Nugget
An Experiment in Control
Short fiction by Jules Carry
“OK, I’m starting the holorecorder. . . . Ready? This is Agent Nicholas Boone interviewing Dr. — . . . . Please state your full name.”
“Hans Freebisch.”
“Dr. Freebisch, let me again remind you — this time on the record — that you have been advised to retain an attorney before you speak with us.”
“Yes, Agent Boone. I do not need a lawyer.”
“Have you been read your rights?”
“Yes.”
“Do you feel you have been treated with the courtesy and respect fitting with your position?”
“Yes. You and your agency have been most polite.”
“And you realize that you are now under oath and are obligated by law to answer all of my questions truthfully?”
“Yes. Proceed.”
“You have Ph.D.s in . . . behavioral science and computer science?”
“I have a Ph.D. in computer science and have completed the coursework for an Sc.D. in behavioral and social science.”
“You currently work for the Lenkrad Group?”
“Yes.”
“What is your job there?”
“I am the Chief Computer Scientist and Behavioral Programmer.”
“Could you explain your duties as the Chief Behavioral Programmer?”
“I oversee the design and programming of our NGTs.”
“What are NGTs?”
“Neural Genetic Transceivers or Triggers, as some have been calling them. We also call NGTs ‘nuggets,’ based on their original shape, size, and function. They began as small, pill-shaped devices that contain a proprietary communication microchip that I developed for Lenkrad. In their current form, they are like a coarse salt that dissolves easily in liquid.”
“And what do these NGTs do?”
“They are ingested and absorbed by a subject, like any protein, fat, or sugar would be. The more NGTs that are absorbed, the more they affect the subject, and they have a cumulative affect. Once present in the subject in the appropriate number, they . . . augment the subject’s personality. It’s the culmination of years of R&D. Their current form represents the bleeding edge of the best of bio- and nanotech.”
“I can see you’re proud of your creation, Doctor.”
“Indeed. These devices combine all of our latest understanding about human physiology and how it’s developed over millions of years. The NGTs, a single one no bigger than a macromolecule — and getting smaller all the time — not only allow us to monitor subjects and to track them, but receive digital transmissions from a monitoring station that trigger changes in the subject on a fundamental level.”
“What kinds of changes?”
“Call them impulses. NGTs amplify a subject’s current, ah . . . propensities.”
“Just say it, Doctor: you make zombies.”
“No need to be rude, Agent Boone. But I most certainly do not.”
“Please explain why you think you’re not a brainwasher. Please.”
“The NGTs cannot affect something that is not already hardwired in the subject. We cannot make subjects do something that is against their nature. It’s like they used to say of hypnotism: subjects will not do something they are really opposed to. Hypnotism just removes the inhibition.”
“So you can’t make a nice person mean?”
“I’m not sure I would put it so simply.”
“How would you put it?”
“Our twenty-five years of research has shown that human psychology is just another aspect of evolution, built into physiology. Now, I’m not talking about the thin veneer of humanity here — your ‘nice’ — but those aspects of what some might call ‘human nature’ — though I’ve always thought that was an oxymoron. Ha! ‘Human nature’ is just a way of shrugging and accepting behaviors that are ostensibly inexplicable. I mean, humanity is anything but natural, don’t you think? We surround ourselves with technology that only destroys nature and alienates us from ourselves and each other — from our true natures. This is the ‘human’: a product of our war with nature. Yes, evolution will catch up if given the opportunity, but by that time we’ll all be a bunch of neurotics hiding behind computer terminals and locked doors. . . . What was I saying? What’s natural about the human? Heheh!”
“You were telling me about the effects of the NGTs.”
“Oh, yes. Well, they do not affect our rational psychology, per se, but heighten our unconscious, irrational side — or animal nature. We have seen time and again that humans are only capable of rational thought, and usually our delicate reason only leads to more technologically sophisticated ways for us to express our violent and dark natures. This is the lesson of the twentieth century and the culmination in the so-called atomic age.
“Doctor, could you please stay on topic?”
“Agent, I am on topic. Look, the Cold War was a relatively peaceful time. Our technology grew too quickly — the atomic bomb was the final product of the Enlightenment and was ironically the death of reason. In the aftermath of World War II, nations huddled inward, keeping to themselves, quietly huddling together against the threat of a dark and mysterious world. We were once again like our pre-rational ancestors huddling in our caves, afraid of the vengeful and capricious gods. We had become the gods we feared, and thus a new age of irrationality began.
