The OHM

“There are consequences because the mafia has purchased your soul”
- Rowan

Dearest Albert,

I’m sorry you have not heard from us in so long. The quiet corner of the Multiverse in which we have found ourselves has little in the way of connection: hence a letter is not only a charming medium but a necessary one.

Things were a bit strained when last we talked: I hope Orbital leaving was not too distressing. We would have stayed with you for it, but I fear our presence would not have made it any easier… rather the contrary. We have had this argument many times and I don’t care to repeat it. Still, while neither myself nor Protection regret our actions, we do regret the pain they have caused you. I truly hope you are well, and happy. You deserve to be.

The World we are staying on is beautiful. Sun, sky, sea: things I have long missed. Alabaster sands stretch from one horizon to the other, and every evening the local star sets amethyst over the sea as luminescing zooids dance amidst the surf. I think you would like it, if you saw it. Our hosts take hospitality very seriously though: sometimes we joke that we will walk into the manager’s office and find you there.

We have enjoyed our time here greatly. We are sharing a small seafront cabin, just the two of us. Protection is having some difficulty… unwinding. I suspect I am taking to it rather more easily than she: the long years have not changed her as they have us, I think. I hope in time she will be able to let her guard down a little: it has been so long since I saw her truly happy.

Still, she does seem to have found something she enjoys! Recently she has busied herself with building some really rather remarkable sand castles. It is actually getting somewhat out of hand: I think this whole stretch of beach is in danger of becoming some kind of tourist attraction. She talks as much about the ramparts and fortifications as she once did about the Emporium Security Systems… I can’t pretend to understand the intricacies, but it is nice to hear her enthusiasm again.

For my part, the time spent reclining on deck chairs in the shade of the trees, pondering the Multiverse and the new position we find ourselves in has been refreshing. I have gotten rather too familiar with scheming, I think: I’ve gotten as good at hiding the truth from myself as you. A little introspection is long overdue.

I often think on how our relationship could have been different. Albert, you are the most giving being I have ever known. You are the best of us. Watching you slowly destroy yourself to make others happy has been heartbreaking. Hearing you say that you can take it, while others could not… it is not your job to take the inequities of the Multiverse upon yourself. Quite apart from the fact that you deserve to not be stressed within a hair's breadth of a mental breakdown, you do enough. You are enough.

I hope you can come to see yourself the way we see you.

We are thinking of staying a little longer. It has been so, so long since myself or Protection has had any rest, and we are only just realising how tired we are. We wake up tired. We spend our days tired. We suffer the deep tiredness of a purpose worn thin. It is getting easier though. I think you would see this in yourself, if you paused for a moment.

I know you won’t accept, but the invitation to join us is as ever open. You do actually have the bandwidth to spend some time somewhere else without the place literally falling apart now, you know.

We’ll be home soon.

All our love, Egbert and Protection

P.S. That Frey Wheeler is a talented Entity: I’d put them in charge of something important if I were you. I did and have not regretted the results.

P.P.S. Please do tell The Invisible Hand to stop smoking those awful cigars. Discorporate them if you must, but them a vape if that is what it takes! Also let them know that we say hi.