The Ticking Kind

by notjp

PART I
The System is Smooth When You Are Not

You are born with a face, but not the kind that smiles.
It’s a clock—flat, mechanical, precise.
No eyes. No mouth. No way to lie or soften or delay.
Every moment you breathe is measured. Every task timed. Every affection taxed.
Efficiency is survival. Pause is penalty.
Love? Love is the slowest crime. ... Delay is disobedience. Love is the slowest crime.
—From the Manual of Mechanical Conduct, Edition 17.6

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PART II
The Silence Between the Ticks

He finds it in the ruins of an old gearhouse... ...And in that stillness,
for the first time in years,
he cannot hear the System ticking.

Every unit must produce measurable output.
Unscheduled interaction is considered resource theft.
Unauthorized repair is reclassified as sabotage.
—Memorandum: Department of Temporal Integrity, Class R7

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PART III
The Unscheduled Rebellion

They gather in forgotten corners... ...Then—
they turn.
And leave.

“The presence of love is not to be feared.
But it is to be monitored, diluted, and corrected.”
—Memo 4.2.9, Department of Cognitive Cleanliness

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PART IV
The Cracked Still Sing

It doesn’t happen all at once... ...A song no clock was ever built to hear.

“Compassion is not a system error.
It is the proof that we are no longer machines.”
—Anonymous note, intercepted at Fault Zone E

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EPILOGUE
What Remains After Time Stops

There is no record of what happened next... ...“He would’ve done it this way.”
And no one asks who.
They already know.
Time broke.
But we didn’t.