Help! My Mom Wants To Take Over The World! - Chapter 11

At the zenith of her power, Clara issues an ultimatum to humanity.

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H. Lorentz – a renowned physics professor at Yale University and an oft-requested advisor for certain government agencies – peered through a telescope and zeroed in on the M81 spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major that shimmered about 12 million lightyears away.

The telescope the Feds arranged for him was not as top-of-the-line as the one available at the observatory at Yale University. Still, it was sufficient to create a sharp focus of a captivating view of the night sky that never ceases to amaze him.

He pulled his eye free from the telescope and looked at the magnificent-looking lady in high-heeled boots sitting across from him on the roof of some government building with a glass of water gleaming in her hand. Her voluminous black hair fell in a loose cascade over her bare shoulders; its deep red highlights shimmered in the full moonlight, granting each strand a beautiful glow.

"I have it visual, Miss," Lorentz said while casting nervous glances at the five agents lined up with expressionless faces.

Clara placed the glass back on a table and granted Lorentz an enigmatic smile. "Good, now, observe closely."

Lorentz took a hesitant gander at one of the Feds, who nodded at him to proceed before keeling over to take a gander through the telescope's eyepiece.

It granted him a clear visual of the M81 galaxy. While admiring its beauty, Clara said, "Choose a direction on the clock face." Clara said.

"Uhm, ten o'clock," Lorentz said.

"Distance from the core?"

"Outer layer."

"Observe," Clara said.

Lorentz squinted his eye while focusing on the left edge of the elegant spiral-shaped galaxy. To his estimation, Lorentz was peering for almost a few minutes and did not see anything unusual. He was about to call it quits when he began to notice some extraordinary occurrence – precisely in accordance with the position he'd chosen.

One of the innumerable white dots began to flare up, building up a bright light that stretched outwards, engulfing several other adjacent dots. Lorentz marveled at the sight of a supernova playing out before him, in super-turbo pace nonetheless, and precisely when Clara said he should be watching.

Had she predicted this so accurately? Even with the latest knowledge available regarding star behavior and stellar anatomy, whereby astronomers look for signs if a star is giant, red, and enveloped with a dense shroud, can they narrow the exact time of when a star goes supernova to a few years.

And even if you do have the coincidence of stumbling upon one, the occurrence never goes so fast as this. Lorentz watched the bright star dim until it eventually disappeared. Clara could impossibly predict this, superpowers or not. Unless this supernova was a big fat lucky punch.

Only one way to find out. Lorentz pulled his eye free from the telescope lens and glanced at Clara's direction, finding her grinning smugly back at him.

"Four o'clock. Middle layer." Lorentz quickly said, hoping to catch her off guard.

"Enjoy the fireworks," Clara said, voice laced with amusement.

"Impossible," Lorentz gasped as he watched an unprecedented second supernova occurring in the same galaxy only minutes apart, exactly where he had predicted it to happen. The odds of such an occurrence defied even the most generous calculations of coincidence. Could she be responsible for this? Was Clara somehow capable of such a feat?

Lorentz stared accusingly at her. "You don't expect us to believe you did all this, do you?"

"Still unconvinced?" Clara grinned wickedly. "Then behold - the culmination of an undiscovered alien species being wiped out."

Lorentz frowned in confusion and took a gander through the telescope's eyepiece. He was just in time to see one of the many stars in galaxy M81 going supernova. Could the explosion have incinerated an undiscovered planet harboring extraterrestrial life like Clara said? Unease began to swell inside him.

Clara sat regally on a chair that was anything but regal at all. With her legs crossed and clad in thigh-high boots that gleamed like liquid silver, she delighted in the growing apprehension building up in Lorentz's eyes.

"Please, do not pity them, Dr. Lorentz," Clara said. "For these creatures were even more savage than us." She paused to trail a finger sensually down her luscious thigh. "Other than making us feel like altruistic saints compared to them, we humans would not have gained any viable insight from observing them."

"I must say, miss Clara," Lorentz said, doing his best not to look so openly at Clara's marvelous legs.

"Goddess Clara," Clara corrected.

"Goddess Clara," Lorentz cleared his throat and tried to focus on the matter at hand instead of ogling Clara's thighs. "Although I'm inclined to dismiss this all as trickery, some sort of illusionistic gimmick meant to deceive the mind, I can't help but note that it all looks awfully real."

"That's because it is," Clara replied, shifting her leg over the other in a playful gesture. "What more proof do you need?"

"It's still scientifically impossible what you're showing me here, Goddess. Assume that you did have the power to make a star many lightyears away from here go supernova with just a flick of the thought. I would never be able to perceive it in real time. It would take the explosion's light an uncountable number of years to even reach our solar system. Another possibility is that you've just made me witness a hattrick supernova that–"

Clara gave a chuckle, and Lorentz stopped talking mid-sentence. “Funny term, hattrick supernova. Did you just come up with that?"

