53

Bjorn was in the middle of a cup of coffee when he suddenly spotted several orcas over by a small island at the other side of the fjord. At first, he didn't quite see what it was, but through his binoculars he could see that the disturbances of the water in the distance were in deed caused by whales coming up for air. And by studying them further, Bjorn concluded that the whales must be orcas. Later on, when they swam closer to Lundby, there was no longer any doubt about the whales. Their characteristic white and black patterns could be clearly seen, and Bjorn could congratulate himself on having come to the right conclusion right from the start.

Just like the day before, a fishing boat headed for Lundby at the beginning of Bjorn's shift. And with a second fishing boat heading for Ane's processing plant towards the end of Bjorn's shift, Bjorn concluded that Ane's factory was doing quite well. This did not in any way surprise him, of course, considering how well organized the woman had appeared when he had the pleasure of meeting her.

However, what did surprise Bjorn quite a bit was the number of cars heading for the colony. Neiden was after all quite far away, almost two hours by car, so anyone bothering to take this journey would have to have a pretty good reason for doing so. And with Neiden housing less than three hundred people, five cars entering before noon was quite a lot.

One driver in particular had puzzled him. It was a woman with her daughter of five years or so insisting on entering the colony even without a passport. Bjorn pointed out that entering the colony without a passport may make it difficult to leave later on, but the woman brushed his explanation off as irrelevant.

"It is not like there's any doubt that I'm Norwegian, right?" the woman insisted, in a broad local accent.
"No," Bjorn had to admit. "But this is a restricted area. We have to check people for valid passports as they leave."
"And what if I´m not going to leave?" The woman asked.
"But you are, aren't you?" Bjorn asked, incredulous of her assertion.
"No. Not in many years, I´m not."
"Really?"
"And by then, I´ll have the papers sorted out for you. You can be sure of that."

Bjorn felt reluctant to go along with the woman's story. There was something manic about her intense insistence, and it made Bjorn uneasy. However, as far as he knew, his duty was limited to keeping people inside the colony. He had seen nothing about preventing people from entering, and the only reason he was asking people to show their passports was to prevent people from accidentally finding themselves trapped in the colony.

"Anyway," the woman insisted as if she had read his mind. "You have no right to keep me out."
"No... That's true..." Bjorn replied reluctantly. Then, he pushed the green button, thereby raising the barrier and letting her in.

52

Bjorn was deep asleep when his alarm went off. He had been dreaming, but of nothing unpleasant, and he was in no mood for introspection, so he let the lingering dream evaporate without any effort to hold on to it.

Bjorn had set his alarm to go off at the time when no one was using the bathroom, just after Ante had been there, and before Thomas and Espen would appear. Assuming that everyone were as sett in their routines as they appeared to be, he figured he should be able to have the place for himself by targeting the fifteen minutes interval between Ante and the two other men.

As it turned out, Bjorn was correct in his calculations. He went to the bathroom the moment he heard Ante close the door to his room, and ended up having the bathroom to himself for the whole duration of his shower and morning routine. Not until he was back in his room did he hear Thomas and Espen walk past on their way to the showers.

Bjorn smiled to himself on his way down to breakfast. His main discomfort as far as the check point was concerned was the lack of privacy, especially during his morning routine, and by having found an opening for himself where he could have the bathroom for himself, he felt relieved and happy. "If this pattern keeps, my stay here will be almost as pleasant as a resort vacation," Bjorn thought as he skipped down the stairs.

The weather looked promising, with the sun shining through the south facing windows of the kitchen. Ante was in his usual good mood, and Bjorn felt a relaxed eagerness to enjoy the day to its fullest. Chatting casually with Ante, Bjorn ate his bacon and egg breakfast, not paying much attention to the time. But when Espen appeared, shortly followed by Thomas, he knew that it was time to go down to the glass box to relieve John from his duty.

John was as eager to leave his post as always, and disappeared up to the barracks as soon as he had handed the keys over to Bjorn. However, Bjorn felt positively happy about being once again all to himself. He put his thermos of coffee down next to the one he had brought with him yesterday, but forgotten to take in, before sitting down in the office chair to take in the panoramic view.

Pretty soon, he felt an urge to have a cigarette, so he stepped out on the sunny side of the office to light one for himself. The sun, bright and unobscured over the mountains to the north, was warm and invigorating. He closed his eyes for a minute while facing the sun straight on. In the background he could hear the light trickle of melting snow. Life was slowly returning to the arctic wilderness, one drop of melting snow at a time.

