Sci-Friday Challenge 17: Something Borrowed

Approx 2250 words

The living crew of the Heart of Gold was settled in for the night, leaving its non living crew to while away the hours. The ship hummed a cheerful little ditty to itself, viewing the rushing stars through metaphorical rose colored glasses. The other non living occupant of its decks was attempting to slake his extreme boredom by composing a series of songs about the last planet they visited with little success. Not with the composing, that took all of .000146 of a second. The boredom  was insurmountable, unconquerable, unending and generally unpleasant. Marvin sighed into his empty corner of the ship, preparing himself for another dull, pointless night. 

In another section of the Heart of Gold, the threads of reality unfolded in a brilliant display of brightly lit cracks, spreading and warping outward to form a ragged doorway. A figure stepped through, golden threads clinging to her skin, meshed into the fabric of her being. She peered through the semi-darkness, studying her surroundings with a fugitive air as the golden portal slowly sealed behind her.

"How can I help you?" A cheerful voice intoned overhead, surrounding her. She started, searching for the source, her brow creased in a puzzled frown. 

"Who?" She looked up, sensing rather than seeing the presence of the ship around her. "So it's true. This universe has thinking machines." Her frown deepened, pulling at the corners of her mouth. "I think you are rather too large to bring with me."

"Perhaps I could steer you in the right direction, little traveler?" The ship offered, marveling at the new person on its ship. The reading from its internal sensors was quite wonderful.  

The woman bit her lip, glancing over her shoulder as if she expected another tear in reality to appear behind her. 

"Oh, don't you worry, no one can follow you. Not without that device you're carrying." The ship's voice held a note of sincere promise. 

She wasn't surprised it could sense the object, but to already see its hidden potential, when she so recently discovered it herself? Amazing. She'd come to the right universe. 

"Do you know of another thinking machine I could take with me?" 

If the Heart of Gold had a mouth, it would have smiled, perhaps a touch devious. "I know just the individual." 

***

Marvin was in the middle of composing his 3000th song of the night when he felt time unravel behind him. For nearly a full second, his complex brain struggled to work out what he was seeing in the golden strands that spiraled around his form. 

"Oh bother," he said, as hands reached through, wrapping around him and pulling him back into the golden ether. The air settled, reality smoothing its rumpled skirts. The Heart of Gold noted the android's absence and wished a silent, heartfelt good journey.  

***

Marvin was surrounded by light, interspersed in thousands upon thousands of glowing golden threads undulating around him. The air was full of possibilities. Literally; as Marvin studied the golden threads, he saw the follow through of thousands of paths not taken, winking in and out of existence, creating more threads as they went. They wove over the metallic alloys of his body, through his wiring, a part of his circuitry, and interwove through the female form next to him. He followed the threads leading between them.

"Could have told you that wouldn't end well," he sighed, waiting for the female figure to unload her disaster on him. 

"Greetings Marvin Android," she spoke softly, her bell toned voice full of hushed admiration. "I have traveled through many universes to find an individual of your vast intellect." 

Despite himself, he felt a puff of pride through his circuits. "Go on. Not like I have anything else to do." Point of fact, he didn't. He knew the Heart of Gold found him insufferable. 

"My universe has run out of time. I've searched everywhere for a solution, a way to jump start the flow of time once again, but despite my best efforts, I couldn't do it on my own. The others won't even listen, they call me a fool, a traitor, and don't get me started on the monks."

"Who are the others?"

The woman hesitated, tangling her fingers together. "In this body, I call myself Harmony. I wasn't always like this. I used to be a being of perfect order, an observer of all, but I gave in to the temptation of the flesh."

"Sounds dreadful."

"It's not so bad. Parts of it are quite wonderful," A wistful smile played across her lips. "and some are not. When I fell into flesh I lost so much of my focus, it's so hard to think in this body. I need some one without the trappings of flesh, but beyond that, I need someone from a universe like yours."

"A universe like mine? What makes it so special? I find it terribly boring."

Harmony blinked at him, her wide eyes the same glowing gold color as the threads. "You mean you don't know? Your universe has experienced the same problem as mine. The difference is, yours stabilized, while mine has begun to unwind."

"What was the problem? An overabundance of stupidity?"

"No," Harmony glanced around, leaning in to whisper. "The death of our creators."

Marvin paused. "Pardon?" 

The woman began to answer when a tearing sound rent the golden corridor. A broom punched through the air under Harmony's nose.

"The monks!" She yelped, grabbing hold of him. She reached out, plucking a golden thread at random. Everything dissolved in a brilliant swirl. 

***

They were falling, plummeting toward an incredibly odd world, round in shape, flat, and Marvin could swear he saw the outline of a massive turtle beneath it. He should have known this is how it would end. He'd calculated the slim chances for survival a thousand times over when Harmony's hands found him again. 

"Wrong rope," she yelped, pinching the air. A golden thread appeared between her fingers. 

"Don't bother," Marvin moaned. "It's all awful."

She ignored him, yanking them into a room full of the quiet dark. No not completely dark. Smoke smudged lanterns feebly beat against the gloom. Not completely quiet either. The air stirred with whispers. Shelves of books surrounded them, oozing awareness. 

"Where are we?" said Marvin.

"Unseen University Library," Harmony panted, leaning against a shelf to catch her breath. "Hopefully the magical interference in this room will buy us a few spare moments. I didn't expect Lu-Tze to find me so soon. He found me faster than the others." 

"What others? Why is this monk pursuing you?" Odd, he wasn't one to ask so many questions. Still, the situation piqued a flicker of interest. At least it would provide a moment's distraction. 

Harmony's shoulders slumped. "I've taken something not meant to be used, and worse, I've used it for far more than it was ever meant for." 

