Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

A sledgehammer fell upon the iron again and again. Sometimes it hit the left hilt and sometimes it hit the right hilt. It was never clear what the focus was; striking some points on the metal a half dozen times and others just once. Sometimes he lifted it up as high as it could go, sometimes he just let it chatter on the plate.

Under Wei’s eyes there remained just thick black lines. Two brown rectangles occupied his cheeks, stinging whenever sweat slid down onto them; he wiped his forehead but never touched the rectangles. There were little red spots on them and he kept biting his lip, his skin starting to cave in on his bones.

Hair had started to grow below his nose and on his chin, little hairs starting to extend past his ears. Spots and cuts covered his body.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

The metallic ringing continued to reverberate through the air.

Clang.

Clang.

Ding.

His sledgehammer hit the anvil. The metal was on both sides of his sledgehammer, but no longer underneath it; little bits of metal scattered across.

A pithy grin on his face turned to a scowl. He dropped the sledgehammer on the floor and shouted, “FUCK!”

The smell of charcoal burnt throughout the room as Wei leaned back for a moment, looking around at the dark, hot workshop. Iron bars lay on the floor next to the large stone block he had sat himself down upon, with soot strewn across the floor and the lanterns still unlit.

“Hey, are you sure we can’t get this light on ah?” He whined to the armoured man behind him, standing at the door.

The guard didn’t react. “No.”

“Wah si, I can’t just create a gun in the dark mah.” He muttered, staring down on the anvil; coughing and scratching his head. Still wearing his drab green uniform, only now stained with a dozen spots and little strings flailing about the ends, he stretched over to the sledgehammer’s grip and raised it once more; allowing it to rest on the anvil.

“What time is it?” Wei asked, a sense of breathlessness in his voice.

“Dial sez’ that we’re almost to the high hour.”

“...which is?”

“Lunch.”

“Fuck, I actually did wake up at 1 a.m.” He muttered, pulling up his sleeve to look at his watch, ticking away with the hour hand nearly at 12 once more. Little beads slid down to his wrist, and he quickly gave it a lick.

“Not even a blast furnace.”

“Blast furnace? What the hell is that?”

Wei stopped for a moment with his paggered eyes; rubbing them slowly, he eventually muttered, “Of course there isn’t a furnace in a world of fucking magic.”

The guard, wiping his face off with his collar, narrowed his eyes; stating, “We do have a furnace.”

“Does it have a Cowper stove and is it really tall?”

“What’s a Cooper stove and why woulda furnace need to be tall?” His voice reeking of uncertainty, a gruffness in it.

“Cowper stoves. You constantly heat a liquid to extreme temperature and feed it right below the furnace to gas which is being blown into the main furnace, while the liquid keeps it wa-”

“Stop. I don’ wanna hear your big pile a’ shit.”

“If you want a gun tell your boss that this is the only way I can get her one.” Wei muttered, staring at the guard, who had begun to roll his eyes.

“She ain’t our boss.”

“Oh, she isn’t ah?”

“Naw, god said that no woman cun’ be our boss. She musta lied her way to the top, I know it.” He muttered under his breath, a certain confidence in his words.

“You very full of yourself is it?”

The pale-skinned man scowled. “I’m notta good leader but I sure as hell would beat out that bitch. Lets my buddies get slaughtered so she can get herself promoted.”

Wei groaned, pulling on the two straps going over his shoulders. He turned around to the guard to reveal the massive, shining blue orb sticking out of his chest, now with a rather large metal ring surrounding it and long brown straps going from it to the other side of his body, locked together with a stone contraption.

A blank look occupied his face, his eyes narrowed as well. While he stared at the guard, he asked, “You getting paid for this?”

“Of course.”

“So what is it? You care about this because you get the money or because of some pride thing ah?”

The guard grinned. “It’s not about pride, it’s about protecting my kids and wives. Man like you wouldn’t get it.”

“You did just say wives, right? Right?”

“What’s wrong with it?”

Wei rolled his eyes and stood up shakily, stumbling over to a table in the corner of the room. Little clouds of dust puffed up with each step and he continued to cough, leaning forwards as the orb shook around and rattled the metal supports; sending stinging pain through his chest.

