Awoken

by FrozenConstellation

Chapter 2

Awoken: Chapter 2

A dull thud echos through the room as the beige mare slams one of her hooves against the machine, her gaze sweeps around the room and lands on the three of us before her.

"I gave you one simple job. YOU ARE TO MAINTAIN THIS MACHINE AND NONE OTHER. HOW CAN YOU BE SO INSOLENT?! I understand this piece of shit isn't going to work for much longer, what with the new version, Pegasus device Beta-nine-two-seven-one-o-ten, arriving, but that happens in TWO MONTHS." She pauses for a moment and grits her teeth.
"UNTIL THEN, WE'RE STUCK WITH THIS, AND ONLY THIS, SO YOU WILL DO YOUR BEST WITH IT! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Yes Ms. Glaze"

"Good. Then I expect the best coming from all three of you. Especially you, Seeder, I didn't promote you for nothing. Now get on with it."

She bucks the side of the Pegasus device again and leaves. Just before the door she stops and tilts her head ever so slightly, the cruel little smirk evident in even in the bleak lighting. She flips her green and beige striped mane and disappears into the maze of walkways.

The stallion next to me grumbles. "God damn her and her flocking attitude" he rumbles again as he walks to the far side of the machine, and I take my place in front of the controls.

Working in one of the control rooms, I had a few things to be grateful for. It was far and away from the few supervisors we had, since they took to abusing the workers when they could. Mostly, they hung around the lower factory, urging the ponies who managed the pools of spectra (and on occasion a blood spill) to work faster and harder.
More than once did some ponies go insane from the environment. I remember one stallion who started thrashing around one day while laughing manically. He tore his mane and broke more than a few bones falling down two flights of stairs. They finally had to put him down because no matter how many times they sedated him he just woke up and cackled again, yelling in a happily-insane way that nothing can be fixed without being broken. No amount of therapy could fix something like that.

~

Navigating through the perilous walkways, I entered the primary control room. A griffon named DoomStar stood in front of a wall of pipes, gauging the levels of spectra running through them into the vast vats and in to the mixer. I could never imagine how he'd been employed here, with his oddly unhinged smile and unusually cheerful demeanor that suggested he would have made friends with anypony whilst hacking another to death. But his sharp red eyes suggested there was more underneath his jokes, as if another personality would jump out at any moment and take over.

Walking over to Nova, I stood behind her and observed the screens. One showed the system of pipes within the factory, although none of the lights were blinking, it seemed that the system had froze yet again, by the way Nova was banging on the keyboard and her expression was bordering on suggesting violence against it.

"Froze again?" She was still frowning at the buttons, tapping repeatedly on one of them.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened. Must be the stupid wires." Her frown deepened. "I can't imagine why Ms. Dash wouldn't agree to replace them earlier this month"

Dash not agreeing to make the system better? It was odd of her. But no pony had seen her for more than 2 weeks, so I couldn't imagine what she had been doing all this time.

"Must be the budget with the upper floors and all", I nodded at her hoping I wasn't too far off again.

"Nope", a voice came from behind me. Slowly I turned around.

Up close, DoomStar was huge. He stood over half a head taller then me, with his wings stretched out and in the light his deep red eyes seemed to announce death. But instead of taking a swing like I thought he always would, he smiled and calmly pointed a talon up towards the ceiling. "they're going to build a fifth and sixth floor," He stared straight into my eyes; I was frozen in fear. "Whole new redesign, soon they ain't gonna even have the control rooms at the second floor anymore." He turned and smirked at Nova, who sat blinking at him.

"Really? I thought it was the Pegasus device and two floors" She seemed confused by the notion of it all. "Unless they're planning on taking on more weather creating machines? They suggested it but never really decided during the meeting."
DoomStar nodded. "I overheard Atmosphere, seems he's planning on telling us later, huh?"

"Doesn't seem so fair to me" I shrugged, since I had no idea about it, and was sure neither did many others.
"It isn't, but I betcha they'll have us do more and hire a few others I guess" He walks out then, presumably back to wherever he worked.

We stare after him. Minutes pass.

"Few more promotions then." I turn back to the blue Pegasus digging her hooves into the control panel in front of her. The voice did not seem like hers. "Once you get in rhythm with the machine..they take over..and then.." She giggles in a odd way. Backing away, I bump into a wall. Then I see her eyes.

I shook my head to clear everything. No, it couldn't be. It simply coul-

The sound of a tool box being knocked to the ground and the contents spilling all over the floor brings reality back. Turning around, I begin to quickly place the pieces back into the box. Then she was beside me, helping. I jump back.
"What's wrong? You're all jittery" Nova stares at me like I've grown an extra head. The pupils have dilated back to resembling normalcy.

"Nothing" I mutter. Avoiding having to look back, I escape back into the stairways.

~

I suppose insanity wasn't an uncommon thing to happen to a worker. Although we used to have more staff, we lost quite a few to accidents, Dash disposing of them, or the fact they had simply gone insane. The notion of workers seemed to be just tools to her, easily disposable if broken, with a small chance of being mended. But as workers usually had grave injuries that included more than a broken bone, I couldn't say she could be blamed. Except for the fact the safety could be improved, which judging from the fact this facility was used to kill ponies, did not matter one bit. We were all going to die anyways, at one point.

Bending down, I tapped the side of the machine, which resounded in a hollow clank. It constantly jammed now, many parts had to be replaced simply because the main gears were old and rusted. I kicked the metal shell in frustration. Two months more seemed more like a time for us to be constantly replacing all the parts inside of it. If this was how the money saved from our budget was being used, it was futile, the bits where going to waste anyway.

The rest of the day was spent going through a bunch of random ponies, wrenching into their necks with a needle and throwing their bodies like rag dolls into the bowels of the machine. At times I stop and wonder why I've built my life on the agony of others. The wretched thing did not run 24 hours a day, the processor did; yet I always heard the screams now. The constant sounds of it wore me down.

After disengaging several tanks of a vile smelling substance from under the device, I dragged them out and dumped then into the waste chute. I suppose it wasn't the best way to dispose of mysterious substances since the pipes were not designed to house liquid, but dragging them to the back door did not seem to be the best idea either. I could hear the contents splashing out below, somewhat pitying whoever was unlucky enough to be standing near the container at the bottom.

Cause and effect of gore was interesting. You got used to watching bodies fall to the floor in a red, dripping mess, but when you really got down to it, the disgust was still there. You gain pleasure from the pain, but in reality, the thing you most enjoy is the one you also most fear.

Tired, I stumbled through the dark hallways and to the 3rd landing leading to the dorms. Crashing into my rarely used room and onto the bed, I fell into a deep sleep.

Author's Note:

So..sorry for the super late update. Been busy with school and other things. On that note, I am still searching for a proofreader, if you are willing to do so, please message me.