hoped it would be different in the city, Jasper.
Slowly, the grey land turned to the ancient wreckages of dead cities and war vehicles, giant flying machines that had crashed during the great human war and left their carnage strewn across the broken countryside. Such things could be seen outside of Yin's city, but they were tended to by the scrap collectors who lived their lives buying and selling the shattered steel and mechanical junk they found lying in the wilderness. Eventually this too changed back to dry land until they neared the outskirts of the city; Large fields of grain and vegetables lined the tracks outside, stealing the view of the land around.
Yin excused herself to take a bathroom break before they drew into the station at Jasper, wanting to meet her new experiences in the city without any embarrassing distractions. She swept down the hall toward one of the earlier compartments, ignoring the blank stares of the humans, and slid closed the door of the cramped bathroom, completing her business as fast as possible.
When she finished, an announcement came over the loudspeaker in the ceiling; "Attention all passengers, we are now stopping at Jasper station." Yin's heart stopped, afraid the train would have passed the station, and she pictured herself drifting from train to train for the rest of her life as she tried to reach Jasper or make it back home.
She gingerly opened the bathroom door, and stepped down into the isle, aware of the human's nervous glances. Yin made her way toward the nearest exit and grabbed onto the railing until the train pulled into the station, her eyes listing toward the human passengers. Several stared openly at her, a few of them hoping to see her gone for good, and hidden from their cities in the Meregal's metropolis. The conductor passed through the car one more time and sniffed to himself when he saw her clinging to the railing.
Yin swayed with the train as it pulled into the station, a blur of grey and green that settled into the well worn shape of a boarding platform.
The doors pulled back into the walls of the car and she stepped out onto the concrete platform, her paws pressing gently into the hard, rough surface. She pulled her jacket tight around her and took in windy scenery. An old turnstile with green tiles sat on one end of the station, the other covered with barbed wire that looked out over a field of dry grass, hiding the tall structures of a city just beyond. Yin took a deep breath and padded along the platform until she came upon the turnstile where a Meregal sat behind a glass window, keeping a wary eye on her and the others.
Yin nodded her head pleasantly and pushed her way through the turnstile, wincing as the metal bars screeched in protest. She ignored the looks from the Meregal in the booth and stared hard at the ground.
It seemed much brighter once she left the station, and she pulled up to a hover car idling on it's magnetic track. Her claws made a loud tatting sound as she rapped them against the glass, jolting the male Meregal inside, out of his nap.
"Can you give me a ride into Jasper?" She asked.
"What?" The driver rolled down the window.
"I said, can you give me a ride to Jasper?"
"Get in the back seat."
"Okay." Yin placed her hand against a metal plate on the door of the cab, and waited as the door slid back.
"Is this your first time in Jasper?" The diver asked.
"Yes, this is actually my first time out of my city." She sat down in the back seat and pulled the door back in place.
He reached down under the passenger seat and pulled a small brochure from amidst a tangle of flyers and old food stuffs, and offered it over his shoulder.
"Things are different here, and you'll need to know everything in that brochure before we get inside the city."
"What will happen if I do something wrong?"
The driver shrugged, "They might kick you out, or overlook it. Either one."
Yin looked down at the brochure where a black, feminine Meregal caressed the words 'Welcome to Jasper!'. She flipped it open, and read the first few lines:
"If this is your first time to Jasper, we welcome you with open arms! But there are a few things you need to know before you enter our city. Like all Meregal cities, we would like to remind you that it is recommended that you walk on all four paws while in the city, firstly because most establishments are not designed for two legged navigation, but also because it is a sign of disrespect to walk on two feet in the presence of others."
"Why is it disrespectful to walk on two legs like the humans?" Yin asked, feeling a fleeting excitement at finally having the opportunity to speak so openly with one of her own king about the humans.
"It means you're better than the others." He continued, "Only Meregal royalty is allowed to walk on two legs in the presence of others. Are you royalty?"
