Industry

When Gregory was half way down the ladder, he heard a noise below. It was not much of a noise. Clamping his mouth shut, he flicked up the ladder, turned in the entrance to his room, and flung himself down to peer over the edge at the man below. Bent over a document held in one hand, this figure was clearly preoccupied and not in the least interested in Gregory. These events were unprecedented - several hours ago the second machine had started up. Initially he had unbent his legs without thinking, but then he folded himself up again. He wasn't about to be taken advantage of - already he had his work cut out to attend to the first machine; and no doubt it was hoped he would start to attend to the second with scarcely a thought once, driven by his inquisitiveness and a desire to please, he had descended the ladder to take a look. And now, there was a man below.

Soon the hour of his shift forced him to descend. As the new man stretched up on tip-toe to tap the dials with a rubber mallet, Gregory shrank back from him; for though his way of peering through screwed-up eyes before he tapped would have won Gregory over, he saw the man had a bigger build than himself, and was besides, bald-headed. The newcomer had already taken off the small door that gave access to the machine; stretching forward one leg and at the same time bending down his head, he disappeared inside. Gregory could have told him, had he shouted over a question, that he'd find nothing understandable in there. Only crawl-ways where wheels suddenly race at your elbow, and for no apparent reason, stop again. Then, open spaces across which you must hurry, in case the beam - to which the space belongs - swings down; it is always followed by its push rod which shudders before the beam returns to the apex. And it's impossible to predict the time of the swoop of these beams, even with a watch and a table of equations, for it's determined by something irregular; some pressure perhaps - that's Gregory's guess. Of course, by the time the man came out again, Gregory was at his post. The two of them stood before their respective machines which are like towers, the newcomer swaying to and fro to make fine adjustments on the various levers; Gregory looking across at him, slack-jawed and ready to catch his eye now. Gregory soon tired and climbed up the ladder to his room to rest. During his sleep, the newcomer had erected a makeshift screen between the two of them, which straightaway Gregory leaped upon and laid down flat on the ground; for he had instantly realised that if allowed to be a screen and not some rubbish to be carted away shortly, the object would horrify him.