I surveyed my land, wearing a light leather jacket. The weather was starting to turn cold, and as I walked across the many acres of my land I took in the pleasant scenery of the desert. The sun was out and shining brightly above me on top of the high blue sky. This was big and beautiful land; beautiful to me because of the isolation it afforded me to perform my work.
However, I was not alone that day. The man walking with me was a big Texan, he was easily six four and probably weighted close to three hundred pounds, with graying thinning hair he was older than I and in his fifties. This man was Miles Vaughn, and he was the Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the corporation that had given me millions of dollars over the past several years so that I could develop a mind control laser.
“I own some land like this down in Texas,” Vaughn told me as we walked across the desert. “I’ve turned my property into a functioning ranch. We’ve got horses and a few dozen head of cattle. Your land out here in Nevada seems desolate, rather barren to me in comparison.”
“I prefer it that way,” I said mildly, this was my boss after all. “But I produce scientific results on my land just like you produce cattle, and I think that’s what you and I are both interested in, Miles.”
“You’ve done well, Pierre,” Vaughn said giving me a hard slap on the back. “Maybe too good, and I think its time we took your laser to the FDA for government approval to start marketing.”
“I was afraid you might say that, Miles.”
“Goddamn it, don’t be afraid, Pierre. Be happy you have given us results. We don’t keep spending money on those who don’t provide results. You’ve done that. Now it’s time that we make some money off this invention of yours.”
“My mind control laser is still in the system testing phase. I am definitely not ready for the public to test it yet.”
“Nonsense! You know Pierre, you aren’t the only smart person I have working for me. Back at Corporate headquarters I’ve got some other fellows with pretty high IQ’s themselves. They’ve read all of your analysis documents.”
“Why then they must realize we aren’t ready for the public test phase yet.”
“Pierre, I think you’ve been holding back on me,” Vaughn said and stopped in his tracks to look me directly in the eye. I found myself intimidated by the big man, and I didn’t like the feeling. You see I was into controlling, and not being controlled by others.
“The boy’s in my lab back at headquarters have read between the lines,” Vaughn continued. “They think your laser is safe from causing any harm to the test subject. Further more they think your laser may have some unique properties we didn’t even expect when we began this project.”
“I… I don’t understand,” I stammered.
Vaughn patted me on the back again and we resumed our walk through the desert. “Don’t get me wrong, Pierre. I am not blaming you for wanting to go slow and trying to hold back. That’s why I trust you, because you have a conservative nature to go along with your high IQ. But my job is to make money for this organization, and my friend you have something here that will make us a major player in any of several lucrative markets.”
“My laser was designed to help individuals with psychological problems such as depression. I have always envisioned it as the twenty-first century’s answer to shock treatment. As you know one of my degrees is in psychology and it was to this field I wanted to contribute.”
“My boy’s tell me that the way you’ve combined the laser with your computer programming out here at your lab you have the ability to control a persons mind,” as Vaughn said this we both stopped in our tracks once again and stared at each other.
What Vaughn said was true. I did have the ability to control a persons mind through my laser. In fact, I could reprogram the very core of a human beings personality and make them into whatever I wanted them to become. I could create a helpless servant out of a once brilliant scientist as I had done with Antoine who now worked for me as a kind of butler.
I could also change a beautiful young girl into my adoring sex slave as I had done with Rebecca White who had been my lab assistant but who was now my lover and constant companion. Then there was Rebecca’s sister. Rebecca had used the laser on her own sister when she was an innocent young high school graduate. Now she was not so innocent anymore.
“Pierre, I no longer am planning to market this laser of yours as a health care product. I’ve got some big boy’s in the Pentagon interested. This could be a major weapon for them, and it could make this entire company a major defense contractor.”
“No-no… you have over estimated the capabilities of my laser,” I tried lying to him. Actually I had been submitting false reports to the company for months now as my progress took me into the realms of absolute mind control, but my reports continued to show a useful but not very interesting health care product in the early stages of development.
“This laser was meant to replace Prozac, not the Hydrogen Bomb,” I pleaded with Vaughn.
“Nevertheless you have stumbled onto something here, Pierre,” Vaughn told me, and there was a kind of lust in his eyes as he thought about all the possibilities. “The ability to control a persons mind is the ultimate power, and now my corporation controls that power because of you.”
I was stunned by Vaughn’s words, and as we walked back to my home I knew that my worst fears had come true. I was about to loose control of my life long work. I cared nothing about the money Vaughn was waving in front of me. I was only interested in the results of my work, and the power of controlling those individuals I chose. I resolved to stop Vaughn at all costs from carrying out his plan to take the laser from me.
