The device lay on my work table, shattered and in pieces. I’m ashamed to admit now that not once did I ask of what design it belonged to. Rather, I busied myself on all the little pieces, ignoring the sum of its parts. I pondered on how it had been structured for days on end, until at last, a creeping dread submerged me. I was unable to rebuild this relic – whatever it was. Though it seemed to be mostly functioning, something… important appeared to be missing. Worse still, it seemed as if the part required, well… it didn’t exist. Not in our reality anyhow. The thing that made it tick, the thing that was mysteriously vacant, I could only conceive of in the half-baked imaginings of my own mind. My thoughts felt like a fleeting dream during the first few minutes of waking. I worked tirelessly in search of answers, exhausting myself beyond what I’d ever done before, until finally, at the base of that cruel device, I fell into a deep, deep sleep.