Part III New Babel — Chapter One

On an airship ferrying exhausted young women to New Babel, Thomas Senlin feels a surprising calm as he considers Marya’s abduction by the aristocrat W.H. Pell. He inventories Ogier’s gifts—the tiny key-gun and the nude study of Marya—struck by longing when he sees her portrait. He reads Tarrou’s farewell letter urging him to pursue Marya without compromise, then lets the note drift away.

The ferry spirals up the Tower’s vast face and docks via a kite-towline at a grimy skyport. Senlin follows the silent women through a cluttered, fly-choked yard toward a crude customs post. A hulking oaf processes them like livestock as a square-shouldered amazon, Iren, watches.

When Senlin reaches the front, the oaf tosses his Everyman’s Guide into the void and discovers Marya’s portrait among his belongings. As the oaf moves to confiscate it, Senlin clamps down in a desperate struggle, refusing to release the painting. The oaf backs off, grudgingly returning it, and demands a name.

Senlin signs the ledger as “Thomas Senlin Mudd,” affecting bravado to mask his tension. The moment’s swagger collapses when Iren turns, coolly stating, “You are Tom Senlin,” exposing his identity and threatening his precarious entry into New Babel.