The Dead Zone Sovereign

Chapter 35: The Traverse

The sound of the Vanguard Freight Carrier changed a lot when it moved from the basalt trenches of Sector Twelve to the limestone plateau. On the dark stone the iron wheels made a deep rumble that echoed off the walls.. On the open plateau the sound was flat and carried far spreading out across the white stone until it was lost in the big rolling mist below.

Valen stood at the front of the carrier his leather coat buttoned up tight against the wind. The limestone beneath the tracks was a creamy white and it was smooth from the old glaciers that shaped the upper shelf. There was no soil or gravel so the rails had to be laid on the bare stone held down by iron bolts.

We have to adjust our alignment tolerances Kael said, climbing up from the back of the carrier. He sat on a tool chest his fingers white with lime dust. Checked the spirit level. The basalt plains were different. The stone was hard enough to hold the plates down.. This limestone is softer and it has lots of little cracks from the frost. If we just put the plates on the surface the heavy wagons will split the stone. The rails will spread.

We will drill every station Valen said, looking back at the two-mile line of track. We will not skip a bolt. If the stone is cracked on the surface we will use the jumper bars to go down into the solid rock. We will set the iron bolts in a mixture of pulverized lime and animal fat; when it gets cold it will freeze into a matrix that can hold the weight of the carrier.

The drilling operation was a job and it slowed down the track-laying line. The forty workers were divided into three teams that moved ahead of the carrier. The first team handled the layout using charts and a hemp chord to mark the position of every rail joint. The second team worked with the iron jumper bars their sledges making a rhythm that turned the white stone into a fine dust. The third team followed with the anchor bolts and the cast-iron tie-plates hammering them into place.

Tor led the drilling team his heavy arms moving regularly as he struck the jumper bar. The sound was repeated down the line by twenty pairs of men a synchronized chain that competed with the clicking of the telegraph wire. Noa had run the wire along the track. It had become the main communication line carrying messages and reports between the sectors.

Noa sat in a cabin on the rear deck of the carrier her table covered in sheepskin registers that recorded the technical parameters of the limestone extension. The air inside the cabin was warm. The red glow of the brazier cast sharp shadows across her instruments. The resistance through the limestone circuit has stabilized she reported as Valen entered the cabin. The lack of ground moisture is working in our favor. The signal from the mountain hub is arriving clearly.

What is the southern station sending? Valen asked, leaning over the table to inspect the entries on her slate chart. They have maintained the signature since our ascent was completed Noa said. But there is a change in the amplitude. It has increased by ten percent over the last three hours. That means they are moving a transmitter array northward to meet our line.

Can we identify their rolling stock from the vibration? Valen asked, checking the tension on the copper receiving rod. It’s too distant for an analysis Noa said. The limestone plateau acts as a filter absorbing the impacts of the wheel flanges.. The cadence tells us they are running a heavy train. Something that matches the weight of our own carrier.

We need a record of the terrain ahead before we push the carrier past the fifteen-mile marker Valen said, tracing the unmarked white expanse on the western section of the map. Elena has completed her survey of the pass and she reports that the limestone terrace is cut by deep vertical fractures that don't appear on the old maps. If one of those chasms intersects our alignment vector we’ll have to construct a timber trestle.

The technical specifications for the limestone segment were compiled into the network log. The system infrastructure manifest included the track identifier, total length completed sleeper configuration and rail weight. The logistical support distribution included the vehicle unit, cargo configuration, fuel reserve and water supply.

The forward survey party left the carrier at midnight moving on foot along the marked alignment vector. The team consisted of Valen, Tor, Kael and four experienced miners who carried the long testing rods and heavy iron lanterns. They moved through the white mist that reduced their lantern beams to short yellow cones of light.

The air here smells of lime and cold sulfur Tor noted, his lantern raised to illuminate a deep depression in the stone. The rock is changing its structure, Valen. It’s no longer the polished terrace we found at the summit. Look at these ridges along the edge of the pit. They look like the wave-marks, on a dry beach. The water must have sat on this level for hundreds of cycles before the deep conduits were opened.

Kael kneeled down by the edge of the depression to get a sample of the white crust. The limestone here has a lot of calcium carbonate, which dissolves when it meets the acidic water from the glaciers up north. These pits are really deep Tor. They connect to a network of underground tunnels that go under the whole plateau. If our train tracks go over one of these tunnels where the roof's thin the weight of the train will cause the roof to collapse and swallow the tracks.

