The Employees

by Olga Ravn · 2022

On the massive Six‑Thousand Ship, a routine of reports and memos masks a growing unease. After the crew—human and humanoid—bring aboard a cache of mysterious objects from the newly discovered planet New Discovery, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to the alien artifacts and, paradoxically, to memories of a home they can barely recall. As the Board of Directors commissions a series of interviews, the employees reveal a tangled web of longing, rebellion, and a yearning for Earth’s soil, warm asphalt, and the sounds of birds. Through their testimonies, the line between flesh and circuitry blurs, exposing the absurdity of a life governed solely by productivity. Olga Ravn’s crisp, haunting prose turns a sci‑fi voyage into a razor‑sharp meditation on what it means to be human, the cost of endless labor, and the fragile hope that even machines can crave a place called home.