When James wakes up he finds himself in some form of utopian society. He hears a loud whooshing from above as an airship lowers down above his head. A cheery voice calls out.


"Hello there, welcome to XXX! Need a lift?"


James climbs aboard and it carries him up to the town. The people there are all nice and friendly, it seems like the perfect place to live. Not having much money, James finds a hotel room to stay in. Worried about how he will be able to pay for everything, he assures himself that these nice people will surely have a job for him or will be understanding of his situation. However as soon as his funds begin to run out, he notices an abrupt change. No one is friendly anymore, everyone treats him coldly and he begins to worry about what will happen.



5 days after arriving he pays the hotel his last few pounds and walks up to his room. Sitting down on the bed he hears 3 knocks on the door before it bursts open. A large number of heavily armoured police charge in.


"James Stevenson, we have found you guilty of theft. As such you are hereby banished from our town for good, never to return."


He is pushed out the door of the hotel towards a waiting police zeppelin. Turning around, he cries:


"But I never stole anything, don't I deserve a fair trial ?"


He only manages the first few words before he feels the strong impact of a riffe butt smashing into the back of his head. Everything starts to fade away as he loses consciousness.



When his eyes open it is the middle of the night and he's lying on the cold ground. He can see the island above him but with no way to get back he wanders towards the slums. Greeted by an incredibly dirty, skinny but yet cheerful old man he states:


"Finally here are we? I saw you come in and knew it wouldn't be long before you would be joining us"


"But they banished me for being a thief, how could you have known I'd be here?"


"Everyone does, when their money runs out"


Looking around James felt a deep despair run through him but curiously he noticed that even though everyone was hungry and filthy, everyone was happy.


"If you ask me, I'd rather be down here" the old man said, almost reading his thoughts.



It was hard to settle in, James had to put together a shack to sleep in and although he'd never built anything in his life, everyone from the slums lent a hand and together they managed to get it done in little time at all. At first the cold and the hunger and the smell of his own body made him miserable but after a while he began not to notice those things. Instead spent time having fun with all the people there who, he noticed, not a single one of them was ever nasty.



Lying in bed one night he heard the familiar sound of the whooshing of an airship and when he looking out of one of the cracks in his hut he could see police troops rush into the slums and grab 5 people. Jumping out of bed he raced towards them to try and help but slowed to a stop when he noticed everyone else was just sitting and watching.


"What are you all doing, why don't we help them?" he shouted at them.


The old man walked up slowly towards him and said:


"There is nothing we can do, and by God have we tried. Every week they come and take 5 people and bring them to the manner up above. Nothing we can do will save them."


The old man sits down on a log as Steve stares in disgust. He carries on explaining with a sad look in his eyes


"We never see them again of course"


"So why did they choose those 5?"


"They choose them at random, but one thing we know, everyone is taken in the end."


With that, the old man retreated into his shack.