Mind The Gap
Amateur author. Mainly focussed on science fiction and urban fantasy.
Same city, different station.
Enter Nick Llewellyn, coming into stage right at about thirty klicks an hour. He's looking at his hands, and turning over in them a sheet of pink paper.
He's been fired. Specifically, he's just been laid off from his job, working for a Manhattan legal firm.
What do I do now? he thinks, over and over. Because he can barely afford his apartment as it is. Because all of his friends, to use the term loosely, are work-friends.
Because he doesn't have any hobbies outside of work. He didn't have time for them, when he had a job.
He's musing over that when the train crashes.
It enters Clark Street station at forty kilometers per hour. The driver cancels the signal telling of the stopped train ahead. The train doesn't stop.
There's a split second of spilled coffee and dropped phones. Nick's perception of time slows down as he flies off the end of his bench and into the wall, crumpled. His hand breaks when it hits the wall, and-
And he's floating away.
Sequels
Comments (5 so far!)
ethelthefrog
The only place a train can be where the sensors won't detect it is floating above the rails. The driver might well have passed a signal at danger, though. That is the cause of many rail accidents. It can be quite hard to see a signal if the sun is behind it, and the driver can cancel the automatic warning absentmindedly.
Sorry to be negative. Like the direction of the plot, though.
- #1005 Posted 7 years ago
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wolframdioxide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June(underscore)2009(underscore)Washington(underscore)Metro(underscore)train(underscore)collision
That featured a train that wasn't sensed, although in that case the sensors were malfunctioning.
Thanks, though. I'll edit.
- #1006 Posted 7 years ago
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ethelthefrog
Elegantly done, although I'd go with "cancelled" rather than "ignored", because ignoring the alarm will activate the emergency braking system.
Damnit, I've gone all geeky and pedantic again. Either way, I do like the story.
- #1028 Posted 7 years ago
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0
Inspired by (sequel to):
There was a sound like a small thunderclap in Simon Melnikov's apartment, as several cubic metres' w…
Smoke And Daggers, Part 2- Published 7 years ago.
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ElshaHawk LoA
What power will Nick have?