Power Corrupts

It’s been a damn rough day being a member of the United States Senate. After being elected to the position a few years ago when the previous member had passed away, I’ve been having to put up with more crap than I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. But soon enough, I’ll have my big break. The primary elections had landed me a spot as a potential president for the United States government. I won the side for the Democratic representative, and as of now, the general election is in 3 days, and so far I’ve been campaigning pretty well. The night before, however, I received an E-Mail from one of the senators saying that they needed me in one of the office labs. They told me it would be good practice if I ever got elected. I didn’t know what they meant by that at the time, but it was an order, and I had to follow it. When I went to the building, the senator in question lead me to a room with an odd looking seat of some kind, with wires connected to it. I was about to ask questions, but the senator began to explain.

“In this simulation, you will have complete control over a simulated universe. The aim of this simulation is to test the effects of extreme power and control on a person. This test is to be kept extremely confidential, and is only given to presidential candidates. Any disclosure of this program or your results will result in excommunication from any government status you may have. Now all you have to do is lie down in the chair, and I will start you up. You are to come here sharply at 8 for a one-hour session. Time in the simulator is compressed, and while it may feel like days on end, it will only be a one-hour timeframe.”

I nodded. I then laid down in the seat, and it reclined into a bed-like structure as I did so. The senator hooked the wires up to the machine, and by extension me, and I fell into a deep, coma-like sleep. When I woke up, I found myself hovering over a mass of water. The feeling was wild, and exhilarating. I floated around for a couple of minutes aimlessly, when I decided that I would create a large continent. I didn’t know how, if I had to wave my hand around, or if I could just speak it into existence. I tried envisioning it, closing my eyes as I did so. When I opened, a large, lush countryside. I decided to create a tribe of people, and I did so. And to quote the bible, I saw that it was good! In all seriousness, though. I couldn’t help but awe at the primitive tribe that I had just danced into being. It was a riveting feeling, and I wanted to test the boundaries of my power. I then decided to create a storm. Once more, I closed my eyes, and opened them to discover a torrent of rain bombarding the countryside like an airstrike. I saw the tribesmen and women follow suit as they abandoned their tasks at hand to seek shelter in tepees or for some of them, caves. Although it was fun to toy around with the natives, I decided to stop the storm and reveal myself to them. I did so, and when I finally lowered myself into the center of the tribe, nobody noticed me. It was just about then that I looked down and discovered that I didn’t have a body. I couldn’t see my hands in front of me, and I didn’t seem to have any restrictions on where I could look. I then slowly thought of how I wanted to present myself to the natives, and I took the form of a cliche, bearded man dressed in white robes, with long white flowing hair. The natives looked worried when they saw me, and some even approached me with weapons in their hands. It was clear they didn’t seem to trust me. I began to speak to them.

“Do not fear. I am the creator of this world, and the creator of all of you.” I spoke.

They all looked at me with confused looks, and one of them shouted out at me, yelling “Blasphemy!” in an angry tone. I then decided that if I ever were to gain their trust, I would have to prove to them that I was indeed their creator. I raised my hands to heaven above and began to conjure a ball of lightning at the tip of my fingers as if I were the hero of a video game. The tribes people backed away in fear, and I slowly lowered my hands, turning the lightning ball into flowers, and holding it out to a native. Slowly, but surely the natives approached me, and took the flowers. They were attractive, and had a nice scent to them. The natives took it as a sign of peace, and praised me for it, now believing what I had told them was true. And it was. I was a benevolent God to them. I aided them in times of hardship, and rewarded them when they returned the favor. I was about to expand my tribe when I felt as if my senses were being dulled. Sounds echoed in my ears until they slowly grew distant, and my vision was fading. I then sat up in the testing chair. The senator looked at me, and I realized that the simulation was over. He told me that I should come back tomorrow for the next simulation, and I had to say, I couldn’t wait for the next one.

