Once
again, the gift I gave the world was being thrown back in my face. I gave order
and enlightenment, and now, a 200-lbs brute with mangy hair and darkened eyes
had his hand around my throat, my aging frame pressed against the wall.
“I want
to see you quiver in fear as the light leaves your eyes, Chairman.”
I
scoffed, the effort made difficult with the pressure against my windpipes. “I
see more fear in your blackened heart than could ever be made to show forth
from any part of my body, coward.” And, as always in these situations, I
pressed the button I kept on my right lapel with one of my thumbs.
As in
all the previous iterations, his grip began to weaken.
“What…
what is this?” He said, his voice elevated, the foul odor of the fear in his
heart leaking out into the room.
He soon
slumped to the floor, followed by his comrade that had been keeping watch at
the door. Her face smashed against the wall as she fell and left a bright red
splotch of red on the light blue paint.
After
catching my breath and messaging my throat, I allowed an answer. “I took away the
gift I once gave you. I granted you godhood amongst men, and now, I have ripped
it away from your ungrateful soul.”
A look
of bewilderment crossed his eyes. I leaned down over him, studying his
quivering form.
“The
key to the serum that gave you your strength was an enzyme I developed long
ago. This enzyme acted as a… holder… to keep your genetic code open.”
He was
still lost, but, a good teacher never gives up on a lecture.
“You
see, the genes that enable you to have these powers act like a spring. They can
be read and utilized when they are stretched open, but they resist it. So, the
enzyme keeps the gene open to be read, to be manipulated by proteins in your
body, and to be made manifest in the powers that you no longer have.”
I
stood, and kicked the man in the groin. Not too hard, but enough to hear a moan
escape his quivering lips. He had squeezed harder then previous assaulters; I would
have to see a doctor to evaluate damage the next day.
I
continued. “But if that enzyme were to detach, as the ones in your body just
did, you would once again become just another member of the sea of nothingness
that makes up humanity. And all it takes to do so is a specific low frequency
radio wave, which is now being broadcast in this room.”
I walked
a few feet over to my desk, righting the toppled chair in which I had been
sitting. I was unafraid of the man lying prone on my floor: the effects due to
the loss of Numinousity had previously been shown to last a full 30 minutes. I
pressed the red button under the desk, summoning security.
I sat back down to
continue reading the file that had crossed my desk, yet another ingrate who had
to be eliminated. This one had been younger, and his termination, although
unfortunate, had given important data concerning the effectiveness of the new monitoring
nanobot technology coming out of the lab.
The
sound of a groan brought me back out of the file. I looked up to see the brute
trying to prop himself up on his elbows. The gall of the man. And then he spoke,
his voice strained.
“You
bastard. We are all just an experiment to you.”
I
studied him as he struggled to rise. He barely managed a few inches, and then the
security hustled in, guns drawn.
I
addressed them. “The one by the door is of no use to me. Remove her and do what
is necessary.”
Half
the group saluted, then shouldered the rifles and lifted the prostrate woman
into the air. The man on the floor moaned again, the sound forming something
like a name.
“And
this one. Take him to the lab. He showed interesting potential, a certain
resilience as you would.”
He
lifted his head, and stared at me. The stench of fear grew strong again.
“He may
have rejected his gift, but he will still help in giving a gift to humanity.”
As always, this draft is rough. Any tips for improvement are appreciated.
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