Ven: Part 2

Ch. 4 *0*

I sign my name at the bottom with a flourish.

Each time I've signed today has been a different signature.

It doesn't matter, the machine I run it through checks for some kind of mark down the bottom to process the forms.

I could threaten it with the end of my pen, and it would still get approved from the microscopic ink droplets that floated down.

It's all about the spectacle.

All these forms are the same anyway.

Someone did something outside of their paygrade and wants a promotion.

Someone else did something outside of their paygrade and died, now they want a posthumous promotion.

I oblige.

Because what does it matter.

I give them their numbers and they ascribe whatever meaning they like to them.

They bend to my will no matter what.

I have their lives in the very palm of my hand.

It doesn't matter.

This form is requesting more supplies.

I absently scribble nothing in the air, off to the side of the paper.

Reading it makes it seem like they really need them.

A harsh drought has struck.

They're almost out of water and food.

A far out base, barely populated.

There's no way for them to know when this arrived on my desk.

If they really need it, they'll ask again. I scrunch up the form and throw it over my shoulder, a satisfying rustling noise lets me know it made it into the bin.

A knock at the door rouses me from the stack of forms in front of me.

I wait, staring at the door.

There's another knock.

"Enter." I say evenly.

The door pushes open slowly, the floor and hinges making sounds of protest.

It is, of course, a pull door from the outside.

The man that walks in has a heavier foot fall on every alternate step, and his body is a metallic cacophony of whirs, hisses, and clanks.

I stare at him.

He stares back with one blue eye and one swiveling lens, sweat beading on what remains of his forehead.

He's nervous.

Yet optimistic.

A glossy 3 stands proudly on the breast of his shirt.

"Well?" I say, making him jump.

"I scanned the entire country like you ordered, sir!" He snaps to attention.

I stare at him.

He stares back.

"And?" I reply.

"I found something that might be of interest, sir!" He holds his hand out, a small mechanical ball sits atop it.

I slowly stand up from my desk and take very calculated steps towards him. I gently take the small ball and inspect it.

"Where did you find this?"

"In a hole in the ground, sir!" He barks.

On one side of the ball is a faint outline of a circle. I run my gloved thumb over it.

The circle pushes in slightly.

I firmly press the circle.

Something ripples out of the ball through the air.

All at once the cacophony of the man in front of me goes silent.

He collapses to the floor with a crash. He gasps for air, his one flesh arm fumbling weakly at dials and switches on his chest. I squat down and watch as he flips and turns them.

Nothing happens.

He thrashes madly, his arm nearly striking me.

It sags before it can hit, almost deflating before me.

I feel the panic spreading through his body, setting his eye alight. He reaches out to me more gently. The visage of a whale reflects in the lens of his eye. His arm drops, the light in his eye fades.

He's dead.

I stare fixated at the little ball in my hand.

I stand and walk to the phone on my desk. I pick up the receiver.

"Bring Meldrina to me, I have need of her." I say, hanging up the receiver.

Within minutes I feel her.

A ball of eagerness and adoration tries to compose itself on the other side of the door.

The door opens smoothly as she pulls it open.

I smirk behind my mask.

She's the first to get it right.

"Ms. Dictum," I greet her.

"Sir." She says evenly.

"Dispose of this," I gesture to the figure on the floor. "And you'll be taking over for me until further notice." I turn and begin walking out of the door. "I have become busy."

"Of course, sir." She replies.

I walk off, taking measured steps, my heart racing at the prospect of what I hold in my hands.

Someone has been putting powers into balls.