Tuesday. Day of connection. On his usual perambulatory exercises Pilot could feel his fourth appendage somewhat pulling in, as he frequently had. It was a complex movement. This day he worked at turning this tube back directly into the fourth position. Of course, its fourth position was unique in perspective to any other tube’s fourth, so knowing how exactly this felt and even how to go about it was primarily a matter of look and feel to him.
The cylinder kept wanting to stay in its usual position and to move in its usual way. This track, however, was not ideal, at least for Pilot’s intent, and besides, any track held to overlong could only serve to wear that track, possibly even resulting in failure. As both Pilot and Elevator knew, failure at anywhere near this juncture was inadvisable and therefore it really was best to find a new stride: if only it was not difficult to balance into fresh equilibriums!
Perhaps this leg’s fourth position was somehow related to calibration, for that had been Pilot’s primary focus for several days next. Reaching it far out behind him, to stage left, he felt his appendage quivering there, unwilling to stay passively in this extended ‘fourth’ position. That had to change. Perhaps indeed it already was in the process of changing—he knew it was, but there was a ways still to go.
For all that, Pilot maintained his position, uncomfortable though it may be, it helped maintain a sense of ‘aliveness’ that spurred and even ignited thoughts and further actions. For instance, he scanned alternate ways to activate this motion further in the future. Skates maybe?
Pilot spent the morning furnishing and caring for Elevator’s needs, besides his own. Needing both to begin to function in synchrony permanently was the idea, Pilot to that his own idea was at once both fiction and necessary made the whole thing not so maddening overall. There was no doubt whatsoever he had piloted Elevator to the edge and he had no intention of skating there for a nanoseond more than was necessary. Piloting Elevator was a lot like skating around, he thought dreamily. It was easier to move in arcs, generally. Once departing from a standing stop, however, ANY direction might be arrived at, the question at once departing was; had he stopped?
Yes, he remembered distinctly, he had even made a note about it. It was the beginning of the end day. Today was day 3 since. He had been fully stopped, then he had started again, quite slowly. Today he was up to queries he had formed the day hence, yesterday. Today was, in fact, about looking forward towards a destination time, sometime in the future, instead of the past. This time in the future had been dialled in yesterday, and yesterday as well questions had been posited, to fulfill on this day’s destination.
Already, in addition to care and maintenance for El, as well as its enrivons, taking a high perch on a new seat, in the sunshine of another room, facing South, Pilot next considered many research points he had visited in the last few hours.
The Exciting Life and Rising Times of the Elevator Pilot 