- / send (wakeup5244) to #401
I jolt awake. The cold, hard granite jabs at my body as I lie there for a few seconds, trying to remember who I am. My mind reels for a moment, groping and grappling in an attempt to find a handhold, until –
- / send (happydoseL2) to #401
Joy blossoms in my chest, spreading its wings like a wild bird, soaring and sweeping through my body and dragging me up from the ground. All around me, more people are stirring and sitting and standing and skipping through the door at the far end of the room, and I follow them, smiling at the person who walks out into the corridor just before me.
- / adjust [(happydoseL2)(#401)] to [(happydoseL1)(#401)]
A calmer sort of pleasure fills me as I glance up at the windows that line the long, bare corridor, its lapping waves like the heartbeat of a limitless wide ocean as I gaze out at the beautiful sky, which is a lovely shade of grey and adorned with pretty black thunderclouds that promise to pour gloriously cold rain on the already sodden terrain at any moment now. By now, I have arrived at the food hall.
- / open (door3)
The doors swing open slowly, and we surge into the food hall, rushing for the
counter where the food is being served, unable to contain our excitement. After waiting in line for a few minutes, during which my eyes leap over this morning’s selection, I am finally standing in front of the server.
- / send (speechB16194) to #216
“Good morning, dear. And what a fine morning it is! I have a wonderful selection to offer you today. Would you like cornstarch porridge or fried frogspawn?”
- / send (speechB5244) to #401
“Good morning! I think today I shall enjoy some corn starch porridge, though fried frogspawn sounds marvellous. Thank you so much!”
- / send (serveB16194) to #216
The server ladles 2 large dollops of mouth-watering grey sticky goo into a delightfully small and greasy bowl. Once they are finished serving me, I grab the bowl and a plastic spoon before rushing towards one of the metal tables scattered artistically around the food hall. I take a spoonful of the goo and put it in my mouth.
- / send (happydoseL3) to #401
Rushes of satisfaction explode in my mouth, washing away and extinguishing something I can’t quite place my finger on, and filling me with a dizzy kind of elation as I shovel the rest of my food into my mouth.
- / adjust [(happydoseL3)(#401)] to [(happydoseL1)(#401)]
The calm pleasure returns as I get up to place my bowl on the washing up counter and walk back down the long corridor, turning left this time to reach the expansive corn field where I work.
- / send (workroutine5244) to #401
Briskly, I walk over to the large metal stables where the machines are kept. I pick up my work uniform and put it on. I take the staff key card from my pocket. I press it to the panel. I walk inside. I walk up to the first machine and activate it. I guide it to the cornfield and supervise it to make sure it can perform its wonders safely. I repeat this exact process 35 times over.
- / send (CallL) to system
A sweetly melodic cacophony of clanging and banging emits from the
loudspeaker system, making us all pause momentarily to look at it. What should we –
- / send (gotolunch) to #all
As one, the people start to move, heading towards the metal doors that lead back inside. I stand still for a few moments, confused. I still feel like I have to work, but also as though I have to go to lunch, and I can’t seem to figure out which one it is that I’m
supposed to be doing. As I stand still, I realise I’ve forgotten about the machine I had been escorting to the field. I set off after it, carefully guiding it through the corn plantations.
- / send (lockDoor5) to system
Now that I have finished with the machine, I stow it away into its pen in the stables. Turning back to the door, I walk towards it and –
- / send (CONNECTIONLOSSwarning)(#401) to system
The door is locked. I push it one way and the other, but it will not budge. Stepping back, I look at it, thoroughly confused. Why is the door locked? Isn’t it lunchtime? Why
am I the only one out here? And, most importantly, why do I feel so – so strange?
As I pace around the courtyard anxiously, I begin to notice the dirty cobblestones, and the thick black thunderclouds that hang in the sky, threatening to drench me at any moment now. I should go inside. Or should I –
- / send (happydoseL5) to #401
A massive wave of happiness crashes into me, crushing me into the cobblestones and washing over me, clawing at me in an attempt to overpower me. I can already feel my consciousness slipping.
- / send (happydoseL7) to #401
As I look down what seems to be a dark tunnel at the spinning cobblestones, I try to remember how much I hate this place and the food and the work and the way I don’t even get to be free in my own mind –
- / send (happydoseL10) to #401
- / send (happydoseL20) to #401
- / send (happydoseL30) to #401
- / send [(deathreport)(#401)] to system
I am free.