Click & Clack and the Golden Gear

More about Click & Clack and the Golden Gear

In one of the high-ceilinged reading rooms of the Aether Library, where the windows cast golden rays of light and the air smelled of dust and old parchment, two small clockwork creatures sat side by side. Their green eyes shone brightly as they bent over an enormous, open book. They were the twins Click & Clack. Click, the one with the green cap, tapped the lines with his small metal finger, as if he could better understand the mystery of the writing by touching it. Clack, his antennae twitching curiously, stared less at the letters than at the object lying in the center of the page: a small, golden gear, shimmering in the sunlight as if it were alive. "Do you see it too, brother?" whispered Clack. "It's moving." "Of course it's moving," replied Click, grinning. "Everything moves if you look long enough." But at that moment, the gear really was turning—slowly, almost timidly, as if guided by an invisible hand. It didn't match any mechanism the twins knew. No gear in Gearloque's chest, no wheel on Tiktor's shelves, not even one from the workshops deep in the basement. This one was different: each tooth bore tiny engravings, patterns that looked like small runes. "This is a fragment of time," breathed Clack reverently. "I once heard that some hours leave their gears behind when they pass. But I thought those were just stories." "If they're stories," murmured Click, "they're surely in this book." And with a vigorous tug, he pulled the page open further, until the writing suddenly illuminated. Words of golden light rose up, and the twins held their breath. They saw images: a city standing still in the rain because all the clocks had stopped striking simultaneously. People looked up at the sky as if expecting an answer. And in the midst of that silence, a single wheel fell from the great clock tower—the very gear that now lay between the brothers."The hour that was lost there..." Click frowned, his antennae twitching violently. "It's here." "Then we can bring it back," Click said enthusiastically. But that was easier said than done. The gear trembled as if it wanted to roll away, back into the shadows of the lost hours. The twins placed both hands on it, holding it tight. A warm pulse emanated from it, penetrating their small brass bodies, making their green eyes shine brighter. "Together," whispered Click. "Always," answered Clack. And so they pushed the wheel back into the book. A faint sound like distant bells filled the library. The pages closed of their own accord, the gear disappeared into the lines—and in the distance, somewhere beyond the walls, an old tower clock began to strike again. The brothers looked at each other.