“Since the Reagan years, there has been a steady increase in irrational behavior around the world, but particularly in this country. Even with the end of the Cold War when nations began opening up their borders, our minds remained closed, isolated, and afraid. The US became even more irrational and paranoid after the cold war, and that Iraqi goon didn’t help.”
“You’re talking about Saddam Hussein and the first Gulf War?”
“Indeed. Saddam is a creation of US cold-war irrationality. The US was afraid of Iran, so they built a monster to keep the radical new theocracy in check. Iraq also acted as a buffer for the Zionist state — ”
“Doctor, where are you from?”
“Sorry, what?”
“Where are you from?”
“Cincinnati, Ohio. . . . I was born in 1959, the first and only son of Anton and Gertrude Freebisch.”
“It says here that your father is Palestinian, not Anton Freebisch, but Antar Fakhoury, who immigrated shortly after the end of World War II and the creation of Israel.”
“. . .”
“And your mother’s name is Freebisch, daughter of German-Americans Oscar and Adelle Freebisch.”
“Agent, what are you getting at?”
“And your birth name is not Hans, but Hami.”
“Those records, Agent, are very hard to come by. I commend you. Still, I’m not sure how they are relevant.”
“Are you an American, Dr. Freebisch, or should I call you Dr. Fakhoury?”
“No. You should not. And, yes, I am an American, born and raised. There is nothing illegal about changing your name, especially in an age of paranoia and mistrust of Arabs. My father had the foresight to see that Americans were generally idiotic, narrow-minded nuggets just waiting for an excuse to string up the first non-Christian dark-skinned man they could find. I’m just happy Papi died before September 2001 proved him correct.”
“Are you a Muslim, Dr. Freebisch?”
“. . .”
“Doctor, are you a Muslim?”
“No, with my mother’s name, we also took her religion. My father owed nothing to those filthy Palestinians. In America he found a freedom that he never could have gotten had he stayed in the West Bank. He became a successful computer scientist in the days before computers. He was a soft-spoken man, but strong. Kind. Mother protected him — loved him — and brought him into their community.”
“They were your ‘idiotic Americans,’ showing kindness and compassion?”
“They were German immigrants, primarily. My father converted to Catholicism, becoming a Muslim apostate. There’s nothing like the threat of death to make you quiescent.”
“So, you were born Hami Fakhoury? When did you change your name?”
“I officially changed my name in college. Look, Agent, I want to be perfectly salient on this point: I was born an American and baptized in the Catholic church. My allegiances are to this country and no other. Dick Cheney himself called me a patriot.”
“Right, I see that. You were honored for your ‘patriotic work to the furtherance of the conservative cause.’ You and your boss Joe Lenkrad were honored at a White House dinner in 2006. This picture — here, somewhere . . . yes — shows quite an interesting group of people. This is you, Dick Cheney, and here is Dr. Lenkrad. Over here, we see a preoccupied President Bush with Saxby Rudd, Chip Loveless, and Ron Hicks. At the time, these men were nobodies.”
“That’s not true, exactly.”
“Indeed. Let me rephrase. They were unknown in national politics. At the time. What is your connection with these gentlemen?”
“Obviously, I work for Dr. Lenkrad — ”
“Let’s start with the former Vice President, if you will.”
“I met him briefly during his tenure as Secretary of Defense, in 1992, I think. Otherwise, I saw him again at the White House dinner in ’06.”
“Did you know him as CEO of Halliburton?”
“No.”
“Now, Dr. Freebisch, I don’t think that’s true.”
“It is true. Joe Lenkrad was his friend, not me. I was supposed to go hunting with them one time, but that fell through for some reason.”
“So, it was Dr. Lenkrad and not you that secured over ten years of R&D funding from Halliburton? You had nothing to do with that process?”
“I didn’t say I had nothing to do with it, but I did not associate directly with Dick Cheney. However, I don’t see that as a crime. If anything, I would have been honored.”
“Vice President Cheney and Dr. Lenkrad were friends?”
“Yes.”
“Did Dr. Lenkrad ever suggest a reason that Dick Cheney didn’t want to associate with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Cheney was well connected. If I got the facts about your father, he certainly could have, too.”
“. . .”
“Dr. Freebisch?”
“It doesn’t matter. And I’m not buying it. I was working hard. Joe was always better with the political schmoozing than I was. I was a driven research scientist, and I had no interest in politics at that time.”
“OK. Tell me about your relationship with Dr. Lenkrad.”
