Sinwell

Far into the future, mankind has nullified the dark emotions, and forged a future brighter than anything we can currently imagine. However, some men wish to experience the darkest emotions, if only for a few minutes, enter the Sinwells. These booths let

In the future...

 

Not long after the third devastating confict that the world came to dub, "World War III", and what some historians refer to as, "The Extinction of War", it became clear that mankind needed to evolve past a few primal, unneeded emotions.  So for years, that turned into decades, the worlds' surviving scientific minds focused on shedding these from the entire remaining human populace. 

Then, after pouring so much research into this one goal, a group of men forced the most violent criminal ever known to exist into a chair, and connected his mind directly to a computer mainframe.  For hours they tested a variety of techniques in controlling his unquenchable thirst for carnage, until they came up with an unlikely combination of electrical impulses that nullified several key centers in his brain.  The man feel limp after this procedure, and was allowed to rest.  Once awake, he was calm, polite, and cooperative with everything they requested of him.  One scientist bodly entered his cell, and stuck a pin into his arm, and asked, "Does this make you angry?"  The man simply replied, "That is causing me pain, but what is angry?"

 

75 Years later...

Most of the world has been rebuilt, with a spartan nature prevailing in every corner of the globe.  Towers of equal height rose into the skies of all major cities, with no difference in their overall appearance.  Homes were laid out in a perfect grid, all perfect cubes with no color variations, all a dull gray.  Public transportation is the only method of transport as there are no highways, no buslines, only electric trains with tracks alligned to serve every third block of the massive grid system.  All businesses are labeled with the same font, all in perfect, evenly distributed spaces.

The people in the streets, all wore the same basic clothing, all with the same expression, a state of complete harmony, or a total lack of emotion, across their faces.  No one spoke with any malice, no humor, no anything, just a dull explanation of whatever crossed their minds.  The only uneven objects hovered above the cities, which were giant airships manned by our collective protectors, the World Peace Force.  Life had become as simple as possible, yet very advanced as machines with computational powers far in excess of all human minds created a paradise of technological wonders.  Power was limitless, pollution nonexistant, crime was unheard of, and a perfect harmony existed in all directions. 

 

However...

Only one place came to be known throughout the world, the Sinwells, a place where one could go, and experience any emotion once felt by humanity, if only for a 5 minute period.  These were spread out in all cities, usually within walking distance of any one point.  Their popularity was due to the fact that after you had experienced the requested emotions, and your mind had been nullified oncemore, you felt refreshed for a number of days. 

 

The couple...

A couple, who had been selected to be life partners years ago, were walking towards the sinwell on an ordinary cloudy day, with the desire to experience a pair of emotions they hadn't selected before.  Once they were almost to the Sinwell, the man noticed that the clouds were thickening, and noted to his mate that precipitation looked imminent.  So, she commented that they should quicken their pace, and they did, until they had reached the entry to the Sinwell.  They both stepped up to the door, and the computer scanned their DNA, announced their names, which they both nodded to, and unlocked the entry.  Once inside, the man and woman were both greeted by a hologram displaying a wide selection of available emotions.  The man selected, "MURDEROUS and RAGE", and the woman selected, "MURDEROUS and KINDNESS".  Once the computer had registered their selection, a series of signals were beamed into their brains which activated the requested emotional states, then they were granted entry into a room with a very human looking android. 

 

Their experience...

The man jumped into the room and began pummeling the android with all the force he could muster, then tossed it against a wall and drop kicked it.  He quickly righted himself, then began kicking it in its ribs, which was designed to give the impression of a real human victim, with all the groans and pleads for mercy one could come to expect from an emotional being.  The man then grabbed the android from behind and held its head in a vice grip, attempting to squeeze the life out of it.  Once it fell limp, the man then grabbed its head and snapped its neck, then continued on to break every single bone that was possible with what time he had left.

The woman entered the room and greeted her android with a polite, "How are you doing today?", which it replied, "Very good, thank you for asking".  She then commented, "it's a fine day we're having today wouldn't you say?", "Oh yes, I am enjoying this cooler weather we've been having", the droid quipped back.  For two minutes the two engaged in small talk as the woman paced back and forth in front of the android.  Then, the woman asked, "What is that object behind you, it's very strange looking", and the droid turned to look.  Right then the woman grabbed both of the androids arms, and stuck her foot into it's back, pulling with all her might.  The android pleaded, "what, what are you doing", which she replied with, "just giving you a friendly back massage, followed by a rib massage".  When she finished her sentence she let the android go and grabbed its ribcage and reached her hands underneath into the lung area and pulled outwards with all her strength.  This quickly snapped a few simulated ribs, then she kicked it's kneecap, bending it back in a heavy cracking sound.  Then suddenly, in both rooms, a series of signals began bombarding both the man and woman, with the audible warning, "Your five minutes have elapsed".

 

Outside,

the clouds had thickened into a small rainstorm, with cloudbased lighting flashes occasionally.  Inside the Sinwell, the machine began to nullify the emotions, "RAGE, and KINDNESS" from the couple.  Then suddenly, a bolt of lighting struck the Sinwell building, which was protected from such occurances, but a freak shock traveled down the grounding rod into the superstructure of the building, delivering the smallest jolt to one of the systems in the nullifying computers.  This caused a momentary lapse in the nullifying signals, then it continued unabated until finished.  After 30 seconds the computer registered that all emotions had been purged from the couple and they were free to go about their day.  An exit door lit up in thier respective rooms, and opened for them.  The couple then stepped out of the Sinwell, into the street, and with blank expressions, nodded to each other, then began walking towards their home.

 

Hours later...

A technician going over the daily sinwell requests happened upon a report of a momentary lapse in the signal strength of a nullifying beam purging a couple that had visited earlier in the day.  As always, if ever their was even the slightest probability that one might have left a sinwell with an emotion intact, he alerted the local representatives of the World Peace Force and explained the situation.  They in turn dispatched three WPF personnel to escort the couple back to the sinwell for another pass through the nullifying beam, to make absolutely sure that all emotions are removed.

 

At the couples home..

A WPH airship arrives over their home and descends, coming to rest in the small yard area.  Three men exit the craft and calmly walk up to the front door.  One of the men, obviously the leader knocks, then a few moments later the door unlatches and opens.  The man steps out, and invites the gentlemen into his home with a dull, emotionless wave of his hand.  Without any haste or hesitation the men walk inside, and the man looks into his yard, turns, revealing a knife behind his back, and closes the door.

 

.....

Author's Note

So, do you think this might have merit?

Reviews

[electricsatori]

Here's what I really liked about your story, it was original! You have potential as a science fiction writer.
You do a lot of telling though. Showing this scenario would have made it a much longer story but much more evocative. You can just google "show, don't tell" and get a plethora of info on effective writing.
The ending was so close to being great, except for the author intrusion.

You spend the entire story drawing the reader into this unique world only to yank them right out when you say "This I will continue another day...What emotions did they keep? What was purged? Find out when I have the time to tell you..."

In regards to your question, yes, I think this might have merit. It would definitely have to be written with a lot of the narration removed, but it could be great.