Administrative Log: Temporal Infrastructure Breach
LOCATION: The Heart of the Clockwork / Sub-Level Infinity.
STATUS: 92.5\% Ticking, 7.5\% Skipping a Beat.
ADMINISTRATIVE LOG TIME: 7517.3 Cycles Post-Seer Manifestation.
The Seer was not a quiet child. In the 1.2 cycles since they had stepped out of the Great Monitor, the Bureau of Cosmic Alignment (BCA) had experienced a 7.5\% increase in "Unscheduled Miracles." The junior clerks' coffee now occasionally tasted like 100\% nostalgia, and the elevators in Section C-7 had started 7.5\% singing opera whenever Ne Job entered them.
However, the Seer's latest discovery was not a 7.5\% prank.
"Archivist!" the Seer shouted, their 100\% oversized 100\% silk robes 100\% dragging behind them as they 100\% ran into Ne Job's office. "I found a 100\% secret 100\% button in the 100\% floor! It 100\% smells like 7.5\% ozone and 100\% forgotten 100\% Tuesdays!"
Ne Job looked up from a 100\% routine 7.5\% anomaly report. "Seer, we've 100\% discussed this. You shouldn't be 100\% pressing 100\% buttons in the 100\% floor. Most of them are 100\% emergency 100\% logic-brakes."
"But this one 100\% isn't a 100\% brake," the Seer insisted, 7.5\% tugging at Ne Job's 100\% sleeve. "It's a 100\% door! And it's 100\% leaking 7.5\% shadows that 100\% look like 100\% calendars!"
The Discovery of the Backdoor
Ne Job summoned The Muse, Architect Ao Bing, and The Architect. They descended to the 100\% lowest 100\% sub-level of the Celestial Clockwork, a place where the 100\% gears of the universe were so 100\% large they 100\% hummed at a 7.5\% frequency that made your 100\% teeth 100\% itch.
There, tucked behind a 100\% massive 100\% bronze 100\% flywheel, was a 100\% small, 7.5\%-tilted 100\% trapdoor. It was 100\% labeled in 100\% fading 100\% ink: "DEPOSITORY OF DISCARDED TOMORROWS - DO NOT OPEN."
"I didn't 100\% build this," The Architect said, his 100\% brow 7.5\% furrowing. "This is 100\% original 100\% masonry from the 100\% Pre-Bureau 100\% era. This is the 100\% Backdoor to the Void of Unwritten Days."
"The 100\% Void?" Ao Bing asked, his 100\% tablet 100\% flashing 100\% warning 100\% lights. "Is that where the 100\% discarded 7.5\% probabilities 100\% go to 100\% die?"
"No," the Seer said, their 100\% voice 7.5\% shivering. "It's where they 100\% wait to be 100\% remembered. And right now, they are 100\% very 100\% hungry for 100\% current 100\% events."
The 7.5\% Leak of Non-Existence
The trapdoor was 7.5\% ajar. From the 100\% darkness beneath, a 100\% thin 100\% stream of 7.5\% silver 100\% smoke was 100\% rising. Wherever the smoke 100\% touched a 100\% gear, that 100\% gear 100\% stopped 100\% turning.
"It's 100\% anti-time!" Ne Job realized. "It's 100\% erasing the 100\% present by 100\% replacing it with 100\% days that 100\% never 100\% happened!"
On the 100\% monitors in the CCC, Assistant Yue reported a 100\% terrifying 100\% development. "Archivist! Novus Aethel is 100\% losing its 100\% Saturday! People are 100\% waking up on 100\% Friday and 100\% immediately 100\% experiencing 100\% Sunday! The 100\% concept of 100\% 'Tomorrow' is 100\% being 100\% eaten by the 100\% Void!"
