A Twist Of Noir 614 - Gary M. Dobbs

614 - GARY DOBBS

I shouldn’t have broke The Hub.

It did no good, had no effect other than momentarily confusing people. Most thought it was a trick, others didn’t even notice. I showed them the truth and they ignored it. It should have set their minds free and perhaps it would have had they wanted freedom, but freedom required effort and it was much more comforting to remain amongst the pack, allowing themselves the illusion of free will.

“OBEY. REMAIN CALM. YOUR GOVERNMENT IS IN CONTROL.”

I can hear the words now even if they are inaudible to me. I know they are there, being constantly fed into my brain and thus I hear them or rather I imagine I hear them.

I hear them but I do not obey.

Soon I will be dead.

So it matters not and no-one will ever know of my efforts, of the greatness I achieved when I set everyone free, if only for the most fleeting of moments. I liberated them all but they did not want liberation. They had been bred under control, conditioned to that control and without the guiding hand of the government they were lost, nothing more than mindless zombies living a life of illusion. We, the people of this country, are nothing more than a part of the great machine. A cog to keep the wheels turning, to keep the rulers in the luxury they have become accustomed to while we toil believing we are improving our own lot, never considering the fact that there is only so far we can go. Only so far we are allowed to go. And the saddest bit of all this is that we could end all this, we could bring the rulers down, we have power and that terrifies those in control. And so they create this illusion, keep us in the so-called comfort zone, while we follow a destiny that is decided upon by a select few.

When they come for me, and it will be soon, they won’t be wearing jack-boots though they might as well be. They have no more freedom than I; they too are living the illusion. I wonder how my death will be reported? Will it be a suicide like my friend and colleague Gene, the weapons expert who was due to make a report to the War Commission, when he suddenly and inexplicably committed suicide? It was Gene’s death that led me to stumble onto The Hub.

The Hub, that’s what they call it.

It’s a suitable enough name.

Subliminal messages – there had been experiments with this form of brainwashing for decades. The American Government were running experiments in the Fifties – It was known as the MK-Ultra program but the experiments were condemned and closed down. No one ever considered that the clandestine experiments would continue but in the mid Sixties the British government started The Hub.

At first, The Hub was basic, consisting of subliminal messages broadcast over the television and on the cinema screens, and were only marginally successful but these days the system has improved considerably – substances to make us more susceptible to the suggestions are placed in our water, our foodstuff and the messages, too high pitched for human hearing but registering on a subconscious level, are broadcast at an amazing speed – the experts claim a mind boggling 614 times each second. Broadcast from televisions, CTV systems, bank machines, speed cameras, any electronic device – there is no way to avoid the messages, the mind control. That was until I, a junior minister with only limited clearance, managed to get into the control centre and close everything down.

Here they come.

I can hear them.

It’s over now.

BIO: Gary Dobbs writes under both his own name and that of Jack Martin. You can find out more about Gary at The Tainted Archive.