Sarcophagus

The Factory

The line jumped to life in the early hours of the day. The assembly line seems to move a little slower today, maybe the quota for the week had been met after all. The parts came down the line and the men working that part did their task before the line moved on and you got reprimanded for production faults.

      Gordon Murphy has spent some twenty years on this line, used the welder to connect metal together. He usually worked anywhere from ten to twelve hours, unless production lagged, then who knows how long. Further on down the line there was another man who had another task. Gordon glanced across the way and saw Martin Gunn, he was always turning some bolts with a large wrench. Martin was what you might call a repeat offender, he always had a hard time keeping his cool.

      The day was going by like usual when there was a loud shout, Martin again frustrated about something. Hit the button to stop the line, but he let out a verbal tirade, which ended with Martin flingling a wrench across the factory floor. With a loud clang it collided with the hard concrete floor. At the end of the factory a door opened and security came onto the floor. The two security guards came down the aisle between the lines and headed straight for Martin.

      "No, wait, come on, it's a misunderstanding."

      "Come on guys you know how it is."

      "There's no need to take me away fellas!"

      Martin played you with the security guards as he slowly backed away. The bleeding fell on deaf ears as security grabbed him and dragged him off. The whole time Martin was screaming and pleading. Gordon watched the whole scene play out.

      I hope this wasn't his last shot, I always thought he was a good worker. Probably get replaced by some greeny now. Gordon thought to himself. As if on cue a young man stepped up and took Martin's Place. The line lurched back to life with a squeal, and everyone focused on the job at hand. The day ended after a fourteen hour work day, which seemed like a dream. A few days ago they were working eighteen hour days, so this seems like a treat. After the Bell chimed, the lines powered down and all of the workers made their way to the living quarters.

      Gordon made his way to his pod, his single room, with a few books. After cleaning up from the day's work, he sat down heavily into the cozy chair and picked up an old copy of A Scanner Darkly. He removed the bookmark and resumed reading. Gordon was happy he'd have some extra time to read tonight, because of the shorter shift. The younger members of the crew started in on their laughing and joking, it didn't bother Gordon anymore he was quite used to it by now. The boys are rowdy because it was a glory girl night. Glory girls were used during World War Two, they were single girls who would help entertain the soldiers. So that's why these girls were called on for the same purpose, just different circumstances.

      Soon after diving into his book, Gordon slumped forward in his chair asleep, a common occurrence for him. The other men carried on for hours after that, which is probably why production always suffered after these nights. The alarm suddenly woke Gordon and he put his marker back in his book, then he stood and stretched. Quickly running through the shower, he donned his work clothes and headed to the factory floor. The younger men who had been busy the night before rolled in after Gordon, he hoped they would get something done today. He wasn't looking forward to any more long days.

       One of these young men, Johnny, was working on the line and accidentally nodded off. During which one of Johnny's arms got pulled into the assembly lines and mechanisms. His screams echoed throughout the building, added to this was the grinding on the line as it slowed to a stop. Hot red blood was splattered all over the area, as Johnny grab is a ruined arm and writhed in pain on the ground. The large door on the far side of the factory started to open, the large gears making a grinding sound. Security guards came out of the door and made their way over to where Johnny was injured. They tried to pick up Johnny by his armpits, but he just screamed as soon as they tried. So the security guards walked around to Johnny's feet, and began to drag him out by his feet. All that was left of Johnny was a long red streak that led up to the door. Janitors came out after Johnny's removal and proceeded to clean up the blood from the floor of the mechanisms.

     A large screen started to lower from the ceiling, apparently the director had a message for his workers. The screen flared to life as a director of the factory was on the screen. 

      "Hello workers of this facility, due to an unfortunate accident, we are going to have to add hours to the day to make up for the stoppage of the assembly line. The worker has been removed and a replacement is on the way. The line will also be double speed to make up for production numbers not being hit. I don't need to remind you about how important these models are and how we need them heading out the door as soon as possible. As always if you have any questions, please direct your questions to the floor management members." The director stated. 

      The screen went black and began to ascend back into the ceiling. The assembly line groaned as it started to move again, this time moving twice as fast as before. The men on the line scrambled to keep up with the new pace. By the end of the sixteen hour day, everyone was too tired to do anything. Even Gordon passed on his nightly book, choosing to instead go straight to bed. The morning alarm that woke him and Gordon started the new day.

      Gordon made his way to the floor and found security waiting for the workers. When the workers all filed in that day the screen started its journey out of the ceiling again. When the screen flickers on the director was on the screen ready to address the workers.

      "Factory workers, we have some news, due to the injury yesterday and the fact that we have found more insurrectionists than expected we will be forced to do longer days in order to keep up with the demand. The factory in sector nine was damaged late last night and production there has halted. So we need the other facilities to double production. We need you to keep our army Strong."

      The director's robotic eyes scan the factory floor, and the security robots patrolled the floor to ensure production. The robots had to be made.