Changes in the Wind - Part III: Gordon and the Extinct Ones

Chapter 9: Plan

The sounds of wielding could be heard vaguely in Gordon's mind. He stirred and groaned. His eyes were heavy, but he forced them open nonetheless. The light made him blink until he readjusted and he found himself, in a brightly lit, warm, red-bricked shed. His eyes narrowed as he looked around the place and realised the shed had been cleaned and kept that way, it was a rare sight to be seen on the mainland now. Workmen surrounded him, fixing him up and checking him all over. One noticed him closeby and smiled at him as he came walking up to the big engine.

"Greetings, I am Mr Shaw," he introduced, "I am the manager here."

"Where... am I?" said Gordon slowly.

Mr Shaw chuckled. "That's a good question," he said, "you're currently in the terminus of Skegness, the junction between the eastern region and Great Thesang Railway"

Gordon continued to glance around, then thought back to what he could remember last. "Good grief," he gasped, "where are the others? Edward? BoCo? Gale?"

"They're all fine," chuckled Mr Shaw, "Edward, Gale, and the rest of the diesels all came with you and that BoCo fella. BoCo is being attended to at the diesel works. Now all you need to do is rest."

"I'm afraid I can't," said Gordon, "there is much to do."

"Huh," said Mr Shaw, his smile going a little wry, "just what your brother said when he came here."

"Papyrus?" Gordon said, a little astonished.

"Yes," Mr Shaw replied, "he was found close to your location and was taken by the diesels here too. Much to his protest, but I believe Edward told him off, and he came quietly afterward."

"What about the boy?" asked Gordon worriedly, "is Matt alright?"

"A bruise on his head, but he gain consciousness a few hours ago," Mr Shaw said, "that's all I know, I only look after the steam engines here."

"Look after the steam engines?"

"Well... yes... this is technically owned by the GTR," smiled Mr Shaw, "so you are perfectly safe, otherwise politics will get involved, and that's chaos already between the railways."

Gordon paused for a second. "So... we have technically reached our destination," he muttered under his breath. He paused and looked back to where the workmen had finished fixing him. "What was the damage?"

Mr Shaw looked back behind where Gordon was trying to look. "The back of your tender was badly damaged," he explained, "the water tank was completely broken, no water in there by the time you came back and we had to give you a new buffer beam. We also gave you some new buffers on the front as well since they were cracked from your... incident with those diesels."

Gordon looked down, he sighed in relief. They had given him the rectangular ones to him and he much preferred them to the circular ones that were usually given to engines, they suited him more in his opinion. "I'm guessing you wielded the tender," he said, examining the buffers.

"Yeah," came the response, but not from Mr Shaw. The big engine looked over to see a familiar-looking tank engine come slowly up next to him.

"Thomas?" he said, shocked.

"Yeah," said Thomas, "don't look too surprised Gordon, I have been living here for most of this decade."

Gordon then closed his mouth and then he smiled warmly at the tank engine. "I have missed you, my dear friend," he said.

A blink of confusion came to Thomas, and he raised an eyebrow. "Is that you Gordon?"

"Is this me? Of course, it is!" huffed Gordon, his smile faded, looking indignant, "can I just say I've missed you after not seeing you for what? Six years? The last time I saw you, you were on a flatbed being sent off to another island far away with..."