Tick tock,
A clock can go forever if it wants to.
Tick tock,
A clock can stop at any time.
Tick tock,
Can a clock be alive?
This clock chose never to stop.
Trenn opened his eyes, the steam was enveloping half of the room again. The boiler was overheating. Damn machine he cursed. Why won’t you work properly for once?
He got up from the bed trying not to wake up his sister in the process. He then walked over to the boiler and began turning up the calibration up and pressing on one of the three levers next to the boiler that was promptly named – Pressure – Low. The boiler rang for a second before lowering the amount of steam it was pumping out. Some of these days, you will be the death of us, Trenn double tapped the metal on the puffing machine. It was very hot in the room; he swiped some sweat off his eyebrows.
His sister was still sleeping on the bed – without a care in the world. At least it didn’t wake her up, he rubbed his eyes lazily. The dull pain in his temples was still there. The clock continued to count every second, as it always used to. It was an old clock – belonging to one of their grandfathers, though it never got clear which one of them owned it. Not that it mattered, of course.
The young man quickly put a leather jacket on top of his grey shirt and headed outside, quietly locking the door behind himself. The red morning light was already reflecting in the sky, however covered in smoke and steam. It was still visibly red. The second most notable thing outside was the trash around on the street. City of progress, yeah right. The more I stay here, the more I feel like I’m suffering for the price of progress. Trenn moved through the narrow streets, focusing only on going to the local boilersmith.
Just ignore them… – he thought, while pretending to not see the people he was passing by. The dirty and poor homeless individuals, who were eyeing him from the sides. The stench was sometimes unbearable, so he had to hold his breath not to take any of the horrible smell into his already steam-filled lungs. He managed to enter the boilersmith’s without any encounters this time. Though – not without a short cough.
The door’s mechanism rang – notifying old man Nellius about Trenn’s arrival. Nellius was smoking a long but old pipe with his eyes closed, clearly – in the moment.
“Gaud Mierge, Nellius” – Trenn greeted to him in Asiendalian.
Nellius opened his tired but green eyes and responded back, smirking at the boy’s accent.
“When are you going to get rid of that accent boy?”
“I am not planning to, or does it bother you that much, Nel?” Trenn smirked in return.
“Me? No, no. Not me boy, ya know who would be bothered by it, though…” Nellius inhaled from the pipe, puffing out white smoke.
“So, what’s the problem this time? Let me guess – boiler almost killed ya again?”
“Uh huh. I think one of these days, it might succeed if it isn’t for you, Nel.”
Nel grunted.
“Flattery as always, boy. Fine – you know I have a soft spot for you and your sister, tell me how I can help?”
“Well, the amount of steam it’s releasing is about two thirds more than last week, I feel like the internal pressurizer is either broken completely or leaking out smoke through a small crack.” Trenn shrugged.
“Hmph, that is a fair assessment boy, you’re learning…. good” – Nellius said while trying to look for something in one of his many chaotically thrown-about crates.
“I’m learning from the best, after all.” Trenn mischievously smirked at the old man.
“Ha! Well, it sure ain’t from me then!” They both chuckled. One of them, louder than the other.
“Nel, is it true?” Trenn asked suddenly.
“What is?” – Nellius raised an eyebrow, still trying to find the appropriate thing he was looking for.
“That a High Magister is coming to Stummglenn?”
“Hmm…. Aye.”
Trenn snorted.
“What, boy? You still don’t fancy them authority figures?”
“You know, I don’t.”
“Sure, sure. But it is what it is. We simple folk, can’t do nothing about it.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I don’t like about it, about them.”
“Don’t stress about it, High Magisters come and go.”
“Well, we don’t need one in Stummglenn.”
“Aye, we could do without one – we have been doing just one by ourselves, though sometimes I wish the Foundress was still here. Ever since she left due to the capital needing her ideas, she has been busy – buildin’ and plannin’ new things every year. I almost feel like – she might’ve forgotten about us- Argh! Gods damnit.” A loud thud was the result of him hitting his head on the wall shelf.
“I guess, you just lied.” – Trenn smirked again.
