More Bedtime Stories for the Apocalypse by Joel Arnold

folder. The important
one.
    He couldn’t believe it. A smile crept across
his lips. With shaking hands, he pulled out a folder labeled BLISS ARCANA. Bliss Arcana was one of Harry’s first
projects, one he took on years ago. It was a study of ancient
techniques to obtain bliss. The project had been pure research, the
only palpable outcome a kind of chewing gum Harry invented for fun.
When chewed, it released a long lasting chemical that directly
affected the brain’s pleasure centers. The chewing motion of the
jaw increased the experienced pleasure. The harder you chewed, the
better you felt.
    It was pristine chewing satisfaction.
    But that was years ago. Harry had all but
forgotten about it. Bliss Arcana was still a favorite at children’s
illegal chewing parties, and it was still quite legally used at
mental health institutes to keep the patients happy and occupied.
There were no side effects, other than a dropping out from society
and a tremendous amount of drool coursing down the user’s chin.
    But the reason Harry’s eyes lit up when he
saw the folder was because it no longer contained the Bliss Arcana
research. In his haste to clean up his office for an upcoming visit
from his mother, he had stashed a large stack of his Vibrationless
Sound project notes into the old, empty folder.
    The Mayor’s thugs took the headset
schematics, the headsets themselves, but the important gizmos of
the headset - the things that transmitted the human voice directly
to the correct brain frequencies - were explained in detail in the
papers Harry now held.
    The bastards won’t know what to make of
it all . Harry walked out into the sunshine, papers held firmly
in his hands.
    As he strolled along the breathing sidewalk
and his eyes slid across the organic road, he was suddenly wary of
a slight change in the coloration of the Oxycrete. What was once a
healthy green had become a bit - dull .
    Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him,
or perhaps it was shadows cast by the sun, but it seemed all the
newly erected buildings were letting out a collective sigh.
    I told them it was too soon. Not enough
research. Not enough time.
    He clutched the folder and stepped gingerly
over the respiring sidewalk.
    That was when the voices in his head
started.
    - What the hell. It’s a headset .
    - Transmitter of some sort.
    Harry cringed. Of all the headsets, they had
to try the one tuned to his own frequency. He had forgotten that
the one he’d been testing on himself worked just fine. It had all
the proper parts in place.
    - What does it do?
    - You talk into it.
    - No shit.
    - Supposedly, it’s tuned into someone’s
brain waves.
    - No shit?
    How long will this go on? Harry’s thoughts
tried to rise above the transmitted cacophony in his mind. Aside
from the two morons talking into the headset, there was the sound
of a television in the background and the sound of tools tinkering
on the transmitter.
    - I might as well be talking to a wall.
    - It wouldn’t be the first time.
    The sound of the headset being dropped to
the table made Harry wince.
    - I was kidding! Let go of my shirt.
    - No more cracks about me talking to
walls.
    - Okay, okay.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Somehow, Harry managed to get through the
days that followed without pounding his head against anything
solid. He gathered from the conversations in his brain that there
had been no progress made on his invention. It was next to
impossible without the notes.
    And suddenly –
    Silence . It spread soothingly over
his brain. The transmitter had been turned off.
    They must have given up, Harry thought. Of
course, they’ll soon be knocking on my door asking all sorts of
questions. But at least it’s quiet.
    He began thinking of evasion tactics.
    The next day, as he was jotting down excuses
for a vacation in the synthetic western forests, another voice
chimed in.
    - Roger. Roger. Do you read me? Am I coming
in?
    The voice of a child.
    - Mission one. Mission one. This is base
command. Ready to