Concealed Youth (Welded Sunset)
#235 of Short Stories
A ferret mecha makes a bid for freedom.
~ The mechanical ferret, being the size of a small car excepting twice as long, made careful progress along the rafters that loomed above the sea of automation below. The factory had, for all that he'd ever seen, operated in a fully automatic state with nary an observer to be found. Though he still crept amongst and from the hidden places, out of some instinct for caution. As was appropriate for the time of day, the latest batch of mechanical folk was being loaded over into the activation gantries by the forklifts that'd never paid him any heed.
~ After so many trips over to this end of the factory, final stage before the frames were to be packaged up for shipment, the ferret's hopes were satisifed. Down below, a ferret frame was brought online by its gantry. It blinked and staggered in place a bit, confused by the sounds and lights and existence of both itself and the surroundings. This surge of curiosity was immediately squelched as it froze in place and the gantry uploaded the appropriate core processing directives. As the newly minted ferret frame calmly crawled down from the activation kiosk and along the walkway towards the only exit thus yet seen, the elder ferret amongst the rafters scrambled to find a faster route.