"Two Dreams on Trains" by Elizabeth Bear

Elizabeth Bear brings slavery and freedom of spirit together in "Two Dreams on Trains."  The story starts with Patience in a scarrist's shop, getting another tattoo on her hand.  She's "earned two fingers in six months", a sign that she's been studying hard to pay for her son to attend trade school so that they can "get berths outbound."  But her son, Jayve, has other plans.  An artist, he sneaks under a spacelighter and paints graffiti on the underside of the ship to publicize his talent to the world.

The tattoo system that Bear has created causes instant caste recognition.  The color and type of art on a person's hands indicates their position in life, from the clear hands of the free merchants, to the green and red of professionals, to the black of convicted criminals.  Add to the mix a New Orleans now underwater, where buildings are more like boats adrift in the sea, and the story generates a unique look at one possible future.

Like all mothers, Patience wants what's best for Jayve, and like all teens, Jayve lives for the thrill of the moment, without much thought to the consequences of his actions.  Their differences produce the central conflict of the story, a timeless one, but with a new-world twist.

I found Jayve's plight more interesting than his mother's.  When the graffiti takes a long time to complete, the threat of capture looms ever closer.  All the while the rain pounds down, soaking the world in a darkness that never lets up. 

The art by Alexander Gabriel adds an extra level of imagination to the offering.