Horologium

“Arrival to Horologium in eight minutes and forty-five seconds,” Tigra announced, as Ordell settled down on the inside seat of the auxiliary ship.

After a minute, the docking bay door slowly opened and he could see the blue and white of the planet growing closer. The orange-reddish glare of the red dwarf star shined over, causing a faint but noticeable warmth over his cheeks. A few more minutes passed and he could feel the pull of the planet’s gravity, as the ship quickly fell into orbit.

Ordell released the latch of the auxiliary ship, and watched as the computer guided the vessel down the alignment lights, leading it out into the planet’s thermosphere. The vessel continued down towards the surface of the planet through the atmosphere and the white and grey clouds that passed over and under the ship. He looked out the porthole and over to a landscape of colossal mountains and deep valleys, all covered with a thick layer of ice and snow.

As the auxiliary ship grew closer, Ordell could make out the outline of a snow covered town. He watched as the fogged up windows of the houses, and chimney stacks with clouds of billowing smoke came into view. The icy streets grew busy as synths of all ages filled the area, walking about with some pertinent matter to attend.

Ordell settled the ship down behind an old brick factory building on the edge of the town, and stepped out into the blistering cold. He pulled down his heavy jacket and tightened the hood down over his head and face as he stepped cautiously out onto the main street. The town was surprisingly lively, as synths walked to and fro, each with a visible purpose in their stride.

“Read all about it!” a young male synth shouted out into the street. Ordell silently watched him as the boy waved a loose newspaper in the air with big black and white lettering on its front. He looked closely at the paper and noticed a number on the top left corner. The number read, 14/67/987. “Must be some sort of date,” Ordell thought to himself, and stepped back to watch an older synth reach over and place a coin in the boy’s hand before grabbing a paper.

Snow fell all around him as children danced in circles under a gazebo nearby. Hot gluhwein and cocoa steamed up from stalls. The clinging of bells rang from the doors of shops, as synths moved their way in and out of them, carrying bags of treasures and goods as they moved about the town streets.

“This seems like a pretty lovely place,” Ordell thought to himself. But things may only feel like such on the surface. There was a strange feeling in the air that he couldn’t put his finger on. A sort of staleness hung around the place, like old air in a windowless room.

Ordell continued down the town street, taking in the environment all around him as he walked. A horse and sleigh pressed its way through the thick snow covered ground along the sidewalk where he walked. A couple kissed under a lamp post. A deliveryman dropped packages at the doors of houses. Everywhere Ordell looked, something was happening. A town, lively and bustling.

However, nothing seemed natural about it. It all felt contrived. Like sugar ants walking along a line between their nest and their food source. Automatic. Programmed. Mechanical even. As if the synths flowed through the streets on an assembly line, repeating the same actions, over and over.

Ordell looked up to a large circular clock that rose high above the town square. Thirteen symbols that he did not recognize lined the edges of the clock. There was a short hand, a long hand, and a thin hand that appeared to count the seconds. The long and short hands crept closer to each other towards the top center of the clock with every passing of the second hand. It soon became apparent that it would be only a matter of time before the two hands of the clock would meet, and from the looks of it, in only a matter of minutes.

“I’ve got a funny feeling about all this,” Ordell thought to himself, and continued to watch as the long hand of the clock edged closer to the top.

Across the street, one of the horse-drawn sleighs swiftly passed by him. He was nearly thrown back as the sleigh turned loose from its mount and darted towards one of the nearby candle shops. The synths that it carried began to scream and quickly covered their heads as the sleigh came crashing in through the front door, sending a myriad of freshly molded candles rolling out onto the streets.

At the same moment everyone had turned their attention towards the commotion, the clock in the town square began to chime. Ding dong, ding dong, it rang over and over. Ordell began to count. On the thirteenth ring, everything suddenly turned dark. A brief second later, and Ordell was back in the auxiliary vessel, ready to separate from Orion’s ship.

“Arrival to Horologium in eight minutes and forty-five seconds,” Tigra announced.

