Disconnected

I continued through the tunnels and caves. I found a machine. It looked exactly like something they'd use upstairs for one of their more esoteric experiments. It was utterly dead, of course; it looked like it had been put together by the creatures. I opened up one of the panels and looked inside. Cogs, spools of wire, and other disconnected parts were stuffed into the casing. It was as if a child had tried to copy an adult without any understanding of what was happening. It was getting close to the time the creatures normally appeared, so I tucked myself into a small tunnel and hid.

The creatures came soon after. Five of them, each carrying a bucket of hot coals. Something about the way they moved disturbed me. They were like spiders that suddenly scuttle toward you. The creatures began to howl, and the sound made me shudder. They moved jerkily around the machine, in a way that made it look almost like a dance. I saw them grow more and more frenzied, until they fell on one another, ripping with claws and teeth. When only one of the creatures remained, it scattered the blood and entrails of the others over the machine, burning the offal with the hot coals and creating stinking smoke. The creature began to babble in a hideous, grating voice, the sound growing louder and louder until it hurt my ears.

The machine lit up. I can't believe it, but that's what happened. The machine, the box full of disconnected parts, lit up and began to hum. The creature fiddled with it, and it responded as if it were a working device. Eventually, more creatures arrived and removed the machine and the bodies.

I can't help but feel that this makes a terrible kind of sense.