Darmak
Chapter 3
As he stood outside the girl’s locker room, preparing for what had to be the greatest possible act of gall any man has ever tried to pull off, a clipped voice ran through his thoughts. “The Girl’s Locker Room. The final frontier. These are the voyages of quantum philosophically-evolved Marty O’Conner. His five-hour old mission, to explore fertile, young girls. To seek out nookie and new stimulation. To BOLDLY COME where NO MAN—”
“Shut up, Darmak!” Marty demanded of his alien consciousness. “I’m feeling guilty enough about this as it is.”
“Oh please. I’ve delved into your fantasies, Marty. As wet dreams go, walking through the girl’s locker room is number three, just after a Liv Tylor strip tease and a Baywatch harem.”
“I thought you could only read my surface thoughts!”
“True. Which begs the question as to why sex seems to occupy so much of your thoughts,” Darmak replied smugly. “As for guilt, was it or was it not you who just sent a quantumly-altered concubine with a pen that induces millenium-long orgasms out to brainwash beautiful women into your personal slaves.”
“Fuck you!” Marty cursed. “What the hell am I doing?! What the hell did you do to me, Darmak?!”
“I gave you the power to comprehend quantum philosophy. What you have done is to use it for sex. Which I’m cool with, but which you’re clearly having second thoughts about. Want to talk about it?”
“Fuck you, Darmak.”
“Hey,” Darmak replied, his normally cool tone a little peeved, “this isn’t a case of aliens-possess-young-boy-turn-him-into-evil-sex-monster. Anything you’re doing is what YOU want to do, Marty. As colloquialisms go, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’ might be better to recite than ‘fuck you.’”
Marty cursed, at himself or Darmak he didn’t know, and leaned against the lockers in the hall.
“So are you going to impregnate them or not?” Darmak inquired.
“Leave me alone for a little, Darmak,” Marty half-answered. He knelt to the ground and hid his head, squeezing his eyes shut and trying not to think about the incredibly wicked thing he had been prepared to do. Not that Marty had any emotional repression about sex, no more so than anyone else, but even the most liberated person would have difficulty justifying brainwashing and impregnating about a hundred innocent girls.
His thoughts were interrupted, not by Darmak, but by a voice above him. “Excuse me.”
Marty looked up to see Susan Parrish. Susan was undoubtedly the sexiest woman at school, with a swimmer’s body, a perfect face, and breasts that probably required specially-made bras. In addition, she was getting a 4.3 GPA and it was rumored that Stanford and Harvard were vying for her acceptance. Marty had never even spoken to her directly, which was just as well, because he had heard that she was an utter bitch.
“You’re on my locker,” she gestured.
“Sorry,” Marty apologized miserably, and scooted over.
As Susan opened her locker, she turned to look at him. “Are you all right?” she inquired.
“No,” he answered honestly.
“Would you like to talk about it?”
“No,” he repeated.
Susan shrugged. On any other day, Marty might’ve paid money to see her shrug. 44D breasts moving to a shrug are nothing to take lightly. “If you like. In my experience, not talking about it only makes it worse.”
“I’ve got enough voices in my head not to need any outside,” he muttered.
“Well, suit yourself.” She looked at him again, and asked “Are you new here?”
“No.”
“Hm. I would think I would have met you before...” Not wanting to speak, Marty skewed reality, and strengthened his existence in the past. “Oh, yes. I know you. You’re Marty O’Conner.”
“Good guess,” he said sadly.
“Well, we’re in several classes together. Speaking of which, class is about to start. I’ve got to go.”
Just as she was turning to go, Marty impulsively said, “Hey, just a second.”
“Yes?”
“...Can I talk about it?”
Susan gave a reassuring smile. “Sure.”
“Okay. But first I’m going to have to do something.” He concentrated, searching for a particular line or probability. When he opened his eyes, he knew Susan would believe anything he told her, and would reply to it objectively.
And so he told her about Darmak and getting abducted and learning quantum philosophy and everything he’d done so far. She listened attentively, and finally spoke, “And now what?”
“Well, now Darmak wants me to go into the girl’s locker room and impregnate them all.”
“Well, it seems to me that it isn’t Darmak who wants that. Since you say the Darmak in you is part of yourself, than it’s you who wants to go in. Darmak is just supporting you.”
“But surely you don’t think this is RIGHT!?”
“No. I don’t think it is right. I for one would not want to be subject to mass impregnation.
“On the other hand, if one is to look at the big picture, if quantum philosophy is really an aspect of genetics, then the human race must evolve to obtain it, and since you’re the only human with it you have to start somewhere. You can use your powers to make these girls be ideal mothers, who will help to raise the next form of dominant life on earth and help man reach the stars. That being the case, I suppose it is not right, but it is necessary.”
Marty rolled his eyes. “I don’t believe this! Even a woman is telling me to forcibly impregnate my peers!”
“Yes I am, although do bear in mind that you did alter me slightly, so there may be some consequences you didn’t anticipate. However, I don’t feel any different, although I don’t suppose that I would. Regardless, the fact remains that there is no other way.”
“Well, can’t I just, I don’t know....GIVE people this power? Make a quantum transmogrifier and fundamentally alter people to pass on this power?”
Darmak answered for her, although Susan’s answer was very much the same. “You COULD, but it’s a really bad idea. Most people aren’t as ethical as you are. Hell, I CHOSE you because you had a pretty good grasp of right vs. wrong, and as you yourself have been grousing about, you did some stuff you weren’t proud of. Consider most of your peers. Consider that dick Derrick Wasnie on the football team. Do you want to give HIM quantum philosophy? You know, I tried this on humans once before. Gave the power to a nice little German art student. His name was Adolf. You can’t give people power they’re not ready for. Genetics is the only way, Marty.”
Finally, Susan concluded, “Marty, the long and short of it is, you have been given a gift to help mankind. On the surface it seems cruel, but on the surface so does natural selection. It will work out well. IF you have the strength of will to remember right from wrong, and to think out your actions.”
Marty cursed, unable to argue any more but still unconvinced. “Hell. I can’t see it that way.”
“Yes you can, Marty. You just won’t let yourself.”
Marty blinked, and comprehension dawned. “But I don’t want to change myself that way. If I alter my ethics, there’s no telling how far I might go.” He thought, and said, “Here, Susan. I’ll give you the power of quantum philosophy, but only for one time and purpose: to make me think about this like you are. YOU decide if it’s a good idea for me to think that way too.”
Susan nodded. Reality skewed for her, then for Marty as she applied it to him.
Marty took stock. He felt normal. He examined his morals thoroughly. He still wouldn’t kill anyone. He still didn’t want to rape anyone. He still didn’t want to have unconsenting sex, or to alter girls to feel othewise. But the latter, he knew now, he COULD. For the greater good of mankind.
Marty turned back to Susan. “Thanks, Susan.” Then he focused, and she forgot everything specific they’d spoken of, remembering only a pleasant conversation.
Susan’s brow furrowed, her train of thought lost, but then that too evaporated as the bell for second period rang. “Oops! I’m late! It was nice to meet you, Marty. I’ve gotta go!”
She’d helped him a lot. He wondered why everybody called her a bitch. Marty sighed, watching her leave, then turned back towards the girl’s locker room and steeled himself. “Yeah, Susan. Me too.”