Chapter One
Arrival in Baggle
Anpor was a beacon of hope for people
around the world, and lately, this was especially true for the
residents of Carn Isla. They were coming over by the boatload to
Baggle, the biggest city, in Anpor where they would be second-class
citizens, toiling away at the most menial of jobs.
But that there were jobs at all made it
leaps and bounds better than staying and starving on the ancestral
island. Certainly you'd scrimp and save in Anpor, but you had no real
chance back home. There was plentiful food in Anpor, expensive, but
there was often nothing to buy back in Carn Isla.
Katerin Smalley wrote back to her kin
that Anpor was the greatest nation on Earth, even while living in the
tenement slums of the poorest district of Baggle. Most others who had
come to Anpor before the Carn Islans looked down on them, mistreated
them and were continually surprised by how patriotic these newcomers
were.
Two weeks in the bowels of the steadily
rocking ship, Yeoman, had left Yalan sick to his stomach. He would be
vomiting a lot if he had eaten enough to purge. All he had was a
ratty old mattress in the crowded storeroom with more stains than he
cared to count, interestingly of many different colors.
The sound of the bells from above got
everyones attention. The furry wolfish female in the cot next to his
growled and snapped at him when he perked up. This Perkin was
ancient, she should know by now that Carn Islaners had no interest in
her species. They were completely incompatible.
Yalan might be small enough to make a
good thief, when healthy, but those crowded into the hold with him
were as poor as he was. He had a hidden pocket in his trousers where
he had a small, shiny coin of melulin. It would be enough to keep the
immigration inspectors from declaring him a vagrant and sending him
back across that heaving and hateful ocean.
Baggle was home to many species, they
mixed but they never matched. They all lived in the same crowded city
and got along, more or less, by ignoring everyone else. The politics
of Baggle was controlled by bosses, most of them were of the Prosters
or Poshists persuasion. Elections there were often fought with fists
and sticks or bricks.
It didn't matter. It was still better
than starving to death in Carn Isla. At least in a city like Baggle
one had the chance to work and survive. When he was invited by his
cousin Dandru Lin, he accepted without having to think about it. He
had thought about crossing for years before the invitation and Yalan
was as ready as ever.
It tooks months of begging all of his
kin and backbreaking work to scrounge up the resources to get a
passage scrip on a ship and the coin. He hadn't eaten much on the
voyage, finding the tossing and rocking of the vessel made him ill.
He drank water and ate enough gruel, in his estimation, to not die.
The bells. The dark hold was lit up as
someone opened a hatch, Yalan joined everyone else in getting up and
moving toward the exits. A shout went up. The spires and towers of
Baggle were seen in the distance, after weeks of merely existing,
excitement was bubbling forth. The land of opportunity was within a
days reach, and Yalan found himself being shoved aside by all of the
larger species crushing to get a glimpse.
Through the hatch and up the
stairwells, Yalan found a railing to stand on, keeping stable by
wrapping his toes around it. In the distance, just a shadow loomed
through some fog. Towers and spires could be made out, larger than
any constructed back in his home nation. Yalans' mind hardly
conceived how such a thing were possible, such wealth.
They say Baggle never stands still.
Commerce moves at a rapid pace and this is where the opportunity was
created. For while the currency of Carn Isla was usually hoarded
jealously, here it was spent or invested in new things. There was no
opportunity for the truly poor back home, some escaped through the
work houses, hiring out to serve the wealthy or doing things not
talked about in polite company.
Here, though... Yalan grinned at the
thought, “here”, he was definitely here. Here the poor had a
chance in a bustling crowded city where commerce was king. A poor
girl might sell hot corn in the Autumn and sweep the street in winter
to make enough coin to live another day, poor boys could sell news
sheets and do manual labor.
Dandru Lin had written about her
experiences, good and bad. How she finally rented a tenement in the
Middle Points District, took in sewing, did laundry, sold corn and
many other things. Somehow she had survived and met a fellow Carn
Islan emigre named Isra, whom she bonded.
Just before the star dipped below the
horizon Yalan was able to see the city of Baggle close up, it was a
marvel. It seemed to be larger than all of Carn Isla, and as tall as
the clouds. There were many other ships coming and going, churning
steam while some used windsails. The city might not physically move
but the commerce never stopped, he could feel the vibrancy of the
place just from the shipping alone. No sleepy burg was this.
