Absolute Power

Absolute Power 10 Infirmity By Joan Banks

Previously in Absolute Power

Larry Jacobs comes into the possession of a Lamp of the Djinn and wishes from a Djinn named Omar.

"...then for my last wish I want the ability to cure anyone of any infirmity that I name." He becomes a healer, making his way through hospitals and accident scenes. He helps where he can.

But power comes with a price and, when his powers are discovered, he is driven from public life and the opportunity to help others. Debby is a nurse of Larry's acquaintance who suggests a disguise; Larry transforms himself into young woman so he can continue on his mission.

For months Larry transforms into Sarah, his female persona, each morning and back to his own male form at night. Then, without explanation, his ability to become Larry again disappears and greedy people lust after his power.

Casper Collins, a wealthy elderly man, covets Larry's power for himself and kidnaps Sarah to get what he wants. Larry, rescues her and the two of them take to the road to both avoid the spotlight and to somehow find a way to transform Sarah back into Larry.

To throw Casper off the trail, Casper's son Robert is transformed into a perfect duplicate of Sarah and then transformed into a small child with full witnesses. Robert is given amnesia.

Sarah and Debby seek out another Lamp of the Djinn, so they can discover why Sarah is trapped in female form. Casper wants it for more selfish reasons.

In an effort to prolong his own life, Casper has transferred his mind into the only host available - a woman who had been caring for Robert, Molly. And Robert has regained his memories.

A Lamp is found and both teams are after it! Casper captures Debby and two other people that are close to Sarah, Ted and Freddy. Ted and Sarah have grown very close recently.

Sarah tries to rescue her friends but fails. Casper gains the Lamp and traps Sarah in a facsimile of his old, weak, and sickly body and without a voice to use her powers.

infirmity \Infirm"Ity, n; pl. Infirmities. [L. infirmitas : cf. F. infirmite. See Infirm. A.] 1. The state of being infirm; feebleness; an imperfection or weakness; esp., an unsound, unhealthy, or debilitated state; a disease; a malady, as, infirmity of body or mind.

The fall from the window lasted forever and only an instant. Even in the pitch blackness Robert sensed the ground coming up at him.

He struggled to shake these women off of him. They clung to him like some kind of life preserver. His flesh expanded and softened. His entire body grew to an enormous size. What was their game?

Splat!

He hit the ground with a heavy thud. Remarkably, he was not dead. The women crawled off his back, unharmed. They stood to the side and spoke in whispers. The world faded.

...and winked back to life.

Apparently unharmed, Robert stood. He felt an immediate relief and gratitude. This woman had saved his life!

"Thank you..." He tried to say but stopped short by the strange cracking of his voice. His body was back to regular size. Robert tried to take inventory. Everything felt normal arms, legs, chest and groin. Chest?! Groin?! They were taking his manhood! This bitch was making him a woman!

He felt an unbearable heat and began stripping the remainder of his clothes off.

He stared at the naked woman in front of him.

"Why?" he asked.

"I should let you die for what you tried to do up there." She said and then glanced up at the tower, "But I need the heat taken off. Sarah."

Sarah, why did she call me Sarah? A bystander would have been surprised to see the twin naked women standing there.

"Amnesia." The world of the past faded from Roberts mind. Some kind of suggestion was made directly to his mind. He ran screaming in panic.

"Rejuvenate, rejuvenate." He yelled for some reason. His body shrank. Running became harder. He didn't know what to do, he sat on the ground and cried, just like the little girl he appeared to be.

But his adult memory didn't stay gone for long. Even at that moment his mind was starting to piece his adult life back together.

SLAP!

"A young lady doesn't say those things, Sarah." Roberts face stung from the woman's attack. "You are a very bad child."

Robert learned that he could cry during these sessions without embarrassment. In fact, it often helped. He was in his second week of intensive 'observation', and it was getting harder every day to grasp who he really was.

"Sorry Mary." Robert said, and he cringed when the words came out of his mouth. A child doesn't call an adult by their first name. Mary's eyes flashed with anger, she turned to the mirror in the room and gave a meaningful nod.

A moment later a woman entered the room and handed a hypodermic to Mary. Robert backed away, a look of terror on his face.

