PART 2.5

I looked at my long messy hair in the mirror.

I tried to get myself in gear but I couldn’t, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be ok to work today. The dreams I had last night, well if you want to call them that. Felt so vivid. The emotions were intense, and I was more drained from sleeping than anything. But I was still moving. Still functioning… mostly.

I slapped my face lightly to get myself together and pushed myself to get to my car. I held my hair tie in my teeth as I sat down and pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

If I’m lucky, maybe they’ll send me home.

I managed to drive to work without incident, though my fingers gripped the wheel a little tighter than usual.

I saw Aren when I walked inside, already busy talking to the yXX representative at the front of the shop. 

Weird, corporate doesn’t normally show up this early.

I guess they wanted her to be readily available for any “user responses” this morning.

The representative had a table set up next to the break room and the orange Hilo barriers. Somewhat of a makeshift desk. Normally people from the office don’t show up until a few hours after our shift starts. 

When Aren turned around I knew they could see how wrecked I looked. A smile flickered on my face, but I didn’t have the energy to wave.

“Mornin’.” I said, trying not to sound as rough as I felt.

“Hey, Same to you.” Aren said with a smile. 

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I was too low on energy to have a meaningful conversation before the buzzer went off, though I was happy with the news that Aren had given me.

I wish I could walk faster

I forced my legs toward my side of the floor, each step louder in my ears than it should’ve been.

I worked in a different part of the shop, the spot welding division. I suited up: my respirator, kevlar gloves, apron. After, slowly putting on my headset. The nasal wire entered a hole on the top of the respirator, and slid into position. It sent a shiver through me. 

The system blinked to life. A soft whirr on my chest and then a ripple of icons, browser tiles, and a subtle tracking dot that followed my eye movements.

My hands, like clockwork, took over. Grabbing the pincer welding device next to me and starting the conveyor.  

Okay, okay, at least I got all set up. Let’s try to interact with something engaging so I don’t fall asleep.

My legs would lock up if I went unconscious, something that yXX had as a failsafe for emergencies. But your eyes needed to be interacting with the lenses or your body would stop moving. Something about the connections in the brain were very important. If your eyes did stop moving, or they were closed for 5 minutes, a warning would be transmitted to the supervisor.

We’re gonna struggle-bus until break, then I can down some energy.

My thoughts were in a fog.

I opened the app browser, and gazed around. Hovering over a listing with no icon.

OK, what are you?

My eyes were so heavy.  I felt like my vision was pulsing, my mind slipping sideways. The world fell away. Suddenly, I was in a space so vast it defied logic. The sky above wasn’t sky at all, but a canopy of brass. Riddled with blinking red lights that beat like hearts.

Then a sound. Like metal screaming.

My body jolted, my mind reeling.

What the hell?

I shook it off as best as I could. I must have nodded off for a second. I checked the time in the corner of the display.

2 hours had passed.

Uh????

Why hadn’t a supervisor come over? I mean, maybe I got lucky and something errored with the new headset and never sent over an alarm to my boss.

Something even more jarring had also occurred, my part counter had increased. 

This, this shouldn’t be possible.

I looked at the time again. Break is in 15 minutes.