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She wonders if Coin would be late to fewer things if she gave her a teleportation power.
She's saying so, to Sherlock.
And then instead of the ruins of flooded Europe she's in a featureless white room facing some grumpy person in a blue robe, wearing everything she was wearing, less her coin bandolier but including her crown, and something's wrong, her thoughts are slow and won't speed up, her memory's as slippery as it ever was before she met Stella, and how did she get here, why doesn't the brainphone work, where's Sherlock?
Where are her coins? Where's her magic? She can't teleport either, not even across the room - she bites her lip just a little and she can't even remember how moving pain left to right is a thing and it goes right on stinging without regenerating -
Where is she?
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arenaria
arenaria
Well, it's clearly not going to get her anywhere with this person. "Can you tell me what this means?" Bell asks, showing the lady the first page of her file.
"That's your name and residence code, your judge, how far into her shift she was when she got to you, and your sentence," she explains. "...Oh. My. Um, here, you'll be wanting this."
She fishes in a pocket and produces a stack of identical business cards, off which she hands Bell the top one. It bears a logo consisting of a thin crescent with the words FOR YOU inscribed between its downward-facing points, and a number: 9246938^0.
She fishes in a pocket and produces a stack of identical business cards, off which she hands Bell the top one. It bears a logo consisting of a thin crescent with the words FOR YOU inscribed between its downward-facing points, and a number: 9246938^0.
arenaria
"Why will I be wanting this? My sentence for what? My sentence to what?" Bell asks, taking the card.
"Your sentence for everything bad you've ever done in your life," she says. "But if you visit the Crescent—that's the res code on the card—I'm sure you'll find someone to take it for you."
"Nine hours," she says. "With Chainsaw. He's a torturer. ...I'm sure you'll find someone to take it at the Crescent."
arenaria
"...A torturer," says Bell. "That's... what it sounds like?"
She feels very, very small.
She feels very, very small.
"Yes," she says apologetically.
arenaria
"But there are people who don't mind, as much, and they can - transfer the - sentences?"
"Yes," she repeats. "The people who volunteer to serve unfair sentences are called contractors."
arenaria
"Okay. I am pretty sure this is unfair. Who's Diana - I mean, she's my judge, but - where did she come from, where do judges come from?"
"What do you mean?"
arenaria
"I mean, I am here because I died. Are you here because you died? Is Diana? How did you get your job? How did she? What about the torturers and contractors?"
"Everyone is here because they died," she says. "I got my job by applying at the Tower. So did Diana, but the requirements for judges are much stricter and I'm sure she had to wait a few centuries for her interview. Torturers are trained and certified at the Cross in caret null, and the Crescent has their own academy but it's not necessary to be certified as a contractor before taking someone's sentence. It's just easier for the sentenced and the volunteers to find each other that way."
arenaria
"Why does Diana think I or someone who'll take my sentence ought to be tortured for nine hours? Is that encoded in this gibberish?"
She used to know a few languages. Now her fuzzed-out memories of her time in Angela's world are blurred by the fact that she can't speak Angela's language anymore.
She used to know a few languages. Now her fuzzed-out memories of her time in Angela's world are blurred by the fact that she can't speak Angela's language anymore.
"Yes," she says. "I'm sorry, I don't understand most of the codes... contractors tend to know them pretty well; you can ask at the Crescent, or look them up at the library, that's one caret one."
"You absolutely have to know your own res code," she says. "If you lose it, you might never find your way home again. We'll be at Tower Station in a minute; I'll show you how to work the maps."
arenaria
Bell rereads her code a few times. It's not that long. She can break it up into chunks, repeat it aloud to herself, in case something happens to this paper. "Thank you," she adds.
"You're welcome," says the guide. "It's my job."
The elevator doors open. She leads Bell out into what looks like a small train station, well lit but not well maintained.
It lacks trains, and anywhere to put one. But it does have a large electronic map on one wall. The guide shows Bell how to type in her residence code, and the map shifts to display a bird's eye view of Bell's new neighbourhood, with a glowing blue dot in the middle connected to a nearby glowing pink dot with a dotted purple line.
"That'll be the nearest station to your residence," she explains. "If you know where you're going, you can just put in the code at the door, but if you haven't been somewhere before it's a good idea to check the map first."
The opposite wall is lined with sets of elevator doors, similar in style to the one they left. Instead of displaying floor numbers above each, they have blank displays. The guide taps 'GO' on the map, and one of those blank spaces lights up with Bell's res code; the corresponding doors open.
The elevator doors open. She leads Bell out into what looks like a small train station, well lit but not well maintained.
It lacks trains, and anywhere to put one. But it does have a large electronic map on one wall. The guide shows Bell how to type in her residence code, and the map shifts to display a bird's eye view of Bell's new neighbourhood, with a glowing blue dot in the middle connected to a nearby glowing pink dot with a dotted purple line.
"That'll be the nearest station to your residence," she explains. "If you know where you're going, you can just put in the code at the door, but if you haven't been somewhere before it's a good idea to check the map first."
The opposite wall is lined with sets of elevator doors, similar in style to the one they left. Instead of displaying floor numbers above each, they have blank displays. The guide taps 'GO' on the map, and one of those blank spaces lights up with Bell's res code; the corresponding doors open.
"Between a week and a month," she says. "One week in the clear, and then three more where Chainsaw might or might not get around to you yet."
She leads Bell into the 'elevator'; a scant few seconds later, the doors open again, and they are in a different station.
"Your basic needs should be taken care of by what you find at home. You can't die again; in what would be a fatal situation, your body will renew itself and you'll be in the same condition you're in now. If you're looking for information, the library at 1^1 is usually a good place to start. It has its own station, so it's easy to find. If you lose the card for the Crescent, you can find their res code in the directory at the library."
"Your basic needs should be taken care of by what you find at home. You can't die again; in what would be a fatal situation, your body will renew itself and you'll be in the same condition you're in now. If you're looking for information, the library at 1^1 is usually a good place to start. It has its own station, so it's easy to find. If you lose the card for the Crescent, you can find their res code in the directory at the library."
arenaria
"Okay."
Two places to go after she sees her residence. Both of them sound like very good candidates for her first priority. She has a week before she needs a contractor, but how long might that take? She has no more immediate questions lining up to be asked or she'd speak them, but she's been thrown into a completely bizarre situation, all alone, and a library sounds really good right now.
Ultimately she decides to go to the Crescent first and see about contractors. Because delaying knowing things is uncomfortable, but it is not nine hours of torture.
"Is there anything else I ought to know before I go - out in the world by myself?"
Two places to go after she sees her residence. Both of them sound like very good candidates for her first priority. She has a week before she needs a contractor, but how long might that take? She has no more immediate questions lining up to be asked or she'd speak them, but she's been thrown into a completely bizarre situation, all alone, and a library sounds really good right now.
Ultimately she decides to go to the Crescent first and see about contractors. Because delaying knowing things is uncomfortable, but it is not nine hours of torture.
"Is there anything else I ought to know before I go - out in the world by myself?"