In Secret Machine, the protagonist encounters an antagonist that is studying her, measuring her body and comparing her to units of space and time. Clocks rush and her movements are calculated on a grid: the eye is observed through lenses; her breath is submitted to a resistance rate by putting her under water; needles are used to quantify her reactions and pain: and her voice and motion are recorded. For the scientist measurement is understanding. While human nature appears confined in the framework and efforts of rationality, the aspiration of trapping the soul conduce the antagonist to imagine the improvable.