#yxx

Start here:

PART 2.5

I looked at my long messy hair in the mirror.

I tried to get myself in gear but I couldn’t, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be ok to work today. The dreams I had last night, well if you want to call them that. Felt so vivid. The emotions were intense, and I was more drained from sleeping than anything. But I was still moving. Still functioning… mostly.

I slapped my face lightly to get myself together and pushed myself to get to my car. I held my hair tie in my teeth as I sat down and pulled my hair back into a ponytail.

If I’m lucky, maybe they’ll send me home.

I managed to drive to work without incident, though my fingers gripped the wheel a little tighter than usual.

I saw Aren when I walked inside, already busy talking to the yXX representative at the front of the shop. 

Weird, corporate doesn’t normally show up this early.

I guess they wanted her to be readily available for any “user responses” this morning.

The representative had a table set up next to the break room and the orange Hilo barriers. Somewhat of a makeshift desk. Normally people from the office don’t show up until a few hours after our shift starts. 

When Aren turned around I knew they could see how wrecked I looked. A smile flickered on my face, but I didn’t have the energy to wave.

“Mornin’.” I said, trying not to sound as rough as I felt.

“Hey, Same to you.” Aren said with a smile. 

————————————————————————————————————————

I was too low on energy to have a meaningful conversation before the buzzer went off, though I was happy with the news that Aren had given me.

I wish I could walk faster

I forced my legs toward my side of the floor, each step louder in my ears than it should’ve been.

I worked in a different part of the shop, the spot welding division. I suited up: my respirator, kevlar gloves, apron. After, slowly putting on my headset. The nasal wire entered a hole on the top of the respirator, and slid into position. It sent a shiver through me. 

The system blinked to life. A soft whirr on my chest and then a ripple of icons, browser tiles, and a subtle tracking dot that followed my eye movements.

My hands, like clockwork, took over. Grabbing the pincer welding device next to me and starting the conveyor.  

Okay, okay, at least I got all set up. Let’s try to interact with something engaging so I don’t fall asleep.

My legs would lock up if I went unconscious, something that yXX had as a failsafe for emergencies. But your eyes needed to be interacting with the lenses or your body would stop moving. Something about the connections in the brain were very important. If your eyes did stop moving, or they were closed for 5 minutes, a warning would be transmitted to the supervisor.

We’re gonna struggle-bus until break, then I can down some energy.

My thoughts were in a fog.

I opened the app browser, and gazed around. Hovering over a listing with no icon.

OK, what are you?

My eyes were so heavy.  I felt like my vision was pulsing, my mind slipping sideways. The world fell away. Suddenly, I was in a space so vast it defied logic. The sky above wasn’t sky at all, but a canopy of brass. Riddled with blinking red lights that beat like hearts.

Then a sound. Like metal screaming.

My body jolted, my mind reeling.

What the hell?

I shook it off as best as I could. I must have nodded off for a second. I checked the time in the corner of the display.

2 hours had passed.

Uh????

Why hadn’t a supervisor come over? I mean, maybe I got lucky and something errored with the new headset and never sent over an alarm to my boss.

Something even more jarring had also occurred, my part counter had increased. 

This, this shouldn’t be possible.

Start here:

Part 2

The next day at work I handed in my feedback form to the same woman who gave us the presentation yesterday. My response was mostly positive, at least on paper. Under the additional comments I had made a note about the app that glitched out and white screened.

When I mentioned it out loud to her the rep was unfazed.

“We have already implemented some bug fixes overnight, due to some employees turning in their questionnaires at the end of shift yesterday. The problem might have already been resolved.” She gave the same plastic grin from yesterday. “We hope there are no further issues.” 

“Uh. thanks” I nodded, turning away with a frown pulling at my mouth. Natalie was looking at me from the locker area. As I walked towards her I could see her expression was a bit duller than normal. 

“Mornin’” Her voice lacked her usual vigor.

“Hey, same to you.” I smiled trying to inject some warmth into the moment. “Good news, I looked up enrollment last night. I even scheduled an appointment to talk to an advisor next week.”

With a slight smile, she exhaled in tired relief. “That’s great.”

“You doing okay?” It wasn’t really a question. It was clear she wasn’t.

She opened her mouth, hesitating.

“Well…I-“ 

The buzzer cut her off. We both flinched, instinctively glancing at the clock.

“Shit,” I muttered. “We’re not at our stations.”

