The Plant - A Steampunk Story Chapter 4

The first thing he noticed was that the vine's unbelievable resilience was supported by two basic features: its tension steel strength and its purposeful redundancy. Every one of the twisted ropes it wove around and through the pipes was fed by a myriad of strands coming from different directions, none of which was essential to the stability of the system, but all of whom contributed to it. Much like the  circulatory system of an organism, it had minor pathways and major arteries, it didn't leave any spot uncovered and doubled down on itself at times, to create secondary system loops. 

If there was one thing that was different about the pipes, was that they looked shinier, as if brand new, and since this was evident throughout the system, it made Richard contemplate the possibility that the energy field, or whatever it was that held the plant around its supports, must have an inhibiting effect on corrosion, which was a blessing in the now warm and humid air, which would otherwise run havoc on metal components.

Richard took a deep breath, and the large hall smelled like the forest, with none of the usual pungency of burnished metal and mechanical lubricants. “How on earth do they keep this place running?” Richard asked himself, flabbergasted by the impossible interdependence.