Shadow of the Factorum: The Interview

by K. A. Trent

  “The Factorum is just a place where males can go to work,” I nodded. I hoped I was selling it. “We just... made things and we had a place to live. I wouldn’t have... had a place to live without it.”

  “Another question,” The girl said. “If that’s true, how is it that you’ve been there for your entire life, and you seem to have no parents, no family. I guess I’m just confused. If it’s a job opportunity, why are there children working there?”

  “Astra was--” Callie began to speak, but she was quickly cut off by the woman.

  “We’re all here to hear from the girl herself,” she pointed to me. “So why don’t we let the girl speak?”

  I tried desperately to think of something; I searched my brain, trying to remember all of the books that Kerra had allowed me to read. News articles, fiction, biography, something. Something had to give me a clue as to what I should be saying.

  “I... was brought here-- I mean, to the Factorum-- by my father.” I surveyed the room, trying to get a feel for their reactions. Did they believe me? “He-- he died of the... Pernarian flu. I-- I was raised in the Factorum; I would have been... a lot worse off if--”

  “Astra is one of several children that inhabit the Factorum,” Callie quickly picked up on my lie, furthering it with her own interpretation. “Unfortunately parents die, either from tragic accidents or illness. We do what we can to take care of them. Yes, males are not allowed on Ereen outside the Factorum, but we are not without compassion by any stretch of the imagination. We provide them the best medical care, adequate living facilities, everything they need to live a full life inside the Factorum whether they come alone or bring their families.”

  “When you say families,” the girl continued, “You mean there are also women living inside the Factorum?”

  “Yes,” Callie nodded. “As the advertising media has stated countless times, full families often move into the Factorum from offworld; any women are permitted to leave and explore the surrounding area on a pass.”

  “Then what happened to Astra’s mother?”

  “We don’t have that information,” Callie said quickly. “But, we do need to move on to the next question.”

  I looked at the girl in the back; her eyes were still locked on mine. She didn’t believe a word we’d said-- I could sense it-- but what could we do? The rest of the room seemed to have bought it, perhaps because they wanted to, perhaps because they didn’t know any better.

  The questions went on for what I guessed was another hour before finally, Callie called the sessions to a close and I was escorted numbly off the stage. Callie sat me down in a chair and wandered off while I tried to process everything that had just happened. Did I do well? Did they like me? I couldn’t help but think they didn’t like me. I laid back and closed my eyes, trying to process at least some of the evening. A hundred different interactions swam through my head; things that I had done wrong, things that I could have done so much better.

  "Did you have fun?" Kerra asked me. I opened my eyes and looked up at her. I quickly scrambled to my feet, placing my hands at my sides.

  "Yes Ma'am," I replied breathlessly.

  "Did you really have fun?"

  "I--"

  "Right," She smirked. "You'll get some rest when we get back. Tomorrow we have more physical fitness. You're fast, but you're not strong. Maybe it's time to work on that. Build those muscles for when you go back home-- underground, that is."

  My expression fell, and she laughed. I was beginning to understand that no matter how good things got, they were always temporary, and anything could be taken away.

  “Wait here while I pull the car around,” Kerra pointed to a spot on the porch, just outside the doors of the Elv. She walked down the steps and disappeared down the sidewalk.

  Once again I surveyed the people walking by, small groups now mostly; all of them dressed differently, some alone, some in groups of three to four, perhaps five. They were all happier than me; they were all just living their lives and I wanted desperately to be like them. What was it like to just be out on the town with your friends? Worrying only about work the next day, thinking about some show on the holoscreen? What was it like to have friends?

  I felt that their problems were so insignificant compared to mine and for the first time I was really starting to understand why the Factorum would be so hated. I realized why I should dislike being there. Starved of love, deprived of self. Even under Kerra’s lash, I was who I was supposed to be and at least the thought of that made me smile.

  “Hey,” Callie stepped onto the porch beside me. “You did well in there. I’m proud of you.”

