… again.
The machine is the only thing holding the universe together. It hisses and clanks. Sometimes he imagines he hears it screaming.
He calls it Atlas, for it bears the weight of everything upon its metal shoulders, this vast engine at the end of the time. In the sky above, the last star dies.
Loop after loop, star-death after star-death, big bang after big bang: Atlas carries on when all else ends.
The universe dies and is reborn. But Atlas goes around, time after time, and it is falling apart. He is not sure it will survive going around…
Word Count: 99
This is for Friday Fictioneers. Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for running the challenge and CEAyr for providing the prompt photo!
Read other stories here!
This is the time one starts praying for a good mechanic to tweak it. Maybe the mechanic can be convinced to stick around to keep it in tip-top shape. A machine like that needs a devoted keeper.
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p.s. Good story!
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I think its keeper is devoted, but even devotion isn’t enough to keep a machine working forever…
Thank you!
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You’re welcome.
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Now all they need to do is find a way to reverse time’s arrow
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Easier said than done, I think. Thanks for commenting!
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Great story… reminds of a google article that popped up on my phone saying that we had moved x – miles closer to a black hole that was swallowing our galaxy.
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Thank you! Fortunately, I think we’ll all be long gone before the black hole becomes an issue.
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Every machine needs a good keeper. Perhaps they’ll take on an apprentice? Otherwise who knows what Atlas will end up doing!? Great story.
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Thank you!
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Good story. Let’s hope there is a helper to share the burden and fix the problem.
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Thanks!
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The old machines were made to be fixed and tweaked. No way today’s machines would ever hold up. That said, even the old ones come to the end of their life. Well done.
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Thank you!
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I enjoyed the tie in with mythology. The eternal cycle…
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Thanks! I thought the rope looked a little like an infinity symbol, which is what started my though process.
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Sounds like Atlas could do with a bit of lubricating oil. Eternity exists and our place in the universe is a microscopically small moment in time. You make that very clear to me.
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Thanks! That is quite true, when you look at the vastness of the universe and time…
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Oh boy. I guess nothing lasts forever. Nice one!
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Thank you!
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What interesting imagery in this one! It feels very steampunk to me somehow, with echoes of some of my favorite steampunk stories where what seems like an anachronism is gesturing toward profound truths about all time. Well told.
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Thank you!
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Let’s hope Atlas continues on. Very intriguing tale. I was sorry when it ended.
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Thank you! Let’s hope so.
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