Brain Games Ch. 05

After a deep sleep with murky dreams of shadows and large things moving beneath the sea, Zach woke to an empty room. Someone had flipped the blinds open, and sunlight streamed in at too-steep an angle.

Zach checked his phone in a moment of panic: 9:10.

He threw on clothes, observing that he was due for some time in the laundry room.

The blond was standing by the bench as he crossed the quad. She was wearing jeans that flattered her, and a bright print blouse. He set his intention to send her away. The sweet image of her and her dog had lingered with him; he had no desire to get her mixed up in any of this.

"Let's go," he said. The words come from his mouth before he even had a chance to tell her to go back to her room. Startled at himself, he checked his stride.

"Wait," he said.

She had started to walk in his direction, and now she stopped.

He was walking again. "Come," he said.

And she came.

Dammit! What is this?

"Where are we going?" she asked. There was nothing unusual in her voice.

"Bio center," he answered. "Why did you come this morning?"

"Oh," she said, and laughed lightly: "You know. Saturday morning, something to do!"

So he could ask her questions. He could vary the script, just not the plot. Hmmm.

"What's your name?" he asked as they left the quad, taking the wide steps up to the Sciences complex.

"Sara."

"Mine's Zach," he said.

"Nice to meet you, Zach," she said politely.

The freshness in her face, and the sweetness in her voice made him very uneasy. He was afraid for where this was going.

At least it's not Maddy, he thought.

* * *

The door to Adjunct #3 was open.

"Ah welcome, Zechariah! Thank you for bringing a friend. Introduce us!"

"Sara, this is Professor Enkins."

"Very pleased to meet you, Dr. Enkins."

"Exquisite," Enkins said. "Sarah, my princess, please sit here."

He pointed to one of the cheap, padded chairs.

She sat, folding her hands in her lap.

He came around his desk, very professorial in wool slacks and a tweed jacket over a slightly rumpled white shirt, open at the collar, no tie.

He bent to one knee before her, and caught her gaze. She looked at him placidly, with no surprise or concern.

"Here we are, Lady, see my eyes. Relax, just like that. Be soft. Close your eyes. Sleep."

Her eyes fluttered shut and she softened back into the chair.

Enkins stood.

"You see, Zechariah. You are starting to taste the possibilities. You are a young man, so of course, it's all about sex for you. You chose this tasty morsel, but now you regret it because she's too innocent for what you had in mind. Well, you think she is. Trust me, once you take the wrapping off, what's inside is generally much more interesting than the packaging."

"May I speak freely, Sir?"

Enkins settled on the corner of the desk and smiled. "Completely."

"What. The Fuck. Is Going On."

"You actually know completely what's going on, Zechariah. Instead of studying brains by breaking them, you are now getting the chance to study brains--your brain--by enhancing it. By taking off the guardrails, so to speak. We are bypassing certain restrictions that our brains are created with. I with mine, and you with yours. By virtue of these capabilities, sometimes I also make use of yours, in the tiniest of ways."

"This is not tiny," Zach nodded to Sara, dozing peacefully.

"You object?"

"I do! Maybe I asked for this. Maybe I came here of my own volition. But she was just lying in the sun. She didn't choose this."

"Choice!" Enkins snorted. "So little of what happens in most lives has anything to do with choice. Forget about choice. Let's talk about will. Let me hypothesize, Zechariah. You are disturbed because you think your will is being thwarted by mine."

"Maybe; that's part of it."

"Listen, you can have full access to your own will without any shred of mine present when you are strong enough to seize it. Until then, you will only get yourself in trouble. This is powerful stuff we are playing with, Zechariah. And you are a young and--if you don't mind my saying so--slightly confused young man. It's like with driver's insurance: you don't have the experience with heavy machinery to properly control a car. A moment of inattention and people die."

Enkins gestured for Zach's full attention.

"People die, Zechariah."

Zach looked away. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"And that is exactly the mentality that gets people hurt. We'll work on that in time. But first, you have made fantastic progress. One thing we all need to be careful of, my young friend: Things are not always what they seem. We'll have to be very careful with you, I think. But for now, let's get down to business. You suddenly found yourself with the ability to experience beyond the edges of your skin, right? You can tune into people who are nearby, or with whom you have some connection. That caught you by surprise. Even more, you began to realize that once tuned in, there was a lot that you could do to influence their behavior, right? But it scares you. And then you realized that I put some checks and balances on you."

