Gears Of Time

The Master Clock

Tick-tock, tick-tock, every time, the clock sounds. Nobody notices on the day, but when you are at night alone with only the stars and the moon to shine through, with the only window available for the attic of the Master Clock base, you can hear and see time going and never stopping. Every night i come here and stare and awe at the beauty of its gears turning none of the of sync, each and every on them, just so perfect. 

       I just wonder the infinite amount of times this clock has been through the 24 hour day of us, the people in this town, ever since it was made. Nobody knows how it works it so intricate in the level of genius by the Mechaneers and the Arquenauts, they are the only ones that know, sadly, the generations of its kind has been long forgotten never seen again, never spread. Since i was little i was amazed by how it never stopped ticking the exact time, never missing a single second. My father used to tell me stories about the times where the Mechaneers were building it and the Arquenauts where design it. And how that story came from his father, and his father from his and so on and so on. I wonder how many stories has it been through.

       I always come here to relax, to think, to just enjoy my time while I'm not in stress of fixing airships all day at my dad's shop right across the lake. I see the gears turning, making little sounds that are delightful to the ears, away from the commotion of every morning, so perfect. It's so intricate; I've never seen such trinket not even when a rich guy came to the shop with a new and expensive model of an airship so complex it took 5 days to fix. 

       The clock ticks two o' clock, its getting late and tomorrow i open the shop at seven o' clock, i should be going.

       Just as I'm about to leave i hear the pitching sound of a gear falling, right at the sides of the clock which are filled with boxes to the roof used only for superficial spare parts, and right next to the base of the stack of boxes near the side of the clock i see it, shinning, a gear both gold and silver, that's an odd combination of colors, but it catches me so mesmerizing. the edges are perfect shaped.

       I must've spent like 20 minutes or so looking at it. I have to go. i jump out of the window and to the pipe drain just two stories, no big deal. I cross the lake through the little bridge that was constructed 100's of years ago. Who would have thought that steam would be so revolutionary against everything else, i mean it beats chemicals to damage the ozone. Except for maybe the technological advancement of renewal energy and how it works with the flow of air to make the airships work. Fascinating.

       My house is not that big whats big is the garage, where my dad keeps our airship, and spare parts from old engines. Its big and made of wood, and has an enormous space to store all kinds of gear and materials, wrenches, screwdrivers, you name it. Everything made to fix is here.

       I climb in the window of my room to my desk and bed all made neatly, except my desk which is full of scraps, because of the little clock I'm making, its only a watch, but has the ability to be in sync with the Master Clock, if not for only the 15 to 20 seconds of space between the real time and the one my watch has, but i made two buttons that make the clock wind back and stop if needed to sync properly. And that's the other reason i go there to the base of the Master clock because some of the parts that where made that are mostly unused and never where used can fix the problem of my watch but the ones that fit in have the same problem, it always has that gap of time, its little i know, but I'm picky in that way, mostly because I'm a perfectionist in the makes of making every airship and device work properly. Thanks Dad. 

       Maybe with the piece that i picked up, i can make work with it, maybe.

       Its hard not to work when curiosity has you, i mean every gear i try is always the same but maybe this one works, who knows its always about taking chances if not how you might know. As i put it in the arm base of watch i see that it fits so perfectly it practically slids through.

       Man this looks awesome. The watch is basically made like if it was an arm gear, just as the level of the wrist there it is the clock and right beneath it are the buttons that wind the time back in sync.

       I start setting it up for it to start working i wind up the string, prepare it in my arm, and just as I'm about to look at the hour and compare it to the one on the master clock, i see it has the same gap of time.

       I really thought this gear was going to work, i press my hand to the desk and shake my head in disapproval, it has been a project of hard work and its always like this.

       I might as well wind it to sync maybe it works better that way. i think. Nothing was going to prepare me for what was about to happen.

       As i pressed the button the bracelet just lighted up. And incandescent white glow that almost blinded me, i couldn't see my bed anymore, my desk, nothing everything went black, i squint my eyes and catch a glimpse of what is producing the light. The Gear. The one that i picked up from the Master Clock boxes. I couldn't see but i could feel how something was latching into my arm, and wrapping itself around my hand, it burned, i felt like a sun was in the palm of my hand, i was agonizing, my hand. It think its going to burn out. Whats happening? Then all of the sudden it stopped.

       Everything went back to normal, everything was okay. My hand, i thought. I couldn't believe my eyes, i was terrified, the bracelet seemed to wrap itself around my hand, the clock was in the back of my hand, the gears were printed in my arms, like if they were under my skin, i could touch and i all i could feel were the gears turning, whats happening to me. I begin to sweat. i touch my hand i try to take of the material but i cant, i grab a screwdriver and press it against the clock as hard as i can. But it hurts so much. Like my nerves are attached to it, i felt it, like a tingly sensation when you hit your arm at a precise spot, and your arm feels like if a 1,000 ants where traveling your body.

       I am terrified. Petrified. What is happening to i don't want this, i don't want this. i grab the screwdriver from its plastic base, and threw it to the wall out of anger.

       i didn't remember that the base its from rubber, and is it hit the wall it came at me at full speed, i didn't know what to do other than cover my face from imminent doom. And just when i raise my hand, and extended my palm.

       The screwdriver, was moving so slowly, i was so shocked that the screwdriver, hit me in the hand, but didn't made a scratch to my palm. I'm scared, i cant. 

      I started hyper ventilating, the screwdriver was still falling at a slow pace, it took more than a minute to fall to the ground. I closed my hand into a fist and finally it stopped it went back to normal.

       It was just a spare part, a missing piece in an enormous amount of boxes filled with spare parts, this... this isn't what i expected, I'm terrified, i hope everything will be okay again.

As everything came back to normal, i was so scared i jumped in bed and fell asleep and just prayed that everything was just a dream, that my arm was going to be back to normal, because when im this scared, its the only thing that keeps me from losing it, I'm trembling, sweating cold, this isnt possible...

I... stopped time.