Time & Acceleration - Chapter I: Out

“There’s really a place… outside a’ here?”

The Tomorrow looked curiously at her, blinking his wide brown eyes. As usual, Time’s appearance near the Tomorrow Box had caused a crowd, and now many children were gathering around her, amazed and awaiting a tale.

Time considered, then nodded her head. The atmosphere of this day was oddly quiet. Perhaps because the Elses were busy working with Acceleration, which gave her something to do other than train.

“Yeah,” said she, peering into their pen as they peered out at her, “It hardly looks like any a’ this. There’s so many diff’ent colors and things.”

She sighed.

“I wished you could come out here, too.”

For a moment, it seemed as if they wished the same. But then they scowled and giggled, returning to their usual games.

The Tomorrow who’d stared at her shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t seem like a lot to me,” he said casually, standing, “Maybe you could come back and tell us more, anyway?”

Conversations with the Tomorrows were often awfully confusing. Their usage of language (though hers was not that different) was different and oddly formed. The Elses only bothered to teach them nouns and verbs; from there, they made up their own way of speech, and even gave each other names.

It was no wonder they couldn’t speak. Miseducation was part of it.

But who could dream of such a thing? Time remembered briefly being told about a thing called “school” by one of the Elses, who reluctantly taught her a short history of the Station. School was where children went to learn things when they were young. But when she began to ask how school could exist, because everyone lived in the Station and the Tomorrow Box was hardly big enough for an entirely different building, the Else scoffed at her and walked off.

Rudeness was accepted. She never thought anything of it, because it was the way things worked. The Tomorrows were rude, because they knew nothing other than this, and she was rude herself (although the Elses called it “questioning”), because she equally knew nothing other than this.

But she’d heard about school, at the least, and explaining everything she’d heard to the Tomorrows was a tiring, useless task.

“Maybe,” repeated Time in return, and watched as the Tomorrows scampered off to help the younger children with their puzzles.

She wondered, sometimes, what it was like to be a Tomorrow, and she wondered, sometimes, what it was like to watch someone else be sent away to the Races and hope, without real hope, that they won.

***

The stars sparkled in the sky.

It was late– later than she should’ve been out. Everything was becoming dark. The shadow by her feet was thickening and thickening in its deep blackness, and that blackness was spreading everywhere she went. It wasn’t much longer before she couldn’t see.

Acceleration stayed by her side, and that was the only reason she could find her way around. Wherever he went, she followed by the sound of his paws hitting the ground, clutching the thick fur of his mane. Sometimes she could catch a glimpse of his glimmering eyes, or of the white markings across his face, but it all fell under the spell of darkness, and she longed, suddenly, to be back at the Station.

Never was it dark in the Station. It was the contributing reason to why she hated the darkness– before venturing outside, she’d never heard of it before, and it made her unable to see. The ceiling of the Station, however, was drenched in so much light that no shadows could ever sneak in.

It all made the dark so confusing. Why must there be darkness? Why did it make her unable to see?

There were so many things about here that no one else knew. Balls of light lived in the sky. Plants uprooted themselves from the ground yearly. A million tall buildings scraped the skies in decay. Remnants of “train tracks” ran long stretches across the earth.

Wasn’t it odd that no one else knew?

She looked above her head, wondering. Perhaps the Yesterdays knew of these things. But the Todays, the Tomorrows, even the Elses didn’t seem to care about what was out here. They only cared about what was inside, and if there was anything that they did care about outside, it was the Races.

Time gripped the fur of her wolf, throat burning from oncoming tears. The Races were closer than she thought they were. Every day that slipped away was another day toward them, and another day toward traveling away from her home, and another day of competing at the IS with every other Time and Acceleration of the world.

But she didn’t want to. The idea of the Races scared her, despite her outward, spiky attitude to the thought of them. Going to a far-off, unknown place would be a terrifying process, and talking to the Counselor in front of an audience of Days would be a terrifying process, and the Races themselves would be a terrifying process. It was too much for her to bear.

At least he would be there with her.

…Hopefully. Hopefully the Elses wouldn’t take him away from her.