"I'll be good, Miss Mary. I'll be a good little girl. Please, I promise..." Robert could not retreat any more. It was pointless to struggle; Mary would have no problem subduing him.

"I know you want to be good, Sarah. This medicine will help. We're going to make that big person voice inside you go away and you can be the wonderful little girl we know that you are...deep inside." Mary sat in the chair, carrying Robert with her. She rocked him and tried to talk soothingly to him.

Robert tried to fight - to retain his adulthood. But as each second passed his thoughts grew cloudier and cloudier. It was easier to give up and just be a child.

Casper sat in the chair, staring at the little child on the floor.

"Robert?" Casper said in a sweet, condescending voice. "You're in there, aren't you? Somewhere inside, you know you are an adult?" he asked, hoping that it would wake something inside his damaged son.

"No!" Robert replied a little too forcefully. The man trapped as a little girl stood quickly and addressed Casper apologetically. "I mean no Miss Casper, I'm a good little girl." Robert said in a sweet voice, dripping with cuteness. "I'm a sweet little girl."

Casper rested his head in his hands, trying to hide his massive frustration. Robert, who noticed that Casper was no longer paying attention to him happily returned to his dolls. Tea parties, after all, were important.

Deep inside, a voice was inside him screaming to get out, to be an adult again. But after all that time of practice, the voice was not too hard to ignore.

It was easier to give up and just be a child.

Sarah was not happy. Not happy at all.

An ambulance is supposed to have good suspension but she felt every bump as if she were dropped heavily on the ground.

She was also quite embarrassed.

Mysteriously, her body had gone from a 20 something year old woman to a 91-year-old man. Her voice, the key to her power, was gone. To add insult to injury she was dressed in her costume and a dress.

The paramedics thought she was crazy. They thought she was a 91-year-old man in a dress.

The ambulance bumped and thudded to a stop. She wanted to cry out but still could not.

Both paramedics left.

The noise outside the ambulance was frustrating. Sarah strained to hear what was happening but could only make out pieces of the jumbled chaos. Conversations drifted in and out as people passed.

Sarah struggled against the restraints but her efforts were ineffectual. This body was weak. She had no chance whatsoever of getting free by force.

"I wish Sarah would show." A familiar voice sounded outside, "She could really help here."

Bull? Was that Bull? Sarah thought. She struggled at her bonds even harder than before and was rewarded with only frustration and pain.

Minutes later the door opened and a second patient was wheeled into the ambulance. A man, possibly in his early thirties had burns over much of his body. Sarah found herself ignored as the paramedics worked exclusively on the burnt man.

Casper stared at his journal and took another sip of coffee. It was his fifth reading in the last day and the words were drifting into meaningless letters. He was formulating his next wish and he knew it had to be perfect.

"Mommy, look!" Robert yelled, "I'm spinning!" The child-shaped man twirled wildly and the hem of his dress lofted into the air. Abdul, the Djinn, had an amused smile on his face as he watched the child. Casper ignored his son. Robert you imbecile, he thought, you used to have so much potential and you let them break you. He had to concentrate on the wish. Eternal youth? To be a man again, that had to be part of it.

"Whee!" Robert, realizing that he wasn't the center of attention, moved his spinning closer to Casper. His arm connected with the coffee mug and sent the content flying and spilling everywhere.

"STOP!" Casper screamed menacingly. "Can you grow up for just one moment? I am sick of your inane behavior!"

Robert retreated to the other end of the room and began crying. Abdul picked him up and comforted him and gave Casper a threatening glare.

"You are a waste of life, Robert. The Whisperer should have killed you. The Whisperer should have finished the job." Casper hissed. Robert looked up from the Djinns' lap.

"That's all you care about, Casper." Robert said, a hint of his adulthood returning through his childish tears, "The Whisperer did this! The Whisperer did that! Eternal life, is that all you want? Hell, I wish I had the powers of a Whisperer, maybe then you'd pay attention to me!"

"Granted."

Robert fell a foot into the chair and plopped unceremoniously onto his behind. Abdul had disappeared. Roberts' lucidity faded and he began to cry again.

