The Confined

4. Ego

2302. 04. Another day

Today something changed for once in a lifetime. I felt like I was going to fly, light and happy. They say that change happens before something bad happens. But I had a good feeling today like I was going to be lucky. Like always, I was wrong.

I had never been able to find a job since I was 10, and surprisingly today was the day that set a record. After 8 years of looking for jobs, interviewing every day, I finally got a job. It was the work of fixing broken and wasted machines from the RL.

"Is it true that you are a somewhat... mechanic? Here in the Confined?" she asked me.

I didn't want to lose the opportunity, so even if it sounded a little like boasting I said yes. "I'm talented in making things frpm junk. One time, I made a toy helicopter from rubberbands and plastic bags. I also made a cannon that shot out fruit seeds. Kids love it."

"What a nice talent." She laughed and told me that I was hired.

I had never felt so happy in my life that I could use my talent as a job. I had finally found out to be useful. I got the feeling that I wasn't another wasteful human being who only used up more oxygen. I got to think that I was needed in this world.

The woman led me toward a concealed room. It had only one door with a half transparent window so that only the person outside could see what was happening inside. There were at least two dozen huge machines and a tool box in that small room. I had to squeeze myself to sit in the blank space, or else I might damage the machines until they become unfixable.

"You have today to finish fixing all of these machines." She said. "If you can't fix all of them, you don't get your salary." She walked out and locked the door behind her. There was a speaker that I hadn't noticed before, so I was startled when the woman spoke through it. "When you're done, press the red button on the window." She instructed, and she was gone.

Today I felt a lot of feelings bubbling up inside me. I felt happiness, enthusiasm, and now nervousness, all in 5 hours. I felt like I was going to puke.

The first machine I was to fix was probably a maid robot, because it was wearing black and white clothes and it had really long eyelashes. Her arm was dismantled to reveal red and blue wires that looked like human veins. Electricity sparked every now and then to surprise me. I picked up the arm, and my instincts flew in. I began to reconnect the wires, turn switches in the robot's brain. I detached the shoulder whole so I could look into the damaged part better using a screwdriver that could adjust itself to the length of the hole. I replaced some dead wires, nailed the arm back onto its socket, oiled the inside of the elbow and shoulder a little so that the arm could move easily, and reattached it. I flipped just the right levers inside of its head and the robot came to life.

"Move your arm." I ordered. It held up his arm.

"Are you my master?" It said to me.

I pondered on how to answer. I've never had a pet robot before and it was seriously tempting to have at least a broken one. I would be the only person in The Confined to have a robot slave. It would be like dominating the world.

Still, I had some conscience. I shook my head no. The robot tilted his head.

"Then who is my master?" It asked. I twirled it around and flipped it off. Too many words. I don't like pets who bother me with too much talking.

I went on to the next assignment, and the next, and finally got to finish 24 of them when the sun started setting. Most of the robots weren't very hard to fix, just minor problems in the hardware. My hands flew across the tools and machinery, I pulled this and that, put in this and that, and it always turned out to work perfectly. The last robot was tricky because there seemed to be something wrong in the software.