Walls were parted, and the predesigned traps were all up. Only he would get out alive; even bodies of steel and brass could not possibly bear this. There was a release of steam and a chorus of ticking, as if the machine was answering to him triumphantly.

But then, it stopped. Silence fell once more, except for the humming from the automata.

He noticed that the woman was staring at the parts of the machine that exposed itself. inexplicably, he understood that it was not his machine that had malfunctioned; it was her that willed it to stop. She looked back at him, and he felt only contempt from the expressionless face.