Grabbing a large sheet of extremely parched, yellowed and torn paper, he carried the rigid sheet back to the anvil and stood over it, waving it in front of the bright fire in front of him that was his only light. The writing on it was blotched, messy, but the diagrams were distinct, clear, if rather disjointed.

“Oy, come over here.” He said in an increasingly weak voice, motioning to the guard. The guard winced, rolled his eyes, before stepping forward to look at the curious drawings. What appeared to be boxes stacked on top of one another in some seemingly haphazard format in the corner with odd writing - ‘Ag’, ‘Zn’, ‘Mg’ he observed - elsewhere he saw a massive conical structure with some kind of inlet at the bottom.

“What the hell is this?”

“That,” he said, pointing to the boxes, “is the Periodic Table. There’s Kurchatovium and all that, and then there’s Carbon, there's Iron… elements in steel.”

“How the fuck does this matter at all to what you’re doing?” The guard said, exasperation seeping through the tone of his voice.

“Well, you see, I can’t get you a rigid structure for the barrel if you give me this pig iron that is all iron and just real brittle. I need at least mild steel-”

“Get back to doing what you need to do, don’t tell me any more of this bullshit.”

“Soldier!”

The guard turned around to see the face of a stout young man with a straight line plastered on his face, staring directly into his eyes. Again, long ears and blonde hair, but the guard immediately widened his eyes and took a step back.

“Sir!”, he said, bowing.

“Allow me to talk to the prisoner. Inform the new shifts that there’s been a change in the arrangement.” The man said, pointing outside. “There’ll be a new prisoner and all shifts are expected to have three men instead.”

“Sir, yes, sir!” he bellowed, immediately scampering out the door.

The young man walked in leisurely, a much more astute uniform gracing him. Cloaked in brown, indeed, with bronze buttons, he removed his hat as he entered the room. With a stern frown on his face, he addressed, “Prisoner I2. I am Enako, your handler.”

Wei didn’t respond. He stared, yes, but the same blank expression remained on his face.

“Answer to your superiors with respect.” The same clear voice boomed in the room.

“...hullo. Sir.” He mumbled.

Enako’s eyes twitched. “Respect.”

“Sir… yessir.”

“RESPECT.”

Wei slammed his hand against his forehead and shouted, “Sir yes sir!”

“Much better. You’ll be working with these ones from now on. The commander wants to see your progress within the day, I2, and we’ve brought prisoners SI0018 and SI0221 to join you on this project.”

As two figures walked into the room, their features slowly came into view. One with that same dark grey skin, dark eyes and white irises… the other with the distinct navy blue hair and glasses. Though scratches, cuts and bruises now covered their bodies, dust, wear and tear taking their toll on their clothing, Wei could tell. It was those two who he had met for such a brief moment, Tooru and Rie.

His mouth remained ajar, his eyes widening.

“Wah si... they really did a number on you two ah?” He quietly remarked as Rie, seemingly dazed, stumbled into the room. Tooru moved in, step by step, staring at him all the way.

Wei continued to stare at them before turning back to Enako, still standing there. “Kids? You brought fucking kids to build a weapon? Is there something wrong with you?” He said, in an increasingly accusatory tone.

“Evidently you come from a weak culture. Children must learn obedience and respect from a young age, it’s all that defines their future.”

Something snapped.

“These are WEAPONS which fight WARS!” Wei shouted, standing up right in Enako’s face.

“The performance of soldiers are the measure of loyalty.”

“The weapon you want me to make killed 40 million people in four years! You don’t understand anything is it? Children shouldn’t be here - children shouldn’t be ANYWHERE near this shit. Wah lao, you people so jialat is it?!”

His teeth gritted, Enako stood back, his mouth slightly agape. Instantly, his foot let loose and hit Wei square in the abdomen; Wei fell and struck the anvil at its base as Enako began repeatedly stepping on Wei.

“Useless-useless-useless-degenerate!” He repeated over and over again as his boot jabbed Wei all over his body. The pain seared. Wei shouted. But he didn’t stop.

