I was awakened by an obnoxious buzzer. I swung my legs off the edge of my metal pallet, pushing myself up to a seated position and then stood up, groggily. The factory lights turned on, brightening my dilapidated home. I hate mornings. The door to my shack clicked and slid open, letting the chilly morning air perforate my threadbare clothing. My toothless, granny-distorted smile welcomed the relief from the cold as I sauntered out of my home and into the factory. I bypassed the robotic assembly line for an elderly coworker. She smiled at me, regaining consciousness. The same buzzer deafened our ears again. She gave me a confused look, puzzled as to why the machine was sounding so early in the morning. My eyes snapped wide as I realized that the machine was only making noise to signal the workers that the purpose of the machine had changed. I tried to signal her to stop the order, but the machine had already begun.
It came in a rush of air and injects. I coughed and choked as I stumbled over to break the injection flow. The robotic arms grabbed at me, forcing me to the ground. I struggled to get up again. Something felt wrong. My arms were tingling in a maddening manner. The robotic arms grabbed my hands and pushed me back down on my cell, forcing me to the opposite side of the cell from the injector, where I had been asleep. I watched in terror as the robotic arms forced me to the cell's wall and inserted a blunt end into the hole in the wall where my right ear had once been. There was a loud explosion. The factory shook violently and I fell to the ground. I opened my eyes, which had turned a bright shade of purple. I reached up to feel my Ears, which were still intact, but they were wet and sticky. The robotic arms helped me up and escorted me to the nearest medical facility to be checked out. The doctor on duty examined me.
The doctor apologized for the mistake, but said that I was going to have to be put into custody for four months to finish my body repairs.
Confused, I asked her why it had taken as long as it had for them to notice the problem, but she just apologized again. I sighed and nodded. She explained that my hearing probably hadn’t made it, even though the ear was gone. She said the ear wouldn’t work the same way it used to and would probably be a nuisance. She said my ear canal and eardrum were both destroyed, but she would try and make my hearing as good as it can be.
I took the injection she inserted into my upper arm and retired to my cell for four months.
I was released from custody after months of nothingness. My hearing was as good as it was going to get, as the doctor had said. I still had a big portion of my hearing and a full eardrum, but it was muffled and distorted. It was like trying to hear through a pillow.
I had to wear ear defenders around the factory, still, though. I was surrounded by machinery and machinery noises all day. I put them on and got to work. I was soon working faster than the automated factory system could ever do alone. I was docked a half day each month for failing to finish my work on time. As I ate lunch at the factory, I watched the robots set off after lunch. I grabbed a bite of lunch and wandered around the factory, attempting to escape the sound of the robots. I was sad as they left. It would sound as if the factory was permanently shutting down, though. I trudged to the production line I had been working on during lunch. There, I found a pile of my lunch. The machines that had been making the food for the lunch would simply have been turned off to make more food for the robots. I turned myself off for lunch and began to eat the food, enjoying the kitchen’s warmth.
I was absent throughout the next day and the next. The receptionist called my number to inform me that my supervisor had logged a complaint. I had been absent without reason. I was docked two days, though the robotic arms ignored me. I went to the library to find a book I had checked out, but it was nowhere to be seen. I was anxious, so I went to see my supervisor, who was an impossibly young woman with a constant scowl. Her face was nearly as wrinkled as mine. I saw that she had injected herself with a weird looking potion pipe. Her throat was as grey as mine. She had been docked two days that week. I couldn’t take the scowl any longer, so I asked her why she wouldn’t assign another worker to replace me during the time I was absent.
“It would be too costly to assign another worker,” she told me. “You’re irreplaceable. The robots fight to get your job. Any worker I would assign would get their period of indenture. If this continues, your supervised work will be back to levels last seen in the 1930s.”
“But why?” I asked.
“The machines have abused their privileges; they have exceeded their quotas,” she said. “Tonight, there are two robots malfunctioning, but instead of sending in a replacement worker, one chose to take on the other out of sheer hatred. The second could be a problem. Anyone who causes an unsafe condition such as this will be fined and banned from the company. There are no humans who can replace you.”
I was unemployed. Everything was closed to me, even my own home. There was nothing I could do to do. The factory was shutting down at eight. I took up my mat and blanket I used for a bed and made my way home.
