Part III New Babel — Chapter Two

In a rough, steam-choked tunnel to New Babel, Thomas Senlin flees the amazon Iren. With no side passages and an autowagon blocking the way, he clambers onto the crowded wagon, enduring blows from angry passengers whose resistance keeps Iren from boarding. Seizing the moment, Senlin climbs to the driver’s bench and, burning his hand on the boiler, vaults over the engine to the ground ahead.

Senlin emerges into a sprawling underground stockyard and recognizes it as a weigh station, not the ringdom itself. While weaving through hazards and wondering who sent Iren, he dismisses both the Commissioner and Count Pell as unlikely pursuers, and pushes on toward the city tunnel.

At the city’s mouth, Senlin beholds a domed monolith wreathed in indigo lightning above a grid of windowless buildings and chaotic steam traffic. When he instinctively darts into the street, a speeding steamcoach bears down on him.

Iren hurls a grappling chain that snags the coach to a lamppost, shattering a wheel and toppling the light; the engine explodes short of Senlin. Realizing Iren saved him to capture him alive, Senlin bolts into the uniform, door-studded blocks, seeking refuge.

Drawn by a rose window, he rushes into the seemingly welcoming House of White Chrom, hoping for sanctuary. Only once inside does he grasp his mistake: it is a drug den, trading one immediate danger for another.