Chapter Twenty
The Cleaners
“The end of the beginning is not the beginning of the end.”—Manifesto the Great, Planet Hy Man’s National Geographic, last edition
The gym had been empty since the last man climbed off his stationary and donned the footman uniform. For years the doors had been locked, the stationaries dormant, collecting dust and robotic mice. Hilda had sent in the “squat team,” robots of all shapes and sizes who cleaned with a robust intensity (which the Voted In had never seen before).
They were busy oiling when the Voted In arrived.
Beside the robots were a couple of cleaners with a solidarity also unseen by the Voted In. Cleaner One was in the middle of scrapping a smashed robotic mouse into a dust brush when Senator staggered in; by now marching was too sore on her fee
