Shaping Faith: Chapter 12

At the very next meeting Analia attended, Egrand announced that the church would be organizing a protest in downtown Aerean, near a government base. He encouraged everyone to come, but the gleam in his eye as he looked around at them brought a disquieting tone to his encouragement. Dumbfounded, Analia realized that they were moving even faster than she had thought. She tried to catch Sue’s eye, but the woman was sitting almost directly behind her and Analia didn’t want to make it obvious she was turning around.

Afterwards, Sue invited Analia to walk home with her. Walking down the sidewalk next to the mag-lev streets, she confided her worries to the older woman. Protests were dangerous – they could turn violent so quickly.

“And,” she said, raising her voice to be heard as a car shot past “what about my job? I can’t go out protesting and then expect them to let me dust for fingerprints, let alone be an officer.”

“I think you should talk to Teacher Egrand about it,” Sue said. “Because you’re right – they won’t take someone who’s ‘anti-government’, and it’s not fair to ask you to jeopardize your future. But I’m sure he can find a way for you to help.”

Somehow, Analia didn’t think he would sympathize with her concerns. She folded her arms. “Like what? I’m not even sure I want to do anything anyway. There are plenty of people helping already, and they don’t need to worry about their jobs.”

Silence stretched between them as Sue considered Analia’s words. She turned right at the next street, catching Analia by surprise. That wasn’t the way to Sue’s house.

“What are you doing?” she asked, hurrying to catch up.

“I want to show you something,” Sue said. “Have you ever been to one of the factories Teacher Egrand was talking about?”

Analia shook her head. That was Verona’s area of expertise.

“I’ll give you a tour, then.”

The factory wasn’t far. After only a few minutes of walking, it loomed over them, easily twenty stories, an old whitewashed building. It didn’t exactly look like the place was open for tours.

Its only humanizing feature was a young boy who sat with his back against the old brick wall, tapping away on a primitive tablet, a backpack on the ground beside him. He was at least two years past the age for the basic holovision implants, but Analia couldn’t see any glinting off the corners of his eyes.

She crouched down next to the boy. “Hey there. Are you waiting for someone?”

The boy looked at her apprehensively, but nodded. “My mum. She works here.”

Sue appeared behind them. “Shouldn’t you be in school?” she asked.

“Got out already.”

“Do you wait here every day? Why not just go home?” Analia asked.

He shrugged thin shoulders. “I’d rather be here.”

“What about in the winter?” Aerean wasn’t an equatorial city – though it rarely snowed, winters were often cold.

“What about winter?” He was getting more uncomfortable now, glancing from Analia and Sue to his tablet and back.

“Never mind,” Sue said, motioning to Analia to leave him. She rose reluctantly, glancing over her shoulder at his small frame, bent over his work once more.

“What are we doing here?” she demanded. “I don’t think they do tours.”

“You’ll see.” Sue led her to a small side door and knocked. Analia hung back, sure they weren’t supposed to be here. How was Sue going to get them in?

The door opened, and Sue exchanged a few words with the large, burly man standing behind it. He wore a security uniform, and despite the few wisps of white hair on his head, his massive figure was intimidating. Analia held her breath. Surely he was going to tell them to get lost.

To her great astonishment, he stood back and let Sue in, then beckoned to Analia. She came inside and stared at Sue. “How come we’re allowed in?”

“This is my brother, Ovil,” Sue explained. “He’s one of the head guards here.”

“Well, he’s not doing a very good job of guarding, then, letting us in.” The comment sprang unbidden to her lips.

Ovil laughed, and the wrinkles that creased his face made him look less like a bodyguard and more like a grandfather who happened to lift weights. “That’s true. You really shouldn’t be here. But it’s been a boring day, and nobody’s going to come along for a while. To what do I owe this visit?”

Sue shrugged as if it was no big deal. “I just wanted to show Analia here around the place. She’s never seen one of these before.”

Worry crept into the old man’s eyes. “You won’t walk out of here easily. Moving around like that, with all the guards, no way you won’t be seen. I’d be out of a job soon enough.”

“At least let her see the main room,” Sue pressed. “Where all the workers are.”

“All right, then,” he said. “But only if you’re quick. Shift ends in three minutes. It’s up those stairs and right down the hallway.”

He followed a few feet behind. The stairwell took them up a story and deposited them into a windowed hallway. The window in question was long and narrow, running almost the entire length of the room on the other side.

“Have a look,” Sue gestured. Analia peered over the windowsill at the mess of color below.

Rows upon rows of conveyer belts crossed the room, and packed densely on either side were workers, sitting hunched together. They were Shaping unbelievably fast, a new product warping into form every twenty seconds or so, only to be swept away by the conveyer belt. It looked like the highest form of tediousness. After a few hours, they probably knew the design by heart. Such a waste of skill.

“Their shifts are four hours each,” Sue said.

Analia spun around. “You’re kidding! That’s at least a minute in the Room per item – it’s like they’re working a twelve-hour shift. Nobody could survive that.”

“You build up the stamina after a while,” said Ovil, turning away from the window. “Damn, I hate watching them work. Bad memories.”

“How did you get out?” Analia asked.

Ovil shrugged. “Worked hard, got promoted. It happens occasionally.”

She had fixated on one of the workers, a small, slight woman with short black hair. It was hard to make out features at this distance, but her face seemed sunken and her frame abnormally thin. She wondered if that was the boy’s mother.

Sue followed Analia’s gaze. “That would have been Verona, you know.”

“No it wouldn’t have!” said Analia. “She was going to open a business – she would have made it work.” Analia was sick of people telling Verona to get a ‘real’ degree.

“No, I actually meant it’s what she would probably end up doing in prison,” Sue said. “That’s the labor they do in the penal colonies.”

“Oh…” said Analia, turning back to the windowsill.

Beside her, Ovil stiffened suddenly. A question died on Analia’s lips as she realized she could hear footsteps in the distance.

“It’s the shift change,” Ovil hissed. “Go, quickly!” He shoved them back the way they came.

“But they’re coming from back there!” Analia whispered.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to let us in,” Sue said anxiously.

“We need another exit,” Analia said.

“This way.” Ovil led them down the hallway to another stairwell. “Go down these stairs and take the first right – it should lead back to the door you came in. You shouldn’t hear anyone, but if you do, just hide.”

“But what are you going to do?” Sue asked.

“I’ll distract them. Just go!”

They hurried down the steps and along another smooth hallway, emerging into familiar territory. As they approached the door, they heard voices echoing down the hallway, but they managed to slip outside before they were seen.

“What was all that about?” Analia demanded once they were a safe distance away.

“You know perfectly well,” Sue said.

Analia couldn’t bring herself to feel indignant. “You’re right,” she said, the image of the young boy imprinted upon her mind’s eye. “This has got to stop. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”