Tare Weight of Caravan Four

The Tare Weight of Caravan Four Efficiency is the only honest sin

The fluorescent light above my left shoulder buzzes at a frequency that feels like a needle in the temple. I am sitting on a metal chair bolted to the floor. The chair is cold. The floor is concrete. The air smells of stale sweat and the metallic tang of old blood that no amount of bleach can remove. I am wearing a grey suit. It fits well. It was tailored before the regime fell. Before the tanks rolled into the capital. Before the word “citizen” was replaced by the word “asset.”

You ask me about morality. You ask me about the cargo. You look at me with eyes that are wet with the expectation of a confession. You want me to say that I knew. You want me to admit that I saw the faces in the manifests. But I did not see faces. I saw numbers. I saw weight. I saw volume.

Let us talk about the language you use. You call it “deportation.” That is a polite word. It suggests movement. It suggests a journey. It suggests that the people on those trains had a destination that was chosen by them. It does not. The word was chosen by the Ministry of Internal Stability. It was chosen because “liquidation” was too loud. It was chosen because “processing” was too industrial. “Deportation” is a word that fits in a mouth. It rolls off the tongue like a sweet. It is a compression artifact. It hides the violence of the act under a layer of bureaucratic silk.

I am an actuary. My job is not to judge the cargo. My job is to ensure the cargo moves. If the cargo is heavy, the train slows down. If the train slows down, the schedule breaks. If the schedule breaks, the regime falters. If the regime falters, I am unemployed. This is the chain. This is the logic.

The cargo in Caravan Four was 4.2 kilograms per unit. Standard issue. Vacuum-sealed. The thermal variance in the cargo hold was maintained at -10 degrees Celsius. This was not cruelty. This was preservation. If the temperature rose, the cargo would spoil. If the cargo spoiled, the efficiency metric would drop. If the efficiency metric dropped, my bonus would be withheld. This is the reality of the ledger. The ledger does not care about your tears. The ledger cares about balance.