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"I have a standard axiom: all governments lie. Don't believe anything they say. And corporations are only kinds of government."
- Frank Herbert
 |
| Defuser | ||
| Electroshock cellphones to keep unruly individuals under control. |
| "Oh, and this is your private... sponsorbaby security force?", Tendeka says, whirling on the cop, who is already aiming his scanner at him."
"[The police dog] barks in warning, echoed by a bleep from Ten's cellphone as the cop isolates his SIM from all the others in the room with the scanner. "Yeah.. You don't.. log a warning on me. I have the constitutional right to express my f***ing opinion. Ever heard of freedom of expres--" The cop doesn't bother to register a second warning. He goes straight for the defuser. Higher voltage than necessary, but when did cops ever play nice? Tendeka drops straight away, jerking epileptic and setting off the damn dog with excited yipping. I'm reckoning there's 170 to 180 volts right there. Anything over 200 requires extra paperwork. Some wasters I know set off their own phone's defuser, on low settings for those dark and hectic beats. Even rhythm can be induced kids. But, it's not easy. You have to hack the hardware, and if you don't know what you're doing it will crisp you KFC. Or worse. It's a disconnect offense to tamper with a defuser. You can't play nice by society's rules? Then you don't get to play at all. No phone. No service. No life. |
| Technovelgy from Moxyland,
by Lauren Beukes. Published by Jacana Media in 2008 Additional resources -
|
Compare this device with Frederik Pohl's joymaker from his 1965 novel The Age of the Pussyfoot, and in particular the tranquilizing spray feature that could sedate the user, if, in the judgement of the network, the user was becoming violent or overwrought.
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
