The Dollmaker turned the key. The doll’s head rotated 180 degrees with a perfect, ratcheted tick . Her empty eyes now stared straight at the woman in diamonds.

She was perfect. Her skin was high-gloss latex, the color of cream. Her joints were visible—not crude bolts, but elegant brass swivels, oiled and silent. Her eyes were wide, glassy, unblinking, painted with a permanent look of serene surprise. Her lips were parted just so, sealed in a perfect "O" around a breathing tube that connected to a tiny, silent bellows in her chest.

The guest shivered.

“Awareness is a flaw, madam. I have removed all flaws.” He tapped a small brass key on the back of the doll’s neck. “But she dreams. The bellows see to that. Every breath is a little sigh of contentment. She thinks she is pouring tea for angels.”

“Would you like a closer look?” the Dollmaker asked. “I have another piece in the workshop. One that smiles.”

The ballroom was silent except for the soft, hydraulic hiss of polished chrome pistons. Velvet ropes cordoned off the center of the floor, where a single spotlight fell upon a rotating dais.

A silver cart rolled up beside her. Behind it, wearing welder’s goggles and a tuxedo jacket, was . He didn’t speak to the guests. He spoke only to it .

One of the guests, a woman in diamonds, leaned forward. “Is she… is she aware?”

The Dollmaker finally looked up. He smiled—thin, dry, avuncular.

She wore a maid’s cap, starched white, tilted at a jaunty angle.

“Posture check,” he murmured.

With a soft click , her spine straightened three degrees. Her gloved fingers, frozen mid-gesture over an invisible tea tray, twitched once and then held.

Upon it stood Her .

The woman stepped back. The bellows sighed. The party continued.