Eventually, Enako lifted his foot off Wei for the final time and marched out the room. Wei, dazed and groaning, slowly got to his feet once more and looked straight over to the two teenagers. His eyebrows ticked upwards, and a sad expression appeared on his face. The two were cowering in the corner, staring at the door, shaking, hiding.

He sat on the stone block once more.

He scratched his head.

He looked down.

Then he stood up again, and walked over to the two, and quietly murmured, “I’m sorry.” Tooru looked at him. Cuts were everywhere on his body as well. Rie didn’t look up at all.

“I’m, I’m… sorry, sorry. When the blue woman comes just stay behind me. Okay? Please.”

He trembled.

“This is my fault, okay? It’s not yours. You’re both good kids. Okay? Okay?”

His eyes widened. Rie took a very minor glance at him; Tooru was already blank-faced. His vision blurred.

“I’ll do whatever I can. Please.”

“Pa-pa, why is it you go outside?”

The elderly man gave a wily look. He placed his hand against his lips and closed his eyes for a moment.

“You see ah, Wei Ming, pa-pa have to go outside and work.” He smiled.

“But pa-pa, you do it all the way until I sleep already then come back. Can you come back earlier pa-pa…” The young child pouted.

“Pa-pa will try ah, Wei Ming. Pa-pa will try.”

He rubbed his son’s head as his son embraced him. Not fully; his son’s arms barely reached each other as he hugged his father, remarking in a rather cheerful tone, “I love you pa-pa.”

He grinned.

“Now, Wei Ming, go and sleep can?”

“Okay!”

The young Wei scampered off into his room, disappearing behind the wooden door. He closed the lights, leaving all but the dinner room in darkness. His father smiled to himself, before taking a sip of his coffee; contained within a ceramic mug marked ‘We Won’, emblazoned with stars and stripes. It was particularly worn, and just one of many other ceramic mugs. But then again the room was rather cluttered. Past the plastic folding table and the plastic folding chairs, the steel grating window allowed for the wind to blow in.

Outside there was an orange tint, but darkness reigned. The occasional shout could be heard, some figment of ‘open’, but nothing else.

Still sitting at the table, a woman walked up to the chair opposite him at the table and sat down. Herself aged somewhat, she asked, “Did he go to sleep ah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” She smiled as well.

“Seng, did you read the newspaper this morni-”

“I know. Swine flu.”

“I’ll be up 5am tomorrow, get a lot of instant noodle from NTUC. Should I get anything for you ah?” She asked.

“Nothing, thank you.”

He sipped his coffee again. Steam still emanating from it, he only lapped up what he could get from the sides.

For a moment, there was silence between the two. He and she both wore a ring on their fingers; but the silence was ever-present. Ever so slightly they could both hear the chants of ‘now! We want change now!’ in the distance. The clock, with the intricate numerals emblazoned on it, ticked ever so slowly to midnight.

“Wah. Still got time to be outside chanting ah.”

He didn’t look. “No lah… they just have to. Very desperate youngsters.”

She looked at him in the stained t-shirt with little strings hanging out.

“Seng, please don’t go. You’ll get fired lah.”

“Either way we don’t have enough to survive the next month mah… got no choice already. NTUC already go close all of the food bank, and all the churches also empty empty.”

“At least you stay at your job we still can buy food mah.”

“Not enough ah… you want him die is it?”

She flipped open the newspaper on the table. “You still got that degree from Harvard mah. Can ask for raise.”

“Aiyoh, you think enough ah? Still not easy.”

He looked up to see the Roman lettering of The Straits Times on her newspaper.

“Ei, don’t read ST mah, never show anything. The siow zah boh in charge of Straits Times only write good good thing, never want write anything else.” He groaned, poking at the front page of the newspaper, with a headline ‘DPM Goh: Singapore unaffected by Swine Fever’ below the logotype.

“Wah lao, Lianhe Wanbao cannot read, ST also cannot read ah? Soon you tell me cannot even read Utusan Malaysia.”

“You’ve been reading Utusan Malaysia?!”

