"Unidentified gravity distortions detected, forward reconnaissance fleet dispatched."
—Holliday port traffic control dispatch
Sweat was sticking against her jumpsuit with reckless abandon. Chloe felt it rolling between her breasts, and soaking into the fabric. The heat of the facility was stifling, and with no ventilation it wasn't getting any better. This was by far the worst job she ever had, she simply didn't have the muscle mass or endurance to work lifting the pallets of batteries onto the forklift to be transported to the receiving dock.
She heard stories of what it was like working in the battery farm. Many had simply referred it to the cauldron. When she first got off the train the heat hit her in the face, and it shocked her to see men and women stripped naked to the waist stumbling back to the train at the end of their shift. She bit her lip as she saw men her age strip completely naked as the heat became unbearable.
Some of them took pride in it claiming this is how their fathers did it. It shocked her to see woman working with little to no clothes. After an hour in the cauldron carrying one large bundle of batteries after another she understood why. After chugging several jugs of water she finally relented, unzipping her jumpsuit to expose her sensitive flesh to the steaming air. Her breasts were full and heavy. She worried that people would stare, of course a few did but the energy was sapped out of everybody. Even her mind craved relief more than anything else. Even half naked sweat continued to pour from her skin. A pool of water followed her as she lifted one pallet after another.
As she struggled with bleeding fingers it was hard not to notice the cybernetics. The people managing the entire workforce were a group of overseers called szars. They were heavily augmented to the point where several were more machine than man. Bizarre appendages of metal and wires extended from their central frames. Several of the workers sported mechanical limbs of varying designs. While the majority were base humans, the others stuck out.
She was staring at one of the workers with implants installed along his spin, they were input ports for an MUI. She didn't see the other laborer trying to carry a pallet behind her. He bumped against her hard enough to push her to her knees.
The mounds of her chest impacted against the metallic floor. Her hands were planted on the ground. Her indecent posture won the whistling of the crowd.
"Sorry las..." the elder worker froze as he gazed at her on all fours in front of him, her round bottom facing him just begging to be stripped bare.
Chloe stood up as quickly as she could, she felt light headed and stumbled slightly. She covered her chest with her arms as she turned around. The man had an erection larger than she'd ever seen. It frightened her.
"Unit 21637 any further latency in your task will be met with suspension of pay," one of the machine like szars interjected between them. Its attention was focused on the man. It then turned its attention to her and with a cold audio voice said, "Unit 98649 did you receive any damage? Are you in need of maintenance?" Chloe found it weird how it treated them like machines. It's face was a pudgy human male with bronze teeth, but the bulky machine body was twice their size. It seemed weird to even consider it human.
The man who bumped into her grinned, "Careful where your standing las, you might get more than a bump next time."
Chloe Butcher turned away and picked up her pallet again. Not getting an answer from either of them, the czar returned to its monitoring duties.
A few minutes later the next round of batteries were carried into the room by the forklift from outside and each new pallet felt uncomfortable having to press it against her flesh. Just thinking of that mans cock made her stomach flutter. She knew not all the moist between her thighs was sweat. It was shameful to admit it but she had been hungering for a man for some time. Women on Holliday were known to marry early, and breed large families. Her mother died giving birth, which is why she had a tombstone. Her father prized Chloe above all else afterward, even when all the other families around us sported several kids. She was the lonely island, and once she came of age she hoped to start a family of her own. It would have been easy, she was more than noticeable. Her voluptuous breasts had won her a lot of attention. But still she wanted to lose her virginity to someone who would be worth it. At least she told herself that rather than accept that after everything that happened with her fathers death her chances were diminished.
Meanwhile the workers here in the cauldron were not her first or even second choice. And she knew how savage they would be to her if they weren't already so physically exhausted.
For several hours she chugged water and lifted pallets, her arms were weak and her legs were giving out from under her. When the shift was finally over she already decided she was never going to work in the cauldron again. The pay simply wasn't worth it. She probably could've made more stripping than sweating to death. At least the men wouldn't be allowed to touch her, not unless they were willing to pay. She laughed at herself from the thought of it. She wondered what her father would think of her working a sweat job like this in front of all these other men and women. What he would think if she decided to show off what Mother Nature had so generously gifted her at a private strip club instead.
When the shift was over she followed the column of other women to the showers, cold water never felt so good. Her skin flinched at the sudden temperature change. Their clothing was washed in the meantime and when she was back on the train going back to the station she couldn't help but notice how shameful some of the others seemed around her. They had been watching her the entire time, and just now felt embarrassed for it. She couldn't have been the only one, but she would be the one they remembered the longest.
She had been working one odd job after another to claw her way out of this world. When the train finally was exposed to the outside world she looked up to the stars in anticipation. "Not much longer," she whispered to herself. It was a promise she made each time she finished a day of work. It wouldn't be long before she finally achieved the one dream that had invaded her imagination since childhood. To become one of those angelic lights soaring into the sky, to explore the great beyond.
When the train stopped back at the central plaza she was welcomed by another long line of night shift workers. Some of them looked just as eager as she was when she started. Vernon wasn't there, no one was to greet her.
Her apartment was on the 24th floor in a district commonly known as "the nook". The way the intercity highways carved around it made it look like a small knot separated from the rest of the city. It wasn't the most desirable of places, and the law kept the least attention to it. But it was also incredibly cheap. She chose her apartment tower for being so close to the edge of the district where two of the highways connected and the central plaza was still in reach. Any further inside and she doubted she would be safe. Here at least there was some security. She worried that she might need it after broadcasting her entire nude self to a horde of sweaty workers.
Her room smelled like dust. As soon as she locked the door she relieved herself of the jumpsuit and took a second shower. It felt much more relaxing than the first. The water spilled over over skin, and travelled down her thighs.
When she finished and stepped out from the shower she put on her robe and walked into the small bedroom. The chill of the air made her nipples erect, the spot between her legs tingle. She wrapped the rob tightly around her and wished for a proper heater. Then again she would welcome the chilly afternoon over the cauldron any day.
She plopped down on the mattress hard and sprawled out. She couldn't do it again, wouldn't go back to work at that place again. She felt like years of her life had been spent. Curiously she checked her PDA for an updated balance in her account. She counted down the seconds as she watched the circle in the middle of the screen spin. Right when she was about to give up the account balance finally lit up. Already the funds for one day at the cauldron was transferred. Around 150 credits. She swallowed thinking about it, she just stripped naked under conditions of hard labor for a hundred and fifty credits!
She cursed to the empty room and slammed her head into a pillow to scream. For several minutes she raged beating the mattress and yelling into the air. When she finally calmed down, after having already thrown said pillows to the wall, she sobbed. Chloe didn't notice until after her eyes dried that several books she kept had been opened, and there was a weird smell coming from her closet.
