The Horologist

The Khonsu 0 stumbled upon something they were not looking for again. They fell into a system with a habitable third planet (not theirs, unfortunately) right next to what they dubbed a bubble. It was highly reflective and appeared to be part of the star field unless you were right on top of it, as they were.

The Captain insisted on performing the spacewalk personally. A rare request, so the crew relented. With a gentle push, she floated toward the bubble, trailing the umbilicus which connected back to the Khonsu. Contact. Sort of. The Captain drifted through the surface of the bubble instead of colliding with it. Honestly, these subversions were expected by the crew by now.

She found herself in a misty pine forest. Her umbilicus ended abruptly in thin air where she must have entered the bubble. In the center of this grove stood a short bespectacled man. Before him a broad wooden worktable strewn with fine springs, gears, screws, partially assembled chronometers, and a variety of applicable tools. The Horologist looked up from the timepiece in their hand and smiled at the Captain.

Don’t be afraid Evelyn, they said and mimed removing a helmet. The Captain did so without hesitation and breathed in the clean piney air. She knew them, but not before as a man. The Horologist beckoned her closer, pointed to the exposed intricacies of the pocket watch and said, This gear is out of sync.

She examined the interlocking gears, far too complicated for her eye. Can’t you fix it? They sighed, Only if I disassemble the whole piece. Then do it, she said. Ah, but it has a mind, said the Horologist, It is out of sync by its own agency. Do I destroy it because they do not follow my design? Evelyn’s brow furrowed and she was silent.

You begin to see my dilemma, the Horologist said as they reassembled the stubborn pocket watch, polished it with care and handed the device to Evelyn. Every aspect of it flows into the next as if it is a single molded piece. A name is engraved on the timepiece, one she has never read but knows intimately. The Horologist smiles up at her again, Beautiful all the same don’t you think?