Vixen A.D. 2 | Chapter 6

Beyond the Depot

The maintenance lift came to a slow drift, then eventually stopped altogether. The doors opened, revealing the interior of SL TRAM 2’s depot, tracks, and infrastructure. Everything looked like it was okay; Mace couldn’t see anything obvious.

Except that the secondary tram wasn’t there.

He chewed his lip. “Alright,” he said, “let’s go power on the tram in the depot. From there, we can hop on the tram and make our way down the track.”

“How many trams are there overall? Like, how many tunnels and tracks and depots and stuff did you guys dig out and build?” Cinder asked.

“There are two systems per cardinal ops. So, eight all together.”

Faye scratched her chin. “That tram can fit a couple hundred people, easy,” she said.

Mace nodded. “They’re meant to transport between the other outposts, colonies, and installations. Who knows how many outposts and colonies are left out there. We haven’t had any contact with anyone,” Mace explained. 

Mace led them to the platform at the tram depot. There, just in front, was the only other operational tram. “Wait here,” Mace said.

He went inside the building behind him and ran a few diagnostics. Hopefully, they could ride it all the way down to wherever the problem was coming from. If not, he’d have to get on the maintenance trolly.

It was slower and smaller, but it’d get the job done. The thing was only meant to hold four or five large men anyway. He, Faye, and Cinder shouldn’t have a problem riding it.

In front of him, the monitor blinked several times. Outside, through the poly-acrylate windows, Mace watched as several lights blinked to life in the tram. Above, the luminance of several LED arrays flickered.

He could hear the electromagnetic engine whirring up and several supercapacitors in the tram’s power system starting. Mace left the room, shouldering his carbine. “Hey, question,” Faye asked. “If we’re having power problems, why is the tram starting?”

“We have power to the trams and transports. The defenses down here just haven’t powered up,” Mace said.

“Oh,” Faye replied. “You’d think it’d take everything out.”

Mace shook his head. “No, we tried to run things in parallel and on different systems in case one went out of operations.”

“Smart,” Cinder commented.

“Did you find the problem?”

“Strange. It’s not too far. A junction, like I thought. Looks like it’s down or damaged,” he said.

Faye leaned forward. “Why is it damaged?”

“Or what damaged it?” Cinder added.

Mace murmured something. His face was tinged with concern. “I don’t know,” he managed.

“I think we should be on alert,” Faye suggested.

“Yeah, more than we were. Alright, let’s head out,” Mace finished.

He led them to the tram. The thing had been untouched, from what it seemed. It was made of poly-alloy, metallic glass, poly-fiber carbon, and other materials. Mace pulled on the door.

The tram was a long rectangle, complete with blunted corners on the ends (which made it more like a stretched-out octagon from the right angle). Its middle section was painted industrial yellow, almost like a stripe between the two turquoise pastel blues on the bottom and top.

A platform that rose slightly above the ground, lifted by strong metal and concrete legs, sloped downward to a set of several stairs. There, they connected to the tram. He pointed around the room, then to the opposite side. “We came in from the maintenance lift. There are other entryways on the opposing side, including general access,” he explained.

“Why did we come this way?”

“It let me look over some things out there. I can see where the junction is down with more information than up there.”

Faye took a step forward. “And what did you see?”

Mace’s voice lowered. “Some damage reports and logs. Whatever happened to the junction is bad.”

“Bad?” Cinder repeated.

Mace nodded. “Yeah. But I can reroute, if need be. Would have to come down here to do it, anyway.”

“That’s ominous,” Faye mumbled.

The tram’s door, a metal, industrial thing on the side of the tram, unlocked and slid open. The cool, sterile scent of filtered air washed over his face. “Come on,” Mace said, “let’s go fix this so we can get back to what we were doing.”

Faye and Cinder followed behind him.

The three of them made their way into the tram. Its entryway door slid shut behind them with a sound of pneumatic-hybrid assisted motors whispering into the air.

On either side of the tram’s interior, faux-leather cushioned benches lined the walls. The floor, a sort of steel and carbonate alloy textured metal, ran up to the tram’s operator room ahead.

A paint job of industrial yellow and pastel teal accented the interior. The back held a restroom, and then a little further back, an insulated room for sleeping.

Mace approached the small operating room and adjusted several controls. “You two hang back for now,” he said. “I’m going to run another check and we’ll head down the tunnels to see where the problem is.”

“Sounds good to me,” Cinder said.

Mace leaned over the few levers, buttons, and terminal keyboards on the control panel and started the process of initializing the engine and railing. In a few short seconds, the tram was up and running, gliding down the darkness of Delta’s cave and tunnel systems.

He felt a little terror. Maybe dread. There was still no logical explanation as to why the junction would be out. Maybe bad engineering, he told himself.

