Thomas and Friends: Secrets of Sodor

by The Blue EM2

Chapter 11-A New Age

Back at the dig site, Argyle was already at work in full historian mode. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, he was utterly intruigued by the new arrivals, and was keen to interview them to find out more information.

So, he made his way to Omaha, who had been parked on a nearby siding and was being tended to by his driver. This driver was blue skin and reddish hair, much of which was arranged vertically in a manner reminiscent of flames. He wore a boilersuit- a sensible choice of clothing for the weather.

Argyle was about to approach him when suddenly he heard a voice behind him. "How about we work together on this one?"

Argyle glanced over his shoulder to see Isaac there behind him. "You sure?"

"There's two of them, and they'll probably both have stuff to contribute. Besides, we have different skillsets on that front."

Argyle nodded. "Well, when you put it that way it makes sense." He changed the page on his notepad and walked closer. "Greetings, you two. I was wondering if I could ask some questions?"

"Fire away," Omaha said. "It's certainly a good time to be asking questions considering all that's changed. What are telephones, for instance?"

Argyle nodded. "We've got a lot of filling in to do." He took out a pencil and prepared to write. "So, the obvious question is- how is an engine from 1869 still around and in working order no less? I know old engines do get preserved, but the rate of survival is pretty low, and few engines survive in working order from that era."

"Well, that's because it is 1869, right?" Omaha asked.

"No, it's 2024," Argyle replied.

"Oh," Omaha said. "We have travelled through time as Falcon suspected. Anyway, I'll fill you in on what we were doing. We were being chased by a group, led by a woman who wants something from us."

"No prizes for guessing who that might be," Argyle mused to himself.

"So, we went into hiding in a canyon," Torch said, the first words he had said the entire time. "But then something strange happened. A glowing portal opened up at the other end of the canyon and we got pulled into it. Before we knew what had happened we ended up in this place, on the other side of the world, and with considerable numbers of British people surrounding us."

"That's rather to be expected when you end up in Britain," Argyle said. "Still, thanks for the info."

"But at least we have an American to talk to," Omaha smiled.

"I'm only American because my dad was. I've lived in the UK my entire life, and probably always will," Argyle said.

Torch shrugged. "Well, you can't convince all of them. Back to work for me. And could somebody find a piano? Music helps me with working."

Isaac glanced to Argyle. "Well, that was an interesting experience to say the least."

"I've never met a person from the literal past," Argyle replied. "I know I'm often accused of living in another time, but that's not really what is meant by that phrase."

On the other side of the yard, Sophie was talking with Jupiter. Jupiter looked amazed at all the technological innovations that had been made in the time that had elapsed since his time. "You have trains with brakes on all the cars?" he asked. "How does that work?"

"We run pipes between the coaches and trucks with vacuum in them," Sophie exclaimed. "These trucks have a vacuum supply onboard as well. The brake system applied automatically if air gets into the system, as the vacuum has been breached."

Jupiter's driver, an orange skinned fellow with blue hair, looked amazed. "So this vacuum thing is a space with no air?" he asked, looking stunned. "I wasn't aware such a thing was even possible!"

"The wonders of modern science," Sophie said. "If my driver was here, she'd show you her phone. Unlike the old days where they were mounted to walls, people carry them around in their pockets and use them to do more than make calls."

Jupiter looked in confusion. "What's a phone?"

Sophie scrambed to come up with an analogy. "Uhhh, it's kinda like a telegraph machine you can carry about with you."

"How miraculous," the driver said. "I'm Tumble, by the way. I'm Jupiter's engineer. I was at his controls during the Golden Spike meetup a few weeks ago."

"A few weeks ago?" Sophie said. "You're time travellers!"

"We sure are," Jupiter said. "And as nice as many of the commodities of this era are it would be nice to get back to our own time at some point. This place is quite nice, but there's a comfort in being in your own time and your own world."

On the other side of the site, Nebraska pulled up alongside Omaha. "I'm not sure this is a good idea, Omaha," he said. "Whilst they seem friendly enough, I'm concerned that they may be wolves in sheep's clothing. We've had to deal with that before, all the train robbers who seem to keep turning up."

Omaha sighed. "I understand your concern, Nebraska, but I don't think this is anything to worry about. We're safe here. Even if we did somehow travel through time and space, these engines and people share our enemy from what I've overheard."

Nebraska's driver, a woman with pink or purple skin and green hair, added her views to the matter. "Can we truly be certain of all this?" she asked. "I mean, for one, an American who chooses to live in England- who would willingly do that?"

