Indigo Jaxx, general of the Death’s Head, wipes sweat from his forehead and straightens the sleeve of his silver-and-black uniform. He hates himself for doing so and knows that he will make someone suffer for his moment of weakness. He’s a Death’s Head general, after all.
“You understand?”
Raising his head, General Jaxx meets the eyes burning into his own.
“Oh yes,” he says. “I understand.”
“You find him,” says the voice.
The general nods.
“He is nobody. It is important you remember that.” The voice has said this before. It is obviously significant. And a response is obviously required.
“Nobodies can be difficult to find-”
“But you will find him?”
“Yes, sir.”
Other functionaries give OctoV a wide range of titles. Great leader, victorious emperor, all-seeing mind… General Jaxx calls him sir. So far, OctoV has not complained. In fact, the general is pretty sure he likes it.
“And when I find him, sir?”
“You bring him to me.”
“Alive or dead?”
The boy standing in front of General Jaxx smiles and a cold wind blows through the general’s mind, eviscerating the last fragments of his self-control. Every meeting is like this. The general has known officers to kill themselves because they cannot bear to come into his presence.
“Alive, obviously,” says the voice. “You will test his loyalty, his stamina, his ability to obey orders…”
“And if he fails the tests, sir?”
“You will have failed me.”
“I will not-” begins General Jaxx.
But it’s too late.
The general finds himself standing alone. The last flicker of OctoV’s mind offers General Jaxx a sixteen-digit set of coordinates. As the general checks these against a database in his own mind, he discovers the planet in question is a worthless piece of rock at the outer edge of the spiral.
He didn’t even know it was inhabited.
David Gunn
Death's Head