Chapter 68: The Reverse Gear
The victory over the mechanical forest had been short-lived. At 14:00 Cycles, the Great Mainspring didn't just tick; it let out a metallic retch and began to spin counter-clockwise.
The effect was instantaneous and 100% disorienting. Ne Job watched as his lukewarm Victory Roast flew out of his mouth, reassembled into a perfect, steaming meal, and landed back on its plate.
"Commissioner!" Assistant Yue buzzed, her voice sounding like a record played in reverse. "!TI. OT. DEFIX. SI. ETIM. DRAKCWAB. GNIPYTY. MA. I" "She's typing backward!" Pip yelled, as they were suddenly yanked across the room, moonwalking toward the door they had entered three minutes ago. "The Mainspring has hit the Reverse Gear! We're un-living our own day!"
The Regression of Reality
The Bureau was a mess of "De-Construction."
Architect Ao Bing watched in horror as his morning blueprints un-drew themselves, the ink flowing back into his pens.
The Muse's hair turned from neon-blue to a pale, un-sparked white as she lost the inspiration she'd had an hour ago.
Barnaby the Dragon began inhaling his smoke, pulling the clouds back into his lungs until he looked like a pressurized balloon of soot.
"We have to... stop... the... rewind!" Ne Job shouted, but his words were being swallowed back into his throat. He felt himself getting younger, his back losing the 7.5% ache he'd earned during the "Garden of Gears."
The 7.5% Temporal Anchor
Ne Job realized that if they didn't stop the rewind, they would eventually un-hatch Junior, un-meet the Muse, and shrink back into the "Pristine Draft" of Chapter 1.
"Pip! The... wrench!" Ne Job struggled against the flow of time. He reached for his silver stapler, but it was trying to un-fire all the staples he had used today.
He lunged for the Clockwork Flower on his desk—the one that had stayed behind from the previous chapter. Because it was a "Memory of the Past" grown in the "Present," it existed outside the normal flow of the Mainspring.
He grabbed the flower and used its silver filaments to lash himself to his heavy oak desk. "Junior! Grab my coat! We need to be a Heavier Narrative!"
The Friction of the 'And'
"It's no use!" Ao Bing cried, his leopard-skin robe turning back into a pile of spotted laundry. "The 'Past' is a stronger vacuum than the 'Present'!"
"Then we make the 'Present' Loud!" The Muse screamed, fighting to keep her neon-blue glow. "Sing, everyone! Sing something that hasn't been written yet!"
The team began to shout out future plans—things they wanted to do in Chapter 69 and beyond.
"I want to file a report on a Star-Whale!" Pip yelled.
"I want to build a bridge out of solidified laughter!" Ao Bing added.
"I want to finally find out what the Author eats for breakfast!" Ne Job bellowed.
The sheer force of their Un-Happened Potential acted like a brake on the Mainspring. The gears groaned, sparks of violet and gold flying as the "Future" collided with the "Reverse Past."
The Staple of Tomorrow
Ne Job saw the "Reverse Lever" on the Mainspring, a heavy brass handle that was stuck in the 'Back' position. He couldn't reach it—the wind of time was too strong.
"Junior! Use your tiny stapler! Aim for the pivot!"
The Junior Archivist, tethered to Ne Job's belt, launched himself into the air like a small, suited projectile. With a precision that only a clone could possess, he fired a tiny silver staple directly into the gear-gap.
KA-CHUNK!
The gear jammed. The Reverse Gear snapped. With a bone-shaking THUD, the Mainspring shuddered and began to tick forward again.
The Forward Motion
Time rushed back in a dizzying blur. The Victory Roast became a half-eaten mess again. The blueprints re-drew themselves (mostly correctly). The Muse's hair flared into a brilliant, triumphant neon.
LOG: CHAPTER 68 SUMMARY.
STATUS: Reverse flow halted. Chronology stabilized.
NOTE: I have a 7.5% headache from having my breakfast un-digested and re-digested.
OBSERVATION: The past is a nice place to visit, but you can't live there without un-becoming who you are.
P.S.: Assistant Yue is currently printing out a 400-page document that is just the word 'FORWARD' in capital letters.
The Muse leaned over his shoulder, her hair back to its electric-blue. "That was close, Ne Job. I almost forgot who you were for a second."
Ne Job looked at the Semicolon. It was glowing with a fierce, forward-leaning violet.
"I'm the guy who keeps the clock ticking, Muse," Ne Job said, straightening his hat. "Now, why is Assistant Yue sounding a 7.5% alarm and why is there a Giant Silver Zip-Tie closing off the entrance to Section C-8?"