. “Anything else?”
“Well, in your artillery car, you have precisely three shots with each of your two eighty-millimeter cannons, ten shots with each barrel of your quad eighty-centimeter mortar turrets,, and one shot for your three-hundred-eighty-millimeter cannon. That one is currently located on the very top of the artillery car in its own turret, it’s fairly roomy, all things considered. Though I’m not sure how far its range would be, the barrel is very very short.”
I looked up at the artillery car behind her, noting the positioning of the turrets. From this angle, I could not see the topmost turret, so I held up a finger and hopped down the stairs so I could get a better look at the train car.
Unlike the ones on either side of it, the artillery car was somewhat pyramidal in shape, with three distinct tiers leading up to the top. Starting from said area, I spotted a very stubby barrel that housed the big gun, following down from that I saw no turrets, and on the final tier, I spied the two eight-centimeter cannon turrets, which puzzled me.
“Angela, is it just me, or am I only spotting three turrets?”
“The bottom tier on each side has two turrets, one for the cannon, one for the mortars,” she explained. “The second tier has no turrets installed, though there are four possible mounting positions for them. Again, you’re lucky. If you had found a level one artillery car, all it would have available to it are some mortars, with no turrets. It would be a glorified flatbed car. In your barracks cars, you have enough beds to fill out their occupancy, you have some food in your caboose with various tools, you’ve already seen the contents of the armory... Hmm, I think that is it.”
“Thank you, Angelica.” I sincerely stated, beginning to climb back up the stairs. “Speaking of the caboose, why don’t we go there and grab something while we talk about these skill purchases you mentioned earlier? I’m famished,” as I said the last word my stomach made its emptiness loudly known. This triggered a sympathetic stomach rumble from her, and we both made our way through the train back to the caboose.
We got two cars down before I asked; “Is there a skill that could help speed this up?”
“Yes there is. If you simply think of the term ‘Skill Shop’ it should pop up with some options for you. Generally it will show you the most useful to you at first.”
I did as instructed, and received two blue boxes. The first being the shop itself, the second letting me know I had just gained enough experience to reach level four.
Skill Shop
Points Available: 20
Skill/Requirements:
Cost:
Description:
Skill Activation Cost:
Engine Transportation I
(Conductor or Engine Crew, Level 3)
5 Points
Allows the user and up to one other to teleport between the starting position and up to two train cars in length. Can only be used when upon any train car pulled by an Engine, or an Engine itself.
Very handy for when you have a large train! Distance increases with each upgrade to this skill.
10% of max mana per teleport, 3 teleports per hour
Titan Automation I
(Titan Conductor, Level 4)
6 Points
Allows the Conductor to automate a single train car of their home Engine if they do not have enough Engine Crew to staff said car. Said car operates at 50% efficiency.
Titan Conductors tend to be very weak when they are just starting out. This skill allows them to have a small fighting chance against aggressors, or when your crew has been knocked out during a fight.
50% of max mana to activate, reduces total mana reserves by 25% while active.
Home Teleport I
(Conductor or Engine Crew, Level 1)
2 Points
Allows the user to return to their designated “home” point. Conductors of all types are locked to their Engine’s main cabin.
Sometimes, a Conductor needs to step out of their Engine for a while, this allows them to return home always. Upgraded versions of this skill reduce the cost, and every third level of this skill allows you to bring one extra sentient being along with you.
100% of max mana to activate, one use per day.
Power Armor Training I
(Level 4)
5 Points
Grants the user the ability to- Hey, wait a minute! You already know how to use this stuff! Great, your past life basically grants this to you for free, AND you already acquired your first suit? Lokhir, the Laughing God, won’t shut up about this for the next week!
25% of max mana to start a dormant suit, 100 mana per hour to operate said suit.
Resource Gain Efficiency I
(Conductor, Engine Crew, or any Class that harvests resources)
2 Points
Grants an extra 10% to gathered resources when you gather them yourself with any tool.
This buff stacks with any other buffs you may have, and yes, the big scoop on your Wrecker crane counts as a “tool” for the purposes of this skill.
