Liz is a librarian becoming disillusioned with her career. As she navigates another day of apathetic public service, she notices a Machine of Death slip left behind as a bookmark by a patron, labeled and "Lightning. and " Liz doesn't know if the bookmark is a piece of someone's past or a warning for the future. Whose bookmark is it, and does Liz want to meet a doomed patron? More information about the Machine of Death concept can be found at http: machineofdeath.net About. Essentially, there is a machine that predicts the cause of death of its user, printed on a slip of paper. This story operates on that premise.