A short range reality engine

Michael made his final adjustments and locked down his invention's heavy lead casing. With the last bolt in place, he threw the switch, and the engine hummed to life, thickening the air with almost unimaginable power.

He breathed deeply, savouring his moment of triumph. It occurred to him that he should say something to mark the occasion. A few words for posterity, but naturally, his mind went completely blank as soon as the thought crossed his mind. Instead, he simply shrugged and placed his hand on the interface mounted to the front of the filing cabinet-sized device. He could always make up some clever quote later if he wasn't too busy enjoying his new toy.

Goosebumps spread up his arm and crawled over his scalp as his brain waves synced with the engine's quantum core.

For a dizzying moment, atoms whirl in his mind's eye, interlocking to form molecules. The molecules fitting together in endless elegant complexity to form buzzing insects, chattering people, the air they breathe, and the earth on which they stood.

Even with the engine's limited range, omnipotence was more than any human mind could contain, but mercifully he snapped back to his merely human senses only a split second later.

Unphased by his brush with divinity, Michael grinned, sensing the machine's power now thrumming at the back of his mind. A silent genie of his own making, waiting to fulfil his every command.

They didn’t know it yet, but everyone and everything with two hundred meters of the engine were now his playthings.