[ifspuds]

Thanks, Yoda... nice to have someone chiming in. Here's a non-baseball interlude to ponder on...

Train Line Failure Linked to Sabotage
Outpost News Service

A recent discovery of extensive damage along the maglev train line between the Outpost cities of Tifton and Deepvale is now being called sabotage. Routine maintenance checks along one of the most highly-traveled routes in the Outposts came across significant damage to both the tracks and the power generation systems along several miles of track. Maintenance crews worked quickly to repair as much as possible, but with finished materials short due to a manufacturing strike in Allison, the scheduled trains were delayed until yesterday afternoon. A spokesman for the maglev cooperative venture based in Tifton stated today that investigators have concluded that the damage was deliberately caused by unknown persons. "The perpetrators clearly knew exactly where to strike in order to cause the most damage in the shortest amount of time," said Peter Maltby in a video press conference held late yesterday. "We are working to determine how to prevent such incidents in the future and are looking into the incident further."

Had maintenance crews not been scheduled for that stretch of the Outposts' most reliable method of transportation, Maltby added, "there would most certainly have been a tragic result." Some have renewed calls for an Outpost-wide law enforcement organization in order to handle such issues as the growing population of the Outposts expands away from the still relatively isolated cities, but opposition remains vocal to such a plan as contrary to the spirit of the Outposts. The maglev cooperative has not come down on one side or the other of the issue, but with this latest setback, the fourth in as many months, it is likely that the safety and security of the transportation system will not be handled solely internally much longer.