Conversionaires (763 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: sci-fi
Rating: 1.18 on 29 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2008-08-06 17:12:46 EDT
Murchins followed Supervisor West down the line, paying close attention. Jobs at Conversion Inc. were hard to come by, and he'd heard that anyone wanting to work in their Particle Sciences Division had to work the line first. If you could stomach that, you could move up to a lab job. The pay was great in lab jobs, and Murchins had both the mechanical and mathematical background to be a good fit in any of the PSD departments.
Supervisor West spread his arms. "Welcome to the line, son."
Row upon row of slow moving conveyor belts carried clear containers under what looked like upside-down satellite dishes. They were particle distribution points, where containers of varying sizes paused, were filled, and then moved along out of site for packing and distribution.
Murchins had already seen the inverted cone of the particle diffusion apparatus. That was the beginning of the process. This was the end point. The end point for a body entire, not the end point for the various parts. The starting point for a body was a room of marble and brass where families and friends of the deceased could watch the departed take a final, gentle journey along a slow-moving belt of soft silicone padding. Once through a small hatch in the wall and out of sight the body was sanitized, transferred to a regular neoprene belt and sent under the diffuser.
"You use the same particle diffuser technology that they have on... uh..." Murchins hesitated.
Supervisor West looked stern, then he laughed. "That they have on Star Trek? That's right. Every one of you kids says the same thing. Hell, I thought the same when I started here. Yeah, they are still working out the bugs in transporter technology. It's great at turning living people into dead people, but on the already dead, the conversionaires, it works a treat. "
"So the bodies are broken down and converted into different parts and distributed into containers here for shipping and transplants?"
Supervisor West nodded. "That's right. The bodies are tissue-typed for disease and compatibility in a worldwide market and all that info is stored in our database. Our fees are reasonable and we do quality work. We pay the families of the conversionaires a fair market price for the raw stock— most of our profit comes from indigents we get signed up before they die, and our federal and state correctional facilities contracts."
They walked on, Supervisor West emphasizing his tour with broad gestures. "Now as we go along the line, a line you will help maintain, some of this stuff you'll recognize, like the small containers holding organs, see, you got your hearts on that belt, lungs over there, and so on down the line, but some of it must look mighty strange."
"That... netting stuff," Murchison said, pointing at a container holding what looked like a fisherman's net rolled into a loose ball.
"Yeah," Supervisor West said. "Those are bundles of nerve tissue. We call 'em tumbleweeds." He pointed further down the line. "That pale powdery stuff, that's bone. We just learned how to break it down like that. And we can rebuild it. It's easy to ship and easy to reconstitute for transplants and grafts, strong as ever. Hell, we've all but wiped out leukemia. It's still around in third world countries, but you know what I mean."
Huge clear vats of sloshing blood and trembling fat passed by. They walked down the line.
They came to a broad conveyor belt moving clear containers as high as Murchins' waist. Supervisor West said nothing. He simply watched Murchins as the young man frowned.
Matter that looked like foam took shape under the particle distribution points, most of it pink, some of it the color of caramel or gold. The foam quickly settled and began to look familiar, and wrong. Each container that paused below a psp node was quickly filled and then trundled out of sight.
"What..." Murchins throat was dry. He swallowed and tried again. "What is that?"
"You know," Supervisor West said.
Murchins nodded slowly, mesmerized by what he saw. "Skin," he said. "It's human skin."
"Broken down for easy distribution, just like bone. It's in what we call a free state."
There was something terribly unsettling about skin in a free state. As it left the pdp and filled the glass container it flowed and roiled like a thick liquid, and the motion seemed to last too long. Far too long. It looked like skin, and worse, it sounded like skin. Seeing and hearing it move like that... a lot of people had difficulty at this point in the tour. They could handle boatloads of blood and bile, stacks of powdered bone and piles of organs that farted and blatted as they filled the clear containers, but the skin... It seemed to keep moving, and moving.
"Egg nog," Murchins said. "It looks like egg nog, slopping around like that."
Supervisor West studied Murchins, the young, strained face, the wide eyes.
"Interesting," Murchins said, getting hold of himself. "So, when do I get to see the mechanics behind the diffusion system?
Supervisor West let out a hearty laugh and slapped Murchins on the back. "Well done, kid. The skin is the hardest part. Helps us separate the wheat from the chaff. You do your time here, maintaining the belts and cleaning the pdp nozzles, and you'll be upstairs in no time. Now come on, I'll give you the real tour."
