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† The Glass factory. †
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%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Several Centuries After It Had Last ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Belonged To Us, We Went On An Outing To ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ The Glass Factory That Bore Our Family ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ Name. It Had Changed Owners Many Times ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ Since Our Ancestors Death, And Then ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Stood Abandoned For A Long While. ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Finally, The Natural End Station For ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ The Buildings That Survive: A Museum, ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ And A Gift Shop. ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ There'S A Long Time Since My Family ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Made Anything. By Many, We Would Be ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Considered Poor. ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ There Are Two Main Factory Buildings, ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Domed Things Of Several Floors, Made In ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Yellow Brick. Large But Narrow Windows, ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Reminescent Of Some Cathedral. ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Custom-Made Glass, Of Course, Large And ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ LeadEd, And Ashen. A Bit Too Dark To Be ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Practical. On The Eastern Building, ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Some Are Shattered. ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ The Other One Is Publicly Open. There'S ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ A Museum, With Wax Figures Of My Great ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Great Great Grandfather, Or Something. ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Various Tools (Or Replicas) Laid Out On ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Tables, With Explaining Texts. A Lot Of ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Glass Of Varying Thickness. ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ †† ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ †† †† ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ ------- † † ------- ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ †† †† ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ †† ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ I Quickly Sneak Out, And Climb Into The ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Other Building. The Contrast Is ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Overwhelming. It Must Have Stood ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ Derelict For A Long Time, Windows ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Broken, Metallic Trash And Pools Of ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Dark Glass All Over The Floor. No ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Electric Lights, But I Can See By The ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ Light That Shines In Wherever The Dark ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ Windows Are Missing A Pane. ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ However, The Greatest Difference Is The ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Higher Floors: This Building Has None. ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ It Is One Massive Hall, Stretching Away ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ Infinitely Above Me. Somewhere Up There ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Is Some Great Iron Latticework, From ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Where Chains Are Suspended, And Parts ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Of Machinery Has Been Falling Down. ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ There Is, In The Middle Of The Great ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Hall, A Thin Spiral Staircase That ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Leads Up There. I Sneak Over There, And ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Take A Few Reluctant Steps. After Just ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ A Revolution, I Notice That For Each ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ Step The Building Starts To Glow, The ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Bricks Turning A Dark Red, And Then ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Orange, All The Piled Up Debree Being ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Lit From Behind. ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ I Stop Ready To Run Down And Out, But ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ There'S Someone Else On The Staircase ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ With Me Now, Pressed Close. He'S ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Looking Like Me, Short Hair And Thin ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Arms, But With Ears From Some Animal, ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ And More Disturbingly, Completely Made ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Of Dark Liquid glass. ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ †† ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ †† †† ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ ------- † † ------- ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ †† †† ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ †† ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ My Fear Holds Me In Place While He ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ Starts Operating Levers And Dials Set ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ In The Center Of The Staircase. Slowly, ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ It Starts Spinning, Circling Upwards. ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ It'S An Elevator! I Start To Run ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ Downwards, But Now The Liquid Boy ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ Creature Grabs Hold Of Me. I Try To ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Shake Him Off, But He'S Too Strong, And ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Pulls Me Back Up Beside Him. ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ This Time, I Turn Angry Instead. What ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ The Hell? Who Is This Guy, Acting Like ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ This? I Reach Out My Free Arm And Slam ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ A Random Lever. Some Metal Bar Is ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Suddenly Released Between Us, Hitting ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ Him On The Arm, Forcing My Release. I ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ Shove Him Off Of Me, And He Falls Into ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ The Levers, Messing Them Up. ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Immediately, A Thin Rusty Chainmail ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Curtain Is Dropped Around Me. But The ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Elevator Also Speeds Up Significantly. ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ The Walls Are Flaring Now, Yellow, ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ White, Almost Blue. I Close My Eyes And ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Curl Into A Ball. But Then, The Glass ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ Boy Screams, A Piercing Sound That ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ Forces My Eyes Back Open. I Watch As He ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Becomes Too Liquid, His Body Pooling ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Down In His Now Massive Tail, And The ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Tip Of It Suddenly Breaks Of In A Glass ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Drop That Falls Toward The Factory ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ Floor. ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ He'S Crawling On The Stairs, Unable To ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Keep His Body Upright. Can'T Reach The ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ Levers, Claws At My Chainmail Cage, ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ While His Body Is Turning Into Dark ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Pearls. Finally, He'S Lost Too Much Of ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Himself And The Scream Is Cut Short. ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ The Last Of Him Rains Down. ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ I Still Can'T Reach The Levers From ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Within My Cage. Looking Up, I Try To ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Make Out The Ceiling, But It'S All A ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Whirling Sea Of Colours. Below Me Glows ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ The Hellfire Of The Factory Walls, But ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ Very Faint. I Sit Down, Curl Back Up, ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Become Still. ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ †† ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ †† †† ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ ------- † † ------- ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ †† †† ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ †† ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ A Large Clunk Shakes My Entire Body, ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ And Snaps Me Back Into Reality. I'M ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ Back At The Factory Floor, But The ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Stairs Are Still Moving Slightly, ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ Clicking In Place, Carrying Me The Last ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ Few Centimeters. I Came From Below, ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
††-^¨¨¨¨¨¨ Somehow. The Chainmail Is Retracted, ¨¨¨¨¨¨^-††
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ And I Slowly Dismount The Stairs. ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Shaking And Crying, I Make My Way Over ¨¨¨^-††%£#
##£%††-^¨¨ The Factory Floor, Wading Through Dark ¨¨^-††%£##
###£%††-^¨ Glass Marbles. A Quick Glance Down, And ¨^-††%£###
##£%††-^¨¨ I See There'S Something Faint Inside ¨¨^-††%£##
#£%††-^¨¨¨ Them. Embryos? Are These Eggs? ¨¨¨^-††%£#
£%††-^¨¨¨¨ ¨¨¨¨^-††%£
%††-^¨¨¨¨¨ I Shudder, And Climb Back Out. ¨¨¨¨¨^-††%
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