“Aye, aye. I love you Foundress, please don’t break my old head.” Nellius made a small prayer gesture towards the black and white photograph in a frame on his desk.
“The Foundress seems so carefree, I bet she doesn’t even know that we are suffering in the slums.” Trenn rolled his eyes in annoyance.
“Aye, perhaps she doesn’t – but it’s not her fault that’s how the place ‘ere turned out to be.” He tapped on the wooden counter as he said that. “You know exactly who to blame for it.”
Trenn’s eyes flickered for a moment. “I know – Timme and Virr Graennaz.”
“Aye, dirty bastards the whole lot of the Graennaz family!!”
“I don’t know how they are even in charge, they are so incompetent at their job, just – look at this place:” Trenn gesticulated towards outside the shop. “This place is a shithole, while they live in their technology paradise, as they call it.”
“Damn right, but the revolt didn’t work – so instead, we work now.”
Trenn’s face darkened for a moment. He went silent.
Nellius closed his eyes for a moment, as one does when he crosses a line.
“I’m so sorry boy, I know I shouldn’t have brought it up”
“It’s … fine” Trenn said, despite looking anything but fine.
After a short but awkward pause, Nellius grunted – body halfway into a crate.
“Aha! I found the damned spare Pressurizer that I had. It’s all yours.” – Nel put a long brass device with multiple pipes and an oval slot for a clock. “Just pull out the clock on the old one, and stuff it ‘ere, should work like a charm.”
“Thank you, Nel, what do I owe you?”
“Not dying, you and your sister – both.”
Trenn looked at him.
“Are you s- “
“Aye, boy I am damn sure, now go – Lina might already be suffocating from your broken boiler!!” Nellius pounded lightly onto the counter and pointed at the door.
“Alright, I’m going out.” Trenn stopped at the door. “Thank you again, Nel.”
“Aye don’t mention it kid. You take care now.”
Trenn left the shop, back to the street’s smoky and dirty landscape.
Back outside, the street was pretty much the same. A couple of people walked past, dressed in greyish and brownish clothes, they said something in Asiendalian, but it was too mumbled for Trenn to understand what it was. He wanted to get back home as soon as possible to check on Lina. He moved past the well-known smell of feces, trash and unwashed sweaty homelessness.
When he unlocked the door and entered the apartment, he took a sigh of relief – Lina was still sleeping, and the room was less foggy than before. He put his jacket on the hanger and washed his hands first, then his face in the old, rusty sink. After that, he took a short look around the apartment – it was all they had left from their parents. Just a living room and a bathroom. Sleeping, living and eating were all happening in the living room. He moved the curtains a bit to let some sunlight in. The reddish rays illuminated the room, giving it a somber look. Not that it needed one in this condition. He stopped the boiler and slowly unhinged the front door of the metal casket, putting it on the ground beside him. After that he put his hand in, trying to feel where the pushing mechanism was.
First you push it, then you rotate three times counterclockwise, after which you pull. He repeated in his head, instructions from Nel from a couple years ago.
The part made a quick thud sound as it detached, Trenn pulled it out and looked at it. It had been cracked and that was the clear perpetrator of the morning accident.
He shook his head slightly and pulled the new pressurizer, following the same steps but reversed. The mechanism locked in place and after a second, it began ticking normally. A sign of good compatibility, with that the repair was done. Trenn cleaned up after himself – the damaged part had been stored in the trash bin – or rather a crate that was used for the trash. He cleaned his greasy hands from the oil and metal. Then he finally sealed the metal door. It was done. Now hopefully – they can sleep without fear of suffocation.
Lina moved about under the blankets. “Mm…”
“Good morning, Lina”
“Mm…morning” she yawned and opened her light blue eyes. Her ashen hair was messy from the long sleep.
“What time is it?” She coughed, trying to find her voice, instead of the raspy morning sounds she was currently producing.
Trenn looked at the clock on the wall. It had 24 digits and a little sign that changed every 24 hours indicating that it was either – daytime or nighttime. “It’s almost four o clock; you slept for a while there” he handed her a bowl of leftovers from last night’s dinner – some rice with vegetables and a bit of fowl.
“Thanks” she sat on the edge of the bed.
