Legacy

The pacifier was not the kind you give to a baby to quiet the baby down.  It was a very sophisticated device. It was a device for adolescents through citizens of advanced age.

It didn’t start out that way, as a device for the masses but it was headed in that direction, until Daniel Hendricks intervened.

Here is a little history of the device’s original purpose and its creator.  It was created by Ralph Smith, a Therapist and electronic genius. It was designed to resemble a small medallion about the size of a quarter.  It was attractive to look at by both genders and was powered by a mini solar cell that looked like a small diamond set in its center.  It also contained a computer chip that produced a particular harmonic signal to the brain of the wearer.

The first thing when it was put on, or put on you, was the emission of a signal that sent the subliminal message that you loved wearing it and wouldn’t take it off ever and that it was water proof so you could bathe with it on.  The harmonics would flow non stop to the brain, but the wearer would have no sensation of that.

The wearer however would become a mellow well ordered individual who would not ever suffer depression, anxiety, or anger.  Otherwise all was normal; intelligence was unaffected.

The device was invented primarily to help mental patients in a state hospital resume a normal life or in the cases of hopeless insanity, at least be easier to manage.  Well it was a howling success.  Many patients were able to be discharged.  A good thing indeed or so it would seem.

So good in fact that it was encouraged and insisted upon, that the ward and treatment staff should also wear the same device; and it was so ordered.  That too was a howling success.

It seems there was more peace among staff, no more petty squabbles or back stabbing, everyone got along better and productivity was up. Now who could find fault with that?

The idea was catching on so well that it was decided the Maintenance, Administrative, and Warehouse Staff be given the privilege/order to also wear one.

Now Daniel Hendricks whom I mentioned earlier was an Administrative employee.  One whose job’s nature required and gave him literal access to all places at will.

Daniel of course had heard all about the positives of the device, but Daniel had severe doubt’s about it being that good of a thing  He thought that while peace on earth and good will toward men and all that sort of thing was fine; it should come natural and not as a result of engineered devices.  Besides, Daniel while being basically a mild fellow enjoyed a good grump now and again and thought anger is a natural thing not to be artificially repressed, along with other certain emotions.  It would be a couple of weeks before new devices would be available for distribution.

It made Daniel think, what if this stuff should go national or global; that’s a form of mind control no matter how positive.  Daniel thought it had a potential to be used beyond its original purpose and Daniel didn’t want anything to do with one of the devices.  But Daniel needed his job.

A few days later there was a sudden influx of readmissions of patients that had been discharged due to the success of the device.  What had gone wrong?  Word got around quickly that those particular patients had relocated to nearby small towns and had gotten out of transmitter range.

Now Daniel wasn’t stupid by any means; he immediately figured that the solar chip provided localized power to the device, but it was the chip acting as a receiver/transmitter that was at the heart of it.  That meant that somewhere on the hospital grounds was a transmitter.

Daniel was determined to find it and do something to it, although he didn’t know what, just something.  He deduced it would be at a high point somewhere.  There were no visible towers; therefore Daniel figured it’s in the upper reaches of the tallest hospital building.  That being the Administrative Building he worked in.  It had five stories and the top two had long been abandoned.  There was a floored attic above that reachable by a ladder that was always in place.

That is where Daniel made a B-line for.  As it goes’, Daniels first guess was right; there sat a transmitting device about two foot square.  It had an access panel with thumb screws.  That Daniel found convenient and he opened the panel for a look see.

Now Daniel was not an electronic wizard; he did good in knowing how to just turn on his computer; but he wanted to fiddle with it somehow.  He noticed two different wires jacked into ports; so he simply reversed the two wires not having any idea as to what effect that might have.

Well as it turns out it didn’t make it blow up or short out; it did however somehow quadruple the strength of the signal being sent.  The extra strong signal somehow then fried the chips in the devices rendering them useless.  Of course everything fell apart from that point as people regressed to their former normal selves.

A lot of head scratching was done and it was simply decided the device design was flawed and the whole idea was abandoned.

It is quite possible that Daniel saved the world from mind control in its infancy.  Daniel is not talking and knows nothing about any of it.  I’m told by some people however that Daniel has developed a habit of having what some would call an occasional silly grin.

Of course we have no idea as to why that might be, do we?