“Joe and I are college friends. He had a way with everyone, especially the girls. If it wasn’t for him, my college experience would have been much more lonely. After school, we kept in touch. He moved to D.C. and started the Lenkrad Group. As you know, in the beginning, they were a private behavioral science unit for hire. They used a combination of bleeding edge software and psychology to help with the interrogation of alleged criminals. Not only did local law enforcement use them, but Lenkrad caught the attention of the first President Bush’s executive branch. Soon, every major law enforcement network was using Lenkrad’s techniques and products.”
“When did you go to work for Dr. Lenkrad?”
“It was the mid-nineties, after the end of the first Gulf War. Joe called me one night pretty excited: ‘Hans, drop what you’re doing and get your ass to D.C.’
“ ‘Joe, I can’t. I’m finishing up my Sc.D. You know that.’
“ ‘Hans, I’m telling you: I’ve made some real inroads in the government, and now is a great time to be in D.C. Doing what I’m doing. Besides, I need the best computer scientist I can find, and that’s you, my friend. You need to get here. Now.’
“I reluctantly agreed. However, D.C. was good for me, and I was able to really help the Lenkrad Group’s growing dependance on digital technologies.”
“I see you developed many monitoring devices, the least of which is advanced facial recognition algorithms that are the standard today.”
“Yes. As I said, Lenkrad was good for me. I never did finish my doctorate, but my work with the Group made that unnecessary.”
“When was the Lenkrad Group purchased by Halliburton?”
“We were never ‘purchased’ by Halliburton.”
“It says here that the Lenkrad Group is a subsidiary of ElektraTech, part of the R&D arm of APF Enterprises, an offshore, limited liability company and subsidiary of Halliburton.”
“I’m not really privy to corporate structure, nor do I much care. All I know is that the Lenkrad Group is no longer a high-profile operation, even though our influence is far-reaching. I really never even see Joe Lenkrad anymore.”
“So what about your relationship with President Rudd, Senator Loveless, and Reverend Hicks?”
“Again, I have no direct relationships with them, but they are all three supporters of what we do at Lenkrad. They are known as ‘The Holy Trinity’ within the Group.”
“I suspect because of their support in providing additional financial support?”
“It goes way beyond just money, though money is always the driving factor. If you remember, all three of these men have a very loyal following: they were zealously supported in their bids for power and are staunchly defended whenever criticized. They are the direct result of our efforts. Their power and authority in the US is because of the Group and our nuggets, of course. Yet, good luck finding evidence with direct ties to us.”
“Right. But let me be clear here: they are your subjects?”
“Well, they, themselves — as far as I know — are not nuggets, but they are catalysts for nuggetry.”
“Sorry?”
“Not only do we call the Neural Genetic Triggers ‘nuggets,’ but also the subjects. Their behavior, then, becomes ‘nuggetry.’ Heheh. It has another meaning, too.”
“Explain.”
“Well, as I said, Joe is good at what he does, a true political creature if there ever was one. When we began the nugget program, Joe also found corporate sponsors. The very first was Jim Skinner, then CEO of — ”
“McDonald’s.”
“Correct. Joe was able to persuade Skinner to support our efforts. One of the results of the NGTs is overeating. We couldn’t program what our nuggets ate, but we could plant suggestions. However, that said, 90% of our nuggets eat Chicken McNuggets on a daily basis. Can you believe that nuggetry? What’s more irrational than overeating to the point of diabetes caused by morbid obesity? Heheh. So, the chicken nugget has become symbolic: processed chicken parts no one would ever eat on their own, ground down to what has become the essence of the chicken — a nugget! Then the little nuggets of grizzle, skin, feet, eyes, and even the beak and bones ground into a paste are pressed together, breaded in a mixture of processed flour and high-fructose corn syrup, and soaked in hot fat for ten minutes until golden brown. The nuggets love the nuggets. Somehow, it just seems so perfect. What, I ask you Agent Boone, could be a better symbol for 21st-century America than the chicken nugget? Heheh.”
“Is this how you circulate the NGTs?”
“Well, as Joe likes to say: ‘We’re the “bucks” in your “Starbucks.” ’ We’re the fizz in your Coke, and the French on your fries. Joe has also said, ‘if it wasn’t for NGTs, there’d by no nutritional value whatsoever in hot dogs.’ ”
“So these companies willingly add your NGTs to their products?”
“Putting NGTs into products is like dissolving sugar in your tea. NGTs in American food products is almost as prevalent as high fructose corn syrup.”
“God. . .”
“Well, just remember, Agent, that the more processed the food is, the more likely it will contain our work. You can still avoid NGTs by eating healthily — whole grains, vegetables, fruits — but what percentage of the population does that? And as I mentioned before, the results of the NGTs are cumulative, so we can usually recognize the nuggets because they’re the most overweight.”
