Back when I worked for a fairly large lorry company, there was always this one guy who'd complain about "machines taking our jobs" the second the breakroom doors closed. Every stop we ended up meeting at he'd make a point to mention how many more people had been "replaced".
I hadn't seen one of the machines, even thought he was just being dramatic about our autopilot system, until last week. We met at a small garage somewhere in the midlands, one of those backwoods places that just give you the creeps.
She never stepped out of her cabin, talking to me through the window. I climbed up to hear her better and that's when I noticed her legs. She didn't have them, so to speak, and in their place were thick wires that she claimed joined directly to the engine.
I don't get how she could be so calm about her whole life being reduced to a torso driving a truck until she was declared an obsolete model and sent back to the main office for "refurbishment" which she said was her only actual concern.
She didn't need food or sleep anymore, her driving hours were far higher than any human could withstand and her free time consisted of stopping at the roadside to admire the scenery. She couldn't even remember being made into the cyborg oddity that she now was, she just woke up "improved" as she put it.
The way she phrased it made the whole process seem to peaceful, so much more fulfilling than any human would ever find the job. Makes me wonder if they're still looking for improved drivers and if they'd take me on as a candidate.
I hadn't seen one of the machines, even thought he was just being dramatic about our autopilot system, until last week. We met at a small garage somewhere in the midlands, one of those backwoods places that just give you the creeps.
She never stepped out of her cabin, talking to me through the window. I climbed up to hear her better and that's when I noticed her legs. She didn't have them, so to speak, and in their place were thick wires that she claimed joined directly to the engine.
I don't get how she could be so calm about her whole life being reduced to a torso driving a truck until she was declared an obsolete model and sent back to the main office for "refurbishment" which she said was her only actual concern.
She didn't need food or sleep anymore, her driving hours were far higher than any human could withstand and her free time consisted of stopping at the roadside to admire the scenery. She couldn't even remember being made into the cyborg oddity that she now was, she just woke up "improved" as she put it.
The way she phrased it made the whole process seem to peaceful, so much more fulfilling than any human would ever find the job. Makes me wonder if they're still looking for improved drivers and if they'd take me on as a candidate.
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