George Case is estranged from his family, but has just landed trial period — six night shifts in a warehouse — for a stable job. His supervisor, Ritter, is friendly and even introduces Page Kaster who’s just finished her trial. She seems worn out, but ok, in a boilersuit. Case gets an old work vest, starts the job. It’s robotic, but not too hard. As Case’s first shfit ends, he clocks some black crates and a murmuring door in the back of the warehouse. These seem to be another part of the corporation.
The company dorm is bleak, has the same murmuring, but the bed is good enough and a free water bottle.
The next day before work, Case tries contacting his wife, but gets no answer. He then sees a new work vest in his locker. But the day’s real surprise: one black crate is unlatched… inside… a human hand! Or somehting like it. Ritter promptly reminds Case that it’s not his department and he should just send a notice to “Human Resources.” Case warily obliges and soon gets good news for surprassing his shift quota. However, he still gets no answer from his family.
Determined to pass the trial and get the job, Case works the next days smoothly, but seems to lose tracke of time. On the sixth day, Case spots some marks on his wrists. Kaster also had similar ones when they met on his first day… and speak of the devil, Kaster enters from the murmuring door to check the black crates. Case tries to greet her, but she just says they’ll meet after his trial and goes back through the door.
Case wakes up as his dorm door shut… but did it…? It’s night, time for the shift, but then…
It’s dawn…in his locker, Case sees a boiler suit like Kaster’s. Changing into it, he notices marks on his legs as Ritter appears and says in a phrasing now recognized from before: “Now, if you could… finish your trial.”
Case walks to the murmuring door that now opens due to marks on his palm… he enters a dark corridor leading to an office where, among many others, Kaster is at a computer terminal. Back in his office, Ritter is emailing a new hire for a trial as Case receives that very person’s biometric data and his first task: “Manufacture Android Copy.”
The new hire arrives at the warehouse, Case greets him like Kaster greeted him 6 days earlier.