"Yeah, all of that. And... and I can't tell what is me and what is not me."

Enkins waved. "The obsession with 'me.' We will get to that in time too. It's not at all what you think it is. But don't worry. Here's the main thing: you are deeply uncomfortable with this experience. Part of you wants to go wild with it, and part of you wants to do good with it, and part of you doesn't trust it at all. You're at war with yourself."

"I don't trust you," Zach said.

"Great. Perfect. Please don't. But now, for the lesson...

"Erotic energy," the professor said. "There are actually many dimensions of energy and awareness, but you are a young man brimming with hormones and filled with erotic energy, so this will be the entry point for your training. And to be honest, it's really the best. Once you clear away all the societal cobwebs and claim your power in this dimension, the other dimensions come pretty easily. The only hazard is, it is so much power it will draw attention. Like, ordinary attention from your friends and family. But also attention in other realms. We could start with little stuff. Fire. Insects. Mice. Cheating on exams. But that is tiresome. So let's start with this really big, beautiful energy, and for now, I'll just keep a little safety net in place. That's all, I promise."

"What about?" Zach nodded in her direction.

"We need her for this lesson, after that it's entirely up to you. So, this lesson is really simple, and it should last you at least a few days at your current rate. We need to sharpen your ability to enter the field."

"Enter the field?"

"Of spaciousness. You have tapped into it in a slow way. Everyone calm, relaxed, and so forth. But: What about when things are more complicated? How quickly can you tap in and exert control?"

He went on: "I can't teach you this, I need to show you. You need to feel it, and then practice it. So... relax. And tap into me. Feel with me."

Enkins snapped his fingers. "Wake up Sarah, all influence withdrawn."

Her eyelids gently lifted. "Um..." she said, confused. "Wait, where the heck is this? What's going on?"

"Remember everything, Sarah," the professor said.

"Oh shit! What am I doing here. I am leaving right now, and I'm calling the police." She fished her phone out of her pocket and with a trembling hand unlocked it.

"Stop," Enkins commanded. She froze. "Be calm. Everything feels perfectly normal. Resume."

Sarah looked at her phone, confused again. She put it away.

"What's up?" she asked brightly.

"Sleep."

She slumped back in her chair.

To Zach: "You need to be able to do that. Trust me, people are slippery and unpredictable. I've had... years of experience. It will not be so easy for you. Did you feel it?"

Zach had felt an absolutely steel of the professor's will. Completely inflexible. Utterly powerful.

"It's not about the words you use, is it."

"Not really, although the way humans work, it helps enormously. For you, we're going to begin by tapping into the erotic energy. We will use that to fuel your power. Go ahead, take her over for a few minutes."

Zach looked at Sara. He tried to soften, to feel out to her. He visualized the quad, when she was lying in the sun.

"Stop." Enkins shook his head. "Wrong."

Zach gritted his teeth and tried again.

"No. Wrong again."

"Well, what? It worked before."

"Not that way it didn't. You are thinking. Feel."

Zach tried to feel.

"You are trying. Act."

Zach laughed. "I'm all messed up now. I can't do it on the spot like this. You got me in my head."

"No, you got you in your head. Here. Sarah," he changed the tone of his voice. "Wake up and kick off your shoes."

Sarah opened her eyes, and nudged her flats off heel by heel.

"Stand." She stood.

"Strike a sexy pose." She put one hand on the desk and swiveled her hips out, leaning toward him, thrusting her chest forward.

Zach felt her shape take form for him. He felt his own desire surge.

"Look at me," Zach said, and with his awareness aligned to hers, pulled her gaze.

Sarah looked at him, and shifted her pose to invite his eyes.

Enkins broke in. "Stop. Sarah, you are free of all influence now."

She shook her head, looking around. Her frown intensified, and she pulled her phone out again.

"Now," Enkins suggested to Zach.