  “Callie, I don’t want to go back,” I blurted out. “I can’t go back.”

  “Of course not, honey,” she said, almost laughing. “You’re definitely a girl, everything about you screams ‘girl’. Who would send you back now?”

  “Thank you Callie,” It was the only thing I could think of to say. She patted me on the shoulder.

  “I’ll come see you soon,” she promised before she disappeared back into the Elv.

  Kerra drove the car around and I watched as it hovered into place before coming to a complete stop in front of me. I descended the steps carefully, careful to control my strides and ensure that I walked in a ‘feminine’ manner. I was very, very aware of her eyes on me as I made my way to the car. As I approached, the passenger side door slid aside, allowing me to climb in, straighten my skirt, and fold my hands across my lap. We rode in silence from the Elv and back in the direction of the government-controlled campus. We crossed the bridge across the crystal clear waters, passing a checkpoint and arriving in a controlled parking lot.

  “Out,” Kerra pointed to my door as it opened. She quickly met me on the other side of the car, taking my hand in hers and leading me away, across the hardcrete and past a line of other parked vehicles. “You would do well to remember that story you told, and stick to it. Take your shoes off.”

  “Yes Ma’am,” I nodded. I held my skirt while we walked down a set of metal steps, winding down toward the bottom level of the parking structure.

  “Hurry it up,” she snapped, quickening her pace. I tried my best to keep a handle on the hem of my dress and the shoes in my other hand as I followed her down a ramp and into the underground tram platform. The setting sun glared down softly as we vanished.

  The tram pulled up shortly after we arrived and was relatively empty. Kerra stood and held onto the overhead rail. I tried to do the same, but she directed me to sit down.

  “When we get back to the room,” Kerra told me after the tram had come to a stop and we were well on our way back. “Take that dress off, hang it up, and change into your training outfit.”

  “I-- I thought we were going to sleep,” I stammered. “I’m kind of tired-”

  Kerra’s hand slammed hard across my face. I yelped and staggered backward, the heels falling from my hands and thudding against the floor.

  “Have you learned nothing over the last few days?” She glared down at me as I pressed my back against the wall. “Pick the shoes up, let’s go.”

  "I know you're eager to go to bed," Kerra told me as we walked into the training room. "But you looked far too arrogant today. It's time to take you down a few notches."

  I watched, horrified as she punched a few commands into her tablet and the room around us changed. The force fields engaged, and the primitive objects rose silently from the floor. I watched in awe once again as they came together with pinpoint precision to form the obstacle course from just a few days ago. As it all came together, I felt the fatigue in my body begin to take over; there was no way I could run this course right now.

  "Look at you," she laughed. "All tuckered out from your little party? I don't care how tired you are, I don't care if you cry or beg, you're going to run this course. Last time you did it in forty seconds-- this time you're going to shave ten seconds off. Or, if you want to be a crybaby around it, I can grab one of the correction rods and we co
uld have a little bit of fun on the ground. Your choice."

  I looked nervously from her, to the course in front of me; the first leg was already a disaster; I would have to climb the vertical wall, scramble to the top, and then walk the balance beam across the pit. I didn't even know what would happen if I fell from that height; were there safeties in place to keep me from getting hurt? Would my bones shatter? There was no way to know.

  "Okay," she shrugged. "I'll be right back."

  "No wait!" I cried out. She stopped. "Okay, please, I'll do it, please don't... hurt me."

  "Okay, go," she pointed to the wall, exasperated. I swallowed, trying to overcome the fatigue, and took a running start. I reached the wall and started by digging in with my right foot, pressing the sole of my shoe against the simulated metal and propelling myself upward. It was an effort, but I did it. I pushed myself to the top of the wall and found myself wheezing by the time I reached the precipice. It wasn't just physical exhaustion that was tearing at me; it was so many other things. The fear of failure, the memory of all the botched conversations I'd had with all of those women, some of whom could decide my fate. I wanted to sit down, I wanted to think, I wanted to stew, but Kerra wasn't having it. As I hesitated at the opening I heard her shout from the ground: "I don't see any movement up there!"

