At the Denver airport, Alex made his way to a car rental agency and slapped down his credit card again. He started up his new laptop, wondering how long the battery would last. He made a mental note to buy a car adapter as soon as possible, and placed the laptop on the passenger seat.

Where do I go? he asked the computer. He followed the help agent's spoken directions as best he could. It was not aware of the street layout of Denver, it merely told him what direction and distance to travel to reach the source of the disturbances. Alex ended up at the edge of town, in a high density residential neighborhood.

He could tell when they arrived at the destination. There were several police cars and a pair of ambulances outside a somewhat dilapidated apartment building. Shit. Alex said to himself. There was also a crowd of watchers, lined up outside a barricade of crime scene tape, and a few people who looked like they might be reporters.

Alex parked and watched. Obviously something had happened, something that had involved the police. He doubted that the other Master Control Program owner was still around, or they would have done something to take control of the situation, convince the police that everything was all right and send everybody home.

He considered taking that option himself, and then investigating once everyone else was gone. But if the other owner was still around, he'd be making a target of himself.

Alex decided to fit himself into the situation. He identified a police officer who looked like he was in charge of the situation, and targeted him with his own Master Control Program. He made some quick mental modifications to the officer, so that he would recognize Alex as a forensic specialist, an expert, just like on CSI, who needed to be shown the entire scene and have everything explained to him. He made the same changes to all of the other police officers he could see and the ambulance crew as well. Then, taking a deep breath, he got out of his car and walked up to the lieutenant.

Hello, Alex said to him, what's the situation here?

The police officers all looked at him. It's about time you showed up, their leader said. Alex felt a knot of tension in his stomach begin to fade. The Control Program editing was real, this was going to work. We've gotta couple of bodies, they're gurnied, but we're waiting to find out where to send them before bringing them out. It's really a weird scene.

I'd better take a look then. Alex told him.

Yeah, maybe you can explain it. He gestured for Alex to follow him, and led him into the building.

We got the call from the landlord, the policeman said as they went up the stairs. He got a call from from the tenant in the apartment below. Complaining about a leak from above. Heavy duty, like a broken pipe or something. The landlord said there was no response to his knocking. He went in — not supposed to, of course, but he figured the guy had a waterbed, which was strictly against his lease. Then there was the smell.

They arrived on the third floor, and Alex was aware of an overpowering odor. Musty and organic, it smelled like sweat and sour milk and seemed familiar, and mildly nauseating.

The officer noticed Alex sniffing. Yeah, nasty, isn't it? Who knew what the guy was doing, and why would he be trying to make the stuff? A movie maybe? I'm thinkin' home porn — you'll see why soon — but why so much? And I can't figure out what he was keeping it in! With a distasteful expression the officer led Alex down the hall, ankle deep in a goopy white substance, obviously the source of the odor. It grew deeper as they made their way to an open door leading into one of the apartments.

The main room of the apartment was knee deep in the gloppy white substance. The odor was so thick that he was getting used to it, blocking it out of his perception. It was familiar, but he just couldn't identify it. The white liquid had obviously flowed into the main room from another, interior room, likely the bedroom. It looked to Alex like it had burst open the door from within. Alex looked into the bedroom, and saw that the substance was everywhere. From the coating on the walls and ceiling and everything else the room had been full of it.

That's where we found them, the officer said. In there, on the bed. They drowned when the stuff flooded out, but like I said I can't figure out where it come from. No tanks, nothing. And it looks like the room was full of the stuff. Tell me, could it be some kind of chemical reaction that makes the stuff? So it expands, maybe?

No. Alex said, shaking his head. Not any reaction I know of. Not like that.

It gets better, he said, gesturing at the sheet-covered bodies resting on a pair of gurnies in the main room. Take a look.

Knowing what he was expected to do, as a visiting forensic expert, Alex pulled the sheet back from one corpse. It was a woman. She was covered in a layer of the milky white liquid, and her hair was matted and clotted with the stuff. Even so Alex could tell she was well-shaped, with an attractive face. What riveted his gaze were her breasts. They were huge. Ludicrously, impossibly, ridiculously large. They were the size of basketballs, bulging out from her chest. Even in death, though, they seemed perky and firm.

Gotta be implants, don'cha think?

Yeah, Alex said. Must be. But he realized now what at least some of the matter creating alterations last night had accomplished. But, Jesus, I mean, I thought I understand breast fetishes, but how is that attractive?

