Night of the Aurora (Salmon Run - Book 1)

Chapter 10

"Zach, are you okay?" His father shouted out from the train.

"I'm fine, Dad," he managed to shout back, unable to take his eyes off the spectacle.

Sasha plopped down next to him in the snow and cradled her head in her arms as she looked up. "Isn't it great? A rooftop of colors."

"You could have tourists here in the winter just for this," Zach said. He pointed at a thick ribbon. "It gets so dense you can barely see the stars behind it."

"There are tourists that come up for the aurora, but they usually go to Fairbanks. That's where they are really active all year round. The University of Alaska has a science program up there to study them. I've thought about attending when the time comes. I'm still thinking about it. How about you?"

"Me?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" She said teasingly.

"I haven't decided yet. Something in science."

"A programmer like your father?"

"Maybe on the side, but not in an office. I like doing my own work for myself. Not making someone else richer."

Sasha sat up and brushed the snow off the arms of her parka, "Now that sounds like an independent Alaskan. There is hope for you yet."

Hearing the sound of an engine, Zach pushed himself to his feet. The blinding white headlight of a snow machine swung over and past them as it crested a small incline up to the tracks.

It stopped next to the train. The driver shut down the engine and lifted up the visor of his helmet. A grinning face asked, "Have a problem here?"

"Gus!" McRoyal shouted. "Are you our taxi today?"

The man gestured to the snow machines coming up behind him, "The Salmon Run flotilla is here to serve."

Several people cheered. Sasha waved at the new arrivals. "Ever ridden a snow machine before?"

"No, but I've ridden a 4-wheeler."

"Good, that will help you in the summer. A snow machine is easier, but you have to watch out for different things." Sasha left him to run towards the approaching snow machines.

He didn't even try to follow, not wanting to embarrass himself with another fall into the snow.

His father carefully descended down out of the train to join him. "We can't say our arrival has been boring."

Zach gave a short laugh. "Nothing about Alaska has been boring."

One by one the snow machines came to a stop next to the train. With a bit of haggling and good-natured shouting the passengers of the trains paired up with the drivers. Several of the younger kids piled into a small sled on skis behind one of the machines. Dogs jostled for position in another sled.

Zach shifted from foot to foot, warm in the new clothes, but uncertain on what they should do. He looked in the distance but didn't see any lights to indicate where Salmon Run might be. How far away was the town?

"We'll have to split into three groups," Grandpa Neeley announced, pulling one of the kids off a snow machine. "The elderly first. Jacob, get off there. You will wait until I go."

Zach grinned as the passengers changed as people volunteered for the trips. A few went back into the train. 

Sasha ran back towards them. "This is so exciting. We'll be talking about this all winter."

"And this is your idea of excitement?" Zach said with a grin. 

His father looked at the train. "We should head back in. It looks like the snow machines are full."

"Mr. Callahan, you go with this group," Grandpa Neeley shouted.

"What about you," Zach asked Sasha.

She shrugged as she pulled them towards Grandpa Neeley, "I'll come with the rest of my family. No big deal. Won't be more than an hour or so for them to return."

"Doc, I'm giving one of our new arrivals to you," Grandpa Neeley said to a man on a large black and red machine.

"My pleasure," the man said. "Get on the back. I'll have you in town in no time."

Grandpa Neeley frowned at the machines that were left. "Wait, we need one more. Drat, why did Nicoli leave? We weren't organized yet."

Gus leaned out the door of the locomotive. "I'm staying the night with Avery. We'll bring the Solar Express home once the aurora dies down a bit. Sasha, you know my machine. You can take it into town. Have Buck bring it back in the next batch. He couldn't get his started earlier."

"I get to drive the Zombie!" Sasha whooped, jumping in the air. She vaulted onto a snow machine.

Grandpa Neeley took a long-suffering deep breath while Zach looked at the big snow machine in question. Sasha thought she could drive it? The size of it dwarfed her.

"Fine. Sasha, you can take Zach. And drive carefully with him. This is his first time." Grandpa Neeley said.

"Do we need to bring any of our things?" His father asked, standing uncertainly next to the smaller snow machine he would be riding.

"The train shouldn't be too much behind you. Big auroras usually don't last long," McRoyal said, clapping him on the back. "Look at it as a way to see the landscape."

"Come on, Zach. We don't want them to leave us behind." Sasha twisted a key and with a yank of a cord the big engine came to life.

Seeing his father get on the other snow machine, Zach took the helmet Sasha handed to him and worked to slip it on over his hat and hood.

"There is break water further down the stream. We're taking the longer route near the plateau," the driver of his father's snow machine shouted at Sasha.

"Got it!" Sasha shouted back.

"Is it safe to go off the regular paths?" Zach asked as he adjusted the helmet.

"Regular paths? Are you serious?" Sasha laughed. "Wide-open wilderness, the Little People are hibernating so they can't cause mischief, an aurora to light our way? Get on and enjoy the ride."

"Hold on tight, Zach," his father shouted over the sounds of the engines.

Zach waved at him as he climbed up behind Sasha. "What sort of things do you watch for while driving a snow machine?"

"Snow covered logs, breaks in a river, stream or lake, hidden drops." She gunned the engine, "And crazy drivers!"

Zach grabbed the handles at the back of the seat as the machine surged forward.