Loveless

The gears creaked and steam shot from a crease in the fumigation pipe. Men dressed in dull gray jumpsuits pushed 2 large bins up to the top of the conveyor. Aside from some dim lighting, only the red glow of the foundry on the far end offered enough light for the artificers to do their work. In the shadows high above, a thin woman dressed in a tight suit with a black jacket stood on a catwalk, megaphone in her left hand.

“Let’s go, cycle 3 starts now. Artificers to your posts.” The ominous voice of the unseen woman echoed across the manufactorum.

Men and women, all dressed in identical jumpsuits, moved towards marked positions along the conveyor. Allie wiped the sweat from her brow, and took her place along the ninth row. Butterflies filled her stomach, but it was not fear. At least, not this time. For today was Tuesday, the day she waited for all week.

The bins tipped over and out onto the conveyor fell a pile of artifacts, heirlooms, and rubbish. Two men at the front of the conveyor, one with a beard and the other clean shaven, spread the debris out, making it easier to sort through, while also removing obvious contraband from the litter, such as family photographs and hand written love letters.

“Unbelievable,” said the bearded man, picking up the family photo. “These children have smiles on their faces. Talk about bad parenting.”

“Be careful,” said the other man. “Don’t look at it for too long, smiling is contagious.”

“Ah, sorry.” The bearded man quickly threw the photo onto a small conveyor, where it was whisked towards the furnace.

Allie winced at their conversation, but then smiled when she saw the debris moving up the conveyor towards her.

“Are you alright?” a man across from her asked.

As she realized she was smiling, Allie quickly suppressed it. “I’m fine, Thom.”

“It’s insidious.” Thom scowled. “Just when you think we’ve built up an immunity, it still finds a way to infect us.”

“I just try to keep in mind that this is one of the most important jobs in this city,” Allie recited. “It takes strong people of character to sort through these wicked things from the past.”

“It also takes a strong woman to be an Agent of Charity, have you ever thought about becoming one of those?” asked Thom.

Allie looked down the conveyor. The scraps could not arrive soon enough. “I don’t like the idea of being paired with someone I don’t know.”

“The offspring would be genetically sufficient, I’m sure. You’re quite well proportioned.” A sly look came across Thom’s face, and Allie shivered.

“Apparently not,” said Allie. “My doctor told me I have an anomaly, my body might produce too much dopamine.”

“Oh, I see,” said Thom. “My Charitable is just great. Pleasant, and demure.”

Allie grabbed her left elbow and turned away slightly.

Thom grew red in the face. “And I did not know a woman could be so symmetrical.”

The left corner of Allie’s mouth slumped. “I didn’t realize you had joined The Charity? Did you score high on an intelligence test or something?”

“Well it certainly wasn’t because of my biology.” Thom chuckled softly, then pressed his lips and looked around to make sure that no one had noticed. Thom tried to change the subject. “What did you do before The Great Despondency?”

“I was a musician,” Allie said. “Well, sort of. I restored old music.”

Thom scrunched his face. “Old music?”

The first piece of rubbish arrived, a small wooden toy car, and Allie exhaled a sigh of relief. She grabbed it quickly and scanned the barcode to stop Thom from conversing further. The object came up on her tablet. Allie confirmed that the picture matched the object, and saw it had been classified as a high risk contaminant. A note read. “Urgent Destruction.”

“We have a priority one, here,” Allie called out.

“Already?” Thom stepped back from his side of the conveyor. The conveyor slowed to a halt.

“Row Nine, Section C. You are Allison Walker?” came a voice from behind.

Allie turned to see a figure looming and she jumped back. “Oh, yes, that’s right, sir. I don’t believe that we’ve met, but, and I mean no offense, it’s always hard to tell.”

“None taken.” He was quite tall, and dressed in a white business suit with gold trim. An ornamental silk scarf tied around his eyes made it clear to everyone which Agency he worked for, The Inquisitors.

“This came up as urgent, Mr-” Allie paused coyly, hoping to appear friendly.

“Doctor,” he emphasized, “Mathis.”

“We follow all the procedures here, Dr. Mathis.” Thom clasped his hands together. “I watched her closely, there was no eye or skin contact with the object.”

“Thank you.” Dr. Mathis pulled a plastic bag from an inner pocket and shook it once to open it. Written in red were clear instructions that once sealed, the bag should not be reopened, and the contents were to be promptly incinerated.

Allie dropped the toy into the bag. “Do you need anything else from me?”

“How have you been feeling?” asked Dr. Mathis. “Do you feel the need for a cleanse therapy?”

“No sir, I have everything under control.” Allie grew stiff.

Dr. Mathis sealed the bag, and walked off into the shadows. Despite his white robes, he seemed to fade into the darkness and disappear after moving only a few feet away.

Allie sighed. She could not believe her bad luck today. Today was supposed to be a good day. The conveyor began to move once more. She looked down the line in anticipation. She sorted through some of the items, but left most of them for Thom to handle. She only had one thing on her mind.

“Where is it?” Allie mumbled to herself.

“Where is what?” Thom raised an eyebrow.

Allie shifted her weight, deciding if she should answer the question. “There was an object that was supposed to be in today’s contraband, a locket.”

