"There are some things we were not meant to know, they say. But you wouldn't be down here if you took that seriously."
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"Afternoon. Ready to offer my services. I'm an engineer. Finest you'll ever hire. Treat engines like my own children. Not that I have children. Too busy. Usually busy."[1]
"Does he ever sleep? His eyes are dark-circled, but his hands are steady."[2]
The Tireless Mechanic is a talkative and somewhat scatterbrained engineer.[3] He does not sleep and takes a draught to compensate, which lets him retain his faculties[4] but does not prevent him from perpetually having dark-circled eyes.[5] To stave off sleep, he eats simple meals and refuses wine.[6]
The Mechanic's enthusiasm for engines once led him to dream of engines, and then of the Stone Pigs - the engine-creatures that allow the Bazaar to travel the High Wilderness.[7] The Pigs sleep for now, but the Fingerkings can breach their dreams. They recruited the Mechanic to steal a secret from the Pigs' dreams:[7] the plans[8] for an engine unlike any other.[9] The fascinated Mechanic stole the secret for himself rather than giving it to the serpents as they asked,[10] and stashed the secret in Frostfound where the Fingerkings could not follow.[11] Enraged at his deception,[10] the Fingerkings will hunt him down the moment he sleeps and enters Parabola.[12]
The Mechanic wants to defeat his serpentine pursuers so that he may sleep again.[13] He also hopes to reacquire his secret[11] and use it to build an engine called the Fulgent Impeller,[14] which runs on the same forces that propel the Bazaar.[15] The Impeller requires a "heart" to function,[16] so the Mechanic has contracted a mysterious humanoid being called the Unsettling Sage[17] to act as a willing subject when the time comes.[18] The Sage may be a homunculus created by the Rubbery Men of Flute Street,[19] or something else comparable.
↑Invite him to dine with you, Sunless Sea"There's a draught I take nightly, to substitute for sleep. It works well enough, and it keeps me sane and upright, but I wish I could enjoy just one night's sleep."
↑Invite him to dine with you, Sunless Sea"His tastes are spartan - he eats little, drinks only water, barely sleeps at all [...] “Thanks for the meal. And the company. No, no wine. It makes me sleepy. Oh, yes, I can sleep! Too easily - that's the problem.”"
↑ 7.07.1Ask the Mechanic to explain exactly what the hell is going on, Sunless Sea""I talk about engines. All the time. I'm sure you've noticed. And I dream about them. I found myself dreaming of the Stone Pigs. They're, oh, I don't entirely understand, still. But they're how the Bazaar travels between stars. (Did you know they did that?) And they sleep, so the Fingerkings can crack their dreams open. So the Fingerkings recruited me.""
↑ 11.011.1Objective: The Mechanic's Secret in Frostfound, Sunless Sea"I had to hide the secret somewhere the Fingerkings couldn't go. I hoped they'd leave me alone then. So I put it in Frostfound. Not the very heart of Frostfound. I'm not insane. But, um, quite close to the heart."
↑Excavate the cellar, Sunless Sea""The Writhing River flows near here," the Mechanic remarks. "One of the tributaries of dream. My enemies find me when I sleep - but this water will attract my enemies to this poor fellow.""
↑Construct the Fulgent Impeller, Sunless Sea""Almost ready," he affirms. "It just needs a spark, and a heart." He looks to the Unsettling Sage. "Yes, I know," the Sage says, a little sadly."
↑Invite the Unsettling Sage to dinner, Sunless Sea""I am aacustomed," he admits frankly, "to be being used aas a tool. [...] My people maade me aas a repository of secrets. It will be a relief, when that ends. But until then, I shaall keep the secrets a little longer.""
↑Construct the Fulgent Impeller, Sunless Sea""Almost ready," he affirms. "It just needs a spark, and a heart." He looks to the Unsettling Sage. "Yes, I know," the Sage says, a little sadly."
↑Flute Street, Fallen London"The machine grunts and burbles into life [...] the Vital Essences infuse the Rubbery subject. [...] It lasts for hours before the last of the amber crumbles away. The Rubbery Men drag the subject out of the glass chamber. He's bald and grey-skinned and very nearly human."