Vaughn’s daughter greeted us out on the porch of my large home that was nearly a mansion. She was a very attractive girl of about twenty. She was the type of perky energetic girl who I knew probably was on the cheerleading squad in college. She was very slender, and in this way looked very unlike her dad, and she had shoulder length blonde hair. She wore a light colored min dress that day, and this added to her attractiveness.
Vaughn seemed to dote on his daughter as if the world began an ended with her person. For her part, his beautiful young daughter seemed to be bored by my home and the surrounding desert, bored by my work, bored by me and most of all bored by her father.
“Ever notice this place is kind of creepy, dad?” Brit asked her father as we came up onto the front porch.
“Shush, Cheese Cake,” Vaughn told his daughter. “We had a delightful walk, and a good talk,” he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.
Antoine, my faithful servant came out onto the porch where he had set up a table for my visitors. He was pouring a pitcher of iced tea into three glasses set around the table. A vacant look was in his eyes, but there had always been a vacant look in his eyes ever since my first experiment on his mind.
“Come and sit down on the porch and have some tea,” Vaughn patted me on the back and led me to a nice table set on the big porch surrounding my home. “Your servant Antoine is so capable.”
“Yes,” I said. “Antoine is one of a kind I would say, and you know good help is so hard to find in this economy.”
“Who is he?” Vaughn asked, and I thought he said this with a hint of suspicion in his voice. “He looks familiar to me, like maybe I saw him somewhere before he became a butler.”
“Antoine has those classical features. One would think he might have inspired to be more in life, but he is satisfied serving me out here,” I answered and then hoped we would move onto a different subject.
We sat down at the table and a nice fresh breeze blew on us. Antoine had poured us all some tea. This was a very ideal setting. A nice successful family man such as Vaughn and his beautiful young daughter made the scene so pleasant I almost forgot in what a bad predicament I found myself.
“Pierre has come a long way with his project,” Vaughn announced to his daughter. “He is on the verge of putting our company on the map once and for all.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Pierre,” Brit said giving me a friendly smile. “But this looks more like the set for a science fiction movie than one of daddies investments.”
“I hope that you all are not disappointed,” I said, trying to keep the tension out of my voice.
“No! You can bet on it,” Vaughn said giving a big gut wrenching Texas laugh. “As a matter of fact you can bet the farm on it, and we have.” Vaughn said and laughed. I tried to answer him with a meek smile of my own.
“That’s just my daddies sweat way of saying he’s got you by the balls, Pierre,” Brit said in her sophisticated southern voice.
“It’s nice of you to invite my whole family out here to the your place, Pierre,” Vaughn said reviewing the desert panorama laid out before us.
“You’re the boss, Miles. Whatever I can do for you is my pleasure.”
Vaughn’s son was off sight seeing around my land with the two girls, and just then they came into view from around the side of my house. The son was a big boy like his father, but somewhat bordering on the fat side. I had asked my two “Girls” Rebecca who was the love of my life, and her younger sister Remy to show Brandon, Vaughn’s son about my property. Now their excursion for the morning was finished and they came to join us on the porch.
Father and son hit each other on the shoulder in a macho type manner. “What’s the good word, Brandon?” Vaughn asked his son.
“Oh it’s just desert, dad,” Brandon said, and then I saw him look at Remy and smile. “But some views are better than others.” At once the infatuation on the young mans face became obvious to me. So, Brandon Vaughn found my Remy of interest. This gave me something to ponder.
Rebecca came over to my side and we shared a brief kiss on the mouth. I had already explained to Vaughn that Rebecca had worked the summer for me as my lab assistant and then told him we had fallen in love and that she had decided to stay and live with me and help with my work. I didn’t, of course, tell him all the details of just how I had won the love of the beautiful young woman away from her former boyfriend.
As for Remy, I had just told Vaughn that she was out here visiting her sister. Before Vaughn arrived I had told Antoine to move Remy’s belongings to a spare room of the house. The sisters and I normally shared my bedroom, but I didn’t think it prudent for Vaughn to discover this fact.
“Maybe you can show us your laser sometime tonight?” Brandon asked me a little bit too eagerly.
“Good idea, son,” Vaughn said. “Why don’t you do that, Pierre?”
“I don’t think it would be such a good idea.”
“Why not? I’ve paid for the whole goddamn thing after all. I’d like to see what I’ve put my money into.”
“Well how can I refuse since you put it that way?”
“Hey dad maybe you can get Pierre to show us a live experiment with the laser,” Brandon said. I was starting to dislike this young man.
“Good idea! How about it, Pierre?”
“That would be most unwise.”
