He woke up with a start, the mural burnt into his mind. It was intangible, ethereal, yet ever present. And he wouldn’t waste it. His monitor, beeped, informing him that his pills were ready, he simply had to pick them up. He memorized the address before parting once more on his shift. He was back to drilling in and out, in and out, however this time, he had something to drill for.

He examined the mural in his mind the way one might swirl a particularly succulent dish in their mouth, passing over every inch. In what seemed like record time to him, the shift had ended and he left the factory. AED-#210-31570 checked the digital clock mounted above the exit door, ensuring he had time before having to pick up his nutrition pills and set off to see the mural again.

He passed through the train, past staircases and inspection blocks before ending up at the wall. But there was nothing there. Just an empty, GREY, wall. AED-#210-31570 felt calmer than ever, climbing up the stairs to get his nutrition pills. As he reached the top step, he passed through an entranceway and into a mass courtyard.

The area was in the shape of a hexagon, with each side having a section with a hole, a glass wall, and a citizen opposite that desk registering, and documenting the proper information. AED-#210-31570 went up and stood in one of the long stretching queues, waiting his turn, as he slowly got closer and closer to the register. He was standing in front of a smaller man, dressed the same as him, clearly, but with longer than regulation hair. It was enough of an oddity for him to stare, and so he did, gazing at the non-conforming hair as he got closer and closer in line.

Eventually, he reached the register, giving his details, so his form could be processed and his food dispensed. Wordlessly, he snatched the small cylinder

before once again embarking back on his path home. Once there he opened it up, took one, then quickly fell asleep, wondering if that mural, had been just a dream.

It was AED-#210-31570’s night shift as he staggered through the factory door’s, this time taking care to stand next to the massive body of AED-#211-25687, he thought of something, then asked

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‘Citizen AED-#211-25687, you eat the same nutrition pills and nutri-paste as every one else, correct?’

AED-#211-25687 glanced at him before nodding and grabbing another of the computer cubes and putting it on the opposite assembly line. AED-#210-31570 continued

‘I hold no intentions of being rude, but if your sole meal are nutrition pills, and paste, how is it that you hold such an irregular physique?

It is true that through the various megacities, the lower class had a penchant for being on average, stout, and short with pale skin, due to the lack of nutrition and sunlight. AED-#210-31570 suspected that AED-#211-25687 had once been a member of a higher importance job, that was regulated due to ineptitude and was attempting to find a topic of conversation, just to have someone pay him the slightest bit of heed. AED-#211-25687 shrugged and said

‘Never thought of it, most likely slow metabolism.’

And like that the conversation was finished, fading into the din of clanking machines, buzzing blades, and whirring belts. As well as the occasional scream of pain from someone who hadn’t realized how close their hand was to

something violently spinning. Time passed and AED-#210-31570 once again attempted to strike up a conversation, this normally wasn’t like him, he thought, but the mural had breathed enough energy and life into his mind to try something new.

‘So, uh… how’s uh life going for you currently?’

AED-#211-#211-25687 stared at him for a moment before returning to his task, nonetheless, AED-#210-31570 persisted.

‘What would you do, if you saw something beyond your reach, and knew you could never achieve it?’ If you didn’t even know such a thing was possible, and you’re unable to go back to the time without it?

AED-#211-25687 simply shrugged and responded

‘If I thought that I wasn’t able to do something that I wanted? I’d simply work until I could.’

‘But what if that wasn’t an option’, reiterated AED-#210-31570.

‘I’d make it one. No matter the odds, you can only ever complain if you have truly, given everything you’ve got, if you haven’t, you’re simply a failure.’

AED-#211-258687 returned to his work, leaving AED-#210-31570 to ponder over the answer he had given, and finally, silence returned.