On Dosing the Water Supply with a High Powered Mind Control Mutagen

An essay by Dr. Zora Next, as delivered to the Press by Brandon Miller
Art by Luke Spooner

Dear My Concerned Public:

I want to take this opportunity to clear up the misconceptions about the events of April 20, 2013, at the Carson City water reservoir. My former assistant, Gregory, has been telling his side of the story to every National News Agency, as well as to several nasty authoritarian groups. They are now hunting me down as though I were a rabid dog. As if they could actually catch me. I can’t wait to see the look on Gregory’s face when he finally comes to his senses, and comes crawling back to me.

Anyway, his story is a mostly accurate account of that night’s events. His perspective, however, which is riding across the broadcast waves, is a bit skewed. I just don’t want any of you to get the wrong idea. First, and perhaps most inaccurate, is his general description of me. I believe he has been throwing about the term, “Psychopathic Lunatic.” Nothing could be further from the truth. I am merely a convicted, passionate, ambitious, beautiful, dreamer. Since the mad scientist community has been using such scandalous remarks against me for years, using such terms for my personage strikes a heavy blow to a very sensitive place. Really, it’s all so unfair, but I am very forgiving. I take Gregory’s betrayal to be a loss of heart, a result of the lingering sickness that exists as a terrible plague in our world. The very one hindering human advancement.

Truth be told, I feel sorry for him. This sickness is the cause of so much suffering. I have done my best to help abate the symptoms, but the disease is strong. It is very hard to cure on my lonesome because so many have it. The sickness is the state of mind that leaves people with such fear in their hearts. Fear of change. Fear of the leaping advances in technology. Fear of the coming triumph of Science. The sickness takes many forms, but it is behind both Gregory’s betrayal and the man hunt the C.I.A. is currently undertaking. You know the one–looking for little old me.

Needless to say, the landing of the helicopter on the waterfront wasn’t as graceful as the take-off from the military base from which we acquired it.

To read the rest of this story, check out the Mad Scientist Journal: Autumn 2013 collection.

Doctor Zora Next does not hold an actual PhD of any sort as any attempt to conform to scholastic standards would be a waste of her time. The reason for this being that she is simply smarter then everyone else and as such the normal rules do not apply to her. She spends her time taking science to places that previously belonged only to the domain of gods and roaming about America avoiding the police.

Brandon Miller is a young American fiction writer who has had a wide variety of jobs and experiences. He finds purpose and joy in his life in two places, the interesting people he has known, and whatever he is writing about at the time. He hopes to have a future somewhere in a creative art form.

Luke Spooner a.k.a. ‘Carrion House’ currently lives and works in the South of England. Having recently graduated from the University of Portsmouth with a first class degree he is now a full time illustrator for just about any project that piques his interest. Despite regular forays into children’s books and fairy tales his true love lies in anything macabre, melancholy or dark in nature and essence. He believes that the job of putting someone else’s words into a visual form, to accompany and support their text, is a massive responsibility as well as being something he truly treasures. You can visit his web site at www.carrionhouse.com.