Ishta...
Ishta was vaguely aware of some sort of thought creeping through his mind in response to hearing his name. He was sure it wasn't in any language he remembered learning. Maybe when the language processing part of his brain shut down it ended up closing the main parts and left open some of the forgotten languages. Only... he couldn't remember learning any other languages. Not actively learning anyway. All he knew was that the computer screen stopped making sense a few minutes ago. He wasn't even sure what they were supposed to be when he could read them. Now they had lots of squiggly bits. They jiggled.
ISHTA!!!!!!
Woah... the computer made sense again. His eyes hurt though, stung, gyah. He shook his head and blinked a few times. Blinking felt good. He blinked a few more times. It made his eyeballs feel nice.
Ishtaaaaa... Azi Dahak growled, low and buzzing in his mind. You were sleeping. Do you know how long?
Ishta stopped, mid-blink. That would explain the squiggly text all over the computer screen. Surely he had the image of a computer displaying various military reports burned into his retinas. He could vaguely remember the one currently on the screen, something about renegades around the general Ipollius area... more or less. Maybe a second or two?
Five minutes Ishta. Five whole minutes. You thought I wouldn't catch you? I knew the second you kept your eyes shut after you blinked. I was waiting for your mouth to open so you would drool all over yourself and wake up. You didn't!! Why don't you drool anymore!
I drooled? Ishta poked the corners of his lips. They were dry. Maybe it was on the desk. Ishta leaned forward to look and flopped downward. The desk felt good. Mmmmm plastic. Ishta nuzzled his cheek into it.
You didn't drool! Ishta! Are you broken? DON'T GO TO SLEEP AGAIN!
Ishta sat up, his hair flaring up all around him like a cobra's hood. I'mma sleeping not.
Lies. Azi Dahak hissed. I should take a hair from your head for every second you dared sleep!
Ishta whimpered and tried to focus on the computer screen. There was nothing useful in this report. It looked like another report he'd seen- bah, some time in the past. He couldn't remember getting anything useful out of that report. This was such a-
No... actually, I think I'll just make you shave those hairs out of your beard. You're not worthy of one anymore. No no no no, you can keep that sorry excuse of a beard. I want them to come out of your head!
Next report, pretty much the same thing but in a different area. Space. Not good. Azi Dahak would rather they went hunting on Earth, so he could come along. No good, no good. Ishta poured over it anyway, to see if the details matched with any of the others. Not that he could really remember the others anymore, he couldn't even remember if he'd been writing down notes in Scribe. He vaguely remembered opening a document and typing something, but that could have been last night or last year.
Ishta, I have made my decision.
Ishta brought up the next report. It is? Knowing Azi Dahak, he'd make a ritual out of it, make him say something about exchanging strands of hair for seconds of sleep and have him further mutilate the poor plucked hair once it was off his head. Burn it or cut it into tiny pieces and scatter it from the roof of the Citadel. The poor hairs. It wasn't their fault he couldn't stay awake.
I think that you have done enough work. There are plenty of unworthy humans for us to hunt. You may go get some more sleep and caffeine and whatever else keeps you moving around. I will summon you when I need you again. Go on now. Shoo! Azi Dahak dropped the connection between himself and Ishta. The green light on his antennae, which was standing at attention outside the port at his left temple, faded. The antennae folded itself back into the port with a soft whirr. An access denied screen appeared where the report was seconds earlier. The words access denied were blinking.
Ishta always got a little jolt of something after disconnecting from the Network. Whatever it was was usually enough to keep him aware and generally awake for a couple minutes. Probably long enough to try looking for a vending machine with coffee or some sort of energy drink. After slamming down a couple of those he'd be conscious enough to make it back to his home. Maybe. Ishta shut down the computer and stumbled out of his office.
He was a mess. There were heavy bags under his eyes, which weren't focusing on anything on particular. His hair, which usually floated around like waves in a pool barely managed to flutter; most of it hung listlessly around his shoulders. Ishta was glad he couldn't concentrate on smelling anything, it'd been awhile since he last had a shower or changed clothes. At least his office had a working air conditioner.
Ishta braced an hand against the wall and shuffled down the hallway, trying to remember if there was a vending machine somewhere on this floor.