Natalie gave a quick nod. “Later,” she said.

“Yeah.”

We peeled off toward our respective areas with the silent understanding that whatever she was going to say. Whatever was really going on, would be addressed at next break.

Until then I tried to keep busy with word puzzle games, and music. But my brain wouldn’t work the way I wanted to.

————————————————————————————————–

When I walked into the break room, I spotted her already sitting at a table, sipping a drink from the vending machine. She looked… better. Not perfect, but clearer than this morning.

“You look more alive,” I said, grabbing a seat across from her. “That morning fog wore off?”

“Yeah,” she said, with a shrug. “Honestly, I felt like garbage this morning. But once I hooked into the headset… I don’t know. I must’ve nodded off. Slept until right before the bell for break went off.”

“You what?” I raised an eyebrow. “You fell asleep?”

She nodded, totally casual.

“How? Your eyes have to stay open for the sync unit to work properly. That’s, like, the whole thing.”

“I don’t know,” she said, lowering her voice slightly. “But on 2, apparently… you can.”

That left me blinking for a second.

“You’re serious?”

She smiled faintly. “Well, I didn’t get written up. So either it worked, or a supervisor didn’t notice. Either way, I’m not complaining.”

I leaned back in my chair, a bit worried about how dismissive she was.

“Well… you do look better.” I said slowly, “Guess if you’re lying, the production logs will snitch on you.”

She laughed, but the sound was quieter than usual.

“I don’t remember anything about sleeping being possible in the paperwork.” I added.

She gave a shrug. “Maybe it’s not a feature. Maybe it’s just something the system allows now.”

I didn’t press the point, but her explanation didn’t sit right.

“So, what wiped you out?” I asked. “Did you stay up too late?”

“No, it wasn’t that,” she said. “I kept waking up in the middle of the night. One of those nights where you’re dreaming so hard you jolt yourself awake.”

“…Nightmares?”

She frowned a little. “Not exactly. Just… intense.”

The buzzer rang again, louder than before. Or maybe, I was just more on edge.

We stood up, heading towards the door. “You gonna be okay?” I asked as we tossed our wrappers.

“Hopefully.” She said with a nervous smile.

——————————————————————————————————————-

Returning to work, I noticed something surprising. Halcyon had an icon now. It was faint, almost translucent. A pale symbol that looked like a mini upsilon and an H next to it.

I stared at it.

It looks like it was fixed.

Maybe now I could actually see what it was supposed to do. I hovered my gaze on it, hesitating… I opened it.

The screen blinked once.

Then again.

Then again, faster and faster.

Like a strobe light revving up, or a heartbeat skipping out of sync. My unit was whirring. Lines of text skidded across the display. Unreadable, Half formed instructions or code, disappearing too fast to make anything out.

And then everything went white. 

I felt the pulse again.

I was back. Standing at the same workstation. Components in my hands. Same steady movements of my fingers. Annoyance flickered through me. Not just at the app, but at myself for trying it.

Had I…?

No. No, I didn’t fall asleep. I was just zoning out. I didn’t feel unconscious. Not really. Just…floaty. Disoriented. My playlist had skipped forward by two songs. I glanced at the product counter. It was ahead by a few dozen units.

I clenched my jaw and shook it off.

Okay. Lesson learned.

No more opening it.

The end of shift alarm rang out. Reflexively, everyone began unplugging in unison. A sea of hands rose to the headsets, sliding their wires free. I removed mine slower than usual. My eyes adjusting. Breathing shallow like I was coming out of anesthesia. 

I scanned the shop floor for Nat, a bit more sensitive to the light around me. I had started developing a migraine. I didn’t want to wait, I pulled a pair of sunglasses out of my locker and headed out.

The walk home was slow and the heat pressed down on me like a second body. What normally was a 10 minute walk, turned into 20. I drifted past the usual land marks, slowly my shoulders became heavier and my feet dragged across the pavement. The moment I got inside I dropped my keys down, removed my shoes and sweaty socks, and stumbled straight into bed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

When I woke, the light in the room had shifted, and my head throbbed. A dull, nagging ache that pulsed behind my eyes. I popped a painkiller and chased it with a cold glass of water.

“Ugh” I muttered aloud, pressing my palm to my forehead. “This sucks.”

I called in sick and stretched out on the couch with a damp washcloth draped across my brow. It felt like a hangover. 

A notification ping broke the stillness. I reached for my tablet and saw a message from Nat.

