Jessica quickly browsed through the screen grabs that Andreae text-messaged. The North-South and East-West lines, the two major arteries of the train system, had both broken down an hour ago. Channel NewsAsia estimated that 750,000 commuters were affected. The back-up fleet of buses activated to ferry stranded commuters was unable to handle the volume, and angry commuters were flooding social media with their frustrations. The situation did not look like it would improve anytime soon.

Jessica packed her bag and let herself out of the storeroom. She counted her blessings that the lighting system was in order; she did not fancy having to make her way through a darkened and abandoned tunnel alone. It also struck her that had she not been engrossed watching Game of Thrones, she would have noticed the anomaly earlier. The dead silence in the tunnel in the absence of rumbling trains was deafening.

Rounding a bend, Jessica saw that a six-carriage train had been stranded less than 200 metres from the platform. Strangely, the passengers had not yet been evacuated. She could see movement inside the carriages from afar. As she closed the gap, she could also hear angry shouting from within one of the carriages. Someone was pounding on the door panel and hurling scurrilities at a lone figure standing outside the carriage. Although she was staring into the bright lights from the platform, Jessica could tell that the silhouette planted on the train tracks was none other than Adhha.

Jessica raced forward and asked Adhha what was happening. He explained, in a mix of hand signals and slurred muttering, that the electrical circuit had tripped and the train doors remained stubbornly shut. Several of his colleagues were working on the problem in the switchboard room but there was an enraged commuter who simply would not stop abusing him.

The man pounding on the door panel was a Caucasian with a thunderous voice; Jessica could hear his tirade clearly through the glass pane. She could also tell that the air-conditioning in the carriage must have shut down, for most of the commuters were perspiring profusely. The entire lot looked utterly miserable.

“We are doing our best to fix the problem,” Adhha tried again to placate the Caucasian. His slurred enunciation was almost indecipherable, even to Jessica, who was standing next to him.

“Speak up, you moron! I can’t understand a word you’re saying!”

“He said, there is a team of technicians working on the problem. Just be patient!” Jessica shouted to make herself heard. Then she added, “This man is hearing impaired.”

“You think I haven’t figured that out? After an hour of hearing this insufferable fool spout nonsense that none of us can understand?” the Caucasian retorted. “And how stupid can you be to send an idiot who can’t hear nor speak to manage a crisis situation while the rest of the team has run for cover?”