The Mariner

“Now let’s return to this wheel that is our life,” she continued, clearly pleased to have an audience. “Imagine that it is not a wheel of a cart, but a cog in a clock. Your cog is connected to my cog, as is mine to many others. We are all tiny cogs repeating over and over, driving one much larger. This great cog is time itself, our reality, our events. Somehow a demon has manipulated this cog, he’s taken it within his grip and has dragged us off course, into misery and despair.

“But there is one way we can wrestle it from his hands. We need to send a shock-wave, a jolt, a shift, through the many to the main, juddering the great cog back onto its proper course.”

“And how is that done?” the Mariner asked. “It seems this ‘Cog’ is not something we can touch or feel. How do we shift it?”

“Through Déjà vu,” she replied, body puffed up like a toad. “If we can change our turn of the wheel, be it on the second or billionth revolution, if for the first time in these cycles we do something different, then this will send a jolt from our wheel, through the entire machine, shifting the Great Cog back onto its proper course!”

Diane examined each of their faces, eager for their response. McConnell, though enjoying the story, remained unconvinced, unlike Grace whose mouth hung open in wonder. The Mariner was somewhere between, sceptical yet curious. “What’s the problem then? Just do it so we can have our lives back.”

She shook her head sadly. “No-one has yet managed to. I counsel my followers to do anything, the more unpredictable the better, to change the present experience from the course set by their returning memory. So when Déjà vu strikes they shriek, leap, roll, sing, anything as long as it’s as random as they can conceive. The problem is the memory returns just as they act, and in retrospect it always turns out they remember shrieking, leaping, rolling and singing. Never once has this revolution proved different. But one day someone will manage it, and the world will be saved.

“Obviously, the more within our flock attempting this miracle, the more likely we are to succeed. That is why you shall join us.”

“We shall?!” McConnell snorted.

“Of course. You must and you will.”

“How do you know all this?”

“I used to live within a community of salvagers; we sailed the seas looking for wreaks. We’d strip them for parts and trade for food and drink. One day we were hit by a terrible storm. Great waves threatened to swallow us into the depths, but we managed to work as a team to keep afloat. I doubt the fear I felt shall ever be matched. Just as I thought we’d escaped the worst, a bolt of lightning tore the sky and spiked right through me.

“But rather than die, I was given a vision. I saw the demon, I saw his claws gripping our world. In that fleeting moment, I saw The Cog and understood what had to be done.

“When I came to, I helped my friends navigate out of the tempest, but I could no longer remain in their company. I had changed, and from that day onwards I devoted my efforts to spreading the word of my calling. Soon, those who could see the truth joined my side. We found this island and made it our home. The Monks of Déjà vu now live in quiet contemplation and self-sufficiency, each doing their part to bring about the salvation of all.”

“With your blessing,” the Mariner said solemnly, “we shall remain with you, and do our bit to bring about the Shift you speak of.”

“I am pleased!” Diane beamed at them. It was impossible not to return the grin, even McConnell, who thought the whole thing lunacy, flashed his best in response. “Pryce!” she called across the water to her waiting subject. “Prepare some lodgings for our new brothers and sister, for they have heard the calling!”

Pryce bowed low and set off with a skip in his step.

“Now I must be getting back to contemplation. As the original seer it is I who am most likely to shift the Cog, so sadly I have to dedicate much of my own time to inner concentration. Fear not though, nothing so exhausting will be expected of you in the immediate future. More appropriate and less taxing tasks will be assigned.”

Finally she rose and the three stood with her. “On behalf of our little community I welcome you, for the first, the second, the billionth and perhaps, with a little luck, the final time.”

As the three walked away, Grace skipping ahead with the devils (overjoyed to be reunited with her), McConnell and the Mariner spoke in hasty and hushed tones.

“We can’t stay here!”

“Why not? You knew we were headed for the zoo, and here we are. It returned for a reason.”

“Yes, but not this! Not… that!” McConnell waved a hand in the direction of Diane who was reclining in her throne and eating a mango.

“Then what?”

“I don’t know!”

“Then we stay, at least until we have a better idea of what’s going on.”

“Don’t tell me you believe that mumbo jumbo?”