#ghost trains

The Mountain was never given much thought. Its snow-capped peak towered over the land in such a totally dominating way that the Islanders thought that not even God could have put it there. It was, as more than one man put it, “bigger than life, and older than sin.” It had always been there, and was about as lively as, well, as a rock. 

Man often wondered if the rest of the world was alive. After all, so much was already; animals, plants, machines, and so on. It made a comforting amount of sense, to assume that one was not alone in their own world. Natural events, such as storms and floods, growth and bloom, were all attributed to some form of life. Gods created thunder, encouraged the plants to grow, and responded positively to prayers and sacrifices. 

In some theologic structures, everything had a god, no matter how minor, while others simply believed that there was a spirit inside each and every thing ever put upon the earth. 

On the Island, however, divinity was not something the Islanders put much stock in. 

Yes, in some years, a rain dance may bring a good harvest, or a standing circle would appease the river spirits and prevent flood, but just as often, the harvests would fail or be lean, and the river would burst its banks anyways. To blame this to any number of gods, or just one for that matter, seemed almost foolish - what were they, humble farmers and fishers, doing to attract such attention? 

Until the Catholic & Anglican churches came, many years later, the gods were relegated to idle gossip, the mental wanderings of the terminally superstitious. Orry, King of the Sudrians, slayer of the Manx, and Starstrider of legend, was closer to godly status than any rain shower or bad harvest. 

So, as they lived their lives, The Mountain was never something that occupied their minds for very often, in the same way that one does not actively contemplate oxygen or gravity. It was merely there. It was never anything beyond that. It wasn't alive. It was never a god.

Much like divinity, early Islanders did not put much stock in the concept of “because it’s there.” The Island would produce many great warriors, men of industry, fishers, farmers, scientists, and vicars, but few explorers would come from those whose lineage stretched to the time before King Orry’s wars. The mountain, with its imposing snow cover, high winds, and enticingly easy-to-climb faces, would remain unexplored until the age of Queen Victoria. 

When Man eventually came to The Mountain, Machine was soon behind him. A small line of narrow steel, the first of several, stretched towards the Mountain and the settlement at its base. Man soon found that the peak of the Mountain had never been surveyed, and charged forth with abandon, much to the bemusement of the Islanders. 

Man returned, starry-eyed from the incredible sights He had seen. It must be shown to the world! He cried exuberantly. And we can charge for it!

Only after improvements had been made, of course.

It was not feasible, Man argued, to walk to the beauty of the summit. A better solution must be found, He said. 

And so there was. Men, accompanied by animals, slowly trekked their way up the Mountain, a triple ribbon of shining steel in their wake. They reached the summit shortly after the turn of the new century, and introduced Engines to the uncaring, unfeeling, un-living Mountain. 

The Engines were young, and brought with them all the foibles of the young - arrogance, cowardice, ignorance, blind courage. They rolled up and down that mountain with no care, no thought, no knowledge of the danger that the Mountain posed them. That the only thing keeping them in the land of the living was a sextet of metal-on-metal contact patches the size of a sixpence. 

It was an ignorance that would last a scant month. 

-

In years to come, the now-eldest of the Mountain Engines would lie, and say that Godred had survived his final trip down the mountain, and due to lack of funds, was parted out over the following years, giving his life for the others. 

That lie was based on the idea that there was any Godred left to salvage. 

-

Men said a short prayer - to whomever they thought was listening - and carted away what little remained. Godred watched them go. 

He was aware, in a quite detached nature, that he was dead. 

What do I do now? He asked himself, not sure of the answer. 

He tried the sheds, drifting down the mountain and through the walls like… well… like a ghost. His fellow Engines were silent, sad, in some cases weeping. They couldn’t see him, and after a short while, he departed, feeling altogether worse about his situation. 

He missed his passengers, and drifted about the platforms next. 

But they were shut. 

“CLOSED DUE TO UNFORTUNATE ACCIDENT” read a sign posted on the station door. 

It was unfortunate, he thought. And remained, hoping that one day the People would come back. 

After half a season, it became clear that they might not. Godred felt sad, and slightly guilty. It was my fault, he thought, and he left the station with the first snow. 

