&quot;Not anymore, Herr Doctor,&quot; she said. &quot;And never again.&quot; Behind her teeth brass cylinders rotated, clicking together to form the right shapes to transform the air from her bellows into words. &quot;How can you say that?&quot; the Doctor asks. Behind his glasses his eyes are red and swollen. &quot;I cannot&quot;—the cylinders catch and hiccup—&quot;love, love you.&quot; The Doctor reached out to her with his good hand and brushed her porcelain face. &quot;I cannot—not, not—love you,&quot; she said again. Mortimer spoke up. &quot;I'm sorry, Doctor.&quot; He pulled a phonographic record, black and grooved, from the front of his apron. &quot;Do you want try number 221?&quot; The Doctor put his plush-and-fabric hand to his eyes, scrubbed away tears. &quot;I don't know how many more of these I can handle today,&quot; he said, taking the record and swapping it with the one on the back of her brass skull. He cranked up her insides, like the weights inside a grandfather clock, and fitted the needle against the new record. &quot;Good morning, my dear,&quot; he said. &quot;Good morning, my love.&quot; 2008-05-16T13:29:10Z http://ficlets.com/feed/story/29923 <p>I&#8217;m not usually into steampunk BUT this piece rocks!</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29923?basename=62712 2008-05-16T13:29:10Z KevMullins http://ficlets.com/authors/kevmullins <p>Really good descriptions (&#8220;Behind her teeth&#8230;bellows into words.&#8221;) and cool idea. Kind of reminds me of the Pygmalion myth.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29923?basename=61378 2008-05-10T14:18:30Z Stovohobo http://ficlets.com/authors/stovohobo <p>Here&#8217;s the part where I demonstrate a lack of geek cred: I had to look up what steampunk is.</p> <p>Now that I know what it is, this is pretty awesome.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29923?basename=61321 2008-05-10T01:51:55Z Rusty Tanton http://ficlets.com/authors/rustytanton <p>hee, i like, i like.<br />five star rating yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br />LoA</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29923?basename=61319 2008-05-10T01:47:36Z invisibility_disability http://ficlets.com/authors/invisible_stories <p>Well done, and intriguing.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29923?basename=61189 2008-05-09T18:10:48Z agenda-b http://ficlets.com/authors/agenda_b <p>Steampunk unrequited love. I loved it!</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/29923?basename=61171 2008-05-09T17:15:59Z Seth Miller http://ficlets.com/authors/mostlymuppet