She rolled her eyes.

Wei’s mother scratched her skin as a small black dot flashed across the dining room; the buzzing of the insect going unnoticed by both. The air was cool; the fan in the corner of the room blowing at them still whirring away, and the voices outside still chanting on.

“Don’t panic so quickly.” She muttered.

“Ei, Li, you know we don’t have much money left. Not since January.”

“I keep telling you ah, we can’t go to Malaysia!”

“Go Wuzhou also work mah! My peh also got fight for the army there, he got really big pension, can ask!”

She interjected, “You want our son become Chinese is it?”

“I want our son to live!”

For a while, only the whirring of the fan could be heard.

She grimaced again. “So what? You going to go outside help them march ah? Wah seh eh, tomorrow is Monday ah, he need go school!”

“I still send him, I will still send him lah.” He mentioned, standing up with his mug in hand, and dropping it in the sink. Using the sponge to wipe over the mug, bubbles forming on the sides, he immediately dropped the mug into the basin full of water next to it, splashing water all over the place.

“Si bei kiat, you never got wash things before is it?” Li walked over to the basin and picked out the mug, scrubbing it all over once more before washing it off.

“Tch,” he muttered.

“Come on, Seng. I’ll drop off Wei Ming tomorrow at school, you go straight to work.” Hearing that, he looked down on the floor, scratching his head. She patted him on the back.

As his wife walked towards their shared bedroom, Seng didn’t look up from the floor.

Then he looked towards the door.

“...you request another partner?”

“Kids don’t make blast furnaces. Kids shouldn’t be making blast furnaces.”

Miru placed her hand against her lips, looking away for a moment. Back to wearing her trenchcoat, she paced the room.

“Is this device even necessary?”

“You can’t make the gun, I can, and I need the equipment.”

“Surely you could use them as manual la-”

“I need precision work. They shoul- they can’t give me that.” Wei interjected.

Tooru and Rie stood behind him, standing still, their eyes darting away from the woman standing ahead of them. Wei looked at her straight in the eyes, not looking away, although twitching slightly.

She didn’t look at him as she continued to ponder.

A cold sweat went down Wei’s neck.

“I don’t see the problem with it, then. I’ll have I1 sent to assist you.”

“I1?”

“Yellow-haired, elf. She’s been shaved, though, so if any of you knew her before you might need to get to know her again. Genuine progress is certainly demanded soon.”

“...yes, ma’am.” A tone of relief went through his voice.

“Oh, and do keep those younger prisoners with you. Perhaps they may be of use.”

Miru took out her notebook and pen, scribbling out something, before remarking to a guard next to her, “Bring I1 over now.”

The guard scurried off down the hallway as the trio watched on. He disappeared into the side of the wall for a moment, then reappeared, dragging along a woman with him.

As the woman, in a scrappy set of rags which appeared to be more akin to strings than actual clothing, came closer, Rie’s eyes widened. The woman, with a thin coat of yellow hairs on her head and slowly stumbling over, seemed to be yanking the guard back over and over again.

Then she saw her sister.

Shirin stopped resisting and instead began sprinting towards the trio, limping her way over. She immediately embraced Rie, gripping her sister tightly. Rie reciprocated, and as far as Wei could see both of them were grinning from side to side.

“Oy.” Miru demanded, before grabbing Rie and pushing her off.

“Hey, bitch, give me a sec.” Shirin muttered, still holding onto her sister.

“You have work to do, I1.”

“Yeah, yeah…” She said, still hugging Rie, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder.

*slap*

Rie recoiled, falling on the ground and staring up at Miru, whose face remained emotionless.

“Oh, fuck off.” Shirin stated, staring at Miru. “That is a line you do not fucking cross.”

“The man in front of you will establish what you have to do.”

“Oh.”

Shirin glared at Wei.

“You cooperating with them now?”

“I need all of you to go and begin your work now.” Miru mentioned, motioning to the guards; “Take them to the workshop.”

The guards jabbed Wei in the back and forced him forwards, while the others followed; even Shirin, still staring at Wei with narrowed eyes.