Some of you may have guessed from the title, but this story takes place in the same narrative as “The Power of Belief” (which you can find here in the archive) and “The Power of Reality” (which is only on Patreon). It might be more accurate to call this a long sketch, because there’s a lot more detail that could be paid to the story that follows, but I like this version enough I wanted to post it. You don’t *need” to have read “The Power of Reality” to know what happens here, because the events that follow actually happen prior to most of the events in that story. In fact, “The Power of Reality”, as posted, is actually two separate chunks of the story– “The Power of Persuasion” and then “The Power of Reality”, and what follows happens in between those two chunks. This has probably only confused most of you further.
Here’s a basic rundown. Professor Harold Larson had a student who manipulated him into becoming an old, sadistic top using a special sonic device. The Professor took control of the device, and has developed a watch that allows him to manipulate reality, provided he’s…convincing enough, which he generally is. What follows is an experiment the professor conducts on campus one fall, before the final events of the story.
“Hello everyone,” the older, portly fellow said, to the students sitting around the living room, “I know that the first week of class can be a bit hectic, especially for young men like yourself so dedicated to academic excellence, but I wanted to call this mandatory house meeting so I could take a moment and introduce myself. I’m Dr. Harold Larson, a professor here on campus, and I’m going to be assisting the Dean of students this academic year by overseeing a couple of the fraternities on campus.”
The young men of Sigma Mu Tau looked from one to another, a little confused. Their fraternity was composed entirely of upperclassmen, and membership was only allowed to those students who were in the top five percent of their classes. To say that they were academically focused would be a bit of an understatement–Sigma Mu Tau had fostered future presidents, fortune 500 businessmen, nobel prize winners–why their prestigious fraternity would need supervision from the dean’s office didn’t make much sense to any of them. Edwin Foster–the president of the fraternity–spoke, “I just met with the dean yesterday, and he didn’t mention any of this to me. Why are we being supervised?”
Harold chuckled, “Well, I only just made my request to the dean this morning, but I can assure you he is completely on board with my request. Perhaps I should try and be a bit more precise. I’m a professor of psychology, and I requested permission to supervise two fraternities on campus for an experiment of mine, and–”
“An experiment? Don’t you need our consent first?”
“True,” Harold said, and adjusted his glasses, and adjusted the watch on his wrist. “I’m certain all of you will willingly consent to the furtherance of knowledge, correct? You don’t want to be bored with the details.”
The young man who’d spoke wanted to object, but he wasn’t quite sure…why he would. The professor’s words made perfect sense to him–and everyone else in the room. They all nodded their assent, and Harold beamed at them all. “Excellent. I knew I could count on some smart nerds like yourself to understand.”
“Excuse me, but that’s kind of insulting, isn’t it?” Edwin said, “Just because we’re intelligent doesn’t mean that we’re nerds. That’s part of the reason this fraternity exists, is to provide a place for men of intellect to gather and further civilization.”
“Ah, but don’t you have that backwards, Edwin? May I call you Ed?”
“No, you may not.”
“Oh, but you much prefer being called Ed, don’t you? Doesn’t Edwin just sound so…stodgy, and uptight?”
“I mean…” Edwin paused, trying to understand why he found the professor so agreeable. He’d always hated anyone shortening his name, hadn’t he?”
“Come on up here, Ed.”
The young man stood, and approached the front of the room, where the professor was standing and addressing the house.
“Now, what I meant, when I said that you had that backwards, was that what you meant to say, surely, was that just because you’re all nerds, doesn’t mean that you’re smart, right?”
“I can…assure you that’s not what I meant at all.”
“Oh, but let’s use you as an example, Ed.” Harold looked the young man up and down a bit, before saying anything else. He was a senior this year, pursuing a degree in economics. Edwin was well meticulous in his appearance, with his hair well styled at all times, dressed even now in a suit–though he’d allowed himself the liberty of taking off his tie in the house, around his friends and associates of the house. His summer had been spent in DC, interning with a lobbying firm, and there was chatter around campus he was thinking of running for his home state’s congress once he graduated in the spring. “Now, I’d say you’re a nerd, wouldn’t you, Ed?”
“I can assure you that I am not a nerd.” The men in the room chuckled, though it was a bit…strained. The meeting was taking a strange turn, and none of them were quite sure what to make of this shift.
They saw Harold fiddle with his watch again, and throw his arm around Edwin’s shoulders, putting the timepiece near his ear. A few observant members of the house saw their president’s eyes look puzzled a moment, and then relax. Others became dimly aware of a buzzing noise in the air, but forgot to remain focused on it for long. “Why don’t we start by talking about what a nerd is Ed. Nerds are…socially awkward right? They spend a lot of time alone, they don’t really know how to deal with people all that well. They mostly like spending time on their computers, and watching TV. What do you think they watch, Ed?”
“I…I don’t know. They…probably play video games, and watch anime, or whatever…”
“That, but I think they also look at a lot of porn, just like you do, Ed.”
Ed, of course, thought pornography was an utter waste of time, and never watched it. However, at the professor’s suggestion, he found his mind…filling in facts to back up the insinuation. “I…No…I don’t.”
“We can come back to that,” the professor said, “Nerds also don’t take very good care of themselves, right? Rarely taking showers, almost never doing laundry, wearing the same comfortable, casual clothes for days on end, not even noticing when they start to stink. They don’t shave either–most proper nerds have long, thick, busy neckbeards like yours.”
Everyone in the room watched the hair spring from Edwin’s smooth face. By the time his hand had gone up to find the beard there, it was long enough to reach his chest, and looked like it hadn’t been trimmed or cared for much in the years it must have taken to grow it. Even though everyone had just witnessed the beard growing…none of them could quite recall every seeing Ed without it. “How…I didn’t have this…a second ago, did I?”
“Of course you did, Ed.” Harold said, and looked out to see how the frat was reacting. Most were staring at Edwin in shock, but a few of them stirred in their seats, eyeing the exit. “All of you find this very fascinating, don’t you?” he said to the room, “None of you would dare leave when you could watch this instead.” The room settled down, and he turned back to Edwin. “Now, where were we?”
Bracken's Corner 