Mechanical Postal Bird No. 7 refused to continue along part of its usual morning route today, stopping on the East Tower departure rail just before the crossing toward the eastern sorting point. The copper bird arrived normally, locked its feet onto the rail, turned its head toward the route marker and remained where it was. A postal technician replaced the route marker, checked the letter cylinder on its leg and performed a standard manual reset. No. 7 responded to all three procedures by continuing to do absolutely nothing.
Technicians then inspected its wing joints, route mechanism and external fittings. Everything appeared to be in working order. A second mechanical bird was assigned to the same route and departed without difficulty, which left the staff with an uncomfortable question: if the route was clear and No. 7 was functioning normally, what exactly was it objecting to? One technician suggested the bird had detected something the instruments had missed. Another suggested that No. 7 was “being No. 7,” which received considerable support but was not entered in the maintenance log.
Later that morning No. 7 completed two deliveries in other districts without hesitation. The Postal Service therefore lists the machine as fully operational and has placed the disputed crossing under observation. Asked whether a mechanical bird could simply decide that it disliked one particular route, a senior technician replied, “Mechanically speaking, no.” At that exact moment No. 7 turned its brass head toward him and remained perfectly still for several seconds. The technician added, “Officially, no.”
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