Dmitri realizes the letters correspond to a series of unsolved blackouts that occurred across Moscow during the Khrushchev Thaw. The last letter contains a warning: “They buried the machine, but she is still watching.”
Dmitri sits in the dark, the machine burned out. The police arrive to find him smiling. The city returns to its grey normalcy, but those who saw the light walk differently now—lighter, unburdened. Dmitri pockets a small, glowing shard of glass from the machine. The "Ester Light" is gone, but it remains inside him. ester light russian