The Brain of Piacenza Ch. 02

Chapter 2

Monica had decided she wanted to prolong her time with the relic, so she was rearranging Mason's memories one more time. She was in his mind, sitting at the computer and thinking of the best change she could make.

She could just make him forget about the relic and put his family's memories back, but that would probably put an end to Mason staying over in her dorm room every night. That was no good...

She opted for a different solution. She found the files labeled "Mom", "Dad", "Jenny" and "Family" and moved them onto a flash drive. If Mason's family didn't remember him they wouldn't miss him every night, and if Mason didn't remember his family he'd never have a reason to return the relic. Monica figured she'd return Mason and his family back to normal at the end of the semester, when she'd become more proficient in the use of the relic.

She made a few changes to the "Monica" and "Mysterious Relic" file so Mason wouldn't question the new status quo, and she summoned a door to leave Mason's mind. She found herself in her dorm room, next to Mason's sleeping form. She now knew she didn't need to use the relic while he was asleep, but she figured it was the best to use it clandestinely where possible.

* * *

The next morning, Mason woke her with a kiss.

"How's my sleeping beauty been?" he said, a tender look in his eyes.

"Uh, fine?" she said groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Let's get ready. I want to hear what you've learned about the relic so far." Mason said excitedly.

Monica decided to test whether her changes had taken effect. "Mason, tell me what you know about the relic?"

"Do you really need a recap of the past few days?" Mason said.

"Could you humor me?"

Mason thought the request was a strange one, but said, "Well, you told me you found it the other day. I obviously didn't believe you, so you proved it works by removing my knowledge of dogs and Frankenstein. I was impressed, so I volunteered to let you keep testing it on me."

"Hmm, sounds about right," Monica said. "Alright, lets get some breakfast, and I can tell you what I've learned."

They went to the dining hall, and Monica and Mason both went to the cereal line.

"Don't you usually go for pancakes?" Monica asked curiously.

"I guess I'm not really feeling pancakes today," Mason said.

That surprised Monica. Mason had loved pancakes for as long as Monica had known him. Maybe this was an unexpected result of her changes to Mason's memories?

They both got their food, and sat at their usual (as of two days ago) table. They ate in silence for a bit, before Mason spoke.

"So, are you going to tell me, or are you just going to keep me in suspense?"

"Okay, I'll tell you've what I've learned." Monica said. She filled him in about the additional properties she had learned about the relic. She finished by saying, "Also, I believe I've tracked down somebody who might know something about the relic. There's a Prof. Miller who teaches at this college, and might know something about it." She looked to see if that name sparked any recognition in Mason.

Mason just replied, "So, are you going to talk to this Prof. Miller?"

Monica smiled. "No, I'm pretty busy today. I figured you could go talk to him. Show him some pictures and see if he knows anything about it." She was lying, of course. This was her lightest day in terms of classes, but the thought of an unknowing reunion between father and son amused her.

"Alright, I can do that."

* * *

Monica and Mason split up after breakfast. Mason went to talk to the professor, while Monica went to the lab section of her Organic Chemistry class.

Her task that day involved some basic thin layer chromatography in order to identify an unknown molecule. The teacher had forced them to work in pairs, and Monica found herself in a group with Susan Acevedo.

"Oh, great," Susan said in disgust. "Why'd I have to get yoked to you of all people?"

"Look, I don't like it any more than you." Monica tried to keep her voice even and civil. "Let's just do this as quickly as possibly, so we can get over this unpleasantness."

Monica and Susan had shared the same classes for the last two years and had learned to hate each other in that time. Their relationship had started as a friendly rivalry, but the constant attempts to one up each other and prove academic dominance had worn the "friendly" aspect down to near nonexistence.

They both knew what they needed to do, so they worked in near silence. In short order they prepared the TLC plates, and they sat in silence waiting for them to develop. Monica knew it would be a while before it finished, so she took to watching the people around her. All of them were still setting up their TLC plates. With all of them distracted, she guessed that nobody would notice if she tried the relic on Susan...