"I appreciate your worries, Blaize" Torch replied, "but ultimately remember that myself and Omaha are in charge, not you. And I feel we are safe on the grounds that, as much as this place is alien to us, at least She Who Takes did not follow us here."

Blaize nodded. "Very well, Torch. I'll get to work on ensuring we're ready to move right away."

---

During the day on Misty Island, most of the island's workforce went back to doing their day jobs, cutting logs and preparing lumber for transit to the mainland. Whilst all this was going on (and it was certain Allura was not around), the rest of the team got to work on getting Izzy's mobile portal assembled. Before long, they had mounted it to a truck and were ready to wheel it out of the workshop.

"I hope your idea works," Violet said. "As far as I can tell, how will you avoid being taken over by the machine she has?"

Sunny smiled. "Glad you asked," she said. "I noticed yesterday the snow has interesting properties, including seemingly rendering you unable to hear the sounds and regain your automonomy. As a result, I asked Izzy to cook up some listening earpieces which block out the sound from the machine yet allow us to hear what Allura is saying."

Izzy passed one to Violet. "This should to the trick," she said. "I also cooked some up for the rest of us, so we can play our part as well."

"Hand to heart," Zipp added. "What? That's been the arc words this entire time!"

Sunny looked sad at hearing that. "And they're probably worried sick over where I am. I wish you were hear, dad. You'd get a field day out of this place."

Hitch, on the other hand, was driving Dash, moving him to be coupled to the stock. "I hope I can figure out these couplers," he said. "They are very odd."

"They're very simple, actually," Bash said. "You push the engine into the stock, and boom! You're instantly coupled. And as we go extremely slowly there's no need for air brakes, so we can run without them. Especially in lumber yards where power is more important than speed."

Hitch nodded. "Seems I still have a fair bit to learn about how things work here."

Later on, he pushed the fake portal into position, and then they waited until nightfall. Sure enough, once the work day had come to an end and everybody had headed off to their homes to sleep, the whirring of chopper blades signalled the return of Allura and her goons, alongside their machine.

To Allura's surprise, Violet was out to greet her. "Your most fine and excellent benedictions, Allura," she said. "I hope the day finds you well."

"It's night, not day," Allura said. "And you lot aren't working fast enough. I don't pay you to stand about gossiping."

"You don't pay us anything, Allura," Violet said. "But no fear on that front. For I found the Staff of Sacanas!"

She held up a large wooden stick and showed it to her. "It is here at last!"

Allura smiled. "Perfect. Now then, let us open the portal and see if it works."

Hitch had been listening in on the entire conversation through an earpiece, and knew this was his cue to fire up Bash's cylinders. They began to work hard, the fake portal being driven by the cylinder mounts and pushing it in a circle.

Allura looked at the portal in surprise. "Such a marvellous sight at last," she said. "Though the portal is a lot noisier than I had imagined. Is it supposed to produce this much noise?"

"We're not sure," Violet said. "After all, we are but humble loggers. We don't specialise much in the functionings of portals and devices for travelling long distances rapidly."

"And you won't need to be," Allura smiled. "We shall be soon out of this place."

Whilst Allura was distracted, Zipp and Sunny snuck around the guard perimeter to try and reach Allura's strange machine. "Look out," Zipp said. "Guard coming our way. Drop down and let him pass."

Sunny nodded and dropped down, letting the guard walk by. Once he was gone, the pair got on the move again, sneaking through the snowy landscape until they, at last, reached the machine, which bubbled and pizzed and made all sorts of strange noises.

"So, how do we turn this thing off?" Sunny asked, confused. "This looks like no machine I've ever seen before."

Zipp looked at it. "The fact it's partly magical is part of the challenge, but we can figure something out." She looked at the plates and control boxes, and moved a lever to see what would happen.

A quick glance about revealed the sound system was lowering in volume, as the nearby workers appeared to be regaining some of their independence.

"Keep trying that!" Sunny said. "This is clearly working!"

So Zipp continued fiddling with the settings to try and achieve a faster effect.

"I don't think you two should be playing with that."

Sunny and Zipp wheeled around to see a guard standing there. He then reached forward and tore their earpieces out, exposing them to the full force of the machine.

---

Opaline was back at Knapford Station, consulting her information. "Mixed results," she said to herself. "Mixed results. The forgotten ones are back, but we've lost Thomas and Twilight. They would have made excellent minions."

A whistle raised her attention, and she saw Ryan pulling into the station at high speed before stopping violently. "Ahh, perfect. Right on time."

She waited until the passengers had finished getting off, then she walked over to the engine. "I trust the disruption operation is going to plan?" she asked.

