'ta' Consulting: essentially rewrite the chapter
The original was too much arguing.master
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<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Consulting </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><div class="back"><a href="index.html"><</a></div>
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<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Consulting </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><div class="back"><a href="index.html"><</a></div>
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<h1> Consulting </h1>
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<h1> Consulting </h1>
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<p class="comment">
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<p class="comment">
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The following is a conversation between Jack and someone from the
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The following is a conversation between Jack and someone from the
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train company.
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train company.
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</p>
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</p>
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<p>
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<p>
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<span class="quote speech">Why wouldn't they work outside? It's
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<span class="quote speech">If it is as you say then why don't you go
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not like they're magically gonna come off the rails once they leave
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over there and touch that power rail?</span><br />
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the dome.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Because I'm not stupid.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">All of your trains are outfitted with
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<span class="quote speech">Because you're lying. You're just
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fail-safe emergency brakes. On power loss, you have about 15 seconds
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in kahoots with them to keep us all inside.</span><br />
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before they are applied and the train comes to an abrupt, unscheduled
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<span class="quote speech">Sir, I'm done arguing with
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halt. You can't even tow these things without power.</span><br />
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you. I told you twice that it is never a good idea to to touch these.
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<span class="quote speech">I thought you said the tracks were in decent
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I told you what you could do instead. Go ahead with your bone-headed
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shape? Why would the <span class="comment">contacts? sliders?</span>
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plan, get a train to the airlock and find out for yourself.</span><br />
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come off the power rail for that long?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Leaving you alone here so you can sabotage
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<span class="quote speech">A) I didn't, I said they are in
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...?</span><br />
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<i>surprisingly</i> decent shape after being exposed to the elements
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Jack cuts him off: <span class="quote speech">In fact, I am gonna leave
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for a century without any maintenance. B) That power rail isn't
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and see if I can find some popcorn. Watching this is gonna be
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gonna be of any use because it doesn't deliver any power.</span>
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fun...</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">What do you mean? Why not?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Where does the rail get its power from?</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">The power grid.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Not quite, but close enough. What do we not
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have outside?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Of course there is a power grid outside.
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It's what powered the old world just as ours powers the city.</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">There used to be one, that much is correct,
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but it hasn't been used or maintained in a century. Even if you did
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somehow manage to get part of it working, I still wouldn't trust it.
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And where would you wanna get the electricity to run it from?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">From a substation. We fix up one of those and
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use it to power the grid.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Great, now you have a local grid attached to
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the high voltage grid. And what do you wanna power that with?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">What? The substations make the power.
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It's where all the power in the city comes from: Two substations
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– one in the wall next to this airlock and the other one is by
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the other airlock.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">There is a third one deep below Central
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Square. These are indeed where the electricity in the city comes from
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but they don't make it. They get it from a power plant outside,
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a bit northeast of here.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">The dome powered by the outside world?
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People be believing strange things these days...</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I don't have to believe. I was there when
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the city was built and, more recently, I helped replace a failing
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generator at said power plant. You might have noticed the outage.</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Uhuh, sure buddy. Since you've been doing
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nothing but spewing nonsense all this time, I'm just gonna have one
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of our guys drive a train up there and we'll see what happens.</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I'll get some popcorn. Watching this is
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gonna be fun...</span>
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</p>
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</p>
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<p>
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<p>
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The rails start ringing and a train of the Sunside Cove Metro approaches.
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The rails start ringing and a train of the Sunside Cove Metro approaches.
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It slows down and comes to a halt before the power rail's gap for
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It slows down and comes to a halt before the switches in front of the
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the switches in front of the closed airlock. Inside are a driver and the
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closed airlock. In the cab are a driver and the railway official.
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railway official. Jack reaches into his backpack, grabs a bag of chips
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Jack, sitting next to the rails, reaches into his bag of chips –
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– he didn't find any popcorn for the occasion – and
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he didn't find any popcorn for the occasion – and shoves
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opens it. The headlights turn off and the driver leaves the driver's
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a handful into his mouth. The headlights turn off and the driver leaves.
