//------------------------------// // Marvellous Machinery, Part 2 // Story: Thomas and Friends: More Tales from Sodor // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// The fair had barely started operating, and already Deltic was proving to be the most popular exhibit. He had been hooked up to a pair of coaches, and was doing circuits of the demonstration line for happy passengers (your admission ticket got you, amongst other things, unlimited train rides). Several people were watching and listening. "He sure is loud!" Rainbow Dash said. "Indeed," Gordon replied. "One can only wonder what sort of racket he will make when they put him on the Express." "Gordon, nobody said anything about replacing you," Rainbow Dash said. The boarding platform faced Gordon's current position, and as Deltic rolled to a halt to let the passengers off, he decided to speak up. "Hello, old chap!" he said. "Are you Gordon the express engine?" "Yes, I am," Gordon replied. "I thought you were at Shildon!" "He was, until recently," said a voice, as a man hopped down from his cab. He looked to be an older gentleman, with blue skin and two tone grey hair. His orange eyes had a calm and relaxed tone, and he wore blue pants, a heavy blue bomber jacket with a shirt under that, a white scarf (done up in an immaculate Windsor knot, and black boots. "However, I arranged for him to be restored to full working condition. I mean, if York can restore a V2 to working order and replace almost every part in the process, they can repair an oil leak." Lightning Dust jogged over to the man. "Hi dad!" she called. "How's Deltic holding up?" "He runs like a dream, just like I said he would." The man glanced back to Rainbow Dash and Gordon. "Name's Will Ryan, or Wind Rider if you will." "Former holder of the Mustang Marathon record?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Indeed," Wind Rider replied. "Longest distance flight by a P-51 Mustang for 20 years. A back injury put paid to flying, but luckily I turned to railways instead. This is my daughter, Lightning Dust." "I hear you are a fine and noble engine," said Deltic. "You went all the way to London when a diesel fell over in the yard!" Gordon was stunned. He had expected the diesel to be arrogant and rude, but instead he seemed to be perfectly pleasant. "Why, thank you," he said. "You're not as snooty as I was expecting. "Well, being stuck in a siding and unable to move for over 50 years does humble one considerably," Deltic replied. Just then, the guard's whistle blew. "Sorry! Must dash! Goodbye!" And off he went, with a fresh load of passengers. The next morning, it was Arthur's turn on the demonstration line. James had just brought in some more passengers to the Fair, and one of the inventors was showcasing a piece of historic equipment. "Hello, everybody!" he said. "I am Doctor Gelato, and I have a vintage ice cream making machine to showcase!" He pulled the cover off to reveal a very strange contraption. "I found this in the attic of a fellow scientist who had no further use for it. I bought it, and then restored it to full working order based on the original plans. According to the specifications, it produces the frothiest, tastiest milkshakes in the world!" "I thought you said it made ice cream," said Snap Shutter, who looked from a distance. "It makes both, through mixing items through special tubes and pipes, with extra pieces to break them down." There was a pause. "It's a blender. You're showcasing a blender." Doctor Gelato looked defeated. "Yes, it's a blender. But I can still make a milkshake with it!" Just then, Mane Allgood handed Scootaloo a mug. "This is Doctor Gelato's tea," she said. "You wouldn't mind giving it to him?" "Sure thing, mom!" Scootaloo replied. She walked carefully to the stand, and placed the cup down on the table. "Here's your tea, sir!" "Thank you!" said Doctor Gelato. "Would you like to be my volunteer to try a milkshake?" "Yes please!" Scootaloo replied. She stepped up onto the stage, whilst Doctor Gelato operated some levers. The machine began to whirr, and mix ingredients. "Does it make blue flavour?" "I think so," said Doctor Gelato. "I haven't quite finished ironing out the-" Suddenly, Scootaloo was sprayed with thick milkshake liquid, which left her looking quite the mess. "-Bugs." "I'll go get changed," she said, and quickly hurried off. Snap Shutter shook his head. "I see exactly why that happened," he