"What did you do?" Casper screamed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Casper advanced on the child. He grabbed Robert by the arms and shook.

"I'm sorry Mommy." Robert said. "I won't do it again."

Casper put the child down and stepped pointedly away, trying to calm down. He looked at his unstable child.

"What have you done, Robert? What have you done?"

Sarah was left alone again at the hospital. The burn victim was wheeled out of the ambulance with blinding speed.

In Sarah's opinion, she didn't think the burn victim would make it.

Ages went by and the door opened again.

"Who's the other one?" A woman's voice asked.

"Psyche. We found him on the street, collapsed. Hasn't said a word." The familiar voice of the ambulance driver said. There was jarring as Sarah's gurney was wheeled off the ambulance and into the admitting area.

Sarah burned with embarrassment when they brought her in. For all appearances, she was a crazy old man in a dress. She struggled against the bonds but they were too tight.

"Oh my God." She heard someone say in a hoarse whisper. "I've got him."

Sarah fully expected to be admitted to the psyche ward. The nurse pushed her through winding corridors and finally into a darkened, empty room.

The lights were switched on and the nurse started to loosen her bonds. When the bonds were removed the nurse helped Sarah to a seated position.

"Mr. Collins?" The nurse said, "Let's get you out of here."

The office looked like a candy store and toy store crashed into each other. New toys and candy wrappers littered the floor. Robert sat in the middle of it all giggling and contented.

Casper sat on the floor with his son, trying to look interested in the childish games he was making up. Casper's face was a mess, a child's hand at makeup made him look both clownish and sick. Ordinarily Casper's female face was pleasing enough, but the wear and tear of caring for Robert was adding wrinkles and bags of exhaustion.

Time to try again, Casper thought. The Whisperer power is based on speech, if I can just make him say the right thing...

"Robert," Casper began, "let's play pretend."

"Okay." Robert agreed. Montgomery sat in the corner of the room, watching the two of them interact. If the room looked like an explosion, then Monty looked like he was ground zero.

"You have to give the jobs, Robert. You say it and it we'll play it just like you say."

"Uh huh."

"Now you are the Mommy and I'll be the Daddy. Now you say it."

"It." Robert said with a mischievous smile.

"No!" Casper snapped, "Say that I am the Daddy."

"I am the Daddy." Robert said, laughing. Neither of them changed.

"No, say that I am the Daddy!"

"I am the Daddy!" Robert giggled.

"No you are the Mommy!"

"Silly. You are the Mommy!" Robert stood and hugged Casper. Casper's anger grew. He wanted to throw the child across the room. Montgomery saw the anger rise in him and stirred just a little. Montgomery gave a menacing growl.

"You are my Mommy and you always will be." Robert said, hugging as hard as he could.

"Mr. Collins I am SO honored to meet you." The nurse gave Sarah a spontaneous hug. Sarah pointed to her throat and shook her head.

"Lost your voice? I'm sure we can have the doctors look at that. Let's get you some clothes, all right? I'm Jerri, by the way." The nurse grabbed the pile of scrubs that she had picked up on the way. "Not that that isn't a LOVELY dress..." She said condescendingly. "But I'm sure..."

Sarah nodded emphatically. She stripped off the dress but left the costume on. It cut into her flesh a little but she did not want to lose it. She slipped the scrubs on.

"That's much better. Now, if you want me to look at your throat..."

Sarah shook her head and tried to hold the nurse away. She was overpowered easily. The nurse took a light and peered down her throat.

She stood back and shook her head. It wasn't possible. Casper Collins had no vocal chords.

"I'll be right back, Mr. Collins." The nurse told him and departed quickly.

Sarah was so sure she had been caught that she contemplated running. She knew, of course, that she had no chance of getting away. Before she had a chance to act, Jerri had returned, with a guest.

Following Jerri a man in an ill-fitting suit came into the room. He looked completely terrified by Sarah and shuddered when he spoke.

"Mr. Collins, I'm fr...from Department 8. Where can I ta..take you?"

Sarah smiled and gestured for a pad and pencil. She knew exactly where she had to go.

The freeway into the Rockies was relatively smooth. This highway was the route to such expensive destinations such as Vale, playground of the wealthy.