Valen said we should use the iron testing rods every ten cubits. If the sound is sharp and clear the ground is Kael. If the sound is dull or hollow we. Make a test hole to check how thick the stone is before we let the crew mark the path.

The survey team moved forward three miles through the mist. They could tell how far they went by the sound of the testing rods hitting the limestone floor. The ground was stable until they got to the fourteen-mile marker, where it started to slope down into a shallow basin.

At the center of the basin they saw a sinkhole that split the limestone into two levels. The hole was sixty feet wide. Seemed to go down into darkness. The edges were jagged and looked like they might fall apart.

This is the Great Chasm that Elenas team found Tor said, walking carefully to the edge of the cliff. It goes across our path Valen. To get to the side we either have to build a three-hundred-foot bridge or go around the edge of the hole for three miles until the stone meets again.

We are not building a bridge here Kael said, looking at the walls of the sinkhole. The stone is too soft to hold the bridge, Valen. The mist is making the rock faces wet. If we put heavy posts in this limestone the winter frost will break the masonry in two days. The only safe way is to go around the edge. We have to curve the track around the hole even if it adds two miles to our trip.

Valen said to look at the center of the pit. There was a shape rising through the mist thirty feet below the edge. Kael raised his lantern to see it better. The shape was not a rock. It was a gray concrete tower with steel channels bolted into it. At the top of the tower was a platform with a big mechanical linkage.

It's a line compensator Noa said, coming up behind them on a small vehicle. I tracked your lanterns from the mile marker, Valen. My testing board showed a jump when you got to this basin. This tower is not dead. It's part of the cable system that was buried in the limestone.

Is it connected to the signal? Valen asked, helping Noa down from the vehicle.

The signal is the same Noa said, adjusting her testing board. The tower is acting like a booster, Valen. The cable runs under the sinkhole. This compensator balances the electrical resistance between the northern and southern basins.

Can we get inside the tower? Kael asked, his eyes shining with curiosity. If the copper leads are okay Noa we can use this tower to boost our telegraph signal. We won't need our batteries. We can use the current from the cable.

The door to the tower is down a ladder Noa said, pointing to an iron ladder. The ladder is. The platform at the bottom is covered in mist. We don't know if the inside is dry or flooded.

We will find out Valen said, checking the ladder. Tor, get the ropes from the vehicle. We will secure Kael and Noa before they go down.

Going down into the Great Chasm was slow and careful. The mist was cold and wet making the iron ladder slippery. Valen went down first his lantern casting a light on the concrete wall.

The air inside the chasm was heavy. Had a deep hum. It was not the wind. It was the sound of the current in the cable.

The door to the tower was twenty feet down. A square opening, with a heavy bronze hatch. The surface was covered in a crust that had to be scraped off before they could open the door.

Kael called out from the ladder passing down tools and a hammer. We have to clear the crust before we can turn the locks, Valen. If we use much force we will break the internal gears and have to blast the door open.

Valen worked on the door for thirty minutes scraping off the crust. Finally the lock. The door opened with a sharp hiss.

Inside the tower the air was warm and dry smelling of wax and ozone. Noa said this was Sub-Station Nine-Beta. The room had a central table with brass recording drums and copper bus-bars. The walls were lined with thousands of glass-enclosed cells that were suspended in a clear fluid.

The system is fully charged Kael whispered, touching the bronze frame of the recording drum. Look at the indicators Valen. The voltage is one hundred and twenty volts. Five times what our batteries can do. This station is not a booster. It's a primary power source that gets its energy from the ocean currents.

Noa was already at the slate table her testing leads connected to the terminal block that joined the northern and southern cable segments. The baseline needle on her board was no longer moving back and forth it had settled into a position that vibrated with a high frequency that caused the brass pointers to hum.

The southern network is fully integrated with this station she said, her voice rising with excitement as she read the indicators. Valen they aren't just sending a signal anymore. The terminal block is receiving a data stream that carries the manufacturing information of Sector Thirteens factories. They’ve cleared their directories just as we did and they are using the old frequency to broadcast their inventory to anyone who can connect to the line.

Can we read their information? Valen asked, leaning over her shoulder to watch the movement of the copper pointer.

