Impossible Dreamers

Chapter 29 (degtwi-fay): Liana's work

So this was a factory. The Barty way of making the things people need. But what were these things? It was impossible to tell, because the people making them only ever saw one bit of a thing, and it didn't look like anything she had ever needed.

This was not like a making-place in Seren-ila, where everyone worked together on bringing something new into the world. In a making-place, you would talk with other people, share ideas, try out different materials to use, look at what someone else was doing and learn from them. There was no hurry to get things done, because things that were made well would last a long time, and it was more important to have good things than to have many things, or to have things quickly.

In Seren-ila, making was part of learning. The youngest, who could, joined in with the making, but also had time to talk and learn without being part of the making. Every day, you had guided learning, with someone who was older and wiser, and with some people of your own age. In fact, everyone had some time to learn, from the youngest to the oldest. In Bartyronis, and the places ruled by Bartyronis, things were different.

Silmoa seemed to know a lot about what happened in Bartyronis. When she spoke to Liana, in the hostel where they now stayed, she told her that Bartyronian young people – children – attended something called 'school'. This was supposed to be a sort of learning place, but this was not like the House of the Green Jewel, or any learning-places in Seren-ila. According to Silmoa, schools were places where Bartyronian children sat in big groups, lined up facing a 'teacher' who told them what they should think or understand. They couldn't put their own ideas, or even ask questions. Teachers asked the questions. They would be tested, and punished when they got things wrong. Punishment. The Barty speciality.

But Grabblers didn't even get schools to go to. Schools were not thought to be useful for them. They just had to work at whatever the Bartys told them to do. Learning would be wasted on Grabblers.

Liana didn't know where Silmoa learned all this about Bartyronis. There had been a few mornings when Liana didn't see her, so maybe she learned about Barty living then. Some other girls also seemed to disappear in the mornings. Liana noticed that they were all girls with paler skin.

Silmoa wasn't in the factory this morning. And yesterday she hadn't wanted to talk to Liana. She insisted on being called by her silly Barty name – Simek. And when she spoke to Liana she called her Ling. Something was happening to Silmoa.

Liana stood beside the moving belt, with the strange objects that hurried before her. To her left she had a pile of metal spikes, and it was her job to attach one of the spikes to each of the grey discs as they passed. It was difficult to keep up. The line moved quickly, and the spike had to be put in precisely the right place on the disc. There was a hole that the spike fitted into, but it wasn't in the centre of the disc. It was towards the edge, and part of the problem was that the discs weren't always exactly the same way round, so you had to look very hard to see where the hole was. Then, when the spike went into the disc it had to be slightly twisted, which took about half a second. By which time the next disc was in front of you. When she started, for the first few hours, she missed about half of the discs, and had a much bigger pile of spikes than she should have. She was sure this would mean that she would be punished, but she didn't yet know how. She would learn.

But now she was beginning to get into the rhythm of doing this. She could see the disc coming, and spot where the hole was positioned. She had to keep spikes in both hands, quickly transferring from right to left as the next disc arrived. She still missed some, but not so many.

But the work was horrible. She had to move so quickly, and it was so boring. Really, she felt just like a part of a big machine, and if the Bartys could have found a way of getting her job done by a piece of metal, she was sure that is what they would do. Her back was tired, and her fingers ached. Soon her eyes seemed unable to focus anywhere apart from on the hole on the disc. The rest of the world disappeared.

Liana blinked to try to restore her vision. In that moment she missed the hole in the next disc, and the spike she was holding fell at her feet. Instinctively, she reached down to pick it up, forgetting about the other discs that were passing by. She watched as the discs without spikes hurried away from her, and stood with her handful of spikes, letting other discs go past, not knowing what she should do. Then she felt a sharp pain in her back, which ran through her whole body. She turned, and saw Silmoa standing with some sort of metal stick, which was pointed at Liana.

'Silmoa...,' Liana began, but as soon as she said the word, Silmoa touched the stick to Liana's arm. Once again Liana felt that sharp pain, which spread quickly from her arm to the rest of her body.

'My name is Simek!' Silmoa said. 'Get on with your work. You will have no money at the end of the week because of your stupid mistakes.'

Silmoa walked away. Liana saw her using the shocking stick on other people. What had happened to her?