"Sir, I should call in and tell them you are with me." The driver said nervously. Sarah shook her head and indicated that he should keep his eyes on the road. She still hadn't figured out what to do with the guy after they got to the ski lodge, but first things first.

"Mr. Collins, can I at least call my family and let them know I'll be late?"

Sarah felt sympathy at this request but shook her head for this as well. Finally, the driver stopped asking questions and they drove along in silence. Sarah drifted off to sleep.

She woke up to a CLANG! Shocked awake, she took stock of her surroundings. The driver was gone and someone was pumping gas into the car.

The gas station was two stories and it appeared there was some kind of restaurant on the second floor. She peered into the station; maybe the driver was getting food?

Then she saw him. Against the wall inside the building, he was starting to dial a payphone.

She would be caught.

Struggling with the seatbelt with weak, old fingers Sarah swore at her own weakness. She opened the car door and was rewarded with a blast of frigid mountain air.

Medical scrubs have no insulation value. The gas station was next to a four-lane highway on one side and a mountain on the other. Sarah chose the mountain.

Stealing a glance back she saw the driver resting his hand on a holster. She ran as fast as she could.

There was a shed at the edge of the parking lot. Sarah aimed for that. Starting to climb the hill directly would attract too much attention. Behind the shed, she had a chance of doing it stealthily.

As she climbed, Sarah grew colder. Within minutes she was having trouble feeling her hands and feet.

She stumbled. Risking a glance back down the hill she saw the driver, gun drawn, searching the area around the car.

Agonizingly, she kept climbing. Her pants caught on a boulder and split down one leg, taking a chunk of flesh with it. She kept climbing.

Crying from the pain, she continued to fight the mountain. The mountain was winning. The shouting down below was a distant whisper now.

Eventually, Sarah could climb no further. She changed strategies and started to cut across the mountain. The going was easier but not much. Boulders were strewn across her path and the tight costume, designed for a woman's shape was starting to chafe in ways that Z had not planned for.

She saw flashing lights and heard helicopters in the distance. Far below, Sarah noticed a military style convoy heading up the freeway, towards the address she had given the driver.

No! She had betrayed her friends again! Corey and Kirsten would be caught. Everything worth living for was lost.

Not seeing the point of trying anymore, Sarah sat down on a rock. This body couldn't hold out much longer, she reasoned. The chill wind was biting into her flesh. She was bleeding, tired, and sick. There was no hope. No chance.

She almost laughed as the rock she was sitting on started to roll down the hill. She tried to stand but slipped and fell down the hill after it.

She heard a clang as the rock rolled over a small rise in the hill. She couldn't stop.

There was another clang as she followed the rock over the rise and she was thrust into a blissful unconsciousness.

Casper was getting desperate. He knew that Robert now had the powers of a Whisperer but hadn't manifested those powers one bit!

He held the knife over his own lovely hand. Breathing deeply for a moment, he drew the blade across the skin. For a moment nothing happened and then a thin red line appeared. The red line expanded and started to pool droplets of blood. Only after the blood did he start to feel pain.

"Ow!" He said grasping his hand.

"What is it Mommy?" Robert asked.

"I cut myself....honey." Casper said, "See?" He held the bleeding hand up for the little girl to see.

"Ewww gross." Robert said, his little eyes on the wound. The phone rang.

With his other hand, Casper picked up the phone.

"It's a bad cut." Robert said, trying to sound like a grown-up.

"Yes?" Casper answered the phone.

"You're sure?" He said. A grin broke out on his face. "Call the Governor. We'll get the state involved."

Gleefully, he hung up the phone.

"Guess what Robert?" He asked. "The nasty Whisperer is in one of cars right now. Now we'll have our revenge."

Robert wandered off to his toys on the other side of the room.

"And all of those Whisperer friends too..." Casper said, banging his fist on the table. He held his hand in front of his face and flexed it. The wound was healed.

"Excellent."

Sarah woke to a ringing sound. She was laying over a piece of pipe and there was an unpleasant buzzing sensation coming from her abdomen.

She pushed back and screamed in pain. Something was broken. Heck, probably a lot of things were broken.

The ringing stopped. The buzzing didn't.