It’s a text transmission Noa said, her pen already writing down the series of clicks into her slate ledger using the old manual codes. They aren't using encryption; they are sending the data in a format that can be read by any standard telegraph key. Listen to the rhythm, Valen.

The data stream from Sector Thirteen was recorded by Noa on her ledger providing the direct confirmation of the industrial capacity of the southern survival networks:

Southern Network Material Inventory. Received via Sub-Station Nine-Beta:

Source Sector: Sector Thirteen (Maritime Foundry Complex)

Operational Population: Nine hundred forty individuals

Primary Infrastructure: Two blast furnaces; one automated rail rolling mill

Rolling Stock Assets: Three operational steam-locomotives

Completed Line Length: Forty-eight miles of double-track seventy-pound rail

Current Advanced Position: Boundary Fence Twelve point four

Material Reserves: Six thousand tons high-carbon steel billets; forty tons copper rod

The discovery of the active steam-locomotives changed everything. On the side Valen’s people had been forced to rely on manual labor, rawhide harnesses and the slow movement of the vanguard chassis driven by human muscle. The southern colonists had bypassed this limitation entirely utilizing the high-pressure steam from their vents to power mechanical engines that could move hundreds of tons of freight at a speed that could cross the plateau in a single day.

They have the engines Tor said, his face illuminated by the lantern as he stepped into the chamber. If we join our tracks to their fence Valen we can use their rolling stock to haul our stone and ore from the reef foundries to the delta harbor by the train-load. The network will become self-sustaining within a month.

We have to clear the bypass around this chasm first Valen said, his finger pointing to the schematic of the sinkhole. We don't change our plan Tor. We lay the curve around the rim and we use the copper leads from this tower to boost our communication line back to the mountain hub. We let Mara know that we have found the source of the power.

Kael spent the three hours working with Noa to install the telegraph bridge between their mobile wire and the stations primary bus-bars. The connection required an alignment; they used two thick copper contact plates salvaged from the stations old recording drums mounting them to the main terminal block with iron screws that Kael tightened using his wrench.

When the final lead was secured a bright arc of electricity leaped from the terminal to the ground wire accompanied by an intensification of the ticking sound inside the copper tubes. The telegraph line was no longer dependent on the batteries; the immense energy of the southern tidal matrix was now running through the entire length of the northern rail circuit amplifying the signal until the keys at the delta harbor were operating with a force that could be heard through the walls of the warehouses.

The line is live Noa reported, her hand tapping the key to send the confirmation sequence back to the mountain passage. The delta has acknowledged the signal Valen. Mara reports that the needle deflection was so great that it threw the pointer off the scale. They are tracking our position second by second now.

We return to the surface Valen ordered, his hand closing the hatch of the station and locking the bars into their seats. The mist is beginning to drop Kael and the drilling crew will have completed the alignment segment of the curve before the morning begins. We need to guide the carrier onto the alignment before the frost hardens the clay seals on the anchor bolts.

The ascent from the sinkhole was completed as the sun began to break through the clouds. The light revealed the extent of the drilling crews progress; a clean curve of white stone had been prepared around the southern rim of the chasm the cast-iron plates sitting in a straight arc that matched the vectors Noa had calculated.

The Vanguard Freight Carrier moved onto the curve during the second watch of the morning its six iron wheels clearing the edge of the chasm with twelve feet of clearance on the landward side. The movement was smooth and silent the cast-iron plates holding the steel rails with an absolute security that allowed the train to maintain its velocity without a single instance of flange-bite or rail spread.

By noon the bypass line was complete the tracks rejoining the western vector on the opposite side of the sinkhole and stretching away across the level limestone terrace toward the horizon. The ground here was uniform and solid, free of the fractures and dissolving basins that had slowed their progress through the lower pass.

Valen sat on the deck of the carrier his hand resting on the iron mace that lay across his knees as the train moved forward into the afternoon light. The white plain stretched before him like a page a vast canvas of stone that was being systematically marked by the parallel silver lines of their rails.

The southern network was no longer an echo or a possibility; it was a physical reality that was moving to meet them with the full force of its steam engines and industrial foundries. The boundary fence was forty miles away. As Valen looked out at the long line of track that rose over the next limestone ridge he knew that every strike of the hammer and every turn of the wrench was a step toward a continental union. They had the power they had the iron and the road was completely theirs to build.

