Time Statue

February 22, 2011 9:40 pm Sir Haxington Life, Stories

He had traveled across ten galaxies and had finally came to the end of his quest. He found it. He had finally found it.

The Time Statue.

He approached the two story, stone oracle, located on a remote, but seemingly habitable world. The planet was strangely devoid of life, although he was unphased by this.

The traveler opened his mouth to speak, but the Time Statue’s eyes opened and stared down at the traveler. The Time Statue’s mouth began to move. A booming voice cut through the thin air.

“I know what you seek. Time rules everything. How much time do you have left? 60 of your years, perhaps? That can be reduced to a more precise number. In seconds. Milliseconds. And here I set, forever hurdling through space and time, just like you. As each fragment of time passes, I draw closer to the end, as do we all. There’s nothing I can do about it.

Nor you, the being who decided to come to me. You too, have spent part of your precious life-clock just to see how I’m spending mine.

I’m a little honored and grateful.

But why time? Why do cells have to deteriorate? Why must stone erode? What causes death? Can’t a life form, any life form, just stop it by now? No? Yes? I hear conflicting things from everywhere at once. I want to live forever. I want to love forever! Why would someone… anyone take that away from you or I?

Oh, because it’s not a someone. Unless, no. Unless it’s a thing. An entity with some set of logic, that dictates when living things should end and when they should stay, because it sees everything at once, and it controls everything at once.

Maybe that’s what time is. The sword of an unseen force, chopping through the universe randomly and freely.

Or maybe it’s been pre-programmed. A robot, a list, a set of well defined events that take place in a very precise order. So precise it’d blow your mind.

And through all of this, as long as you’ve stood here, that’s it! The end of the road. No rewards for you. At least, not all the rewards you want. Especially not all the rewards you asked for. All you did was lose time.

All because someone wanted it that way, or because it just randomly happened that way. You pick.”

The Time Statue’s jaw clamped shut. Its eyelids made a grinding stone-on-stone sound, closing once more.

The traveler thought to say something outloud, but he knew it’d be futile.

A waste of time.

He got back in his ship and flew home. He missed his friends and family more than ever.