Yin shook her head, "I don't think so. I don't know who my parents are because I was left in a human city when I was just a baby."
"Hm." The driver frowned to himself, "Well, good luck to you then."
"Why?"
"Oh nothing, just don't make a big deal about being from out of town." He said this to himself. Yin tried to make sense of his vague response as he started up the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. Yin sat back in her seat and watched the sky moving outside of the tinted window.
"Am I making the right choice?" She asked herself.
"Hmmm?" The driver said, picking up on the end of her sentence and looking at her through the rear view mirror.
Yin shook her head, "Sorry, I was talking to myself."
The driver looked back at the road and sighed, "Try not to make a habit of that."
Yin looked awkwardly at her paws before resuming her look outside the window. The city was approaching swiftly, rising up over the grasslands around that hid the Meregals from prying eyes.
Yin looked outside of the window and placed her elbow on door. She wasn't sure what she would find, but she wanted to know what it was like to live amongst her own kind, even if she only stayed for a few days.
"Have you heard about King Leo's fundraising campaign?"
Yin didn't understand why he was asking this, she was on vacation in the city, she didn't want to deal with the problems of a, probably, illegitimate king.
"I'm not acquainted with King Leo."
"I getcha. Outsiders usually don't get involved in the political aspect of the city. Usually It makes no sense to them so they wave it off as gumbo."
"He's your leader?"
"Yeah, he ascended to the throne without support.""What do you mean?"
"He takes himself seriously so it doesn't seem out of his league to rule other people."
"is that enough for most people?"
"Yeah, most people are okay with it."
Yin sighed and sat back in her seat. She didn't want to know about the political sphere, she was here to find a date and that's all she had on her mind.
The driver didn't seem to notice her resolutions, they were pulling into the city limits, and he was rummaging through a compartment in the dashboard for his city identification. "Do you have your ID with you Ma'am?" He asked.
"Is it alright if I use my synth card? It was given to me by my city, and it has all of my personal information built into it's memory."
The driver glanced back at her through the rearview mirror, "That should be fine as long as they can access the information and verify it's legal implications."
"I'm not sure what you mean by legal implications, but I haven't done anything in my life that would make me a target."
He shrugged and reached his paw over his shoulder for the synth card. Yin ruffled through her purse and extracted the credit card sized piece of circuitry, handing it over to the driver.
"I'll get that back, right?"
"Sure, no one wants your info anyway. The worst it can come to is if you carry disease on your person, then you'll be held in confinement or asked to leave."
"Can they do that?"
"Can birds fly?"
Yin sighed to herself, "Some can, I suppose."
"Well, these birds can, i
f you get my meaning."
Yin nodded, "I get what you mean."
The car pulled into a single lane next to a customs booth, where a sleek, black feline propped herself out on the edge of the window. Yin's ears fell flat against her head and she waited for the booth to come up besides the driver, who lowered the window.
"Visas please. How many are with you today?"
"Just one, a young female from out of city."
The customs officer popped her head through the window and gave Yin a smile. "Welcome to Jasper!"
"Thanks." Yin mumbled back.
The black Meregal pulled her head back out of the window, her smile still showing on her face.
"Visas?" She asked again.
"Right here." The driver said, handing the two cards over to the official. Yin watched with envy at the way the black Meregal took the cards, her paws oozing with controlled energy. One day I'll be like that, she thought. Full of energy, doing the very things I want to do instead of slaving away under someone else's work.
The black cat pulled herself into the booth and ran the cards through a quick scan, passing them over a magnetic signature reader. Her smile froze when she scanned Yin's card and scanned it again. She put her head back through the window and addressed Yin.
"Who are you?"
Yin wasn't sure what she meant. "I thought the synth card was supposed to tell you."
"Yes, I know. But all Meregal's have a unique entry into our database, regardless of where they live." She paused, "Didn't your parents put you in the system?"
"My parents abandoned me at birth in a human orphanage. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm registered as a Meregal
The Urimine Effect Page 7