The construction of the alignment through the fifteen-mile sector proceeded without impediment the three drilling squads maintaining an efficient rotation that allowed the track to advance at a rate of one thousand yards per watch. The limestone became increasingly dense as they approached the shelf its chemical composition transitioning from the soft carbonate to a hard dolomite that resisted the steel edge of the jumper bars with a stubborn friction that required Kael to establish a secondary grinding station on the rear platform of the carrier.

The grinding station utilized a wheel salvaged from the Sector Twelve tool rooms its axle belted directly to the front wheel of the carriage so that the forward movement of the train automatically turned the stone. Two mechanics worked continuously at the wheel their faces covered by leather goggles as they ground the points of the jumper bars back into sharp wedges before passing them back to Tor’s team at the head of the line.

It’s a self-feeding cycle Kael noted, showing Valen the edge on a freshly ground bar. The harder the stone becomes the more the train must move to bring up the rails and the faster the grinding wheel turns to sharpen our tools. The system cannot stall itself because the work creates its maintenance loop. We are using the resistance of the continent to sharpen the steel that conquers it.

Noa walked out of the communication cabin her ledger open to a diagram that she had drawn based on the latest data stream from Sub-Station Nine-Beta. The southern train has reached the sixteen-mile marker on their side of the ridge, Valen she reported, her finger pointing to a small coordinate mark she had added to the plain vector. Their speed is increasing. They are running their locomotive on an open throttle utilizing a high-pressure thermal charge from their central vent complex. At their rate of advance their vanguard elements will reach the boundary fence, within twenty-four hours.

We increase our shift duration to twelve hours Valen ordered, his voice carrying across the deck to where Tor was resting his squad. We don't allow their engines to arrive at the gate before our rails are secure Tor. We have thirty miles of iron to lay if we want to meet them on the level ground of the basin. Get the tow lines connected to the carrier frame; we use the full strength of both shifts to move the ballast cars simultaneously.

The next twelve watches were a demonstration of human endurance. The line between day and night was erased by the glare of the tallow lanterns that lined the track bed. Forty workers moved through the white dust of the stone like figures in a dream. They did not talk. They did not pause for the ration rotations. Their movements were governed entirely by the rhythm of the sledges and the metallic clatter of the iron rail segments.

Valen worked at the head of the alignment line. His mace was replaced by a twenty-pound steel sledge that he swung with a power. His shoulders burned under his leather coat. His hands were. Raw where the rough iron of the handle had ground through his gloves.. He did not drop the tool. Every blow drove the steel wedges deeper into the guide slots. The seventy-pound rails were locked into an alignment that could withstand the impact of any locomotive.

By the dawn of the cycle the track had reached the thirty-eight-mile marker. The track descended from the limestone terrace into a broad basin. The ground was covered in a layer of white alkali crust. The surface was as flat and featureless as a lake. At the center of the basin a long black column of smoke was visible against the white clouds. A deep rhythmic chugging sound drifted across the plain. The southern train was there.

Valen could see the shape of the locomotive as it moved slowly across the flats. The locomotive was a low-slung engine of dark green iron. Its boiler was reinforced by brass bands. The engine trailed six iron freight carriages. The decks were piled high with steel channels, copper rods and white blocks of marine salt. A group of fifty people walked beside the train. They wore leather coats and wool mantles. They did not carry automated tools or data badges. Their hands were wrapped in leather. Their belts hung with iron wrenches, sledges and cold chisels.

The southern crew stopped their engine at the boundary fence. They were waiting for Valens crew to complete their link. Valen commanded his crew to get the rail segments off the carrier. Kael brought the set of cast-iron sleeper plates. Tor got the strikers into position. They finished the line before the noon shift completed its watch.

The final two hundred yards of the line were completed in silence. The workers from both networks gathered along the alignment vector. Their eyes were fixed on the movement of Valens strikers. The last steel rails were lowered onto the cast-iron plates. The connection was made at eleven watch-clicks past the morning hour. The final steel wedge was driven into its guide slot by a massive blow from Valens sledge.

The line was complete. The iron track stretched from the delta harbor to the maritime foundries. It was a continuous loop of seventy-pound steel that connected two independent human societies. The track was built entirely by the intelligence and strength of the people who had claimed the surface of the planet for their own.

