Male #2

I stood in the darkness, wondering if it was actually true. It would be great, but I was unsure. I mean, things like this don’t happen to guys like me. Maybe my psyche was going out on me, part of a mid-life crisis or something. I was a few years short of forty, a little dumpy – okay obese. I weighed in at over two hundred pounds. And I can’t forget the glasses. I am a four-eyed fat man. At least I still have a full head of hair, usually cut short since it starts to curl when it gets long.

“Hey, uh, what should I call you?” I asked, looking around, surroundings unchanged, a few thoughts on my mind.

“My name is – unpronounceable in your language,” the voice responded. “However, to streamline our interaction, you may call me Ba’al.”

I blinked, recognizing the Semitic word. It meant “Master” or “Lord.” I was either in deep shit – my parents were decent Christians, myself falling far from the tree – or out for the greatest time of my life.

“May I ask a few questions, Ba’al?”

“We’d like to get you inserted into the system sooner rather than later, but sure, why not? You might have something original to ask for once.”

“I guess ‘Why me’ wouldn’t matter then,” I said. “I’m sure you’ve heard that before.”

“A number of times, but in your case… You died in your sleep.”

“What?” I cried. “Then how –”

“The simplest explanation,” the voice cut me off, “Is that we are moving your soul into an exact duplicate of your universe with the exception of the mind control matrix which will be centered on you and you alone. No one else will have the ability.”

“Okay,” I shook. Damn. Dead. Shit. “So – then – how will the – er – audience react to these commands? Will they recognize them as such? See me as a, uh, Controller? Or will it be received as everything normal, nothing to see here?”

“Do you really want to know or would you like to find out?”

“I – want to know. Because – well – since I’ve died once already, I’m in no rush to die again. And say people realize I can control them. I’ll have put a big fat target on my head.”

“One brush with mortality and you’re worried about the next? You humans,” the voice seemed to laugh dryly. “Very well, to ease your mind. People will react to the situations you create as they would normally react to those situations. Yet, they will not know you are the reason.”

Huh. My eyebrows rose. Normal reactions to situations? That meant I could still cause scenes, make the news and the like. I would need to be careful of the words I use, how I speak these ‘wishes.’ Not that I was sure that what I was being told was true. Everything still felt so – dreamlike.

“And – I’ll only affect people?” I continued to ask my questions. “What about animals or inanimate objects?”

“People only,” the voice confirmed. “Can a person command a rock? The sea? The galaxy?”

Touché, I thought.

“Thoughts and actions only? I mean, say for example, I tell – er, wish - a woman to grow her boobs in five seconds to the size of beach balls?”

“Nothing would happen,” the voice said. “You will still be constrained within the physical limits of the world you know. Perhaps later, we might insert you into a matrix that allowed for such changes, but that depends on what we see you do. Any other questions? We should start to get a move on.”

“Will I be able to communicate with you once I’m – inserted?” I asked. “Suppose I want a – reboot – or something.”

“You will be on your own,” it said. “Insertion in three… two…”