Lin Mei stepped off the frozen rubber belt, her boots sliding slightly on the slick ribbed treads.
Beside her, Clara leaned against the cold steel safety rail, clutching her torn right heel while catching her breath in shallow gasps.
“Don’t lean on the drive chain, Clara,” Lin Mei warned softly. “The motor is still humming under the deck.”
“My shoe smells like burning plastic,” Clara whispered, shivering. “Those steel teeth were touching my socks.”
“They stopped in time,” Lin Mei replied, steadying the girl’s shoulder. “The senior payroll lien held the line.”
Lin Mei knelt on the cold frosted glass and picked up the red punch-card, noting the scorched grease on the stiff edges.
Above them on the high catwalk, Director Wardell Kray’s pantograph legs shuddered while the cooling fans inside his Recordak skull squealed.
“CANCEL PURGE CYCLE,” Kray’s horn speakers blared across the aisle. “ABORT INTAKE SEQUENCE IMMEDIATELY.”