The officer looked at him knowingly, then visibly changed his expression to one of condescension. Out on the street, we see a lot of things. Wait'll you see him. The lieutenant pulled the sheet down from the other body this time pulling it all the way down past the knees. This cadaver was male. Obviously, exaggeratedly male, with bulging muscles all over like a comic book hero or a professional body builder. Then Alex noticed the penis. Flaccid and covered in whitish slime, it still stretched most of the way down to the knees. It was proportionally thick as well, making a member more appropriate to a donkey than a human being.

There's no kind of implant that will do that, is there?

Not that I know of, Alex replied, mind racing. He gagged. Suddenly he knew what the thick white fluid everywhere must be, and barely managed to keep himself from vomiting. The police officer thought it was artificial, some kind of special effect, but Alex knew it was real human semen. This must be the user, the owner of the Master Control Program. Last night he had discovered the ability to modify bodies and given his female friend gigantic breasts, himself an equine-sized cock, and for whatever reason decreed that he ejaculate enough to fill an entire room. No wonder there had been continuity errors, there was no natural way for a human body to produce that quantity of fluid. He wondered if the idiot's death by drowning had been the only thing to stop the flood and preserve the universe.

Or maybe, the officer chuckled nervously at Alex's silence, maybe he found some spam e-mail that really delivered.

Alex chuckled along with the officer, then was struck by inspiration. As unlikely as that is, I'd probably better take a look at his computer.

Over on the table there. Good thing it wasn't in the bedroom, eh?

Right.

There's even more though. We have not one, not two, but four women claiming to be the deceased's girlfriend. All of them are, well, let's just say they're exceptionally good-looking, even if they're not as well… generously-endowed as Jane Doe here. Plus there's some guy who insists on talking to us, just won't go away, but doesn't seem to have anything to say. All of them are downstairs.

Alex felt frightened. He'd started to feel safe once it seemed that everyone was dead. Live people might be other Control Program users. Do any of them have computers with them? he asked, trying to sound casual.

Huh? The officer seemed surprised at the question. No. Not that I noticed anyway.

I'd better go see them, then.

Alex took a deep breath as soon as he stepped outside. The clean air was a welcome change from the cloying odor of stale cum. The lieutenant directed him to the shade of a tree, just outside the police line, where a cluster of people waited, talking to a man Alex had earlier pegged as a reporter. The police officer looked at him pointedly, and the reporter closed his notebook and left hurriedly.

Is it true? one of the women asked Alex directly. Is Dan dead?

Alex glanced at the officer who said, The landlord identified the deceased as the tenant, Daniel Scrowcroft.

It seems he is. Alex told the woman. He was having a hard time focusing his thoughts, as she was distractingly attractive. All four of them were. They had different sorts of beauty, but all of them were athletically slim and trim and hot. Short hair, longer hair, red hair, blonde hair. They all looked distraught at his affirmation of Dan's death. Alex realized that Dan must have modified them all with his control program, changing their thoughts so that they were attracted to him, in love with him, lusting for him.

The idea dominated Alex's thoughts. Dan could have any woman he chose, so he did. He understood the feeling. Hadn't his first action with the Program been to make Terrie bare her breasts to him? Confronted with this demonstration of the power available through the reality interface Alex couldn't control his thoughts away from fantasies of sexual conquest. Terrie. Lisa. Dorothy. Famous actresses. Supermodels. His.

That Dan shit head, he's the one that did it!

Huh? Alex turned to the single young man in the group. Did what?

He, he changed… he made. The man gulped and squinted, obviously frustrated and trying hard to say something. I can't… it won't… she loves him now, not me.

This was weird. Slow down, Alex told him. What's your name?

Stephen.

Okay, Stephen, relax. Start at the beginning. Tell me what happened.

Stephen took a few deep breaths, and began to speak. Jenny here, he indicated a tall girl with short dark hair, she's my girlfriend. At this Jenny rolled her eyes. Obviously she didn't agree with that statement. A few days ago, she went out for a jog, right after work, and she didn't come home. I phoned the police, he looked accusingly at the lieutenant, but they said they couldn't do anything until she'd been missing 24 hours. The officer pulled out his notebook and made a note. Obviously he intended to search the record to try and corroborate that statement.

I went looking for her. Stephen continued. She normally goes running through that park over there. He pointed at a nearby green space. I asked around. An old lady, homeless I think.

Did you get her name? the police officer asked.