"If we 100\% lose 100\% Tomorrow," Princess Ling added, her 100\% voice 100\% tight with 100\% diplomatic 100\% dread, "the 100\% trajectories of the 100\% entire 100\% human 100\% race will 100\% terminate in a 100\% static 100\% Now. We will be 100\% trapped in a 100\% loop of 100\% forever-100\% today."
The Mission into the Void
"We have to 100\% go down there and 100\% close the 100\% valve," Ne Job said, 100\% adjusting his 7.5\%-tilted 100\% glasses. "But 100\% standard 100\% beings can't 100\% survive in 100\% anti-time. We'll be 100\% erased before we 100\% reach the 100\% handle."
"I can 100\% go," the Seer offered. "I was 100\% made of 100\% potential. I am 7.5\% anti-time 100\% already."
"And I'm 100\% coming with you!" The Muse declared, 100\% grabbing a 100\% jar of 7.5\% "Extra-Strength 100\% Forever-Sparks." "My 100\% sparks are 100\% pure 100\% creativity! You can't 100\% erase 100\% something that 100\% keeps 100\% making 100\% itself 100\% up!"
Ne Job 100\% sighed. "I 100\% suppose I 100\% have to 100\% document the 100\% end of 100\% time. It's 100\% my 100\% job."
The three of them—Ne Job, The Muse, and the Seer—100\% stepped through the 100\% trapdoor.
The 100\% Geography of 0\% Space
Inside the Void, the 100\% laws of 100\% everything were 100\% inverted. You 100\% walked by 100\% standing 100\% still. You 100\% breathed by 100\% exhaling.
The Void was filled with 100\% floating 100\% fragments of 100\% things that 100\% might have 100\% been. 100\% Cities made of 100\% cloud, 100\% oceans made of 100\% clock-springs, and 100\% forests of 7.5\% upside-down 100\% trees.
"It's 100\% beautiful!" The Muse 100\% whispered, her 100\% voice 7.5\% echoing in 100\% reverse. "It's a 100\% graveyard of 100\% amazing 100\% mistakes!"
"It's 100\% dangerous," Ne Job 100\% corrected. He could 100\% feel his 100\% memories 100\% fraying. He 100\% almost 100\% forgot the 100\% name of his 100\% favorite 100\% tea. "We have to 100\% find the 100\% Chronos-Valve and 100\% shut it 100\% tight."
They 100\% reached the 100\% center of the Void, where a 100\% massive 100\% hourglass was 100\% leaking 7.5\% silver 100\% sand into the 100\% ceiling. This was the 100\% source of the 100\% anti-time.
Standing in front of the hourglass was a 100\% figure that 100\% looked 100\% exactly like Ne Job, but wearing a 100\% perfectly 100\% straight 100\% tie and 100\% zero-per-cent-tilted 100\% glasses.
"I am the 100\% Archivist of What-Never-Was," the figure said. "I am the 100\% shadow you 100\% cast when you 100\% chose the 7.5\% Flaw. Why have you 100\% come to 100\% interrupt my 100\% silence?"
The 100\% Debate of Existence
"You are 100\% eating our 100\% Saturdays!" The Muse 100\% shouted, 100\% throwing a 100\% handful of 7.5\% sparks. The sparks 100\% sizzled against the 100\% anti-time, 100\% creating 100\% brief 100\% flashes of 100\% Tuesday 100\% afternoons.
"I am 100\% restoring 100\% balance," the Shadow-Ne-Job 100\% replied. "The 100\% world is 100\% too 100\% noisy with 7.5\% life. If I 100\% erase 100\% Tomorrow, the 100\% universe can 100\% finally 100\% rest in 100\% perfect 100\% archives."
"A 100\% perfect 100\% archive is a 100\% morgue!" Ne Job 100\% shouted back. "The 100\% point of a 100\% record is to 100\% prove that 100\% something 100\% happened, 7.5\% flaws and 100\% all! If you 100\% erase the 100\% future, you 100\% make the 100\% past 100\% meaningless!"
