To Catch an Urchin was a virtual representation of one of Jacob and Evie Frye's genetic memories, relived by a Helix Initiate in 2015 through the Helix Navigator.
Description[]
Jacob and Evie met with Clara O'Dea. To secure an alliance with her, they agreed to free several child workers from a factory.
Dialogue[]
As Clara and the other children played in an alley, Jacob and Evie walked towards them.
- Evie: What is this place?
- Clara: It's nice to meet you both at last. This is Babylon Alley. Here, we make it our business to know the streets, and provide children with the opportunity to control their own destinies.
- Evie: Clara. Mister Green said we might be able to help one another?
- Clara: In exchange for our services, we ask a small favor.
- Jacob: Well, why not? You seem to have taken most of my money. Why not take a small favor, too?
- Clara: There are several factories about the city that are powered almost entirely by child labor. Those children work long hours, with little pay, and most are not permitted even to leave the factory grounds. They suffer terribly. I need you to save them.
- Jacob: A small favor?
- Clara: In return, we offer you intelligence. Something YOU clearly need.
- Jacob: Now hold on a minute—
- Clara: I'm late for an appointment. What of these terms?
- Evie: We accept.
Clara and Evie shaking hands
Clara and Evie spat into their hands and shook on it.
- Clara: Pleasure doing business with you.
Jacob or Evie made their way to a factory warehouse, where they killed the foreman and freed the child workers. As the children escaped, the Rooks beat up the Blighters guarding the warehouse.
Outcome[]
The children at the factory warehouse were freed, securing an alliance between Clara O'Dea and the Assassins and weakening the Templar grip on Whitechapel.
Behind the scenes[]
The name of the memory is a reference to Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird.
Working conditions in factories run by the Blighters are very exaggerated for 1868, fitting more into the 1840s or '50s. Their illegality is clear from the very restriction of the children's freedom. Child labor was already somewhat constrained by a series of Factory Acts, the last one from August 1867, though the practice was still permitted. Only children over the age of 8 could work, and only for daily eight-hour shifts, as they were required to prove they also received at least 10 hours of education per week.
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