But they couldn’t do that. They’d never tried before. Why would they try now?

Time let her thoughts slip away as Acceleration stopped and let her on. After a quick shuffle, she wrapped her arms around his strong neck and he leapt off, into the darkness, out of the darkness, and toward wherever the Station was in the distance.

***

Nosebleed.

Again.

They kept happening to her. Any time she was out adventuring, any time she wanted to explore, blood would suddenly, inexplicably leak from her nose, and it wouldn’t stop. Not until the Elses made her lay on her back and hold a wet rag over her face. Not until she had almost fallen asleep from exhaustion.

She was losing blood. That was clear. And she could not be weak for the Races.

Everyone was sent off to the Races. Every Time, at least. When that Time got to the IS, they’d have to be in perfect shape.

Of course, the assistant Elses there would make them look like 100-percent more than they really were. So she wouldn’t have to worry much about how she looked.

It was more about how she performed. The kinds of tricks she and Acceleration could do. The way she could stand on top of his back while he was running or the way he listened to her without hesitation. She would have to impress the crowd. And the Counselor.

Thoughts worried her while she aimlessly stared at the Elses doing their work. What would happen if she had a nosebleed during the show? Or the Races? Might she be disqualified for it? Times had to be perfect to be chosen.

…Didn’t they?

It certainly seemed like it. The other Tomorrows weren’t perfect. They spat on each other and tussled with each other until the Elses scolded them and told them to stop. Then they would sit in isolation on their singular squares of carpet for hours, depending on how hard they’d fought each other.

The punishment remained the same. Only increased in duration.

She was never punished, though. And that was what was so strange about her being the Time.

She wiped the blood onto her gray sleeve again, leaving a dark red smear among the others, and waited for the bleeding to finish off. It annoyed her. It scared her. Just like darkness did.

Acceleration came up to her and nuzzled her shoulder a bit. The Elses never liked the way his snot spread across her clothes, but she didn’t mind. It felt comforting, in a strange sense. It felt like he cared about her.

She ran her hand along the fur draping over his back. Whispered something in his ears.

“I’m scared for the Races.”

The wolf sat down next to her, rubbing his head on her arm, as if to console her. He, too, seemed worried. Somehow they could communicate without really communicating. Somehow they knew what the other was saying just by looking.

“The Elses want us both to be perfect.” She scratched at her face. “But I don’t know how I’m supposed to be perfect like that. Nobody ever wins the Races, anyway.”

The Yesterdays had told her that. Often, she would go over to their Box and listen to what they had to say. As older Todays, they had wisdom that she wanted to hear.

They told her that no one in their lives had ever won the Races. Ever. Not from this Station, anyway.

She looked over at him. “Do you know what happens if you don’t win?”

He gave no response.

“Do we just go back to the Station? Or can we stay in the IS?”

Still he gave no response. Only ran his tongue around the edge of his mouth. He was thirsty from all the training the Elses were putting him through.

She patted him on the head and he lay down, still breathing heavily from his sprints. They sat together, her nose still bleeding, his lungs still panting.

“I wonder what it’s like that the IS.” She wiped at her nose. “Probably just like this, but a bazillion times bigger.”

His ears perked up.

“‘Bazillion’ is the word the Tomorrows use for numbers they can’t count.” She laid her head back. “But they can only count up to 21, so their numbers don’t go super high.”

Having nothing else to do, she began to count to the highest number she could. One-thousand and twelve. After that, she became bored with it. Her attention span did not last very long. It was something the Yesterdays had to deal with when telling her stories of the past.

She remembered when they told her how the Races worked.

The Elses never told her anything about the Races. Only about where they were, and only about what to do when she got to them. Not about how they worked.

First, when a Time arrived at the IS– that is, the International Station– they would be freshened up, treated like royalty, and then be interviewed by the Counselor, who would indefinitely give them the benefit of the doubt. Then, after a few days or so, the Races would commence.

They started with every Time going against each other. The first Race would be a riding competition, a chance to see which Acceleration was the fastest. In that round, the Yesterdays told her, there would always be too many eliminations to count.

