The central spine of the Sovereign Splicer Citadel was hollowed out like the spine of an ancient giant beast. Running down its length was a two-mile-long underground transit tunnel, along which sat a heavy-gauge magnetic floating railway designed to shuttle raw materials, chemical precursors, and armored war-beasts between the sprawling heavy-duty wings.
Standing upon the concrete loading dock of Transit Station Alpha, Arthur Vance inspected the six-car armored cargo train.
The train was an imposing heavy-duty machine, its locomotive wrapped in riveted steel plates and powered by a dual earth-heat-arc turbine. Behind the locomotive were four flatbed cars fitted with high wooden sideboards and deep straw bedding, and two enclosed refrigerated container cars earlier used to transport chemical growth hormones. Electric lights flickered along the station platform. It hummed in rhythm with the magnetic coils embedded in the track bed.
Toby Mallow stood by the locomotive’s cab. He wiped grease from his nose with a red shop rag. “Boiler pressure is up, Arthur! The magnetic rails are drawing power directly from the backup earth-heat loop you and Titus saved. We’ve got enough juice to make forty runs back and forth to Factory Beta without stressing the dynamos.”
Along the platform, the escape was running with military care.
