The Theta Patient by Chris Dietzel

Author:Chris Dietzel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 1984, surveillance society, authoritarian government, time and space travel

6

Bradburn plugged a cord into the side of his laptop, then reached over and turned on the television in his office. Everything he could see on his computer was also visible on the television screen for Agent Cooper to view.

“How do you want to do this?”

“One question at a time,” the Tyranny’s man said. “Play a question and answer from the first patient, then the same question and answer for the second patient, and so on.”

Bradburn clicked on all three interview files so he could alternate between them. Before starting the footage of the first interview, he looked to Cooper to make sure he should proceed.

The agent said, “One more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Before we start, do you think you know which patient is the Thinker?”

Bradburn frowned. “It never even crossed my mind.”

“I told you one of the three men is a danger to the Tyranny, a radical, and you weren’t concerned which one it might be?”

“I’m just so used to trying to treat my patients as they come in. I guess I accept their behavior for what it is.” When Cooper groaned in disbelief, Bradburn added, “Which one do you think it is?”

“Oh, I don’t think,” Cooper said. “I already know which one.”

The doctor was about to ask why they were going to waste time watching the three videos if the Tyranny already knew which man was the Thinker. Bradburn had already had to cancel three appointments that morning because of the supposed Thinker. The last thing he wanted was to miss a fourth and fifth. But he was also intrigued. As good as he thought he was at treating mental ailments, he hadn’t picked up on whatever the agent had figured out. If the Tyranny had ways to differentiate between a man pretending to be crazy and a man who really was, he wanted to see it for himself.

More importantly, though, was that this was what Agent Cooper wanted. That was all that really mattered. It was the old adage of being told to jump and responding, “How high?” If the Tyranny said they needed to know what everyone was saying and doing, you asked how you could help them monitor your calls and emails. If they said they needed to take your valuables during routine searches, you asked if they would also like to take your watch. Bradburn never complained with any of these things. After all, rules were rules.

On the television, an unshaven, dark-haired man appeared. This was Anthony Station, the first of the three patients. Following Agent Cooper’s direction, only Station was on camera, sitting at a table that showed him from the waist up. On the table was a small black box with wires protruding from it. The wires ran to a set of five pads that each patient had been told to slide onto their fingertips. The interview had been conducted in a small room without any photographs on the walls. Nothing but the table, two chairs, and the camera.

Doctor Bradburn’s voice could be heard off

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