“And I’ll ask you again, Dr. Freebisch, are you brainwashing people?”
“Agent Boone, are people brainwashed by watching the holotube? Attending a church service? Going to school? Listening to their iPods?”
“Maybe the ’tube has something to do with the bad habits of people, but I don’t know. My impulse is to say yes.”
“Indeed, your ‘impulse’ suggests an answer, as you say. Where does that impulse come from?”
“It — ”
“I’ll tell you: it is a belief that is based solely on how your physiology has processed information it has received over the years to make you into Agent Nick Boone. You, sir, are a composite of your life’s experiences filtered through your genetic dispositions. They are at war in many of us. Reason is a relatively new idea in the human timeline. I ask you: how can reason possibly hold up against millions of years of paranoia, superstition, and fear? Reason is an invention of an optimistic time and, frankly, a naive perception of the man’s place in the universe. Science and technology have made us arrogant. It says we must trust in our reason when something deeper inside of us says ‘no, that’s not right.’ You’re having one of those moments now.
“ ‘Impulse’ is just another way of expressing a feeling you have that arises from your genetic programming. You are right to distrust the ’tube, as it is a product of reason, yet nothing that it says could ever be mistaken for evidence or enlightened thinking. It’s a place to sell chicken nuggets, preach paranoia, and keep us in our houses.
“Your belief is much more important to who you are than your reason is. Therefore, even in the face of facts, we mostly default to knee-jerk reactions and impulses.”
“So the nuggets are what, then, if not brainwashed?”
“They are more of what they are. The NGTs don’t really even effect the brain. Their ability to think is not affected at all, unless it dominates. This is rare, by the way. Only one in about fifty people actually shows an increase in brain function, reason, intelligence, and creativity when subjected to NGTs. We suspect that evolution continues to work as evidenced in a certain number of humans, but their odds of survival against nuggets are low, I’m afraid.
“Most nuggets show a heightened aggression, paranoia, indignation, righteousness, overindulgence — particularly when they’re responding to what they see as external threats. They tend to congregate in small communities, to stockpile anything they can get their hands on — mostly food, guns, shiny objects, and icons — and to respond quickly and decidedly to perceived threats against their well being. Most, too, tend to become more religious, something that just might be the ultimate expression of human irrationality.”
“Your NGTs, then — just so I’m clear — augment or amplify base human behaviors in your subjects . . .”
“Correct.”
“. . . and they don’t have any other effects?”
“Yes, the NGTs do not change what anyone is intrinsically.”
“But, don’t they, though? I mean, if you use the average American as a subject, administer the NGTs, aren’t you then changing the course of his life by taking away his choice?”
“Not in the least. We’re just supplying the trigger, so the subject embraces what he is more readily.”
“Seriously, we can all feel the battle between our rational and irrational sides, but isn’t this where moral choice is located? Isn’t it this choice between good and evil that ultimately depends on silencing that part of ourselves which has the loudest voice? What you are talking about is allowing the screaming infant of humanity to continue screaming and to never grow up.”
“Look, save your undergraduate philosophizing for someone else, Agent Boone. Have you turned on the holotube lately? Are you paying attention at all? People are caged animals and they need to be treated as such. The great human experiment of democracy has failed. People are too selfish and too stupid to govern themselves. What they’re interested in is the all-you-can-eat buffet — both literally and figuratively: when the latest gadget is coming out, how large and shiny the rims of their cars are, who’s screwing who in Hollywood, Glenn Beck, Jr.’s latest Podcast rant, and how loud your next-door neighbor’s stereo is. If you can see what people truly are, then you can give them what they most desire.”
“What is it they most desire?”
“Ah. That’s the question, isn’t it? What do you think people most desire, Agent?”
“Well, Americans value life, liberty, and happiness.”
“Those are abstract ideas, Agent. What, specifically, makes us live, free and happy?”
“Well . . .”
“Let me help. Do you remember Twitter?”
“Isn’t it just ‘TWTR’ now? It’s where you post an update about what you’re doing from your mobile device? Your posts are limited to 50 characters, right?”
“Ah, nugget networks. Another great example of shooting from the hip. Joe sees guns, psalms, and twits amounting to the same thing. They’re something to throw at the nameless threat out there — to control it, to assert power over it. And words, like violence, don’t even have to make sense, as long as they work.
“When Twitter was first introduced, posts were limited to 140 characters. This number was not arbitrary. The first post came from Reverend Ron Hicks, before he was the official White House Minister, and was exactly 140 characters long.”