The first round is what scared her the most.

The second round would commence after another day of preparing. It was a competition to see who had the most interesting connection with their Acceleration. She didn’t exactly understand what that meant, but it didn’t worry her as much as the first round did. She already had a connection with Acceleration.

The third round is where she got lost. There were too many rounds to count. The Races were supposed to last for almost three months, and the rounds went on and on. The Yesterdays even fell asleep before they could tell her about all of them.

No wonder no one had ever won the Races from this Station. They seemed ridiculously hard.

She noticed, while beginning to doze off, that the Elses were talking nervously to each other, frequently glancing at her. They must’ve been worried about the Races, as they always were. They must’ve been talking about if she had enough training or not. If she needed more time to herself or more time spent with her wolf. If they needed to discipline her more or less.

The Races were coming up soon. Very, very soon.

And they made her nervous to think about.

***

“Get up.” One of the Elses dragged her upward by the wrist. “Wakey-wakey, Time!”

She blinked her eyes open. A few of the Elses stood around her. Which was odd. They never told her when to do things. The only rules they placed were on how long she had to train for each day, and even those rules were generally light.

“What?” She rubbed at her eyes. “W… what? Whaddyou want me to wake up for?"

It was early. She could feel it. It was too early for her to be up. She could usually wake up whenever she wanted to, but that was not the case today.

"The Races have been moved." One of the Elses handed her a slim, solid stick. It was used, as she knew, for the training of Acceleration. But Acceleration did not need to be trained, nor did he need to be contained. He was fine the way he was.

The information processed in her head. "The Races's been moved?!" Her voice was a high-pitched shout.

The Else nodded at her. "Yeah," he said in response, "They've been moved closer."

"But I'm only-" She wasn't 10 years old yet. Every Time had to be 10 years old before they could participate. And she was only 9 because the Races were supposed to be another year away.

"It doesn't matter." She heard the trotting footsteps of Acceleration behind her as the Else continued to talk. "We talked to the RISE and he said we could move the Races."

Why would they move the Races, though? What was so wrong that they had to be suddenly changed?! The thoughts raced through her head.

"Listen." Suddenly she felt vulnerable. The Else kneeled down to her height on one knee. "The RISE, he controls everythin', right?"

She nodded.

"We talked to him. He said that we could move the Races."

"But why did you gotta-?"

He interrupted her again. "Because you're sick."

Sick? She blinked at him, confused. She was sick?

She felt Acceleration nuzzle her arm affectionally, sensing the erratic beating of her heart, and the Else continued. "You're gettin' sick, and if you's sick, you might not have been here when the Races started."

She knew what he meant, lowering her head, ashamed. The Yesterdays in their box often Wouldn't-Be-Here-Anymore every time she went to talk to them. And she was so sick that she Wouldn't-Be-Here-Anymore when the Races started in a year?

That was why they were sending her? So that she could particpate in the Races?

"But I'm not ready!" she whined, pressing her hands against the fabric of her pants. She did not feel ready, at least. She had just woken from another one of her listless sleeps and had no idea what was going on.

"You don't have to be ready." It was the first time she heard an Else talk to her in a soothing manner. "You just gotta do the best that you can. You're gonna win, arentcha? You've got the best dog in the world by your side!"

Her hand reached for Acceleration's mane. She pet him, starting to calm down at the feel of his fluffy fur. He pressed his nose against the palm of her hand, matting down his own beige fur, helping her heartbeat slow to a comforting ba-dthum.

"You can do it, Time!"

"Even if I'm sick?" Her words came out so unsurely, so softly.

The Else nodded to her. "You oughta be the best Time out there."

It took the rest of them a long time to encourage her. The train was outside, the transportation was already there. It would be a week before the Races started, and she was going to be sent off to the IS, meet the RISE and the Counselor and the thousands of Day audience members. It would be a week before the first round of the Races, where she would have to hold tight to Acceleration as he sped off, fast as he could go.

She still had time left. She could still get ready.

The Elses sent her off with a comforting wave. She watched them through the glass windows of the train and then they were gone.