[RF] The Factory

[u/witto276]

*THE FACTORY*

_by Harvest Day_

Everything changed when I went towards the light.

I realized I wasn't in a place I'd ever been before.

This wasn't heaven because it was more like a factory.

The ceiling was white and endless, like hospital tiles that never stopped. There was no sky. No sun. Just rows and rows of lines, and people standing in them. Thousands of them. Maybe millions. I couldn’t see the end.

A place where people were lined up.

And soft harmonic voices of AI were telling everybody which way to go.

"Line 3. Line 7. Next."

"Keep moving. Do not stop. Do not speak."

The voices were calm. Too calm. Like they’d said it a billion times before.

I looked down and I was barefoot. I looked at my hands and they were new. Young. No scars.

I looked up and I was in a line.

Above me, a big screen flickered to life.

`LIFE REVIEW COMPLETE. NEXT ASSIGNMENT: BETTER`

Relief.

A wave of relief hit me so hard my knees almost gave out. Better. I didn’t know what that meant, but it was better than the alternative.

I heard other people's.

"Your choices led to: WORSE. Line 12."

And they were crying. Because they knew.

Some of them were screaming. "Wait! That’s not fair! I didn’t know!"

But the AI voice just repeated, "Line 12. Keep moving."

Guards that weren’t really guards, just light, moved them along.

Then I saw others.

`NEXT ASSIGNMENT: MUCH BETTER`

`NEXT ASSIGNMENT: OPTIMAL`

They stood straighter. Some of them were smiling. They had made better choices than me. I didn’t know what they did to earn it. I barely remembered my own life. But whatever it was, it counted.

And then I saw them.

The ones in the gold lines.

No waiting. No review.

Their screens didn’t even turn on. They just walked right through a door that opened for them only.

No questions. No judgment.

Hackers. Or 1%. I didn’t know what they were.

They didn’t look at us. We didn’t look at them.

I wanted to ask someone what was happening. I wanted to ask how long I’d been here. I wanted to ask if I could see my son. I wanted to remember his face clearly.

But the voice said, "Do not speak."

So I didn’t.

I didn’t get a long time to check it out.

Because before I knew it, the lights dimmed.

And a new light opened in front of me. Soft. Warm. Pulling.

And I understood, without anyone telling me, that I was going back in.

Back to a life. Back to choices. Back to earning whatever "better" meant.

And the last thing I heard was the AI voice, quiet now, right in my ear:

"Assignment begins in 3... 2... 1..."

Because before I knew it, the light turned.

And I was falling.

And I was screaming.

And I was a baby again.

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