Chapter 8 - chef alcorn

Adam was pleased with how his aznian plot was going. Barbara was doing exceedingly well with Steve. He did not need to interfere, but they needed to spread their influence further afield.
The canteen chef put in his notice to leave for a better restaurant job. Adam replaced him as soon as he could with an aznian. They called him chef Alcorn. He came up with a recipe that would spread aznian influence around the company. The recipe was for a beef stew. On the face of it, it appeared to be perfectly innocuous, but it was to have one very, very special ingredient.

Chef Alcorn served his stew minus the special ingredient several times before the big day. Barbara had made sure Steve changes the canteen rules. From now on only canteen food could be eaten in the canteen.
On that day, Adam, Barbara and chef Alcorn were on standby in the canteen where they could have a good view of what was going on.
Alcorn pretended something had happened in the kitchen that morning. There was only one main meal available and that was his beef stew. For some, it did not appeal to them and they sought lunch elsewhere. That did not matter, they would soon catch up with the stragglers.
Once the last person had finished the stew and before anyone could leave, Barbara quietly locked the canteen doors and made sure no one could see in. Adam stood on a bench and clapped his hands.
Suddenly, there was silence in the room. All eyes glazed over and were fixed upon Adam.
Adam walked up and down the bench, without saying anything. Barbara tested out one of the subjects by getting them to snort like a pig.
Now every human, who had eaten the beef stew would do whatever any aznian wanted them to.
When Barbara was finished with her experiment, he started to speak.
'You are all now under aznian control.' He shouted. 'You will always obey any aznian instruction, without question. You will not be aware of your change in behaviour and you will not answer any question from anyone who asks you what you are doing. You will be happy with all changes that occur. If anyone asks you what you have been eating, you will tell them that they need to try chef Alcorn's beef stew. You must persuade them to try some.' He brought out a little whistle from his pocket, then continued. 'This will be a signal to you to stop and listen whatever you are doing. When the second whistle blows, you will continue to do whatever you were doing as if nothing had happened.' He blew the whistle. It gave out a high pitched very shrill noise. 'You will now go back to the servery and get another meal. You will eat and continue to eat until you can eat no more.' He blew the whistle again.
By the time he had got down from the bench, the queue at the servery had formed again. The humans piled their plates high and stuffed themselves with food that had been held back from earlier. They sat down, ate quickly and enthusiastically, but did so with glazed eyes. They communicated with no one. When the first plates were finished, they returned for more... and more!
As soon as they had eaten their fill, they got up and left the room, wondering why the clothing around their middle was so tight.

The next day, the same thing happened and the next day, and the day after that. Every day, a handful of new diners would turn up, eager to try chef Alcorn's wonderful stew. There was even a vegetarian version! Every day, Adam ensured all the diners were stuffed full before they returned to work. By the end of the week, the effects on the diners who had been there on day 1 were all too visible. Their clothing was just a little bit tighter.
Adam told them they would become hungry over the weekend two hours after eating a meal. They would snack on whatever was available in secret until they were full.
That afternoon, Barbara had to refil the snack machine five times.

After a month of daily 'training', it was clear who was under the influence of the aznians and who was not. They had all put on between one and two stones. Their clothes were extremely tight and they were always chewing on something.
Barbara ensured there was an endless supply of crisps, sweets, chocolate, cakes and biscuits that were readily available to them. They took no notice of anyone, who had not tried chef Alcon's stew. They did not answer any questions put to them.
Most people in the building had tried the stew by now. The curious had been sucked in, tried the stew and were now under his control. Chef Alcorn put on all manner of promotions to lure those who did not usually visit the canteen in to try his marvellous stew. He slashed the prices, put posters up and everything.
Eventually, every employee in the building from humble cleaner to the executive CEO had tried it. They were all under adam's spell. They ate gluttonously at least once every day and snacked endlessly between meals. The slim became overweight, the overweight became obese, the obese became morbidly obese.
Productivity plummeted, yet no one seemed to care. All they wanted to do was eat!
Adam, Barbara and chef Alcorn has accomplished their mission. It was time to move on.