Oh, simplest of machines,
an embarrassment of hardware,
the kind of thing one would make
when stranded
with only a wooden stake, a metal pot,
the remains of a tent flap,
and a skin of wine.
What other possible engineering
could be made?
My god, we are doomed.

Well, it's the best we've got
and our only hope out of here.
Let's see if there is any music in this thing.

We "tune" it
and it produces...
not notes exactly,
but a kind of rasping plop
like the farting of metal frogs.

But we crank it faster
and grin
as the thing picks up speed
and starts a rhythmic clatter
like a stick caught in the spokes
of a bicycle wheel.

Faster we turn,
and these pellets of sound
pepper us like meteor spray.
It is rising!
This machine is going to take off.
It can fly.
It will take us out of here.