“I have it here: ‘That which makes us best — moral certainty and unassailable authority — derive from material wealth. All other considerations are secondary.’ Somehow ironically appropriate for Reverend Hicks.”
“This, Agent Boone, is what people most desire: material wealth. You mentioned irony: for most people it’s this innate desire that will likely never be fulfilled, but it provides the foundation of our work. Every major public policy and public outcry since the Reagan Administration has had to do with personal material wealth or a perceived attack against it. The corporation is king in America. Even the debate about health care during Obama’s first administration was opposed solely for economic reasons. During the debate around health care and the bloody riots that followed is when I decided that Reverend Hicks is correct: people are greedy and ignorant, and they deserve what they get. We will show them the way.”
“But it seems, if I’ve heard you correctly, that the health care debate was opposed by your nuggets? It did ultimately pass despite the best efforts of the opposition on the right.”
“Yes. Though really you can see nuggetry in action years before the health care riots. Remember Joe the Plumber? Sarah Palin? Those guys who showed up to Obama rallies with automatic weapons? The Teabaggers? The Birthers? The ‘liberal media’? ‘Fair and balanced’? The members of Congress who encouraged violence and aggression by saying nothing through threats of violence, racial slurs, and blatant lies? Braxton Ledbedar’s attempt on Obama’s life that left the president paralyzed? The health care riots that followed the first heath care bill? All nuggets.”
“I might be slow today, Dr. Freebisch, but I just don’t see the point in all this. You’re saying that all of these incidents are a direct result of your nugget program? But why?”
“It’s really quite simple, Agent. The more you see what people are — what they truly believe and desire — the easier they are to control.”
“But these incidents were national tragedies, Dr. Freebisch! What good came out of them?”
“Who is president now, Agent Boone?”
“. . .”
“Saxby Rudd, Republican. Who is Speaker of the House? Chip Loveless, Republican. What’s the most watched show on the ’tube? Reverend Hicks’ Sunday morning service from the White House. I could go on, but what public nuggetry have we seen since President Rudd took office? None. We hear of some dissent from left-wing groups of intellectuals and environmentalists, but it took only three years for the current administration to dismantle everything the left tried to build. The environment, education, health care — all of it has taken a back seat, once again, to the interests of those who are really in charge of this country: the wealthy. And these now have an army of witless nuggets.
“The nuggets have fulfilled their function. And the great irony is that they probably have less rights, freedoms, and wealth than they ever did during the Obama years. The ‘fair and balanced’ nuggets on the holotube ignore and twist facts to tell the nugget populace what they want to hear. When the liberals were in power, they sewed indignation, dissent, and rage; now, it’s patriotism, duty, and God. The nuggets in the government, put there by the nugget voters, continue to make legislation and judicial decisions that put everything secondary to a very small minority’s material wealth.
“Not only does President Rudd hold the highest office in the land, he is also one of its richest men. He was born in a small town in Georgia, overcame poverty and great odds to climb his way to the presidency. He was wounded defending his country, and he is humbled before the Lord. He is a true American success story, one that inspires all nuggets. But it’s only that: a story. Rudd comes from old southern money. His father is the CEO of BoRudd Meats, now essentially the only supplier of the county’s beef. And based on the nugget propensity for meat, Bo Rudd has become one of the richest men in America, and he will likely remain so for years to come. President Rudd was never even in the military, and his political appointees make decisions everyday that benefit him financially. He is America’s president only in title; Plutocrat Rudd would be more correct.
“These are facts that anyone can find, Agent Boone. But, nuggets aren’t interested in facts. Evolution has made the nugget, and the modern world has become too efficient at feeding his desire. The nugget is simultaneously the future and the death of this country!”
“But, why, Dr. Freebisch?”
“Dr. Lenkrad is a rich and powerful man, Agent Boone. You are not.”
“No no. Why is Lenkrad? — What does this have to do with me?”
“Well, that’s why I brought you in here today, Agent.”
“Sorry? . . . I’m interrogating you.”
“Are you, son?”
“Yes, I arrested you based on my investigation of Joe Lenkrad and the Lenkrad Group. You guys are the criminals and now I have the proof.”
“No, I and my associates brought you here because of your resistance. You, unlike the rest of those in the Department of Homeland Security, seem to have a resistance to the NGT. We need to know why. You’ll come with us, please. You, sir, are the criminal.”
“No, there are no — that can’t be right. I — ”
“It’ll be better for us all, including your wife and daughters in South Carolina, if you just do what we say, Agent Boone.”
“But, that just doesn’t make any sense.”
“Welcome to Nuggetland.”
© April 2010 by Jules Carry
