The Bonds of Servitude

[Jal-Koon]

The data feeds could be quite annoying. Every time Dredge began to ponder a personal topic, a stream of information would invade his thoughts. The interreuptions did keep his mind on the tasks at hand, there was always some piece of equipment that was malfunctioning or just plain broken.
This morning, he strode briskly through the center of town, he was to service some of the power and transmission nodes on Veronica's great screen. Each procedure was simple enough, but it was almost assured that numerous other failures would occur with the high-maintinence device.
The poeple of the city bustled about their daily business, they shopped, worked, and chatted nearly non-stop.
"Some small talk would be nice right about now." The though echoed through his mind but soon settled, communication with the organics was against protocol unless it pertained directly to the particular job he was on. At that moment another data feed raced through his synapses, making him shudder