The Hand Still Works

Stage 1: She crouches and wipes silt off the eye lens with her forearm. Nothing happens. Water moves gently around the shoulder plate. Ends with her hand flat on the lens. Stage 2: The eye lens comes on from the center outward in a deep amber and holds, throwing her shadow up onto the mist behind her. She takes her hand back and stands. Ends with the lens fully lit and her upright on the shoulder. Stage 3: The mech's raised arm closes its fingers once, slowly, and the movement pushes a wave down the flooded street away from the camera. She grabs a cable to stay on her feet. Ends with the wave travelling away, the fingers closed, and the lens still lit. Hold her exact flight suit, hair and position from the image, keep the mech's design and the city behind it unchanged, and keep the camera locked in the same framing throughout. Water always moves away from whatever displaced it. Silt on metal, water against a steel hull, a deep servo winding up under the surface, hydraulics taking load, her breathing. Score enters only when the lens lights.