Welcome to another edition of SciFi Fantasy Saturday - our little web-ring of fab SciFi & Fantasy writers and posters. Check out snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.comThis Week: Posting from my WiP "The Girls From Alcyone II: Freelancer."
Continuing from last week's snippet: Sigrid has just infiltrated the grounds of a factory complex on Bellatrix on a mission for her mistress, the Lady Hitomi Kimura.
The factory was just like any of the thousands of other manufacturing centers found on any planet in the Federation. Little more than forced-labor camps, these corporate-compounds were totally enclosed communities. The workers would be housed in company billets, shop at company stores, consume the company's goods. All paid for, of course, with the company's own corporate currency, ensuring the workers would never free themselves of their indebtedness.
Sigrid knew, once employed, it was highly unlikely the working-population would ever see the outside of the walls again. She also knew how easily she might have ended up in such a facility, had the Lady Hitomi not found her.
These places were ugly, bleak and thoroughly depressing. Sigrid was eager to be rid of it.
Sigrid would need an army to take out a forced-labor camp.
ReplyDeleteWhat am I saying? She IS an army!
I don't know about army - but definitely at least a battalion.
DeleteHopefully she breaks them out...but the problem is, where would they go from there, with no job and no money?
ReplyDeleteThat place sounds very ugly... Should she free them, it would be interesting to see how they respond. Have they been conditioned to that lifestyle for too long? Will they WANT to be free?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could be surer we weren't heading in that direction.
ReplyDeleteWe're already there, unfortunately. These places do exist.
DeleteDefinitely sounds like a bleak existence. I'm glad she got out.
ReplyDeleteUgh...strangely enough, this reminded me of the semi-boarding school I went to when I was in Brazil. Very restricted and regimented. Great snippet. I'm not worried, Sigrid will save the day!
ReplyDeleteA very grey, cold description here. The foreboding tone comes across very well. I feel like Sigrid will come through, but I think an obstacle is coming.
ReplyDeleteThe description reminded me of the coal patch villages that thrived during the turn of the century and the Company Stores they were centered around. Cool stuff and I'd like to check out more.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Pittsburgh, I'm all too familiar with the history of company towns... great description of the never-ending loop they caught workers in.
ReplyDelete