Steam Powered Hearts

With both my hands delving deep in the machine I hear the snap of one of my fingernails.

"Drat," I curse under my breath. I recognise the sound too well, and make a mental note that I have prepared for this. I have two files in my workbelt now- one for metal, the other for my hands. Another snapping noise has me curse again: "Crumbs!"

The metal bar I was trying to put back in place has snapped in two, and I pull my hands out holding the remains of the piece. I look over at Pete next to me showing him what was in my hands. He sighs and lets out his own chain of curses, much more colourful than mine.

"They want authentic trains," I grumble, "So they use hundred year old parts, that are never going to last."

I stand to my feet and give the broken bar to Pete and watch him storm off into the office to try and have one of the office girls hunt down a replacement which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist. I knock on the hunk of machinery we were trying to fix, staring at it in awe. Following the fads and trends of the well-offs the train network has, for whatever reason, become overly popular and everyone down in the yard is trying to get some more of the ever popular steam engines back on the track to deal with the increase in customers.

We have got some real beauties in at the moment and I'm on a dizzy high everyday, I get to study these magnificent beasts and try to get them working again. But it is not an easy job, even with the sophisticated technology we have in this age, the stupid well-offs think that the trains should be just as they were back then, bulky, bad for the earth, and after this many years- falling to pieces.

The bell ringing in the yard calls for a break and I run from the yard up to the Grand Station. Even from the workers entrance the building is glorious. Recently renovated, it's the new buzz of the city, and with worker and well-off trains being sent from the new station, you can also see both sides of the community in one place.

Even if it is segregated, I hope that it is one step closer to closing the divide.

I clamber up the ladder into the back entrance of the station and take good care to not be spotted by patrons as I dash to the stationmasters office. I dodge past the waving guards and scratch their dogs head as I go- I would have had a chat with them, but today there are more pressing matters.

I climb up more stairs in the station, up to the staff balcony and glance down to the well-offs hall below. There's a band 'busking' though no one will degrade themselves as much as to tip them, and I glance at a cafe with a handful of business men talking over coffee. A group of tourists stood staring at the glamorous clock centerpiece grab my attention, they seem to be from a more civilized part of the world judging by the grimace on their face.

They probably came to Ruttyard expecting the wonders of luxurious living and have seen how we try to hide the desperate poverty most of us live in, at the cost of the well-offs. At least they're only visiting. The rest of us can't simply escape.

I skid around the final corner of the corridor and bash clumsily into the stationmasters door.

"One minute!" Potter calls out, recognising who it was making that clumsy entrance. I hear him push his chair back and come to the door. As it swings open my eyes widen to take in the vision of todays technology- holographic screens feeding an incredible amount of information set all across the room, with a floating table in the centre, changing its shape to hide away the stationmasters work, as it can somehow tell he is leaving the room. The technology seems so alien to me, being another treat reserved for the well-offs.

"Leilah!" Potter smiles calling my name, and it is all genuine. I am a lucky girl to have been put under the care of such a gentle well-off, and he is the main reason why I have been able to work with the trains, normally deemed as a man-only job. But today I see a sadness in his eyes, and I know instantly it is bad news.

"Oh no..." I call out, and my shoulders slump. It's bad news for Kelseigh.

"I don't think much needs to be said," Potter says as he walks back towards the well-offs hall. Kelseigh, a sweet ticket girl, had made a grave mistake 9 months ago, with one of the well-offs working at the station. In Ruttyard, an unmarried mother is no longer considered a woman and we can only pray for her survival. "The baby is well and in care."

Nothing can be said for Kelseigh now. Worker women are forever serving the well-offs, with menial tasks and repetitive jobs. Kelseigh was beautiful, so was allowed to work at the ticket barriers, greeting the well-offs onto the train. All things considered, it was one of the best jobs around. The job she will have been assigned now will probably drain the life of her and kill her in a few years time- the well-offs are merciless to those deemed unacceptable.

"I know it isn't appropriate, and all are grieving, but I'm a girl short on the barriers for the next couple of shifts." I look upto Potter and accept the job. To be able to work on the trains, I need to pull my weight elsewhere, and I haven't the option to refuse. "And don't let me catch you in men's overalls again!"

He walks away off to do some other work, and I kick at the floor. I had several different outfits for the different roles I have in the station, but the women's yard clothes were so impractical, made for the well-offs eyes, and not for the job. I was constantly caught out wearing the men's clothes, but I ran the risk knowing it would get me into deep trouble one day, but also knowing I won't have to endure numerous scratches and burns.

I think about those ridiculous shorts and thin stockings they expect me to wear, that provide no protection. The silly waistcoat that makes it impossible to move comfortably to get around the engines. And worst of all, that overly small cap that does absolutely nothing, expect drive me up the wall crazy trying to get it to sit right. The only good thing about the outfit were the well fitted heat resistant gloves- the one item that proved to serve a purpose.

I sigh, bothered that I wasn't even able to say goodbye to Kelseigh, and knowing that I would need a good scrub to remove the soot on me before changing into the even more ridiculous barrier girl outfit. A swift glance to the clock in the well-offs hall sets me running to the bunks to get ready in time for next shift.