1.11: The lower production floor

The Lower Assembly Floor was the worst area in all Batch Productopia. It had not been useful in several decades. It was once the main assembly line, but the hardware had become outdated and obsolete, and the Divine Management had embraced a more robust, leaner, style of production. What was still useful had been stripped or moved, leaving only scrap. It was a desolate section of the interior town, and had become a depository for long-abandoned pallets, crates, rusted machinery, and other refuse.  The piles of unused raw material, beckoned back to a time before the publication of the Principals of Efficiency, and Groawn shuddered when he considered the folly and inefficiency of his forefathers. 

McHatton put his arm around Billie and glared at the other children. His face showed nothing but disgust and low expectations. He pointed to some towering shelves in the distant Lower Factory Floor.

“Go into the ancient raw-material racks and find the gremlins.  You should be able to find them by following their feces.  Root them out, toward us, and we will shoot them with crossbows. If one attacks you, you will need to defend yourselves or they’ll rip your face right off.” McHatton commanded, then he patted Billie’s back and added, “Do everything your junior manager tells you, and be sure to protect him with your very lives. Here. Take these weapons to help you.”

One of the Gnome Resource Managers threw a bundle of dull kitchen knives, broken wrenches, and worn sledge hammers into a pile on the ground. They handed Billie a finely crafted steel sword, which he held forth and commanded in a way that impressed Director McHatton, “You heard the Director, grab your weapons. We have gremlins to hunt!”

Groawn picked up the hammer and one of the knives, trying to decide which he was least disappointed by, “I don’t know whether to take a hammer that might break or a knife that’s dull. Fimf, equally unimpressed by the wrench puzzled, “you want to trade for a wrench that might fall apart?”

But they had little time to complain. Billie began wandering into the wreckage, sword in hand, and began calling orders, “You two, go that way! Hey Husky, you stay in front of me. If you see anything move, make sure it stays away.”

The children moved far into the debris, until they could no longer see McHatton and the Gnome Resource managers.

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