Downgrades: we are far from broken

12 the void

Clair:

          "You miserable son of a bitch." I mumbled under my breath. I was in the laundry room, stuffing the industrial washer with all the staff member's clothes. As it turned out, 'nurse' was a loss term, seeing that most of the staff was robotic engineers that took care of the bots. All the nurses did was keep the staff healthy, with no contact with the downgrade population. Laundry duty was considered the worst detail, mostly because of the smell. I had worked every laundry shift for the past week due to my little excursion my first night. My boss, Bill, had been pissed at me my first day working, and wanted me to 'redeem' myself through the most unappealing tasks.

          A couple hours later, I carried the basket of folded clothes up the stairs, out of the basement. I used the labels and addresses on the clothes to put them in the right slot in the door of the apartments. I had been working all night, and, looking at my watch, I saw my shift had just ended. I walked back down to the basement to clock out.

          I walked straight to my apartment and locked the door. My apartment was a little bigger than the one I had in Miami, but not as well furnished. The room I was in was ten by ten, it had; a nightstand, a hanging over head light with a switch next to the door, a large window to the outside, and a small bed. I walked straight to my nightstand and picked up my pad. The pad was an eleven by eight inch sheet of acrylic with an inch wide metal band running down the left side. I pressed a large grey button on the metallic band, and a holographic display lit up the clear acrylic. I immediately went onto the internet, and logged into a knitting enthusiast web site. I looked under messages, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw I had a new message. I opened it and read the following;

You were right, and the samples you sent were pristine.

The staff's food was virtually identical to that of most major

Cities. The "Patient's" food is an entirely different matter.

For starters, due to it's liquid nature, it almost completely

Lacks any solid fiber. But most importantly, it lacks the required

Levels of the nine essential portions. This makes the photos

You sent us make a lot more sense. They are starving them out.

I personally recommend this as part of the article.

          I sighed inwardly, I decided to hold my snappy remark about how little I cared about my tech's opinion, and decided to wait until I got back. Instead, I sent a thank you, and closed the pad. I lay back on my bed, closed my eyes, and pinched the bridge of my nose. Now came the hard part. Getting the quotes out of the staff here. As long as none of them said 'off the record' then I could use whatever they said. I decided to sleep on how the hell I was going to do this.

...

Austin;

          Tat was in a good mood this morning. For starters, It had been the first time in a week that she hadn't slapped me awake, but then again, I woke up at sunrise so I didn't exactly give her a chance to. I noticed that she didn't show her good mood through smiling and alike, she just was less insulting. Breakfast was a very creepy affair, now with the hellish Ferox joining us. She barely spoke, and she never took her piercing eyes off of me. Cal, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He was by far the life of the conversation. Not that the conversation stayed on any one topic mind you. He was sporadic, and seemingly incapable of holding a single thought for very long, even for a five year old. This seemed to greatly irritate the girls, much to the delight of Tat and I. watching them fume in silence was oddly satisfying.