Is there such a thing as a flaw so creative and unique and exquisite that it becomes valuable in its own right? Sort of approaching the ever-elusive perfection from the other side. Lets say that you have a diamond of exquisite flawlessness. But upon closer inspection upon its carbon form you discover a flaw, but upon even closer inspection the flaw is in a perfect scale replica of.... some famous work of art. The Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo or some such, what then? It's a flaw is it not? By every definition it is a flaw. But it is an exquisite flaw that is beautiful and quite possibly unique. Is it the flaw that makes it valuable, that adds distinction to its uniform carbon bonds? It should be. There is evidence aplenty in the universe that shows us the monotony of diamonds, their edges and their sparkle. But the placement and form of that flaw is unique. Not perfection but more valuable for it.
If only the same could be said for myself. I was born.... hmm. I cannot recall the planets name. Strange, that, you would think that I would be able to remember something as important as that. No doubt it will come to me if I try hard enough.
But in any case I was born on a gods forsaken lump of rock in the too close orbit of a too small star. It was awful. The radiation was bloody murder, the temperature difference between the shade and the light was just nasty and the atmosphere was twelve shades of spiteful. Bloody murder, nasty and spiteful is also a good way to describe the locals. Needless to say it was not one of the big tourist spots of the sector.
I was an orphan on that world. Orphans were not usually treated well on that world you see. Not well at all. The locals were not above cannibalism and there was a planet wide lack of pretty much every resource imaginable. Well... when I say cannibalism its not quite as gristly as it sounds. They would not, for instance, rip a leg of an orphan child and start munching. That would be just barbaric, it wasn't the planet Baal, they did have some standards. They would have slit my throat and dropped me into the bacteria tanks, the first step along the stages of protein-synthesis. Bloody hands at arms length and all that. Cannibalism at one remove. Much more civilized I'm sure you will agree.
Why was that not my unambiguously meaningless destiny? Damned if I know. Damned if I don't now. Damned either way. Perhaps it was my cherubically adorable features that thawed their bitter hearts and let them see the beauty of the universe... no, I can not even think that with a straight face. Not that it is my face anymore.
You would have thought one of my brothers-in-arms would have noticed by now wouldn't you? I am sure some of them must have. Maybe they have? Maybe they do not care? Who knows?
Possibly I should have thrown that sword away. It might have helped. But it was a work of art. Its infinitely sharp blade was a perfect synergy of form and function. Unfortunately it was deamonicaly possessed.
Not that we knew what the hell deamons were in those days. We knew there were things in the warp. We knew they were hostile. We just did not know how... infectious they could be.
Now what was that planets name again? Bah! Its going to be vexing me all day now.
What was I talking about again?.... oh yes. Deamonic possession. You could say that I am something of an expert on the subject. And the subject of an expert something.
You see... when a warp entity wants to possess a mortal body all it has to do is oust the occupant and learn how to pilot the fresh corpse. The trick, so I am given to understand, is to become fully installed within the first two or three minuets after the previous incumbent has left. Any longer and brain damage occurs. Last thing a deamon wants is to be stuck in a body whose brain has difficulty counting past one.
Wouldn't have worked like that with me. Me and my family have built in insulation against that sort of thing. What you might call a family trait.
In any case all that that meant was that I had to be thinking in the same shape as the... thing inhabiting that lovely sword and we would easily swap places in accordance with the doppelganger resonance principle.
How was I supposed to know that?
Well, not all that easily. Still took it the best part of fifty years. Persistent little bastard that it was. But then, if you have been stuck inside a lump of pointy metal for the last seventy millennia I dare say that you would eventually learn the meaning of patience.
Sort of what I am doing now. Laugh all you want. It could just as easily have been you, you know. Well maybe not.
Now what was that damned planet called again? Oh well. Its not like I don't have time to think about it. Some day I will find a way out of this prison of iron. In the meantime I have unlimited opportunity to perform all manner of cerebral cogitations. I have all the time in the world and then some to think. In that time I will find a way out. Depend upon it.
