Morning was beginning to dawn over the mighty city of London. A red sunrise greeted the early risers and reflected in the grey waters of the Thames. Seagulls floated on the surface of the river while others glided high up in the sky. The street lights began to go off and buses began to make their way over the bridges and along the roads to pick up passengers either on their way to or home from work. Just another day in paradise.
Suddenly a perceptible shudder went through the fabric of the area. It only recorded as zero point five on the Richter scale but was still experienced by many of the inhabitants. Some put it down to the Underground, some to an enthusiastic pilot in a jet exceeding the sound barrier and to some who were engaged in affairs of the heart, the ‘Earth had indeed moved’ for them.
Deep down on the surface of the Thames’ riverbed the clay and lime layers had flexed as the Earth had given its shiver, but rather than the effect having passed off without repercussion, an injury was induced. A crack opened in the floor of the waterway, immediately filled with water which began to run down through the successive layers of stone and sand beneath.
**
“Come on hit him!” screamed someone in the crowd as John Sampson swung a meaty left hook.
“No don’t move back! Attack Attack!!” another spectator shouted as he saw Sampson’s opponent, Dave Beccles falter.
It was situation normal down at the London Underground yard. The evening shift had turned up to begin their labour and with nothing to do until the foreman arrived to allocate them their jobs, arguments had broken out and tempers had flared.
Two of the main protagonists were John Sampson and Dave Eccles, Both had gone after the same lady and were now locked in mortal combat to prove their worthiness. Unbeknown to both parties the said lady, a Emily McGuire, was walking out with one of the station managers, but she, being a romantic at heart had failed to tell either of them and was flattered to see her effect on two full blooded males.
“Right break it up you two!” shouted Sam Walker, the foreman, as he pulled the lads apart. “We’ll have no more of this nonsense or you’ll both get your cards!”
Sampson and Eccles stood glowering at each other. You almost see the electricity shooting from their eyes.
“You two can take track search duties tonight!” said Sam angrily. “See if you can work together as human beings. Your on the Aldritch line and don’t let me catch you loafing about.”
“Aww, not the old Aldritch!” said Dave. “That place stinks and it’s got rats. Can’t we have the new Jubilee?”
“You’ll take what I give you my lad,” shouted Sam. “Now get your tea and sandwiches and get to it!” Sam was ex Army and didn’t take shite from anyone especially a whippersnapper like Eccles! “And don’t forget to take your radios!”
The two lads made their way up to the canteen where Rosie Smith filled their flasks with hot sweet tea and handed them over ham and cheese sandwiches.
“Thanks Rosie,” said John blowing the lady a kiss. “You certainly look after us.”
“Someone has to,” retorted Rosie laughing. “You both need a nanny!”
The entrance to the Aldritch line was reached after climbing down countless steps and several doors. The system was designed to act as a firebreak in the event of an accident on the line, providing staff and passengers with a safe exit from the network.
The area of track the lads stepped into was dark and smelly.
“Yukk,” said John. “What a dump!”
“Well you know the Aldritch line; it’s so old I am sure the cavemen used it!”
“Sampson and Eccles! Come in!” came a strident voice from their radios
“Hi there Sam,” replied John. “We can hear you.”
“Get moving, I want the line done tonight, not next week!”
“Roger that, Sam!” shouted Dave.
Switching on their lamps the two young men began to check the track. The line was not as popular as the other ones and so the number of trains operating was minimal.
“We’ll see the last train of the night in an hour and a half,” said John.
“Yes,” replied Dave kicking a small bit of wood off the line. “Then we won’t need to worry about getting run over!”
“Here Dave,” said John in a wheedling voice. “How about letting me see Emily tomorrow night”
“Over my dead body!” replied Dave. “She’s my bird, not yours!”
So the next hour passed with the two young men getting deeper and deeper into the Aldritch network. Checking the rail for breaks and other defects liable to cause the trains damage or accident. Their radios crackled with static and echoed off the dripping tunnel walls.