The ship was ported the next morning as
soon as the star gave its light. Gangplanks were erected and the
passengers were quick to walk down and touch the land of Anpor. They
were divided between species and then by male and female to different
points of the immigration process. It seemed that Carn Islans made up
almost half of this batch.
Yalan found himself lined up with other
Carn Islans waiting in a long snaking line into a large, wide brick
building. Soon they were prodded and poked through a healths screen.
The medic attendant declared him healthy “besides seasickness”
and he was graduated to the next table.
The little furry official with round
bifocals looked at Yalan and asked, “Have you any family in Anpor?
Who is your contact? Guarantor?”
“My cousin, Dandru Lin... “ He
answered while digging through his small bag for the official
invitation document, “Here it is.”
The official looked closely at the
piece of paper and then stamped it. Then he looked at Yalan again,
“Are you going to be a burden on society? How will you support
yourself?”
“I have worked cutting wood, as a
cobbler, I have worked on farms too. I have a strong work ethic and I
would..” Yalan paused, maybe he misunderstood, “Are you asking if
I'm broke?”
“Yes, sorry about that,” the
creature answered with a grin.
Yalan reached into his trousers, which
caused some alarm, but he pulled out the coin.
After examining the coin and weighing
it to make sure it was real melulin, which weighed more than almost
anything else of the same size, he was satisfied.
“That's worth about 12 pops at the
present M price, so you aren't indigent according to the law. Fill
out this information card and then wait over there until you get your
official paper. After that, welcome to Anpor, you are a free
citizen.”
“That's it?” Yalan asked.
“The free immigration period ends in
a few years, maybe it won't be renewed next time. For now, though,
yes that is all.” The official waved him through.
As he waited for his official document
he watched the street outside. It was busy, so many people and so
many species walking one way or the other, wagons, handcarts and
trolleys in the street moving as if they had to get somewhere
important.
You could get an idea of the social
ladder by seeing how they were dressed. A young Carn Islan boy in
rags was selling newsheets and a passing Poshist purchased one. The
Poshist was wearing a fine, clean gray suit and read the headlines
for a moment before another poor Carn Isla boy offered to black his
boots for him. This made Yalan a bit shamed of the patched rags he
wore.
His cousin had described all of this to
him in her letters, Yalan marveled at her accuracy.
Yalan was free. With his official
papers and ID card, he was walking. The sidewalks were wide, the
buildings were tall and there were so many storefronts. A hulkish
Walan hawking tomatoes from a pushcart said “Good day, sir” as he
passed.
Yalan never expected to see so many of
different species getting along. The walking and the freedom made him
feel better, no more seasickness. Instead his stomach was rumbling
and demanding food while his brain was trying to figure out the way
to find his cousins home.
Yalan didn't want to spend the coin but
after eating so little on the voyage, the hunger was real and
insistent. He found a Carn Isla woman selling bread loaves on the
street.
“Two pence!” She stated the price.
“I only have this coin, I don't
suppose you could...”
She looked disappointed, “Do you
really think a poor woman like me is going to be able to change that,
sir?”
“I'm sorry. Are you from Shiredun?”
He asked.
“Yes, I guess I still have my accent.
I'm Arvi-aya from the Aya clan, kind sir.” She informed him.
“Good fortune to find someone who was
a neighbor back home in the old country! I am Yalan, of the Iva
clan.” Yalan exclaimed, “Miss Arvi, could you tell me where I can
make change for this coin? Therefor allowing me to purchase bread
loaves from you?”
After being told that a bank was
nearby, Yalan returned with a pocket full of smaller denomination
coins to purchase bread.
“Do you happen to know the best way
to reach the Middle Points neighborhood? I am due at the home of my
cousin in the Fourteen Dorchester building,” Yalan said, finishing
off the first bread loaf.
The woman shook her head, “You really
are fresh off the boat, ain't ya? I live right by there, I know it
well.”
Yalan followed her instructions, but
wondered if it was correct as the buildings got smaller, more squat
and everything became dirtier and more squalid. Then he found a
street sign, Dorchester and followed it to building number 14.
It was a four-story building and looked
to have several tiny apartments on each floor. Once inside he climbed
the steps to the third floor, loosening his collar as the air was
warm and unfresh. Finally he found the right door, with the broken 32
and knocked.