He still felt his desire, and he felt her, but her mind was a frenzy. She was experiencing terror, fury. He tried to calm it, to meet her and align, but it was a violent storm.

"Stop," Enkins said. "Hang up the phone."

She did. "Hand me that," he said. She did that too.

"You see, you're going to get yourself in a situation you can't handle. You are going to need to practice, practice, practice until you can immediately gain control. I'm going to go very slowly now, ride with me."

Zach felt Enkins immutable will reach to Sara. "Do you see what I see?" Enkins said.

He wasn't sure. He saw Sara, but with seemingly thousands of layers, and maybe millions of interweaving threads of light.

With a hint of irritation, Enkins said: "Look!"

And Zach saw. There was Sara's energy, her own erotic desire. It was small but bright, a glittering red center in the bowl of her hips. The part of her that wanted to let go, to be told what to do, to relinquish her will and carry no responsibility for her actions.

"Once more. Sarah: awaken, remember."

She shuddered and reached for her phone, but now it was in Enkins' hand.

"Give me that back," she said.

"No," Zach said, speaking directly into that point of red light. "Look at me, Sara. Look at me and relax."

She glanced angrily at him. "What sick game are you two playing?" she said. "You brought me here, you toad."

Zach could feel that ripples of war within her, and suddenly imagined the same war in himself, the war the professor had mentioned. Things seemed to make more sense. "It's really simple, Sara. Just let yourself be taken care of."

A wave of uncertainty flickered across her face, but more importantly, Zach felt a flare in the light of her desire. She did want to be taken care of.

"Be soft," he said. "Everything is beautiful. We'll take care of you."

Her muscles relaxed, although he could still feel the tension straining inside.

"Stop," Enkins said. "Sarah, sit."

"You see," the professor removed his jacket and laid it over the back of his chair. "You can do it. You need more practice. Never put yourself in a situation where someone is explosively angry, or utterly terrified, you aren't strong enough to wrangle that yet. Stay subtle. But practice, all the time. Now, we have one last part of this lesson, the one where I show you what is possible. After that, we'll reset our sweet princess, and she will never know any of this happened, and you can do with her what you will, including never see her again. Ready?"

"Um."

"It doesn't matter, just ride with me. Sarah, wake up."

Zach let himself tune into Enkins' presence.

Sara woke again, that initial look of confusion passing more quickly. "Whats..." she started.

"Shut your mouth," Enkins said, and she did, but she was still making noise. "Quiet," he said and her voice stopped, but she was still looking daggers at him.

To Zach: "Watch now, Zechariah, feel with me."

"Feel your desire, Sarah. Feel it building rapidly. Unexpectedly."

A look of hazy confusion crossed her face, and she crossed her legs.

"Open your legs." She obeyed.

"Remove the shirt," he said. She was shaking her head, even as her hands unbuttoned her blouse.

Zach felt his own body respond to her full curves.

"Feel the pleasure of the air on your skin."

For a moment her eyes started to roll back, but she centered herself with a wrathful gaze.

Enkins laughed. "She's a fighter. It's good you didn't try to take her on your own."

Zach remembered her the day before, pressing her hips against the towel, and thought maybe he had been doing just fine, but he sat, rapt, watching how the professor gracefully expanded the light and heat from her hips.

"She feels her need now," Enkins said. Sarah shook her head violently, but she was rocking her hips in the chair.

"Stand. Remove the pants."

With only the slightest catch, she stood. Her hands fumbled for a moment, and she stepped out of her jeans. She was standing in a plain pink bra, and white panties.

"Look how excited she is," Enkins said. Zach saw that his words were both a guide for him to follow the flow, but also instruction to Sara, who quivered. The look in her eyes was fear, confusion, rage, each passing in turn.

"Look how strong her pleasure is becoming."

Sara gasped in short breaths, her belly contracting sharply.

Zach felt his own surge of desire rising within him. He felt it riding with hers. The professor, strangely, did not seem to have any desire at all.

"Sarah," Enkins said, "You can speak now, but you can only speak with the truth of your body. What do you feel."

Her mouth opened. "I need to be fucked. I need a real man to fuck me senseless. I hate you. You disgust me."