  I ducked down and dragged myself into the duct, squinting as I went, aware of every single handfall, every push of my feet. Emerging on the other side once again, I rushed across the balance beam and continued the course. Through more ducts, up walls, and across gaps, I finally emerged on the other side and collapsed near Kerra who was staring at her wristband.

  “A minute and ten,” she said disapprovingly, almost threateningly. “Useless, get up and do it again.”

  I stood and rushed back to the beginning, my hair flowing behind me while strands in the front had adhered themselves to my head through perspiration. Reaching the wall again, I propelled myself upward, a little faster this time. Maybe if I did what she wanted, cut my time down just a little, she would let me sleep. I rushed through again, only to have her shake her head at me again.

  “A minute,” she said. “You did it in forty seconds the first time. What’s wrong with you?”

  “I’m sorry,” I gasped.

  “You will be,” she growled, making a move toward me. I ran back to the beginning. I ran the course again, and again, and again, never quite making the thirty seconds she wanted, but I memorized every single crossbeam, every platform, every pit, and every climbing wall of the untextured, artificial maze. On the final run I collapsed onto the ground, barely able to move, my muscles burning. Every single motion brought me nothing but pain. I lay on the floor in a pile, my mind just a consciousness in a burning pile of flesh, adhered to the ground, barely existing. She walked around me, staring down at my barely conscious body. She vanished for a moment; I’m not sure how long she was gone, but when she returned she attached a pair of cuffs to my wrists, metal, smooth, though not heavy. “Get up.”

  I didn’t want to, I felt like I couldn’t, but my body responded automatically to her commands. Once I managed to regain my feet, she stood beside me and moved into an odd position, one leg out front and bent, the other stretched out behind her.

  “Do this,” she said, “Keep your arms at your sides. Then move your back leg out like this, replace your front leg with your back, keep it up until you reach the other side of the room.”

  She was insane-- the room was at least half a mile long. She poked a few controls on her tablet and the structure beside us vanished, leaving only the bare floor.

  “I’m going to adjust your arm cuffs to add five pounds of weight. You should be able to handle it, and I’m not going to add any more. Come on, get started.”

  She pressed another button on her tablet and I felt my arms drop.

  “Hold them up,” she told me. “Keep your wrists at hip level, then move forward just like I told you.”

  She did it with me. We worked our way across the room-- my legs were burning, my eyes stung with sweat. I couldn’t do it. I made it halfway there, and then simply crumpled onto the floor.

  Now it really was over. I couldn’t move even if she demanded it. I was finished; my muscles refused to respond and even my fingers wouldn’t flinch. I felt her kneel down beside me, I could feel the swish of fabric as she crouched down close to my head. Her fingers brushed my hair aside, and I flicked my eyes in her direction.

  “Let me tell you a secret,” she said, smiling. “You’re fast-- really, really fast-- but being fast doesn’t mean much if you can’t be fast all the time. You’re tired? Too bad, you need to be able to run. You need to be able to climb. You can’t just say, ‘Oh I’m too tired.’ You can’t say ‘Let me take a nap first.’ You give up, and you’re dead. Remember that. Tomorrow we’re going to try again, and this time you’re going to keep yourself off the floor.”

  Chapter 11

  I opened my eyes groggily, peeling them back with an extreme amount of effort. My face was buried in the mattress, the pillow cast aside sometime during the night. I could feel sweat all around me, the blankets soaked, my stench emanating throughout the room. The overhead lights were off, but the dim green lights running along the floor were active, giving the concrete room an eerie glow. I could see her sitting there, beside my bed, her legs curled up and touching her chest. Long hair draped over slender shoulders, her face partially obscured in shadow. She noticed me, her eyes flicked over briefly and she gave me a solemn stare.

