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eBook Category: Science Fiction
eBook Description: In a future with countries aggressively patrolling their borders against an overwhelming tide of immigrants, a steamship carrying refugees from Hong Kong steams from port to port in search of a home. Ship's mechanic Chen Wuchiang was six years old when his father smuggled him away from his island home as it was returned to the Chinese. Now 25, Chen holds out desperate hope that someday he will be able to start a family in a new land, with the help of his prized possession, the passport that proves he is a citizen of the Commonwealth.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Aboriginal SF, 1991
Fictionwise Release Date: June 2001

25 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [205 KB], eReader (PDB) [34 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [21 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [20 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [41 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [91 KB], hiebook (KML) [76 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [50 KB], iSilo (PDB) [18 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [22 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [50 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [33 KB]
Words: 6367
Reading time: 18-25 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

The air held the damp, gray-green scents of pine and fog. The distant lights of Vancouver were alive on the black surface of the harbor, shivering at the touch of the waves. Chen Wuchiang leaned against the ship's rail, welcoming the touch of the cool mist on his face. He took a long, slow draw on his cigarette, making the orange tip glow in the darkness. The ship was asleep. The city across the harbor slept, oblivious, uncaring.

We'll be safe once we get to Canada. It's a Commonwealth nation. They won't turn us away.

His father's words. His father's hope. Nineteen years ago Chen Wei had packed his tiny family into the rusting freighter's hold to smuggle them out of Hong Kong. Chen had been six years old. Sharp, fragmentary memories: the tobacco-smell of his father holding him crushed tightly against his chest. It was hard to breathe. He had whimpered, afraid to struggle. Then Grandmother had taken him into her own arms. She rocked him, whispering softly. It would be all right. The ship was like a crane bearing them all across the sea to the Isles of the Immortals. They would live in a wonderful place where they would all be happy and free. Her face had been serene with hope, and finally, lulled by the movement of the ship, he had fallen asleep.

Chen still had the passport in a lacquer box behind his sleeping mat. "This is yours," Father had shown him that night, holding out the booklet so his son could see his own name printed there in English characters. "Never lose it! This is proof that you're a Commonwealth citizen, not just some filthy refugee."

That was his father's legacy: the passport and a gold watch, but the Rolex was useless without a battery.

Vancouver slept on across the harbor, a birthright denied him, a loss that still hurt. Of course, their case was still somewhere in the Canadian court system. One day the matter would be resolved. No one on the ship would ever say otherwise, or mention the alternative, the refugee camps, a final solution of sorts to the international problem of the unwanted. Neglect, disease, starvation--everywhere the conditions sent the same message: There's no place for you here. Stay away.