The Temple of the Exploding Head

The enigmatic Machine is the center of Book 2 in the Temple of the Exploding Head trilogy, aptly titled The Machine. As you can see by the collage, The Machine has been interpreted in various conrasting ways by different artists.

In its most basic form, The Machine is a silver arch. It’s about seven feet tall and three feet wide. It has a rather ruddy look to it–appearing as two tree-trunks covered in silver foil. Though it’s an inanimate object, The Machine has a certain up-and-ready personality to it, as illustrated in the pics. One aspect that all artists agee on, The Machine has a purple stone centered in its arch, giving it a rather one-eyed look.

The Sisterhood of Light captured The Machine in 000012ax. They were eager to get their hands on it, as its creator, Lord Revis of Want, was known for producing fabulous inventions that surpassed even Elder tech. They entered the House of Want and found Lord Revis gone–vanished, never to be seen again, and sitting in his abandoned workshop was The Machine. They took it to their research facility at Valenhelm where they sought to uncover all its secrets. Though the Sisters were adept at reverse engineering, they could not get The Machine to do anything. There were rumors that the Sisters even began to fear it to some extent, claiming in rumors that it “spoke evil” to them in their dreams. Whatever the case, The Machine held its secrets frustratingly close to the vest, and after centuries, they gave a final terse pronouncement:

INOPERABLE.

They then disassembled it into three pieces that eventually went their separate ways over the years, one even ending up deep in Xaphan Space. And The Machine was generally forgotten.

Centuries later, Lady Sammidoran of Monama would have a strange dream of a tall silver creation with a purple stone in its center:

The man looked at me with a wall-eyed, Elder gaze. “So, you want to know what it does? I’m dying for somebody—anybody—to properly appreciate it. For lack of anyone else, you’ll do.”

Yes, I wanted to know. I wanted to know very much.

“Well, sit back and I’ll tell you.”

He then started his talking. “Now pay attention! I’m only going to go over this with you once …”

And I did. I listened. I hung on every word he said.

Gods! Can it be true? Can this be real?

And I never had that vision again, but I never forgot a moment of it. I set it in stone in my memory. I often thought about it at night, replaying the dream in my thoughts trying to sift hidden meaning out of any small detail.

I never forgot the machine I’d seen and the wondrous thing it could do. The man told me what it did in exacting detail.

Could such a thing actually exist? The silver machine was the key, a miracle. It could indeed change everything.

I like to think that, if this somehow works out, we shall use the machine on a carefree day sometime in the future and go to this man, this Lord Revis, House of Want, and stand before him as man and woman, and thank him as he is due.

Thank him for his genius and his machine that he left behind.

copyright 2010 Ren Garcia