On the Easterbarn station stood six passengers awaiting the arrival of the last train on the Aldritch line. A cold wind blew up the platform and moved the waste paper that previous travellers had dropped.
Mary Baillie, a typist had worked late to get work done for her boss. He had offered to drive her home, but she had refused on the grounds that it would take him too far from his home. She was a gem and her boss knew it and treated her with respect. Mary pulled her coat tightly round her and shivered slightly.
Jean Wilson and her two children Ben, five and Elizabeth, six, were on their way back from her mother-in-law’s. She didn’t like to have the children up so late, but the elderly lady was in the early stages of dementia and really needed professional care, but Jean tried to do her bit. So when her mother-in-law had rung after tea to say that she had lost her purse with all her money, Jean had dressed herself and the children up warmly and ventured into the night. The purse had subsequently been found where the old lady had put it – in the fridge and after making sure everything else was alright Jean and the children had left to catch the last Underground train on the Aldritch line that night.
Bill Browning had worked late that evening trying to remove a wheel from one of his customer’s cars. The car had lain in a garage for two years and the wheel nuts had rusted badly. Bill could feel a twinge from his muscles when he had thrown his weight into trying to unscrew the nuts. Before he had closed his little garage that evening he had had the satisfaction of removing the nuts, the wheel and laying bare the brakes. That was tomorrow’s job thought Bill ruefully. He wished the train would hurry up and come so that he could get home and have a good soak in the bath before he went to bed.
The sixth passenger waiting on the platform was Joe Meagel, a smalltime crook who operated in the East End doing jobs for one of the big criminals. Breaking and entry, a bit of grievous bodily harm and the odd burning to allow falsified insurance claims. He had had a chequered history as soon as he had started school and had just got better at being bad as time went on.
Tonight he was on his way to ‘encourage’ a shop owner to pay protection money. He might have to remodel the shop and smash a window or two, but he knew that cash would be forthcoming.
“I’m stopping for a bit,” said Dave yanking his satchel off his shoulder and sitting down on a large rock at the edge of the tunnel. “Come on you idiot, pour a cup of tea for yourself.”
“Less of the idiot, Eccles or I’ll give you a black eye. I’m just going to have a look see round the next corner and then I’ll have my scran,”replied John.
Dave shook his head, what a dork, he thought to himself. How could Emily have any feeling for the great lug? Biting into one of Rosie’s sandwiches Dave felt a feeling of intense pleasure when he realised the filling was roast chicken. Good old Rosie he thought.
John checked the rails up to the corner but found nothing amiss. Stepping up to the bend he shone his torch light into the blackness. What’s that, he thought to himself as the light glinted off a large expanse of what seemed to be water? Walking steadily towards the anomaly John heard the steady drip of water. He shone his torch up on to the roof and saw where the water was coming from; a large crack about a foot long.
Immediately he pulled his radio out and hurrying back to where Dave sat began transmitting.
“Sam! Sam! Pick up! shouted John into his radio. “We have an emergency!”
“What’s wrong Sampson?” asked Dave with a derisory laugh. “A bit of paper on the line?”
“What is it?” came an angry voice from the radio.” What emergency?” Sam had picked up the message.
“Sam, we have flooding in Section Eight. You’ll have to stop the train!” shouted John.
“Eccles, are you there?” said Sam. “What’s all this about flooding?”
By this time Dave had been round to see the pool of water.
“Eccles here, Sam,” replied Dave. “There has been a lot of water dripping from the roof and it has collected on the tracks.”
“Do we need to stop the train lads? asked Sam. “It’s a bad area for condensation what with the river above it. We could close the line after the next train, just to get it out of the way.”
“Its due in ten minutes,” said John checking his watch. “What do you think we should do? Its speed will probably cause a splash onto the tunnel’s walls but won’t affect the train.”
