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“We had been kept alive, rejuvenated, made to remain constantly at the age we had been when AM had brought us below, and they hated me because I was the youngest, and the one AM had affected least of all.”

In this bit of exposition, Ted is revealed as the most paranoid of all the humans. In addition to the stress that the AM’s torture causes, Ted has to worry about how much the others are in league against him. Aside from his assurances to the reader, there is little evidence in the story that the others really do hate him. It is questionable that he has been as affected as little as he claims, and rather unlikely that AM would have destroyed parts of the others and left Ted alone with a wholly untouched mind. The reader can conclude that the paranoia he feels is another aspect of his personal torture.

“I have no mouth. And I must scream.”

After Ted’s actions have resulted in the deaths of the other four humans, the coda of the story describes what AM has done to him. Because Ted was able to act humanely to spoil the desires of AM, the machine has physically altered him. He is now a gelatinous blob, “a great soft jelly thing.” He has neither arms nor legs, true head nor human body. He is left as a mind inside a gooey lump, and he can no longer act on his own behalf. He can only think without being able to act, much like AM. He wants to scream in agony but cannot.

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