Saint of Smoke and Steel - The factory savior
Chapter 1: The Steam-Drenched Inferno The factory’s silence was only ever broken by the tortured scream of an overworked bearing and what a sound it was. Not the screech of metal on metal, not the moan of rust on a shaft. No, this was something more primal, more carnal the ethereal cry of a mechanical soul climaxing in agony, like a woman climaxing for the seventh time in one hour. Too much. Too raw. Too real. The walls of the workshop trembled. From the ceiling, coolant emulsion dripped like greasy, industrial rain, leaving a metallic taste on the skin. Vapor from the cutting fluid clung to rusted cabinets like a ghostly mist, freezing in the air. The red glow of the andon light cut through the steam like a distress signal from Alien - only here, the monster wasn’t extraterrestrial. It was Line 15, shut down for the third time that week. The maintenance men worked here in relentless four-shift rotations, day and night, weekends included. Their pants were soaked up to the...