The engine's newest supervisors took them back to the groundbridge, but this time, rather than stepping out on Sodor, they stepped out into another building, with ceilings high enough that Cranky could easily jump and not hit his head. 

Unlike the bunker where they'd been, this building didn't have the smell of old construction and home, but rather it smelled and felt rather empty and lifeless. Walls of metal and floors of concrete, it definitely felt brand new, but the lack of it being lived-in left it hollow, their steps seeming to echo in the quiet.

"So yeah, it's still got a lot of stuff missing." Blurr admitted, "We only just got all of the external stuff finished up. Walls, floors, lighting, all that. The personal touches are not there yet."

"What is it going to be for?" Edward asked.

"Well, for now, it's acting as Blurr and I's place of residence." Salvage informed, "As well as a possible safe place for Boulder and his team should there be any danger to them back on Griffin Rock. But the plan is for it to eventually be a trainin' center for other young bots to come learn how to be rescue bots like we are."

"Kinda hard to teach with no students," Blurr mumbled, "But hey, you guys are learning stuff here by helping us build it! So congratulations on being the first!"

"Alright, so Boulder tells me you all are engines and a crane," Salvage gestured for them to follow him further into the building. "So I'd guess you're all familiar with hauling and loading stuff?"

"Correct."

"Brilliant, because our storeroom is a mess! We're gonna start with something simple-"
Salvage led the group down a hall and then part of the wall rolled back as a door to reveal a massive room filled high with boxes and crates. "-We're gonna work on organizing everything here into coordinated stacks."

"That's a lot of boxes...!" Thomas whispered.

"I know it looks like a lot of work, and it is, but between all eleven of us, I'm sure we'll be done in no time! So here's the plan." Salvage walked over to one of the crates and opened the top, "Just look in the crate, figure out what all is in it, and then put it in a designated corner of the room. This one here for example," He tilted the box to let the smaller mosaics peer in, "This one has tools in it, so it'll go over in the corner to the right of the door, as will any other tools you find."

"Sounds simple enough." Edward announced, the others all nodding.

"Great! And if you don't know what something is or where it goes, just ask. Blurr and I are here to help."

Gordon grumbled a bit, "Doesn't seem very dignified..."

"Not all jobs are meant to get you a medal of recognition, Gordon." Salvage beamed, "But they are all important in the long run... Alright, let's get started! Feel free to work together if a crate is too heavy for you, no sense in hurting yourself-"

Once Salvage had determined what all should be in the boxes and where it would go, the engines got started. Open the box, figure out the contents, move it to its respective corner.

As the smallest, Thomas and Percy were often pairing up to haul boxes, using their whistles to alert the bigger engines when they were passing by behind them so as not to trip them, especially Cranky. The last thing they needed was for their tallest member to come crashing down.

Whistles tweeting, occasional questions asked, boxes being lifted and moved from place to place, things were moving quite well.

Salvage grinned, "I think it's great you guys kept your whistles."

"You do?" Henry asked.

"Yeah! It's a reminder of where you came from, a part of your engine selves that you'll always have with you."

"Do you think when we get back to our time period, we'll go back to being engines?" Emily asked.

Blurr shrugged, "Dunno. Never met mosaics from nineteen-twenty-five before."

James frowned a bit, "If we do go back to being engines, then what? Do we just pretend none of this ever happened?"

"And if we don't go back to being engines, what do we tell Sir Topham Hatt?" Percy worried.

"Hold up. You guys work for a guy named Sir Topham Hatt?" Blurr interrupted.

"Yes... Why?"

Blurr stared for a second, and then went back to his work. "N-No reason."

Conversation stalled for a moment or two before it was started up again by Edward, "So, what kind of mosaics are you two?"

"Hmm? Oh, Salvage and I aren't mosaics."

"But you look like us and Boulder. So how then-"

"Mosaics are kinda different." Salvage set down the box he was lifting, and they all looked to him as he spoke. "So Blurr and I are Cybertronians, which means we come from another planet, called Cybertron."

"Another planet?" Diesel crossed his arms, "Okay... How far away is it?"

"Very. Humans haven't found the galaxy it's in yet. Anyway, Boulder is also cybertronian, but he's also got the same elemental powers that you all do, which makes him a cybertronian mosaic. Blurr and I don't have those elemental powers, so we're not mosaics."

"So if the only difference is Boulder's abilities, why did we change when we came here?" Emily asked.

Salvage shrugged, "I don't know, but we'll figure it out. How you got here and how to get you back, we're working on it."

The engines nodded, and then everyone went back to work. Conversation was quiet again, the only words being that of asking where stuff went and what it was... and then Diesel piped up again.

"Another planet."
It seemed the diesel engine was still stuck on that little detail. "Aliens."

"Yes, Diesel. Aliens. Good ones, though. We don't mean any threat to people." Salvage remarked.

"Unlike those Velgrox." Blurr shuddered, "Good thing Seventeen came back when they did. I hate those little web-noses...!"

"Agreed."

Diesel shook his head, "Aliens...!" He mumbled again, "So what, you came here in some sort of flying machine?"

"Yeah! Maybe Salvage and I can show our ship to you guys later! Boulder and the rest of Sigma Seventeen's ship isn't here because of... well, stuff, but ours is still sealed up in a glacier."

"You crashed into a glacier?"

"Well, no. We crashed and then the glacier formed over it. Humans were a lot more hairy back then-"

"How long ago was that?"

"Erm..." Blurr paused to think, "...I don't actually know. Salvage? How long were we asleep in stasis?"

"Based on human records? Let's see... The humans have ten-thousand BC as the latest for cavemen, so... some time before that?"

Diesel put his box down, "You two are over twelve-thousand years old!?"

"Well yeah!" Blurr shrugged, "We cybertronians can live for millions of years if we take care of ourselves."

Diesel put his hands to his head, "Millions... I'm only twelve...!" He looked to Edward, "Edward, you're the oldest one of us here, what does that make you?"

Edward shook his head, "Still quite young by their standards. Which..." He smirked, "...That might actually explain why I don't feel as old and worn as I usually do."

"And the little engines-" Gordon pointed to Thomas and Percy, "-They're like babies riding around in prams!"

"Hey!" Thomas and Percy both complained.

"We're as useful as you guys!" Thomas added.

"Okay okay okay."
Salvage stepped between everyone else, "Let's try to pull back in. I guess I should have known that sharing that would startle you, but it's okay. You all are as useful and helpful as you should be... But yes. Blurr and I came here in a ship, but it got damaged in a meteor shower, so we had to land here, but then we were stuck in the glacial ice for a long time until Boulder and his brothers woke us up."

"How long have they been here?"

"Not as long as us, but they certainly know more about humans and how they work by living with the Burns Family. Especially Co..."
Blurr's voice faded out, and they looked to see him staring at the floor, hands clenched into fists. "...Cody." He finished.

Salvage put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "I know, Blurr... You did you best."

"I...I should've been faster! Been there!"

"You know what happened wasn't your fault... We'll find them."

"Yeah... I know..."

The engines looked to one another, and gave nods. Something had definitely happened, but what exactly, they didn't know. And it wasn't their place to know... perhaps not yet, at least.

The silence remained for a moment, and then Blurr recollected himself and his smile reappeared. "Say, why don't we head outside for some fresh air? I think it's time to get some locomotive training in- If you'll pardon the expression..."