Interzone 251 by edited by Andy Cox Page B

have needs, and here you are working and living among them? I think we both know you wanted this sort of attention. This is not my concern,” he said. “However, your supervisor, Borrn, asked me to take a second look at your records, said that you were the most skilled of all his workers. I suspect he was trying to sway me to restore to you a man’s share of work credit. Despite that, Borrn seems to be a sensible man, so I checked your records. And what do you know? Your aptitude scores are top of the charts. The Representative delegated to this shit-hole back when you were a kid spotted you playing some sort of ball game in the tunnels and recommended you for aptitude testing, and you scored higher than anyone else. An affinity for machines and an excellent rock-instinct – he put you on the maintenance crew until you hit your majority, and from there you managed to get placed on a mining team. Both are unprecedented assignments, but from what I can tell, ones you entirely earned.”
    He reached out, ran one finger lightly down her abdomen. The One has gifted you with very talented genes,” he said. “We intend to expand that resource. Leor, for all his bluster and crass attitude, is not entirely unskilled, and since you’ve already paired, it would mitigate the stain of sin on you to do so formally. We will credit you both for any living children produced.”
    “No,” she said.
    “I didn’t ask a question. One thousand credit demerit.”
    “No,” she said again. “He nearly killed me.”
    “Two thousand credits. He has been made to understand that the company considers you a valuable asset, and has agreed that he will not commit any further harm to you, except in matters of routine marital discipline, if you submit yourself fully to him as wife. So we’re pairing you.”
    “No,” she said.
    “Four thousand credits demerit,” he said, and stood up, scowling at her. “I think you’re now in negative numbers, yes? And you would still choose to keep this stain on yourself, rather than be wedded to Leor?”
    “I would rather die,” she said.
    “Well.” He stood there contemplating her for a long moment, as she lay on the bench, shivering. “Most men are nothing more than livestock,” he told her, his gaze wandering her body. “You breed them to try to enhance specific talents or desirable qualities – strength, endurance, compliance, not too bright – to make them better workers. Give them the minimal education they need to do their jobs and nothing more, put them to work, provide prostitutes for them to spend their frustration on, and it’s a stable, profitable system. Women aren’t even that much. Women are vessels, with no purpose other than to make the next generation of workers. I am no more concerned about your opinion on how we make use of your body than I would care what a jar thought about whatever I wished to fill it with. Nod if you understand that.”
    She nodded.
    “The only true joy for women is in submission. Now, remember who’s in charge, and how much you have to lose, and do not speak again.”

    ***

    Borrn was waiting for her as the doctor led her out of the clinic, and whatever he saw in her face, he said nothing as he helped her to the cable terminus, got her in a car, and sent her alone back towards Rock 17.
    Mer and Huj were both at the far end, holding onto a terminus post and joking together about something she couldn’t quite hear. When the cable car door opened and they looked her way, whatever it was died on their lips, and they both pushed off and tumbled forward.
    “What happened?” Mer asked, reaching her first.
    She opened her mouth, the pressure of the words to come almost unbearable, and then she remembered the feel of the prostitute’s elbows in her side, the sharp cut of her words. Wordlessly, she propelled herself out of the cable car and past them. Huj reached out, caught her hand. “Fari,” he said. “You can trust us.”
    “Can I?” she asked.