Post by Annasiel on May 9, 2023 18:13:40 GMT
The Aleph-Line ran through Block A1 through A36. It was a standard double-loop, the track forming a figure-eight pattern that passed through the center of half of the districts, and through the corners of the rest. Fifteen other smaller lines serviced it - mainly busses. Mag-levs were, after all, expensive to produce, and Blocks A1 through A36 were not exactly the wealthiest part of town. It was a split territory between the Selmies and Yagercops, at present, subject to frequent gang wars and territorial disputes that the everyday civilians often found themselves caught up in.
You don't choose where you can afford to live, though, and the A blocks were cheap enough that even the lowliest of incomes could afford to rent out some small corner of a dilapidated motel there.
The Aleph-Line itself had two main trains. Mag-lev, as had been said, and monorail, elevated above ground for half of the commute and below ground for the rest. This particular train was the first unit, designated Aleph Prime, and it had exactly thirty-five cars with a maximum capacity of fifty people each. It rarely ran at full capacity this late, so twenty of the thirty-five cars were currently empty and unlit.
In the remaining fifteen cars sat a scattered ninety or so passengers. People from all walks of life. Businessmen. Criminals. Mechanics. Cooks. All people that, in most of their lives, they'd never cross paths, never relate, never even look the way of each other except for being here, on this train, at this moment.
The moment the lights went out.
It started with a brilliant green light, a flash that erupted into the sky from somewhere in the distance, glowing like an angelic aura over the tops of highrises and utility towers. The crack followed the light, shaking the train - a loud sound in the air, a deep rumble in the ground. The outside lights went first, turning the windows black - then the inside lights followed, and the passengers could again see outside, see the shapes of things passing by in the darkness that the unadjusted eye couldn't quite make out.
The train shook, rattled - screeched, and began to slow to a stop.
Red lights flickered, bright enough to make shadows, dark enough to leave the inside of the train barely visible.
"Emergency. Emergency. In the event of a fire, please proceed to the front of the train. In the event of a -"
A crackle, and the voice cut off, leaving on the gentle crimson glow.
You don't choose where you can afford to live, though, and the A blocks were cheap enough that even the lowliest of incomes could afford to rent out some small corner of a dilapidated motel there.
The Aleph-Line itself had two main trains. Mag-lev, as had been said, and monorail, elevated above ground for half of the commute and below ground for the rest. This particular train was the first unit, designated Aleph Prime, and it had exactly thirty-five cars with a maximum capacity of fifty people each. It rarely ran at full capacity this late, so twenty of the thirty-five cars were currently empty and unlit.
In the remaining fifteen cars sat a scattered ninety or so passengers. People from all walks of life. Businessmen. Criminals. Mechanics. Cooks. All people that, in most of their lives, they'd never cross paths, never relate, never even look the way of each other except for being here, on this train, at this moment.
The moment the lights went out.
It started with a brilliant green light, a flash that erupted into the sky from somewhere in the distance, glowing like an angelic aura over the tops of highrises and utility towers. The crack followed the light, shaking the train - a loud sound in the air, a deep rumble in the ground. The outside lights went first, turning the windows black - then the inside lights followed, and the passengers could again see outside, see the shapes of things passing by in the darkness that the unadjusted eye couldn't quite make out.
The train shook, rattled - screeched, and began to slow to a stop.
Red lights flickered, bright enough to make shadows, dark enough to leave the inside of the train barely visible.
"Emergency. Emergency. In the event of a fire, please proceed to the front of the train. In the event of a -"
A crackle, and the voice cut off, leaving on the gentle crimson glow.