Ma Duke turned to Tanya “will you be joining us for dinner tonight dearest?”

“No, I can’t tonight Ma” Tanya responded, “I’ve still got to help Micky here perform one more time to finish unlocking his class. My boss is a bit of a tyrant about getting things done.”

“Blaes doesn’t seem to bad to me” Micky mused, thinking over his interactions with the kindly older man.

“Well of course he doesn’t to you. You’re a part of his job. Once you start working for the man he’s all ‘schedules’ and ‘responsibilities’. You should have seen the list he had for us to do today. It was all itemized, with every minute accounted for. It even had things like the IP on it. Like I would ever forget the induction pa- oh BLEEP. Blaes is going to go spare.”

Micky hesitantly spoke into the tense silence “is this something I should be concerned about? It feels like this is something I should be concerned about.”

“Nope everything is totally fine, not a problem at all, I’ll be right back. Ma Duke can you maybe show him to his room and get him settled, I’ll be right back.” The last part of Tanya’s sentence was delivered from the entranceway, her words punctuated by the creaking and then slamming of the front door.

There was another lengthy pause before Ma Duke spoke softly “that girl is always in a rush, she’s gong to do herself a mischief one day. I’ll just get us some tea shall I? Milk or sugar? Ma Duke rose out of her chair and moved to the range, putting a slightly battered blue kettle over a burner.

Fortified by a cup of Ma Duke’s tea, which she insisted on serving ‘strong enough to stand the spoon up in’, Micky was lead up the carpeted stairs onto the second floor landing.

“These are the tenants rooms, yours will be the second on the left” Ma Duke gestured down the hallway to a blue wooden door. “Would you like to take a look inside the room then?”She offered him a small brass key.

“That sounds pretty good” replied Mickey taking the offered key and stepping towards the door and unlocking it.

Swinging the door open Micky walked into the room. Afternoon sunlight seemed through the window, casting the double bed and freestanding wardrobe in a warm glow. A small shelve lined one wall, leafy potted plants on each end.

“So what do you think of the room then?” Asked Ma Duke with another smile.

“It’s lovely Miss, I mean Ma, Duke.”

“Just Ma is fine Micky, I’m not much for formality. There’s a small bathroom just through that door” she gestured to the left of the room, “and I keep the witch lights charged as part of the rent. The controller is just here by the door” she said before resting her hand on a small blue-white sphere set into the wall.

“Uh, how does it work exactly?” Asked Micky.

“Goodness, what has Tanya been teaching you?” She replied before sliding her hand over the crystal, causing three crystals set into the room to glow weakly. “It’s very simple, just roll the control orb upwards to increase the brightness, or down to lower it”. Rolling her hand downwards she demonstrated and the lights dimmed before fading out again.

“I think I can manage that then, thanks Ma” Micky said before examining the crystal. Running his hand quickly upwards over the controlled Micky set the lights to full power, illuminating the room in a harsh white light.

“Excellent, now I’m going to go start dinner, why don’t you unpack your things and take a rest?”. Ma Duke walked over and opened the large wardrobe, “There are spare sheets in the draw under here, and this basket is for your laundry. Just put it out in the morning and I’ll have it back to you the next day.”

“That’s very kind of you Ma” said Micky, before realizing a slight flaw in the system “but, uh, I’ve only got one set of clothes.”

For the first time the barest hint of a frown crossed over Ma Duke’s otherwise beaming smile. “I’m beginning to think Tanya may have skipped a few steps” she said “but it’s easily mended. When she comes back I’ll have her take you by the haberdashery for some everyday clothes and the tailors next door as well if you want something a bit nicer. Sefa is a good sort, he’ll look after you.”

“I’m beginning to think I should have asked for you as my TRC liaison Ma” joked Micky as he slung his rucksack to the floor at the foot of the bed.

“Hush now, Tanya’s good people. She just needs reminding of it on occasion.”

Before Micky could respond Ma Duke turned and began to walk back into the hallway. As she walked she said “I’ll be right downstairs in the kitchen. Be sure to sing out if you need anything.”

Micky unpacked his meager possessions, hanging the armored vest from a hook in wardrobe and the vambraces on the upper shelf, before flopping down heavily upon the bed. He was pleasantly surprised by the softness of the mattress and the down comforter.

An urgent tapping at the door shook Micky back to wakefulness, he lifted his head up and looked blearily around the now dark room.

“I’m coming, I’m coming” he said as he stumbled over to the control orb and rolled it upwards, quickly lighting the room. Extending a hand to the door he slowly opened it while mashing the other palm over his face in an attempt to wake himself up. The door crept open to reveal Tanya clutching a massive ring binder to her chest.

“Hey wake up singer boy, we’ve still got lots to do today” she said before thrusting the ring binder towards Micky like it were a snake about to bite her.

“Uh, what’s this?” Asked Micky, stepping back through the doorway as Tanya barreled inside and sat down on his slightly disheveled bed.

“So there may, may, have been something I forgot to give you before we ran our errands today. This is the TRC induction book, it’s kind of like a guide to your first three months in Outremer. Blaes is super insistent that the first thing we do with a new inductee before taking them into the city is go through this with them” Tanya’s smile was more than a little sickly at this point.

“This book wouldn’t happen to have things like laws or customs would it? Or maybe a guide to the people’s we might meet? Asked Micky with a growing sense of irritation.

“It might have some of those things” admitted Tanya, running a hand through her long blonde hair. “You mean it has all the stuff I’ve been wondering and would have stopped me from wandering about without a BLEEPING clue what was going on?” Micky’s voice got louder and louder as he felt the frustration spill out.

“Uh yeah, It’s not a big deal though right? We can go out and do one more performance and get you your class. There’s no need for Blaes to get involved right? Right?” Tanya asked hopefully.

“Honestly, I’m not really up for another performance tonight, I’m pretty much wiped out. I think I’m gonna do some reading” Micky tapped the huge binder “then crash out. Can we do the last performance tomorrow? Oh and visit a haberdashery, I need some new clothes, these are starting to get pretty ripe.”

“That’s totally not a problem Micky, I’ll meet you back here after breakfast and we can do whatever you want” Tanya hurried out, barely leaving a gap between each word. “So we’re cool right?” She continued.

“Yeah, we’re cool Tanya, although I could do with a few less surprises tomorrow okay?” Micky said with a small smile.

“Whatever you say boss” Tanya said before snapping a goofy salute. “I’m gonna head home now, but I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early singer boy.” Her smile somewhat restored Tanya hopped up and strolled out the door.

“Right, ah bye I guess” Micky said to her retreating back.

Easing the door closed Micky turned back into the room. Rolling the lights down slightly to an easy brightness for reading he sat down on the bed with his back against the headboard. Looking at the ring binder with a sense of both anticipation and dread. He cracked it open and stared down at the first page.

TRC Induction Pack

Information for New and Recent Arrivals

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Welcome to the System ( Pg 2) Chapter Two: Rights and Responsibilities of a Transmigrator (Pg 17) Chapter Three: A Brief Introduction to the Class System (Pg 36) Chapter Four: Skills and Their Uses (Pg 44) Chapter Five: Races and Peoples of Outremer (Pg 73) Chapter Six: Employment and Economic Planning (Pg 92) Chapter Seven: Safety and Risk in Outremer (Pg 124)

Appendix A: Individual Location Guide

Feeling his eyes gloss over slightly at the wall of text which comprised each chapter Micky resolved to study the guide in detail. He wasn’t going to let himself get caught out again.

It was going to be a long night.