A Beautiful Time by C. Roberts
Staring directly in front of me, face eyes locked on the back of the head bobbing in my eyesight. A grey mixture hangs over head postulating as if it will burst, but I don’t recall it hovering outside the complex.
Colors move swiftly to the side of me, I feel the touch caressing my shoulders then continuing to move around me. A strong pattering of feet dominates the volume on the road, persistent moving to singular destinations. The smell of oil is like perfume wafting off the bodies around me. A sea of black jumpsuits traverse the road popping out of small container like units, stacked high on top of other with a lift to the side of each block of units. The feeling of the morning commute weighs on my body as I walk to the end of the stone road. The main gates sprawl upwards seemingly into the sky, butted on the side by a brick barrier that seems to stretch for miles in each direction. I take out my key card waiting for my turn to enter the facility
“Move around the corner.” I hear. Then one of guards say, “Yea weather control is all messed up, we have to move the line around the corner, can’t have the water falling on them, who knows if they melt or something.” Another one says, “Yea can’t have the owner losing workers.”
One by one they walk through the gate. My eyes focused on the back of the persons head, creeping forward to the opening in the gate.
As my feet moved from the paved road to the inside of the fortress, I felt something.
Raising my hand to my forehead, I feel it laying on my skin slowly sliding down the side of my face. And the moment causes me to stop and look up at the grey sky.
EYES FORWARD NOW!! I hear in front me. A sleek steel frame drawing close to my chest.
Where is your card? Slightly panicking, I try to hand over my card until a blunt force rams me in the back, dropping my key card on the ground and pushing me forward.
Watch out! I fall over its metal frame feeling its hand digging into my clothes. Looking behind me dozens of black work suits stumble over each other falling on the paved roads. Their eyes agape, looking around the environment. I stare at them.
“Get your card and come with me quickly.”
I still look at the group of people trying get up from the ground. It grabs me and drags me beyond the security of the gate.
You freaking idiot, you’re bleeding dont you feel that?
I look down at the blood streaming from a small gash in my admonmen and my face tightens slightly.
Come on, I cannot let anyone see you hurt, that would be very very bad. Do you understand?
I nod
God, you think mother nature would program you with some kind of natural intelligence, common sense or something.
Through the gate the hallway that leads to the work area is filled with a line of people walking slowly through the final space before they begin the day. Instead of following the pack, we detour to another path and head down a staircase. Walking down stairs, there is a large window where I am unable to see out into the distance. Things are falling from the sky at a rapid pace and it makes it hard to see.
“Its rain.” He says, “I doubt that means anything to you, you poor poor soul.”
We enter a door reading (producers only). Through the door we walk, it looks at me and says “please do not talk and do not embarrass me.” On the other side lies 4 huge metal creatures sitting in a corner of each room with large tubes pulling from their head. Their bodies stout with heads way smaller than their body suggests and their legs in front of them connected to a box in the middle of the room.
Excuse me guys, just passing through.
Isn’t that one supposed to be working, one of the says in a slow monotonous tone.
“Yes, Yes it will be short and sweet just continue on fellas?”
“I bet it doesn’t even understand, what’s going on? They are a waste of space, just consuming everyday, not adding anything to society.
HA….HA….HA….HA”
My eyes look up at one of them, staring at their bodies. Their large bodies pumping up some small greenish brown items flowing upwards through the pipes in their heads. I stare for a second.
It is an odd one, isn’t it?
Ok that’s enough we are just moving through
Let’s see him squirm, one of the giants opens a small door on its massive chest and an explosion of the small greenish brown items explodes out of his body and blast me in the chest.
“AGGGGHHHHHHHH” I scream as I stumble backwards.
It speaks, I guess mother nature can calculate a coherent response
HA…….HA……….HA…….HA
No, no,no,no,no,no not good, not good the small person says
I lean back on the middle component exposing my wound. The commotion stops
How the hell did that happen! One of the larger beings state looking around at the other people.
“Uh, he did that to himself” The small person says
How could he do that, they are not programmed to hurt themselves. I am calling ownership.
Oh boy, oh boy no good no good, he runs into the next room quickly. Returning with a large bandage.
“Now quickly put this bandage on the wound…. Please Hurry”
I grab the bandage, From the collar of my work suit the greenish brown item falls on the sticky part of the bandage. I stare at it for awhile
We don’t have time for this you hunk of meat, shaking his hand in my face. He grabs me on my shoulder and pulls me toward the elevator as a struggle to secure the bandage over the wound.