No. I didn't. I asked her if she'd seen Jenny. I described her. She said she'd seen her, watched her stop running and stand still. She said Jenny looked confused, like she'd forgotten something. Then a man came out of that building there. Stephen pointed at the cordoned-off apartment complex. He went up to Jenny, and she kissed him. That's what the old lady said. Then they went back into the building.

So I went in. I knocked on all the doors. One of the men on the first floor told me that this guy on the third floor had had a lot of women coming through recently. Alex noticed the lieutenant making another scribble in his notebook. So I went up. I knocked, and there was no answer, but it wasn't locked so I went in.

He, he, he, he … Stephen swallowed and paused. I saw him fucking her. I grabbed him. I hit him in the nose. Beat him up good. I grabbed Jenny, tried to get her out of there, but she wouldn't come. She cried, and went to make sure he was all right. She refused to come with me. She asked me to leave. Tears were streaming down Stephen's face. I left. But then, but then, but then… Stephen paused, struggled as if he were searching for words. I went back. He, he, he made… Stephen struggled some more.

I watched her fuck him. I watched him fuck her over and over… Stephen broke down and started to sob. He sagged, and sat down on the ground, rocking and crying.

Well that's more than we'd got out of him so far. The lieutenant said, guiding Alex back toward the building. I guess… well maybe his girlfriend found this Dan guy to be a better lay. If she likes 'em big, then that makes sense.

Maybe. Alex said. He knew the situation was much more complex than that. Dan had targeted Jenny after seeing her jog though the park — which was visible from the window next to his computer. When poor Stephen had managed to track down his girlfriend, Dan had used his Control Program to take vengeance. Also, it seemed likely that he'd programmed Stephen to have a block against telling anyone about it.

Alex wanted to get a look at Dan's computer. The police were here, they seemed to have accepted his authoritarian identity. Let's go back upstairs, Alex suggested. I want to take a look at his computer.

The officers accompanied him upstairs until they reached the stinky, slimy apartment. There were a pair of medical technicians in white jackets waiting by the bodies. Do these go to the morgue then, Lieutenant?

The officer glanced at Alex, who shrugged I can't do anything with them here.

Take 'em away boys. he ordered.

I'm going to go downstairs and find this neighbor Stephen mentioned, the officer told Alex. See what he has to say about Danny-boy's girlfriends.

Alex nodded, relieved to be left alone. As soon as he was by himself, he turned on Dan's computer. Sure enough, after a minute the main screen of the Master Control Program appeared, identical to his own. Alex quickly clicked through to the option pages. Fortunately Dan had not bothered to clear the log. By default all commands executed were saved for later perusal. He found the set of commands Dan had used on all the girls. It was about what he had guessed, Dan had modified their minds so that they loved him unconditionally, found him highly attractive and irresistibly sexy. Their only desire was to cater to his wishes and look out for his interests.

Then Alex swore. Dan hadn't bothered to save backup templates for the people he had modified. Alex had learned that the Program allowed the user to save the mental and physical state of up to 1024 targets, in case the user was unhappy with the results of his modifications. The options allowed for such saves to be made automatically but by default it was turned off. That meant that Alex could not quickly and easily return the women to their original frame of mind.

Glancing over the changes Dan had made to Stephen, Alex saw that Dan had indeed been pissed. He'd made Stephen unable to hurt him in any way. He'd blocked Stephen from telling anyone what Dan had done to him or the girls. He'd programmed Stephen to watch carefully and helplessly while he'd had sex with his girlfriend, Jenny. Finally, out of spite, he'd programmed Stephen to have twice his normal sex drive, yet be physically unable to achieve an erection.

There were also a set of changes made to a dozen people Alex didn't recognize. Their commands were simple: to take all of their available cash, put it in a brown paper bag, and drop the bag in a waste bin in a park a few miles away. From other changes to a few of these individuals, orders to stop using heroin, or stop selling within five miles of the local elementary school, Alex gathered that these people were drug dealers. It was easy enough for Alex to remove their compulsion to drop their cash, but Alex thought of his recent credit card use and decided to check the waste bin before leaving town.

