F-0034 Two to four, do not ride the cage

(Said to be copied from a logbook the caretaker kept privately. Dates and times are left as written. The copy is excerpted.)

2014.1.6

A report from the fourteenth floor. The elevator can be heard moving in the middle of the night, and the doors heard opening, with no sign of anyone getting off, they say. Answered that I would check the footage, and saw them out.

2014.1.7

Checked the footage. Two thirteen, up from the first floor with no one aboard. Stops between the thirteenth and the fourteenth, and the doors open. No one gets on. No one gets off. Closes after five seconds and returns to the first floor. All the while, the floor indicator reads 13.5.

A quirk of the machine, most likely. To contact maintenance.

2014.2.3

Two fifty-six. Between the thirteenth and the fourteenth. Four seconds.

2014.2.17

Sat in on the routine inspection. All parts without abnormality, they say. By the remote records, the car did not move from the first floor at the times in question. The recorder’s clock must be off, is the inspector’s view. Had him set the clock then and there.

2014.3.9

First night since the clock was set. Three oh nine. Four seconds. The footage the same.

2014.6.21

Two forty. 13.5. Three seconds.

2014.12.28

Counted up the year. Two nights a month, or three. Between two and four. Never twice in one night. Not once in the hours when people ride. Whether it is a matter to bring to the board, I cannot decide.

2015.2.16

Sat in on the routine inspection. No abnormality. Not once since last month. If it stops for good, that will do.

2015.3.14

Three twenty-two. 13.5. Four seconds. It has started again.

2015.10.20

The fourteenth-floor resident came by the caretaker’s office. On the night of the fourteenth, it stopped while they were aboard, they say. Checked the footage. By the date, the fifteenth, twelve forty-one. Eleven seconds.

The first time it has opened with someone aboard. The first time outside two to four, as well.

Two to four, do not ride the cage.

No need to tell the residents, not yet.

2015.11.16

Board meeting. Reported that the car has been running empty at night and that the matter is being followed with the maintenance company. Made it one line. More than that, there is no way to write.

2016.1.12

In the morning, before checking the footage, I make a point of drinking a cup of hot water. Drink it, then press play.

2016.1.30

Three oh five. 13.5. Four seconds.

(In the margin, there is a line without a date.)

If it opens and no one gets on and no one gets off, then for those few seconds, perhaps the cage is being used somewhere else.

2016.2.9　Two forty-four　Three seconds

2016.2.22　Three thirty-one　Four seconds

2016.3.4　Two fifty-eight　Three seconds

2016.3.11　Three forty　Five seconds

2016.3.19　Two twenty-six　Three seconds

2016.3.26　Two twelve　Four seconds

(This is as far as the copy goes.)