Murchins followed Supervisor West. He walked at the same languid pace as the man leading him toward the elevator up to the Particle Sciences Division. His walk was steady. He kept his breath calm and regular. He fought to keep an easy smile on his face as the sound of gallon after gallon of skin whispered and shifted behind him.
User Reviews
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2008-08-08 15:53:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
First this
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Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-06 11:16:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I figure if one of them hits the ground hard enough they'll leave behind nothing but a long red bodyslick with a perfectly intact head at the end. Sort of like an exclamaition point.
_!_
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And now this.....well, the upside is, you're helping me eat less. So....uh....thanks?
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-07 17:38:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Then get down on your knees and tongue my fucking balls, bitch. We gayzoids like that.
v
v
v
Submitted by bubba69 (user info) at 2008-08-07 16:41:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
I have decided I think YOU are ghey too.
Submitted by Nellypaal (user info) at 2008-08-07 09:32:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Cool. Nice idea.
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2008-08-07 07:22:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You're a raaaaaaging anti-dendite!!!
Submitted by bullslinebacker (user info) at 2008-08-07 07:03:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Needs More Rape
Submitted by hour_man (user info) at 2008-08-07 05:58:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by sexualchocolate1984 (user info) at 2008-08-07 05:53:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This is cool as fuck! Nice one Jack.
More more more.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2008-08-06 23:14:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
interesting
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-06 22:42:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I'm no fan of Paris Hilton, but this is fuckin hilarious.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26044888/
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2008-08-06 20:51:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
About half the people in my office should be organ donors, and I mean right fucking now.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2008-08-06 19:20:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
BRING BACK WHEEL OF SHLONGY!!!!
Submitted by woolybob (user info) at 2008-08-06 19:18:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
You need to stop go home and let other people with a sense of humor write something descent
Submitted by FilledwithHate (user info) at 2008-08-06 19:12:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You are starting to remind me of Philip K. Dick (that is not intended to be a lame penis joke, btw).
Submitted by BobSandwich (user info) at 2008-08-06 19:00:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-06 18:34:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:49:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Skin tales.
--
When I was a kid I used to hear people call porn flicks (of which my concept was quite vague) 'skin movies.' Soon afterward I had a whole story in my head about people making 'skinless movies' which involved skeletons and people being flayed alive, but I never wrote it down and it is now lost forever. Hey, I was ten or so. Cut me some slack.
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Have you ever seen those snuff films, skinless movies
Submitted by Yozz (user info) at 2008-08-06 18:56:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think you need some counseling Jack.
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2008-08-06 18:50:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
A couple years ago I wrote a story about a guy who killed his daughter and converted her into industrial diamonds. I like this better. I guess some people write and others just type.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-06 18:34:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:49:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Skin tales.
--
When I was a kid I used to hear people call porn flicks (of which my concept was quite vague) 'skin movies.' Soon afterward I had a whole story in my head about people making 'skinless movies' which involved skeletons and people being flayed alive, but I never wrote it down and it is now lost forever. Hey, I was ten or so. Cut me some slack.
Submitted by Ballare (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:51:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:49:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Skin tales.
Submitted by morello (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:48:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Jack McCallum is a published author. YOU can buy and read his books, like I did, from Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Made-U-S-Jack-McCallum/dp/0738867764/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218059281&sr=8-3
Submitted by Darth_Famine (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:41:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Gallons of sperm and eggs :P
heh
Submitted by Lib (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:39:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Man your mind works weird, weird but good.
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:24:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I was going to say!
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:23:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:21:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:20:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
WTF? This ended way too soon. What happened to the part where Murchins discovers the clear containers filled with free-state pussies?
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I just sput all over my screen, you asswipe.
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...for christ sake...
Make that 'spit.' I don't think I could get that excited over FSPs. Not at work, anyhow.
Submitted by Director (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:22:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:21:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:20:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
WTF? This ended way too soon. What happened to the part where Murchins discovers the clear containers filled with free-state pussies?
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I just sput all over my screen, you asswipe.
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:20:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
WTF? This ended way too soon. What happened to the part where Murchins discovers the clear containers filled with free-state pussies?
Submitted by BobSandwich (user info) at 2008-08-06 17:19:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That's fucked up.