Eight Seconds

“There’s no reason this should work,” Jon said, staring at the pile of scrap pretending to be a machine. “And yet…” He continued, “This is really just something great. When can I try it?”

“NOT YET!” Gustav shouted, “You shall NEVER try the machine because it is not for human use.”

Jon scratched his head, “So who is supposed to use it?”

“The robots that take us over will know what to do. And I’m going to MAKE those robots!” Gustav once again shouted. “Pass me the spanner, go into my spanner room if you would PLEASE.”

Jon nodded.

“I’m facing away from you,” Gustav stated, much more calm now, “I don’t know when you’re nodding or not. Use your language.”

Jon furrowed his brow, confused. He walked toward the doorway towards the rest of the lab. This room was the only one that had grunge as a design philosophy, the rest of it was very well kept and shined pearly white. Not a speck of dust was resting anywhere.

Right, spanner room. Wait… Jon looked at all the signs and saw it was that damn language that Gustav had made up. “Hey Gustav!” Jon shouted. No response. “HEY GUSTAV!” Still nothing. “Shit.” Jon turned around and took every turn he had to get where he was before. And yet, when he should be back where he was he instead was still stuck in the corridor. He kept calling for Gustav in vain.

Back in the grungy lab, Gustav checked his watch for the millionth time. “WHERE ARE YOU YOU IMPOTENT CHILD!” Gustav shouted, barely keeping a grasp on the English language. He dashed out and walked toward the spanner room, and along the way one of the turns had a red stain going the wrong way. “Oh no not again.” He walked down the stained route and saw a skeleton lying down on the floor. “Gods damn it, how many more assistants do I have to lose before I get my stupid spanner.”

He pulled back his lab coat and punched in a code on his device belt. It spit out a carbon copy of Jon, clearly very concerned.

“NOW GET ME A DAMN SPANNER YOU IDIOT!”