Chapter 243
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On Saturday May 5th Eve ad Julia got up early for orientation. It was being held at city hall at 8am. Attendance was mandatory for new arrivals, and also provided breakfast. Mostly milk and donuts, not a bad start. Brooklyn seemed eerily like a ghost town. It had been the site of a plaque outbreak during the war. Those who survived either joined the loyalist army, or simply moved on. The few who stayed were typically guarding these prisoners from the outside. Eve noticed that many of the new arrivals spoke languages she didn't understand. During the war entire countries just collapsed. Coming to America, choosing a side in the conflict, had seemed like the only way to survive. Both Mason and Douglas helped with the mass exodus in Sangala of Bawa and certain Askari targeted for extermination. Now both groups were in the sector, Eve wondered if there would be violence between them. Immigrants who fought with the loyalists, they and their families would be given lottery chances. Mason promised that American collective soldiers would be given a pension of lottery chances in exchange for their surrender. Loyalists would be given two chances for every month they fought with the United States military, including recent immigrants. Collectivists would have one chance per month, but Mason was vague about immigrants to the Collective States. Eve feared they had no legal recourse. During orientation councilman Wilkins explained the situation to everyone.
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Wilkins: I know this seems scary to everyone, but this sector is as much for our protection as punishment. Both sides are working together to stop ELE. After July 20th of next year, our old differences won't matter. Loyalists and collectivists will have to exist together on the Arks, if ELE comes in 442 days. In the meantime we'll be here, rather than be displaced. There will be projects to work on, some for the Arks. Others to help rebuild this new community. My hope is that, after the sector walls are torn down and we're free to leave, some will choose to stay in this community that we'll create together. We're even rebuilding Ebbets field, where Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. In exchange for our help the state has promised to provide us with enough food, medicine, and shelter to survive. The council, and mayor Ford, will continue to lobby for other little luxuries. There has been enough death and loss. We must work together, help each other adapt. If we all come together, noone will be left behind.
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After Wilkins' speech much of orientation focused on specifics. Salaries would give everyone ration points towards food. Medicine and medical care would be given out as needed. Most had already been assigned places to live, those who hadn't would be told where to go at the end of orientation. Whatever luxuries people might want, for now they were on their own. People were expected to help refugees learn english, possibly learn the other languages as well. Because of Eve's condition she was assigned the job of maid, at councilman Wilkins' home. He seemed okay, mid-sixties, former schoolteacher, generally a nice old man. There would be an election on June 30th, where the sector could vote to keep the interm leaders, or vote new ones in. For now Wilkins was Eve's councilman, he answered to mayor Ford. This place would clearly be an adjustment, but Eve was proving to herself how adaptable she really was.