'You're thinner than when I saw you a month ago.'

'I only get paid when my controllers go into service, and…'

'But you're the hardest worker in the entire manufactory, Tiaan, and the cleverest.'

She looked down at her boots, unable to reply to the compliment. 'My last three controllers failed after they left the manufactory, Joe. Two clankers were lost, and their operators. Twenty soldiers are dead.' Her chest was heaving in agitation.

He regarded her steadily. 'Doesn't mean it's your fault.'

'They were my controllers. Of course it's my fault.'

'Then you'd better find out what's gone wrong.'

'I don't even know where to start.'

'Well, you still have to eat.'

'I only take the basic ration,' she muttered. 'I'm saving to buy out my indenture. I'll have enough in two more years.'

'But you'll stay at the manufactory after you do. It's not going to change your life. What's the hurry?'

'I want to be free! I want to choose to be at the manufactory, rather than being forced to work here because my mother signed my life away when I was six!' There was a stubborn set to her jaw, an angry light in her eye.

Tiaan was indentured until the age of twenty-five, and until then was the property of the manufactory. If she failed at her work, or for any other fit and proper reason, the overseer could sell her indenture to whomever he chose, and there was nothing Tiaan could do about it. Gi-Had was neither cruel nor vindictive, but he was a hard man. He had to be.

The only way out was for her to become crafter, effectively the master controller-maker. In that case her indenture would be cancelled and she would be part of the committee of the manufactory, a position of honour and influence. But that was just a dream. The crafter had to do much more than be good at her trade. Artisans were notoriously tricky to manage and she was not good with people.