Sodor's Unusual Tales

Xander The Autistic Engine

Xander The Autistic Engine

My first Thomas & Friends story (which I made back on DeviantArt)

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One morning, Percy was on his way to Knapford Station. He was to pull a train school children who were on a field trip to the Skarloey Railway. By the time he arrived, he noticed an engine that he had never saw before, who was looking worried. He was the same model as Percy, but he was painted in bluish white, and the spot where the number usually is had an "X".

"Hello," Percy said kindly.

But the new engine didn't respond.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked.

Still, no response.

Percy became very concerned. So, he blew his whistle long and loud, but it only startled the new engine, who rushed out of the station.

"Oops," Percy said. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

That night, at Tidmouth Sheds, Percy was talking about the new engine to the others.

"I don't know why he wasn't responding to me," Percy said to the others.

"Maybe, he's just shy," said Henry.

"Reminds me of another engine," teased James. James still knows how shy Percy is.

"Hush it, James," snapped Thomas.

"If he keeps it up, Sir Topham Hatt might send him away," Percy said worryingly. "How are we going to talk to him if he keeps shying away?"

"We'll just have to keep trying, I guess," said Edward.

The next morning, the engines decided to try talking to the new engine, but he always shied away from them. So, they decided to talk to Sir Topham Hatt about it.

"A new engine, you say?" Sir Topham Hatt asked. "I've never met this new engine either."

Percy was surprised.

"But I thought you did," he said. "Considering how he's here right now."

"What should we do about him?" asked Thomas.

"I shall talk to him myself," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Maybe, we'll get some new information."

But for some reason, it became much harder to locate him. So, the engines searched all over Sodor for him.

By the end of the day, they found him, but he was unconscious and damaged in a shed near Arlesdale.

"He must've crashed through it at some point," Henry said, as he and Percy watched Judy and Jerome pulling him out of the wreckage.

"Did he do it on purpose?" Percy wondered to himself. "To get away from people?"

The next day, the new engine woke up to find himself at the Sodor Steamworks. The loud bustling noises bothered him all day. Then, Sir Topham Hatt arrived.

"Good morning," he said. "I'm Sir Topham Hatt, controller of the Sodor Railway. Mind if I ask who you are?"

The new engine didn't reply.

"Did you come from another railway?" Sir Topham Hatt asked again.

Still, no reply.

"Do you already have a name?" Sir Topham Hatt asked once more.

But instead of silence, the engine slowly started to respond.

"X...X...X...!"

"Yes?" said Sir Topham Hatt.