The radio was silent for a minute then,
“You two lads!” shouted Sam. “Get along and try and estimate how deep and broad that puddle is. Now!”
*
The six passengers boarded the Underground at Easterbarn station. A junkie had scuttled off the train when the doors had opened and apart from the driver, a veteran of forty years on the Underground named Colin Lang, the train was empty. The six sat down in various places within the two carriages and gazed out through the dirty windows at the advertisement posters on the walls of the tunnel. The train pulled away from the platform.
“Aw, Dave, why do I have to wade into the middle to check the depth?” wailed John.
“‘Cause you do,” replied Dave smiling as his colleague’s boots filled up with water.
John stood up to his knees in the pool of water. A constant stream poured from the crack in the roof.
“Well?” came the voice of an irate Sam. “Is it passable or not?”
“It’s too deep!” shouted John making a decision. “You’ll have to stop the train and get it to reverse back to the last station. That‘ll be Easterbarn won’t it?”
“Right!” said Sam. “I’ll get on it!” The radio went dead.
The two young men settled down to their tea and sandwiches. There would be no final train that night as Sam would stop it and make all the arrangements for the repair crews to get into the tunnel and repair the crack. The line would be out of commission for at least a week during the work.
Unbeknown to anyone the radio link to the train had failed two days previous. No one had used it and so the defect was not discovered. Now Sam realised that something was amiss when he tried to raise the driver. Harsh crackling was all he got in response to his demands for a reply.
Dave stood up and stretched himself. He turned and stepped up to the tracks. There was a slight vibration as if a train was coming.
“Ahhhhhhh!” screamed Dave throwing himself backwards as the Underground train suddenly rushed around the corner and ploughed on towards the flooding.
“I thought it had been stopped!” shouted Dave getting up off the ground. “It’s going to hit that water!”
The train raised an almighty wave either side of itself. The water crashed into the side of the tunnel and smashed back onto the train engulfing it. All at once a large blue flash lit up the tunnel then everything went dark.
“It’s short circuited the electrics!” shouted John. The trains knackered.”
“I think it is a bit more than the train that is knackered,” said Dave trying to use the radio. “I think this section of track is off line as far as electrical power is concerned.”
“We better get to the train and help the passengers,” John said running towards the immobilised train.
Inside the train there was panic. The internal lighting had gone off and with the blackness of the tunnel, nothing could be seen. The children were screaming and their mother was trying to pacify them.
The driver was making his way through the train gingerly in an effort to discover how his passengers were. He had suffered a blow to the head and blood was running down his face.
“Is everyone alright?” someone asked from outside. Two people stood outside with torches. They activated the manual release for the doors and forced them open.
Dave and John stepped into the carriage and shining their torches about saw that there were five adults and two children inside.
“Is everyone alright?” asked John again. “The train ran into a large pool of water and its short circuited the power.”
“How do we get out of here?” asked Colin. “I was the driver.”
“Your injured mate,” said Dave. “Do they have a first aid kit onboard?”
“Never mind that,” said Colin. “We have children here and they need to be somewhere safe!”
“It’s only a little pool of water,” said Joe Meagel. “Can’t we just hoof it back to Easterbarn?”
“I think that is what we must do,” said John taking charge. “I am sure that there is more water coming through that crack than there was an hour ago. You can tell by the noise.”
The men carried Jean, Mary and the children to dry ground and then began to walk. To the children Ben and Elizabeth, this was an adventure, but they both looked scared. Mary held Elizabeth’s hand and Ben clung to his mother’s.
Bill Browning walked with Joe Meagel. The two men stayed in the glow from the torches, watching their feet in case of any loose material lying round.
Colin walked with Dave and John. He now sported a large bandage around his forehead. “How far do you think we will have to walk?” he asked.
“Well Easterbarn is about three quarters of a mile from here,” said John. “But we can only walk as fast as the slowest of the group, the children.”
