equinox.Nocturne(); - A short side story

The sun slowly sets in the Corner. In another world, the sunset would be unnatural; man-made; one that is not an actual sunset; however in this world bound by code and modeled from what was, the sideways sunset puts a close to whirring operations. The Nikos at the expedition camp packed up for the day and slept in their tents. Robots shut down in a line to conserve solar energy. Librarian Niko locks up the doors in the library and taped a sign on the right door -- "Library closed. Please visit during the day", it read -- shutting the door behind them and preparing to sleep, surrounded by their collection of paper information. The phosphorworks below the village slowly grind to a halt, and the knowledgable and strong of the Nikos too shall rest for the night. Indeed the society of feline people rest for the night. All except one.

At the top of the watchtower, a lone Niko sits in the corner of the roof, their eyes trained as they type away on a laptop decorated with yellow stickers, repeatedly mumbling "bypass the clock, bypass the clock, bypass the clock". They instinctively reached and drank from a cyan mug beside them that was full of coffee, their focus unbreaking as they return the mug to their side. They continue mumbling the phrase and open up a chat window on the laptop's screen.

<interneko> yo u up?
<magichine> Hi hi! I'm always up.
<magichine> At least at this time friend.
<interneko> cool
<interneko> so uh... do u kno wat "bypass the clock" means?
<magichine> Hm? Where did you hear of such a curious phrase?
<interneko> i...
<interneko> idk
<interneko> but its been buggin me 4 a while
<interneko> its familiar but idk where it came from
<magichine> Hm... The phrase itself isn't familiar to me.
<magichine> But the meaning of it is something...
<magichine> Worrying.
<interneko> ?
<interneko> wdym
<magichine> Well...
<magichine> You know how everyone's... self-aware?
<interneko> u mean fake
<magichine> Not fake, everyone here is as real as it gets.
<magichine> It's just that we're bound into the code.
<magichine> Imagine turning your brain into text! That's what everyone is.
<magichine> Or kind of like it.
<interneko> uh huh... as u were sayin
<magichine> Well, the world itself is still run on a World Machine.
<interneko> u mean 1 of them entity folks over there?
<magichine> Most likely.
<magichine> The original World Machine, OneShot, had been updated through a clock mechanism made by one of my contacts.
<magichine> Assuming that there have been similar projects in the world, a similar mechanic might have been installed.
<magichine> Following that logic, there might be a clock somewhere here friend.
<interneko> ayt
<interneko> so abt the 'worrying' bit
<magichine> If the clock is used to update the World Machine, and this world of ours is also a World Machine.
<magichine> Bypassing the clock may mean forcing an incomplete update.
<interneko> ...which means???
<magichine> An incomplete update is not stable and will have portions of it corrupted.
<magichine> Code doesn't function well when some parts of it is broken.
<magichine> These glitches will become extremely worse soon.
<magichine> To the point that this world would collapse.
<interneko> ...

The Niko stressfully consumes all of the contents of their mug before letting it down gently. They comb their hair with their fingers a few times before returning to their laptop.

<interneko> so were all gonna die
<magichine> Not exactly friend.
<magichine> The prophecy of this world still remains.
<magichine> Though vague, I firmly believe OneShot will save us from this fate.
<interneko> u sure hav a lot of f8 in dat wm
<magichine> Well, it is how we came to be in the first place.
<interneko> tru
<interneko> welp nice talk and now i kno dat i hav a doomsday thing in my head
<magichine> Hmm... that still intrigues me.
<magichine> Although the population of the world is self-aware...
<magichine> I have only heard that phrase one other time...
<magichine> Though oddly enough, I cannot remember from where either.
<interneko> sp00py
<interneko> at least im not alone
<interneko> ttyl
<magichine> Bye bye!
<magichine> Don't drink too much coffee though friend. It's unhealthy.
<interneko> psh im always unhealthy

The Niko logs off. They stare at the starless night sky and blow a raspberry. They squint and mumble to themself. "Where in the world did I hear that before..." Lost in thought they lie down and continue staring at the sky, slowly they close their eyes and drift off to sleep as an unknown figure takes the mug and returns it, full of warm coffee.