Charles stared at Claire's berth, the porter by his side aghast at the sight. Seawater was running from the mattress onto the rolling floor of the compartment, while fist-sized chunks of ice continued to rain down from the ceiling -- then he looked up and saw the vortex. Shimmering blue, like a tornadic sphere embedded with the woodwork, it made not a sound yet more and more ice fell out of it, hitting Claire's hands as she tried to protect herself.
"What's goin' on in there?" the porter cried.
"Must be something wrong with the air conditioning," Charles said, reaching in and pulling Claire from the compartment.
"They ain't no air conditioning in this car, mister."
"Then where's this ice coming from?"
The old man stuck his head in the compartment and looked around. "I don't know...I just don't know."
"Is it snowing?" Charles said, pointing to the window.
"No, sir, it sure ain't. Why does...it smells like the ocean in there...what's goin' on?"
Charles bundled Claire in his robe and helped her to his compartment, and he grabbed a washcloth and tried to staunch the flow of blood coming from a shallow laceration on her scalp, and he heard the porter run to the end of the car, perhaps summoning the conductor.
And sure enough a gaggle of men appeared a few minutes later, inspecting the car generally then making a thorough inspection of Claire's compartment -- before coming by to check on her.
"We're sure sorry about this, Congressman. We can't find anything that might have caused this. Do you have any idea what might have happened?"
"No sir, I sure don't."
"We'll be coming to Salt Lake City soon enough, if we need to summon a doctor..."
"Thank you. I'll keep an eye on her and let you know."
"Yessir," the conductor said, then he shook his head and left, talking to his men as they walked to the vestibule.
"What happened, Claire?" he said when he was sure they were alone again.
Her breathing was strange now, deep ragged gulps followed by brief, shallow sighs. "I'm so cold," she cried.
"It's warm in here, Claire. What are you feeling now?"