  “Does it hurt?” she asked me. I didn’t answer. I didn’t know if it still hurt or not; I couldn’t bring myself to move. “You know why it hurts, right? When you exert yourself like that, you tear your muscles. They’re made of hundreds of thousands of tiny fibers, and when you tear them they heal back together stronger than before. That’s how muscle is built. See, you have to destroy it to make it stronger. It’s the same with everything really, Astra; you don’t get stronger when you succeed-- you get stronger when you fail, when you’re torn down, when there’s nothing left, and it’s up to you to put yourself back together.”

  She set her legs down on the floor and pushed herself up off the chair. She was wearing that skin-tight outfit, the one for exercise. We were about to do it again.

  “Up,” she said to me, kind of softly this time. “I want to show you something.”

  I peeled the blanket back and forced myself to move. A dull pain ran through my arms and legs, but it wasn’t unbearable.

  “Look,” she showed me her tablet screen as I teetered on the edge of the mattress. A few days ago I would have had no clue what I was looking at, but now I would recognize the obstacle course anywhere. It was a rotating cutaway, revealing a number of different rooms. She used her fingers to zoom into one particular area. “This is where you’re losing time. You see how it’s split by those pylons? You’ve been running up the middle and climbing onto the platform on the end; you can save a lot of time by just staying on the angled section and jumping from pylon to pylon. That way, when you reach the end, you can jump onto the platform instead of scrambling up the wall. I can’t believe you weren’t doing that in the first place.”

  “Why are we doing this?” I asked suddenly. She looked at me, an expression of surprise crossing her face.

  “It’s physical fitness,” she said. “You know, because-“

  “Because everyone has to pass a level of fitness to qualify for job placement,” I told her, reciting what I’d read in one of the books she’d given me. “Your ability determines what you qualify for, I know, but why are we doing this?”

  “Look,” Kerra said. “Can you do a hundred sit-ups? Can you do a hundred pushups? Do you think you can run the mile in ten minutes or less?”

  I nodded.

  “Then why would we work on that when you can do something like this? Stop questioning me, and start doing what you’re told. Get changed. We’re doing this.”

  I didn’t have the will or the right to argu
e with her anymore. I changed into my exercise outfit under her watchful eye, and allowed myself to be led once again to the massive gymnasium. She manifested the obstacle course, and I ran it again. This time I was a little better, a little more awake, but I still came in at over forty seconds. I ran it again, and again, and finally followed it up with an exercise routine-- apparently designed by Kerra-- until my muscles ached and throbbed, feeling as though they’d never felt all right in the first place. She wrapped it up with a few stretches and then ordered me to sit on the floor in front of her.

  “Tomorrow,” She said. “You’re going to visit Aeristas, the boarding school. It’s not far from here, and you’re going to need to be on your best behavior. I won’t be coming with you but I will hear about it if you step out of line. If I hear of you talking back, going out of bounds, or disobeying any of the instructors, you’ll pay twofold when we get back here. Is that understood?”

  “Yes Ma’am,” was the only reply I could muster.

  “Good,” she nodded. “I’ve already chosen your outfit. You’ll wear a black skirt and a white top. The same rules apply there as here. You speak when spoken to, you answer direct questions, you smile, you make eye contact. You curtsy, you do as you’re told. If you want to make them happy-- and you do-- then you need to be obedient. Now, in the meantime, you have an appointment. Follow me.”

  Kerra turned on her heel and I stood, whimpering lightly as a bit of pain shot through my muscles. I limped after her, my shoes padding against the floor. As we left the room and made our way to the nearest elevator, I could only conclude that this appointment couldn’t be that important; she didn’t even have me change out of the workout clothes.

  We rode in silence up the long elevator shaft until we reached our floor and finally, after a bit of a walk, we came to a door I recognized: Doctor Fitz’s office. I looked to Kerra questioningly: was my test back? Was this about to be over?

  “This is it for a while,” she told me. “I have to go away for a few days, but I’ve arranged for someone to take care of you.”