The entrancing cloud ebbed and flowed within the floor to ceiling glass enclosure that he and Stenson had created it in. Flecks of gold floating amidst the most calming silver-brown. Alex couldn’t take his eyes off of it.
“We’ve actually done it, Alex. We’ve recreated the human pheromone. Perfect... In every possible way.”
“Yes.” The word seeped from his mouth. He was entranced. In all of his research and all of his experiments, he never imagined something so wondrous. It was more art than science.
“Ludgreen soap is just going to be the beginning. This will make us rich! Come on, let’s get a drink and celebrate!”
Realizing he was staring, Alex nodded and smiled politely. “Not tonight, Stenson. We still have some fine tuning to do and I’d hate to celebrate prematurely.” A blatant lie. “You go on home, I’m going to try and work this out before retiring for the night.” He moved his eyes to his notes and shakily tapped his pen, unable to concentrate on anything more than trying not to look at the cloud.
“What? It’s perfect Alex. You can see that. Trying to make it better would be like asking Megan Fox to act more slutty. It just can’t be done.” But Alex waved his hand at him. Stenson knew there was no arguing with the man. “Good night, Alex. See you in the morning.” “Good night.” Poor man, Stenson thought. Not old, not ugly and a good person, but socially ungraceful to a pitiful extent.
The door clicked close and Alex’s eyes and mouth opened to the cloud in awe. It moved towards him then back, then wrapped around his mind and settled in. He stood up and moved around the work table. With a fluid movement, he slipped his lab coat off his shoulders and whisked off his undershirt. Alex stood there naked, feeling miniscule in the presence of the great pheromone cloud. The only way to be as beautiful as it, was to become one with it. The vacuum pressure of the tank hissed as he unlatched the handle. Quickly, he stepped in and shut the door behind him.
The cloud danced around him, seeming to catch his eye contact, playing coy with him. With a probing, wanting, hand, Alex reached into the cloud. It seemed shy, but neared him, and then, contact. Alex’s mind raced with visions of beauty, his entire body hummed alive and blood seemed to rush to all of his extremities. He was pulsating as the cloud covered every trace of his skin.
He shone like a diamond, he was as wondrous as a shooting star. He seemed to be able to see the beauty of his very soul upon his skin. The cloud continued to flow, reaching towards his mouth. Alex panicked, the pulsations became erratic, hot and worrisome. It was too much for him, but the cloud only wanted more. As it slipped into his mouth, it seemed to enter through every pour of his body, consuming him. All went black.
Stenson sipped his coffee as he drove the commute to the laboratory. The streets were flush with people. All women, strangely. They were all made-up as if for a Friday night on the town. Dressed to impress. Strange, he thought, there must be a sale going on.
As he rounded the corner to the labs, he saw a mass of women milling around the laboratory. They seemed to be searching for a way in. He pulled around the back and quickly slid through the emergency exit.
His heart dropped when he saw the empty glass cylinder. Running forward, the naked mass of Alex appeared in the bottom of the enclosure. He seemed to shine. Stenson pulled the door open.
“Alex! Dear God, what’s happened.” Alex came to. His eyes and lips peeling into a smile. “I’ve become one with it Stenson.”
“The cloud? Alex, that was enough pheromone concentrate to produce a million bottles of body soap!”
“I know. I can feel it. Oh Stenson, it’s like nothing you could have ever imagined.”
A window crashed and a purse slid along the floor towards them. They stood to see a throng of women as far as the eye can see bounding into the laboratory. Alex stepped forward confidently, “Come to me.”
The request didn’t need to be made. No words could overpower them any more than they already were. They crushed in. Stenson looked frantically for an exit. There was none.
No trace of either of them could be found.
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Private Weiner recoiled in wonder as a red blip appeared on his monitor.
“Sir! There’s an anomaly. A massive heat signature and it doesn’t appear to be fading.” Lieutenant Rocks peered at the screen. He switched the heat signature settings and expanded to view the entire nation. Streaming red lines moved toward one bright red point. Lines and lines of women moved, compelled by the pheromone cloud, to where it and Alex had become one.
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Days passed and as men saw their women compelled by the forces of nature towards the pheromone focal point, they too began the migration. The promise of an endless sea of women driven mad with pheromone lust could not be ignored. Rumors, fables and limericks of the way Alex Roth had spent his final hours spread far and wide. All wanted to see. All wanted to know if a bit of the cloud still existed, and if they could merge with it too.
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Weeks later, the entire population of the planet had converged upon the spot.
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Months passed and there were only a handful of men left on the planet. The cloud had begun to dissipate and the women were able to control themselves once more.
The economy was in ruins. Much of the world lay in ash. Bodies frozen with rigid smiles radiated outwards from the focal point.
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Years later, a foreboding, sleek, obelisk stands where the cloud once controlled the planet. A tragic reminder of how Ludgreen soap’s attempt to control the human pheromone had destroyed civilization.
