“A ball…”
Litvir wasn’t sure what they were looking at, except that it was a big, round, white ball. Weird things broke into the universe all the time, but Litvir couldn’t work out how this ball had gotten in. The problem wasn’t so much that it was there though, it was that the ball was there again. And it was bigger.
They had done what they had been asked to do already. They had called the strange Ksithans, they had taken pictures of the ball and they had gone away again. The ball hadn’t really done anything though. It was just there. And, somehow, it was capable of just… teleporting into the universe. At least, that was what Litvir thought at first. The ball did rotate slowly, and Litvir was now wondering whether the ball had just pushed its way in slowly or something.
But Litvir quickly went back on that idea, because there wasn’t enough time for it to do so. Yes, things could very slowly force their way through the membrane of the universe without damaging it, but the ball had only been here for at most twelve hours. It would take months or years to push through. This was literally the first part of Litvir’s patrol, and it was the last place they had patrolled the day proper. So Litvir went back to their theory that the ball had teleported in.
However, today, Litvir had a bit of a problem. The last time they had seen the ball, it was about 3m in diameter. Bigger than Litvir, but still light enough that Litvir could use their gunstaff and their weak telekinetic powers to move the ball without touching it. Now, the ball was about 6m across, much bigger than Litvir. And harder to move.
After some thought, Litvir decided to call for backup. They grabbed their communicator and looked at the top eleven names on their contacts list. The ones that had been pinned there by old mama Elkay for easy access. With even more thought, Litvir decided to call Aster. Aster would help. Aster would also not be angry at Litvir for asking for help.
Aster didn’t answer the phone call. He was probably busy. So Litvir sent them a text message asking for help, then went back to watching the ball.
Admittedly, Litvir couldn’t tell if the ball was moving or not. Or what it was made of. Litvir didn’t want to touch it, in case it was the nasty corruption stuff, but white instead of black. Then again, they hadn’t seen corruption just floating in a ball like this. Corruption was normally wet and inky and tried to spread out. This ball was just a ball. It seemed solid, but since Litvir couldn’t touch it, they had no way of telling. The ball also wasn’t moving much. It just seemed to hover in place, right at the bottom of the universe. It rotated slowly, but didn’t go anywhere. Corruption normally tried to go places. This just sat there, doing nothing.
Litvir decided to do something a little risky. They decided to try and use their telepathy on the ball. Except… nothing happened. It wasn’t alive, as far as Litvir could tell. But since they had never used their telepathy on corruption before, Litvir didn’t know what to expect. Maybe corruption also didn’t seem like it was alive if Litvir used their telepathy.
After about twenty minutes of looking at the ball (and taking some pictures and video to look at later), Litvir heard a beep. It was their communicator.
Aster: Sorry, friend, did you need me?
Litvir quickly and clumsily typed a response.
Litvir: yes please
Litvir: the ball is back but it is bigger
Litvir: can you help me get rid of it please?
Aster: The ball?
Litvir: it is here
Litvir: I will show you
Aster: Where is here?
Litvir: the exact bottom of the universe
Aster: Alright. Give me a moment.
It seemed Aster was correct in his statement. After about a minute, Aster suddenly appeared. Litvir waved at Aster and beckoned him over.
“Huh. You were right. It IS a ball.”
“I know!” Litvir exclaimed. “It is bigger today as well. I do not like it. But I cannot move it very well. I do not want to touch it.”
“Fair enough…” Aster muttered. He was also inspecting the ball now. But after a few seconds, he just shrugged.
“Is it bad?” Litvir asked.
“I think it’s just… lost? I don’t think it’s corruption though. It’s not trying to eat us. We should get it out of the universe though. It’s not supposed to be here.”
Litvir nodded in agreement. “Should we break it? I did not want to break it, in case it explodes into lots of little bits of corruption. That would be bad.”
“You’re probably right there. I think, what we should do, we should push it out really hard. Give it a lot of speed, send it off into the void, so it doesn’t come back…”
Aster thought some more, then raised his hands. Litvir noticed the ball had stopped slowly rotating.
“Should I make a hole so you can put it outside?” Litvir asked.
“Yes, please. Can you make the hole nice and big? I don’t want the ball to catch on the edges of the universe as I push it out.”
Litvir did as they were told. They took the sharp edge of their gunstaff and used it as a guide to fire off some light lasers. A neat line was cut, which Litvir then moved and held open with their telekinesis. Aster then started altering gravity around the ball. He first made it start spinning, to give it some speed, then thrust it through the hole and out into the void outside the universe.
The spin meant that the ball accelerated out rather quickly, and before long, the ball faded into the distance, disappearing from view.
Satisfied, Litvir took a few pictures, then got to work sealing the hole they had made. Some light lasers cauterised the cut in the membrane, and everything was swiftly closed off.
“Thank you for the help, Aster!” Litvir smiled as they holstered their gunstaff.
“No worries, friend!” Aster smiled back. “You should send those photos to Elkay though. Get him to check it out.”
“I will, as soon as I finish my patrol. I am a little behind now, but that is alright, because the ball is gone!”
Aster smiled some more, then patted Litvir on the shoulder, then drifted off. “Alright. I’ve got work to do too, so I’ll see you later.”
“Bye!”
With a wave, Aster disappeared. Litvir stared at where Aster had been standing for a moment, glanced at where the ball had been, then went back to their duties, feeling more confident.