The wheel

According to Professor Helvetius of the Society of the Evaluators, time, at least in the 925th Universe, was constantly looping in on itself, with the same events repeating over and over, “day in and day out, round and round like a wheel on an endless road”. Though made of stone, this “wheel” was being gradually worn down (perhaps due to the malicious influence of a specific entity). Still according to Helvetius, “until the universe [became] strong enough to replace [the wheel], it create[d] patches to fill in the cavities” with each rotation. For this reason, the repeating events changed subtly with every do-over.

Most people could not perceive the rotations, but Professor Helvetius was aware of them, able to determine if she was or wasn't experiencing a given event for the “first time”, and to notice alterations between rotations. She once tried to explain the wheel and its rotations to Jenny Over-There and Dynamite Thor, but they didn't understand her, eventually coming to the incorrect conclusion that her metaphysical talk was simply a metaphor for the everyday experience of being stuck in a routine and trying to break out of it. (PROSE: A Series of Queer Events (2024 reedit))

Behind the scenes

Concept of “the wheel” and its “rotations” serves as a metafictional, in-universe acknowledgement of the edits made by Callum Phillpott to the original run of Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe stories when they were republished on the newly-launched official series website in 2024.