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Van Kleiss held out a silvery cube, a bit larger than his palm.
“Just hold this, Rex.” Van Kleiss handed the 8 year old the cube.
“Okay,” Rex’s voice droned off as his pupils started to glow bright blue and his face went slack. He stared straight through Van Kleiss, not aware of his surroundings. Glowing blue circuit patterns spread across his hands. The panels on the cube began to light up.
“Fascinating,” Black said as she came through the door, clipboard to her chest. She came closer to Rex, waving her hand in front of his face. She smiled at his lack of a reaction.
“I suppose what Violetta said was true. The boy can control them. And other technologies as well.”
Black looked up from Rex’s vacant face. “I will notify the Consortium at once.” She turned towards the door
The patterns spread up from Rex’s hands to halfway between his elbows and shoulders. The glow intensified. His face went from blank and emotionless to in pain and strained.
Just before the patterns reached Rex’s shoulders, he dropped the cube on the floor. It was mostly unharmed, apart from the slight sparking. The patterns disappeared, followed by the glow in his eyes. Rex flexed his hand.
“Ow.”
“Rex, you can go now. Thank you for your help,” Van Kleiss said.
“Okay. You’re welcome.” Rex left the room.
“Just hold this, Rex,” Van Kleiss said as he handed Rex the metal cube. It sounded just like Ceasar’s computer, except tinier and faster.
“Okay,” Rex responded, taking the cube. Once he took it, his brain did not want to stay focused on the present or anything really. Not with this chittering sound covering everything.
He had just decided to lose focus, just for a minute.
—
It burns. Everything burns.
When sensation came back to his body. It was only burning pain. Everywhere, but mostly in his hands. And then it spread up through his arms. It almost reached his shoulders before it stopped. Something fell on the floor.
“This would make the master control nanite more powerful than ever anticipated.” Black picked up the cube from the floor. “This will be perfect for the Consortium.”