Passive, no cost.
Ranged Weapon Proficiency (Firearms)
(Level 3)
1 Point
Allows the user to wield fire-Another skill you acquired in your past life? You otherworlders sure do break the shop!
Passive, no cost.
On the Railroad
(Conductor only, Level 1)
5 Points
When your Engine is in motion, if there are no tracks on your path of travel, spectral tracks will appear below your Engine, and extend up to five miles in front of, and behind, your train. Spectral Tracks will automatically attempt to connect to any existing railway fit for Engine sizes. This skill will automatically activate itself if you are on a set of rails and heading for a collision with another Engine, allowing both trains to pass harmlessly. The Conductor with the lowest level will be the one who goes onto this spectral siding.
We’ve been tempted to simply make this a Trait for all Conductors in the past, but never really got around to it.
Passive, no cost.
“So... are there supposed to be sassy little information tidbits in the skill descriptions?” I asked as we walked, seeing the list kept going, but stopping at On the Railroad for now. Angelica’s eyebrow arched upwards and she looked over at the blue box in front of me. She stumbled and nearly tripped on her own two feet as she read the descriptions.
“No, no they are not,” she said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “It would seem that the Gods are having a laugh at, or with, you right now. I wouldn’t worry about it."
“Well, I’m going to pick up a few skills then,” I said, then did just that. I picked up On the Railroad, Engine Transportation I, Titan Automation I, Resource Gain Efficiency I, and Home Teleport I for a nice tidy twenty points. After that, I brought up my Status menu.
Name: Thomas Smith
Level: 4
Class: Titan Conductor
EXP: 0/50
Health: 100%
Skills: 9(5)
Mana: 100%
Skill Points: 5/Level
Stamina: 100%
Traits: 2
Resources: 2T(Metal)+. 10T(W)+, 10T(C), 200G(Wa), 1T(Cargo Crates)+
“So, one of my skills notes it takes one hundred mana per hour... but my status page doesn’t show anything other than a percentage,” by this point, we had reached the end of the forge car and were about to walk up to the gondola car.
“When you reach level five, you will unlock the ability to see just how your stats are arranged,” she began. “Your mana total is determined by three stats, from lowest impact to highest: Sanity, Vitality, and Acumen. The trio also affects your ability to cast spells. Sanity, because altering the world to your whims with magic can take a toll on your mind. Some spells are stronger the less sane you are, and some spells are stronger the more sane you are. Vitality, because every spell has a chance to backfire if you are not healthy enough, and having large mana reserves takes a toll on one’s physical form if you are not careful. And finally Acumen, for your ability to understand and enhance the spells you learn, thus leading to poor performance if you do not have enough of it. And for every ten points in Acumen, you are able to add one spell to your repertoire. Now, this is a good chance to use your Engine Transportation skill! Focus on both of us, as well as your train. In your mind’s eye, you should see your train’s layout, and where we are.”
I closed my eyes to focus, and was pleasantly surprised as what she said would happen, did. I mentally clicked the glowing icons of ‘us’, and then clicked at the far end of the flatbed that the wrecker crane was attached to. I felt a SCHLORP, tasted the color green, and when I opened my eyes, we were both standing on the far end of the flatbed car.
“Holy shit that was trippy,” I said woozily. I felt a little dizzy, so I leaned against a nearby railing. After a moment, I attempted to use the skill again. As before, I felt a WHOOP, tasted the theoretical ramifications of the word Yes, and we were suddenly between the two box cars. I felt a little dizzier, but powered through the sensation to use the skill for a third and final time.
One CRACKLE, smelling the tree that fell in the forest with nobody around, and suddenly I was next to the caboose’s rear turrets, on my knees and retching over the side of the caboose.
“Right, I guess I forgot to mention that attempting to cast spells before level five tends to have that effect,” Angelica apologized. She crouched down and rubbed my back in a soothing pattern. I felt a tingle as she did so, and received a notification that I was currently being cleared of the [Nauseous] debuff.
“T-thanks,” I gasped as I stood up. “Right then, shall we?” I asked as I entered the caboose.