//------------------------------//
// Time: Tick Tock 
// Story: The Sparkle in his Eye 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	As Ratchet and Azimuth set their separate courses to the Korthos Sector, Clank continued to explore the Great Clock with Sigmund as his guide, using the Chronoscepter to repair any damaged section he came across.  The first stop was the orientation room, which was basically a massive movie room.  A massive screen with all the controls, and a comfortable sofa directly across from it.  "All this...just for orientation?" he murmured.

"Not entirely," Sigmund admitted.  "Orvus also used it to...observe your history.  When Twilight arrived, time itself became unknown and difficult to plan for.  Since, unlike before her arrival, he had no idea what would happen, he would come here to observe events as they happened."

Clank blinked in surprise.  "He...was watching over me?"

"Over all of you," Sigmund confirmed.  "I...I've never seen him sadder than...when he watched what happened on Umbris.  He said it was necessary, though.  That...all other paths led to...greater darkness."

"I...see," Clank murmured, not wanting to think about that part of his life just then.  It had been...painful to see Twilight so emotionally crushed, and it brought back other memories of the harsher points of Twilight's life.

The orientation film that played proved to be a home made film, with Orvus explaining the purpose of the Great Clock.  Apparently, long ago the fabric of space time became so badly damaged in a tiny point it threatened to end the whole universe.  The Great Clock was built to both contain the tear and keep time moving normally throughout the universe.

"That's...incredible," Clank murmured.  "And...I'm responsible for the Great Clock now?"

"Once you complete your training, yeah," Sigmund confirmed.  "Now you know why Orvus kept it such a secret."

Clank stroked his chin in thought.  "I find myself...somewhat conflicted," he spoke up.  "Clearly this station needs expert tending, and someone who can handle anything imaginable, and probably many things that can't be imagined.  The first person I think of along those lines is Twilight Sparkle.  She would probably have this station in peak operating conditions before she'd been on station a full hour."

"I've seen her work while Orvus was watching," Sigmund agreed.  "She's certainly impressive."

"But on the other hand...do you even want to imagine what would happen if you gave her the keys to time itself?"

Sigmund shuddered violently.  "Doesn't bear thinking about, sir."

"Though she has grown more responsible with her experimentations-"

"What if she tries to cast her duplication spell on the Great Clock itself to experiment with the duplicate?" Sigmund countered.

"...I take it there being two Great Clocks would be bad?" Clank asked worriedly.

"No idea!" Sigmund countered emphatically.  "And I don't wanna find out!"

Nodding in agreement, Clank hopped into the nearby Mnemonic Station for another lesson from the Orvus program in his mind.





The lesson within his mind this time was in using the Scepter to manipulate some of the Clock's functions.  Its primary function was to 'maintain temporal normality', and that wasn't always the case.  Scattered throughout the clock were planet representations, each of which would manifest as any planet undergoing temporal anomalies.  The scepter could be used at those stations to neutralize the anomalies, restoring time to normal.

There was one last message left for him at the end of the lesson.  "I'm very proud of you, Clank.  And now you're ready for the task ahead.  Go forth and fix time.  Save the universe.  When you're ready, my chamber will be waiting.  Program terminated."





With the lesson concluded, Clank made his way forward under Sigmund's guidance.  As he moved on, he found he had a question.  "Sigmund, what is...the chamber?"

"Ah, the Orvus Chamber," Sigmund breathed, awe and pride in his voice.  "That's the main control hub of the entire facility.  It's also the most secure.  I've never been inside it myself...but I hear it holds a master switch for temporal manipulation!"

"Intriguing," Clank murmured, entering one of the planet chambers the Orvus program had told him about.  The first planet he had to work on was Quantos.  Cleansing the anomalies proved rather straightforward, once the invading parasitic creatures were dealt with.

Two more planets awaited his repairs a good distance away.  The first was Torren IV.  Repairs there went just as smoothly as it did in the previous planet chamber.  The final planet requiring attention, Terachnos, was only somewhat more challenging.

With the last planet in need of attention repaired for now, Clank made his way back to Sigmund, where he spotted Sigmund watching an old recording from Orvus, which proclaimed he was going to be at the Tombli Outpost on Zanifar, a trip that Orvus apparently didn't expect to be gone long for...but from the way Sigmund behaved, was obviously the last time the Zoni Elder had been seen.

Deciding that what he needed to do most at the moment was cheer Sigmund up, he voiced an inquiry that had occurred to him while he'd worked.  "Sigmund, why was it that the temporal repair procedure seemed like...some sort of minigame?"

"Oh, that was my idea!" Sigmund proclaimed proudly, managing to hide his distress most impressively.  "I suggested to Orvus that work would be so much more enjoyable if it could be turned into fun, to the point you didn't even realize you were doing work!  He liked the idea so much, he not only turned all the repair procedures into minigame-like procedures, but changed all the security systems into time puzzles!"

Clank narrowed his eyes.  "So I have you to thank for those temporal echo conundrums lining my path through this place?"

"You're welcome!" Sigmund replied happily.

Clank rolled his eyes, but was pleased that he'd succeeded in cheering up his new friend.