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About two hours ago the lieutenant at the outpost in Ormskirk put out a call for urgent assistance. She sent a carrier pigeon to Garrison HQ in Lancaster, and sent a messenger on horseback to the neighbouring outpost in Skelmersdale. In turn, Skelmersdale has no doubt sent riders to alert Wigan and Preston, and reinforcements will be on their way.
“Ah! No electricity!” says Mr Rafone, “something must be kicking off!”
The classroom is bright enough on a Friday afternoon, without electric light, and Mr Rafone’s Civics class continues as normal. Perhaps one or two of the science teachers might be upset, but if they’re currently using electricity, then the school’s own back up systems should be enough to cope with the load.
At the far end of St George’s Quay, there’s frantic activity at the Garrison and the lights are on! They have electricity! That’s not normal on a Friday afternoon! The Garrison gets their quota of one hour of electricity early each morning, and then it’s one hour for the clinics. After that the schools have one hour in the morning, and another hour at the end of the day.
In emergencies the Garrison always has preferential treatment. There are special procedures in place for that. It didn’t happen very often, but five or six times a year the Wolfies in Lancaster were accustomed to additional restrictions on electricity.
But what’s Faraday going to do now?
On a Friday afternoon, as soon as school ends, businesses like the PrintWorks have their quota of electricity. Faraday always prints and distributes The Lancastrian on a Friday.
The riders, the stagecoaches and the ferrymen are always ready. The weekly routine is timed specifically to have the newspaper ready by mid evening so that it can be transported by sea on the same day, to places like Ulverston and Preston. From these three main distribution points it goes overland to reach the smaller inland towns. That ensures that it’s available on newsstands every Saturday morning. It’s the main source of news in Wolfland, and the people of the smaller towns and
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