RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 7] It's All Fun and Trains

No levers. No pulleys, save for the mangled one on the crane maintenance car. Disappointed, Tweak looked over at the few passengers who remained. She frowned behind her visor.

"Hey! I don't think you can do much, and if that train comes back around I'd rather not have you guys to worry about saving. So get moving!" She made a shooing motion at them, then turned back toward the wreckage.

MoonMan said:

As George climbed aboard the tram station dock he took a moment to catch his breath, his helmet fogging slightly with each huff. "Yo...buddy..." George called down the Tweak while Lenny attempted to clumsily scale the height back onto the platform. "Need a...a hand?"

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There was a slight delay as Tweak tossed the last chunk of casing toward the stopped tram before looking back at George and Lenny. She shrugged. "Maybe," she called back. "We need to get the cars off the track." She went back to the third car and hopped onto the runaway's rail, then jumped easily onto the side of the car.

So the crane car had shattered the maglev runner on the car. That dropped the rear onto the track, dragging down and shattering the front runner and the rear runner of the second car. The tunnel's perpetual curve, along with the speed of the tram, had caused enough force to tip the car over, swinging it halfway onto the runaway's track. The crane car and the maintenance car behind it were just plain wrecked, having been sent into a tumble and collision, respectively. Tweak hopped down to the track on the other side of the overturned tram car, getting an estimate on the masses of the maintenance vehicles before tearing the arm of the crane from what was left of its mounting.

Of course, Claire wasn't going to let the thing escape without opposition, however ineffective it might have been. A burst fired from the geshrin's weapon as GOAT climbed up out of the tram, primarily aimed at it's quickly disappearing legs.

When told to continue forward, she hesitated. Looking at Kokuten with her expression still one of fury. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was helpless to actually chase after it and Peke. With a frustrated growl, and a short stomp of her left foot, she complied with her orders, following after the charging Kokuten, hoping that her Kohanian friend was right beside her.

Deacon watched this all unfold before him, and then nodded his understanding of his orders, dropping to all fours and starting to run towards the front of the tram. Calling back over his shoulder as a thought came to him.

"Pardon my saying, Master Kokuten, but if Mistress Peke says this isn't normal, and that her friend is not malfunctioning, perhaps it is Miss Kess who is malfunctioning, and Goat is trying to help us?"

By this point, the Kohanian had made it to the next doorway and got back up on two legs and started to open it to allow Claire and their commander through.

Kokuten gestured for the rest of the squad to keep up with him, turning around just in time for Claire's frustrated stomp. Her feelings were shared, but the Captain was sure he was taking proper priority. It was then that Deacon sped past him.

"Pardon my saying, Master Kokuten, but if Mistress Peke says this isn't normal, and that her friend is not malfunctioning, perhaps it is Miss Kess who is malfunctioning, and Goat is trying to help us?"

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"Astute observation, Deacon, what you say is plausible." Kokuten said, silently taking into consideration of the Kohanian's thoughts.

Indeed... Kess did not seem exactly joyful to see us, and Goat appeared to have his own agenda. Then again... who doesn't? thought the Captain for all of a second, leaning up against the wall next to the door. He aimed his weapon through the opening and leading the way into the next car. "This tram needs to be stopped before it kills us, and whoever else is at the end of the line. Afterwards, we will locate and confront Goat and Kess, and reach into the center of this entire futile mess."

Method gawked at the huge robot steaming towards her. That must be the prototype junker, she thought giddily. Maybe if I can disable it I can get a good look! Her eyes flicked over the machine, simply studying it without fear as it charged. She noticed the carseat on the top with some confusion. That must be the control unit!

Then, her body deciding all at once, she ran towards Goat at full speed. When the two were dangerously close to hitting each other, she crouched and jumped, aiming to cling on to the machine's front.

Tweak's observations of the wreckage on the track returns mixed results. Some of the pieces could be easily moved up and out of the way simply by hand. Other pieces would require a little more power behind the lifting, and some of the larger parts of the wreck were several tons of weight that weren't going anywhere without some sort of special equipment...even Tweak's unnatural strength couldn't cope with such sheer weight.

As Tweak wrenched off the crane's tether-mounted arm, George had finally caught his breath and began realizing that this person really did intend on doing something with the track...and even George, mentally acute as he was, knew that clearing the wreckage from an occupied tram rail was in the best interest of the group. The other onlookers, however, didn't seem too enthused at the idea, especially after Tweak made it clear just what was coming towards them. At Tweak's suggestion, the remainder of them scampered off, clearing the tram station to just Tweak, George and Lenny.

---

As Method leaped dangerously towards the mass of automated metal, Goat retaliated...by doing nothing. In fact, the automata seemed to not notice at all as the Freespacer latched onto his chassis; Goat simply allowed Method to go along for the ride as Goat halted at the gap over the connecting links between the Engineering Car and the rest of the tram. Holding himself suspended above the gap with his surprisingly limber arm and leg, Goat swung his one free hand downward, the awkward digits of his grasping machine fingers forming a chopping motion. The Automata's strike dug straight through the thin metallic walkway and collided with the coupling holding the Engineering car and the rest of the tram together, severing it completely.

