The Machine - 7 - Security
4 minute read
Wedged between the woman in blue and the enforcer, they walked in lock step to a room Cole had never been to before. It was as cozy as all the others connected to the tunnels. A dilapidated steel table sat in the middle with a few splintered, wooden chairs around it, and one already occupied by a slim man. The woman motioned for Cole to sit, so he obliged.
The man extended his hand. "Roman," he said.
Cole hesitated before reaching out and shaking the man's hand. "You already know who I am." He smiled.
"Yes," Roman said. He tapped his fingers on the rusted table. "You've met my colleague, Ann."
She nodded.
"Can I ask what I'm doing here?"
"I think you know," Roman said. "That little accident today, we need to make sure you didn't plan it."
"Plan it? How could I plan to blow a giant hole in my part?" His eyes darted between the two across the table. "Why would I even want to do that?"
Roman and Ann exchanged glances. "We've seen everything," Roman said. "You'd be surprised. Lots of people are fed up with their jobs, lots of people want revenge on enforcers, the list goes on."
"That's not me. Why the hell would I want that?"
"Let me ask you something," Roman continued, ignoring the question. "Do you like shoveling?"
"Yes, of course," Cole said without taking a breath.
Roman squinted. "Do you really?"
"Of course," Cole confirmed.
"Hm," Ann said.
"What?" Cole asked. "I'm good at it, and I've worked my way to Level 16. You don't see guys like me that often."
"That's what we can agree on," Roman chimed in. "We don't see people like you in here. In fact, the last time a shoveler higher than level 14 had an accident, it turned out he was trying to break the machine."
That didn't sound right. Cole would have heard about that. News didn't take long to spread among shovelers, and although stories about accidents were popular, sabotage wasn't something that had come up before. Cole knew people who hated their jobs, but not enough to break the machine and risk ending the world.
"Th-that can't be right. I've never heard of that." Cole said.
"Well, I'm telling you it is. So when we got word from your enforcer this morning about an incident, and then he turns up dead in the explosion, you can say we were a bit surprised."
"Look, it was an accident. The seal on the window port blew, and then it exploded. Next thing I know I'm covered in fuel trying to figure out what the hell happened, and then I got a guy hauling me off and telling me I murdered someone..." Cole didn't know how to finish so he just stopped talking.
"Yes, a very weird series of events indeed." Roman ran his fingers through his hair.
"Is this new protocol or something?" Cole asked. He had a hard time believing they were serious. In all his years and all the stories he had heard, this was one of a kind.
"Same protocol as always. You are aware how important the machine is, right?"
Cole restrained himself from rolling his eyes. "Obviously," he said instead.
"So any time anything suspicious happens, we have to investigate. We can't have a bunch of shovelers deciding what's best for us and how we operate the machine, now can we?"
"I'm not trying to tell anyone how to do anything." Cole sighed. "I already told you, I like my job." The minute it left his mouth he wondered if it was true. Shoveling was all he knew, and never questioned it, until now. Did he really enjoy it, or was it so engrained in him that he didn't know what not enjoying it looked like? He dropped his gaze to the floor.
"As much as I-" Roman paused. "As much as we want to trust you, you can understand that we can't, right?"
"What does that mean?"
"Until we've finished our investigation, we can't have you just roaming around, and certainly not near the machine again."
Cole's face got hot. "What are you telling me?" He was more confused than ever. It was obvious he wasn't going back to shoveling any time soon, but he felt conflicted on if that was a bad thing or not. "Is my part swapped out?" He knew it didn't matter. Even if they fixed it he wouldn't be shoveling there anymore.
Roman stood. "You'll be in jail for a while."