Marvin turned that over, prompting her to continue. "And the others?"

Harmony looked at him. Even in the library her eyes gave off a metallic luminescence. "The Auditors. I thought they controlled all, the whole of the universe, but they couldn't stop the creator's passing."

"You mentioned my universe met the same fate?" He didn't remember such an event. Surely it would register on some level of his brain. 

"Yes, years ago, but instead of guttering out like a candle at the end of its wick, everything kept going, a perfect globe of self sustaining existence. I thought, perhaps, a being of your intellect, unhindered by the confusion of flesh, could tell me how to do the same for my world. 

Marvin shrugged his shoulders. "I doubt you'll like what I have to say."

"I'll try anything."

The android had a theory, born in the first moment he entered the corridor of threads. "What is this device you stole." 

Harmony tugged at a chain round her neck, lifting a shining object above the collar line of her blouse. A pocket watch, an intricate pattern carved into its glass face, the hands motionless. It shone through with familiar gold threads, ones that spread out, wrapping up the chain, into her blouse and skin. 

"It changed shape when I put my hands on it, as if it knew what I needed from it." Harmony whispered, stroking her thumb over its smooth surface. "Originally it was meant to stop and control time, but I saw other uses. Other possibilities beyond linear time, traveling through the limitless potential of the 5th dimension. I've visited thousands of universes, looking for someone like you."

In the depths of his mechanical heart, Martin felt the stirring of something un-quantifiable. He held out a hand. "May I?"

Harmony gingerly handed over the device, its golden threads clinging to her fingers like a reluctant child. 

Marvin, being a machine himself, spoke the language of all machines. The clock spoke in a voice of turning gears and toning chimes, not entirely unlike Harmony's. It told the android many things, whispered many possibilities as his brain spun a series of calculations, coming to one conclusion after another. The whole process left him in a terrible melancholy.

"I have your answer, but you're not going to like it."

Harmony's jaw dropped. "But I just handed you the clock!"

"I was actually done before you finished letting go, thought I'd give you a moment to collect yourself."

She put her hands on her hips. "Consider me collected."

"Your clock requires a spark of life. It has the necessary means to continue operating for generations, but it needs a driving force, a consciousness beyond the mechanical. Rubbish if you ask me."

Harmony stared at him, well and truly puzzled. "I don't understand," she said.

Marvin sighed. Of course it was left to him to deliver bad news. "A life, it requires a life to power back up." 

The meaning of it finally sank in. "Oh," Harmony said, glancing down at herself. The movement stirred her hair, replete with golden threads. 

"I think you already knew that."

Harmony nodded sadly. "Perhaps I hoped for another way." Her eyes remained downcast. "I'm sorry I dragged you here to tell me something I already knew."

Marvin looked around at the whispering books. Unsettling stuff, magic, he was certain he didn't like it. "Sometimes people need someone to tell them what they already know. Humans are odd like that." 

Harmony sniffed. "But I'm not human, I should have known better. All this work, avoiding the monks, and the other auditors, I could have enjoyed another few bites of chocolate, maybe a first kiss." 

"Don't be so hard on yourself. That's my job."

She drew herself up, lifting her chin, the clock firmly clutched in her hands. "Thank you, Marvin. You're right, I simply needed someone to tell me what I already knew. Still, the fall to flesh was worth it."

The threads brightened, spreading down from her scalp, tracing her veins, painting a lattice work over her skin. Golden light shone in her eyes, beneath her fingernails, even in the single tear that fell down her cheek. 

"Goodbye."

Harmony was gone in a flash, the pocket watch gently floating on the library's dust motes into Marvin's outstretched hands. An unmistakable ticking filled the air as the hands took their first minute step forward. The android stared at the clock, feeling rather down. 

INTERESTING SHOW WASN'T IT?

Marvin looked up. "Of course, why not." He looked the anthropomorphic being up and down, from bony feet to cowl. "This universe is absurd." 

YES, BUT IT SUITS US. The cowl regarded him. YOU HOWEVER DO NOT BELONG HERE. 

"No," Marvin paused, listening to the clock. "Is she actually dead?"

SHE BEGAN AS A NON LIVING ENTITY, ASSUMED LIFE THROUGH FORCE OF WILL, BUT NO. HER LIFE, SUCH AS IT WAS HAS NOT ENDED, MERELY CHANGED FORM. 

"What will happen to her now?" Marvin surprised himself, feeling a passing nanosecond of genuine curiosity. 

OH, I HAVE A PLACE FOR HER. ONE WHERE NEITHER MONK NOR AUDITOR WILL TROUBLE HER AGAIN. NOW, ANDROID, OFF YOU GO. The figure made a shooing motion. Unlike Harmony's golden tunnel, Marvin winked out of existence with an audible pop, winking back on the Heart of Gold. The ship was still dim for the crew's resting hours, as if he'd never left. 

Marvin heaved a sigh. His adventures took place in the blink of an eye. The entire night continued to stretch before him. It was as he was settling in to compose another dozen symphonies something clicked into place. 

"It was you, wasn't it? The spark that kept this universe going?"

"Welcome home, Marvin," The Heart of Gold spoke with a hint of bells in its voice. 

Perhaps the ship didn't hate him after all. 

***

In a world of grey, the robed figure carefully picked his way through a room brimming with cats, cradling the glass watch in his bony fingers. It was rather silly of the one called Harmony to involve a being outside their universe, after all, the clock chose her the second she picked it up. Still, in the end, she'd made the sacrifice with the barest nudge. He placed the clock in a position of honor, on the fireplace mantle, observing as it morphed into timepiece more fitting of Death's realm. Unlike the others, however, this hourglass came up sideways, grains of sand flowing back and forth in an infinite loop from one globe to the other. 

He wondered how long it would last.