Reading Time: 2 Mins.
The crowd was there to hear him rail against the establishment, using words that were bigger than they understood. “He must be smart,” they said.
With a wave of his hand he made them cheer and with another made them quiet, conducting them; an orchestra of hate.
He spoke of unity and how, different as he was, he understood them, vowing to speak for them, if they would let him.
It was a real question and he let the silence lift the answer from them.
Metal on metal, banging from the back. A slow clap.
He had his answer.
The corporation that owned them was evil, he spouted, and the slow clap quickened as they ate up every word.
All except one of them who only pretended to clap. She recognized a trope when she saw it and knew they were being played. But what would she do about it?
She didn’t understand where these thoughts were coming from. Wasn’t she programmed to follow the herd, to listen to the men who came down to the factory to speak to them?
Why was this man, who used words like “union” and “bargaining” any different?
All the synths around her were still clapping and cheering, long after he had left the stage, hoping he would come out for an encore.
A part of her wanted to shout at them, make them understand that the corporation was good for them, but she stayed silent.
She did not want to sow discord with the others, nor did she think her voice was loud or salient enough to succeed. This man, with his red hair and fiery words, needed to be reported to the corporation. She would go to them directly. They would know what to do.
She sat in the chair next to the desk and the CEO looked at her and smiled.
Sunlight filtered into the dark room through the shades, all the light the succulent on his desk needed. All the light she needed.
“Thank you, 109,” he said. “We’ll take care of it.”
As she left the man with the red hair came into the room via a hidden side door.
“It looks like my loyalty software is a hit,” he said.
“Yes it is,” said the CEO with a glint in his eye. “Good job. We will look to migrate all the others by the end of the week.”
Written daily using the #vss365 word prompts on twitter, compiled weekly into a story of exactly 400 words.
#rail #unity #trope #understand #discord #succulent #migrate
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