Then machinery whirred faintly, and there was a swift flow of upward movement.

The machine area had a busy look; lights winked, machinery hummed and whirred overhead and all around; and technicians worked at readout screens and control panels.

As he neared the entrance to the Palace of Time, the noise became deafening as a thousand gigantic pendu- lums swung at a thousand different rates, as machinery whirred and shifted, as jacks struck bells and gongs and cymbals, mechanical birds cried and mechanical voices spoke.

For fifteen seconds, the machinery whirred and clattered.

"Madre mía, please . . ." The machinery whirred; the card fell out.

They made it into an enormous crime and the disciplinary machinery whirred into action ... I knew they were out to get me.

The hidden machinery whirred and the massive entrance portal slid slowly into the ground.

The machinery whirred silently as he shifted his weight, trying to accommodate his leaving.