S2-ENF-001 - KARMA

This was it. Dr. Blithe was finally going to get what he deserved.

Dr. Emilia Lucent crouched on the catwalk above the stage, watching her blond and irritatingly handsome scientific nemesis shuffle through the papers of his prepared speech. He seemed a little nervous. Good. A bit of stage fright would make his incoming downfall all the sweeter.

She double-checked the battery on her experimental zap gun, making sure it was fully charged with bad karmons. A new toy from her friends in the Trickery Department. All she had to do was pull the trigger and Dr. Blithe would be irradiated with negative moral energy, a deserving target for cosmic punishment.

Hundreds of distinguished scientists sat in the vast lecture theater, all guests at the prestigious annual Esoteric Studies Conference in Washington, D.C., patiently waiting for Blithe to begin his keynote presentation on this year’s progress in the exciting new field of particle ethics. Emilia carefully aimed the gun at Dr. Blithe, wondering exactly what would happen when she zapped him. Would his pants fall down? Would his suit turn into custard? She couldn’t wait to find out.

She squeezed the trigger.

The ray of bad karmons bounced off the back of Dr. Blithe’s jacket, which had been woven through with a mesh of ultra-fine metallic thread that was expressly designed in a lab to reflect ethical particles, and returned the way it came. There was a small “blort” sound as the zap gun exploded in Emilia’s hands, doing no physical damage of any kind, but bathing her from head to toe in bad karmons.

The catwalk gave way beneath her.

Her dress and underwear caught on conveniently placed spurs of metal, ripping right off her body as she plummeted into a nest of stage wires left over from a recent performance of Peter Pan. A few seconds later, Emilia Lucent found herself dangling in the air about ten feet off the ground, a few steps to Dr. Blithe’s left, in full view of the entire Esoteric Studies Conference and the video cameras which were livestreaming the popular event.

Legs spread. Hands pinned behind her back. Facing the crowd. Unable to wriggle free. Oh, and completely stark naked, wearing nothing at all except for her black high heels and a bright crimson blush.

“Look who’s decided to join us,” said Dr. Blithe, brightly, as Emilia squealed in horror and the crowd burst into laughter and applause. The worst part was, she knew this was what she deserved.