The gray suited crowd swirls around me.They are always going somewhere,
doing something. I am doing something too. I know what I do but I want to
know who I am. I am K147. I latch part number 800932 onto part number 59110.
That is all I know. This place I have known as long as I have lived. Every day
I report to the Factory Manage Site. I go to my station and I work. I then
am fed and then go back to the room where I sleep until it is time to Report
again. The walls all around me are white. The Others are dressed exactly like
me in a gray suit. The hair on our head is shaved whenever the stuble begins
to grow back. This is my world.

I have heard of a place. The Others call it Outside. Out of here. I want to go
there. I want to leave this place. Some have done it, I've heard. They have
left and found Out but they were brought back and never heard from again.
Exterminated. I wonder what they found that was so dangerous that I can't go
there.

I am doing something. I am not just working; I am thinking. I'm going to get Out.
I will leave this place forever.
I know how. I've been watching the transport leave every day. If I hide among
the componets I know I will find something. Maybe Out, maybe not. But this is
not worth living for.

The Factory Manage Site is silent. It is always silent in a way, there are no
voices; only muffled feet, but this is different. All the Others are being fed.
But I am leaving. I walk quickly, I know where I am going. I follow the
hall down to the place where the transport leaves. I do not have much time
left. The I hear it, the transport is leaving. I speed up my pace to a dead
run. I have to get there, I have to! There it is. A suited guard is sending it
through.
"STOP K147! STOP!"
I don't. I leap between the containers and slide into the shadows as the he
runs along side the transport yelling wildly. I feel a stab of sadness
at the thought that when I am not found the guard will be Exterminated. But so will
I if I am caught. The transport increases it's speed and now everything around
is only a blur.I am really going.
Suddenly with a burst of air the transport has left the Door and is now
shuttling through the Outside. I stand up weakly. I must get off now. I hurry
to the side and without another look down I leap.

The thought that strikes me when I awake is the burning on the back of my
head. I remember what happened. I am now Outside. I stand and look around me.
The scene takes my breath away. It is nothing like the white walls I am used
to seeing everywhere. It is wide open; free. Like nothing I have ever known.
There is a green blanket underneith me and a bright blue ceiling. I reach to
see how high it is but my hand touches nothing. There are more heaps of the
green in the distance and tall brown pillars with green on them as well.
Outside is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. But my head is burning.
I look around to find a light so bright it blinds me for a moment. It is hot
and beautiful. I need to find shelter from the Light. The pillars welcome me
and I find rest underneath them. I am no longer K147. I am Free.