Utterly Mad

"So... There's a murderer trapped in here. With us." Tenny said in a hushed voice. Catnip could hear the nervous tension in the sound of her voice, she seemed to waver on the edge of something like panic. Felicia and George looked at each other, Felicia with worry and George with Stony faced placidity. Catnip decided to focus on George, mostly because his attitude lent her a measure of stability but also she found it a bit strange. The most stable individual she'd ever met was Floyd. Her metal cow man, bringer of the lead wind, and grandfather figure. He never flinched except on certain occasions, and he never blinked when he fired his guns. Even Hector and Nathaniel would blink.

"Calm down Ms. Parsons, so long as we stick together it should be fine. We need to discuss what we are going to tell the work force though." Felicia said. George straightened his glasses a little and sniffed.

"We should tell them the truth. There is someone among us who wishes us harm, everyone should stick together. Groups of no less than three or four." He suggested. It sounded reasonable to Catnip, and after a bit more discussion, it was what they chose to do at the meeting later that night.

"For now though," George went on, "perhaps we should see to the other room? A generator is all fine and good, but perhaps there is something we can use in the other?"

As it turned out, there was.

---

The group of specialists moved smartly to the other of the two or three exposed rooms, inching along the wet platform as they did so. The door itself was like any door, but they had seen a sign like this in the upper halls.

"WIND CELL STORAGE #2"

It said. George assessed the portal and gave his expert report. The door had buckled, but was otherwise structurally sound. The frame too had suffered some damage, but the rubber between the door and the frame had formed a seal.

"In my opinion," he stated, "I do believe it may be dry inside. If not, then there is a chance that we could get washed away into yonder screaming pit should the room beyond be inundated."

While they spoke, Catnip pressed an ear to the door. She found it hard to believe, but she thought for a moment that she heard something. She closed her eyes and listened as hard as she could, and... There it was. The sublime sound of some machine, a noise she associated with the spinning blade traps she'd never managed to get working safely. A continuous "whirr" that had always been followed by a discordant "sproink." Only in this case, the final exclaimation never came. It just whirred on and on, singing a song of perfectly lubricated and tuned gears, springs that never wore down, and engines that never coked or stopped.

"It's beautiful..." She whispered.

"H-hey girl?"

She was pulled from her ecstatic reverie by Felicia. Her manager looked concerned, and Catnip felt groggy and drugged.

"We gotta get in there..." She groaned. Felicia thought Catnip looked like a girl who'd gone on one hell of a roll in the hay with a particularly skilled lover. "It's so... Hey, you alright Tenny?"

Tenny had begun to look once again like a nervous bundle of squirrels stuffed into a house coat. She fidgeted with the little bracelet on her wrist. She looked like she'd been sucking on lemons.

"No. I don't want to be down here anymore. The... The screamers. I can't stand being this close..." She whined quietly.

"Alright," Felicia said, patting Tenny gently on the shoulder, "George, take her upstairs and come back with a couple laborers so we can get in here. I need to see this myself."