5 - The Red Line

When she went to drop off her next full milk jug, Holly discovered that the jugs that she and Natalie had filled earlier in the day had been removed from the refrigerator.

"Our jugs were gone." Holly commented to Natalie, as they started their third and final break.

"Yep, they usually get collected once or twice a shift." Natalie replied.

"What do they do with all the stuff?" Holly asked.

"Oh, all sorts of things." Natalie replied, waving her hand vaguely. "Food additives, cosmetics, stuff like that."

"I think there are even a few kinds of medications that are based on it, at least in part." she said. "But the big one is food additives. That's where most of it ends up."

"What kinds of foods?" Holly asked. "I don't think I've ever noticed it in anything I've bought."

"Well, I guess that it's kind of like sugar. That is, they stick a little bit of it in practically everything." Natalie explained. "If you look down far enough in the ingredient list, you'll see it eventually."

"Anyway, you need to take a look at this tablet." Natalie said, handing the device to her coworker. "Here."

"It defaults to a graph of the day's production." she continued. "That line there is the volume per minute of semen that we've been milking out of the guys. See how it trends upward as the day went by? That's because you've been getting better and better at efficiently milking them."

"If you hit the menu button, you'll see icons for a bunch of other graphs." Natalie said. "They track pretty much everything. The important ones, for now, anyway, are the individual charts of each man's daily production totals."

"This is pretty neat." Holly said, flipping through the charts. "So much information!"

"Yeah, they're a great way to keep track of each guy's performance, as well as our own." Natalie replied.

"Hmm. They all kind of look the same. At least, the general shape of the line curve, anyway." Holly mused, peering at the tablet's screen.

"That's one of the side effects of the acceleration injection I told you about earlier." Natalie said. "It really boosts their production, for a while, at least, but then their totals slowly start to decline."

"Why's that?" Holly asked, looking back up at Natalie.

"Have you ever heard that expression about candles? You know, the one about how the candle flame that burns brightest also burns shortest? It's the same basic principle." Natalie explained. "For a week or two after the injection, a new male's production skyrockets. It then levels out for a month or so, perhaps two if he's particularly virile, which is when he's most profitable to the company. After that, the amount he produces will slowly drop. After four to six months, he hits a wall, and his production crashes rapidly down to pretty much nothing, permanently."

"Hmm, it doesn't look like any of these guys have crashed yet." Holly said, flipping through the charts once again. "It appears that the longest chart is a bit over six months old, but he's still just declining steadily."

"You'll never see one of the charts crash, because the guys get replaced before that happens." Natalie informed Holly. "Do you see that flat red line on each chart?"

"Yeah. What is it?" Holly asked.

"That's the profit line. If their daily total is above the red line, the company is making money off them. When a man slips below it, he begins to cost the company money instead." Natalie replied. "So, he gets replaced."

"Does the off shift cleaning crew do that, or do we?" Holly asked.

"They do, but we mark out the ones that need replacing for them." Natalie answered. "I'll be showing you how to do that just before we knock off for the day."

"Which man is going to get replaced? I don't see any that are below the red line." Holly asked. "Some of them are close, though."

"Find the one with the lowest totals, we'll do him." Natalie replied.

"Umm.. It looks like it's the one that's been here for just over six months." Holly said, as she scanned the charts.

"I think it's him." she concluded, pointing to the second male in the first row.

It was the large one, the male who had been Holly's first milking experience.

"Yeah, I thought it might be." Natalie said, nodding slightly. "Let's see if we can't get a few more jugs filled before our shift ends, then we'll trim him right before we leave for the day."

"Trim him?" Holly asked, perplexed.

"You'll see." Natalie replied, with a wink.