The long arm of

On the day: 
02/07/2012 


On the way: 
The little black and orange pod up at road level lurches from side to side. The rotating yellow safety light on the back of the pod, warning that heavy machinery is in operation, would appear surplus to requirement, as the giveaway is the huge, triple jointed orange arm with its massive claw, tearing giant fistfuls of earth out of the ground, jerking to its right and slamming its contents into a skip. And in charge of this constructive destruction a tiny figure is alert at the controls in his pod. 
Thirty feet below, the woman in the box crackles her familiar come-on and commuters shuffle towards the edge of platform 1. A white train with green trim slows into its approach. 
Then, as it reaches the platform, dips its head, and speeds  through the station, its tail whipping to its left at the last instant, a vicious swipe scything through the crowd. Bodies fly, bodies fall and the wyrm, its work down slithers on up the track. 
Survivors scatter and 30 feet above, a lone figure lolls forward in his booth, his head hitting the dashboard as the yellow light spins furiously. 
The orange arm flexes, extends, reaches down to the platform and greedily scoops up broken bodies, clearing away the living and the dead in one pass. It lifts them high into the air and with an insolent flick of its wrist empties them into its skip. And returns to its work as the day reverts to normal.
If there were witnesses (and there were) what would they say anyway? 


On the pod: 
Here Comes The Rain Again - Eurythmics 


On the front page: 
Barclays boss quits as scandal deepens


http://andhisthoughtsarefullofstrangers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/commuting-dead.html
http://andhisthoughtsarefullofstrangers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/on-day-12042012-on-way-small-thursday.html