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“It’s break time.” The Starling by the barred kitchen door said, her worn face mask glistening in the fluorescent light. “I’ve started the timer, see you in ten minutes.”
What was once a venomous and cruel Replika, had been dulled and disarmed by the crisis inside Sierpinski. She acted as a guard for the kitchen, with orders to terminate anyone showing symptoms of “die Grippe.”
Seeing a Starling perched inside a kitchen would have been abnormal before this mysterious disease appeared, but now, every working area had one.
Not that the kitchen got much work done, anymore. Months ago, there were ten EULR Units, and ten Gestalt employed in the kitchen. Now, there was just a single Gestalt, and two Eules.
Nikolaus, the Gestalt. Jani and Maus the Eules.
Nikolaus was previously a lowly janitor, but as employees in the kitchen had dwindled, he was reassigned.
The three entered the dull breakroom as ordered, it held a mirror, a table with chairs, and some stained sofas.
There were small oxidant fluid stains all over the floor, as more than one worker had begun showing symptoms in this very room.
The atmosphere was crushing.
Maus and Nikolaus sat down at the table, as usual, but for once, Juni didn’t join them.
“Maus, I’m gonna go talk to the Starling.” The Eule said, tapping her pointed foot on the ground.
“Oh, is everything alright?”
She frowned, and shook her head. “I lost my flares.”
“Oh… okay, good luck.” Maus gently waved the Eule off.
Lowering her arm, she turned her view to the old man, deep bags had made their home under his cataract filled eyes.
“Ahoy, Niko!” Their special greeting, Eules were funny like that.
“Ahoy, Maus.” He replied, his voice hoarse, and tired.
The man was adorned in an old laborer’s uniform, and thin gray stubble. He was most likely the oldest Gestalt still alive on the facility. Even before the infections, staying alive this long in S-23 Sierpinski was an achievement.
“How have things been?” She asked, trying her best to keep an upbeat tone.
“Besides working, and being quarantined, it is what it is.” He responded bluntly. “Not many left in my block anymore.” He continued, clearing his throat.
Maus, his only friend in the facility, a timid, kindhearted Eule.
“Yeah…” She gripped onto her arm, glancing at the stained floor. “They moved eleven girls from other floors to my dorm, I think we’re all the Eules left.”
The man furrowed his brow, holding his face in his hands, his head throbbing.
“That’s no good, Maus.” He forced out, between the pulses of pain shooting up his skull.
“Hey, Niko…” Maus said, trailing off.
Nikolaus raised his head, noticing the Eule’s glassy eyes.
“Hmm?”
“If I was… infected, what would you do?” She turned away, breaking eye contact.
The man didn’t respond for a few moments, before breaking the silence with a drawn-out sigh.
“I’d do whatever you wanted me to do.”
“If it… came to it, would you terminate me?” She said quietly, covering her mouth after speaking.
“If you don’t outlive me, and you wanted it, yes.” He spoke with confidence, despite his lack of energy.
“Hah… really?”
“Mmm hm.”
“That’s comforting.”
The Eule stared off at the cassette player in the middle of the room, a once comforting thing. All the Eules and Gestalt would gather around it to listen to music, or transmissions between shifts.
It was a communal thing that had all but died off alongside all the people who used to work here.
“I um, keep having dreams about becoming like the ones we can’t burn.”
Nikolaus nodded, being careful not to interrupt.
“I don’t want to lose my mind and start hurting people.” Her voice grew strained. “Or, you.”
He laughed gently, resting a worn hand on the table. “I’m a bit too strong for you to be hurting me, Maus.”
She weakly laughed with him, placing her hand on his. “Let’s hope.”
“Maus.”
“Huh?”
“If I were sick, what would you do?” The seriousness of his tone stirred up unnerving feelings in the back of her mind.
“I don’t know.” As she finished speaking, she shook her head roughly. “No, I’d… do what I could, until you… had to go.”
“Personally, I think I’d spend my last free time with you, then report myself to the Protektors.” Nikolaus said, with little emotion in his voice.
The man moved his thumb to rub the back of the Eule’s hand. She put her other hand over his, smiling, weakly.
Somehow, she knew why he brought it up, it wasn’t just a response to what she asked.
“Would you like to play some cards after our shift, one last time?” The old worker asked.
She nodded, putting a hand over her eyes. “Niko… are you…” The pained question remained trapped in her throat.
“Yes.” It was exactly what she thought.
“When did you catch it?”
“A few days ago, my skins already bruising, Maus.”
Her jaw trembled; she couldn’t look him in the eyes.
“Okay.”
“Bring your cassette player, we’ll listen to some music, play some cards, then I’ll-” He cut himself off harshly mid-sentence. “No, I don’t need to say it, let’s just focus on enjoying ourselves.”
Tears flowing down her face, she nodded.
“I got you some spares too, Maus!” A voice called out, entering the room. “Oh.”
Juni returned, three flares in hand, stumbling across a strange scene. The two other workers, holding hands, one crying.
The Eule walked over, gently rubbing Maus on the shoulder. She didn’t know what was wrong, but she knew it was likely serious.
It was probably the same thing that had slowly been reaching everyone.
“Maus, the Starling said we can clock off early, she’s got to report to the medical ward, some emergency, I guess…” She spoke softly, rubbing Maus’s back now.
“Okay.” She replied, quietly, and tearfully. “I’m going to play some cards with Nikolaus.”
“Are you alright?”
She shook her head.
Juni nodded, and gave her one last pat. “Okay, just try not to be out too long, the Protektors have been pretty serious about quarantine lately.”
Juni quickly exited the room, letting them have their moment. She didn’t want to intrude, or ruin it.
After a few minutes, the two remaining kitchen workers stood up together, hand in hand.
Maus knew it would be the last time she’d work alongside Nikolaus in this kitchen.
Or, any place on the facility.
“Nikolaus.”
“Yes, Maus?”
“I wish I could have died first.” Maus said, in the emptiness of a once bustling place.