Calban In Marta City : Part 2 ( Marta and Gallanol Ch.2 )

Calban In Marta City (Part 2) copyright David Kirtley 2007

CHAPTER TWO: CALBAN IN MARTA CITY

Calban turned left and walked along the ground pavement merging with the hurrying figures. It was the beginning of rush hour but it did not seem much busier than usual. The old rush hour had been much modified by the introduction of staggered closing times, shift systems in offices and flexible non-standard working times. Each House and each shop had its own policies on working hours. Some were more flexible than others. The rush hour in the evening took place over a period of five or six hours and even then was not much distinguishable from the clamour of traffic in the mid day when workers and businessmen rushed about collecting authorisation signatures, filling forms in and exchanging receipts all over the city. The night-time was more quiet, but then in the early hours of darkness the leisure customers would be out spending credits in the arcades, bars, cinemas and clubs. A sizeable proportion of office workers did some of their shifts overnight in this day and age, so the night was never still. In this active city, there never was any rest.

Calban wanted to get off ground level so that he could get onto one of the first level tramways that ran above ground on circular tramlines. It was called the Network. He went into an open entrance at the base of a very tall building. He could not see the top of it because the Network line came out of the building on the First level above him, obscuring his view. There was a dark atmosphere here on Ground level, which he did not care for. Vision was limited by tall buildings, Network levels and walkways from block to block above. The dim daylight was assisted by bright strip lights in the darkest corners, which somehow managed to make the Ground level seem even darker. It was like a permanent night, even though daylight made it possible to see anything clearly. The Ground level was claustrophobic. That was the reason why he did not like the room in which he spent his working days. The mere knowledge that it was only on the First level sickened and stifled him. He preferred the broader vistas of the higher levels. Why then did he feel at home in a small flat which he retreated into every night, closing the blinds on the window and locking the door for a security which was probably unnecessarily? Despite the fact it was on a higher level it might just as well have been on a low level, but the knowledge that he was living on a higher level was important to him.

Calban entered the lift behind some other grey suited office workers. Instantly the lift filled with more workers who seemed to materialise from nowhere. The sensors reported that the lift was full, the red light came on and the doors began to shut, sensitive to whether there remained anyone in the way. The lifts were rapid and there were quite a few of them. No one ever had to wait long for the lift to arrive, and you could press a button for your lift to proceed if there were insufficient people on board for the sensors to be triggered. In an instant, they were propelled upward and the doors opened onto the First Level Network Building. The building was a Network Centre or station where lines came in on various levels and from various directions. It was therefore a busy place with hurrying people making tram connections.

Calban’s tram was in. He checked that the number was correct so he would not end up at the wrong destination and waste credits having to travel back again. He had done that before. Trams stopped for so short a period of time that it was tempting to get on just to make sure he didn’t miss it. If there were a lot of people, you couldn’t always see the number clearly. Really, there was no valid excuse for making the mistake because the trams were very frequent. If you were unsure of the number of your tram, it was wise to wait. On the centre walls there were information kiosks – computers in the wall, into which strangers could enter their destinations and receive small printed slips listing tram numbers and connection centres. There were also detailed maps and route planners, and lists of numbers. It was all very complicated but Calban had to accept that the system was very efficient and effective.

Transport within the City was no longer a brake on economic activity. The old problems of the past no longer occurred. The system had been running in its current form for at least forty years. A major feature of the system was the automatic electronic funds transfer system. This relied on sensors in the entrance doorways of the actual trams. These were now able to pick up the information contained on the banking cards held by each individual passenger. Thus an automatic credit was transferred from each individual’s account to the Passenger Account of Marta City Network House. There had been problems when the system was first installed, but teething troubles had been solved by research and progress.

To install the system the Martan Imperial Government had to intervene in the chaotic market system of the day where rival companies had run competing trams on the same lines. In an unusual admission of policy failure the government had been forced to forge the competitors into one huge monopoly operating the whole city in order to cut down on the technological misunderstandings, and maintenance, financial and legal duplication and inefficiencies which had occurred. The competitors had been merged into one in a complex accounting and legal operation which had supplied the courts and lawyers and accountants and government officials, not to mention the boards and shareholders of the respective competitors, with work for many years. National governments had high level negotiations on the subject as they fought for the rights of their own nationals as investors. Now it had all been dealt with one could say that it had been a success, but for many years, it had been a multinational nightmare.

The tram sped quickly along its track, out from the closeness of the buildings which clustered around it in the neighbourhood of his work. The daylight grew stronger where higher here as the buildings were more sparse. Even so, above him were higher levels of track, which criss-crossed in all directions, carrying trams filled with the bored faces of commuting occupants. The route was very familiar to Calban. He travelled it twice in every day, and that was nearly every day of the year except those international holidays, which still remained, common to all nations.

