Clocks stop turning and bells stopped ringing a long time ago in this country. A long long while ago somebody went up to the ur-clock, manically yelling whilst ascending those stairs and once they reached the top, crawled around to the outside, moved to the face, jumped onto the long pointer, and pulled themself back to the surface of the planet as fast as they could, whilst screaming about how now everybody will be free. They hit the ground. Hard. Splattered all over. Children screamed, other children investigated. The ur-clock wasn’t destroyed, of course, only bent, but bent enough out of time that now Nobody knows what time it is anymore, or what day. Everybody now only sees and experiences the passage of the seasons, and day and night, although with the change in climates, even the former has been inconsistent. It is said it caused a huge panic, many things were lost, including bodies in mass panics, dancing plagues and insurrections.
Now on the coastal cities, everybody moves around on boats, some live in boats, some have land-residences, the latter are by and large seen as unstable and thus cheaper. Circulation of crops and vegetables has been proven remarkably easy, counter to what in historical documents was predicted, although hard work and aggregate bodies at work are required at intensive periods.
What has become of the Ur-clock? After it was bent, they tried to repair and after that replace it; to no avail. Time, it seems, is not coming back.
What of it now? Well, it is occupied, that much has been clear to all those who have tried to access it, and many bodies have tried, to their own misfortune. It is rather peaceful up here, only a cold breeze but a warm temperature, the gears don’t turn and thus have made for an excellent place for food to grow, water circulation happens through cloud collection. The worker’s beds are good enough for the residing body and the residing body does not leave the ur-clock, only observe it and tend to it so that no pesky bodies enter.
The Existence of the ur-clock was, it seems, a mystery to most bodies until that long-gone and ever-present day, that such a thing was even there and not mutually executed and enforced through many governments, corporations and subjects seemed rather mystifying, from what the historical documents of that time indicate. It’s location, even, was never properly mapped until now-then, as if the arbiters of the clock or those maintaining it let it be bent.