She pulled out the stone relic, and before Susan could react she touched it to her head.

Susan's mind room looked like a patchwork microcosm of the college campus. Each corner was reminiscent of a different part of the college: The stadium, the biochem building, the library and the dining hall. Monica walked to the library portion, and started looking through the books, trying to find a book title that interested her.

After a minute or two of browsing, she found a slim book called "Secrets." That sounded promising. She pulled the book down off of the shelf, and began flipping through it. Most of the secrets were pretty boring to Monica, since she didn't have context for them. However, she eventually found one that made the whole search worth it. It read:

"I am working as a stripper at Nitro Club to pay my way through college. My stage name is Crystal. None of my classmates know."

Monica could hardly believe her luck. She didn't know how yet, but she was sure she could use this against Susan. She wondered if there were any other juicy secrets in there, so she read on. Eventually, she came across a passage that caused her heart to sink:

"I had sex with Aaron while he was still dating Monica."

Aaron had been Monica's first college boyfriend, and she had been devastated when he had broken up with her out of the blue. With this news, Monica knew it wasn't out of the blue after all. Whatever good will Monica had remaining towards Susan, it was gone now. She wanted revenge, and with the relic she was in a great position to get it.

She searched through the library and found a thick book titled "Education." She opened it up and found where seventh grade started. She began ripping pages out of the book a dozen at a time. When she was done, there was a mess of pages on the floor before her.

"She won't be needing anything past sixth grade for her new life," Monica said half to herself.

Monica looked through the other books in the library and found a few that needed to be thinned out as well. "Vocabulary", "Science", and "Literature" in particular took a big hit. She made some slight modifications to the "Monica" book, and she gathered up all the ripped out pages into her arms, and walked into the center of the space. She knew from summoning the doors and the flash drives that she had a certain amount of influence inside a person's mind, but she had never tested the limits.

Monica imagined a giant stripper pole on the field, and one appeared. Apparently, there wasn't much of a limit at all. She put a dozen bottles of vodka in the dining hall, and she emptied the biochem building and filled it with trashy magazines and a television. When she was done, Susan's mindscape was almost unrecognizable. Satisfied with her work, she decided it was time to leave.

* * *

Monica found herself sitting next to Susan holding the relic and large stack of papers. She looked around, and as expected it seemed like everyone else was so wrapped up in their experiments that they hadn't noticed this odd occurrence. Susan looked dazed, and when her awareness returned it was clear that she was not the girl she used to be. Her bright, intelligent eyes now had a vapid dullness to them, and she now carried herself less like a confident straight-A student and more like a sensual trollop.

Susan wobbled unsteadily and held her temple. "Ohh... My head feels really funny." Even her voice was a bit different.

Monica tried her best impression of concern. "Are you okay, Susan?"

Susan looked around. "Where, like, am I?"

"You're in the lab. I know you're probably pretty disoriented, but if you sit tight for a few minutes, I can help you out."

Monica made her observations of the developed chromatogram, and finished filling out her and Susan's worksheet. When Monica returned from turning it in, she found Susan looking at herself in her make-up mirror.

"Susan, we can go now."

"Good. Watching you was getting, like, boring." Susan pouted.

Monica had Susan carry the pages from her memories (Susan didn't seem the least bit interested in reading them), and they both left the classroom and headed for Susan's car.

"Susan, we're going to get you a new wardrobe, how does that sound to you?" Monica asked.

Susan looked down at her conservative, professional clothing and said, "That's, like, a great idea! You're a ge- geni-... you're real smart!"

At the mall, Susan tried on a variety of revealing outfits. Eventually, she came out of the dressing room in a scandalous miniskirt and a tiny top that left very little to the imagination.

"What do you think, Monica?" Susan said, twirling.