“You bailed on work? Weak.”

I smirked, even though my head still felt like it was full of static. My vision shimmered faintly. I blinked, but it didn’t go away.

“Yeah. Called in sick. Head’s killing me. Thought I was gonna pass out on the walk home last night.”

Another ping.

“RIP. You good? You’re not the only one who called out today.”

That made my stomach twist a little.

“O? What did they say?”

“Something about the refresh rate or light calibration. One of the floor leads said he was gonna file a report if more people drop.”

I hesitated, then typed:

“U ok tho? No headache?”

She didn’t reply for a few minutes. Then:

“Felt off earlier. Better now. You up to rally later for some post-shift pancakes?”

I stared at the screen. My fingers were sluggish, like they didn’t quite belong to me.

My vision faltered, the screen looking like it was underwater.

“Maybe…”

The tablet slipped out of my hand in the bed. I didn’t catch it.

And then I drifted off again. 

My dreams were vivid and stressful. I was alone on a grey beach, forced to count each grain of sand. When I lost track, something descended . My punishment was disassembly, my body taken apart, each piece sealed into rough metal. I fell endlessly, waiting to hit the ground.

I jolted awake with my heart racing in fear. The pain in my head, however, had passed. I felt so helpless in that moment.

With a long exhale to steady my emotions, I sat up and checked the time. 5:00pm. Nat will be getting out in an hour.

———————————————————————————————————————–

By the time I got to the diner, the sun had dipped behind the buildings. I entered the diner and Natalie was already seated in a booth near the back as usual, a mug of coffee slowly steaming on the table.

She looked up as I slid into the seat across from her. “Hey, corpse,” she said with a crooked smile. “You made it.”

“Barely.” I took a long drink from the ice water “I think I melted into the sidewalk twice on the way here.”

“Ugh, I feel that. Thank god they need to have the shop cool because of the headset hardware.” We both paused in relief, imagining what a hellhole it would be.

“Have you heard anything else? About the headset issues?”

Natalie shifted in her seat, looking into her mug like it had answers. “Not really. Just… that a few people complained of headaches. One person said their eyes wouldn’t track right for a while. The rep shrugged it off mostly. Said it was calibration fatigue.”

“Calibration fatigue.” I rolled the words around like something bitter.

She shrugged. “To be honest.. It sounds like something they made up quickly in a meeting to quell us. It’s up to corporate how long they want production to be affected.”

There was a pause. We both stared out the window for a few seconds. The street beyond was quiet and hazy.

I lowered my voice. “I opened one of the apps. One that wasn’t listed properly.”

She looked up immediately. “What?”

“It didn’t even have a name, really. Just a file name: Halcyon.app. No info, no icon, well… until yesterday. I made a mistake.” Admitting it out loud. “Everything was flashing and it white screened. My hands froze. It rebooted, but after that… at the end of shift…”

I paused for a moment “I’ve opened it twice now and it doesn’t work. The representative seemed dismissive about it. I’m confident it gave me a migraine.”

Natalie didn’t speak right away. She tapped her fingernail against the ceramic mug in a slow rhythm.

“Yeah, I saw that one too.” She said softly.

I blinked. “You open it?”

She shook her head. “No. I hovered over it for a bit. Thought it was just a bugged out listing.”

I nodded slowly. “Ever since yesterday, I feel terrible. I don’t know. I wanna blame work, but the dreams were intense too.”

That got her attention. “Dreams?”

“Just weird,” I said. “Hard to explain. But I woke up and couldn’t shake the feeling.”

She hesitated, and laughed a little. “Maybe it’s contagious.” She looked back down. “Well you know I’ve been feeling it too. Like, just a little out of sync. I almost tripped on nothing walking to my car.”

A realization came over me,

”Be honest with me… did you open it?”

Her voice was quieter. “Not really…I might have when I fell asleep. I woke up to a white screen in the headset.”

We both sat with that for a moment. Natalie broke the silence. “Maybe we’re just fried. New software, long hours, heat wave. That’s enough to scramble anyone.”

“Yeah…” I said, though it didn’t feel like enough.

She pulled her legs up into the booth, wrapping her arms around them. “Still… maybe don’t click anything weird for a while. And if you get another dream like that? Tell me. Deal?”

“Deal.” I managed a smile.

We sat like that for a while longer, sipping coffee as the diner lights buzzed above us and the shadows outside deepened. Neither of us said it out loud, but we both knew something had shifted.