A tall shouldered man stepped down from the forward platform of the southern locomotive. He walked along the rail joint until he reached the point where the two lines met. His eyes explored the manual alignment of Valens cast-iron sleeper plates. He said, "Subject 402 the registry logs described you as a maintenance resource.. It appears the template was incorrect. You've built a track line that matches the standards of our own engineers."

Valen said, "My name is Valen. The registry logs are dead. The templates have been melted down into rail spikes. We don't run on the systems index anymore. We write our record with our own tools."

The southern engineer laughed. His hand struck the side of the locomotive. He said, "My name is Marcus. Welcome to the line, Valen. We have two thousand tons of high-carbon steel billets waiting at the docks. Our furnaces are hot. Lets see what your vanguard cars can carry when we hook them to a steam engine."

The integration of the two networks began within the hour. The alkali basin was transformed into a bustling transport terminal. The material resources of the continent were systematically exchanged and cataloged. Under Noas direction the telegraph operators established a communication hub. They linked their copper wires into an operational matrix.

The primary resource allocation registers were updated on both sides of the line. The combined industrial assets were made available to the civilization. The Continental Infrastructure Register listed the northern and southern sector assets. The northern sector had forty-two miles of seventy-pound rail line. The southern sector had forty-eight miles of double-track seventy-pound rail line.

The first integrated freight train cleared the junction at midnight. The train consisted of the green southern locomotive and four of Marcuss steel cargo carriages and three of Valens Vanguard Freight Carriers. The decks were loaded with a combined cargo of grain blocks southern marine salt and fifty tons of high-carbon steel billets.

Valen stood on the platform of the final carrier wagon. The train moved slowly up the limestone incline toward the summit of the pass. The movement was fast, smooth and effortless. The workers sat along the side-rails of the carriages. Their lanterns cast a jumping chain of amber lights across the white stone of the terrace. The wind, from the northwest was still blowing steady.. The cold had lost its power to isolate them. The silver lines of the rails caught the light of the stars. The mountain node was gone.. The frontier was wide open. The people who had broken the gates were moving forward together. Their hammers were ready. Their lines were secure.. Their history was completely their own to compile.

The team worked hard to fix the tracks between Mile Marker Twenty and the boundary junction. Kaels mechanics and Marcuss locomotive crews worked together to install water-intake cranes. These cranes were very important for the steam engines. The engines used a lot of water eighty gallons per mile when they were pulling a lot of weight up the hill.

The water came from the springs that flowed into the lower area. Kael had set up machines that used windmills to lift the water into tanks. The tanks were made of cedar wood. Were supported by stone pillars. The locomotive drivers could refill their tanks in five minutes when they stopped at the station.

Here are the details about the water supply:

Cranesite One, near Mile Marker Fifteen point four gets water from a spring forty cubits

The pump is driven by a windmill. Can store two thousand gallons of water.

Now it has one thousand eight hundred gallons of water and can supply twelve gallons per minute.

The station is working well. Is being used for the noon freight rotation.

Cranesite Two, near Mile Marker Thirty point two gets water from a pool that has been filtered.

The pump is manual. Can store one thousand gallons of water.

Now it has nine hundred gallons of water and can supply eight gallons per minute when someone is operating it.

The station is being kept as a backup. The water has been checked by Noa.

The people in charge of the tracks led by Tor made sure the rails were safe to use. They walked along the tracks twice every watch to check for any damage. They used tools to apply a protective coating to the tracks to keep them from getting damaged by the salt and water.

The results showed that the new tracks were better than the ones. The new tracks could handle the weight of the locomotives without getting damaged. Noa checked the system at midnight and found that everything was working perfectly. The telegraph system was now independent of the weather. Could work even in the harshest conditions.

Valen spent the part of the cycle checking the new fabrication lines. The blacksmiths were already working on the forty tons of steel. The steel was of high quality and could be used to make strong steam valves and locomotive wheels. The factory was busy with the sound of hammers and the smell of iron filling the air. The workers were skilled and confident. They were building something that would last.

Valen walked out of the factory and onto the platform. He checked the tracks. Saw that they were straight and true. The trains were moving smoothly carrying goods from one sector to another. The road ahead was unknown. Valen was confident that the infrastructure was in place to support the people of the frontier. The line was complete the power was stable. The people were ready, for whatever came next.