“Hey, Pete,â€? I nodded to the guard standing next to a steel door. “This is Grace Robinson. I’m just gonna show her around.â€?

Pete nodded, and Grace and I went inside the plant. I pointed out a chute in a corner of the first room we entered. Thousands of different-colored orbs were dumping out of it onto a conveyor belt.

“That’s where the souls come in,â€? I explained. “They go down here to the sifter and get sorted out.â€?

Souls rolled onto the tray of the sifter. They bounced around in the machine, slipping through the holes and coming out sorted below. “Brown souls go there, green ones there, clear there,â€? I said.

In the next room, the souls went through a solution bath. “Here’s where we clean and sanitize the souls. After that, we reshape and repackage them.â€?

I pointed out the staff inspecting the newly packaged souls in the next room. “Then they go through QC, and finally distribution.â€?

“Where do they go?â€? Grace asked.

I shrugged. “Detroit, London, Regula IV. A lot get sent to Beijing.â€?