The national holidays had long since disappeared although Calban was well aware that they had once existed. The last of those had been abolished around the time he had begun his work after his years of education. This did not seem long ago. The years had gone so quickly, but he could no longer remember whether he had actually experienced the last “national” holiday himself. He knew from certain vidscreen summaries he had seen that there used to be many of them in the past. They had been days when whole cities had stopped work together and the people would come out, walk in parks or in the countryside, and enjoy relaxation with their families.

The development of International Regulations and practices had resulted in “harmonising”, which meant gradual evolution towards one world system of House laws, tax methods, work practices and of course standards. The gradual phasing out of the national holidays had been a part of that process. Calban was not aware that any new “international” days had been added in return. International days were days which the larger states already had in common, and these had been moved in some cases to coincide in order to ensure that no unfair trading advantages were given to any states.

In practice many people, probably most, now worked on International days and were given Shift Relief or Half Days on recompense to be taken at other times. Calban’s House and many others in the accounting and financial world still adhered to the old practices, but it was understood to be an illogical thing of the past which was expected to change sooner or later. International days had long since been deregulated in fact by the many exceptions, loopholes and options which had been laid down. The underlying principle on which the International Economy ran was that Trade and Work was sacrosanct. The old regulations seemed to run counter to that and nobody seemed to care about them any more. Fewer still understood the reasons why they had been there in the first place.

The Houses did award flexible holidays to employees and there were centuries-old complicated rules on the minimum hours to be granted for certain employees. These rules had been circumvented by the proven fact that most people preferred to opt for additional work, or overtime, as it had once been called, because it often came with higher rates of credits. Calban knew of some employees who refused to do additional work. As they were within their rights the House always allowed it, but it was noticeable that such people were not promoted. Calban took some days in the year as Flexible Holidays. He stayed in his room on such days mostly, as on the International days, except for travelling on the Network, which he liked to do anyway, even when he did not have to go anywhere.

For Calban the time he spent on the Network was the best time of the day. It was a time when his brain could rest from the stresses of striving to achieve targets and finish jobs, and to fill in forms. There was stimulation, as he could observe real people, see the familiar buildings of his world, and escape the claustrophobia of office or room. He could feel the recognition in the stares of some of the people who inhabited the trams with him. He preferred the homeward journey to the outward one because a whole night lay ahead of him before he would have to re-commence the work which he had lost interest in some years before (he had never been interested in it really).

Calban’s journey home was uneventful, as usual. He observed the people getting on and off the tram. There were fewer of them than usual, which seemed illogical. The trams were run to strict, predictable times, with only small variations allowed for the time it took passengers to get on and off at stations. The speed of the tram between stations would automatically adjust to arrive at the correct timetabled time, subject to minimum and maximum speed restrictions incorporated into the electrical systems of the tram. Calban did not even look at his time band. If he had done so he would have been able to calculate to within one or two minutes the exact time of his arrival home. He did not need to know. He had a natural understanding of the time it would take. He was in no hurry to arrive at his final destination. The freedom of his escape from his workplace was enough to satisfy him. The travel was a part of the pleasure of the next few hours, not to be hurried or wished away.

Calban had become used to his life of dull routine. The parts of the routine which he enjoyed were the best he could hope for in life. He enjoyed them to the fullest and gave little thought to any real alternative. The days of wishing for something better were long gone. His expectations of something better were an even dimmer memory of his youth, when he had lived with his parents and believed that the things he saw on vidscreen could be his. His parents had not taken the trouble to warn him that his life could never be like that. They had probably assumed that he knew he would be like his parents one day. In fact, he had hoped for something better. It had not even turned out as his parents had expected. He knew he was not even as successful as they had been, and although he was still young he had already reached the plateau of his career and, it seemed, his life. He was alone in the world, without friends except for the occasional contact with his parents or a kind comment at work. There were no valuable friendships. He no longer expected any.

He had been told, led to believe, not in so many words, but by his parents and the vidscreen, that each child could look forward to various stages in his or her life. Along with work, responsibility and training in adult life should come partnership with a female, perhaps not a permanent marriage with the first one or two he met, but at some stage marriage would occur, and soon after a child or two would follow with added responsibilities, a new stage of maturity. It was well understood that marriage might not come in his twenties, but it would come sooner or later, that was for sure. Calban was twenty-five and therefore should have every expectation of achieving the state of marriage over his long career to come. This should have reassured him, but he had observed over his years of work and study that few of his own age, and indeed those older than him, were married or even involved in a relationship. The work precluded that, and after work was a very private time for him and for many.

He had tried to talk to people, males and females, but they never seemed to have much to say beyond work-related matters, and Calban likewise had little to tell them. The question of relationships with females, sometimes observed in others from a distance, never came up as far as his own life was concerned. In this he was not alone. Calban had for some years now been able to see the truth. His life would go on as it was now until the age of retirement. The expectations, pressures and options of career progress lay before him if he could create sufficient motivation, but there would be no opportunities for change in his personal life. He made do with his life as it was. There was no sense in making himself miserable.