Yellow Card Man
Encyclopedia
"Yellow Card Man" is a science fiction
novelette
published in 2006 by Paolo Bacigalupi
. It was nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novelette
. The story serves as a prequel
for Bacigalupi's novel, The Windup Girl.
.
Genetically engineered plant pathogens have destroyed much of the world's crops, and Western biotech companies are busy selling disease-resistant seeds to third-world countries, while also re-engineering the pathogens to destroy the new plants after a few years, so that the companies can re-engineer the seeds to be resistant to the new diseases and thus repeat the cycle.
Prejudice and ethnic tension have boiled over in Malaysia, resulting in the Malays slaughtering the other ethnic groups. Tranh barely escaped the mobs, having seen his family hacked to death by machetes and his successful business looted and burned. He has made his way to Bangkok and has been granted refugee status -- a "yellow card". Most refugees are despised and are relegated to scrounging for the lowest day-laborer work.
Ma, a former employee whom Tranh had fired for stealing, had left Malaysia for Bangkok well before the massacres, and thanks to having been in place before the flood of refugees, was able to find well-paying work.
The story opens with Tranh waking up late and rushing to get to a company he has heard will be hiring new employees. On his way, he encounters Ma. Tranh notices that Ma is wearing Tranh's old Rolex
watch, which Tranh had been forced to sell for a pittance in order to survive. Ma, seeing that Tranh has noticed the watch, mocks Tranh for having fallen so far, and taunts Tranh for having once told him that individuals "make our own luck", that success is solely a result of earning it and that luck plays no part.
Finally arriving at the factory, Tranh finds that the rumor of job openings is true, but there is already a line of hundreds of refugees waiting ahead of Tranh for the interviews. Tranh talks with some friends in line, discussing how all of them are highly educated and formerly successful men -- physics professors, heads of corporate legal departments, or like Tranh the former head of a multinational trading company -- and so are all far overqualified for the three jobs as low-level managers. The seething frustration of other yellow-cards is directed at Tranh for "cutting in line" even though it obviously does not matter, so he leaves. Needless to say, the jobs are filled by the first few interviewees, long before the remaining hundreds of refugees are interviewed.
That evening, Tranh sees Ma again at a restaurant, and Ma invites him to eat and to talk. Ma thanks Tranh for having fired him, since it saved his life by forcing him to leave Malaysia long before the massacres. Ma explains to Tranh that he bought the watch because he recognized it and wanted it as a memento mori
-- a reminder that if a successful major company like "Three Prosperities" could fall, so could he. Ma tells Tranh that thanks to his work, he has finally gained Thai citizenship and will no longer be a yellow-card refugee. Tranh begs Ma for any sort of job, but Ma tells him it is impossible, that line work at his factory is not open to crippled refugees when legal Thai workers are available, and that Tranh's business experience does not qualify him for the sorts of scientific research for which a work permit could be obtained.
The next day, Tranh is injured while unloading a cart of potatoes, when a megodont -- a genetically engineered elephant -- goes on the rampage; his knee is destroyed, leaving him badly crippled. At that, he is fortunate, for one of his friends is killed by the animal. Tranh gets the supervisor to pay him double, both his own wages and the dead friend's, as compensation; he wastes the money on a last bottle of whiskey and hobbles off to await starvation and death.
However, while drunk and laying against a building late that night, Tranh sees Ma leave a brothel with his business manager, who departs in a pedicab. As Ma begins to walk home, Thai police accost him for being out after curfew, and when Ma attempts to explain that he is a Thai citizen, the police, hearing his Malay-Chinese accent, beat him and rob him for failing to grovel his respect.
Ma, badly beaten, begs Tranh to help him get home. Instead, Tranh murders Ma, smashing his whiskey bottle and slashing Ma's throat with the broken glass. He then robs Ma of his papers and money and takes a rickshaw to the factory where Ma worked. Although it is late at night, he knows there will be a job opening in the morning, and he wants to be the first in line to apply.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novelette
Novelette
A novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...
published in 2006 by Paolo Bacigalupi
Paolo Bacigalupi
Paolo Tadini Bacigalupi is an American science fiction and fantasy writer.He has won the Hugo, Nebula, Compton Crook, Theodore Sturgeon, and Michael L. Printz awards, and was nominated for the National Book Award...
. It was nominated for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novelette
Hugo Award for Best Novelette
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
. The story serves as a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
for Bacigalupi's novel, The Windup Girl.
