The Fiction of Douglas Lain
Instant Labor
This story originally appeared in:
an excerpt:
Scene 2, Take 1
Clocking in and Checking Out
The offices of Instant Labor, Inc. were a marvel of high-tech displays and computer equipment. Video monitors depicting incomprehensible diagrams and charts, along with multicolored perspectives of the human brain, were set into the walls of the front lobby. Tall, clear plastic tubes filled with bubbling water towered behind the receptionist's desk. It was supposed to make an impression; convey authority. And it worked.
At least, it worked on me. I remember those offices clearly. I'd been in and out of them for months before going instant. The constant repetition of narration on the cerebral cortex, the reptile/hindbrain, the brain stem, and other neurological wonders excited me. I would be on the cutting edge, the forefront of the coming wave, and it all boiled down to synchronizing the patterns of my forebrain with my hindbrain—or something like that.
But after going instant I was taken down to the basement and shown the labor aspect of the operation.
"Instant Labor" received an Honorable Mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction1999.
The illustration by John Jude Palencar received a gold medal from the Society of Illustrators.