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Authors: S D Bowring
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viewed him as a gift. Thinking about his childhood and early memories of his mother, he finally fell asleep.
Unknown to Keller and his family, the attention shown to him at the Arpo was precipitated by his Aunt Nerys on the families’ previous visit to the trading area. Her second attempt at trading in an old, but perfectly sound baby’s carry-pod puzzled one of the Regents. He had noticed the carry-pod being offered for trade to one of his fellow female Regents who dismissed the item. He, however, was puzzled as to where this might have come from since it was an unlikely item to have been traded with Outsiders for their own use. He knew they tended to carry infants in baby slings and simply wouldn’t choose to trade for such a luxury when they had far greater priorities.
He asked one of his assistants to scan the item to check for possible contamination, as they did prior to any trade. It was cleared, so he got his assistant to trade a lightweight adult poncho for the item. This poncho was of a material rarely made available to Outsiders, but in truth was standard kit for troopers in certain weather conditions. Aunty Nerys had been pleased with the transaction and thought no more of this.
It would be later that this Regent’s ever watchful wife would also question its origin. She had a role on London’s ‘Growth and Health Conference’, known as G&H. This was a committee group of twenty or so mid-level ranking citizens. It was their role to ensure the health and protection of infants up to the age of a year. The committee had been set up about a dozen years before as alarm grew over the population demographics.
Eventually, the State of London decided to follow the same route as other city states around Europe and took matters of conception, childbirth and rearing of young children under their strict control. G&H, therefore, had a post-natal role which was intended to ensure that nothing was left either to chance, or the possible failings of parents, when it came to ensuring the continuation of the London population. The responsibility for pre-natal health, up to the point of birth, was monitored by the C&H; the ‘Conception and Health Conference’.
The Regent felt justified in his trade when his wife also expressed puzzlement. Her view was that the only babies to ever rest in such a carry-pod would have been from a privileged city background. There had been no known disappearances of infants from the register of children. However, the carry-pod was imprinted on the base with a manufacture date that was prior to the set-up of the G&H, at a time when citizens wouldn’t have been ‘blessed’ with state assistance so closely. Since Outsiders wouldn’t trade for this item for themselves, then it was either found outside of the city or perhaps it was once the carrier of the rumoured illegitimate babies conceived between careless Regents and their servants. Regents often had leasehold rights on lower class Londoners for a set period of years. These leaseholds were a form of slavery with a guaranteed exit, with an accompanying exit payment, for the ‘slave’. They were an economic necessity for some poorer individuals and their family members.
These illicit unions and any resulting pregnancies were a threat to the wealth of any Regents’ own wife or wives. They jealously guarded their position and the position of their own offspring in the family pecking order and would regard an illegitimate child as a serious threat to their own wellbeing. This would have been enough to seriously endanger the new-born that would likely face an accident or poisoning by the jealous wives. Therefore the babies were often aborted, by coercion if necessary. Abortions for healthy foetuses had been strictly illegal in the last twelve years. Prior to this, some babies were perhaps more fortunate to be born illegitimately and taken outside the city for their own safety. The Outsiders were simple folk, but there was no doubting that
Unknown to Keller and his family, the attention shown to him at the Arpo was precipitated by his Aunt Nerys on the families’ previous visit to the trading area. Her second attempt at trading in an old, but perfectly sound baby’s carry-pod puzzled one of the Regents. He had noticed the carry-pod being offered for trade to one of his fellow female Regents who dismissed the item. He, however, was puzzled as to where this might have come from since it was an unlikely item to have been traded with Outsiders for their own use. He knew they tended to carry infants in baby slings and simply wouldn’t choose to trade for such a luxury when they had far greater priorities.
He asked one of his assistants to scan the item to check for possible contamination, as they did prior to any trade. It was cleared, so he got his assistant to trade a lightweight adult poncho for the item. This poncho was of a material rarely made available to Outsiders, but in truth was standard kit for troopers in certain weather conditions. Aunty Nerys had been pleased with the transaction and thought no more of this.
It would be later that this Regent’s ever watchful wife would also question its origin. She had a role on London’s ‘Growth and Health Conference’, known as G&H. This was a committee group of twenty or so mid-level ranking citizens. It was their role to ensure the health and protection of infants up to the age of a year. The committee had been set up about a dozen years before as alarm grew over the population demographics.
Eventually, the State of London decided to follow the same route as other city states around Europe and took matters of conception, childbirth and rearing of young children under their strict control. G&H, therefore, had a post-natal role which was intended to ensure that nothing was left either to chance, or the possible failings of parents, when it came to ensuring the continuation of the London population. The responsibility for pre-natal health, up to the point of birth, was monitored by the C&H; the ‘Conception and Health Conference’.
The Regent felt justified in his trade when his wife also expressed puzzlement. Her view was that the only babies to ever rest in such a carry-pod would have been from a privileged city background. There had been no known disappearances of infants from the register of children. However, the carry-pod was imprinted on the base with a manufacture date that was prior to the set-up of the G&H, at a time when citizens wouldn’t have been ‘blessed’ with state assistance so closely. Since Outsiders wouldn’t trade for this item for themselves, then it was either found outside of the city or perhaps it was once the carrier of the rumoured illegitimate babies conceived between careless Regents and their servants. Regents often had leasehold rights on lower class Londoners for a set period of years. These leaseholds were a form of slavery with a guaranteed exit, with an accompanying exit payment, for the ‘slave’. They were an economic necessity for some poorer individuals and their family members.
These illicit unions and any resulting pregnancies were a threat to the wealth of any Regents’ own wife or wives. They jealously guarded their position and the position of their own offspring in the family pecking order and would regard an illegitimate child as a serious threat to their own wellbeing. This would have been enough to seriously endanger the new-born that would likely face an accident or poisoning by the jealous wives. Therefore the babies were often aborted, by coercion if necessary. Abortions for healthy foetuses had been strictly illegal in the last twelve years. Prior to this, some babies were perhaps more fortunate to be born illegitimately and taken outside the city for their own safety. The Outsiders were simple folk, but there was no doubting that
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