Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter three (part 1)

Pip Rippon's Curated Guide - Chapter three (part 1)

This is part 1 of the third part of an updated version of my Curated Guide, which I first released around fifteen months ago. It was intended as a resource to help you (and me, to be honest) understand Hellsborough and The Dark Peak. 

I try to explain a world on your doorstep. A world that you probably have no idea that exists: The unexplored parallel world of Sheffield, S6 – Hellsborough and The Dark Peak. I think that I now understand the place. When I say understand, what I mean is, that I can cope with it.

How is Hellsborough different from here?

So, Pip, I hear you say, what do you see? After arriving at the junction, I pass through The Hinge. It's only moments, and mostly, I feel nothing at all. But sometimes, it can feel like hours. I think that is dependent upon the murk.

The weather may be identical to that I left behind, especially on a foggy day in the off-world -- the difference between the fog and the murk can be extremely subtle. On other days, on a summer day in the off-world, if the murk lies heavy in Hellsborough, it can be like walking through a swirling flood of carbonated stout.

When you arrive, you'll recognise the buildings, the shops, the bars. The ones at ground level at least. You could easily pass through The Hinge and never know. The folk, they look like you or I, regular people doing regular things, going about their everyday business.

There is a big difference, but you'd struggle to see it. These men, women and children, pretty much all of them, unless they've come from the otherside of the tracks -- and by that, I don't mean your off-world, I'm referring to those that reside in the crosslands -- the natives of Hellsborough, they're content in a way that you're not.

When I say content, maybe I mean distracted. Much like you might be distracted by the comings and goings of daily life, by the pressures of work and family, so the residents of Hellsborough are distracted by the chitter-chatter of the hive mind -- an internal world that they carry within their faces, that services their every biological, physiological and psychological need.

They wear psycmasks. These days psycmasks are nanoengineered, so you'd never know anyone was wearing one. I of course, have to wear a government issue one, since I don't have the biological adaptations of a native. I feel I look out of place, but no-one else cares, and wearing a mask these days in the off-world isn't as unusual as it was before the pandemic, wearing a psycmask in Hellsborough has the same connotations, no one notices or cares.

What else is different?

You may notice the odd street sign that differs, doesn't make sense somehow -- take a walk around the park, for instance: You'll see references to barkers, smelting, ¢hits, slipping -- with the accompanying signage, the wording will make sense, it's just different, that's all. Maybe like visiting a slightly foreign country.

Traffic signage is similar, speed and parking restriction, tram gates, bus lanes -- all of those things will be familiar to you. The biggest difference, has always been the transport itself.

It's quiet.

The roads exist, but with the exception of the trundle of wheels, the electric cars lack noise entirely -- the internal combustion engine has never made an appearance in The Dark Peak. All vehicles that you would assume have an engine, do have an engine. It is usually located under the bonnet (or hood, for our US visitors from the off-world), but when you pop that hood, you don't see a gas guzzling 4, 6 or 8 cylinder petrol burning engine, you see a smooth, sleek, bundle of muscles, a bioengineered locomotor muscle engine.

Locomotor muscle fibres resemble bundles of thick electric cables, but when injected with nutrient solution (found in filling stations, naturally), they expand and contract at different frequencies to generate power, not dissimilar to the pistons in a conventional engine that you're used to in the off-world.

Coal has been mined and is used to fuel the most important of industrial needs, the humidity plants, which contribute to the filth of the murk, but oil has never been processed and so that noisy messy machine, the motorcar (or bike) wasn't ever conceived. In The Dark Peak they have solar, wind, water and muscle flex energy sources: Power generated from the great goodness of Dunlockslyn.

From that point of view, you could say that Hellsborough is more advanced than the off-world. The design ethic of these vehicles, don't share the boxy Eurocar design that you're used to. They are streamlined, modelled on the sleek shapes of birds and fish, with armoured panels like the exoskeletons of insects or the bark of trees. The aesthetic is very organic.

The trolley buses (trams) exist, follow the same routes as the supertrams in the off-world, and are powered by electricity (locomotor muscle generated), but these versions are as sleek as eels, the same organic design aesthetic as the cars. Skateboards, scooters -- electrically and mechanically powered, bicycles, tricycles, mobility scooters, pushchairs and prams, they're all here.

So the hustle and bustle does seem very familiar.

What about laws and public services? They're enforced by more than one organisation, like in the off-world, but here, there are only really two classes of enforcer, The Dark Peak District Council (DPDC), who deal with the municipal laws, and The Nascenti enforcers known as exacids.

The former roughly equates to your off-world city council -- they deal with fixing broken benches, installing new benches, emptying rubbish bins, traffic management, slipping permits and all that sort of thing. Their role is subservient, or at least that is to be understood; their job is to keep the wheels of industry running, nothing more. Unlike in the off-world, the removal of bureaucracy is their remit, not the creation of it.

The latter are the equivalent of your off-world police service, but with a wider remit and a license to kill and destroy where necessary; that tends to keep folk in-line in this otherwise largely lawless world. Alot of things go here, there are no rules imposed on enjoyment or making an income for oneself, and if The Nascenti don't disagree with it, anything goes, yet woe betide anyone who attempts to do anything disagreeable. The Nacenti consider jellyheads as valuable slaves, and do not tolerate any form of abuse.

If Adam Smith built a model village to test his ideas on capitalism, this place or Hong Kong of the early twentieth century, would be the place he would build.

The unit of currency is the ¢hit. Most payments are fully automated by the DPDC, parking, fines, that sort of thing -- which can make it very difficult for a new incomer. Without a source of ¢hits you are a nothing, and nothings are not tolerated by the exacids.

The first time I breached The Hinge, I nearly died. I didn't, obviously, and I'm not going to go into detail here, it's a bit depressing to think about it, but I did write a diary entry about it; that was me trying to come to terms with it -- you can read it if you want.

In The Dark Peak, there is nothing like you have in the off-world like fire brigades or ambulance services. A health service, is an unknown phenomena here or hereabouts. There are GPs for hire, witchdoctors. The murk is the equivalent, if you can call it that. Denizens, of course, being children of the murk have regenerative abilities, as well as thousands of years experience in the preparation and working with natural remedies and rockcrust, but jellyheads and netherlanders -- being human -- have no such regenerative ability, and where rockcrust is unavailable or natural resources scarce, or skills not available, entering the murk and taking your chances in the sink or swim is sometimes the only available option, especially for the old and infirm, which makes for a young average age of the population.

If you know anyone else that you think might find this interesting, then please forward this email to them :)

I have launched a new series of diary entries that I call “Pip Rippon — Stranger in a Strange Land”, in which I describe my struggle to survive as an immigrant in Hellsborough and The Dark Peak, and how I make ¢hits, and how you can use my knowledge to make money in the off-world. I think you’ll enjoy it, check it out here: Stranger in a Strange Land.

In other news, Hellsborough Chronicles book one “Dark Peak” is now available on Kindle and paperback.

If you can leave a review of Dark Peak on Amazon, I'd be more than grateful.

Hellsborough Chronicles book two “Darker Peak” is now being worked on — look out for early releases.

Cheers, until next time,

Pip :)