The Greatest Mistake (cont’d)

And other thing I can anticipate about Eve is that she always got very turned on by muscular types. boys or girls.

Mark Anthony woke up in a new day hoping that it all was just a dream but he found a letter from Gracie by his side ‘be back after school’. He walked by the door debris to his bedroom and all equipment as the supercomputer was removed from there.  He was alone at home, much larger than he remembered but still seemed the same.

He opened the large fridge to take the bottle of cold water and it was three times heavier than before. Everything was. Mark decided to take a walk to see the new world that his sister created up-close.  As the gravity and the trees, the blocks were all bigger as the buildings. At the park only girls seemed to have left their homes, they played basket with taller poles impossible for any man to dunk even with the previous gravity.

They seemed to be unaffected by the changes, tossing balls and running like it always has been this way. Mark seats to watch them playing, the blond girls seemed to be no older than twelve years and yet were taller and stronger than him, a sixteen old male. The girls seemed to have fun finding out their new abilities, of how high they could jump, or how faster they could run, how far they could throw the ball. Their new strength didn’t helped them much to score it, but Mark knew that no NBA player would be able to play with their present strength.

Mary made the world for the women and excluded men from the party. He bought a newspaper and no one could deal with it with a reasonable manner. The editorial brought cheap philosophies about what reality is, some columnists questioning about some conspiracy theories, others about mass illusion. They had no one to blame, no clue on how to proceed, any real speculation at all. Mark didn’t care about their views, to him, the problem and the solution was quite simple: Mary.

After some pages of no substance, he found articles dealing with the ‘female subject.’ There were countless photographs of before and after, mundane women, from old fat ladies, others young bulimic actresses, kindergarten teachers to Wall Street lawyers, all of them were strangely beautiful, each one with their natural gene pool enhanced by Eve’s golden ratio proportions and symmetry.

And was ironic that all those overweight women became the most muscular ones; it showed a morbid obese woman in her thirties transformed into a musclebound with Arnold’s level definition and size. It should be traumatic for her, but instead she stated that it all has been ‘quite a ride’ flexing her massive arms for the photoshoot.

And Mark remembered of Eve’s horribly obese older sisters. They were not only fat, but they were nasty: the ultra-neurotic type that had million of personal issues and blamed everybody else, yelling it to the world not caring for who was listening. And Mark listened to a lot of domestic fights between them by his window. They were troublemakers in the bad sense. The kind who calls the police because of some loud music, like they did twice with him. He despised them. The hospital must have swapped babies when Eve was born.

For more than Eve was aware of her gorgeousness and flaunted her achievements, she kept smiling for anyone. More than she should, Mark thought. Her magnetic personality had to be one of keys for the success Eve had so near in the beginning of her career.

Mark went back to his home and looks over the garbage can, where he thrown away all Eve’s mags. He was relieved to retrieve it, but then he discovered out that none of them had Eve on the cover “has Maty changed the past, too?” he thought. On the covers just muscular broads showing off their muscles instead of only cleavage. "If Mary also changed the past… what is my past?”

Mark connected the net and googled himself; he was at high school, and everything he ever done was gone, Mark was just another mediocre student like any other. “Fuck me…” And Mark searched for his sister, and he found out her job: Breaslogen Institute. Ms.Hoth, his old boss now was occupying its presidency. Mary also had his funding and was tutored directly by Ms.Hoth. He saw her lab, ten times bigger than his with much more funding that was available for him. Mark wondered if in the past of this reality, Mary found out the source code of the universe.

Mark wasn’t the only one discovering that the past has changed, but all people googling themselves are; and women were surprised and men devastated. As the women were discovering their jobs, their titles, salary incomes, PhDs, etc, they also discovered that had they had the knowledge for it. They didn’t have the memories, but the knowledge.

