He threw open the balcony doors and launched out into the sky toward the city of Bilming. Stars both above and beneath—with a highway lined in light pointing the way forward.
BELOVED EDITOR STILL MISSING
It’s been eight days since our editor’s husband and children tearfully pled for her safe return. Since then, our reporters have combed the city, pestered the mayor, and followed each lead you dear readers have submitted. Until further notice, and barring any urgent information, our daily updates will run on the back. Please continue sending tips to our offices on the corner of 109thand Stratten Way.
Vif! SPARKLE TONIC
BEWARE!
COPYCATS CLAIM TO HAVE FOUND
THE SECRET FORMULA
But these unscrupulous imitators only seek access to your pocketbook and will try to fool you into drinking less than the best. If your druggist says something else is “good enough,” tell them:
“I KNOW THE DIF GIVE ME VIF”
(Paid for by the Vif Sparkle Co.)
TUNNEL TREMORS STOP … FOR NOW
A sign the city is ready to abandon its underground rail?
It’s every Bilminger’s favorite gripe: when will construction crews finish the underground rail line? Initiated over four years ago with a bloated budget that rusts the metals of every Bilming taxpayer, the subway was to provide relief to the city’s traffic problems. While little progress has been seen on the underground rail, in the same amount of time, the Bilming Transportation Authority has added more lines to the raised rail and more lanes to the highways. At this point, do we really need an underground railway, especially when its construction coincides with the small earthquakes that rattle our nerves every few months?
More coverage on back:
Owner of Soothing Parlor Grateful for Public Agitation
ALLOMANCER JAK SETTLES WITH SIDEKICK
Allomancer Jak has reached a settlement with his former sidekick, Handerwym Terrisborn, who claims the famous media mogul skimmed Terrisborn’s stakes in the company to invest in new media ventures, like the flash-in-the-pan evanoplays of several years ago. While Jak’s adventures will continue inThe Sentinel of Truth,“Handerwym Presents” will now be exclusive to our broadsheet in Bilming.
“This was my intention all along,” said Jak to a crowd of eager fans, “to train dear Handerwym in the ways of greatness and then cut the apron strings, push him from the nest, and watch him sink or swim. Besides, now that I don’t have to pay him, I can focus my time and money on writing my memoirs and exploring promising new forms of storytelling. Let me tell you what’s next: vizbooks—they’re stories you can read even if you don’t know your letters!”
When asked for comment, Terrisborn just closed his eyes and sighed.
More details on back: Why the judge let Jak keep the tiger
PART TWO
20
Marasi got a few hours of sleep, nestled in the front seat of the truck as her convoy rolled toward Bilming. Fortunately they’dbeen able to recruit drivers from the constabulary night watch, so they were used to the hours. Hers wasn’t the talkative type. The woman wore her jacket with the collar up, a cap on her head to shadow her face. The team had been told to maintain their disguises even while driving.
When Marasi had dozed off, they’dbeen traveling through the bleak darkness beyond Elendel. When she blinked awake, the sun was rising and they were passing the Bilming suburbs. Marasi had never been to the city, though it was only a few hours by train along the coast, but she had a good grasp on the politics of why this city was so important.
As traffic into the capital had grown overwhelming, Bilming had become an essential port and dockyard. Its seaside nature let it trade with other coastal towns, ignoring Elendel’s railway monopoly. In addition, Bilming was a chief port for trade with the Southern Continent—where much commerce was being handled by traditional ocean shipping, not airship.
The discovery of those new lands had brought wealth into Bilming. And wealth meant power. Many in Elendel thought they had let the people of Bilming grow too independent—and in recent years, it had become the one city in the Basin that could legitimately rival Elendel.
Many in the capital spoke of Bilming snidely, pretending it was a ruraloutpost of half-educated sailors and drunken dockworkers. Marasi knew better. This wasn’t a rural backwater; Bilming was a metropolis in the making.
She passed neatly laid-out suburbs—but even more swaths of land that had been set aside to eventually be filled. Many developments were mid-construction, houses being built, each in a different style, no two roofs matching one another. No two doorways in the same place. Yet there was a strangesymmetryto it. One she couldn’t quite pin down.
It was the same downtown, which—though still distant—she could see had half-finished pillars of skyscrapers growing up like the mythical spires of Kredik Shaw. A dominant building at the direct center was furthest along. It had to be a good seventy or eighty stories high, rivaling the tallest buildings in Elendel.
Each of the buildings—particularly the one at the center—had a strange aesthetic that mixed the feel of a fortress with modern sleek lines and steel finishings. As they drove closer, the roadway passed under a large elevated railway that ran in a circle around the city. Some sections were unfinished, but big swaths of it were already in operation.