In Plant
David squinted when he read the pun. Marjorie always had a knack for those during college years but he never expected she would go with one for the name of her new proprietary piece of technology.
“In Plant? Really?” He sipped his coke.
His geeky best friend fidgeted her thumbs. “Yeah, get it? It’s because the polymer is engineered using…”
“Stop right there before you give me a headache,” he interrupted. When Marjorie babbled about science, especially science he didn’t fully understand, she was an unstoppable, nagging machine. Having her keep her mouth shut was an act of mercy, even for her.
“Why do you always say that?” She pouted, her petite cheeks turning red. She was as intelligent as childish sometimes, but always beautiful. Sometimes, he thought he had a crush on her. This was one of those times.
“Because…” his thoughts trailed off as he gazed into her almond-shaped honey eyes. “… you’re way smarter than me. You always were. I don’t want you to feel the need to dumb down your speech for me to keep up.”
A white lie. Simple but effective, he hoped.
“Oh, I love explaining things to you, Davy Boy,” she teased, using his hated nickname from yesteryears. “Ask me what this technology does, go on.”
“There’s going to be a catch, right?”
“Perhaps… but don’t you trust me?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then ask away,” she giggled.
“Okay, what does this In Plant do?”
“It controls people’s minds, obviously!”
“Excuse me?” He choked.
“Once absorbed, the polymer bonds with the cells in the central nervous system of the individual and takes hold of them. It’s kind of like a computer virus, but a natural one since it’s based on the hallucinogenic properties of the saft of the plant knows as Apuch…”
“Hold on, go back to the part where you talked about mind control!” David begged.
“Why? Is that so hard so grasp?”
“It sounds straight out of some sci-fi story, that’s for sure! Are you actually telling me you developed a natural implant that can alter people’s thoughts?”
“Alter them, erase them, rewrite them at will. The polymer is my greatest creation and human trials have been nothing but promising thus far.”
David squinted again, no longer seeing the girl he cared about, but a modern Frankenstein with boobs.
“What the fuck? How did you manage to get approval to test something like this on humans?”
Marjorie crossed her legs under the cafeteria table and leaned for a whisper.
“You’d be amazed at how much the DoD pays for secret research such as this. The wars of the future won’t be fought with machine guns and tanks any more but with imperceptible genetic modifications through and through. This little thing can change everyone’s line of thinking including those of dictators and buffoon presidents. Maybe I should find a way to slip a piece of it on our Chief of State’s drink when I visit the White House next week…”
“Hmmm… drink?” He mumbled, lips awfully dry despite the sweet caffeinated liquid he had just ingested.
“Yeah, I experimented with a lot of different things to get the molecules to break and bond the way I wanted them to and discovered that liquid dispersion is the most effective way of propagation. Don’t tell me you’re worried I spiked your glass before we started talking!”
He shivered. “That thought crossed my mind, I admit…”
“You’re so cute, Davy Boy. I didn’t. Not this time at least. One dose is enough, see?”
“Not this time…” he repeated, thinking of the toast she had made during his sister’s wedding two weeks before. “To mindless days,” she had said. “Oh fuck… everyone present?”
“All 150 guests, yes. I’ve been having a blast reprogramming them from a distance. I’m so glad you don’t remember why you came to see me, today.”
David gulped. In five minutes, he wouldn’t remember their conversation either.
