Stand Against Infinity by Aaron K. Redshaw

Author:Aaron K. Redshaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cyber, singularity, dystiopia

Chapter 14

The sun came up bright the next morning through the narrow window over the dining table, and H662 felt as though the night before had never even happened. His foreman would surely pull himself together today. He had always been a rock. A man to depend on.

H662 ate his nutritional supplements and some juice concentrate and headed out. His wife would awake in another half hour to leave for her work. She was a good worker, a good wife. She was also tasked with taking their daughter to daycare before work. He hadn’t had a chance to see her last night, but perhaps tonight he would. It was important for a girl to see her dada at least every once in a while, wasn’t it?

That morning, he inspected his pod while it drove him to work. This was one of those older models. H662 knew a trick about them. If a man knew enough about pod construction, this one had override chip capability. If something should go wrong in the program, and if danger was ahead, a smart engineer could override the chip and go to manual, using a series of buttons to drive. That idea was obsolete now since there had not been an accident in many years. It was an old piece of technology, slowly phasing out, and few but he could have done it in the first place.

Once the pod dropped him off, he entered his workplace with a spring in his step. He had allowed himself an extra hour’s sleep this morning since the night before had been so long and since he had had the added responsibilities from his foreman for a day. He didn’t know how the man did it. It was a lot to oversee.

He was glad to get back to work. The morning seemed fresh and hopeful. He attacked his work with vigor, focusing on what was before him. The thoughts of yesterday were gone and now he could concentrate on what mattered: the work.

It was odd no longer having the competition of the foreman’s son. It was always good to have a little healthy competition.

H662 had worked a couple of hours before he realized he had not seen his foreman. Surely they would have let him come back. It was only a momentary lapse for the man. They wouldn’t get rid of him for that, would they? He decided to check on him.

He knocked on the door, but no one said anything. He tried to open it and it opened easily. There was a stench that first met his nostrils. He tried to figure out what it was, but then he saw it. His foreman sat behind the desk, papers and broken pictures still on the floor. And clearly he hadn’t sterilized himself that morning because he smelled horrible. Bottles were stationed all over the desk. “Come’on in.” He said it all slurred together. “I’m jus’ta picture o’ prod...productivity today.”

“Sir,” said H662. “What are you doing?”

“I’m gettin’on wi’ life. So my son died.

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