Monica's eyes traced the curves of Susan's body. Then, catching herself staring, she remembered to respond to the question she had been posed.

"You look great."

Susan seemed pleased with this answer, and went to try out more outfits. Monica didn't know what was happening. She had always been as straight as an arrow, but every new outfit Susan came out in caused her heartbeat and breathing to quicken. The feeling was becoming too strong to deny.

"Uh, Susan. When's your next show?" Monica found herself asking.

"Ooh! I almost forgot about my next show. I think it was..." Susan screwed her face up in concentration trying to recall. "I think it's today at 7."

Monica bit her lip, and made note of this fact.

"Well, I'm sure you've picked out enough outfits for now," Monica said.

Susan seemed disappointed their shopping trip was coming to a close. "Okay, I guess I'll go pay the... what's the word? You know, the store lady."

"The cashier?" Monica supplied.

"That's it!" Susan said, bouncing over to the counter. She charged everything to her credit card and Monica and Susan left the store.

* * *

Mason knocked twice on Prof. Miller's office door. A man in his late 40s or early 50s answered.

"Uh, sir, I was wondering if I could ask you about an Etruscan relic I've become aware of?" Mason asked.

The professor looked curiously at him for a moment, and beckoned him into his office.

"I'd like to hear what you might know about it. I've got some pictures of the relic, if that might help." Mason pulled out his phone, navigated to the pictures and slid the phone over to Prof. Miller.

Prof. Miller picked up the phone, and went through the pictures. A frown began to form on his mouth, and each new picture deepened the frown. After looking through the pictures, the professor put down the phone and spoke.

"I know the artifact. It's called the Brain of Piacenza. It dates back to the second century BCE, and is part of a set of three organs: a heart, a liver and a brain. The liver was found in 1877 and is on display in the Palazzo Farnese. The brian and the heart resurfaced recently as part of a private collection, but... the brain has gone missing. May I ask you how you came to learn of it?"

Mason gulped, should he tell the truth? "... A friend of mine found it."

"Well, uh, what did you say your name was again?"

"Mason, sir."

"Well, Mason. I would suggest that 'your friend' give the brain to me. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to 'your friend.'"

"Why are you putting that emphasis on 'your friend?'"

"Don't play dumb with me," Prof. Miller slammed his hand down on the desk. "I remember your face from a couple of days ago. You broke into my house, on the very same day that the brain went missing."

"Look, I have no idea what you're talking about," Mason said. "My friend Monica found the brain the other day, and she told me about it. I'm coming to you because she wants to know more about it."

Prof. Miller let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, if you're not going to be honest. I guess I'll have to force the truth out of you." He reached into his desk and pulled out an old stone relic in the shape of a heart. The professor squeezed the heart in his hand and it began to glow.

Mason could feel his muscles tightening against his will, and he realized he was completely unable to move. The professor held the heart up and said, "Now tell me the truth, how did you find out about the brain?"

A shiver ran through Mason's body and he said again, "My friend Monica found the brain the other day, and she told me about it."

The professor rubbed his chin. "Has your friend ever used the brain on you?"

Mason struggled not to answer, he didn't know if this professor could be trusted with that knowledge. Though he struggled valiantly, his lips moved of their own volition, "Yes, she did a few experiments on me."

The professor was beginning to piece together what must have happened.

"Alright, it seems you were telling me the truth before, or at least your understanding of it." The professor raised the heart again. "Now, go and get me the brain from Monica. Once you get it, you will poke around her head and find out what she's been up to. Remove her memory of the brain, and bring me that and the brain. I assume she's done a number on you - you're free to read her memories and do whatever you want about them."

Mason could feel a tingling as the professor weaved the compulsion into him. No! He couldn't let the professor do this. He tried to stay where he was, but his muscles flexed and moved against his will. He was halfway to the door, when the professor added one more command:

"Oh, and tell no one about anything that occurred in this office."