,.~††&¤¤¤¤ ¤¤¤¤&††~.,
,.~††&&&¤# #¤&&&††~.,
,,.~†††††¤ ¤†††††~.,,
,.~††&&&&¤ ¤&&&&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# ORANGE-CLAD TRAIN-CLIMBER CREW, MOVING #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# ALONG THE RUSTY CARGO CARS LIKE SOME #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@@ SPECIES OF FERROPHAGE INSECT. UP AND @@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# DOWN THE TRAIN, CHECKING BOLTS, OILING #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# JOINTS, DRINKING COFFEE, SMOKING #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&&&&# CIGARETTES. #&&&&††~.,
,.~††&¤@## ##@¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# ############################## #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# WE WERE GOING SOUTH THROUGH FINLAND AT #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# THE TIME, SLEEPING CLOSE TO THE #@#¤&††~.,
,,,,.~†††¤ FURNACE, WATCHING THE AURORA BOREALIS. ¤†††~.,,,,
,.~††&¤#@# TWENTY-SOMETHING MEMBERS OF THE CREW, #@#¤&††~.,
,.~†&¤#@## MOST OF WHICH WERE MECHANICS, OR ##@#¤&†~.,
,.~††&¤#@# LOADERS, WITH LARGE AND HAIRY HANDS #@#¤&††~.,
,,,,,.~††¤ THAT COULD SWALLOW MY ENTIRE BODY. AND ¤††~.,,,,,
,,,~~††&¤# ME FEATURING AS THE CUTE AND ASOCIAL #¤&††~~,,,
,.~††&¤#@# RADIO OPERATOR, STATIONED IN THE BACK #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# OF THE KILOMETER-LONG TRAIN, WHICH #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††††&#@ SERVED ME GOOD AND WELL. @#&††††~.,
,,,,.~†&&# #&&†~.,,,,
,,,,,.~†¤¤ AND THEN ONE NIGHT, THERE'S A MISSILE. ¤¤†~.,,,,,
,.~††&¤#@# WE WOULD ROUTINELY PICK UP NEW CARS AT #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤### THE TAIL, AND DROP SOME OFF, AS A WAY ###¤&††~.,
,,,,.~~†¤@ OF EARNING SOME EXTRA MONEY. BUT A @¤†~~.,,,,
,.~††&¤#@# MISSILE, AND APPEARING SILENTLY IN THE #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AT THAT? NOT #@#¤&††~.,
,,,,.†&&&¤ ENTIRELY... COMFORTABLE. ¤&&&†.,,,,
,.~††&¤¤¤# #¤¤¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# I CALL IT IN ON THE WALKIE-TALKIE. NOT #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††††&¤@ MANY OTHERS AWAKE, THEY KNOW NOTHING @¤&††††~.,
,.~††¤#@## ABOUT IT, AND APPEAR CONCERNED AS WELL. ##@#¤††~.,
,,,,~~~†¤¤ ¤¤†~~~,,,,
,.~††&&¤¤@ ############################## @¤¤&&††~.,
,,,,,,~†&¤ ¤&†~,,,,,,
,.~††††¤¤@ WHEN I FALL AWAKE IN THE AFTERNOON, @¤¤††††~.,
,,,,~†&&¤@ KARL IS THERE, SMILING AT ME. "HEY @¤&&†~,,,,
,.~††&¤#@@ BOY," HE SAYS, "WANNA HELP ME MAKE A @@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# CALL?" #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# #@#¤&††~.,
,,,,..††¤# AFTER HE'S BROUGHT ME COFFEE, I DIAL #¤††..,,,,
,,,,.†&&## THE FREQUENCY FROM HIS NOTEBOOK, AND ##&&†.,,,,
,,,,,,,~†¤ AFTER A WHILE THERE'S A REPLY IN ¤†~,,,,,,,
,.~~~†††¤# PAN-SLAVIC. KARL LAUGHS AND MAKES A #¤†††~~~.,
,,,,~~†&¤¤ REPLY IN THE SAME LANGUAGE. EVEN THOUGH ¤¤&†~~,,,,
,.~†&¤#@## WE BOTH HAVE HEADPHONES I CAN'T FOLLOW ##@#¤&†~.,
,.~††&¤#@# AT ALL, BUT I HEAR THE WORD "MISSILE" A #@#¤&††~.,
,,,..~†&&¤ FEW TIMES. ¤&&†~..,,,
,,,.††††¤¤ ¤¤††††.,,,
,.~††¤#@## I'M ALMOST SNOOZING AGAIN AT THE TIME ##@#¤††~.,
,,,,,,.†&¤ KARL PUTS DOWN THE HEADPHONES AND SLAPS ¤&†.,,,,,,
,,,,,~††¤¤ ME ON MY BACK. "ALLRIGHT BOY. I JUST ¤¤††~,,,,,
,,,,,,~†&# SOLD A MISSILE." HE PRACTICALLY BEAMS #&†~,,,,,,
,,,,,~†&¤@ AT ME, TEETH FILED SHARP. "WANNA MAKE A @¤&†~,,,,,
,,,,~†&¤## DETOUR?" ##¤&†~,,,,
,,,,..~†&# #&†~..,,,,
,.~††&¤#@# #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# #@#¤&††~.,
,.~††&¤#@# #@#¤&††~.,
,,,,,~†&## ##&†~,,,,,