“Hmph. I thought we got rid of you?”
Elkay didn’t normally do border patrols, but today he was giving Litvir and Aster a hand because they’d asked for his help. Litvir very rarely needed help on border patrols, but the tone of their voice as it echoed through Elkay’s communicator had forced him to get up, head out, grab Aster and join Litvir at the very bottom of the universe.
“The ball! It is back!” Litvir seemed genuinely concerned. “It is not bigger but it is back!”
“Indeed.”
“It is back!”
“You already said that, Litvir. You need to calm down…” Elkay grunted.
“But it is back! And I think it is bad! It has not grown in size, it is the same size as it was when Aster and I pushed it back out of the universe last time, but it is here and it needs to go!”
Elkay floated up and patted Litvir on the shoulder. Sometimes the baby Rethan would get over the top, and physical contact would make Litvir calm down.
“It’s fine. We’ll get some samples then we’ll push it out of the universe again. It’s fine. Right, Aster?”
Aster seemed less sure. “I guess…”
Elkay turned to Aster. “Is something wrong?”
“It looks more solid this time. It’s more dense. Sure, it’s not bigger, but it is way, way heavier than last time.”
“What do you mean?” Elkay asked.
“When we got rid of it last time, it was pretty light. Litvir just wanted help because it’s a massive ball and they didn’t want to touch it or anything. Which is fair, Litvir and I think it’s some sort of Corruption or something. But this time, it’s heavy. Like the difference between a golf ball and a ping pong ball.”
“Oh…” Elkay was a tad more concerned now. He turned back to Litvir. “Litty, dear, was the ball here yesterday?”
“No! I keep on checking here because the ball came back and it was gone and I have checked every day since Aster and I got rid of the ball, but the ball is here again! And it is thicker!”
The tone of Litvir’s voice was more concerning than Aster’s words. Litvir was legitimately slightly scared of the big white ball. Although that did somewhat make sense. Litvir wasn’t scared of much, but things they struggled to comprehend did always bother them.
“Well, don’t worry, Litvir, we’re going to get rid of the ball.”
“But it will come back again…” Litvir whimpered. “I do not like it… it is… whispery…”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I…” Litvir trailed off for a moment. “It is hard to explain.”
“Is it alive?”
“I… I do not know… Not alive like an animal… But maybe… Not unthinking like a plant but… there is something there… It just gives me a bad feeling. Like… You know when you have the machine that tells you if there is rad… radio… radiation nearby? It makes the clicky clicky noises? And it makes more clicky noises the more radiation there is? The ball is making a little clicky noise but on the telepathic spectrum. It is not dead but there is a… thing.”
Aster glanced at Elkay. Elkay glanced back.
“Sounds like Corruption…” Elkay eventually muttered. “Alright. Let’s get this bastard ball out of here. But this time, Aster, I think you need to squish it down with your gravity powers. A lot.”
“What if it ruptures?” Litvir asked. “We do not want to make it spread!”
“Don’t worry. As long as I keep the centre of gravity on the inside of the ball, it’ll just collapse in on itself. And if we get any on us, we can just use our own blood to neutralise it, like we always do.”
“Yea-” Elkay suddenly paused. “Wait, what?”
“What?” Aster asked.
“What do you mean, using our blood to neutralise it?”
“Our blood makes the nasty Corruption stuff go away!” Litvir smiled weakly. “Did you not know, mama?”
“I… I did not know… How long have you known this?”
Litvir shrugged. “Since the first time I tried to kill a Corruption and it went all explode-y? But I already had blood on me because the nasty black stuff was on a metal meanie and when my blood touched the black stuff, it hissed and bubbled and screeched and evaporated!”
“And… how long have you known, Aster?”
Aster also shrugged. “Litvir told me like, the day after, I think? This was not long after the Sudden Darkness. They told Murum’Va, Aesop and Dalosisaar about it as well, and Murum’Va and I tested it out with our own blood and it worked.”
Elkay stared at Aster, then shook his head and tutted. “Well, that’s useful information. Would have been even more useful a while ago, but it’s still useful information now. Anyway, let’s get this stupid fucking ball of stupidity out of here. Litvir, kid, can you make a hole, please?”
Litvir did as they were told, while Aster got to work focusing on the ball. Since the ball was quite dense and already had some gravitational heft, it didn’t take too long for Aster to isolate that gravitational pull and increase it. Before long, the ball began to slowly shrink down, collapsing on itself.
“Should I… crush it completely?” Aster grunted.
“We’re not allowed to make black holes, so don’t go too far, but make it as small as possible.”
“Alright…”
Aster continued to concentrate, but the density of the material was making it harder and harder to crush. Eventually though, the formerly 6m ball was now about 10cm across, and Aster delicately moved the ball to the hole that Litvir had made in the membrane of the universe. With a smile, Aster then hurled the ball out, and it swiftly vanished, disappearing into the darkness.
“We good?” Elkay asked.
“I think so, yeah… I assume you’re going to go to Epani and ask what in the void that thing was?”
Elkay nodded. “I’m going to go and speak to her right now. Aster, do you mind accompanying me?”
“I don’t mind. But what about Litvir?”
Litvir seemed to have calmed down, but not by much. They finished sealing up the hole in the side of the universe, then sighed. “I… I have to finish my patrol… I will come back here at the end of my patrol and check again.”
“Alright, you do that, kiddo!” Elkay smiled. “Come on, Aster. Let’s have a chat with Epani…”