Slowly searching for the source, she found it was coming from her costume belt. A small device, just slightly larger than a lipstick was vibrating wildly attached to her belt by a small cable.

When she had first discovered it she thought that Bull and Z were pulling some kind of prank. She thought it was a vibrator.

She held it in her hand for a moment. It continued to vibrate.

She had a flash of insight. She held the device against the pipe again, it resonated a clear tone.

More helicopters flew overhead.

Smiling, she held the artificial larynx against her throat and opened her mouth to speak.

Montgomery sat on the floor and tried to be a good brother. The little girl who was his older brother wanted to play a game.

Montgomery tried but he just didn't understand. He moved his piece too many or too few squares. Counting anything was hard, Montgomery concluded.

"I wish you were smarter, Monty." Robert said, "So we could play better."

Montgomery stared at the board for a moment. His eyes darted around the colorful designs. So many ideas were flowing into his mind, he felt like he was drowning in them.

He understood.

She was Larry again, Sarah reminded herself. The last vestiges of the scrubs were gone and the Whisperer stood watching the panorama below.

"I'm Larry." He said to himself. It felt weird to use that name again. "Finally, I'm Larry again."

The costume looked funnier than ever. Designed for an athletic woman, Larry had to adjust his body size to fit into it comfortably. Grateful that his manhood had returned, he was reluctant to shrink things down so they wouldn't be crushed. The bosom portion of the costume hung a little loose, but the slight changes he made to his physiology were only cosmetic in nature. In every way that mattered, he was a man again.

The sight below confused him. The neighborhood was swarming with military vehicles. Parked in front of each house a Hummer sat. The occupants took turns patrolling around the houses and searching inside.

There were in front of every house, except one.

Kirsten's car was parked in the driveway but no one was looking at it. The garage was closed. He watched one soldier knock on the door of the house on the right and then walk directly through Kirsten's car to get to the house on the other side.

It was as if the house wasn't there at all. Another soldier-type walked through the wall of the garage as if it were made of light or air.

"Eyes. Hallucinations." He said, hoping to cure what he was seeing. Over and over again, it kept happening.

"There is no house 4412." One man said into a radio, "Just a vacant lot. The numbers go from 4410 to 4414."

Larry stayed at his observation point and watched.

After several hours he decided to make his move. He didn't run at super speed, he walked. As soldiers noticed him he erased their short-term memory. Some he merely gave a twitch in the neck that made them look away.

Standing on the doorstep he touched the door. It was solid.

He was about to open the door when it suddenly opened.

The man there was six and a half feet tall and sported a pencil thin moustache and goatee. He wore the traditional clothing of a Djinn. Larry stared for a moment before speaking.

"Omar?"

"What do you mean? There's no house there? There has to be!" Casper railed over the phone. "I don't care if you have to burn down every house in that entire block. Find them! Aargh!" Casper screamed in pain after he put his fist through a glass cabinet.

Montgomery laughed from his seat in the corner of the room.

"What are you laughing at?" Casper yelled, "You imbecilic APE!"

"I'm laughing at you Father." Montgomery said calmly, "Who's the imbecile now?"

"No Larry, I am not Omar." The Djinn gestured for Larry to come inside, "My name is Abdul. Omar is inside."

"Really?" Larry said, "Then he can help Debby and Ted! If they aren't already dead."

Larry walked into the room and was nearly tackled by Corey.

"Sarah. Sarah!" He said then backed up with a look of horror, "You aren't Sarah."

"Sorry Sar....Larry." Kirsten said, herding the child away. "He doesn't understand."

"Can I get you a drink?" Abdul asked while at the same time offering a beverage with the other hand. Larry took it.

"Can I see Omar?"

"See? Yes. But you must not speak directly. You must remember that or else he will disappear again and you will not get your answers. Also he must not speak directly to you. Phrase your questions to your friends. Follow me."

"Friends? Kirsten is with Corey." Larry said. Abdul smiled. He led the confused hero to the basement.

A roaring fire lit the room. There were several couches and in front of one a curtain blocked Larry from seeing the occupant. Two men stood when they entered - Bull and Z.

"Sarah!" Bull said and stopped himself short when he got a better look. "Who are you?"

