"They're not just trying to board, Mavrik—they've brought the whole platform with them!" Varkelion roared above the deafening shriek of the grinding axles as the entire locomotive lurched violently, tipping sideways into a terrifying ninety-degree vertical climb.Mavrik slammed hard against the control console, his wrench slipping from his numb fingers and clattering onto the vibrating iron plates. "The seals on the passenger car are blowing out! Listen to that pressure drop!"A shrill, bone-chilling whistle pierced the engine room as the heavy iron door leading from the civilian quarters began to bulge inward, rivets snapping like dried twigs under the sudden, crushing weight of an external vacuum."Hold that damn door!" Varkelion yelled, lunging across the tilting deck and throwing his entire body weight against the buckling metal just as the latch sheared off completely with a deafening CRACK.The door blew inward like a cannon shell, dragging a blinding rush of freezing, violet-ti

"Get back, Brennen!" Varkelion screamed, his shoulder grinding against the freezing edge of the bulkhead door as a howling vacuum gale tore loose papers and soot off the control panels. "You take this bridge, and we all derail into the void!"Brennen didn’t stop, his eyes wild and bloodshot, his grip on a heavy iron pipe white-knuckled as he threw his full body weight against Varkelion’s chest. "We’re already dead, Conductor! Look out the viewport! There’s no track left, just a loop of nothing spinning into the abyss! We’re turning this engine around right now!""There is no turning around on a single-rail drop!" Mavrik bellowed, swinging the heavy iron locking bar like a baseball bat and catching the stoker beside Brennen square in the ribs.The man crumpled with a wet gasp, sliding across the grease-slicked steel plating toward the gaping breach, but three more passengers lunged into the vacuum-churned space behind him, their hands outstretched to rip the primary throttle levers rig

"You know?" Brennen shrieked, his voice cracking over the metallic shriek of the strained locomotive as he lunged forward, ignoring Mavrik’s swinging iron bar and grabbing Varkelion by the heavy leather collar of his conductor’s coat. "If you know the tracks end in a five-thousand-foot drop into the void, why in the name of the iron fire are you pushing us faster?""Because stopping means we die right here in the dark, you absolute coward!" Varkelion roared, slamming his forearm into Brennen’s throat and shoving the stoker backward against the freezing steel console.The control bridge vibrated with a sickening, rhythmic thud that rattled the spare gauges off their brackets and sent them shattering across the floor. Mavrik didn't hesitate; he planted his boot in the small of another mutineer's back, sending the man sprawling into a tangle of loose pneumatic hoses that hissed angrily with escaping steam."They’re cutting the tender lines from the rear!" Mavrik yelled over the deafening

"That's... that's not rock," Brennen whispered, his hands slipping off Varkelion’s collar as the sheer scale of what lay ahead registered in his dilated, terror-stricken eyes. "By the Maker... those are engines. Whole trains, dead and petrified in the void.""Ghost-trains from eons before our grandfathers ever laid a spike," Varkelion barked, his voice raw as he wrenched the throttle another notch forward, screaming against the mechanical protest of the overstretched boiler. "And they are packed solid with fossilized carbon. Scavenge the dead iron, Brennen, or we die right here in the dark!"Mavrik didn't wait for the stoker to process the command. He hauled Brennen upright by the scruff of his grease-stained shirt and shoved him toward the emergency airlock release lever on the starboard bulkhead. "You heard the Conductor! Grab the pneumatic saws and the grapple lines! The salvage-collectors from the void are already crawling over the ridge!"A violent explosion of red sparks rained

"Use the auxiliary hand-pump, Brennen, or I'll throw you out the damn airlock myself!" Mavrik bellowed, his metallic fist slamming against the outer bulkhead as a heavy, concussive thud echoed through the bridge. Something massive had just landed on the locomotive's roof, its talons scraping a horrifying, screech-like rhythm across the reinforced plating.Brennen sobbed, a pathetic, breathless sound, but he threw his entire weight onto the rusted iron lever of the auxiliary pump. A jet of pressurized steam hissed into the cramped compartment, filling the air with the sharp, acidic tang of boiling water and grease. The pneumatic saw shrieked to life in his trembling hands, whining with a pitch that set Varkelion’s teeth on edge."Cut the fossilized tender-link of that dead titan to our port side!" Varkelion commanded, his voice a gravelly roar as he hauled back on the main brake line just enough to slow the locomotive’s blistering pace against the petrified skeletal frame of a pre-epoch