After a few puffs of his cigarette, Bjorn became suddenly aware of a white van coming down the windy road from Neiden, and he thought to himself, slightly bemused, that this was in fact the first car he had seen on that road apart from the truck with the snow plow. He followed the car with interest as it came closer, until it came to a full stop in front of the barrier.

Bjorn tossed the cigarette on the ground, and stepped on it while the driver rolled down his window.

"Good morning," Bjorn said with a smile. "Do you have your passport with you?"
"Yep, here it is," the young man replied waving it in his hand.
"Okay," Bjorn replied without bothering to inspect it, reaching instead into the office to push the green button next to the door.

The barrier rose, letting the young man into the colony without further delay. Bjorn followed the van with his eyes until it disappeared behind a barren knoll where the snow had already receded from the top, pushed back by a mix of wind and sun. Then, back in the office, he caught another glimpse of the van as it took a left turn at the intersection with the road joining the village to the port.

16

Bjorn was happy to find Ante busy frying eggs and sausages in the kitchen. There was something about the man´s simple down to earth being that made Bjorn feel relaxed just seeing him do his morning routine over by the stove. Ante handed Bjorn a plate with two eggs, three sausages and baked beans, while commenting on Bjorn´s early arrival for breakfast, telling him how happy John will be to see him early in the check point office, which Ante referred to as the glass cage.

"He is probably hungry, and eager to get you up to speed on the little routines out there so that he can come in from the night shift," Ante continued, before going on to suggest that Bjorn take a thermos of coffee, or some other hot drink with him to help him while away the hours.

Bjorn ate his breakfast quickly, and was already on his way out with a thermos of steaming hot coffee, when Thomas and Espen appeared in the dining room kitchen. He greeted them briefly on his way out and felt a great sense of relief as he got out in the cold, only wearing is army sweater as protection against the weather. However, temperatures were a great deal warmer that morning, and he was told by Ante that the glass cage was heated, so no jacket was needed.

In fact, only the coldest winter days required a jacket in the glass office, and even then, some preferred to stick with just wearing a sweater, rather than wearing a bulky coat. And a relatively mild spring day was certainly not an occasion to dress up as if it was the middle of winter.

Bjorn hurried over to the check point office, eager to get started, and finally get settled into what would soon be his daily routines. John was happy to see Bjorn a full half hour early, but was no less eager to go off to breakfast as soon as possible, and gave Bjorn a very quick introduction to the tasks required by him for his guard duty.

He showed Bjorn the little control panel with buttons to open and close the barriers on either side of the glass cage, and he pointed out the alarm button and hotline phone which could communicate either directly with Frank, or function as an intercom through which emergency messages could be broadcasted alongside the alarm.

Finally, John handed Bjorn the key to the gun rack on the wall behind them, reminding Bjorn that he should not take out the gun for anything but self defence. "The check point is only a barrier and not a defensive military position," John continued, repeating the instructions Bjorn had already received in Oslo, before leaving for the arctic. "If there is a revolt in the colony, the checkpoint should be vacated, the army proper should be contacted, and any fighting should be left to properly armed personnel further up the valley to Neiden."

9

The sky had turned deep red by the time Ante and Bjorn reached the check point which was situated on a flat area with a commanding view of the fjord. Ante pulled the car up to a small box-like office with a barrier blocking the road on either side, waving his hand to the guard inside as the barrier was pulled up to let his car pass.

The living quarters were located to the left of the road, with a mostly empty parking space at the back. And Bjorn noticed to his surprise, as Ante drove passed the barracks that the road on to Neiden was not cleared of snow.

"I would think that has kept traffic down a bit," Bjorn said, trying not to sound too ironic.
"It has indeed," Ante said with a big smile as he parked the car right outside the entrance to the barracks. "But the road will be cleared in a few days from now, so we should see traffic increase pretty soon."
"So the road has not been open all winter?"
"Indeed. Life has not been too hectic."
"Has there been anyone coming up here at all?"
"Only the pizza delivery man, and the guy from Pingo, delivering groceries."

Bjorn had to laugh. People had been staying at the check point, with no other people to check than those delivering stuff that they had ordered.

"What can I say?" Ante continued, parking his car next to a blue Ford. "This is the military. Things don't have to make sense."

7

Not being very interested in football, Bjorn remained standing in the front of the office, behind the men clustering around the TV screen. He followed the game with muted interest, looking out of the window every now and again to look for signs of anyone coming to pick him up.