With the engine-equipped tram no longer pulling the rest of the cars, the two sections began to drift apart slowly, inch by inch as Goat hoisted himself back up onto the top of the passenger car, turning a lensed eye back to watch the results of his action. In addition, with the weight of the rest of the tram cars no longer connected, the Engineering car seemed to speed up slightly. Before long, the gap between the two sections of tram would be too far the traverse.

With no further input from the dynamic duo, Tweak looked back at the overturned tram car. Then something dinged in her mind.

The track operated via magnetic levitation.

"Of course!"

Tweak jogged back to the tram, carrying the crane arm with her, and began picking at the remains of the maglev runners. After a few moments she poked her head over the side of the car to yell over at George and Lenny. "Hey, you two! I need some help down here and we don't have much time!"

Serra managed to carry herself through the following five minutes of amazingly weird events rather calmly and quietly. However, when Goat cut the cars apart and she watched the passenger cars pull away, she turned to Kokuten, a very serious look on her face.

"Captain, I would suggest we forgo stopping the engine." She said, her glasses sliding down her nose, causing her to close her eyes and push them back up. "Second law of motion, sir." She said, the finger used to push her glasses up now pointing into the air. "An object in motion will stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force."

After a second, she used non scientist words to explain her thought. "If we stop the engine car, the passenger cars will crash into us with the same nutonion force they are currently running at. With a very good chance of killing all non-synthetics on both sides."

"Shit!" Kokuten hobbled as he felt the Engineering car shake with the shock of the car as the two sections were severed apart. He was about to cross to the front tram, and nearly fell forward to his death. Luckily, he grabbed the opening of the door with his strong hand, leaving a small, gripping hand-print in the doors frame. He turned back towards the squad, only to see Serra address him. First, she explained the situation with having to stop the car. Kokuten stared at her for a moment, not because he didn't understand her, but because he was still a little out of sorts from nearly dying.

"If we stop the engine car, the passenger cars will crash into us with the same nutonion force they are currently running at. With a very good chance of killing all non-synthetics on both sides."

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"I..." Kokuten cleared his throat, quickly re-grasping the situation."I heard you the first time, Evangelle. Though, how do you suggest we stop this section and that section?"

Taking a second to adjust her glasses again, Serra looked at the nelpeslian.

"The passenger car should have emergency breaks built into the system in case of an engine failure. Those types should have an automatic setting, unless the administrator was again shortsighted and decided to forgo the need or necessity of them out of her apparently genetically predisposed ego." Serra said. "If the emergency breaks aren't automatic, their controls should either be in the engineering car, or located somewhere along the car to car junctions on their side."

Taking another moment to readjust her glasses, this time meaning she was pausing for a second. "In other words, you should contact one of the others on the passenger cars to get inside and look for a handle and we should start looking for the controls as well."

Kokuten had to make a decision immediately, and the fact of the matter was that he didn't have the gall to ask someone to make that jump and strand themselves on a car like that. He turned to his Kohanian ally, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Deacon, you're in charge, stop this tram." Kokuten said before starting towards the rear door, "It has been a honor to work with all of you!"

With that, he jumped from the back of the tram, barely landing on the passenger car's door way. He slipped for a moment, but gripped the doorway tightly, leaving another hand-print on the Tram's structure. With a decent hold on himself, he pulled himself into the car they had left earlier, and then turned to give a wave to Squad 35 as he seemed to become more distanced with them. If anyone could notice, his visor seemed to have a yellowish glow.

Method clung to Goat's seat as she watched it sever the car. "It's out of control!" she hollered to Kokuten as he came over. "I'm gonna try to disable it!" Contrary to any sanity, she didn't appear to be talking about the tram; instead, she grabbed her wrench and started to loosen any bolts she could find on Goat's arms.

"Sergeant Kokuten-" Noboru was at the head of the little party, having pressed forward to get a better view of Goat while people were busy doing other things. Like being knocked over. This put him close to the door, and allowed him to see the Sarge leap between tram cars like some kind of action movie hero.

Noboru's immediate reaction was to give him a death glare from behind the polarised helmet - what the hell was he thinking!? Going over there with no backup was close enough to putting one's own sidearm to one's own head and pulling the trigger. So Noboru's decision?

Do the same goddamn thing.

Noboru looked at the gap and immediately felt a sense of vertigo build up in his guts. That train suddenly seemed to be moving really fast. And did the tracks have to be set so high up? And did the tunnel really have to be see-through? "Shit... Shit... And shit." Noboru sighed. At least it would be a badass way to die - getting sucked under a monorail tram while trying to rescue a science station.

"Here goes nothing," The Yamataian expatriate thought to himself as he lined up his jump. He got a good footing and a sprinting start, and then hurled himself at the cars in front of him, arms and legs flailing as he lunged for the doorway -

And made it. One hand clenched the doorframe as the other scrabbled for purchase on the floor, then finally found purchase. The Yamataian yanked himself unceremoniously through the doorway and retrieved his .45 service pistol from the holster on his thigh, moving out of the doorway to accomodate anyone else who would decided to duplicate Kokuten's jump.