Stepping on the elevator away from production hall he says. “With you I definitely need to take the elevator, I didn’t know they made you all so stubborn, don't you all have some problem solving capabilities? Because you really know how to make a mess and respond with a blank stare like you don't know what is going on.”
Up the elevator we ride, the glass looks down on the open work fields. Huge pillars reach up to the grey sky, stacked mile high with thousands of rows drifting back out of sight. Out of the pillars grows large objects with green lips pushing out the tops of the objects. Climbing the pillars were beings the size of the producers with larger hands pulling the objects off of the pillars and casting them down to the Earth.
“Well you should be glad you will have off today.” He says glaring down at the many other things moving around the ground floor.
“Do you realize your kind wouldn’t be needed if the owners felt our way of eating was less humane or beautiful, I always loved the slime that we create. It is the most efficient way for your species to get nutrients.
I watch as things like me load peeled objects into one container and load other objects into another container. The latter container is connected to a large tub where the slime is slowly being collected.
“I bet you like that slime don’t you?” He says with a snark smile. My face blankly looks at him.
The elevator finally stops and we are back at the entrance.
He whispers, “ Now make sure you go straight home.”
I look at him calmly and head through the detector. In the distance I hear a murmur, but after walking out of the complex, I see something falling from the sky.
The murmur gets louder behind me. I begin to walk towards where the object fell from the sky, Around the corner, some dozen yards from the entrance. Reaching the place and looking down on it I see the remnants of it. Looks like the same thing that I felt on my head earlier.
There it is. We saw a seed on his person on our screen. I turned around to see 5 metal people running towards me, I remember the object on my bandage and grab it to protect it.
The people tackle me to the ground hitting my body and legs repeatedly. Scraping the ground against my wound I wince. Searching my body for the seed, they reach the bandage over my wound. Stopping confused, they stare at each other for amoment, quickly then ripping of my bandage and I watch the object fall to the gravel. Their attention focused on my wound. They yell something behind them, hoping that someone at the front gate hears them. I step on the object quickly pushing it deep in to the gravel.
Someone like me walks briskly out towards me. Its clothes were nicer than mine, things glittered off of his body. Objects around his neck and wrist glistened in the sunlight. As he grew closer a strong scent wafted of his body. He brings a peeled object and bites in to it.
“Now how does my property get damaged like this.” Staring at my wound. “ Did one of you imbilices damage the workers that make my money.”
“No boss, it wasn’t us, he was like that when we came out here.” The small metal person that cut me originally comes around the corner and tries to keep quiet on the subject.
“Now where is my magic seed, cant have one of them laying around.” The well dressed thing says.
Remembering that was the point of the search, the metal people begin to scour the area.
“If you don’t find it, it's all coming out of your pay.” Staring back at me he says, “not often do we talk to you all.”
My eyebrows raise looking directly at him and a face like mine looks back at me. I watch his hair move naturally back and forth in the wind.
Noticing my intrigue he states, “you and I were once not that much different than one another ya know.”
I look blankly.
He shakes his head. “AH! Buy you all just chose virtual life over this one. Your choices, that is all.” He pats me on my shoulder. “Luckily, people like me, OWNERS, still like hand peeled pineapples and keep this business running. The moment these hunks of metal figure out how the more finite motor functions then you all are done in this world, I could close this whole place down with a snap of my fingers.” He clicks his thumb and middle finger together.
“Ok, we are done here, I will just charge you all for the seed. Take it home and lock it up. That should restart it.”
Dragging me back on the main path, they take me inside of my room. Grabbing a tub of the green slime and running a tube into my mouth. My face scrunches together and the corner of my lips pull down towards my chin. The end with placing the headset over my head and the feeling of euphoria over my body.
I feel the dirt under my feet
Like a river I run around the terrain
Beautiful and free
The audacity of me
The water pores
And the sun shines
Growing from the Journey
The beauty of time
The rumble begins a new. Iwalk to the complex and peel objects until I am home again. Day in and day out.
Walking in the morning, staring at the bald head in front of me. Looking up at the sky again the grey cloud, I can hear the metal people motioning the crowd around the corner once again. Rounding the corner, I see them all congregated together. Looking at them, I see it standing right above their heads. I walk over slowly to it and see it as a pillar with objects growing out of it. Looking at a bright object sitting right on top of the object, I reach up to grab it. Holding it in my hand, they all stare at it.
I hold the object up to one of them,
It smiled...
It was a beautiful time.
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