Loops

He was always feeling earthquakes. He’d talked to a few of the scientists, none of them took it seriously. They had the ship sail in endless circles over deep ocean. It kept him busy all the time, making sure the curve didn’t change. They had been very particular about that. He wondered what the point was. He hadn’t started feeling them until after the first circuit. The hull would vibrate under him. Sometimes it was barely noticeable. Sometimes it would be so violent he’d have to grab onto something to keep his balance. He wasn’t sure exactly when they happened. He’d stopped trusting the clocks. They seemed to be slowing down. Every time there was another quake, they got slower. Even his watch. He could almost count the hour by the minute hand now. No one else seemed to notice. Whenever someone came down to the engine room, he’d tell them about the quakes. They always said they hadn’t felt anything. He wondered if the sun was slowing down, too. He wondered how slow it would have to get before it fell out of the sky.

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