Her hand shaked, the day at David+5 Central Institute of Biorecyclables was finished. She rushed out, with her head down to avoid any small talk with her colleagues. The metal taste felt stronger than ever. She took her extra provision of biorecyclables that day. Nothing was left to waste, and working there did have additional perks.
She walked through the cold winter streets of DAVID+5 to her apartment on the 112 district. The colorful buildings had been finished only 2 years before and were perfectly furnished with beautiful designs by ACK, who used the Crab Nebula as his inspiration. She ran up the stairs, and the door opened after she was succesfully recognized by the door. As she entered, she put the biorecyclables on the kitchen table, and without losing a second, she started cooking the hundreds of small meatballs. It was her Thursday ritual. Fast and efficiently she cut the meat pieces in perfect cubes, grinded them and created the oval shaped meatballs. The oil was hot, and the sizzle sound of the meat fried gave her a wider smile.
She turned on the light of her room. There they were, it and him. both mute, and unable. Only she could give live to both. She turned the machine on. Her mouth was full of saliva, the sound of the hydraulic fluid running through the machine was everything she lived for. With masterful skill, the machine calibrated its arms, and then stayed idle. It was ready to be fed with the meatballs in order to begin carry on it's purpose. Camila had built it some months after the day of Terminus had been declared by David, when he said those beautiful words we still live by "Terminus will be celebrated every year, to remind us that no pain shall be ever be felt again in this land".
The machine attached its respiration unit to him. This was Camila's latest improvement on her design. He had almost died a few times, and she had to go through great struggles to revive him. The machine woke him up, but he couldn't make any audible sounds anymore. The machine opened his mouth, and with great care introduced the first meatball. He knew better not to resist, it was futile. A second meatball came in, although the first one had not yet been completely swallowed. Camila sat down to watch, she too was silent. She needed to hear every struggle he did. The third meatball was placed, and with the built in finger in the machine, it was forced inside. Small pieces of meat could be seen coming out of his nose. The machine did a gracious dance around him, forcing his mouth open, not letting his head turn. It was working with perfect synchronization, optimizing every move.
The meatballs were finished. The machine positioned itself in idle state. Camila had seen it again. Pain. She could finally sleep peacefully that day.
