The girl was watching the factory from her bedroom window. It seemed so far away and out of reach. But if she stared at it long enough, it was as if the factory was moving forward. It was half hidden behind a cloud of smoke, and through the smoke appeared a multitude of little lights, soft and diffused by the chemical haze. Were they windows? Signals? She rarely looked at the factory during the day because it never looked as alive as it did in the nighttime. It was at night that it hypnotized her. The stacks, rising through the haze, were bursting clouds of smoke and fire and illuminating the perfectly dark sky. It was alive. Like an animal living in the wild, fully self-sufficient. It fed itself with the things it destroyed, and then destroyed the things it ate, in a never-ending loop.
She put on her coat, got out through the window and climbed the stairs two by two down the metal fire escape. Her hard steps resonated through the empty street, the only sound in the dead silence of the night. Her coat was flying as she dangerously jumped her way down to the ground. As soon as her feet hit the concrete pavement, she was stung by a gripping cold, as if she had just jumped into frozen water. Jumping and running down the staircase had kept her warm, but now the glacial wind was catching up with her. As she walked away she looked at the warm glow from her bedroom window, thinking she'd probably be better off inside.
She walked fast between the skyscrapers. She was following the direction of the smoke in the sky. It was leading her straight ahead, all the way down to the end of Main Street. It was leading her to the industrial district, strangely named 'Rainbow Center'. She walked for thirty minutes. Maybe an hour and a half. She lost track of time and didn't want to look at her watch. Soon, all the buildings around her started to look the same, as if she were just repeating steps on a treadmill, remaining in the exact same place while the green screens on the side of her eyes kept rolling the background images. Her eyes were locked in straight ahead of her, zeroed in on the chemical haze rising in the sky.
She could now see the enormous iron gates at the entrance of the industrial park, and with a few more steps she finally reached Rainbow Center.
Is anybody here? No security guards, no watchmen in the control tower. Strange. She bangs on the gates as loud as she can. She screams. No answer. With that kind of vigilance, the security alarm is probably nonexistent as well, she thinks. She takes off her big coat and throws it on the ground. She shivers a little but she puts herself together: she came here to do something. She slips her body through the iron bars. The legs first, then an arm. The head has trouble going through. She tries several times in every possible direction. Fuck. She knows there's enough space for it to pass, she just needs to find the right angle. She tries to keep calm as she feels her hands starting to tremble with impatience. She angles her head sideways and taking a deep breath, she pushes it as fast as she can through the bars. It goes through. Her head is now inside but something is hurting badly. She touches her right ear: it's bleeding. No time for that, she needs to keep moving.
In front of her stretches the mesmerizing land of stacks, electrical towers, smoke and machinery. What strikes her first is the silence. She imagined the place to be noisy but it's so quiet in here, except for a faint mechanical whirring sound if you listen very carefully. She almost wishes for more noise, so as not to feel so alone.
The place is a maze, a labyrinth. It's impossible to know where you're going without a map. Wires after wires, machines after machines. She uses the highest chimney in the sky as a visual cue. She walks with her head raised up, trying to find the right path leading her to the chimney. Although she can see it in the sky, she can never seem to reach it. She takes wrong turns one after the other, and repeatedly comes facing dead ends where big dumpsters filled with metal and wires are parked. She's dizzied from walking and turning so much, and weakened by the cold. She takes another turn and expects to find another dead end, but this time she makes it. The highest chimney, the monster of steel, stands in front of her, ominous and threatening. And at the bottom, the mouth of the monster: the door leading inside the chimney.
She pushes the metal door which opens without any trouble, as if it was waiting for her. There is no machine inside. Just a perfectly empty space, painted all in white. The ceiling rises higher than one of a cathedral. Not a single hint could give away what this room is used for. This is the first time she's ever been in a factory, but she's pretty sure this is not what a regular factory looks like. She notices a spiral staircase in a corner of the room. White too. It must lead to the top of the chimney.
As she climbs up the stairs, she can listen to her own breathing echoing through the walls of this strange place. Could there be someone up there waiting for me? She screams 'Hello' and the ceiling answers her 'Hello, lo, lo, o...'
She makes it to the top and now finds herself in a circular white tunnel. The silence feels more and more unnatural and uncomfortable. Not a fly, not even the sound of an AC. Nothing but white noise. It almost becomes pressure in her ears. She finally reaches the end of the tunnel. She is now in a round room with five different doors. She knows that only one will lead her where she needs to go. She closes her eyes and follows her steps as they blindly lead her to one of the doors. When she walks in, she is bathed in a warm golden light. It feels like a sunset on the beach. Her eyes are blinded for a few seconds, but when she opens them again, in front of her is one of the most beautiful things she has ever seen. Dozens of spotlights hanging from the ceiling are all directed to the center of the room. Their glow is powerful. And at the center of their gleam is the most intricate and mesmerizing machine. It seems to be exclusively made out of glass which refracts under the light and sends millions of diamonds dancing on the walls. The stomach of this 'glass animal' is filled with crystal tubes and beaks through which runs a honey-colored liquid. Could this be what she has been looking for?