Kokuten looked up at Method, noticing how she was starting to make a quick dismantling case of Goat.

"Method! No! Goat is an ally!" Kokuten waved his hand up at her, trying to get her attention. Though, before he could do anything else, he felt someone breeze by behind him. He looked and saw Noboru, which caused his eyes to go back to a shade of green.

"Noboru, we need to receive Method before she causes Goat to do something dangerous." Kokuten pointed up and out of the door.

Noboru's polarized helmet gazed up expressionlessly at Kokuten. Did he really just say that? The expatriate's first thought of a response was "But I just got here..." But, as it were, the statement didn't seem overly intelligent and would seen only to get the Yamataian in trouble.

So Noboru's response was just a terse, clipped "Yes Sir!" followed by more awkward scrabbling back out onto the remains of the walkway. Once there, it was another adventure up the skeletal ladder to the roof of the mono's cars, and another look at Method; this time straddling a huge Freespacer mecha.

"Method!" Noboru shouted again, feeling an uncanny sense of deja vu. "That is not the new Junker model! That is just Goat! Do not disassemble! Again; do not disassemble!"

The two sections of the runaway tram had separated far enough to prohibit any more passing between the two, the gap continuing to widen as the engineering car continued to chug full-speed through the tunnel. Atop the passengers sections, Method's frantic movements with her menacing wrench did not go unnoticed by Goat as he clambered atop the tram car. The Automata had apparently been quite alright with Method's strange behavior of climbing him...perhaps because of her Freespacer nature, but attempting to disassemble his arm certainly did not go well with the large machine.

Immediately, Goat attempted to reach above him to grasp the Freespacer. However the shape and composition of his arms prevented it from getting a decent grasp, and instead Goat began to flail his chassis around wildly atop the tram, his heavy footing pushing down on the rooftop as he stomped erratically to shake the woman off.

---

George jumped at Tweak's call, waving towards Lenny to join him as he trotted over to where the neko was working. "Right! Uh, what do ya need us to do?" George asked as he lifted the visor of his helmet to get a better look at the track.

---

For everyone else who did not make the jump to the trailing passenger car, the engineering car and engineering cabin at the front of the tram was fairly empty. The tram was continuing to accelerate slowly, now that the weight of the rear cars was no longer an issue. It would not be long until the speeding cars would reach the debris-filled track where Tweak, George and Lenny were working hurriedly.

The neko quickly ripped the rest of the cowling from the overturned tram car's runners, looking for the magnets or levitation systems. She located the electromagnetic coils fairly quickly as most of their casing was destroyed by the crash.

"Good, they're still there." She turned to George, then looked at Lenny. "Can you rip all of those out? Keep the coils in their current shape, but disconnect them from their control systems." To George: "I want you to check under the track. There are systems down there, report what kind and if there are any conduits or power cables we can tap, drain, or cut. We either need to move this or slow the runaway, but preferably both." She double-checked her radio frequency setting, then gave it to him. Up until now Tweak had used the external speakers.

Kokuten grunted as he heard the smashing sounds of Goat's feet charging over the top of the train. He ran over to the unbroken end of the tram car he was in and observed the area, noting a small arrow that pointed to the door that said, 'Emergency Brake'. For once, since this horrible event started, Kokuten's heart began to come at ease. He rushed over to the doorway and inspected it, finding the brake on the outside next to the door.

"Noboru, Method, find something to hold on to, I'm about to stop this tram." Kokuten relayed to them. He gave them about thirty seconds, and then, slammed his fist down on the emergency brake button. His own hand gripping the doorway tightly.

"Why's that?" Noboru's question drifted unanswered through the squad's COMM frequency. It was the model of blind ignorance and stupidity - why the hell else would someone need to suddenly hold on to something? Noboru's face, formerly an expression of dull innocence, suddenly turned dead serious.

"Oh Saint Pasco." Noboru said in a low voice, and immediately fell back to the ladder, matching pace with Kokuten as he moved to the brake. The Yamataian knelt and got both hands wrapped tight around the ladder, both feet looped under a lower rung. His teeth clenched and his face froze in a mask of grim concentration, bracing himself against the inevitable gut-wrenching, G-force-inducing deceleration that was sure to come.

Stovaa looked around, trying to work out any failsafe plans. Assuming the more technologically minded of them couldn't stop the tram using the controls, would it be possible to destroy the console? Perhaps just the connection between control and engine, or engine and wheel. He bent down and hammered on the floor with a balled fist. Thick, but with something to cut or blast through it, he could tear a hole?

He wasn't sure, but he figured he'd have time to work it out.

"Uh, Peke, assuming that you can't help us shut down the controls, is there any way to disrupt the motion by, uh, blasting something off? I mean, a connection that when severed would stop us accelerating or something. 'Cause if not, we're probably gonna derail or hit something eventually," the Id-sol said, pausing to think for a few seconds.

"...only other plan is pretty much suicide. Unless anyone else has a great plan?"