Despondent, he drifted up and down the mountain until the snow left, not sure of what to do with himself. Eventually, he came to rest at the top, near the summit station. The winds whipped and howled, but he paid it no notice for many days. 

Eventually, the snow melted, and the clouds began to part each morning. He watched as the sun shined through him each morning like he wasn’t there. Each afternoon he drifted around the station, trying to remember what it felt like to be full of life. 

One morning, before the dawn, he thought he heard a whistle, deep in the valley. The wind had grown especially cruel recently, making strange sounds as if punishing him for ignoring it, so he pushed it out of his mind. 

Then it came again, much closer this time. 

The sun rose over the mountain. Man and Engine alike said it was one of the most beautiful sights in all of God’s creation. 

Godred didn’t care. To him, there was nothing more beautiful than seeing a workman’s train climbing up the mountain. 

-

Just a few days later, the first passengers arrived at the top, and Godred nearly wept in joy. I hadn’t ruined it all! He cried, although nobody could hear him. 

-

That night, as the last train left, and the sun slipped below the horizon, Godred felt at peace for the first time in his death. As darkness spread across the land below, he closed his eyes, and slowly began to descend, not down the mountain, but instead into the rock itself. 

-

The mountain had no life of its own. It had never been alive, nor had it ever taken one. The first to die on its slope had been not Man, nor Beast, but Engine.  

As the Engine descended through the rock, He understood. 

The mountain was now a graveyard, of one. 

And every graveyard needed a guardian. 

Godred and The Mountain ceased to be separate, and instead became One.

-

Many decades later

Culdee and Catherine sat at the summit station, very shaken. Nobody else had noticed, as they ascended the Devil’s Back, the tremble in the rails. It wasn’t the wind, or a shake of the ground, but instead the rails very much giving way. They’d sounded the alarm (screamed it, really) and cleared the section in record time. Alaric and the workmen had come all the way up with the Truck, and they’d found that a rail had snapped completely in two. 

“I don’t want to alarm you any further,” The permanent way foreman said over the radio. “But if you’d been a touch longer you’d probably have torn the gripper rail out of the sleepers and gone over.”

The driver, fireman, and guard all collectively thanked whatever god they held dear, but Engine and Coach knew better. 

They had started tipping. The gripper rail had come off. 

-

“What saved us?” He asked Catherine, as they sat outside the Summit station much later that night. 

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “We almost ended up like Godred…”

“Don’t remind me…” He didn’t particularly want to contemplate tumbling all the way down the Devil’s Back. 

For a moment, all was silent, before a particularly strong gust of wind picked up, whipping its way past the two. 

Don’t worry Culdee, Came a voice that seemed to be carried on the wind. I’ll keep you safe. 

All the water in the Mountain Engine’s boiler might as well have flash-frozen to ice. “Please tell me you heard that.” He pleaded to Catherine. 

“Yes.” The Coach’s voice was scarcely a whisper. “What-who- was that… him?” 

“Godred?” 

The wind seemed to laugh for a moment. “Yes. I’m here. Always.”

And then it was still once again. 

Try as they might, Culdee and Catherine couldn’t help but believe what they heard. 

At the start, its just minor anomalies on the subways at night when things are shut down. First just a ping of something on the tracks here and there.  But any time its checked out, there's nothing.

Then a few people go missing.  But, as alarming as it is, its not assumed to have any connection to the minor anomalies at all.  People go missing,  And the subways are crowded.  As much as the nimbasa subway workers do their bets to keep traveling the subways safe,  its impossible to keep every bad thing from happening.  And thus, its inevitable that a few people might go missing down there. As horrible as it makes the Subway bosses and their depot agents feel when it happens.

Then people start saying they boarded trains that took them to the wrong platform. Or didnt stop at all for hours.  Some say when they got on the train, it just refused to move.  Or it did move, but when it came to a stop later, it was at the same platform as before.

But thats impossible!  The main subway controls and tracking showed no signs of any trains malfunctioning, no indication that any had rode for hours, or arrived at the wrong platforms.  All trains were accounted for! And none showed any signs of the things so many people were reporting.

Then the anomalies start to become more frequent. Before it was only once a week.  But now its nearly every other night.