Chapter 1: Comatose

[Comatose] (adjective): A state of mind that pushes away the endless doubts of daily life.

He put the box down gingerly so as to not break the quiet, Rhea seemed to appreciate that. As Prin took a step back, Rhea pulled the papers out and thumbed through them like a bill-counting machine. Prin stood at attention, arms by his side as he waited for her to finish. She wasn't his superior, he was just trying not to fidget in silence. Rhea's office was square and tidy from floor to ceiling. His fingers felt itchy. The only non-corporate touch of life was a bobblehead paperweight in the shape of a frog. His armpits were sweaty.

"So how is everyth-" she slid the papers into the metal jaws on her stomach before he could finish. Whirring and shredding filled the space between them. Prin realized he'd raised his hand slightly while asking. Back down went his hand, out came the shredded papers through her back. Down they fell into the bin behind Rhea's chair. Again, she began to process the next handful.

Rhea was a Shredder. She was a human body wearing office attire, with a shredding machine merged with her stomach. Prin was a Printer. Blank paper went into the slit at the back of his head and out his mechanical mouth. Not once have they asked one other how they eat food. Their respective dispositions landed them both in the logistics department. Right now, Prin wished he was a Microphone so he could finish his sentence.

"How is the-" Brrrrrrr…

"Well uh-" Brrrrrr…

"Did you see the-" Brrrrrrrrr…

Rhea just kept putting papers in and churning them out, blinking blankly at Prin. He couldn't read her, she was blanker than any paper he'd ever printed on. He finally hung his head in defeat. "I'll uh, just go back now. N-nice talking to you." Still unable to hear him, Rhea simply nodded as he waved goodbye and went back to his cubicle.

His butt hit the squeaky seat and he sighed. This room had 4 cubicles for Rhea, Prin, and two others who rarely showed up. Prin never asked, and evidently it wasn't easy. He plugged himself back into the PC and hit "print".

Prrrrrr… CogWheels bimonthly sales report: Our largest orders were et cetera… Prrr… we had a 12% increase in lorum ipsum…

Surprisingly Prin wasn't bored with his job. All his life, these were the kind of tasks he was assigned to. He spent the last 3 years at a magazine company printing out issue after issue. The hours? Reasonable, besides Christmas time. The pay? Enough to eat out once a week. But the coworkers were the reason he left.

They had found out what his ability was.

The overall reception was wariness and disgust, as if he were a pervert. The atmosphere in that place had become pins and needles. Prin left before the week was up. If things were to go south here, at least now Prin had an easier way out.

One week ago, Prin met his supervisor, Mail. There are no prizes for guessing what machine she was. "Sorry Prin, there appears to be a mix-up with your application," The glare from the window behind her made Prin squint. Her shadow was long and draped over his little seat. "You were supposed to be assigned to the Delta branch. HR can't fix the error now because of our staffing issues, but we can arrange a transfer in roughly 3 months. You can also choose to remain here if you wish, just inform me by then."

Work had been good to Prin so far. All his interactions with Rhea had been curt but relatively pleasant. She was capable of speech, but you'd only hear her once a blue moon. Prin liked that about Rhea. Back at the publishing company, those who dared to approach him only wanted to abuse his ability. The blatant disrespect and lack of empathy written in their faces left a bad taste in his ink cartridges.

Speaking of taste, the wall clock said it was officially time for lunch. He waved bye to Rhea and headed downstairs whilst typing away on his phone. "Sounds good… let's meet at… 8pm?"

Prin picked the tuna sandwiches then sat at the table across from two others. "I'm surprised you can eat normally!" Cali grinned. She had short blond hair and big blue eyes, her machinery was on her exposed stomach. Below the company-approved sports bra were her calculator buttons and screen, where her abs should have been. "I can retract my printing parts." Prin opened his mouth to demonstrate the printhead sinking into the roof of his mouth. The other two said "ohhh".

"You can't pull your buttons in?" Prin pointed down.

"Nope, I just turn 'em off, otherwise I really would never be able to wear a shirt." She took a big bite out of her cheeseburger.

"That's good, I feel bad for a particular someone who can't retract her wheels." The man sitting next to her took a sip of water.

His name was Sven. Tall, tanned, black hair. He was a Dispenser with pipes that could retract into his fingertips. Today he was off duty, a Radio was currently manning the drinks station. "I don't think Tora particularly cares," Prin took a sip too. He could see his own pasty off-white complexion in the reflection of the water. "She just zips around indoors until the janitor yells at her."

"She's a free spirit!" Cali exclaimed. "I'm jealous of how much energy she has."

"You have plenty of energy, you type so loudly I can hear you from outside the room."

"I can't help it! I loooveee typing! Oh, ooh! Watch, watch." She put her burger down and hunched over to reach her stomach. Cali began mumbling some exotic equations under her breath while Sven and Prin observed the party trick. Her eyes flitted wildly around the room. By the time she perked up, the two of them had already finished their food.

"I got it! Adina is going to spill a drink in about… 2.44 seconds from now!" They all turned in their seats to face the drinks station. Right on time, a bottle of orange juice slipped out the bartender's hand and fell into the sink. Cali pumped her fist in the air as Adina cursed and fumbled to recover what was left. "Success! Come on you two, let me hear how amazing my ability is."

"Mmhm, it's pretty impressive." Sven nodded politely.

"Well, for your sake, try not to predict a car crash." Prin frowned. "You'd probably be halfway through the windscreen before you finish." Cali pretended to pout, then went back to her burger. She finished the remainder in twenty seconds. "What about you Prin? I already know what Sven can do."

Prin scratched his head. "I uh, don't want to say yet." Yet. Internally, he'd like to be with people who accepted all of him. But he'd known these two for less than two weeks, and they'd never even met outside of work. At what point could he call himself friends with them? What about others? Would the person tonight just want to be friends, or something more?

Cali tilted her head amidst the silence. "It's alright," Sven smiled. "Everyone has their reasons, feel free to tell us whenever you're ready."

Prin nodded quietly and finished his water. Right, back to work.