"Larry." Larry said, "But it's me, Bull. Sarah. Who's...."

"Stop! Don't even think about it." Z said. He looked at the man hidden behind the screen. "Who are you?"

"I am Omar. How has your friend been?" Z gestured with his hands that a response should be made directly to either Bull or himself.

"It's been hard. I have some questions." He stared at Bull as he asked.

"If your friend has questions, have him ask. I'll tell you the answers."

"Is Debby okay?"

"I'll take that one." Abdul said, "Your friends are alive...at the moment."

"Why was I stuck as Sarah?" Bull repeated the question.

"What is the definition of infirmity?" Omar replied.

"That's not an answer."

"Neither is that." Omar said, "What is the definition of infirmity?"

"A sickness."

"And..."

"...um...a weakness?"

"Yes!" Omar said triumphantly, as if that answered the question.

"I want the ability to cure anyone of any infirmity that I name." Larry said quietly to himself repeating his original wish that made him the Whipserer. "I want to the ability to cure anyone of any weakness that I name. If it didn't work then...it wasn't a weakness? How can that be?"

"Was there a reason for change?"

"I wanted it."

"But was there a reason? Did you have to be male to do anything that you did?"

Larry thought for a moment. "No." He said finally, trying hard to speak only to Z or Bull.

"Then you didn't see it as a weakness. YOU had to perceive it as an infirmity. You obviously didn't."

"No, I guess I didn't."

"In fact, after your day in the nursery you may have seen it as an advantage?"

"Yes." Larry agreed. His day caring for a sick child had awakened some amount of maternal feelings in him. The closeness he felt for that child that day made him long for the lost relationship between him and his own daughter. It was then that he lost the ability to change.

"Will you help us...." Larry started when a huge explosion rocked the house. Larry heard a blood-curdling scream.

"Corey." Larry sprinted up the stairs as fast as he could. He found the child behind a chair in the living room.

"Corey, honey. What's wrong?" Larry asked. Corey stared at him, fear in his eyes.

"Corey, it's me. Your friend." Larry realized how stupid and predator like it sounded.

"I want my Daddy." Corey said, looking pleadingly up at Kirsten who had just reentered the room.

"I'll protect you." Larry reached out, Corey squealed and backed away. Kirsten tried.

"No!" Corey yelled.

Larry let out a deep breath. There has to be a reason, he thought.

Kirsten tried unsuccessfully to calm Corey. Nothing was working.

"Ahem." A familiar cough. "Let me do it."

Sarah reached over the chair and picked up the frightened child. The boy hugged her as if his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

"Abdul, help us rescue our friends...his Father and Aunt...and Debby." Bull noticeably tensed at the mention of Debby. Another explosion rocked the floor. Corey screamed again and hugged her even tighter.

"I cannot." Abdul replied, "I cannot actively work against my former master unless it is the wish of my current master. Our rules are...complicated."

"Larry," Omar's voice came from behind Sarah. She turned. "Find your friends. Find your happiness. You are a good person. Go in peace, my dear friend." Omar leaned to hug Sarah but evaporated to nothingness before they touched.

"You must go and save your friends, their time is short." Abdul said, "Leave the little one with me. He will be safe, I swear it."

"We're shaking things up a bit....sir." Charlie told Casper. His voice was not very clear due to the mountains and quality of cell phone that he was using. He was also still getting used to calling this woman sir. "This should get their attention."

Casper sat at his desk staring at the monitors. Each screen showed a different captive. Each was nearing the end of their limit for sanity. Casper smiled.

"Uh...sir?"

Casper was lost in thought. He took a drink of water and noted the lipstick mark on the glass. Things were certainly not going as planned.

What do I do with these...people now that the Whisperer is almost certainly dead?

"Sir, can you hear me?"

"Yes, Charles. Wonderful, proceed with the plan. Catch those vermin."

He stared at the monitors again. These were the vermin friends of the Whisperer too. Disgusting rats that gnawed on his ordered world. This was all their fault as well. ALL of them must pay, Casper mused. Let these ones live a while longer...as bait.

End Part 10 To concluded in Absolute Power 11 - Mind Game

joanbanks@ivillage.com