"It's fine, I'm sure whoever you're here to see would be happy to pencil you in, sir," she says, putting a very slight emphasis on you. "Um, who are you here to see and what should I tell them is the purpose of your visit?"

"I am here to ascertain if there is any reason for this organization to exist. Anyone of the opinion that they can defend that position may try."

Blink blink. "One moment." She types some things. "All right, you can have a seat over there and someone will be out in a -"

Someone, in fact, is ready by the time she's done with that sentence. And the someone in question, a scowling person in a suit with her hair up in a bun, makes a not very successful attempt to smile at Cam.

"Hello. What is it you do here besides slavery, anything?"

She raises an eyebrow. "We would never do anything so barbaric as slavery but I can certainly explain our various functions as an organization. Mm, I have an office, come inside?"

"Sure." In comes Cam.

She takes a seat behind her desk and gestures for Cam to take the other chair.

"We organize unskilled and semiskilled labor for a variety of clients including farms, factories, construction firms, mines, and even the hospital and the port. At the new, mm, governor's orders, we also have people on assignments including watching the races and enjoying the library pending their release from ministry custody. Haven City runs on the admirable sacrifices of its workforce, many of which are voluntary. We provide generous compensation including room and board and we help our workers manage their schedules and finances."

"Many of which are voluntary, according to what standard of volunteerism?"

"That is to say, many of them have signed contracts with us and weren't sold to us or brought in by the Guard. I'm sure some of the others are quite uninterested in trying to run."

"What motivates people to voluntarily sign contracts with an organization called 'Extreme Labor'?"

"Well, we provide room and board, we try to protect them from violence, if they sign up voluntarily they can generally avoid a criminal proceeding that might complicate their future job prospects, we take pride in the excellent work ethic we instill, and, last but not least, they can get work without having to fill out job applications or show up for interviews."

"How long do people usually stay employed here?"

"It varies, of course. A year, or five, or ten, or indefinitely."

"How old is the youngest person you employ?"

"The new governor is raising the minimum age to fourteen. For humans, of course. We deal with too many lurker species to have a fixed minimum age for them."

"By what means do lurkers tend to fall into your purview?"

"Hang on, I can find..." She looks in a drawer for a folder and looks through its contents, angling it so Cam shouldn't be able to see what she's reading. "Recently we've gained lurkers because our lurkers reproduced, private citizens' lurkers were repossessed, lurkers were convicted of crimes, lurkers signed on with us voluntarily, and miscellaneous other reasons."

"Can I get, say, a case study of a lurker signing on voluntarily."

"A specific accurate case or a composite?"

"First one."

"There's a processing fee to access specific records and a fee to compensate for reputational or other damages to our clients and workers for the breach of confidentiality. And, ah, we're not taking payment in cash right now."

"And then do you give the workers the fee?"

"Of course! Minus our cut."

"Which is how much?"

"I don't have the exact number convenient. - Look, you don't like what we do, I can see that. The reason the Ministry of Extreme Labor exists is because there's always a need for more workers. You and your friends want to stop by right now and wave your hands and, hey, presto! everything's perfect, but you'll get bored or the population will grow too much - or none of that, and you'll do your best to train us to eat out of your hands, and who knows what then. You find nice uncontroversial flaws in our existing infrastructure - the eco grid is unsustainable, Extreme Labor is the least popular branch of the government, the metal head war is stupendously expensive and gets people killed - and, you know what? I could stop you, at the very least I could give you the runaround here, but you could also make it worth my while to not. I just want to retire to a nice, safe country estate and live in boundless luxury for the rest of my life, and if you'll make that happen I'll get out of your way - hell, I'll even help."