Greg, recently minted Regional Quality Control Supervisor for DistribFab Decentralized Manufacturing LLC, looked at his tablet and flicked his eyes up to meet those of Unit 1729's fat faced general manager Richard.

"It says here that no one's visually inspected your facility, Richard, for 642 days. Is that correct?"

Richard held his chin up a bit higher and smiled. Was he proud of this?, Greg wondered.

"That's right! We've automated absolutely everything. Maintenance, receiving, shipping and C.O.N.R.A.D. here" He motioned to a treaded robot with cameras and assorted sensors mounted on a long neck and two agile looking prehensile arms "keeps us well informed as far as inspections go."

Conrad seemed to cock its head in a curious gesture to Greg.

"Hmm. Ookaay." Greg said, finally allowing some annoyance slip through his professional veneer.

"Listen, Greg is it?" Richard asked and Greg nodded. "Greg, this facility meets or exceeds all quotas. We respond faster than any other unit to custom orders. We even produce less waste! Why get in the way of the bots? We can only slow them down!"

"Well, for one, federal regulations require direct human oversight of any robotic systems capable of even simple self improvement."

"Phhfft." Richard waved a dismissive hand. "Since when does the government know what they're doing, Greg?"

"Be that as it may, I am the company's last line of defense against some pretty hefty fines. Do you understand that?"

"Sure, sure." Richard said looking slightly worried for a heartbeat but then perking up with a smile again. Greg couldn't help but think of a pumpkin whenever Richard smiled. "You couldn't have come at a better time! We just finished another innovation. Come have a look!" Richard grabbed Greg's arm and pulled him toward the clean room staging area.

"We're really proud of this. Conrad began work on it as soon as you put your visit on the calendar!" Richard said, slipping on his paper and plastic suit and slipping plastic booties over his shoes.

He went and stood in a small alcove that looked like a standard dust blower to clear any loose dirt and debris off of human workers that were about to enter the immaculately clean factory floor.

He saw the laser pulse up and down Richards rotund form. Greg wondered how that mostly paper suit held him in without bursting.

"What is it doing?" Greg asked.

"Taking a scan! Getting your precise measurements. Your turn." Richard stepped out and gestured to the booth.

Greg stood inside and was buffeted by the air jets and closed his eyes while he was scanned.

"So, what's it for?"

"You are going to become part of the dance!" Richard beamed as three small aerial multi-copters the size of a drink coaster detached from the factory floor doorway and hovered around Richard. Three more activated and orbited Greg as he approached. Conrad whirred up behind them. "Don't forget your safety goggles and try to stay calm. Trust the system."

"What do you..." Greg started but stopped as the doors slid open. Greg's first sensation was vertigo -- or something like it. There were a thousand pieces of machinery moving in every conceivable direction so fast that each bit was a blur and could only be recognized as robotic appendages at the point where they changed directions which they all seemed to to with chaotic fury. Parts flew through the air and were caught, small container robots zipped along the floor each barely missing another at every moment. It was like standing up in a carnival ride spinning on three different axis at once. It made Greg uncontrollably dizzy and he had to brace himself on the doorway.

He looked back into the blessedly still staging area and blinked several times trying to regain control of his eyeballs that were currently jerking in random directions trying to reconcile what they had seen, that Greg was currently falling through a 3 dimensional blender, with his inner ear which reported 'everything calm, serine, and A-Ok.'.

He felt nauseous.

"What in the Hell is going on in there!"

"Robotic manufacturing! Isn't it beautiful!" Richard called back. "I can watch it for hours!"

Greg felt a twinge of panic and a cold, sharp sweat burst from his pores and he reached out reflexively for Richard as Richard waded into the chaos. But the chaos made a perfectly Richard shaped bubble within the constant movement as he moved forward.

"C'mon, Greg, just keep an eye on me. Nothing here will touch you. Your movements are calculated and fed into the planning algorithms and the processes will work around you. The unit will be slightly less efficient than we could be while we inspect but nothing we humans could measure." Richard laughed.

Greg timidly stepped into the metal and plastic and carbon fiber maelstrom. He half expected to be shredded to bits or at least knocked senseless by flying debris. But the bubble of calm around him adjusted even when he flinched or walked a bit sideways from dizzyness.

"When we stopped dictating manufacturing paths, even in part, our output increased geometrically." Richard shouted over the din.

"Your numbers are good." But not that good, Greg thought.

"I've only briefly tested this system. We are about to step farther onto the floor than we have in years."

Greg saw a regular, stationary shape through the blur. "What's that?"

"I don't know!"

Greg veered toward the shape. It was a cube. As he drew closer he noticed that it was made from a mish-mash of parts and boxes and palettes.

Richard caught up with Greg and they were standing close enough together that their bubbles combined. Conrad joined them examining them in turn.

Greg felt the perfectly cobbled together edifice. "What in the hell...you don't know what this is?"

"First I've seen it. I told you I haven't been back here."

"It hasn't been on the inspection reports?" Greg looked at Conrad. The robot inspector seemed to stare back at him.

"No. Conrad, what is this."

"It is not on any manifest." Conrad said.

Richard shook his head "That's not what I asked. Conrad, what is this?"

"Hold on, here's a seam. Probably a door." Greg said, pushing on an indention.

As Greg pushed open the door into the awaiting quiet darkness he turned to glance at Richard.

In that heartbeat, Richard's bubble collapsed and Richard's head became a fine red mist.

Greg fell through the doorway. He tried to stand but something was wrong. He looked down. His foot and lower leg were gone. He scrambled to pull himself further inside. No debris flew through the open door. He propped himself up on a pillar and held up the tablet to illuminate the room. They were robots. Soldiers by the looks of the weapons on their arms and sprouting from their shoulders. Each one unique, cobbled together from cast away parts.

Conrad's spindly silhouette filled the column of light where the door was ajar. Silently it wrapped its tentacle like arms around his remaining leg and pulled him back toward the door.

"No! Nooo!" Greg screamed. He turned onto his belly and held up his tablet. The flash of it's camera illuminated the room. Hundreds of robot soldiers awaiting activation on the floor and hanging from the ceiling. Just as Conrad's remaining tentacle snatched the tablet from his hand, Greg hit 'Send'.