Enkins shrugged. "She's a little complicated. Do you want to fuck her, Zach?"

"No!"

"Tut, you do. You really, really do. You see how you are at war with yourself? Here's a tip, you can want to fuck her, and you can also want to preserve her innocence. It is better to be honest about conflicting desires. But today, for now, no fucking."

"Oh, please," Sarah begged. "I desperately need it."

"How long has it been?" Enkins asked.

"Two whole days."

"So much for that innocence," Enkins laughed. "Now, Zechariah, this is an important part, stay with me here."

To Sara: "Kneel."
"Pull me out," he said. She knew what he meant, and unzipped his trousers, fetching out a thick, heavy, but flaccid cock.

"Sarah, you are going to bend to kiss this manhood. As soon as your lips touch it, you are going to experience a very, very powerful orgasm. It will be different than anything you have felt before, bursting out of you from the very center."

She eagerly leaned forward.

"Wait. Only when I say you can."

She paused. Through his connection with Enkins, Zach could say the simmering, glittering energy swirling through her body. But he could also see the horror in her eyes.

"Zechariah... relax and open, prepare to receive."

Zach let himself dissolve into the flow.

"Now, Sarah."

Sara completed her lean forward, bringing her lips to Enkins' flesh. There was something like a spark as her lips approached, then Zach felt the connection. It was as if her lips were his, and he felt the soft press of the warm, smooth skin. It was as if Enkins' cock was his own, and he felt the press of full, hungry lips. And there was a detonation of energy.

Sara fell to her arms and knees, convulsing with pleasure. Her voice broke through as she released a deeply animal moan. Something released within her, and a flood of ecstatic pleasure burst through the room. Zach felt it all, and realized Enkins was funneling it to him. He felt the power surge through his body, filling especially his hands, the soles of his feet, and burning at the top of his head like he was wearing a crown made from the aurora borealis.

He floated.

There was a sound: Enkins zipped up his trousers, tucked in his shirt. He went back around the desk and slipped the jacket back on.

Sara was curled on the floor, quivering, trembling, still gasping and whimpering.

Zach saw she lay in a small puddle.

Now put back together, Enkins stepped forward. "You're fine now, princess, get off the floor. That's a good girl."

Sara slowly got back to her knees and then stood.

"Take those panties off and mop yourself up with them."

She followed his instructions, but the panties were so soaked they did nothing but smear her fluids around her belly.

"Good enough. Leave those, and put the rest of your clothes back on... good. Now, Sarah, in a moment I am going to release you one more time. But this time, you will not remember anything. You will walk back to your dorm with Zechariah, remembering only that you met an interesting old character who went on a bit about Mesopotamia. You will recall it fondly for a day or two and then it will be gone. You will continue to serve Zechariah in absolutely any way he desires, enthusiastically and without any second thoughts. It will be perfectly natural, it will seem perfectly ordinary, it will reconcile smoothly with anything else in your life. If there is any conflict, you will find the most easeful way of reconciling or resolving that in Zechariah's favor."

Enkins turned to Zach: "I mostly said that for your purpose, can you feel the way I adjust her brain? Right here, and here, and here? We just take this tangle and isolate it from that tangle, and the experience of today becomes an orphan. We can't actually eliminate it, but it becomes completely inaccessible, and without reinforcement, it will eliminate itself within a couple of days." He walked around Sara, and slipped her phone into her back pocket.

Zach could sense what the professor was doing, what he had done, but it was immensely complicated. He knew it was beyond him, perhaps forever. He felt an awe at the artistry of it.

"Sarah!" Her attention snapped back to the professor. "You feel peace, contentment, and a lingering pleasure at Zechariah's company. Wake up now."

She blinked, with a flicker of uncertainty.

"That's all I have for today, kids, perhaps you should go enjoy your Saturday!" Professor Enkins put on a different tone entirely.

Slightly dazed, Zach stood. "Ah, thank you, Professor, for those stories about... Mesopotamia?"

"My pleasure, Zechariah. Run along please, I have more important things to attend to than your curiosity."

Zach noticed the sopping panties still sitting on the professor's desk, but Sara didn't seem to notice it at all. He waved her with him, and together, they left the building.

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