“A locket?” asked Thom. “How did you know it would be in today’s pile?”

“Well, it’s Tuesday, and-” Allie caught herself being too forward once again.

Thom pursed his lower lip suspiciously.

“It was processed incorrectly before,” Allie stuttered. “It should be coming through again today.”

“I haven’t seen anything like that,” said Thom.

“Walker,” a voice called from the abyss above. “Allison Walker, to the foreman at once.”

Allie’s heart dropped. The locket was nowhere to be found. This was the end of the road, she had been found out.

“Good luck.” Thom raised an eyebrow, then continued scanning some kind of small painting.

Allie barely heard him, and walked into the darkness without responding. Her heart beat out of her chest with each footstep. She made her way to the flimsy metal ladder, and climbed with shaky hands. High above the manufactorum, she felt dizzy looking down on the mounds of various contraband. The furnace at the far end brightened as various artwork, photos, toys, and musical instruments were carelessly tossed in. As Allie approached with shaky feet, the silhouette of the foreman stood illuminated in red light.

“Do you know Lauren Bridges?” asked the foreman. “She’s an agent at the processing office.”

“Lauren?” Allie stammered. Lauren, the only person Allie had ever felt feelings for. Wicked feelings. But they had been so careful. Clearly not careful enough.

“Unfortunately, there’s been an incident.” The foreman sighed. “And we’re just trying to get to the bottom of it.”

“How-” Allie’s throat was dry. “How can I help?”

“Have you seen this object before?” came a familiar voice from behind. Allie’s face grew pale and clammy as she turned to see Dr. Mathis standing behind her. He held a clear plastic bag containing one object. The heart shaped locket.

“I believe you met the Inquisitor earlier today?” asked the foreman. “This is his investigation.”

“Have you seen this?” he repeated.

“I, well, I’m not sure.” Allie tried to force out some words. “What does this have to do with Lauren?”

Dr. Mathis frowned. “We have evidence that Ms. Bridges has been contaminated.”

“Very distressing,” said the foreman.

“What sort of evidence?” Allie tightened her legs to keep her knees from shaking.

“It would appear that this locket was being used to send messages to someone in this manufactorum,” said the foreman.

“No need to mince words.” Dr. Mathis sneered. “Heinous love notes.”

Allie stood speechless. They knew all of this, but rather than take her away and be done with it, they had decided to torture her, like a cat that had cornered a mouse.

“So I’m sure you understand the seriousness of this,” said the foreman.

“To become contaminated is one thing,” said Dr. Mathis. “But to attempt to contaminate others as well, it is repugnant.”

Allie’s eyes dropped in defeat. “What will happen now?”

“Well, he will need to be quarantined and purged.”

She looked up at the inquisitor and then back at the foreman. “He?”

The foreman pulled down the corners of her mouth. “We believe these love notes were directed at Thom.”

Dr. Mathis crossed his arms. “We’ve known for some time that Thom has issues with lust. It would appear that this locket held recorded messages to someone. At Row Nine, section C, the locket would be marked for reprocessing, and sent back to Ms. Bridges, where she would record a new love note and send it back to Row Nine. After several cycles of this, it caught our attention, and we were able to play back part of the latest message. The only thing of relevance were the unspeakable 3 words.”

The foreman gasped.

“Thom does have those issues, said Allie.” He’s expressed interest in me a few times now.” It wasn’t a lie.

“Would you be willing to state that on the record?” asked Dr. Mathis.

Allie paused. The locket did not have anything to do with Thom. But she only cared about one thing right now. “What about Lauren?”

“What of her?” asked Mathis.

“Could Thom be the source of the contamination?” Allie suppressed a smirk. “It doesn’t sound like Lauren to initiate something like that. And Thom had those unsavory urges, yes? You said so yourself.”

“Lauren was a good agent. I was pretty shocked to learn about this.” Dr. Mathis paused. “We will investigate all possibilities before making our decision.”

“So, am I done here?” asked Allie.

“Not yet,” said Mathis. “I have one more task for you.”

Allie turned back towards Mathis.

“We can’t dispose of this through the normal process in case it ends up in Thom’s hands. These are very serious matters, we would like to limit exposure to other artificers. Since you’re already involved, would you be capable of disposing of this personally?”

Allie froze. “Of course.”

Dr. Mathis handed Allie the bag and walked off with the foreman.

Allie, now alone, carefully took the locket from the bag. She pressed her thumb against it, feeling the recently formed impressions, decoding the final message meant for her.

“As long as you live on, my love, I may be at peace.”

Tears formed at the corners of Allie’s eyes. She quickly wiped them, knowing that she would be unable to fulfill Lauren’s wishes if anyone saw her become emotional. But the salty flow continued to stream down her face. She scanned the locket one final time, and marked it for elimination. Placed on the conveyor, the locket moved towards the red hue of the furnace.

She would live on, as now there was no more need for Allie to be purged. Never to hear from Lauren again, not even allowed to retain a keepsake, there was nothing left but pain. Lauren would be buried in Allie’s mind, in a black box never to be opened again. This was, of course, what The Agency desired for all of its citizens. To learn that love brings nothing but pain.