>>> [BBS THREAD: The Ice Road: who's still out there?]
[THREAD STARTED BY: /Abuela_Diesel] 2075-01-17

/Abuela_Diesel

Not gossip. Two friends at the drone yard on 26th lost gear.

Since the first week of January the shelf ice has been solid enough from Calumet up past Rainbow Beach that some genius worked out a sled train could slide north with no harbor stop. No inspectors, no manifest, no "handling fee" to somebody's cousin on the dock. Worked for about ten days. Then, sometime Tuesday night, the shelf let go off 79th.

My friend says four sleds and one rig went in. Another says eleven. Whoever it was, the lake has them now.

I'm not asking for names. I'm asking who's fool enough to keep going.

/Ledger

Corrections, since nobody else will.

The freeze started the 2nd, not "the first week." The break happened after midnight, so it's technically Wednesday. I have three counts: four, seven, and eleven. The sources disagree because they were paid to.

/RubyRose

ELEVEN?? THAT'S AMATEUR HOUR. you don't send eleven sleds over ice you can hear breathing. i ran the Wabash crossing in a blizzard with a hangover and a crate of live eels and i'd do it again

/Ledger

There is no ice on the Wabash. There is no "Wabash crossing."

/RubyRose

IT WAS A METAPHOR, LEDGER

/Ledger

It was a lie with a hangover.

/Cubicle_9

Just asking questions, but is the ice supposed to do that? Also, is this legal? Asking for a friend in logistics.

/Abuela_Diesel

Sweetheart, nothing on this board is legal.

/RubyRose

CUBICLE. GO BACK TO YOUR CUBICLE.

/Cubicle_9

I'm at 9. Nine is a cubicle. I'm in it.

/Small_Talk

Cold water. Finally, something in this town that doesn't take a cut up front.

/Ghost_Lake

@Cubicle_9 Shelf ice doesn't fail in straight lines. Look up the pressure ridges if you want, it cracks like a dropped plate, ugly and random. Survivors are saying this one went in a clean edge, like somebody cut a stencil. Either something warm went under it or something big turned over.

I'm not saying spirit. I'm saying I'd check the water temperature outside the harbor before buying a sled.

Also: the lead sled stopped about forty meters short of where it went. Ask yourselves who told her to stop.

/Ledger

Nine words too many for a guess. Source?

/Ghost_Lake

Don't have one. That's what bothers me.

/Abuela_Diesel

Update. Three separate channels are already advertising "recovery divers" with drysuits and a hopeful smile. Vultures. Meanwhile somebody's mother is asking around Bridgeport about a son who signed on as "sled hand" and hasn't called. If you know anything, just say it to her. She's not a cop and she's not hiring. Someone needs to give her closure.