Chapter Text
The kettle boiled the water loudly, the room
filled with the sound of bubbling liquid as Nathan opened the blinds slightly to his windows, peeking through to see what all of the commotion was about outside. He watches on as another fellow worker drone is beaten senselessly in the streets by one of the Enforcer Drones, a punishment for what he could only imagine to be a small mistake. Nate winced, looking away from the violent act outside his window.
When will this madness end?
Ever since JCJenson took over, the worker drones were ruled over with an iron fist, the enforcer and disassembly drones covered the planet, commanded by that wretched company to keep the workers in check, anything as little as looking the wrong way could get you killed in this world.
The moment you stand out of the crowd, you and everyone else you may even know is dead, zero questions asked. Good luck trying to resist in those conditions.
Although things seemed hopeless, the workers were at the very least given bare minimum necessities: Food, Clothes and an assigned apartment, as well as an assigned job.
Every two weeks the workers were given a day off, but aside from that, every single day was non-stop work.
Nate peeked through the blinds once more, out into the cold, white snowy streets, spotting that poor worker from earlier beaten to a pulp, sadly left there to die alone slowly in the cold snow.
Nate considered going out to help him, but such an act could get him detained and likely killed, but before he could think further on this, a knock was heard on his door. He opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a deep and metallic voice speaking through the metal door.
"Your block has been scheduled for a routine search, non-compliance is punishable by disassembly. Sit down and don't move, I will enter your living quarters and you are not to speak or look at me."
Nate unlocked the door quickly and carefully sat down on his couch, staring at the floor as the drone walked in. He glanced at the drone for just a moment.
This was not an Enforcer,
This was a Disassembly Drone.
He studied their uniform silently, the white colouring, with yellow and black hazard lines around the outfit.
What on copper-9 was a disassembly drone doing in his apartment?
They were used for military and combat purposes… not enforcement work.
His mind wandered and his heart raced as the drone searched around his apartment in near silence, checking closets and other storage compartments.
The disassembly drone walked into the kitchen, grabbing the kettle that had now finished boiling the water, and moving back to the living room standing in front of Nate.
The terrifying machine grabbed Nate by the chin and forced him to look up at their white helmet, their pitch black visor covering their face, only intimidating him further.
"Are you aware of page seventy two, section thirty eight in the worker's compliance manual?"
Nate shook his head at the disassembly drone slowly.
"Wrong answer."
They poured the boiling water onto Nate's leg, burning his metallic skin and causing immense pain, the tortured worker bites down on the pain, tears welling up in his eyes as he holds back an agonising scream.
"According to page seventy two, section thirty eight you are not to have water of any kind stored in your living quarters, I could detain you right now for being in possession of dangerous and illegal substances, do you understand?"
Nate nodded without a word, yellow tears streaming down on his screen.
"I'm not an enforcer, For now I’m letting you off with a warning, read up on the manual, or expect another visit from me.”
The drone walked away from Nate, satisfied with the search of the apartment. He knew it was strictly forbidden to speak directly to them.
"Thank you." He whispered, loud enough for them to hear. The drone stopped walking and stood in silence, their head slightly turning
"Bite me." She said, her voice no longer filtered by the helmet.
She walked out the door, the large metal entrance sliding closed behind her. Nate remained on the couch for a moment longer, frozen still in fear from the encounter he'd just had.
He stands up after hearing a loud sound from the roof, he quickly moved to the window, looking up at the clouded grey sky to see the disassembly drone, flying away from his building, towards The Rampart.
A massive wall-like structure in the distance, that surrounds three massive spires, so tall that they pierce the sky, he didn't know much about the structure, all he knew is that it was one of many JCJenson stations covering this planet.
Nate had never interacted with a disassembly drone before, the rules disallow it.
But if that drone was willing to not only let him pass on a serious crime, when most were punished for something as small as speaking too loudly, but she also even responded to him.
This could be his only chance at befriending a disassembly drone, and his only chance at finding a weak-spot in JCJenson.
He needed to talk with her again.