A slide showing a "Special Access Only" sign on a door appeared, a big red slash through it.

"At the end of your tour, please remove your jumpsuits and other sanitary gear and place them in the labeled bins."

A bin marked 'Deposit Sanitary Gear' appeared on the screen.

"We will return your personal items to you at the end of the tour. This ends the safety briefing."

The screen blacked out. The lights popped on. My legal pad was blank.

A door opposite the one to the locker rooms opened.

A video screen mounted on a wheeled robot-like device entered the room.

Zane Zago himself appeared on the screen.

Jacqueline, seated at the end of our table, gasped.

Mr. Zago, dressed in a three-piece, brown, pin-striped suit with a bright blue tie, had not appeared in public in over 10 years. Many thought he'd gotten ill and that his niece was running the show. Guess the rumors had been wrong.

"Welcome, select guests." Zago's voice poured over us like molten fudge, syrupy and warm. "Today will be the grandest day of your lives. Rarely do I open the factory for tours. But today...today I want my best salesmen and women," the screen turned slightly to aim at Agnes and Jacqueline, "to get a glimpse of the future of Zago Chocolates. Follow me."

The robot rolled backwards, while the screen faced us, and entered the factory beyond the open door. We all scrambled to be first.

The robot rolled onto a platform next to a staircase. The platform rose up and delivered the robot to a landing at the top of a metal staircase. "Please remember the safety briefing as we enter the main factory floor. I wouldn't want to lose anyone." Mr. Zago smiled a wide, glistening white smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Come, come, we don't have much time. We have a lot to accomplish before we are through."

Everyone scrambled pushed to get up the stairs. I lagged behind, not in the mood to shove my fellow salespeople just to get to the top more quickly. We'd all be inside the factory soon enough.

Last to the top, I stepped through the doorway to see a huge facility in front of me, chockful of vats, conveyor belts, switches and gears, and the rich scent of chocolate filling our nostrils. I never got sick of that smell.

Mr. Zago-as-robot walked us through each section of the production floor--the mixing area, the chocolate enrobing line, the packaging station. We saw chocolate bars full of nuts, fruit, nougat, caramel, crispies, and more. We were able to taste milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate. The familiar Crispy Bar--BEST SELLER! stamped across the redesigned packaging--melted in my mouth. No matter how many times I ate one, the first bit was always the best.

Every stage of production was controlled by an army of robots and robotic devices. We had to dodge a fast-moving robot on wheels that sped past us to join others in line wrapping individual toffee candies. Another dumped ingredients into a huge copper vat using four spindly arms. Another painted precision lettering--Z.G.--on high-end Zago Chocolates Truffles in the blink of an eye. The whir of wheels and gears and machinery surrounded us. Hydraulic arms swooped down from the ceiling and carried boxes laden with candies from one end of the room to the other, sailing inches above our heads.

We moved into a new area marked with a sign on the door that read: EXPERIMENTATION ROOM. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. We received news of any products in development through our quarterly corporate emails. Only last year we'd been informed of Zago Chocolates moving into chewing gums and breath mints. Two new categories. Hints had been laid out about fantastical flavors being developed. I wondered if this room would reveal anything.

We pushed through the doors and were immediately treated to the smell of citrus, mint, cherry, and more. Five long tables stretched out in front of us. Each one covered in beakers and bubbling tubes of liquids and equipment better suited to a chemistry lab. The tables were staffed with three or four robots a piece who mixed, heated, shook and cooled globs of yellow, green, pink, purple, blue and green.

A beaker of steaming bright green fluid exploded.

Agnes screamed.

The explosion spattered the walls. Green goo dripped.