【明報專訊】Inside the factory were the wham-bang-thud of the presses, the hiss, the thump, the clop of the machines, the smell of hot oil and the high screech of steel cutting steel. He sucked on a wad of Copenhagen snuff and turned off his thinking: it was a job, good for the summer and nothing more. Men shouted and swore, played practical jokes and laughed. Sweat ran from their brows, moved down their cheeks, fell from their arms. It was 4:30 a.m. on the second shift, and thin shafts of light from the departing sun pierced the gloom through the overhead windows. Microscopic particles of metal filings caught by the light glistened like diamonds in the loud and gloomy air. When the sun was gone they were still there, invisible, mixing with their sweat, and the diamonds that caught on their shirts turned to rust, turned orange.