After a few minutes, he noticed a car in the distance, a red sedan charging along the road down by the fjord, coming in and out of view on its way towards the Port. The bright head lights made it easy to spot in the grey surroundings as it flashed its lights directly in Bjorn's direction every time it came out from a curve that had briefly hidden it from view.

As the car came closer, it remained in view for longer periods of time until it was no longer hidden at all, charging down the final stretch towards the port. The car disappeared briefly behind a large shed by the entrance to the port before coming back in view, making a wide curve towards the check point, completely ignoring the markings on the tarmac, separating parking areas from lanes of traffic, bus stops, and the like.

The driver was, by the look of it, deliberately trying to make an extravagant point of breaking all the rules as he increased his speed during the final hundred yards just to slam on the breaks and bring the car to a complete stop as it slid screeching sideways into place in front of the office.

"That must be Ante," Trond said without  taking his eyes off the TV.
"That's my man?" Bjorn asked, putting down his mug of coffee.
"Yes," Trond replied, taking a quick look out of the window to make absolutely sure of the identity of the driver.

Bjorn took his back pack and left the office, not waiting for Ante to get in, and thanking the men for the coffee as he left. The car stood right across from the door of the office with the driver's seat facing it, and the driver rolled down the window to greet Bjorn as he stepped into the cold.

"So you are Ante?" Bjorn asked.
"And you must be Bjorn."
"Sure am," Bjorn replied.
"Then, hop in!"

Ante signalled to Bjorn that he should take the front seat before rolling up the window, quickly so as not to loose more heat than absolutely necessary. Getting into the car after tossing his back pack into the back seat, Bjorn sat down and strapped on his seat belt, anticipating correctly that the drive back to the Neiden check point would be at least as speedy as Ante's drive to the Port.

The road turned out to be in pretty bad shape, and Bjorn was tossed around in his seat as Ante ignored the smaller pot holes and swerved sharply around the bigger ones. But the need to focus on his driving to navigate the pot holes, did not prevent Ante from engaging Bjorn in small talk, pointing out things along the road as they passed them, and asking Bjorn about his trip and his first impressions of the arctic.

Ante talked in a thick local dialect that Bjorn could not help find amusing, since the man's extravagant driving and talkativeness had every mark of the typical stereotype portrayal of a North Norway inhabitant, flamboyant, foul mouthed and passionate. Dark haired and with subtle Asian features, Bjorn guessed the man to be Sami, and asked him politely if this was true.

"How did you guess?" Ante asked with a broad smile.
"Well..."
"Of course I am," Ante continued without waiting for an answer. "My family has been up here for generations."
"Really?"
"Rain deer herding and fishing, that's what we used to do up here before my grandfather gave it up and started working at the iron mine instead. And when that was closed down, and the fish processing plant folded too, that was the end of it."
"And now?"
"Well, most of my family has moved south. My parents are living on the dole in Kirkenes, and I'm the only one up here with a job."

5

The ferry came to a complete stop at a wharf separated from the deep water harbour by a large round rock sticking half way into the water. The ramp was lowered, and everyone were allowed to leave, with the police officer escorting the Africans to a small office in the middle of the open area directly in front of the ferry, and the young woman, with her oversized suitcase, hurrying over to a waiting bus a bit further up.

Bjorn´s instructions, which he received a week before leaving for his assignment, were to report to the chief officer at the Lundby Port checkpoint, which had to be the office directly in front of him. But, seeing that the men at the check point would have to take care of the Africans first, he went over to the rounded rock to the side of the wharf to waste some time, climbing its moderate incline to get another full view of the port.

The deep water harbour looked completely abandoned with no sign of any activity, and if it had not been for two cars parked over by a shed at the far eastern edge of the port, he would not have guessed that anyone was there at all. However, just as he was about to turn and go back down the rock, he heard the distant clatter of a heavily loaded train approaching the port.

And as if this clatter had been some sort of signal, two men came out of the shed, heading across the tarmac of the port in the direction of the machinery designed to move iron ore onto the heap at the other end of the port. The train came into view from behind a hill to the east, coming to a slow stop as it reached the port.

Bjorn was at once fascinated by the scene where everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Even the men walking briskly over to the heavy machinery seemed to move slowly, surrounded as they were by big structures on every side.

Bjorn tossed a glance towards the check point to see if he could stand and watch the spectacle across the water for a little longer, but to his surprise, the Africans were already gone, and nowhere to be seen. He hurried down the rock and over to the office where he presented himself to the first man he met.

"So you are Bjorn" the man said, clearly expecting him. "I´m Trond, chief officer at this checkpoint."
"Glad to meet you."
"Can I see your papers."

