Subject: Grail: "Life on Kerestia"-`Agrilon'
<<Kerestia- Bartercity Agrilon- Midday>> Bregoro shouldered through the heavy press of Kerestians in thesunken amphitheatre. If he had collapsed from exhaustion, he would not
have been able to even fall, so tightly packed were they. Occasionally,
he would be forced to stop and rest, so difficult was the struggle.
The sun was high overhead, but it granted very little in the way of
warmth. Bregoros sisters husband, Migato, had told him that it would be
less than two decades before the entire surface of Kerestia was covered
by the ice. Even now, only the planets equator was free of the ice, but
temperatures were still at 25% of what they had been ten years ago,
before Desoranar destroyed itself.
By the time Bregoro felt strong enough to continue his struggle
toward the front of the crowd, the sun had already slid past its apex
and disappeared behind the tall spires of Agrilon. The city was built on
an island in the center of Kerestias equatorial river. It was an ancient
city that had been forced to grow when the red sun collapsed. And when
it could no longer grow out, it grew up. Agrilon looked like spiked
teeth jutting from the jaw of an icy maw. It was ugly. He hated it. And
paradoxically, why he was here.
He had finally managed to break through to the front of all those
who came here to trade. Trade was the only commerce left on Kerestia.
And as resources were rapidly consumed, or claimed by the ice, trading
became more fierce. And more selfish. Some, like his sister Slora and
her husband, chose to eek out the remainder of their existence in the
Wastes. Slora had become a good Finder and had given him many valuable
things to trade. But the ice was claiming everything. And the things
Slora found these days, almost no one knew how to use. Or fix.
Everything was breaking down.
Bregoro stood silently while trading raged around him. And when the
symbolic gong finally sounded, indicating a finalized transaction, he
shouted over the din. "I have a litre of uncontaminated blood to offer
in trade!"
At the sound of the word `blood', most became silent, the silence
radiating outward as all listened. The Bartermaster indicated Bregoro to
two Chotel. The simian-like thugs mercilessly kicked and shoved the
smaller Kerestians out of the way and grabbed Bregoro, dragging him up
onto the amphitheatres stage.
If Bregoro had shouted `blood for trade' in the middle of another
transaction, that other transaction would have been immediately
forgotten. Blood was the one commodity that all desired. Five years ago,
blood was the one thing you could always sell to insure you were given
ration promisories. But, as the years became worse and worse, the
Kerestians had taken to abusing recreational narcotics to escape their
fear, and clean blood was becoming more and more rare.
And the wealthy members of Agrilons citizenry were the worst
narcotics abusers of all, keeping themselves in a perpetual fugue of
delirium. Subsequently, they required transfusions of clean blood on a
very regular basis. They intended to remain stoned, right up until the
end.
Now, standing up on the stage between the two foreign Chotel,
Bregoro was confronted by the cruel-looking Bartermaster. The Master
looked at Bregoro and asked, "What do you wish to acquire in trade?"
Bregoro winced in pain as a female cut his finger to take a sample
of his blood. She smeared it on a piece of flat glass and used a small
dropper to drip a clear blue solution onto the green drop. If the blood
turned orange, it would indicate narcotics contamination. The blood
remained green. Even the crowd wanted to know the results.
And Bregoro knew the chances he was taking by exposing himself to
the test in public. Now, all looked at him like he was a walking rations
promisory. He was a Clean. His blood was barter. They would kill him for
it. But, Bregoro planned ahead.
"I want a dilithium power converter and a blaster.", he told the
Bartermaster. If it had been a reasonable or unreasonable request, the
Bartermaster would not have flinched. It was up to the public to
determine the value. They would either trade, or not.
"I need a dilithium power converter. In trade, the Lords of Agrilon
offer two weeks rations."
Bregoro was no longer required for the bartering process. Of only
two things he was certain. He WOULD get his power converter and blaster,
and the Bartermaster WOULD get his blood for the absolute best price
possible. Bregoro realized that someone was going to be cheated for his
blood, but he didn't care.
He was led to the physician who would take his blood. It was the
same female who had administered the test. She was unattractive and
obviously had prescribed for herself very powerful narcotics. Her eyes
were focused a million miles away.
And as his blood was leeched into a container whose volume was one
litre exactly, Bregoro hoped that the power converter would allow him to
finally get Migatos Airwing to function. Because, if he could repair the
ancient starcraft, the three of them, Migato, Slora, and himself, could
finally leave Kerestia. Maybe even make it as far as Shandara.
If not... well... they only had another decade or so to mourn their
ruined lives.