††††††††
†††† ††††
†† ††
† †
† †
† The Glass factory. †
† †
† †
†† ††
†††† ††††
††††††††
¨-«††£§@## 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. @§£††«-¨¨¨
††
†† ††
† †
†† ††
††