Handing him his papers, he could not help noticing the police officer that had escorted the Africans, standing behind him. And still puzzled about their whereabouts, he asked about them.

"They are on their way to Lundby" the officer explained, adding "on the bus" in way of further explanation.
"You just put them on the bus? Just like that?"
"Yes."
"With no escort?"
"With no escort."
"No interrogation? No nothing?"
"We just hand out these tokens, one to each of them, and the rest is up to them," the officer explained, pulling a plastic chip out of his pocket.
"You are sending them to the casino?" Bjorn asked in amazement.

The officer smiled at Bjorn´s bewilderment, before explaining that the tokens function as money in the village.

"They can of course be wasted on the casino," the officer continued, "but I think most people have other priorities when they get here. We only give them enough for the bus fair, and a single night at the local hotel. The rest is up to them."

So this was the new Norwegian policy towards asylum seekers, thought Bjorn to himself, shocked to hear that people were completely left to their own devices in this terribly hostile environment, where a night sleeping rough on the streets would see you dead before dawn.

The officer turned to a colleague, asking him to call the Neiden checkpoint to pick up Bjorn. Then he turned back to Bjorn again, explaining that the company taking care of the asylum seekers have promised to arrange shelter and food in return for non-interference by the authorities.

"We do go into Lundby to check on the conditions from time to time. And so far, everything seems to be in order," the officer continued, noting that Bjorn was still quite stunned to learn the cold hard reality of the country´s new policy towards asylum seekers.

Trond excused himself, heading over to an approaching car. "I´ll let you know when your colleague arrives. Feel free to sit down in the office, or walk around as you please."

4

The ferry passed through a narrow straight, only a few hundred metres wide, before entering a wider and more open landscape. The mountains that had come progressively closer together, pulled back, revealing a port on the south shore, and a small cluster of houses on a low hill protruding into the fjord some distance further up.

Everything looked small in the grand landscape, but the port turned out to be quite a lot bigger than Bjorn had imagined. It was equipped to handle at least two ships simultaneously, with one part of the port dedicated to handling iron ore, and another part equipped with a large crane that could be used to unload containers.

It struck Bjorn as a bit strange to have a big crane on a port that had iron ore as its only export. However, considering how isolated the port was, it probably made sense to have a crane capable of unloading whatever machinery the mine might require directly from a ship rather than to have such equipment delivered in parts through alternative routes, and Bjorn let the thought rest with this as he proceeded to look for other land marks and tell tale signs of his future residence.

Bjorn was scrutinizing the hills to the south of the village for any sign of the check point where he would be spending the next few months when he was interrupted in his thoughts by the ticket controller.

"Is this your first trip to Lundby?" the man asked as he punched the ticket that Bjorn handed over to him.
"It is," Bjorn confirmed with a thoughtful nod.
"Are you planning to spend any time in the village?"
"No."
"Really?"
"No. I´m going to stay at the check point over at the road to Neiden."
"And never enter the village?"
"I wasn´t planning to. Why?"
"Well. It has some nice places to visit."
"Like what?"
"Like restaurants and night clubs and stuff."
"Night clubs? In Lundby?"
"Well. Only one."
"Lundby has a night club?"
"It does. It is not a bad place."
"You mean to say that Lundby, which was completely abandoned until just a few months ago, has a night scene with restaurants and a night club, and stuff like that?"
"It sure does. You should check it out."

Bjorn was stunned. This was very unexpected. No one had mentioned anything about restaurants and the like in Lundby, and he had thought of the place as a prison camp more than anything else. Yet, here he was talking to one with local knowledge, basically claiming that the place is an entertaining place to visit. Bjorn was tempted to have the woman sitting up front confirm what the man was saying, but seeing that she was still completely absorbed by her book, he simply told the man that he might consider checking the place out one day.

"Make sure you have some tokens if you do. Most of the places only accept Gram."
"Gram?"
"Yeah. They are like casino tokens. They serve as money in most of the places."
"Really?"
"All the places are basically owned by this one guy who owns the casino, and he insists on using the so called Gram tokens as money."
"So there is a casino in Lundby too?"
"Well. That´s the name of the night club."
"Oh. I see. Well. I´ll get some tokens when I need them."
"They are the cheapest if you buy them over there" said the man, pointing to a vending machine over by the stair well.

So this was what the man had been driving at all along, thought Bjorn with a smile as he thanked him for letting him know about the casino tokens. It was all a sales pitch for using the vending machine. A sales pitch that Bjorn chose to ignore.