“We need to wash our clothes again; do you have anything you want washed specifically or do I just pick the laundry box and start?”
“My uniform would be nice; I’ve already got enough eyes on me at the academy I don’t need noses too.” She chewed on the food.
“Alright, anything else?” He picked up her dark blue uniform sweater.
“Mm no, nothing else. Whatever you decide, I have clothes for two more days.”
Trenn nodded while putting the clothes in the washing machine. They spent a minute in silence. Trenn decided to break it by telling her what happened at Nellius’ earlier.
“Uncle Nel is always so nice to us, I wish we could do something for him in return...” Lina let out a short sad sigh. “Until when do you work today?”
“Until twenty-two o’clock, my shift is longer today, as we need to prepare for the High Magister’s arrival – boss wants lots of coal to be prepared for the High Layer boilers.”
“No way Trenn! You’re going to work eighteen hours?? That’s inhumane! Will they give you a break at least?”
“A break? Come on, Lina. You know who gets breaks. It sure isn’t us down here.”
“Well…” She looked down.
Trenn stopped putting clothes in the machine and gave her his best impression of the brotherly look.
“Lina, you know I wish we could rest too… But we can’t. At least the good news is that they will pay us a bit more than regular for this occasion” He smiled. “That’s what Kinn heard from the Commissars.”
“Sure, maybe then I can buy the book I wanted?” Lina smiled faintly, looking up at her brother.
“Yeah, we can do that.” He continued with the laundry. They had some clothes left from their parents. A couple of blouses, sweaters, shirts and two black coats. Multiple pantaloons and underwear. And each of them had a pair of shoes. Worn out, of course. Shoes were expensive down here. With all of Trenn’s weekly salary – they could perhaps afford another pair of shoes.
Lina finished her breakfast and started to clean up some of the trash left yesterday. The spare crate would do well for a trash bin for now. Besides – it was going to be placed outside in front of their window on the street. It didn’t matter if it was a crate or a trash bin.
Thud. The crate was heavy, but Lina managed it just fine.
A couple of people looked at her, and she waved hello at them. They waved back.
“Good morning, misters!” She greeted them warmly.
“Good morning, missy!”
“Heard any news today, old Jaenn?” – One of the less dirty men, sitting on the stairs on the opposite apartment answered her:
“Aye, lass. High Magister Villia Voss Norrosz is going to be landing tomorrow, and all the district commissars are in a panic” the old man laughed and coughed at the same time.
“Oh, that’s just wonderful. ”
“Damn right, missy. If anything is wrong – we will be the first ones to take the blame.”
“Here is hoping that everything goes well. Have a good day, misters!” she went back inside.
Trenn looked at her, amused. His sister was always the more talkative of the twins. They were carbon copies of each other. Both light-skinned, ashen-haired, and blue-eyed. Yet she looked better than him. Must be those womanly charms, he had heard her boast so many times before.
“They sure love you for talking to them, you know.”
“Oh, I know.”
“Could never be me” His shoulders moved for a moment.
“You don’t talk much since forever, so that’s fine” She paused.
“I can’t ignore them brother, they’re our people” she grabbed her jacket and her rucksack.
“Is it time to go yet?” Trenn looked at the clock instead.
“I have a meeting with Elle before going to the academy and the next train leaves in thirty minutes” she straightened her posture and flattened her clothes a little bit to look more formal.
“What about your uniform?”
“What about it? You can bring it to me on the way to work, dummy.” Lina gave him a mischievous smile.
“Fine, fine, I’ll bring it over. But… I might or might not be late.” He said, clearly joking.
“Aren’t men supposed to be punctual?” she cut him off sarcastically.
“Well yeah, but not when our annoying twin sisters, pester us for something.”
“Ha-ha, I ask you for one favor and its already over. You’re insufferable, Trenn” she shook her head, smiling.
Trenn chuckled.
“Go, Lina. You don’t want to miss that train.”
“I really don’t want to miss that train,” she agreed, opening the door, stopping only to look back at her brother. “Good luck at work today, Trenn. See you later. Love you”
“Just get out already.” Trenn snorted slightly when she closed the door.
“Love you too, Lina. Be safe…”