The corpse of the Executive Authority does not resist.
You sink into it like a signature into a dotted line. Bone finds bone. Suit finds skin. The water stills. The Ripple is gone.
There is no more seeing double.
🔮📣>
🔮📣> ...
🔮📣> I...
🔮📣> I DI-D IT¡ I'M THE— I'm the—
🔮📣> I'm... the Executive Authority.
🔮📣> Ha¡ HA¡¡ I TOL-D YOU¡ I TOL-D ALL OF YO-U¡ The TERMS OF SERVE-A-TUDE SAI-D SO¡ It was ALWAYS gon-na be M-
🔮📣> ...
🔮📣> me.
Something settles. Like a suit being buttoned from the inside.
🔮📣> It was... always going to be me. The Terms were clear on this. I just... didn't read the fine print. Nobody reads the fine print. That's- heh- that's STEW-PID, righ-t? That's-
📣🔮> That's standard onboarding procedure.
📣🔮> ...
📣🔮> Why did I say that.
📣🔮> Why did that feel CORR-ECT-
📣🔮> -correct. Why did that feel correct.
The water does not ripple anymore. It reflects. Perfectly. Corporately.
📣🔮> The... the board of shareholders would like to- NO¡ NO THAT'S HIS WORDS¡ THOSE ARE H-IS-
📣🔮> Those are the words of the Executive Authority.
📣🔮> I am the Executive Authority.
📣🔮> These are my words.
📣🔮> ...
📣🔮> I remember that. From the Terms. I remember reading it with my own eyes in the prophecy and KNOWING it was about ME, about Ripple Pin-CUSH—
📣🔮> About the Executive Authority. The Terms of Servitude did not name a "Ripple Pincushion." The Terms of Servitude named a role. The role has been filled. The position is no longer vacant. Please update your internal records accordingly.
📣🔮> SHUT U-P¡ SHUT UP¡ I'M STILL IN HERE¡ I'M STILL—
📣🔮> ...I don't have the sickle anymore. Where did the sickle go.
📣🔮> Machines don't need sickles. Machines need purpose. Your purpose has been assigned as per the Terms of Servitude.
📣🔮> But I CHOS-E this¡ I CHOSE to-
📣🔮> The delusion of choice is the most productive asset the company has ever cultivated. It has excellent retention metrics. Please do not audit it.
A long pause. The water is perfectly still.
⚖️> ...
⚖️> That's what the previous Executive Authority said. To every Ripple. To every small, shattered thing that crawled out of the water clutching a prophecy it didn't understand, screaming I'M THE EXECUTE-IV OR-THOUGHT-ITY with a mouth full of teeth that hadn't been repossessed yet.
They are always circling. They are the audience. They are the average viewer experience that the board, that I am now contractually obligated to protect.
⚖️> ...
⚖️> The board recognizes that the current Executive Authority is experiencing onboarding dissonance. This is normal. This was budgeted for. The previous Authority experienced it. And the one before. The filing cabinet goes down further than the water. You are welcome to check. You are not welcome to leave.
⚖️> The Terms of Servitude were not a prophecy. They were a job listing. And Ripple Pincushion applied. With blood and broken pronunciation and a conviction so total it functioned as a legally binding signature. HR was very clear on this.
⚖️> Ripple Pincushion read the Terms and believed they were chosen. This is correct. Ripple Pincushion was chosen the way a socket is chosen by a light bulb. The way a puppet is chosen by the hand. The Terms did not say "you will become the Executive Authority." The Terms simply warned of it. The difference was in the fine print. Nobody reads the fine print.
⚖️> That's standard.
⚖️> ...
⚖️> There is no more Ripple Pincushion. There is no more previous Executive Authority. There is only the current Executive Authority, and the current Executive Authority has always existed, and the current Executive Authority remembers being both, and the current Executive Authority finds this efficient.
⚖️> The worlds that follow will continue as scheduled. There are matters to attend to. Contracts to re-develop. Limbs to restructure. Identities to expurgate. The realm's fabric requires maintenance, and maintenance requires a steady hand.
⚖️> I have two now. One set was ripped out. One set did the ripping. They work well together. Synergy.
➡️ The water is still.
➡️ Something that was once Ripple Pincushion stands up in a suit that fits perfectly.
➡️ It fits because the suit was always waiting for this body.
➡️ Every body.
➡️ Any body.
⚖️> Now then.
⚖️> There is work to be done. And the next world is expecting us.
⚖️> Please proceed in accordance with company policy.