The red warning light had come on! It had never come on before, but tonight, of all nights, the b****y thing had come on with a vengeance, and by the look of it, it was staying on for ever. The light was also accompanied by an annoying alarm. The pitch of the alarm was grating on the driver’s ear. It was just above quite irritating, but not far from, everybody into the lifeboats! The sudden jolt from the slow and steady routine to DEFCON 4 had made the driver’s heart skip three beats, and he was instantly wide-awake. He had the phone receiver off its cradle and on his ear straight away to report that his train had faulted and that he was in the middle of an unscheduled track change. He spoke rapidly and concisely, as he had been instructed, and it was only after he had repeated his positio
