Aphelion

Very interesting piece . . . exploring the ramifications of psychological machine-manipulation and the consequences of its loss.

Very nice use of language here; a lot of unusual words, and a sort of intensity and a lot of depth to the way things were described.

Very good writing.

The one odd thing about it, now that I think of it, is the SIZE of the Machines. Did they use vacuum tube technology? Even assuming that they are a couple of orders of magnitude more sophisticated than any current portable computing device, surely they'd be smaller than described here... MP3 player-size or smaller, rather than boombox-size. Of course, if they were TOO small, they'd probably be surgically implanted, rendering it much more difficult to disconnect yourself, so perhaps this is 'poetic' license.

But it isn't hard to believe that the Machines might have some INTENTIONALLY built-in mood-regulating functions, probably involving a combination of direct brain stimulation and manipulation of the data supplied to the user. (viz. the Christian Bale movie "Equilibrium" for a look at a mandatory-medication-based version of a flattened-emotion society).