The next morning, I found myself driving to the lab without so much as a cup of coffee. I was truly excited, and while it may seem childish, I was having a ton of fun with it. It was like one of those old Sim games on early PCs, but the experience was much more invigorating. When I got to the simulator, I entered in where I had left off. I was planning on speeding the time of development up, and I wanted to see what I could have evoked in a more modern society. I then hovered before my tribe as I saw time fly by at about a year per microsecond. The world advanced before me as I saw cities and empires rise and fall within a blink of an eye. The sands of time were at my fingertips, and when I finally had gotten to the modern age, I realized where I was. I was in a city. A 21st century metropolis that reminded me much of New York. I then decided to once again reveal myself to the world. I came down to the ground, and once again gave myself the form of a cliche God. I then yelled out to the mass of people, announcing that I was God. But instead of confusion and fear, people were laughing at me. Children pointed at me the same way they would as if I had 4 eyes no arms. The mothers of said parents quickly turned their faces away, while other, more braver people called back to me. They laughed and taunted me, some yelling “Bullshit” and others simply turning away. I kept preaching to the crowd before me. That’s when police arrived. They apprehended me, and before I had a chance to rise up and show them that I was not a liar, I was ripped from the simulated universe, and the senator looked at me with a concerned expression on his face. He asked me if everything was alright, and I nodded. I would finish the simulation the next day. I had to prove to them that I created them. That’s what I had done all this time. And I would prove it to them.

Tomorrow came slower than paint dries. Anticipation was the only thought on my mind where a family dinner didn’t even provoke the smallest of conversation from me. I went to sleep, and the next morning I drove to the lab, barely following the speed limits. When I did reach the simulator, the senator stopped me. He said that if anything bad was happening in the simulator, he could reset it, and I could try again. I told him that wouldn’t be necessary. He hesitantly hooked me up to the simulator and when I entered, I was in the arms of the cops, being dragged away. Without effort, I broke free of their grasp, and went into the square again, rising up before the crowds. I then announced to them once more that I was the creator in a booming voice. There was a moment of silence when I heard gunfire. It was directed at me. I commanded them to cease firing, but they didn’t. Another person jeered at me from the crowd, and pretty soon the entire square was in an uproar. I decided that enough was enough. Once more, the familiar ball of lightning formed at the tip of my fingers, and I struck the police down. The crowd had started to run from me in a frenzy. The world was ungrateful. I, the creator of the universe they were living in appeared before them and they open fire on me as if I were a raving extremist. I often heard stories of judgement day, but I never knew what it would have been like. Now, I was about to find out.

I had infinite power at my fingertips, and I used it to my fullest extent. I made my hands into fists and my fists into wrecking balls and I hurled it at the putrid society that lay before me. I made the city crumble, and mountains shake. My nails were flintstones, and I scraped them on the fabric of reality and watched it catch fire. They were all ungrateful, and they deserved this. I made them, and they looked down on ME. And every word I spoke I spoke in explosions. I rose the mountains up to heights that no astronomer could ever reach and I lowered trenches into hellish pits that no one would ever find the bottom of. Oceans of people stood before me that were never named died for their arrogance using as little as a whisper. The city I once stood in was now modern ruins. Rock became lava, wood became ashes, and people became corpses. I built this world, I owned it, and I had destroyed it. I controlled ALL of it. I blacked out the sun so they no longer had a chance to see their ignorance in plain sight of them as there was no going back for them. Planets collided at my word, and I scarred the face of the Earth with the power of the very person who created it. Gentle tides were transformed into tsunamis and I let the torrent of water drown every last bigot and disbeliever as they washed over them. I clenched the fabric of reality between my hands and tore it apart, taking me back to the void of existence in which I started in.

I then exited the simulator. I spoke no words to the senator, and I drove home that night with my vendetta fulfilled. Finally, I could rest. I took a long nap, and only woke up to the news on my television, mounted to the wall of my bedroom. Election results were in.

I won.