A cylinder-like oscillator, or strange mechanical soul of the dead. Packed like oil-souls underground, the dead welcome mechanical release and chemical processing that eventually turns them into gas-station gas (exploding and propelling the engine of this story). Jacob is part of a larger scheme to find the proper technology to harness the residue power of the dead (their faint breath, and ability to push things over) for practical purposes.     Both qualities were fluid, the products of powerful thought- machines that worked behind the scenes here, powered by the raw energy that the bees emitted.