To Ordell’s surprise, he ran his hands along the strapped belts that held his body tightly into the seat of the ship as it maneuvered its way towards the opening doors of the docking bay. As the vessel exited Orion’s ship, he could feel the warmth of the red dwarf sun on his cheek. Then like a bad case of Déjà vu he felt the pull of the planet's gravity as the ship again made its descent down to the surface of the planet.

As the clouds rushed by, the town lights came back into view and the vessel slowly made its way back down again. Snow fell all around him as he watched the mountains grow closer, and the little figures of synths moving about the town. Then before he knew it, the ship was already making its preparations for landing.

The cold bit Ordell’s nose sharply as he stepped out and began his walk along the outside of the brick factory. The snow fell silently as he quietly moved along the edge of the building. He could now hear the soundscape of the bustling town bounce off the factory walls as he quickly made his way towards the center of the town for the second time.

“Read all about it,” shouted the familiar voice of a young synth selling newspapers.

Ordell picked up a copy and glanced at the date again. It read 14/67/987. Same as before.

An older synth placed a coin in the palm of the paperboy’s hand and grabbed a newspaper. Ordell felt a strange feeling inside as he continued down the street. Just like before, he observed the town repeating exactly as he had experienced it before. Children danced, gluhwein was poured, and shop door bells rang.

He walked along the street and rewatched as a horse and sleigh passed by, a couple kissed under a lamp post, and the snow continued to fall all around him. He approached the town center and towards the large circular clock that hung high above his head. The second hand seemed to freeze for a moment before moving again, and just before the short hand made its way to the center, Ordell heard a scream and a loud crash nearby.

“Arrival to Horologium in eight minutes and forty-five seconds,” Tigra announced.

“Not again,” Ordell spoke aloud. “I’m not going to get anywhere at this rate.”

The vessel again pushed its way from Orion’s ship and began its descent for the third time onto the planet. Snow fell all around as the light from the city grew nearer and nearer. “Horologium must be controlling all this from somewhere,” he thought. “Where could she possibly be?”

Ordell looked out of the ship as it continued its fall towards the surface. The horizon glowed grey and white. It was hard to see, but nothing out of the ordinary caught his attention. The vessel landed and the hatch opened. Ordell stepped out and pulled his coat tight as the cold hit him once again.

This time, he walked in the opposite direction of the brick factory, slipping into the back alleyway and through a big black door he discovered in the far back end of the building. He turned the handle of the door and it opened to the inside with ease. He stepped inside and let the door close from behind him.

“If things repeat again the same way as they did last time, then I’ve only a handful of minutes before everything starts over again,” he thought, and quickly pressed his way into the darkness of the factory.

Large glass windows filled the walls of the building, each one with a pile of snow that rested more than halfway up the window’s ledge. Each window was surrounded by neatly aligned red bricks and mortar, exquisitely designed and perfectly placed. The interior was completely gutted, and the factory floor was empty, save loose pieces of brick and machinery that were scattered about the place.

Ordell walked across the brick factory floor. “Why build this place?” he thought. “What purpose would any of this serve in a place like this?”

At the end of the warehouse there was another large black metal door. Ordell stepped through it and onto the other side. When he finally made his way outside again, he shortly heard the sound of a crash and the chime of a clock tower close by.

“Arrival to Horologium in eight minutes and forty-five seconds,” Tigra announced.

“No!” he growled. “If she’s not in the factory, then where is she?”

Ordell quickly took control over the helm of the vessel, and wasted no time in navigating back down to the planet. He pressed down on the controls and doubled his speed down through the layers of clouds, moisture, and snow until he sighted the red face of the factory. He landed himself down gently along the back side and promptly made his way out and towards the center of the town.

“Read all about it!” the paperboy shouted out to the others walking mindlessly down the street.

Ordell quickly walked passed, opening the door to the first shop he came to. Inside there was an array of dishware in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes. The shop owner sat at the front, twisting his long mustache, and reading from one of the outside newspapers.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Ordell thought, and made his way back outside.