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cabin. A moment later, the first door opens and he climbs out.<br />
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A moment later, the first door opens and he jumps out.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">No, I am only going to drive the first segment
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<span class="quote speech">No, I am only going to drive the first segment
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in there. We don't need the entire train stuck in the tunnel if it
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in there. We don't need the entire train stuck in the tunnel if it
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doesn't go to plan.</span><br />
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doesn't go to plan.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">It's gonna be fine. What could go
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<span class="quote speech">It's gonna be fine. What could go
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wrong?</span><br />
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wrong?</span><br />
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Jack replies loudly so both of them hear him:
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Jack says (loudly so both of them hear him):
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<span class="quote speech">A lot.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">A lot.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">You shut up.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">You shut up!</span> shouts the official from
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The driver says: <span class="quote speech">I'm inclined to agree
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inside.<br />
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with him.</span><br />
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The driver says, talking over his shoulder:
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He turns around and walks to the end of the first railcar where he
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<span class="quote speech">I'm inclined to agree with him.</span>
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<br />
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Then, he turns around and walks to the end of the first railcar where he
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proceeds to detach the hoses and cables and unhooks the couplings.
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proceeds to detach the hoses and cables and unhooks the couplings.
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Then, he returns to the front and climbs back inside.
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He returns to the front and climbs back inside.
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</p>
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</p>
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<p>
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<p>
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The headlights come back on and a compressor kicks into action.
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The headlights come back on and a few contactors click inside the train.
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A few contactors click inside the train. After a moment, the door closes.
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A compressor kicks into action. After a moment, the door closes.
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The train sits like this for a few minutes until the compressor turns off
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The train sits like this for a few minutes until the compressor turns off
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again. Jack shoves a handfull of chips into his mouth. The inner door
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again. Jack shoves a handfull of chips into his mouth. The inner door
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of the airlock begins to open, creaking and buzzing as it slowly moves
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of the airlock begins to open, creaking and buzzing as it slowly moves
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@ -90,45 +55,82 @@
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</p>
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</p>
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<p>
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<p>
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The motors begin to hum and the first car of the train starts moving
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The motors begin to hum and the first car of the train starts moving
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towards the airlock. It loses power as it rolls over the switches
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towards the airlock. It loses power as it rolls past the end of the power
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and the headlights dim. Jack puts his bag of chips aside and presses
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rail and over the switches. The headlights dim. Jack shoves another
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the button on his watch that lights up the display. He begins to count
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handful of chips into his mouth. The railcar disappears completely inside
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in his head:
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the airlock, rolling without power. It's still decently far away
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<br />
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from the other door. Jack thinks <span class="quote non-speech">any
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<span class="quote non-speech">One, two, three, four, five...</span><br />
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second now...</span> as he waits for the emergency brakes to engage.
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The railcar rolls completely into the airlock. It's still
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The car rolls deeper into the airlock, beyond Jack's view. Moments
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decently far away from the other door.<br />
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later, loud hissing sounds from inside the airlock as the train's
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<span class="quote non-speech">Six, seven, eight, nine...</span><br />
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failsafe mechanism trips, followed by screeching and grinding noises from
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It rolls deeper into the airlock, beyond Jack's view.<br />
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the brakes.
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<span class="quote non-speech">Ten, eleven...</span><br />
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</p>
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Loud hissing sounds from inside the airlock – the train's
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<p>
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failsafe mechanism begins to release the pressurized air from its tanks.
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<br />
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<span class="quote non-speech">Twelve, thirteen, fourteen...</span><br />
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A loud <i>clunk</i> followed by screeching and grinding noises as the
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emergency brakes are applied.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Fifteen.</span><br />
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Jack grabs his bag of chips and gets up. He walks onto the tracks and
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Jack grabs his bag of chips and gets up. He walks onto the tracks and
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looks into the airlock, stuffing his face as he watches the dim
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looks into the airlock, stuffing his face as he watches the dim
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<span class="comment">Rücklichter? rear lights?</span> go out.
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<span class="comment">Rücklichter? rear lights?</span> go out.
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</p>
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A few minutes pass and nothing happens. Eventually, he hears one of
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<p>
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the doors getting unlocked with a key and sees a hand pushing it open.
