Wattys shortlist 2021. One morning the sun rises a few hours early, striking levitating skyscrapers in Soliara ahead of schedule. People in the streets stop to look up at the sky and then down at their watches. Most of them, puzzled but disbelieving...
The sun had a tendency to glare into my open windows and closed eyes every morning before I got out of bed, so I didn't think twice about it being bright outside when I first woke up in the morning, except to wonder why I was so tired, and then I remembered I let Franco talk me into going downtown for several more drinks after the masquerade party last night, and then I rolled over and went back to sleep.
Snatches of the night before returned, dream-fever-vision-like, as I lazed and dozed, tossed and turned, in the white morning light.
In a darkness punctuated by flashes of night club light, my best friend bought me several drinks at Daedalus Bar and wouldn't stop 'playfully' accusing me of attempting to have my own dad assassinated. "Stars, you have so many motives."
His amicable face swimming by, Dream Franco listed reasons I had for wanting Ilan to be assassinated, some of which the real Franco had really ticked off on his fingers last night, and some of which were ridiculous dream theories, and some of which were insights of my own, the kind I won't admit even to myself. "Is it really the research department in Soliara turning down your research proposals, or is Boss Papa behind it?" "With Ilan Potestas expired, you'd be on the board," "You'd have the salary of an Exequi," "You would have oversight of Invernali's research budget," "You could vote for Sunyin Aura at the election tomorrow evening."
When I woke up again, I remembered I was meeting Exequi Aura today. A hot shower would be preferable to lazing in my sweaty pajamas with a headache until the last minute. A pitcher of water and a glass had been left by the bedside.
Which was insulting. I didn't drink that much. I guzzled two glasses of water and refused to be grateful to whoever had conjured the hydration.
In the penthouse of Potestas Tower, I had an apartment suite. So did a number of high up staff. Getting out of bed, I went to the window to look out from the levitating and rotating piece of skyscraper, as I did every morning, curious about how even later it felt and here I was dead tired as if I only fell into bed three hours ago.
Quiet, with a few pedestrians walking the sidewalks and a flash of sunlight against every building, it looked simultaneously early and late. I threw on a house coat and went out into the living room for a better view of the sun, imagining, with a big grin on my face, that it had come up early. Silly.
Crossing the study to the east-facing glass walls, I put a hand in front of my vision to count how many finger widths came between the snowy horizon and Sol. With a laugh, I turned to the desk where I had left my brand new star powered Solaris watch the night before, and held it up to see.
My smile faded. I looked from the sky to the watch and back again. The ring on the inside, with its smaller circumference, told the time for us in Invernali, the winter city up north, while the outside showed the hour in Soliara to the south and east, where the hours and days of sunlight were longer, and it the time was currently an hour ahead at almost prima. According to my timepiece, the sun should be just about to rise in Invernali, and yet, the sun was up and well into the sky, as if it were closer to hora tertia here. Miles ahead.
I shook my head and wondered what drunken mischief had provoked me to set my watch back. And it was a magical watch; why would the stars even allow me to do such a thing? Pulling the watch's crown to second position, I twisted it until the hour hand reached almost to tertia. Feeling as if I had just travelled through time, losing those hours forever, I was no longer so amused, and no longer feeling like a lazy morning.
Not that I had stars damn anywhere else to be, since my latest project proposal had been scrapped. Yet I headed for the shower with a previously non-existent haste. Besides, I had an important meeting in Soliara in just a few hours.
I wouldn't notice until later, but the second I put the watch down, the arms of the Solaris swung back around, as if minutes and hours were being returned, until it came to rest at the top position, ante lucem, before dawn.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A/N Constellations Time Telling Terminology
In the Constellations series, words used to tell the time are based off Roman time-telling, when the hours of the day could only be counted by the sun's travel in the sky. Romans read the sundial to tell what hour of the day it was. Hours were actually longer in summer, when the sun was up for longer, and shorter in winter.
Ante lucem means before light. The first light, prima lux, was followed by 30 minutes of twilight, called diluculum.
The day began at sunrise, solis ortum. From the end of the first hour after sunrise, every hour is counted in order, from Prima (first) to Duodecima (twelfth), and then the sun sets.
Sunset is called solis occasus or suprema, and when the sun had sunk below the horizon, 30 minutes of twilight followed, called crepusculum, before nightfall, vespera.
Prima Lux: First Light Diluculum: Twilight Solis Ortum: Sunrise hora prima: first hour hora secunda: second . . . hora tertia horta quarta hora quinta hora sexta/meridies: Noon/midday hora septa hora octava hora nona hora decima hora undecima hora duodecima Solis occasus: Sunset Crepusculum: Twilight Vespera: Nightfall
Thank you for reading Stars Rise! Please leave a star if you were amused by Stephen's morning.
