The October Music: Fourth Verse - Day 3

Building Steam
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Cornelius frowned as he stared down at the factory floor. It was never enough, he thought. The ants scurrying below worked hard but never made the progress he hoped they would. They were limited. Limited in brain and brawn and basic humanity. With their simple lives working for him, how could he hope to provide energy for the entire city? Worse yet, a couple enterprising young rivals had promised the leadership of the city an alternative to his product and he simply couldn't have that.

Fortunately, he was not simple. He was not limited. He was bright and creative and had come up with an idea. One he was about to put into action. Humanity is limited. The future is not. Over the past several months, he had spent his nights toiling in a secret room in the factory to create the perfect worker. Steel and gears, wires and screws, bolts and electricity. His new worker was the beginning of a new era. Now, all he had left to do was put it on the floor. 

Carefully, he walked down the stairs and made his way to the room. In the darkness, the new worker waited. Reverentially, he ran his hands over the steel carcass and touched a switch on the back. The worker sprang to life and, with a creak, moved forward and out onto the floor.

The workers were startled, then terrified. They shouted in fear but Cornelius assured them this was here to make their jobs easier. Their faces appeared skeptical but, when the machine began shoveling coal rapidly, the concern was replaced with relief. Cornelius beamed. He was going to snuff out any competition within days!

That was when the machine accidentally grabbed a nearby worker and tossed him into the furnace. The scream was haunting and everyone howled in horror. The stench and sound of cooking, sizzling meat filled the factory. However, the belch of steam from the furnace was orders of magnitude larger than any coal could manage. A fluke, surely? Cornelius felt sick to his stomach. Then, the machine grasped another worker and threw him in as well. The same horrible smell and sound poured from the furnace, but the steam production was immense. Cornelius’s horror turned to something else. Something darker.

As everyone else stood around, paralyzed by the carnage, Cornelius snuck around them all to the entrance. He cracked the doors open just enough for him to slide out, then quickly tied the doors shut with a length of chain. He secured them with a padlock and tucked the key into his pocket. He had done what needed to be done. 

Over the next few days, his profits soared. The city was impressed at the amount and quality of the steam he provided. Soon, though, his steam stopped and he knew why. Fear filled his chest as he saw his business die, but then an idea came to him. 

An ad appeared in the paper the next day:

Workers needed. Urgent.