Men discovered that they aren’t able to keep their jobs for the most part. That most of them had female bosses, that women had many more privileges. There was not just maternity leave of an entire year, but they had benefits even from their periods. Young secretaries became successful executives in some cases, and old patrons became caretakers. If the world was perplexed because of the first incident, now it was in chaos. No stock exchange dared to open business today. Would people accept their new roles in life, or do they try to pretend that nothing changed in their recorded past?

Mark knew that his mother never cared about cars, but he entered in the garage and instead of her Prius it had a sports car in its place with round and aggressive lines; it was not masculine as a Ferrari, but seemed expensive as such “mom would never drive something like that.” And he searched for more differences in his home, he went for his DVD collection and they were all altered as well. Most of the action movies had an amazon staring. He took Star Wars and a brawny Leia was rescuing Luke in the cover; he hadn’t Conan anymore, but a super muscular Red Sonja was there. And most of the romantic comedies seemed like Hollywood produced expensive X-rated porns, with naked shamelessly women on the covers wearing the most skimpy clothes. The Shinning had the powerful wife ripping door with her fingers with Jack Nicholson screaming inside. A Russ Meyer box was in the place of the Coppola collection “He won an Oscar? Russ Meyer? What the hella fuck is this? Too bad he’s dead, he would be happy in this place” Curious, he puts it on the player.

The image sharpness of the DVD surprised him, even that was enhanced in this world. The three-hours 70’s epic had a muscular Farah Fawcett and largely a breasted Raquel Welch, and was all about super vixens fighting for the last fertile males on earth in a Mad Max setting. It was a major boobage like he never saw; every single shot had boobs and cleavages in epic scale. And the desperate vixens in heat crushed countless impotent bastards with their sickening violence “that piece of shit won an Oscar of best picture?”  and that piece of shit forced him to relief his cock in some scenes.

Most movies had gratuitous violence and sex all over it like Sin City, Gladiatrix… “Gladiatrix?… Trinity is the One? Kate Sparrow? Dirty Nancy?” Mark felt he was in the Mirror, Mirror episode of Star Trek, but unlike Kirk, all the population was transported to there with him. 

Ms.Hoth, Mark’s ex-boss, was listening every single word of Mary describing how the ‘incident’ happened and how she got Mark’s knowledge. Both were dressed with improvised clothes, a little self-aware that too much skin was exposed, since Mary somehow missed it in the process.

Ms.Hoth was in her late forties, and all her life she had to fight a heart disease. She could sense that her pulse has changed. As her career, that would over with Mark Anthony falling from wonder boy to a fraud. Now she's named the president, at least in her records. A board meeting would seal her future in some hours, of course that the institute’s board would never accept this situation easily.

Mary finished her story saying with a smile “just maintaining the fermions and bosons balance, everything is possible.” Mary could see how Ms.Hoth was impressed, even disturbed by the implications of it as she drunk the coffee with shaken hands.

“But why… why Mark never cleared to me the nature of his experiments? He never trusted me? That I don’t have ethics?” Ms.Hoth always defended Mark, and sometimes with even him against her.

“Mark never trusted anyone. He kept a lot to himself. If he died, or something happened to him, it would be all gone. Mark had some personal issues that blinded him to see how really gifted he was. A gift that is now safe inside me and I am willing to give it to the institute and for the science.” Mary felt so mature. But all she wanted was to have back the power to change the universe, as much Mark wanted his career and intelligence back. Both will do anything to reach their goals.

“Mary… this is wonderful, but I have to ask secrecy about everything you told me. It can have the direst consequences for anyone involved, including you and your family. There are people angry out there right now. They will want to have their lives back. They may kill for it. And then we have the problem of changing the reality itself, we shouldn’t do anything at all until all moral ans scientific issues of it are clarified. Do you understand, Mary?”

“Absolutely. But I need the resources to keep Mark’s research.”

“In a way you already have it. I’ll discover it in the board meeting today.”

