Infrastructure: Part Fifty Five

In 18IA Inna Jorgeva watched a platoon of Infrastructural soldiers march through her village with their former Chieftain Gerulf the Skullsplitter in chains. They looted the warrior's halls and houses for gold, but left the peasant's and commoner's possessions. Then they held a feast with food and drink from the Gerulf's larder and strong spirits that they brought along with them. They declared Dobromil the Mason to be the Town Foreman. The next few years saw a few changes. There was more trade, both from foreign merchants and new Coldland merchants. More boats would go down the river, including the Paddlesteamers. Taxes were collected, mostly in the form of grain, vegetables, salted meat and fish, but they also accepted butter, charcoal, bog iron, carts and boats. A few people would work on the road improvement and a few young men volunteered to join the army. She grew up as this happened and, by what her parents said, they wanted to marry her off to Jan. A loud uncouth bullying drunkard who she despised. As such when a party of recruiters asked for laborers for a major project in The Yards, she jumped on it.

The journey was fairly quick as it was mostly upriver to Daagsgrad. She was put up in a Barracks with several dozen other women, all of which were either freed slaves or recruited from well away of the Black Ports. They were rebuilding the Shipyards. There was still some conflict between the Infrastructurals and the locals. She did a variety of odd jobs over her first week. She did some work in the laundry, assisted in carpentry, worked in the Worker's kitchen peeling potatoes and on the last day shoveled coal in the machine shop's engine. At the end of that week, she got her first pay. Six credits a day with three credits and five decicredits deducted for food and accommodations over six days, fifteen credits in total. Enough for an order of mutton stew, a hot bun and some vegetables with a tankard of beer for dinner, pick up a few small things that she needed and still have some savings left over. Even though a drunkard managed to get into the compound from the city and raved at her before slinking off into the storage yard. Before dinner, she decided to talk to someone about it.

There were two people in charge around here. The first were engineers, people in gloves, vest and helmets who knew things about machinery and told people how to set it up properly. The other type was Bureaucrats. They were an odd bunch and this was one of the first time she saw them. They dressed in uniforms like engineers or soldiers, but did not carry weapons. They carried books and mostly wrote things down. Oddly enough, most of them were women.

She met with one of the Bureaucrats as she left the store on an errand.

"Excuse me, my lady?"

"What is it." She said, somewhat annoyed.

"Someone wandered in, smelled of drink, wandering near the timber piles."

"I'll tell the guards to be on lookout. Is that all?"

"If I may be so bold my..."

"Ma'am will do," she said "as will Bureaucrat or Administrative Clerk."

"Ma'am, I heard some of the Black Porter talk about the Credits?" She said as she flourished her life savings before her.

"Going on about how it's not real money and that its only good as bum paper."

"How did you know."

"You think I haven't heard that line before? They're just clinging on to old nonsense for reasons of bruised egos and a stupid magpie like obsession with shiny things. People work for us, we give them credits. Our stores across all of Infrastructure sell food and goods for credits. You can get a ten kilos of potatoes for three credits at the stores and if someone who is not working here gets three credits he can buy the same bag. Ergo it has value. If people try to run a store or bar or something and don't accept credits we fine them. In any case these Magpies are a bunch of hypocrites given that they are working here. Is that all?"

"Well we could use a bit more woodscraps in Barracks-3, it getting a bit cold."

"I'll see what i can do. Good day" The two then parted. Intermediately Inna thought about the bureaucrat and what she said for the rest of the day. Not the least because she found her attractive.

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