Author: Pescador del Valle Title: All the Bases are Loaded Summary: A Mind Control Story Keywords: humour, no sex Language: English Copyright: 2010 Comments appreciated : see Pescador del Valle on www.asstr.org/authors.html ********************************************************* They had about given up on the treasure map that had been behind the photo Billy's grandfather had left as what seemed a measly inheritance. None of the features seemed to exist where the map said they did - at least not in *THIS* era - but a sparkle in the dirt distracted Billy just as a brighter spark flashed overhead. He dug his fingernails around the edge of the gold disk and pulled it free of the soft limestone. "Wow! This must have been here when the whole area was covered in ocean." Suzy brushed the surface and the ruby-like gem that had caught Billy's eye glowed malevolently. "I don't think you should put that on, Billy." "Why? Look, the chain is still flexible." He freed the grit between the links and slipped it over his head. "See. Nothing happened." A shadow covered the area and the siblings looked up. "I had to open my big mouth!" A burst of light surrounded Billy - and everything went dark. Unseen now, another beam of bright light surrounded Billy and he was lifted through the air and into a hatch while his sister looked up in amazement at the bottom of the unusual craft. Billy picked up speed as he approached and crashed headfirst into the ceiling. The door closed to form a floor for his unconscious body. --- "Greetings Williamjameskent. Do not be afraid." There was no sound - Billy was sure of that - and yet he still heard the words in his head. "Who are you?" "My name is not important as I have little time to explain before I must leave you lest I expose you to more danger than I must. There is an evil presence approaching your planet and you have been chosen as its defender." "Me! Why me?" "A scan of the population showed us that you possess a "Z" chromosome as well as the normal male "XY" pair. This is most unusual but makes it easier for us to enhance your physical form so you can resist the invader and fight back on shis terms." "Shis?" "The invader has a hermaphroditic form that just happens to be compatible with a human's. Your Z chromosome allows you to morph between male and female forms allowing you to seduce shim in both shis aspects." "Ignoring the issue of any seduction for a minute, what the hell do you mean I can turn into a girl? I've always been a boy!" "Our investigations show your parents were world-renowned virologists and geneticists before their fatal - and mysterious - car crash. Though they kept their backgrounds and research secret from you, their experimentation attempted to produce a new species, "Homo trans", who would break the glass ceiling and end pay inequality. You are the first of that new species and are to be the Adam of your new race." "Adam, shmadam. I can't even get a girlfriend!" "Puberty for _Homo trans_ comes later, after you have experienced your normal human puberty - though it is faster. In fact our medical tests reveal, among other things, that you should pass through it in the next nine hours. During that time your body will cycle between male and female forms until you learn to control it. You will need to be careful you do not fall pregnant during that time as your Z chromosome is also responsible for the hyper-pheromone that will drive males wild while you are in your female form and females when you are male." "Oh great! Lock me up now, What were the 'among other things' your tests revealed?" "The collision as you entered our vessel appears to have jarred your central nervous system so that your senses will be much more acute. Indeed you may find yourself with new senses that you didn't have such as a kinaesthesia that is more like an internal GPS or the ability to see electrical current. "In addition, the static electricity that built up on our ship as we passed through your planet's atmosphere discharged through your body when we neared the surface. This seems to have opened some neural pathways in your brain." "Oh my god! What does that mean?" "Well, from the areas affected we expect your memory, logical and cognitive powers should increase over time and there may be some expansion into mental control over your environment. The sort of things referred to as ESP - telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation; that sort of thing." "Maybe I'll be able to understand what that Master PC program I was given actually does. This is really cool." "Oh sorry. I will adjust our thermostat." "That is not necessary. Is there any downside to the lightning?" "To the static discharge. Er, well actually, it caused the medallion you wore around your neck to fuse into your breastbone. It doesn't appear to be doing any harm but trying to remove it would leave a hole in your chest. Sorry." "Great! Whatever next!" Ignoring the rhetorical nature of the question the alien replied, "Nothing actually. We were going to return you to your sibling." "Suzie! Oh my god. Is she alright? Did she get hit by the lightning?" "The static discharge went to ground through the highest conductor. Your sibling was kneeling on the ground with her forehead pressed to the grass with her gluteus maximus raised so that the surface presented to the discharge was fully rounded rather than coming to a point. It reduced the probability of grounding through her body and increased the probability of it through yours. She is unharmed." Without any formal goodbye, Billy found himself being propelled through the alien spaceship in their version of a wheelchair as though being discharged from a hospital. As he went he considered how his genome had been modified by his parents, his body enhanced by the aliens, his brain function unencumbered by the lightning and by a near-concussion. It had been some day. His musings meant he failed to notice the slight sting as an alien wasp-like creature injected an egg capsule under his skin. An examination of the creature may have revealed that it had been mutated by the exposure to cosmic rays during the flight from its home world. "Now all I have to do is find out what this medallion is." An eerie voice echoed from his diaphragm. "You bear the seal imprisoning the daemon 'Lor Tnoc'. While I am in your possession your merest wish regarding the actions of the mortals in your presence will be my command." "You mean you're like a genie that will grant me wishes?" "Didn't you listen! Those people in your presence will be compelled to obey your every whim! That's it buster." The beam that had lifted Billy into the sky lowered him again. He looked as the unmoving lump that was his sister grew larger. "Suzie?" There was a sudden rush of air around them as the space shop suddenly took off. The shadow vanished and Billy blinked his nictitating eyelids as the sudden sunlight made his eyes water. "Suzie! Why are you just staying there? Get up off your knees." The teenage girl sprang to her feet and stood as though "at ease" on a parade ground but keeping her eyes faced downwards. "As you command, Master." Billy just stood there, stunned. --- The sun shone brightly above the clouds as well. Resting in the cottonwool-like mists Apollo, Pallas Athena and Aphrodite chuckled. "You can be a real bitch sometimes Aph. You know that don't you!" *********************************************************