said. "The valves aren't tied on correctly. I can secure them more tightly and the machine should work properly." "Please do," the Doctor said. "I am terribly sorry for that mess." "We all make errors, it's how we learn from them that counts." Wind Rider had just collected his tea before going back on exhibiting duties, when he suddenly bumped into Clear. "Oh!" he said. "Clear Sky! What a surprise!" "You too," Clear Sky replied. "How are things in York?" "They're going as well as I think they can. Lightning Dust's coping well in school. Maybe you should visit her sometime? How's Wind?" "As moody as ever," Clear Sky said sadly. "I don't think she coped very well." Wind Rider nodded. "It was probably for the best, though," he admitted. "Our careers were rather pulling us apart." Clear Sky nodded in return. "Well, I'd best be getting back on duty," she said. "It was nice to see you again." As Wind Rider walked back over, Rainbow Dash raised a question. "Who was the woman?" "That's Clear Sky, Arthur's owner," Wind Rider replied. "She used to be my wife. We had two kids together, Lightning Dust and Wind Sprint. Sadly, our careers pulled us apart, and we amicably separated. Lightning chose to stay with me, and Wind went with her. I'm still on friendly terms with her, and I'm glad she's found somebody else." That evening, the visitors gathered to see another machine be showcased. "Ladies and gentlemen!" Snap Shutter called. "Please give it up for the Harrier Jump Jet!" Just then, Windy's Harrier flew over in a flash of speed and noise. It turned and curved through the air, before performing a midair stop with the help of the thrust control nozzles, and then flew backwards for a short period, before landing vertically. "The Harrier Jump Jet is a Vertical Takeoff and Landing aircraft, or VTOL for short. Able to lift off from dodgy runways or take off like a conventional aircraft, this particular example flew during the Falklands War. I am proud to announce that very shortly, we will be seeing another variant of this aircraft, the version built under license by Boeing." Just then, another aircraft roared over and touched down on another part of the landing strip. Vertically. "The last British examples were withdrawn in 2010, and are set to be replaced by the F-35. However, the aircraft is still in use with the United States Marine Corps and some branches of the United States Navy." The pilot of the American Harrier, once the engines had cooled and the engines had spooled down, hopped out of the cockpit and walked over to the main exhibition area, where Windy was. Both pilots looked like astronauts who had just come back from a mission to Mars, holding their helmets under their arms and smiling. The other pilot was a man with medium blue skin and rainbow hair that looked like it had once been in a mohawk, but now dropped pathetically and had been reduced to a simple, short, military cut. He also had yellow eyes, and per flying convention was wearing a flight suit. "Heya Windy!" he called. "Great to see you again!" "I know!" Windy replied. "Glad you could make it, Bow." Rainbow Dash, who was nearby, quickly jogged over. "Hi dad!" she called. "Did you fly all the way from Canada?" "As much as I'd have liked to, I didn't," Bow admitted. His real name was Ben Holton, but went by his nickname for ease of communication. "An Aircraft Carrier got me as far as the coast, and then I flew in." "That was some impressive stuff," Windy smiled. "I haven't seen this many aircraft of this type together since I was in the forces back in Canada!" "I can't recall Canada using Harriers, though there was that joint exercise with the British," Bow recalled. "The aircraft are locked down, and we're good to go for the night. I suggest we get dinner at the canteen and catch up on all the craziness that's been going on!" As the family walked away, the mysterious man smiled. "Oh, it's about to get a lot more crazy," he smiled. Another day dawned, and James was at the festival grounds when suddenly- "There's a thief on the site!" shouted Bow, as he and Windy ran outdoors. "What's going on?" Snap Shutter asked. "Somebody stole the starter keys from our aircraft!" Windy added. "I don't know how they plan to take them, but the keys are nontheless missing, and-" "HELP! I HAVE NO DRIVER!" Both of them looked over to see Arthur steaming out of the yard, with no crew, and straight onto the main line. "What in the?" Snap Shutter