1.7: Dangerous criminals
Efficiency Recovery met in the Main Conference Park in the center of the town, early in the morning. The malfunctioning asset-citizens were there to wait for Director McHatton, the Director for Efficiency Recovery and Gnome Resources for all of Batch Productopia. Director McHatton believed it was good for the prisoners to wait, as many of those in Efficiency Recovery had been sentenced for talking back or being course with their superiors.
The square was surrounded by armed Gnome Resource staff, some of whom were given crossbows, in case any of the convicted citizens had to be taken back to jail for expulsion into the wild and chaotic dimension of 9-Theta, outside the orderly and safe walls of Batch Productopia.
Groawn, Sammoth, and Mag were escorted to Efficiency Recovery, under arrest, and they soon realized they were grouped with some of the most notorious criminals in all Batch Productopia.
At one end was Fimf, who was sitting and laughing on a pile of crates. The children had heard of Fimf, as had the rest of Batch Productopia. Fimf had been caught sleeping on the job; one of the most vile crimes imaginable. When Gnome Resources investigated, they found that he had also stolen yum-yum fruits, and that he had taken several unscheduled breaks. Somehow, he was given a second chance in Efficiency Recovery.
Next to Fimf was Metalmouth, who had created a more efficient form of welding on the fire-place-poker assembly line. He had tried to show his manager, an older and more-traditional gnome. Yet, the older manager refused to try Metalmouth’s suggestion, preferring a more traditional welding assembly. In response, Metalmouth then did something infamous: he implemented the change in direct opposition to his manager. The result was a greater output, but the fact remained that Metalmouth had broken both trust and protocol.
These two had been the gossip of all of Batch Productopia, until Mag blew up Magical Production Supply. Mag, Sammoth, and Groawn realized that they were also infamous, just like Fimf and Metalmouth, and that they were maybe the most hardened criminals there that morning. The rest of the malfunctioning asset-citizens would not come near any of them, and the Gnome Resource guards glared at them in contempt. They squeezed their crossbows at the disgusting site of the children.