They walked for about half an hour and by then John and Dave had picked the children up and were carrying them on their backs. Their torches were beginning to fade slightly, so they switched one off to conserve the energy.
There had been a trickle of water running from the direction of where the train had come to a stop and it ran down the centre of the rails off in the direction of where they were going. It seemed as while they walked that the trickle got stronger becoming a definite flow.
“I think the leak has got worse,” said Dave quietly to John. Both children had fallen into a troubled sleep on the lad’s backs, so they could not hear what was being said.
“We might need to get off this line if it gets any worse,” said John. “We don’t want to get washed away!”
Dave pointed ahead at some buildings built into the wall of the tunnel. “That’s the old workshop there. If we go through it we come out on the old Union line.”
“But what do we do then? We would be trapped across there.” said John.
Suddenly there was an almighty crash from somewhere deep in the tunnel from the direction they had come from.
“That’s the tunnel roof come down! We have got to get into that workshop! There will be tidal wave in seconds,” said Dave. “Quick, we have to get away from here.”
The group raced towards the workshop and Dave forced the door open. Just as they all got inside John went to close the door. He shone his torch into the tunnel and was horrified to see the train they had left being washed before a wall of water. It tumbled and crashed into the walls of the tunnel. Sparks flew as metal struck the stonework and rang like a gong.
“Quick, through to the other side!” shouted Dave.
“No!” screamed Colin Lang. “The old Union line is blocked at both ends. We’ll be trapped!”
“Where will we go?” shouted John. “This workshop will fill up with water very quickly!” And as if to demonstrate, the door gave a groan and water began to cascade through the edges.
Colin pointed to a set of stairs. “These lead to the next floor. We might be able to hold out there.”
Bill and Joe stepped forward and took Ben and Elizabeth from Dave and Joe.
“Quick lads, lets see if the upstairs is any drier.” The water was lapping at their ankles already and Dave knew that with the River Thames above them, the water pressure would be massive.
They all climbed quickly and having reached the upstairs room, John slammed the door shut. It would be a temporary block until the water level rose high above them.
“Of course!” shouted Colin excitedly. “The escape tunnel to the surface! Health and Safety made the company put it in. It was in case there was a fire in the workshop. I had completely forgotten about it!”
Colin ran over to a large tube that projected from the room’s ceiling. He began to unscrew a large wheeled handle, when he had unscrewed it far enough a large hinged cap of iron swung down revealing a ladder that led off into the darkness of the tube.
“Colin, you lead the way,” said Dave handing him the torch.
“We wont be trapped in this tube, will we?” asked Joe looking up into the darkness.
“No,” said Colin leaning down to help Ben into the tube. “The other end just needs unscrewed like this one.
Joe looked into Elizabeth’s face and smiled as he handed her up to Colin.
Gradually Dave, John and Joe helped the passengers up the ladder.
Eventually, Colin shouted down to Jean that they were almost at the top.
By this time the water was welling round the men’s feet. It wouldn’t be long before this floor was submerged as well.
“Right Joe,” said Dave. “Up you go!”
The little man seemed reluctant to go. “Someone has to close off this end of the tube,” he said. “Which of you is going to stay?”
John turned to Dave and said, “Up you go mate and look after Emily for me!”
“Oh no, no way,” shouted Dave. “I’m not leaving you!”
“Your both going, it’s me that’s staying,” said Joe Meagel. He held a gun and was pointing it at the lads. “I’ve done some rotten things in my life so it is time I paid for them. Looking into that little girl’s face …… You two, get into that tube. Now!
Joe watched Dave and Sam vanish into the darkness and then swung the heavy lid up and screwed it tight.
As the water lapped higher and higher he remembered a story his grandmother had read to him. What was it called, he thought to himself? Oh yes, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It had been very exciting, he thought and as the water lapped up to his chin Joe remembered the famous last words of Sidney Caxton, the hero, ‘It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known’.
