Rainbow Factory Quality Control

Chapter 6: Employee Morale

Wally reached the top of the Color Crystal hopper and threw the bag he had carried out onto the dirt. He followed out soon after, standing up straight in the starlight and breathing lightly. He wordlessly pulled up the rope and stored it in a bag along with his harness. Since it seemed climbing was going to be a part of his weekly, if not everyday activities, he had ordered his own equipment to give QC's gear a break. With his equipment over one shoulder, and bag of Color Crystals over the other, he strode confidently to the edge of the hopper field. The newly established safety department had already been out here and marked off the area with caution tape and flags to stop anyone else from making the same mistake Wally had months ago. As they had inspected the hoppers, three more unfortunates had been found, long since turned to dust and bones. The remains were tossed through the Kiln all the same and ground into posthumous glitter. Waste not, want not.

He passed by the Receiving Shed that was awash in flood lights. They had gotten another Doozy in, with enough fair warning this time, but the new Live Hang crew was still young and inexperienced. Wally stood off to the side for a moment to watch them wrestle with the rear door of the truck, only to see it erupt outward in a flurry of brilliant orange fur. This one wasted no time in reaching for the nearest member of the catch crew and biting down to suck their Essence out.

Wally sighed and dropped his bags, then kicked up a pipe from the ground and stalked over. In one hand he held the pipe, in the other he grabbed a length of chain from a nearby rack. The more experienced crews fell into step behind him and he whistled loudly to draw the Doozy's attention. The Doozy turned and spines under the orange fur went through their color-shifting phase before settling on a now familiar purple. "Yeah, come on you bitch," Wally said, then raised the pipe as the Doozy charged. He side-stepped just in time for the three-eyed head to whistle past his shoulder, then brought the pipe down on the back of its noggin, a spot he had come to know as the Doozy night-night switch. The Doozy stumbled and Wally flicked out the hand with the chain letting it wrap once around the creatures neck and head, neatly parting its circular mouth and rendering its fangs useless.

With the Doozy now under his control, Wally grabbed a fist-full of the chain and led it to the more experienced workers of the catch crews, then passed the chain to the Supervisor.

"Thanks Boss!"

Wally gave a thumbs up and picked up his bags from where he had dropped them, then went to a door at the side of the building and shortcut through to the hall outside of Oris' lab. He greeted the mole man before setting down the bag of Color Crystals on a side table. "There's still plenty more where this came from."

Oris came over to inspect the bag and nodded approvingly. He turned and came back with another tray with the yellow Star Sprinkles. Wally collected the Sprinkles and put them in another bag. "Is there anything else you need?" Wally asked.

"No, this is more than enough, thank you for all of your help Mr Walden," Oris removed the tray and set it aside. "Are you going to visit QC?"

"Yeah, I was planning to after I get a shower. I'm getting better, but it's still a workout climbing up and down out of those hoppers."

"Let me know how those Sprinkles work for her. I infused them with a bit of Yellow Pure to see if that helps her along." Oris said proudly. Wally had told him of his discovery regarding QC's slow recovery and the mole man had jumped to the challenge with gusto. He seemed happy to do something new for a change.

"Will do, and thank you again, oh wait, there is one thing, if you would be up to it. There's a new Doozy in Receiving. I would like to get a sample of its venom studied."

"Should not be a problem Mr Walden."

"Thank you." Wally stepped out and shut the door behind him. The daily Sanitation shift was about to start after the last Puppets went down the line, and the halls smelled pleasantly of cleaning products. With his new discovery of how to manipulate the Device, Wally had made some slight scheduling changes to how the Factory ran. Time still had no meaning here, but patterns most certainly did.