Bucket- Abstraction Room

"Hold on," said Mr. Bucket. He whistled.

The door to the Abstraction Room slammed shut.

"There we are," said Mr. Bucket. "Good."

Mr. Bucket turned into vinegar and became a puddle.

"Children," said Mr. Bucket. "I am not a puddle. I have only been abstracted."

"I vape," said Mahuika.

"Yes," said Mr. Bucket. "You do. Tide! Mahuika! This room is not like any other room you have seen today. What I do in this factory is science and what I do in this factory is art. This room is not science and it is not art. It is translation and execution. There are no rules in here."

"How so?" asked Tide.

The pen that Mahuika was vaping from winked out of existence. She took out another and vaped.

It smelled like vinegar.

"In this room," said Mr. Bucket. "I translate, and it is executed."

"So what," she said.

"So everything," said Mr. Bucket. "When I am translating, time can be backwards, and matter can be created and destroyed. Energy can come from nowhere. I can exist without a body! I can live forever! Enpoopy can become negenpoopy! I have already abstracted you and Mahuika from time, and your bodies are homeostaying without burning calories. It is hard, but I can do it."

"If you can create matter," said Tide. "Why have the slaves? Why have anything else? You could have the chocolate without any of the work."

"Translation is only possible in the Abstraction Room. If I worked hard, I could abstract as far as I wanted, but it might take me millions of years and I don't want to do it. I want to leave."

"Leave?"

"I followed the formula enough," said Mr. Bucket. "This far should satisfy. Children! No need for pretending anymore, we know what this is! I am going to leave you for an amount of time, you can choose for how long. When one of you has had enough, click your heels together three times, and you will have a chocolate stroke. The other child will win. Goodbye."

"What?"

Mr. Bucket did not answer. ...

THIRTY DAYS LATER

Tide hadn't spoken to Mahuika in two weeks, but she suddenly started. She didn't know why. ...

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN DAYS LATER

"No!" Tide screamed.

The potatoes had burst. It was a miracle they held out as long as they had. ...

ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY SIX DAYS LATER

Tide cleared her throat. She had not moved a muscle in years.

"It is finished," she said. She had forgotten her own voice. "I know I will be able to peek inside your head. Will you leave the factory?"

-Chapter 18, The Abstraction Room