the body of dr. linker was sprawledo ut on the ground as a light layer of the crystal shavings built up on his cold pale brow. he had been lying in a crumpled heap unper the support beams that held up the above ground portion of his house. his eyes no longer the crystal blue they used to be, but now were a dull grey color. a maggot crawled out of thep upil and beneath the eyelid to explore the nearby tearduct as the fourth mechanical heart floated towards it creator. the ifrst chamber opened and a pair of rusted looking saw blade popped out attached to a length of chain and began its work to revive the mechanical hearts god.

three days leading up to the activation of the assembly line for the mechanical hearts were filled with both great fear, and great joy for the town of delcru. "these magnificent machines will enable us to both live longe and gelp us escape this thick crystal prison. the world will know of our struggle!" dr. linker exclaimed, waving a single finger in the faces of the town people at the local church gathering. it was a chilly night, and the days no better off, for the town of delcru. "what you are proposing is madness david! what if something were to go wrong!?" a concerned, still living abigail said silently to no one in particular as she looked outside the window. dr. linker heard the small voice outside the outcry of the towns people, whose old fashioned ideas of progress wereo nly led by what they were able to get their hands on. "THIS IS BLASPHEMY!" the priest called out, waving the bible closer to dr. linkers calm face then he wouldve ever liked it to be.

abigails mind was else where, thoughts of her boyfriend charles boston, a resident of delcru from the upper class, ran through her mind almost as fast as they left it. "dr. linker, have you the consent of the town elders-" "THE ELDERS KNOW NOTHING OF PROGRESS! they sit there in their comfortable chairs, warming their old bones by the fires, and think that their word is law! they wouldnt know progress if it ran up and tweaked them on the noses!"  still abigail said nothing. her dark brown eyes traced out the shape of charles coming towards the church. her heart beat fast like a drum. 'soon... very soon, this place will be tolerable with him by my side.' she thought to herself. she was so lost in her own thoughts that she failed to notice the hand that was gently tapping her on the shoulder. "abigail? abigail!" she jumped with a start as the mayor, a tall thin man with long sparse strands of greying hair that failed to cover his bald spot, startled her.

"i didnt mean to startle you my dear, what are your thoughts on the matter? the doctor certainly seems set in his ways of this socalled progress of his. but we need your thoughts in order for him to come to his senses my dear." she knew the town was against this every step of the way, the stifling air outside the church was not enough for them to see that the doctor was right in his assumptions. she saw the form of charles boston get closer to the churchs steps, his hands pale with the cold as his tan skin looked more like a snowmans then anything.

"what i say or think will not change davids mind. nor will it ever change this stick in the mud  we call a town... for all i care i will be the first to volunteer my body if that means we can get out from this suffocating prison." the mayor was aside with himself. he had known abigail since she was a child, and had watched with promise in his eyes as she grew into a beautiful woman. "well said, although it saddens me to hear you say that.

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the mechanical heart worked furiously through out the rest of the week to get through the atrophied muscle, the hardened tendons, and finally through the dense bone of the doctor. it never tired, never halted, never gave a thought to rest. 'the doctor will rise again, and free this place of its eternal prison.' its blue beating chambers passed a light blue liquid nitrogen and helium mixture that allowed it to fly around as it wished. after another twelve days of careful surgery, it had cleared away the obstacle blocking its way to dr. linkers own heart. 

two days before the assembly line was activated, abigail had gone to the doctors house with charles, excited with the news that he had proposed to her after the church meeting had long since dissapated. "that is very exciting news indeed!" dr. linker said most enthusiasticly, "please, please! do come in! i have something to show you, that will give delcru her much needed freedom!" he said as the bright orange fire lit up his crystal blue eyes like laterns in a dakr place. "i assume youre talking of those monstrosities they town people are decrying you for?" charles said in a slightly dissatisfied tone. "yes, of course darling! why must you always be so cross whenever we come here?" abigail said while taking a hold of charles hand and dragging him along with her as they followed the doctor down a flight of steps that led to a large combination lock. "i am very excited! you see, not only have i discovered a means to break free of this accursed crystal dome, but also to give the towns people of delcru a new vigor to life!" 

abigail saw the tear form in davids right eye. "you wife and child would have been proud, doctor." at the veyr mention of his late wife deloris, and their child christopher, he lost a little of the fire he had not five minutes ago. "yes, you are right my dearest neice. but now is not the time to mourn them, for the future awaits us!" the doors panels shifted as the doctor pushed a series of buttons, pulled tow levers, and turned the crank to the left fourtimes. "couldnt you have just put in a door like every one else david?" charles critisized. "not at all, not with my plans so close to completion!" he said, readily excited as he pushed the door open. 

the fourth mechanical heart sewed the corspes chest back into place with the instructions it had been given by dr. linker himself. two hours later, the heart had integrated itself with the corpses heart and shunted the various wires and gears into place. 

one day before the activation of the assembly line the doctor and his gravedigger assistant called a town meeting at the local theatre. the townpeople, now in slight favor of dr. linkers idea of freedom for the forty mile wide prison cell they had all shared for the previous nine generations, knowing nothing of the progress the outside world had made, only knowing what had been availible to them. the lights dimmed as the audience settled in their seats, with abigail and charles sitting in the front row to get a better look at the designs of the mechanical hearts they had seen the night before. the curtain opened as the stage lighting revealed a rather large cylinder of clear incandecent water. there was a general murmur of uncertainty as they watched for thirty seconds as the heart floated up and down in the water. "ladies and gentalmen of the twon of delcru, i, doctor david jerimiah linker, along iwth my associate, a mister thomas clark, would like to present to you the marvels and majestic beauty, of this one mechanical heart..."

while the majority of the towns people were at the theatre watching dr. linker explain his plan, a few select townspeople had gone into his house and sabotaged one of his more vital machines to control how the hearts would act. they smashed in a single gear with a wrench, cut a hose line that lead to the chemical balancing, and stabbed holes in the aorta tubes of more then twelve of the planned fourhundred hearts that were first line. "this will teach that madman the value of seeking progress!" a crotchety old voice said as they hobbled back into the theatre, hardly noticed by the doctor or the audience in the darkness of the theatre.

dr. linkers eyes fluttered open as the changed to a stark black. his bones creaked and fractured as his muscles refused to give an inch. the heart had revived its god,beating furiously, pumping the red dust through its chambers and adding the cold liquid to it to give the doctor even more life.

"long... live... the god of the mechanical hearts, doctor david jerimiah linker!"