said. "James, get after him!" "Yes sir!" James called, and sped off, soon moving alongside Arthur on the mainline. Rarity radioed control. "Control, this in NWR 5, over." "NWR 5, this is Control, how do you read, over?" "Runaway engine headed towards Vicarstown. I suggest shutting all the lines to and from Vicarstown, over." "Roger that, alerting all boxes and setting signals to danger, out." Rarity leaned over as they were now level with Arthur. "I don't have any rope, so I can't do what Applejack did," she said. "But, I have an idea!" She shut James' regulator and applied the brakes, and them jumped over to Arthur's footplate, shutting his regulator and applying his brakes. Arthur rolled gently into a siding on the correct side of the line, and stopped. "I don't know what happened?" the smaller red engine said. "One minute Wind Sprint was tending to my motion, the next I was rolling out of control with no driver!" "Perhaps is was a distraction?" James suggested. Indeed it was. At that very moment, Deltic roared out of the yard, with a familiar face at the controls of the terrified prototype diesel. "It's Storm King!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "See you later, suckers!" Storm King shouted as he vanished out of sight. "He's stolen my engine!" Wind Rider shouted, as he sprinted over. "One second I was monitoring the engine performance, the next he was whizzing away." "How much fuel does he have left?" Winy asked. "I only put very little in the tank for testing purposes. He won't get very far. But we need something with which to chase him down and avoid causing a massive accident." "I can catch up with him," said a voice. They all turned to see Gordon sitting there. "I can get there in a giffy." Storm King was expecting a very easy escape with a stolen engine. "Nobody can stop me from getting revenge!" he laughed. "We're breaking the speed limit somewhat!" Deltic said. "I don't recall asking your opinion, tin can," Storm King said. "Imagine how much money I'll be able to get for one of these on the market." There was a loud whistle from behind. Storm King wound down the window to see Gordon approaching at high speed on the other line. "Where did you come from?" "Doncaster, originally," Gordon replied, and he was soon drawing level with Deltic. On the footplate, Rainbow Dash was keeping a close eye on the controls and firing continously. "Right, we're level!" she called over the radio. "Mom, dad, start interference!" A pair of Harrier Jump Jets started buzzing the Deltic, to distract Storm King. In the meantime, Wind Rider prepared to jump into the rear cab of his engine. "I'm almost ready!" he called. Just then, there was a cough, and a splutter. Deltic's engine abruptly stopped. "What's going on?" Storm King demanded. "My dear boy," Deltic replied, "I will struggle to run when my fuel tank is empty." Wind Rider chose his moment and jumped across, grabbing onto the handrails, and climbing up the cab steps. He swung the door open, and then shut, and took his seat at the console. With one singular effort, he applied both locomotive and train brakes to the emergency positions. Deltic's brake blocks screeched and glowed white hot as he slowed down. They were coming up on the station approaches, and the runaway engine skidded into a platform and stopped inches from a red signal. Storm King had been thrown onto the floor by the sudden deceleration, and got up, annoyed. "My plans have been ruined again!" he said. There was a knock on the cab door, and a policeman opened it. It was the Chief Constable. "Mr Storm King? I have a warrant for your arrest." It was the final day of the fair, and the engines were sad. "Thanks for saving me, old fellow," Deltic said to Gordon. "I'm not sure what I would have done otherwise. Causing a big accident on my first few days in traffic? Leicester forbid!" "I must admit I am sorry for my previous distrust of you," Gordon admitted. "You are a fine engine indeed." "All is forgiven. Fancy double heading at some point?" Meanwhile, the adults were all conversing. "So," Windy said. "I've decided that I'm going to stay here on Sodor, and we can all live together as one family again!" "So am I," Bow added. "We spent far too much time apart back in Canada, and now's the chance to make up that lost time. But all of these locomotives are Marvellous Machines indeed, and really useful to boot." As they said that, the sky lit up with fireworks.