Mind Games

Becky stood on stage in her tight athletic top and tiny shorts, the fabric still clinging to her newly perfected body. The audience’s eyes on her felt different now—not just embarrassing, but… exciting. She caught herself staring at Chrissi’s curves again and shook her head, cheeks flushing.

“Alright, Becky,” Jack said with that predatory grin. “You’ve built up quite the streak. What’s your next choice?”

She hesitated only a moment. The board still had plenty of dangers, but she couldn’t stop now. “Number… 8.”

Chrissi bounced over and opened it with a giggle. The tile flipped to reveal a glowing brain icon.

“Intelligence category!” Jack announced. “Oh, this one’s always fun. Let’s see what our clever audience has in store.”

The options lit up the big board:

1. Airhead — Significant drop in intelligence. Giggly, forgetful, slow on the uptake, easily distracted by shiny or sexy things. Classic bimbo ditz.

2. Genius — Massive boost to intelligence, analytical mind, but paired with arrogance or difficulty relating to “normal” people.

3. Hyper-Specialist — At the exact moment the change hits, they become a hyper-genius in whatever they’re currently thinking about or doing. Everything else becomes average-to-useless.

4. Scatterbrained — Racing thoughts, poor focus and memory. Prone to tangents and brilliant-but-impractical ideas that fizzle out.

5. Echo Chamber — They absorb and parrot the opinions/intellect level of the people around them. Alone they’re average; in a group they become a mirror of the dominant mind(s) nearby.

6. Pleasure Learner — Learning and problem-solving now tied to arousal. They get smarter when turned on (or by changes), but distracted or dumber when not.

Becky’s stomach twisted. Intelligence hits were some of the most permanent and insidious. “Please,” she whispered under her breath, “let me take the worst of it.”

Jack chuckled. “Voting begins now!”