Plot summary
The story follows Tranh, the once wealthy head of the multi-national "Three Prosperities" trading company, now a refugee suffering from PTSD, who is forced to eke out a living in the slums of a future BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
.
Genetically engineered plant pathogens have destroyed much of the world's crops, and Western biotech companies are busy selling disease-resistant seeds to third-world countries, while also re-engineering the pathogens to destroy the new plants after a few years, so that the companies can re-engineer the seeds to be resistant to the new diseases and thus repeat the cycle.
Prejudice and ethnic tension have boiled over in Malaysia, resulting in the Malays slaughtering the other ethnic groups. Tranh barely escaped the mobs, having seen his family hacked to death by machetes and his successful business looted and burned. He has made his way to Bangkok and has been granted refugee status -- a "yellow card". Most refugees are despised and are relegated to scrounging for the lowest day-laborer work.
Ma, a former employee whom Tranh had fired for stealing, had left Malaysia for Bangkok well before the massacres, and thanks to having been in place before the flood of refugees, was able to find well-paying work.
The story opens with Tranh waking up late and rushing to get to a company he has heard will be hiring new employees. On his way, he encounters Ma. Tranh notices that Ma is wearing Tranh's old Rolex
Rolex
Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
watch, which Tranh had been forced to sell for a pittance in order to survive. Ma, seeing that Tranh has noticed the watch, mocks Tranh for having fallen so far, and taunts Tranh for having once told him that individuals "make our own luck", that success is solely a result of earning it and that luck plays no part.
Finally arriving at the factory, Tranh finds that the rumor of job openings is true, but there is already a line of hundreds of refugees waiting ahead of Tranh for the interviews. Tranh talks with some friends in line, discussing how all of them are highly educated and formerly successful men -- physics professors, heads of corporate legal departments, or like Tranh the former head of a multinational trading company -- and so are all far overqualified for the three jobs as low-level managers. The seething frustration of other yellow-cards is directed at Tranh for "cutting in line" even though it obviously does not matter, so he leaves. Needless to say, the jobs are filled by the first few interviewees, long before the remaining hundreds of refugees are interviewed.
That evening, Tranh sees Ma again at a restaurant, and Ma invites him to eat and to talk. Ma thanks Tranh for having fired him, since it saved his life by forcing him to leave Malaysia long before the massacres. Ma explains to Tranh that he bought the watch because he recognized it and wanted it as a memento mori
Memento mori
Memento mori is a Latin phrase translated as "Remember your mortality", "Remember you must die" or "Remember you will die". It names a genre of artistic work which varies widely, but which all share the same purpose: to remind people of their own mortality...
-- a reminder that if a successful major company like "Three Prosperities" could fall, so could he. Ma tells Tranh that thanks to his work, he has finally gained Thai citizenship and will no longer be a yellow-card refugee. Tranh begs Ma for any sort of job, but Ma tells him it is impossible, that line work at his factory is not open to crippled refugees when legal Thai workers are available, and that Tranh's business experience does not qualify him for the sorts of scientific research for which a work permit could be obtained.
The next day, Tranh is injured while unloading a cart of potatoes, when a megodont -- a genetically engineered elephant -- goes on the rampage; his knee is destroyed, leaving him badly crippled. At that, he is fortunate, for one of his friends is killed by the animal. Tranh gets the supervisor to pay him double, both his own wages and the dead friend's, as compensation; he wastes the money on a last bottle of whiskey and hobbles off to await starvation and death.
However, while drunk and laying against a building late that night, Tranh sees Ma leave a brothel with his business manager, who departs in a pedicab. As Ma begins to walk home, Thai police accost him for being out after curfew, and when Ma attempts to explain that he is a Thai citizen, the police, hearing his Malay-Chinese accent, beat him and rob him for failing to grovel his respect.
Ma, badly beaten, begs Tranh to help him get home. Instead, Tranh murders Ma, smashing his whiskey bottle and slashing Ma's throat with the broken glass. He then robs Ma of his papers and money and takes a rickshaw to the factory where Ma worked. Although it is late at night, he knows there will be a job opening in the morning, and he wants to be the first in line to apply.
External links
- Yellow Card Man by Paolo Bacigalupi at BestScienceFictionStories.com - A review of the story with resources for finding it.
- Windup Stories downloadable eBook sample from the publisher, Nightshade Books, containing "Yellow Card Man" and "The Calorie Man", another short story in the same future historyFuture historyA future history is a postulated history of the future and is used by authors in the subgenre of speculative fiction to construct a common background for fiction...
.