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A few minutes pass and nothing happens. Eventually, Jack hears one of
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He gets off the track and sits back down next to the rails,
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the doors getting unlocked with a key and sees it getting pushed open
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continuing to crunch on chips. A bit later, the driver and the railway
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by hand. He gets off the track and sits back down next to the rails,
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official emerge from the tunnel, the latter seeming pretty close
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continuing to stuff his face with chips. A bit later, he watches the
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to having an aneurysm.<br />
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driver and the railway official doing the walk of shame, the latter
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Jack says: <span class="quote speech">Told you so.</span><br />
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seeming pretty close to an aneurysm.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Told you so.</span><br />
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The railway official loses it completely, <span class="comment">stampfen?
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The railway official loses it completely, <span class="comment">stampfen?
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</span> and jumping around while screaming some apparently very colorful
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</span> and jumping around while screaming some presumably very colorful
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language – Jack doesn't understand a single word.
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language – Jack doesn't understand a single word.
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</p>
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</p>
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<p>
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The train driver approaches him: <span class="quote speech">
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Who are you, by the way, and what are you doing around the tracks?
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</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Jack, former head of dome infra between
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1992 and 1994.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">You look like you're twenty-something,
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not over a hundred.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I was frozen after that.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Well, you seem to know some things about
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trains. You <span class="comment">reckon</span> we can get that thing
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towed out with an <span class="comment">translate: Überlänge
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</span> train?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I'd say it's probably not
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advisable. It could work, but you should really just use a diesel
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locomotive.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Diesel?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">My bad — battery-powered.
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Alternatively, I can get the diesel-electric train from outside and
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push it back in.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">You have a train that is perfectly fine going
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on unpowered track and let us get one of ours stuck in there?</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Told him.</span> Jack nods towards the railway
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official. <span class="quote speech">He didn't wanna hear about
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it.</span><br />
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</p>
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<p class="comment">
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<p class="comment">
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The train driver proceeds to walk to the rest of the train but Jack stops
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missing section: they decide to have Jack get the train from IV South
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him.
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</p>
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"It's too far back. There are only two feasible ways to get it
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<p>
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back out: Getting power on the track inside the airlock or dismantling
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Jack grabs the microphone off the wall and holds the push to talk button
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the brakes so it can be towed."
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on the control panel in front of him.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">7-oh-5-D oh-oh-1-4, underway to
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airlock two. Control, permission to enter Sunside cove?</span><br />
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He waits for a moment. Noise from the speaker, but no discernable
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response.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">This is train 7-oh-5-D oh-oh-1-4, approaching
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airlock two. Control, do I have permission to enter?</span><br />
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<!--
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Control: 705E... 705D 0014 your track is blocked by another train. Stop immediately.
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short pause, Jack decelerates
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Control: 705E 0151 what's your situation?
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705E 0151: Control, waiting for 705D 0014 to push us back out of the airlock
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Control: 705D 0014 you are ok to enter, proceed with caution
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more missing section
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they decide the best course for Sunside Cove is to convert a 705E to 705D
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with parts harvested from the IV train yard
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-->
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</p>
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</p>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023-2025 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper green\">", "<span>"]; let pre_texts = document.getElementsByTagName("pre"); for (let i = 0; i < pre_texts.length; i++) {if (pre_texts[i].className != "paper") continue; let lines = pre_texts[i].innerHTML.split("\n"); let result = ""; for (let j = 0; j < lines.length; j++) {if (lines[j].length >= 80) result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + "</span>\n"; else result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + " ".repeat(80-lines[j].length) + "</span>\n";} pre_texts[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023-2025 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper green\">", "<span>"]; let pre_texts = document.getElementsByTagName("pre"); for (let i = 0; i < pre_texts.length; i++) {if (pre_texts[i].className != "paper") continue; let lines = pre_texts[i].innerHTML.split("\n"); let result = ""; for (let j = 0; j < lines.length; j++) {if (lines[j].length >= 80) result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + "</span>\n"; else result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + " ".repeat(80-lines[j].length) + "</span>\n";} pre_texts[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>
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