It’s not a lighthearted decision to change your language, your country, your citizenship, and come to a world where you don’t know anybody.

Pre-fall Quote

Widow Elise – whose last name was never used, apparently – was clearly not expecting them, at least on a Sunday. She looked at Johanna with a surprised look, before inviting them into her home.

“What brings you here today?”

“We’re checking for the house. It’s still available?”

“Well, I said you had three years. I can always use the money, but I’m not hard-pressed for it. Why, do you already have all?”

“No. But my father… my father decided to put his work as collateral.”

“Ah yes. The Bank wouldn’t lend to someone with as irregular a trade as yours. But a farmer vouching for you is a different proposition.”

She pulled out her father’s note, passing it to the woman. She pushed it back without reading.

“Keep that for the Bank. Not me.”

“Okay. It’s not that I don’t trust that Bank thing, but…”

“I know, it’s different in the farm villages. Here, it’s very useful for trades. Stores and businesses use it all the time… and sometimes for people who want to buy their home rather than rent.”

Johanna smiled thinly.

“That’s us. So, how do we do it?”

“Well, if you need the Bank, it’s not going to happen today. It’s closed, of course. And you need more than that. Notary for the house, registration for the residence, and all the niceties of modern life.”

Johanna felt a slight disappointment. But Sundays were Sundays, after all. You might skip Sunday because of farmwork that couldn’t be delayed further, but that wasn’t going to be the case in the city.

“Ah. Tomorrow then.”

“That’s sure. But, well… if you’re finally getting with the money, you don’t have to stay at the inn all the time.”

“Oh?”

“I can trust you one day in advance.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much!”

The alley was of course familiar. Not wide enough for a full carriage, but still large enough for a small group, with a series of two-story houses that had been built recently, all gaily decorated with colored shutters of all kinds – light greens, blues, many red shades, even a night-black one – making it good-looking. That was what had attracted Johanna and her friend’s attention last year when they had started to come to Valetta regularly. Almost all of the houses were occupied by now, save the one with the deep purple colors.

Elise’s clan had been involved in the building of the new section of Valetta, adding a house for a branch of her family, intended for a younger nephew of hers. But some catastrophe – Johanna knew not what had happened – left her family decimated, herself alone, and the brand-new home completed with no one to move in it.

They stopped in front of the house, and Elise pulled out a large key and unlocked the door, coming inside. As Johanna stepped in, the widow turned and held the key.

“It’s yours now. Well, almost.”

“Thank you again.”

“Don’t. My parents came from Longlake before I was even born, and I think my brother would have liked the idea of more people coming here.”

“I…”

“See you tomorrow, for the forms. Now… welcome to Valetta.”

The woman turned abruptly, left, and moved back toward the direction of her own home. The four looked at each other and finally, smiles came back.

One step at a time.

Of course, the drawback of moving abruptly into their new home, on a Sunday, meant that the house was completely empty of anything. It had been left unoccupied for over two years before they spotted it, and never lived in before, so it was a curious experience. They knew the house somewhat, having visited it last year.

Revising it, notably as almost-owners, was different. Everything was dusty, though, and they started by opening wide the windows and shutters. Johanna looked across the ground floor kitchen room, empty, without even shelves or anything.

“Going to need a lot,” Tom said from behind.

“That’s for sure.”

The upper floor was as empty as the ground floor. The two main bedrooms bare, not even a cupboard door. The one good thing was the cistern just above, full. A modern one, with charcoal filters to make sure the collected water was clean, and easy access to fill with buckets in case of a dry spell.

They made their way back to the ground floor where Laura was still trying to get a better sense. Peter was nowhere visible, and Johanna thought for a second that he was using his abilities.

“Downstairs, checking the basement,” Laura told them.

“Got a bit more dirt than I expected after last year,” his voice came from behind.

“No last-minute surprises,” Tom concluded.

“It looks that way. We should probably grab our stuff from the Eastwest inn before they charge us a second night,” Johanna said.

Before they could turn, she heard a resounding knock at the door. They all exchanged surprised glances, and Johanna moved to the entrance, where she found a young man.

“Ya, noticed that all of the shutters were opened.”

“Yes. You’re?”

“Ah. Franz Nader. I live next door, in shamrock.”

“Shamrock?” Johanna asked.

“True. Most people call their home by color.”

He pointed at a tiny bronze plate inset into the side.

“Number there. That’s only for census or similar things. Even mailman knows the color.”

“And what’s ours?” Laura asked.

“Don’t know. You tell me?”

“Well, imperial, of course,” Peter said.

The rest of the team turned to him.

“What? Mistress Vanu told me that was used for Ancient emperors and kings.”

Johanna had to laugh.

“Well, we sure don’t live like one. The house is empty so far.”

Franz’s bushy eyebrows shot up.

“Oh. Not even food? You should come. It’s biscuit time!”

Franz’s wife had made a large plate of biscuit, enough that the four could take one. They were enough chairs for everyone, and they sat as Sarah – Franz’s wife – chased a hyperactive two-year-old toddler to put him back on a chair.

“Yea. Most of the alley is young ones. We all moved in when it was built. The only one that was still empty is purple.”