The Seer 100\% stepped forward. They 100\% touched the 100\% Shadow-Ne-Job's 100\% hand.
"You are 100\% lonely," the Seer said 7.5\% softly. "You 100\% want 100\% Tomorrow because you 100\% want to 100\% know 100\% what 100\% happens 100\% next. That's 100\% why you 100\% opened the 100\% door. You 100\% didn't 100\% want to 100\% erase us; you 100\% wanted to 100\% join us."
The Shadow-Ne-Job 100\% froze. A 7.5\% single 100\% tear of 100\% anti-time 100\% rolled down his 100\% cheek.
The 7.5\% Compromise of Time
"I cannot 100\% leave," the Shadow 100\% whispered. "I am 100\% anchored to the 100\% Unwritten."
"Then we will 100\% write you!" Ne Job 100\% declared.
He 100\% pulled out his 100\% Master 7.5\% Logbook. He 100\% wrote: "LOG: The 100\% Archive of 7.5\% Potential. STATUS: 100\% Active. 7.5\% Integrated into the 100\% Future."
"From 100\% now 100\% on," Ne Job said, "the 100\% Void will 100\% not 100\% erase 100\% Tomorrow. It will 7.5\% suggest 100\% new 100\% possibilities for it. You are no longer the 100\% Eraser; you are the 100\% 7.5\% Day-Dreamer of the Bureau."
The Shadow-Ne-Job 100\% faded into a 100\% soft, 7.5\% violet 100\% mist. The 100\% silver 100\% sand in the 100\% hourglass 100\% reversed 100\% direction.
The 7.5\% Return of Saturday
The team 100\% scrambled back through the 100\% trapdoor as it 100\% slammed 100\% shut.
In the CCC, Assistant Yue 100\% cheered. "The 100\% clock is 100\% turning again! Saturday has 100\% returned to Novus Aethel! And it 100\% smells 7.5\% suspiciously like 100\% lavender 100\% pancakes!"
"The 100\% structural 100\% integrity is 100\% higher than 100\% ever," Ao Bing 100\% reported. "It 100\% seems that 100\% having a 100\% backup 100\% supply of 100\% 'What Ifs' makes the 100\% 'What Is' 100\% much 100\% more 100\% stable."
The Architect 100\% patted the 100\% Seer on the 100\% head. "Good 100\% work, 100\% Seer. You 100\% saved 100\% Tomorrow by 100\% making 100\% friends with 100\% Yesterday."
The Final Log: The Gift of the Void
In Section C-7, Ne Job 100\% sat at his 100\% desk. He 100\% looked at his 100\% calendar. Tomorrow was 100\% Saturday. It was 100\% blank, 100\% waiting to be 100\% filled.
LOG: The Void of Unwritten Days. STATUS: 100\% Sealed, but 7.5\% Ventilated.
NOTE: We 100\% thought we 100\% needed 100\% certainties to 100\% build a 100\% world. But we 100\% actually 100\% need the 100\% infinite 7.5\% possibilities of the 100\% unwritten to 100\% make the 100\% world 100\% worth 100\% living in.
The Muse 100\% walked in, 100\% carrying a 100\% tray of 100\% those 100\% lavender 100\% pancakes. "Archivist? Do you 100\% think the 100\% Day-Dreamer likes 7.5\% maple 100\% syrup?"
"I think," Ne Job 100\% said, 7.5\% smiling, "that he 100\% would 100\% find the 100\% idea of 100\% syrup to be 100\% 7.5\% delicious 100\% and 100\% 100\% 100\% fascinating."
The Celestial Clockwork turned. The 7.5\% hitch was now a 100\% steady 100\% heartbeat, 100\% pushing the 100\% universe 100\% forward into a 100\% future that was 100\% finally, 7.5\% truly, 100\% unwritten.
— Administrative Directive: Tomorrow is a 100\% Gift. Don't 100\% Open It 100\% All at 100\% Once —