"It is, Opaline," Ryan replied. "These passengers are so focused on the rough ride they don't suspect a thing. Our operations on this island are proceeding unimpeded."

"Well, at least a bit of good news," Opaline smiled. But let's not get too confident. I'll need you in Knapford when the time comes. And when that time comes, you have one objective- cause as much chaos as possible."

"Of course, Opaline," Ryan said. "May your glorious reign come soon."

Opaline rubbed her hands with glee. "If events at the digsite are anything to go by, it may come sooner than you expect."

Author's Note:

For those surprised by Ryan's behaviour in this story, his personality here is based on an early draft of SLOTLT where he was conceited and arrogant. This persona was dropped in the finished film but curiously survived in the movie's marketing material.

Allura's machine is a reference to the original How to Train your Dragon books, for those of you who have read it. See if you can spot what is being referenced.

Argyle's work is loosely inspired by an early scene in A New Generation, namely Sunny's questioning of Izzy. Seems the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, although Argyle is more socially nuanced.

Comments

[shining paladin]

awesome chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

Wowsers! This was quite some chapter!
And the portals not only travel to other places but also through time?! I wonder if the Magic Railroad works with that too?

Also, I must admit, I'mstill worried for the real STH. And I hope Izzy has a backup plan handy.

[shining paladin]

opening a can with your horn is the coolest thing to me

[The Blue EM2]

11878895
Glad you enjoyed.

[The Blue EM2]

11878900
I am aware time travel was an unusual element to incorporate, but this would help to explain why in the main show engines that don't survive or don't fit the time period end up on Sodor (case in point; BR Class 07s turning up in episodes that take place before 1962). The Avengers movies were also a partial source of inspiration, specifically the concept of diverging timelines (this handily avoids time paradoxes.

Hopefully, and whatever has happened to STH is clearly bad.

[The Blue EM2]

11878902
Ta-da! Instant can opener.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

"So, we went into hiding in a canyon," Torch said, the first words he had said the entire time. "But then something strange happened. A glowing portal opened up at the other end of the canyon and we got pulled into it. Before we knew what had happened we ended up in this place, on the other side of the world, and with considerable numbers of British people surrounding us."

Huh.

"I've never met a person from the literal past," Argyle replied. "I know I'm often accused of living in another time, but that's not really what is meant by that phrase."

You can say that again.

"How miraculous," the driver said. "I'm Tumble, by the way. I'm Jupiter's engineer. I was at his controls during the Golden Spike meetup a few weeks ago."

Technically that was almost 155 years ago by now.

"I appreciate your worries, Blaize" Torch replied, "but ultimately remember that myself and Omaha are in charge, not you. And I feel we are safe on the grounds that, as much as this place is alien to us, at least She Who Takes did not follow us here."

She Who Takes sounds like a strange name.

Hitch nodded. "Seems I still have a fair bit to learn about how things work here."

Trust me, knuckle/buckeye couplers are a lot more easier compared to hooks and buffers.

Sunny and Zipp wheeled around to see a guard standing there. He then reached forward and tore their earpieces out, exposing them to the full force of the machine.

Shit!

Opaline was back at Knapford Station, consulting her information. "Mixed results," she said to herself. "Mixed results. The forgotten ones are back, but we've lost Thomas and Twilight. They would have made excellent minions."

Like that'll ever happen!!

"It is, Opaline," Ryan replied. "These passengers are so focused on the rough ride they don't suspect a thing. Our operations on this island are proceeding unimpeded."

I had a feeling you'd do this.

Opaline rubbed her hands with glee. "If events at the digsite are anything to go by, it may come sooner than you expect."

Gulp.

[The Blue EM2]

11878985
1. It would be a very confusing experience to say the least.

2. I've never met a per-ooh.

3. 155 years to Argyle, but to them it was a few weeks ago. Time travel's a strange thing.

4. It does describe them well.

5. But at the same time operating them can be counter-intuitive compared to UK practice. Where's the hook?

6. Yep.

7. As if.

8. Yeah.

9. Much gulp.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

11878993
5. You know, the chain or whatever it's called that connects the engine to its cars?

[The Blue EM2]

11879001
The point I'm making is that buckeye couplers are distinctly unlike UK practice, and thus would be confusing to somebody who was more familiar with UK practice.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

11879021
yeah, my mistake.

[The Blue EM2]

11879024
No worries.

[Thomlight Sparkle 1]

11878972
Ah, gotcha.

Oh God, I hope he wasn't murdered!

[The Blue EM2]

11879216
I'll PM you.