Day 9 of my 2023 drabble-a-day challenge! Here is today’s drabble:
We Are Sorry To Announce…
Rahid glanced at the needle: not quite dangerous yet. Maybe they'd get through rush-hour.
He breathed slowly, while Steve droned on about Arsenal.
The needle swung abruptly, and Rahid's fingers flicked the emergency reset. Alarms sounded. Signals changed. Trains braked. The home-made tin-foil gauge dropped steadily back to zero.
"You... you... " Steve stammered. "You reset that on purpose! I saw you! I should report..."
Rahid turned round slowly.
"Shut up. This isn't your patch. This line has to be fed. Regularly. Commuters' frustration, anger, horror... we give it little doses. Bust signals. Minor delays.
If we don't give, it takes."
I’ve crossed London twice today, and - contrary to what you might be imagining - my journeys went extremely smoothly.
Of course, I rarely get on that line any more.
In unsolicited reading recommendation news: if you secretly like the idea that there are engineers down there with home-made magical gauges, keeping the tube lines running as well as possible, you should try Rivers of London. I don’t think that idea actually features, but it’s very much that kind of a world.