"I did." Lorentz said dryly and continued, "…that occurred millions of years ago, and you've predicted it up to the second, which I find highly unlikely. Not to mention that they occurred so quickly after each other, which is even less likely than the former."

"Oh, I could do that, you know?" Clara said casually. "Predict a naturally induced supernova. I can do it right now if you like. Zero in on coordinates RA= 12H 40m, Dec= -11° 37'."

Lorentz frowned, not expecting to hear this random yet superpowered lady who did not seem the type whose hobby lies in the stars uttering the exact coordinates of Messier 104 like it was nothing. "You're an astronomer?"

Clara chuckled and shook her head, her long dark strands bouncing over her shoulders as she said, "Hell no! I hate to be some glorified peeping tom. Aw, don't look at me like that, Dr Lorentz. You and I know darn well that you gave that sweet telescope of yours other purposes than simply gaping at a few flickering lights in the sky during your time at college. Hell, you're still doing it right now, aren't you? And all the while, your wife and two daughters not knowing it." Clara made a tsk sound with her tongue while wagging her finger. "You naughty professor, you."

Clara chuckled heartily at the sight of Lorentz's facial expression. Her words were right on target. Clara did not doubt that they were; his mind was an open book to her powers after all, but it was still lovely to see a confirmation in the form of non-verbal gestures that could not be suppressed when confronted with a secret one rather kept hidden for the rest of the world.

Lorentz quickly composed himself. "Messier 104 it is then," he said, burying away his feelings of shame. He adjusted the telescope, allowing him to perceive the sombrero galaxy. Luckily, the sky was clear of clouds this night.

"I've got it out of your head," Clara said while observing Dr. Lorentz fumbling with the telescope.

Lorentz turned her way, annoyance evident in his gaze. "Come again?"

"The information of the coordinates, Dr. I fished them out of your head." Clara smiled and added after a moment of silence. "I can do much more than just blowing up stars, you know… Anyway, within three years from now, on March 18th, if you look closely, you will start to witness the flaring up of one of the dots on the outer layer at four o'clock – heralding the birth of a massive supernova, which subsequently will give birth to a massive black hole."

"And this one won't go as fast as your precious supernovas, I presume?" Lorentz said, purposely letting his words sound overly sarcastic.

"Nope," Clara smiled, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Because I promise I will not mess with the laws of physics this time."

He rolled his eyes skyward, wrinkles of disapproval spreading across the bridge of his nose. "Do you hear yourself speaking? Messing with the laws of physics. Pretty please…"

"How else could I let you see proof of my unlimited powers this evening? I don't feel like waiting for millions of years for that, do you?"

Lorentz flashed a trembling finger, a fierce glimmer flickering in his narrowed eyes. "You can't do that, wench!" His voice raw with anger. "It doesn't matter how much inexplicable power you possess. The laws of physics are immutable and constant everywhere and always. True, they may evolve or vary in different regions in the universe. We do not know for certain. But you can never hope to tweak them. No one can. Not even…"

"…God? Is that what you wanted to say, Dr. Lorentz?" Clara's eyes shone with flickering glee. "What if I tell you that there is no God? I can't find him anywhere, and I'm beyond all. If he were vexed about a certain privileged individual screwing up the things, he so carefully created in six days at the beginning of time, don't you think he would have shown his face to prevent this? He didn't. Maybe he'd left his creation a long time. "Or perhaps God is not as everlasting as some might think, and instead met his demise in the face of his one of his own creations?" Clara remained silent for a moment, letting the implications of these last words sink in. "Or maybe... Maybe I am God. Who knows? It does make sense, doesn't it, Dr Lorentz?" Clara's slender hands intertwined together around a knee. "Even for a scientifically minded man like you who never believed in a higher power after witnessing this all. I mean, I can do anything." Clara chuckled heartily.

"What is it you want, miss?" Lorentz asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Clara shifted in her seat. "I've already announced it on public television. I want to be worshipped. To be idolized by all. To be the center of a new faith that will bring prosperity and peace to the ones embracing it."

Lorentz scoffed, a deep rumble in his chest that swept through the chilly night air. "Your protégé has laid waste to six cities throughout the globe in three different countries in a single day!"

"That's because its people defied me. I have nothing but love for the ones who accept me, Dr. Lorentz. I frankly do not give a monkey's about whether humanity will accept me or not. I can always create a new race. So think carefully about what you tell your leaders when you return to them, Dr. Lorentz - I know they regard your opinion highly."

With that, Clara finished her glass of water in one gulp and cannoned into the night sky.