that presumably was about me. “Hello, Dr. Cauffield. I’m sorry our agents were so rough with you.”
“What’s going on here?” I asked again.
The woman took a seat at a rickety metal table. She continued to study the folder for a few minutes, seemingly oblivious to me. I was about to ask for an explanation again when she took off the glasses and then looked up at me. She blinked a couple of times, her eyes turning entirely silver like liquid mercury.
I leaned back in my chair, not sure if I were hallucinating or not. She leaned forward, those liquid mercury eyes still fixed on me. “I’m afraid there has been a problem, Dr. Cauffield and we simply can’t allow there to be any loose ends.”
“Are you…are you going to kill me?”
“I certainly hope not.” She gestured to her eyes. “As you might have guessed, I am not human. I am an agent of the Zargon Empire. We have annexed your planet.”
“Annexed Earth? I don’t remember—”
“Oh, no, do not misunderstand me. There was no war. No treaties. We have long since stopped using such primitive methods. We don’t use flying saucers or giant robots like in your movies.
“Our method is what is called a Reality Distortion Generator. You can think of it as a mass brainwashing. As soon as our generator reached the proper orbit and launched the signal, nearly your entire species was reconditioned to accept us as their overlords.
“There are, unfortunately, some whose minds for one reason or another resist the reconditioning. These dangerous individuals must be rooted out and dealt with as swiftly as possible.”
“And I’m one of these dangerous individuals?” I asked. I couldn’t help chuckling at this; I had never even gotten a parking ticket.
“It takes only a few individuals questioning the new order for things to unravel. That is why it was so important for those brutes to take you from your office.”
“This doesn’t make sense. You’re saying that you’ve somehow changed history so that your people have conquered Earth?”
“Yes. It’s much easier and less bloody than actually doing so.”
“And what am I supposed to do? Swear a loyalty oath? Sign a nondisclosure agreement?”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. In circumstances like this, when a mind will not accept reconditioning, we must attempt to do so manually.”
“How? You going to shoot me up with drugs?”
“Again it’s not that simple. To recalibrate your mind, we are going to assign you an entirely new life. Once you accept that, then you can be reconditioned.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will soon enough.”
From a pocket of her pantsuit she took out what looked like a PDA, but it was obviously much more advanced. She began to tap at the screen until the screen turned red. My vision turned red along with the screen. With a scream, I tumbled off the chair.
My entire body felt as if it had been lit on fire. Through the haze of pain, I could see my body changing. My arms got shorter, pulling inside my sleeves. My chest was similarly shrinking, as were my feet. I looked like a child wearing his father’s clothes.
Only when those clothes fell away could I see what I had become. The slender arms and legs, the wide hips and slim waist, the pair of little round lumps on my chest all led to one conclusion: I had become a woman! I put a hand with manicured pink nails to plump lips and then let out a shriek like Denise when she saw a spider.
The only positive was that I was fully dressed. I was wearing a drab business suit with a knee-length skirt, nylons, and black shoes with a short heel. There was even a string of pearls around my neck.
“What did you do to me?” I shouted in a voice very much like my wife’s—a woman’s voice.
The woman tapped the screen of her PDA, the wall behind her turning into a mirror. In that mirror I could see my tormentor and
“What’s going on here?” I asked again.
The woman took a seat at a rickety metal table. She continued to study the folder for a few minutes, seemingly oblivious to me. I was about to ask for an explanation again when she took off the glasses and then looked up at me. She blinked a couple of times, her eyes turning entirely silver like liquid mercury.
I leaned back in my chair, not sure if I were hallucinating or not. She leaned forward, those liquid mercury eyes still fixed on me. “I’m afraid there has been a problem, Dr. Cauffield and we simply can’t allow there to be any loose ends.”
“Are you…are you going to kill me?”
“I certainly hope not.” She gestured to her eyes. “As you might have guessed, I am not human. I am an agent of the Zargon Empire. We have annexed your planet.”
“Annexed Earth? I don’t remember—”
“Oh, no, do not misunderstand me. There was no war. No treaties. We have long since stopped using such primitive methods. We don’t use flying saucers or giant robots like in your movies.
“Our method is what is called a Reality Distortion Generator. You can think of it as a mass brainwashing. As soon as our generator reached the proper orbit and launched the signal, nearly your entire species was reconditioned to accept us as their overlords.
“There are, unfortunately, some whose minds for one reason or another resist the reconditioning. These dangerous individuals must be rooted out and dealt with as swiftly as possible.”
“And I’m one of these dangerous individuals?” I asked. I couldn’t help chuckling at this; I had never even gotten a parking ticket.
“It takes only a few individuals questioning the new order for things to unravel. That is why it was so important for those brutes to take you from your office.”
“This doesn’t make sense. You’re saying that you’ve somehow changed history so that your people have conquered Earth?”
“Yes. It’s much easier and less bloody than actually doing so.”
“And what am I supposed to do? Swear a loyalty oath? Sign a nondisclosure agreement?”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. In circumstances like this, when a mind will not accept reconditioning, we must attempt to do so manually.”
“How? You going to shoot me up with drugs?”
“Again it’s not that simple. To recalibrate your mind, we are going to assign you an entirely new life. Once you accept that, then you can be reconditioned.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will soon enough.”
From a pocket of her pantsuit she took out what looked like a PDA, but it was obviously much more advanced. She began to tap at the screen until the screen turned red. My vision turned red along with the screen. With a scream, I tumbled off the chair.
My entire body felt as if it had been lit on fire. Through the haze of pain, I could see my body changing. My arms got shorter, pulling inside my sleeves. My chest was similarly shrinking, as were my feet. I looked like a child wearing his father’s clothes.
Only when those clothes fell away could I see what I had become. The slender arms and legs, the wide hips and slim waist, the pair of little round lumps on my chest all led to one conclusion: I had become a woman! I put a hand with manicured pink nails to plump lips and then let out a shriek like Denise when she saw a spider.
The only positive was that I was fully dressed. I was wearing a drab business suit with a knee-length skirt, nylons, and black shoes with a short heel. There was even a string of pearls around my neck.
“What did you do to me?” I shouted in a voice very much like my wife’s—a woman’s voice.
The woman tapped the screen of her PDA, the wall behind her turning into a mirror. In that mirror I could see my tormentor and
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