Part 7: Silent Machine

Sonetto: I'm terribly sorry, Timekeeper. We've failed our mission. I should have done something sooner …

Sonetto: No, no need to comfort me, Timekeeper. I'm prepared to take full responsibility.
Messenger: Sonetto!
Sonetto: … Yes!
Sonetto: Well, I'm going in.
Sonetto disappears through the door to the interrogation room.
X: Ah, I should have expected we'd fall into some trouble when we returned to the Foundation.
X: Seems like I'm not cut out for field missions.
X: What? We haven't even entered the interrogation room, and you're already starting to question me?
X: Fine. But before you begin, let me ask first …
X: What makes you think I did anything?
X: I was just playing games with the kids. You read the report.
X: I'm sure you'll find they all passed the Lie Detector test that was administered, verifying my whereabouts at the time.
X: And I'm sure you also read that the report concluded that there was a loose part on the sign. As for gears, come on, it's New York. That could have been anything!
X: All of life is a Rube Goldberg machine. The only question is the outcome, and the initial point.
X: But you're asking "Did I make it." If I did, where was its fulcrum? There wasn't any trace of a machine at the scene.
Thoughts begin to race.
Ultimately, X is the common feature of every Goldberg apparatus …
From Regulus's firework lighting cue.
To Sophie's marble launching spring.
Human action is the initial point for every mechanical device. The participants themselves are a part of the experiment. Their behavior, their actions, engineered as a part of the machine.
Stable, controllable, and able to follow instructions.
Sonetto: Via Pellar!
X: I don't know what you could possibly mean.
X: We both know I wasn't there. So how could I have controlled Ms. Sonetto's actions?
X: Are you trying to say that Ms. Sonetto acted as my accomplice?
X: That's a very serious accusation, wouldn't you say?
Messenger: Vertin!
X: Tsk, they're calling you, Vertin.
X: Maybe we can talk more after this?
Inquisitor: So, do you have any additional information to add about the incident? Anything that could help would be welcome, Timekeeper.
Inquisitor: Please answer honestly.
Silence.
At first, the choice to speak up would have only implicated one person.
But that is no longer the case.
Inquisitor: I understand. Thank you for your cooperation.
The wait for the verdict drags on, a sword hanging over the heads of two friends, dangling on a thread.
Finally …
Sonetto: Timekeeper! Great! I've been looking for you!
Sonetto: I'm to inform you that the Foundation has dismissed their investigation.
Sonetto: The results from the crime scene found no trace of unexpected arcane activity. The case has been officially ruled an accident.
Sonetto: Still, I'm planning on staying late at the Foundation, so I can volunteer for the very next mission. I must rectify this blot on our record!
Sonetto: Are you leaving?
Sonetto: Oh, alright. Well … See you soon.
Sonetto: By the way, it seems like the patent acquisition was terminated after Mr. Wilson's accident. So, it seems the price of the drug will remain $1!
Could this truly have been God's will?
Or perhaps it was there a Devil in the machine?
X: You look angry.
X: You're overestimating my skills, Ms. Vertin.
X: Arcanists are good with intuitive insight, and humans are good with logic-based deduction.
X: When the two compete against each other, they might turn a blind eye to the absurdity and chaos that is the world and what happens to certain people in it.
X: Vertin, I am sorry about the accident.
X: But "the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike," isn't that what they say?
X: Arcanists and humans, the poor and the rich. As long as we all walk this earth, we're all the same.
X: That's just how the world works.
X: When the marble is set, it doesn't really matter who triggers the spring. Its flight and its target will always be the same.
X: In fact, when you consider the mechanistic nature of reality, we're all cogs of one kind or another.
X: That's why you're upset? … Hm, well, I understand.
X: Don't worry … I promise you won't see anymore "devices that pose safety risks" in the laboratory after this.
X turns to leave, but stops again.
X: —Oh, now that their investigation is over, would you mind if I took some of these letters off your hands?
The mechanical expert smiles, waving the documents back at her before disappearing through the laboratory doorway.
The fireplace burns low and quiet.
X: "… In conclusion, Researcher X's study on mechanical devices poses significant safety risks …"
X: "Which, through unintended consequences, might result in damages, including but not limited to burns, collisions, disabilities, death, etc."
X takes a sip of his coffee, marveling with pride at the words as he raises the letter into the air.
X: A marvelous insight. These machines certainly have their dangers.
X: Burning ... That certainly is a risk.
X taps the edge of his cup, beginning a series of outrageous mechanical movements, as Mesmer's stack of complaints is pulled one by one from his desk and funneled into the fireplace.
Where they turn to ash, leaving not a single trace.