“Imperial.”

Laura’s eyes were rolling in her head. And Johanna had problems restraining her smile. Sarah shot a look at her husband, who didn’t explain.

“Bad stuff that,” she said finally. “Don’t know much, but her two brothers vanished one day. No one knows why. Then one of the winter flu seasons was particularly harsh, and she found herself widowed, and her nephew dead. With most of her family disappeared… there was little need for the new house they’d paid.”

Johanna grimaced. She knew a bit, the things Elise had offered, but not much. That tale was terribly sad.

“And now. She finally sold. Much better for her. And the alley will look better now that the house is occupied.”

“Well, we may not be there that often. At least until winter,” Johanna warned.

“Oh? Why is that.”

She launched into an explanation of their business, how they’d traveled to the western ruins, grabbing stuff to sell back in Valetta.

“Gosh. I wish I’d get two thousand every three weeks.”

“That’s for four of them,” his wife said.

“Still. That’s a good chunk. I get maybe a thousand for us two every three months.”

“And dangerous,” Sarah said.

“Not that dangerous,” Laura offered.

“Wild beasts. And the danger of the ruins. You’re courageous to risk it,” Franz Nader said.

“It’s a living,” Peter said, shrugging.

“So, you’ll be away.”

“For most of the summer, and as long as fall permits, yes,” Johanna confirmed.

“What happens if… you know…” Sarah asked, patting her belly, which was starting to show.

“We’ll find out. Normally, we’d put the kids with our parents, but…”

“That’s far away.”

Johanna was about to say it was going to be very hard instead, but she realized it might not be very wise to have to explain why. She did not relish to explain to her new neighbors that they might have been driven out because people feared she might bring Change upon them somehow.

She just hoped the city would be less fearful. So, she put back a smile and went on.

“And probably unpractical, but we’ll see when it comes. Right now, we don’t even have anything to sleep on.”

“What?” both Nader exclaimed at the same time.

“House’s empty,” Tom said.

“We’re used to sleeping on hard,” Peter added.

“Don’t we still have the old mattress?”

Sarah turned to her husband.

“Probably. We upgraded when little Willi here was born. Old must be upstairs.”

“Well…”

“Don’t mention it. New neighbors and all,” Sarah interrupted.

“Carmine may have one too, I think,” Franz Nader added.

The four met Elise at the city hall, where about all of the city services were concentrated, including the Bank. The old, pre-Fall building had been expanded with a modern second floor, and that’s where they headed first.

The bank was managed by a serious-looking woman, who wasted very little time. She checked carefully the statement from Johanna’s father and then started counting the money that she’d brought. As suggested by both her father and Elise, she’d kept aside three thousand dollars, to cover their expenses for the next few months and possibly into winter, and she settled on a twenty-thousand-dollars loan, half of what her father’s maximum, and representing almost one-third of the price of the home.

Johanna thought it would take at least twelve salvage trips to reimburse, bringing them to mid-spring next year. And of course, they’d need to keep some of that money for the winter, when they’d remain holed in the city, salvage expeditions too onerous and dangerous to undertake.

“All the conditions are there. Please read carefully, then sign both copies. This will engage Mr. Bram Milton, remember,” the banker woman said.

Johanna did so. Since it was her father who did the collateral, the banker had said she was going to be the person who took the loan, not all four. She’d carefully explained that loans with too many people involved were cumbersome, and carried a premium. That put all the responsibility on her shoulders.

Then, they moved to a different office where an older man took the draft written by the bank, checked everything with Elise, and took a large ledger, writing on it. This time, all four of them put their signatures on the book, making them officially co-owners of their home.

Then, the man went to another office and brought back a different ledger, which they also had to sign, making them officially citizens of Valetta.

And, of course, eligible to pay taxes. Yet another surprise. Valetta didn’t levy direct taxes on the farming villages surrounding it, preferring to tax sales.

“Wait, we have to pay taxes on salvage now?” Johanna blurted when she got that mechanism explained.

“Yes. Strictly speaking, it was already the case, the merchant you sold to was reporting his purchases, but couldn’t deduct them since you were not citizens and not paying. Now that you reside in Valetta, the tax burden shifts to you.”

“That seems… complicated.”

“It’s an old system. Apparently, even the Ancients did it that way.”

“Oh.”

She thought further.

“Then why did my father have…”

The aggravated look from the city clerk stopped her, and she decided to let the matter drop.

“Don’t forget the property and residency taxes, due before January 31st,” the clerk added.

While he’d guessed this was some kind of registration or something, at least until he could read the books that they were signing, the one thing Moore had noted, to the exclusion of everything else was what was behind the bureaucrat where they registered their new citizenship.

A calendar. What looked like a typical large “business” – or maybe a family – calendar with scribbled notes all over it, highlighted various days.

A calendar dated 2173. He couldn’t check if it was accurate or something, and if January 1st did in fact fall on a Friday. But from the look of it, the year was supposed indeed to be 2173.

Almost a hundred fifty years.

After he died.

Goddamn.

We were supposed to be living on Mars. Not hiding from mutated wolves and giant rabbits.