Ian Irvine - Geomancer

Irisis had been watching Tiaan for days and, after spying on her latest experiment, went to bed thoughtfully. Woken in the night by the artisan’s screams, she went down to see what the matter was. She stood in the background as the healers talked. Clearly Tiaan was mad with crystal fever. Irisis knew that her chance had come.

Using a master key, Irisis entered Tiaan’s cubicle. The journal told Irisis all she needed to know. She cut out the last page, destroyed it and took the completed controller, as well as another two as yet unfinished. In the workshop she found all the materials she needed. Locking the door, Irisis prepared to work for as long as it took.

Gi-Had had been to see Tiaan five times. He was not satisfied that she had gone mad. Crystal fever was not uncommon among artisans, but no one from this manufactory had had it in twenty years. He sat with the healer, the nurses, and even brought back the old healer, Ruzia, who had retired a decade ago.

‘She’s quite insane,’ Healer Tul-Kin said. His words were slurred, for he had been drinking all day. ‘If she does recover, she’ll never be an artisan again. Not one you can rely on.’

Gi-Had turned to the old healer. She was nearly blind and her head rolled from side to side, but her mind was still keen. ‘I’m afraid he’s right,’ she said in a reedy voice. ‘I don’t see any hope. Once their minds go in this way, they seldom recover.’

‘Curse you all to hell!’ Gi-Had cried. ‘I can’t do without her.’

‘You’ll have to,’ said Ruzia.

They debated the matter for another hour, and finally Gi-Had was swayed. If Tiaan was no use here, she must go where she could still contribute in some way.

At that moment Irisis reappeared and showed him how she had brilliantly solved the problem of the faulty controllers. He examined them carefully, and at last he smiled. One small ray of light in a disastrous day.

‘Thank you, cousin. I’m sorry I doubted you.’

Despite her youth, he offered Irisis the position she so coveted, that of acting crafter at the manufactory. Then Gi-Had signed Tiaan’s indenture over to the breeding factory.

A week and a half went by, during which Tiaan experienced only fleeting moments of lucidity. She saw her mother’s face several times, a mixture of concern and irritation. She vaguely recognised several other women, as well as Tobey, a boy of five, one of her half-brothers. And Joeyn. Twice she woke to find him sitting by her bed, but Tiaan lacked the strength to keep her eyes open. She woke again and found the chair was empty. A woman and a man were talking but she could not turn her head to see who they were.

‘I don’t like it,’ said the man. ‘She’s not supposed to be here.’

‘Crystal fever happens! The papers are in order,’ said the woman. ‘Besides, she’s a virgin. There’s good money to be made and it all goes into our pockets.’

‘But what if …?’

‘Oh, stop whining! She won’t be on the books anyway.’

The voices faded away and Tiaan slept. Sometime later she woke and Joeyn was there.

‘Joeyn?’ she whispered. Her throat burned terribly. ‘What happened?’ She did not recognise the room at all. ‘Did I have another fit?’

‘They say you screamed for twelve hours, as if you were being burned alive.’

‘I don’t remember anything.’ It was all gone, including the dreams. The last she recalled was solving the riddle of the controller and going to bed. Her voice sounded hoarse. ‘I’ve got to get up. There’s work to do.’ Tiaan sat up, realised that she had nothing on, and hastily slid under the covers again.

‘You have to rest and get better.’

‘But I’ve two controllers to fix. No one else can do it. The war …’

‘They’ve been fixed and sent to the front a long time ago.’

‘What?’ She stared at him, uncomprehending. The world seemed to have gone mad.

‘Irisis fixed the controllers while you were … sick,’ Joeyn said as gently as he could.

She clutched at his hand. ‘It can’t be so!’

‘It is so, Tiaan.’

‘Joe, I fixed the first controller before I went to bed last night. If Irisis has done the others, she’s just copied me.’

‘Are you sure?’ He gave her a look that said he doubted her sanity.

‘Of course I’m sure!’ She told him exactly how she had shielded the controller. ‘Irisis hates me. She’s always trying to take the credit. She’d love to see me sent down.’

A spasm crossed his face, one that alarmed her.

‘Where am I?’ She looked around at the unfamiliar room. ‘This isn’t the infirmary.’

‘It’s the sickroom in the breeding factory.’

‘I hadn’t realised that I was that sick …’ She broke off, staring at his craggy face. His eyes shifted as if he could not face her. ‘No!’ she gasped. The very air was choking her. She opened her mouth wide, to scream.

Joeyn slapped her face, just hard enough to bring her to her senses. She broke off.

‘Don’t!’ he said. ‘Or I’ll think you’re mad too.’

‘ That’s why I’ve been sold to the breeding factory? I’m not mad. Yesterday I solved …’

‘Tiaan,’ he said gently, ‘you’ve been here for more than a week, delirious the whole time. Before that, you screamed for half a day without stopping. Little wonder the healers thought your mind had gone. Gi-Had had no choice. The manufactory must have reliable artisans.’

‘Irisis has replaced me ?’ Her voice rose dangerously.

‘Hush! She’s done better than that. By special decree she has been made acting crafter, though she is only twenty-one.’

How Irisis must be gloating. Tiaan wanted to die.

‘I won’t stay here! I’ll never submit to this place. If I can only get to Gi-Had, I’m sure I can convince him …’

‘The deed is done, Tiaan. It can’t be undone. Twice you have had mad fits and two healers have diagnosed you with incurable crystal fever. Gi-Had could not keep you on, even if he wanted to. A mad artisan is worse than none.’

‘But I’m not mad.’

‘People with crystal fever always say that. It’s no use. You are indentured to the breeding factory.’

‘But Gi-Had is a fair man …’

‘He has a manufactory to run and clankers to produce. There’s been a disaster up north, a whole cluster of clankers destroyed in a day.’

‘I heard that …’ Tiaan broke off. She had been going to say ‘yesterday’.

‘You’re a breeding-factory woman now, Tiaan. Artisan Tiaan is gone forever. I’m so sorry.’ There were tears in his eyes.

The door opened. A big woman who could only have been the matron hurried in. ‘Visiting time is over. Say your goodbyes. Tiaan needs her rest. Her first day is coming up !’ She hurried out again.

Only then did the horror fully strike Tiaan. Her work, her life, her very existence had been taken away. All that was left was the profession she despised most in the world. The urge to scream was almost irresistible. She opened her mouth, saw the look on Joeyn’s face and quickly closed it again. ‘I won’t be a woman of the breeding factory, ever !’ she hissed. Only her rage stopped her from collapsing.

‘I don’t see …’ he said doubtfully.

‘I’m not mad. I’ll run away.’

‘In time of war, refusing to do your appointed job is treason.’

‘ Men don’t get sent to breeding factories!’

‘And women aren’t sent to the front-lines to be slaughtered, like my sons,’ he said softly. ‘I did not say it was fair, Tiaan, just that there’s nothing can be done about it.’