Then came the changes Dan had made to himself. Apparently he hadn't bothered to study the help function carefully, because only last night had he begun to make physical changes to his victims, and finally to himself. Dan had given himself the barely realistic muscles of a comic book figure, an improbably large cock, and the sexual stamina to fuck for hours non-stop. Indulging in a final fetish, he'd programmed himself so that when he orgasmed, each spurt would produce ten times as much fluid as the one before. That had done it. Ignorant of exponential growth, Dan had caused the continuity errors of the night before, as there was no plausible physical explanation for an ejaculation of pints, and then gallons, and then barrels, and then finally an entire roomful of semen. Fortunately for reality, Dan had drowned to death — and therefore stopped orgasming — before he'd covered the entire state of Colorado in his cum.

Alex thought to himself quickly. He needed to fix this situation. He couldn't return things to exactly how they were before Dan's changes, but he needed to provide a plausible explanation for what had happened, so the authorities wouldn't investigate too carefully. Even if that were impossible, he needed to take Dan's disc, and cover his tracks well enough so that any other Master Control Program users would be unable to track him down.

First he tried to alter Dan's corpse, and that of his dead friend, so that the coroner wouldn't be too shocked. But he couldn't; the Program only affected living human beings. There was nothing he could do about the disgusting mass of semen, but he could modify all the police officers and landlord so they wouldn't think it inexplicable, and simply clean up the mess. He was quickly stymied; all of the police officers had been locked when he'd modified them with his own program Interface designate 1 the error window reported. No matter, he could fix them back at his car.

Next: Stephen and the harem outside. He needed to get them away. Far away. He was struck by an idea. He modified the four girls, starting with Jenny, so that all of their feelings and thoughts and intentions that had been directed to Dan would instead be directed towards Stephen. He left Dan's blocks against Stephen telling anyone about his experiences, but he figured Stephen wouldn't mind as much with four beautiful women catering to his every desire. To ensure that, he restored Stephen's ability to have an erection.

Finally he laid one final compulsion on Stephen. He would, in one hour (Alex estimated how long it would take him to return to his own computer and take care of the police) enter Dan's apartment, steal the computer, and as soon as possible move away from the city to the Alaskan wilderness. Alex began to enjoy himself as he added that last bit. It was fun, like writing a story, except that the characters were real people. He made another change to the landlord, to ensure Stephen's access.

Then Alex shut down the computer, ejected the disc from the drive, inspected it carefully to be sure it was the same, featureless silvery color as his own. He found an empty jewel case on the table next to the computer, put the disc into it, and, looking around for some way to smuggle it out of the building, eventually just stuck it into the waistband of his pants, hiding it under his shirt.

As he left the building he noticed that Stephen and Jenny were kissing passionately under the tree. The lieutenant came up to him and nodded over towards the couple. I guess they made up, huh?

Alex shrugged. This is a weird one all right. They watched the couple make out for a little while longer; the other three girls watched intently. Eventually one of them, a shorter, Asian girl began to stroke Jenny's ass, and then a redhead reached between the couple to stroke Stephen's chest.

This isn't just weird, it's fucked up, the policeman said, find anything on the computer?

Nope. Nothing obvious anyway. You should probably impound it as evidence.

Yeah, good idea. No luck on the downstairs neighbor, he's still at work. Any other ideas?

I'm fresh out, Alex said. Look, you have things under control. I'm going to take off for now, maybe check with the coroner, he hurriedly improvised. I'll be in touch, he lied, and started towards his car.

Hey yeah, thanks for your help.

Alex got into his car and drove away, thinking carefully. If another Master Control Program user investigated the scene, they wouldn't find any disc, only two strange dead bodies and a bizarre collection of stories. If they looked for the computer, they might eventually trace it to Stephen, but he'd be long gone. Even if they traced Stephen and his girls to Alaska, well, there wouldn't be anything to lead them back to him. Except — if they tried to modify any of the witnesses to the event, they'd discover that people had been modified and locked by two instances of the Master Control Program.

Alex stopped his car at a park a few miles from the scene. He started his computer, and manually unlocked all of the people he had made changes to before walking up to the lieutenant. He then shut it down, and inserted Dan's disc. Using the second copy of the Program, he modified all of those same people to not notice Stephen when he stole the computer. He double-checked to make sure they were all locked under Dan's program. Now another Program user would only be able to tell that one disc had been here, presumably the one Stephen had taken from Dan. Finally he got out and went to look in the wastebasket, and returned to his car with eight small sacks stuffed full of cash.

Problem solved. he thought to himself. At least Dan wouldn't be destroying the world though his carelessness. Now all he needed to do was escape the scene before another Program user arrived. And then… then he would need to sit down and do some serious thinking.