The fastest draw

In a dusty Texas town where the Old West has been revived with neon circuitry, the enigmatic entrepreneur Amos Handworthy runs an electronics plant and collects curious automata. When Manny Steinberg, a talented but restless engineer, wanders into the Pecos Saloon, he discovers a broken, glass‑enclosed music machine that promises a haunting Mephisto Waltz. Against Handworthy’s skeptical expectations, Manny manages to coax the four violin strings back to life, earning a generous check and a puzzling invitation to the magnate’s mansion.

The dinner summons Manny to a grand, yet eerily private, evening at Handworthy’s estate, where the host dominates the conversation and the lavish spread masks something more unsettling. As the night unfolds, Manny senses that the repaired instrument may be only the first note in a larger, cryptic symphony of power, ambition, and hidden motives. Listeners are drawn into a world where technology and frontier myth collide, setting the stage for a tense showdown that promises to echo far beyond the saloon’s doors.