A lab accident gives a scientist the power to control minds, and he uses it for his own pleasure in At His Command, available only on Body Swap Stories and Smashwords.
Mason is trialing a new experiment, a last ditch effort to not get fired from his lab, when an accident changes everything. The machine sparks and fizzes and alters his mind.
Gradually, Mason becomes aware of his new powers. He can control people, make them do whatever he tells them. He uses these mind control powers to get revenge on his boss, fix his marriage, and have the experience he’s always wanted with the hot next door neighbor.
Note that this story does not contain any TG elements and is pure mind control.
It was against every rule of our laboratory to test an experiment on myself but I was desperate. I was alone, my schedule cleared, the door locked. If this trial didn’t show results I was certain I’d be fired.
While I waited for the computer to run its diagnostics, I checked over the helmet. It was a crisscross of metal braces connected to sensor pads that would lie against the neck and forehead. Between the braces was a mess of wires and circuit boards, connected in a way that was functional but not aesthetically pleasing. A prototype. Others could worry about design later.
I checked my phone again on the off chance that my wife, Amber, had responded to my messages. She hadn’t. Still mad at me, I guessed. Our marriage hadn’t been going that well these past few months. I admit I was partially to blame. The pressures my boss were placing on me to show results made me a nervous wreck and that pressure led to some screaming matches with my wife. Honestly, though, even before that we were having arguments about stupid things: I bought the wrong brand of milk, she spent all her time scrolling the internet, I parked the car in the wrong spot, she didn’t put out the trash cans in time for the truck. Last night was a particularly bad one when I tried to initiate sex for the first time in weeks and somehow that resulted in a screaming match about who took care of who more. I’d slept on the couch. Amber hadn’t come out of her room by the time I left for work so I sent an apology text. No response. That meant she was still simmering.
The computer beeped to alert me the diagnostics results were complete. All the lights were green. Time to try this.
I strapped the helmet onto my head, adjusting the sensors until they sat against my skin and tightening the straps until the whole thing was firmly in place. The helmet was unwieldy and I held onto it with one hand so it wouldn’t overbalance and fall while I typed in the last of the commands with my other hand. In theory, the helmet was supposed to stimulate my neurons and increase the connections between them. Basically, it should supercharge my brain and make me more intelligent.
That result would also assuage my boss, Beth Ferndale, that my research was worthwhile and ‘financially viable’. Gah. She was a representative of the investment firm that had purchased my lab and all she cared about was how much revenue we could generate. Science for its own sake was anathema to her and the other investors. Every conversation I had with her was rage-inducing. I hadn’t yelled at her but I’d come close. She didn’t respect me. I was just a lowly scientist at the bottom of the totem pole who was losing her money.
I pressed ‘enter’ and the helmet hummed as the system started up. The readouts on the screen changed but everything was still within parameters. I felt…nothing. Was it even working? I dialed up the intensity. Heard the hum increase. Was that a tingling in my forehead or was I imagining it because I so desperately wanted proof this was all working? I bumped it up another few notches, pushing the readouts to yellow, still just within the margin of safety.
The hum filled my ears and made my teeth vibrate. But as for more intelligence I couldn’t tell. I let it run for a few minutes and was reaching out to turn it off, resigned to failure, when something popped and sparked behind the computer. I jumped back. Then the helmet sparked, sending a jolting vibration I felt all the way down to my toes. Fuck, I was electrocuting myself.
I jammed at the ‘stop’ button but nothing happened. The system was frozen. Desperate now, the vibration making the whole room fuzzy, I scrabbled for the straps to rip off the helmet. In my haste I knocked over the table, the whole system crashing to the floor. There was one last spark and an explosion that threw me off the chair as the entire room went dark.
I must have passed out. Gradually, I became aware of an insistent beeping sound and the harsh white glow of the emergency lights. I was lying on the floor, my head crooked at a funny angle thinks to the unwieldy helmet still strapped to my skull. My head ached, a deep throbbing in my forehead that made stabbing pain and nausea shoot through me whenever I moved. It was like a migraine but centered at the front of my skull.
Someone knocked on the door outside. A woman’s voice called out to me, sharp and crisp: “Mason? Mason are you in there? Are you okay?” Of course it was fucking Beth.
“I’m okay,” I called out, my voice hoarse.
I struggled to sit up, each motion threatening the wave of pain and nausea to overwhelm me. After a few seconds with my eyes closed the room stopped spinning and I carefully reached up to remove the helmet. The braces were scorched black from where something had fizzled. I was lucky I hadn’t been electrocuted. I didn’t feel any smarter. Sitting on the floor with the scorched remains of my experiment I actually felt like a complete idiot.
The doorknob jiggled and then the door opened. A security guard stood in the doorway, the keys in his hand. Beth stood beside him. She wore a slick green pantsuit, her brunette hair up in a bun so tight it seemed like it was pulling her face back into a pinched scowl. But no, that was just her normal look. She’d be pretty if she ever dropped that severe look she wore at all times, like everyone was trying to put something over on her. Her deep green eyes surveyed the mess of the room.
The security guard came over and helped me to stand. The pain and nausea were subsiding slowly but I staggered and clasped my hand to my forehead. The security guard helped me into a chair while Beth glared at the mess of my instruments.
“What the hell was going on here?” Beth asked.
“Trying something,” I said.
“Doesn’t look like it worked,” she glowered. “Looks like you destroyed a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of equipment.”
“I’m okay. Thanks for asking.”
At least Beth had the decency to look ashamed in front of the security guard. I never had much respect for Beth. She was a nepo baby, given a huge trust fund and every opportunity. She’d got the job because she could cut the most costs.
“You need first aid?” The security guard asked.
“No, thanks, I’ll be fine. You can go. It’s more embarrassing than anything.”
The security guard glanced at Beth for confirmation, who nodded. When the security guard left, Beth turned to me. “Your experiment almost fried everything on this floor.”
“That’s what emergency systems are for,” I mumbled. The pain was subsiding but I was too depressed to give a shit about anything anymore. It hadn’t worked. I’d blown up the lab and was probably going to get fired. My life was shit.
“Mason, this is serious. You’re not following protocols and, even worse, you’re not showing any results.”
“Shut up and go away,” I said.
“No,” she shook her head. “You need to clean all this up and file an incident report. I want to know exactly what kind of experiment you—”
“I said shut up and go away!” Something buzzed in my head with those words and I could practically feel the force of them leaping out towards Beth.
Beth’s mouth snapped shut mid-sentence. She turned sharply on her heels and practically ran out of the room. I’d never seen her move like that before. Probably I scared the hell out of her. Well, at least she would leave me alone.
Read the rest on Body Swap Stories and Smashwords.