Mace gulped. They’d find out soon enough.

“You know, putting the encroaching fear of these tunnels aside,” Cinder began, “I think we should come up with what we want for dinner. Isn’t there a synthesizer thingy?”

“Yeah, but generally, it’s better to cook it up from scratch for the best flavor,” Mace said.

Faye rubbed her chin and nodded. “Yeah, I could go for from-scratch food.”

“What kind of food?” Cinder asked.

“Italian,” Faye said. “Some chick had canned spaghetti when I was a kit. Was tasty. Then again, I could go for Mexican, or maybe just burgers.”

“All of those sound good. What about Chinese?” Cinder asked.

Mace glanced toward her. “That sounds pretty good, too. We had some recipes back at the outpost from Earth pre-war. Had most of the stuff to cook it up from scratch, but a lot of the other things—ginger, wasabi, chili flakes—had to be synthesized. Was still tasty.”

“Shit, I don’t know which one I want now,” Faye laughed.

Cinder shrugged. “Can we sample them all?”

“Pick one to cook from scratch,” Mace said.

“Why one?” Cinder asked.

“I’m cooking,” Mace explained.

“That’s fair. Can’t do them all,” Faye agreed.

Cinder nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

Mace chewed his lip. “Steak sounds good, too,” he said.

“You just like steak. Not that I can blame you. Maybe we should have steaks with everything tonight, too,” Faye laughed.

“I mean… I eat that too. Steak is good,” Cinder admitted.

“So, steaks, Chinese, Mexican, and Italian?”

Faye nodded excitedly. “Yes. And… ice cream, too.”

“Fuck yeah, ice cream!” Cinder exclaimed joyfully.

 Mace couldn’t fault her zeal; ice cream was pretty good. Plus, there was enough food to last for a long time.

Ahead, down the way and into the dark, he saw a flickering glow of orange flames. Dismay hit Mace, then. He’d find out in a few seconds, but he already knew: that was the other tram.

“What’s that?” Faye stood.

Cinder followed. The two approached the driver’s control panel at the front of the tram. Mace leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. “Shit,” he managed.

The fire ahead became clearer, revealing the toppled second tram. Dim, sporadic fires blazed through some of metal, tram passageway in the central car, and along the cave walls. He could smell plasma singing away at the poly-alloy.

There, around the second tram’s perimeter, stumbled several shamblers. A couple were set ablaze by the wreckage, skin dropping off like waxed parchment under a hot sun. The flecks of tissue glimmered with layers of sinew, bone, and semi-charred red muscle beneath.

Crimson, burnt, coagulated blood ran down the torn abdomens of a few of them. Off the distance, huddled over a body, Mace saw it: the eyeshine. He gulped. A fucking wraith in the tram system?

“Holy shit,” Cinder managed.

“Looks like we missed it,” Mace mumbled.

Faye shuddered. “That’s a fucking wraith.”

“Steady,” Mace consoled. “Our weapons were upgraded, and we have better ammo. This tram is pretty tough.”

“If it’s tough, why is the other flipped on its side?” Faye asked.

Mace paused. She had a point. There shouldn’t have been a way to roll the trams. They were essentially held in place with interlocking rales, maglevs, and other infrastructure. The only way to dislodge the connection and topple it would be with an explosive.

He couldn’t see any other way to overcome the formidable mass and lowriding center of gravity. “That’s a good point,” Mace said. “Keep those weapons ready.”

“Yessir,” Cinder whispered.

“You want to go out and deal with them?” Faye asked.

He shook his head. “Not until we deal with that wraith on the track. Hold onto something,” Mace instructed.

Mace guided the tram. The wraith hadn’t seemed to notice them yet. It could have been wounded, focused on the meal before it, or simple stupid. He didn’t know.

 “Eat metal, fucker,” Mace growled.

He slammed on the accelerator. The wraith glanced up, surprised by the barreling metal rapidly approaching. It went to move, unable to avoid the tons of alloy and machinery plowing into its face. It seemed to let out a gasp—maybe a loud shriek—before shredding into an explosive, gory pulp.

A sheen of half-rotted viscera and tissue sprayed over the window if the control booth, draining away into the cave floor’s darkness. He flicked a switch and watched as two wipers cleared the blood and bone flecks.

Well, it’s fucking dead, or at least it had better be.

“Fuck,” Cinder managed, incredulous. “The thing fucking exploded.”

“Ten tons of speeding metal and high-mass alloy will do that,” Mace said. “Let’s hope it took it out.”

Faye swallowed. “I don’t think there’s anything left of it.”

“We’ll see,” he said.

Mace pressed on the brakes after, slowing the tram. Whatever happened was enough to trip the power system, topple a tram, and leave the place roamed by shamblers and a wraith.

This was going to be a lot more difficult than he thought it’d be.