Ms.Hoth walked with Mary to her labs. The Institute campus got so big that they needed a map and electric cars to move between the facilities. She left Mary there and headed for a white high security building. And one thing she didn’t tell Mary: there were copies of Mark’s frequency emitters prototypes. Redundancy is the most sacred safety measure in science, and Ms.Hoth was very conservative in this respect. Mark also knew of its existence, and both would never tell Mary.

The board meeting was very unsettling, by the Institute records most of people that was around the table shouldn’t be there. Not only this, but all of them were uncomfortable in their clothes. Men wearing loose coats and jackets, and even permutated some coats with the women. And women had a hard time to wear a conventional outfit. Most of them were called because of their new jobs positions by the accounts of the universe shift. They were left in the adjunct room waiting for their call. Ms.Hoth was the only women inside.

The HR director showed a sheet with the chain of the institute positions of before and after the incident. The president should be a janitor in this reality.

“This… is… a HOAX!” said the old man on the head of the meeting table. Mr.Loefgreen was red by listening the facts being presented. “It has to be a joke, by what is written here, I lost a finger with lawn-mower ten years ago!?”

“Mr.Loefgreen, there is a finger missing in your hand.” his assistant pointed. The president stares at it because he didn’t noticed it until now.

Ms.Hoth took the opportunity “and I believe, Mr.President, with all respect, that your knowledge also must be of a janitor’s one.” All the board started to grumble out load about it.

Mr.Loefgreen stood up on his feet defying Ms.Hoth “You don’t know what you talking about! This is an…”

“Insult?”

“Yes, an insult.”

“How much is two square, Mr.Loefgreen?”

“I don’t need this numbers bullshit to be a President!”

“She just asked how much is two square, Mr.Loefgreen…” asked a researcher.

“10” he said like he was sure. All now all the board understood the problem they were facing. And Mr.Loefgreen started to shout pointing at her: “you are the one doing this… to take my position! And to think that I gave you chance because of your pretty face. If it wasn’t for your legs, lady, you would never ever seat here.” The board kept their silence listening to the janitor who wanted to be their director.

In the middle of the silence Ms.Hoth gave the final blow writing ‘Victory’ on her notes “Gentlemen, I think I proved my point. Mr.Loefgreen is unfortunately incapable to maintain his functions as president, most of us are still researchers and professors with the exception of Mr.Loefgreen. Those who are in favor of unassuming Mr.Loefgreen from his presidency, raise your hands.”

Half raised their hands immediately, the other half followed them. Mr.Loefgreen lose his mind “Stab backer! Your fucking cunt” and runs to her to try strangle her neck. Before the other people came to help her, Ms.Hoth took him by twisting his wrists in opposite directions “what an impropriate behavior, Mr.Loefgreen…” She remembered all those times he would feel her thighs below the table in a meeting, his slimming fingers caressing her arm making her feel like a whore to the others. She deeply hated him. Mr.Loefgreen was feeling the pain in her grip “release me fucking cow! You are crushing me” and she throws him on the floor. Later she would give him a bucket and broom, but Mr.Loefgreen didn't came back.

With him out of her way, and being the only one with solid ground between the old board and the new one, Ms.Hoth was named president of the Institute afterward which she respectfully accepted.

Mark kept in his home alone, reading the old but altered magazines, encyclopedias online, and after some hours his head had too much information. He decided to take some air, he walked to the TV tower's cliff near his house. Now it looked live a valley and the tower was immense. From there he could see the enlarged airplanes on the ground at the airport with machines like a 747 with sixteen engines. The sky seemed higher. As the clouds, the Sun and the Moon. Everything made him feel smaller.

And Mark heard someone coming behind him. His heart pounded, he stop breathing looking at her coming closer.

Was Eve.

She was not altered, she was just like she ever was, beautiful. He never got so close of her for years. He just said “hi”. But she kept walking ignoring him. Mark followed her. Her makeup was all blurred and dried like she had cried enough; Eve was covered with a blanket and walked barefooted, seemingly detached from anything else.

Eve just stared at the ground down in the valley. Mark was two steps from her “Eve… What are you…”

And she jumped.