He stepped through the door of the next shop. A bookstore. Then the next. A toy shop. He stepped out and into another. A music store. From shop to shop he went, until he finally came to the last one in the row. When he stepped inside, he looked up to see rows and rows of different candles, in a diverse array of sizes, colors and smells.

Ordell turned back toward the door of the shop, and before he had a chance to leave, there came a loud scream from outside. In a matter of seconds the front end of a sleigh came crashing through the front of the shop. Stacks of candles flew from the shelves and out onto the streets, scattering all over the town sidewalk. Then as quickly as all the commotion began, the ding-dong of the clocktower began to chime.

“Arrival to Horologium in eight minutes and forty-five seconds,” Tigra announced.

“Here we go again,” Ordell sighed, and wasted no time in maneuvering the vessel out of the airlock and down towards the surface of the planet. “I can feel like I’m getting closer,” he thought, as the ship settled down, yet again, outside the back of the abandoned brick factory.

Ordell quickly made his way out and onto the town’s walkway, skipping past the paperboy, and wasting not a single moment's time. He ran quickly up to one of the horse and sleighs, running his fingers along the short tough brown hairs of the animal and examined the harness around its neck and body. “We would have made a great pair in another life,” Ordell whispered to the horse.

He felt along the metal and leather harness, checking for inconsistencies in the hitch and couplings. He moved to the back of the horse and examined the traces and shafts between the horse and sleigh. “Aha!” Ordell exclaimed, as he looked down to the four loose bolts, which stuck out like sore thumbs meant to connect the sleigh to the rest of the outfit.

He quickly tightened the bolts with his fingers, just in time before the sleigh rider had come back from one of the shops. Giving Ordell a quick up and down, the sleigh-rider hopped on, and trotted off into the distance. Ordell let out a deep sigh and looked up to the clocktower.

As the second hand inched its way closer to the center of the clock, there was now no longer any of the disturbances taking away from his concentration. With the crash at the candle shop no longer a threat, Ordell zeroed in his focus on the clocktower. The clock ticked and tocked, and just as the first chime began to ring out, he suddenly noticed a long arm sticking out from one of the windows of the clock tower.

“Arrival to Horologium in eight minutes and forty-five seconds,” Tigra announced.

“All this time,” Ordell realized. “She’s been hiding in the clock tower all this time.”

Ordell moved hurriedly down towards the planet, this time landing Orion’s vessel directly in the middle of the town square. Surprised synths poured out from the shops and houses and onto the street. Both awestruck and terrified, they approached Ordell as he made his way down and onto the snow covered ground below.

He quickly stepped out of the ship and approached the base of the clocktower. The townsfolk slowly encircled him, some even placing their hands along the alloy casing of the vessel. Some placed their hands on him, as if he were some kind of messiah. He did his best to pay no attention to the growing attention he was receiving. He instead headed straight for the small yellow door that lay at the base of the clocktower.

Ordell turned the knob. It was locked, of course. He raised his hand up and pushed at the empty space between him and the door. Then like a kid pushing over a rock in the sand, the door flung open, revealing a set of stairs that zig-zagged their way up to the top of the tower.

He wasted no time as he flew up the staircase. When he made it to the top, he found himself in a room full of large and small brass bells that hung from the ceiling. Next to each bell hung a wooden mallet and a string wrapped around and down to a series of weights that responded to the rotating shaft that controlled the face of the clock.

He maneuvered his body around the long wooden boards that held up the interior of the structure. Then ducking under the largest of the brass bells and on to the other side, he finally faced the large moving hands of the clock face. That’s where he spotted Horologium. She did not notice him at first. She was too occupied with staring out the tinted window of the tower and down to all the commotion below.

“Here’s my chance,” Ordell thought, and then slowly crept closer towards Horologium and the back side of the clock face. A soft but noticeable creek came out from one of the floorboards as he stepped closer. As soon as the sound escaped from under his foot, Horologium quickly turned herself around, catching Ordell dead in his tracks.

“You!” shouted Horologium. But before Ordell could react, he blinked his eyes, and was suddenly back on Orion’s ship.

“Arrival to Horologium in eight minutes and forty-five seconds,” Tigra announced.