Pain box (nonfiction): Difference between revisions
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[[File:Pain_Box.png| | [[File:Pain_Box.png|thumb|Passage from [[Frank Herbert (nonfiction)|Frank Herbert]]'s ''Dune'' describing a pain box.]]A '''pain box''' is a fictional device for causing pain by nerve induction. | ||
It was described by [[Frank Herbert (nonfiction)|Frank Herbert]] in his 1965 novel ''Dune''. | It was described by [[Frank Herbert (nonfiction)|Frank Herbert]] in his 1965 novel ''Dune''. | ||
== Exerpt from ''Dune'' == | |||
<blockquote> | |||
From the folds of her gown, she lifted a green metal cube about fifteen centimeters on a side. She turned it and Paul saw that one side was open - black and oddly frightening. Paul slowly put his hand into the box. He first felt a sense of cold as the blackness closed around his hand, then slick metal against his fingers and a prickling as though his hand were asleep... | |||
"What's in the box?" | |||
"Pain." He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch... The itch became the faintest burning... It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat... . The burning! The burning! He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained. | |||
It stopped! As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped... "Take your hand from the box, young human, and look at it." He fought down an aching shiver, stared at the lightless void where his hand seemed to remain of its own volition. Memory of pain inhibited every movement. Reason told him he would withdraw a blackened stump from that box. "Do it!" she snapped. He jerked his hand from the box, stared at it astonished. Not a mark. No sign of agony on the flesh. He held up the hand, turned it, flexed the fingers. "Pain by nerve induction," she said. "Can't go around maiming potential humans. There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though." | |||
</blockquote> | |||
—[[Frank Herbert (nonfiction)|Frank Herbert]], ''Dune'' (1965) | |||
== In the News == | == In the News == | ||
<gallery> | <gallery> | ||
File:Frank Herbert's Groot.jpg|link=Frank Herbert's Groot|'''''[[Frank Herbert's Groot]]''''' is a children's adventure book by Frank Herbert which combines elements of his ''June'' (credited to Frank Herbert 1.1 "as told to OrbGazer") and the character Groot from ''Guardians of the Galaxy''. | |||
File:Gollum_at_the_Movies_-_Lucifer's_Women.jpg|link=Gollum at the Movies|'''''[[Gollum at the Movies]]''''' is a movie review television program starring the malevolent yet pitiable Gollum. Shown here: Gollum review ''Lucifer's Women'' (1974). | |||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
== Fiction cross-reference == | == Fiction cross-reference == | ||
* ''[[Frank Herbert's Groot]]'' | |||
* [[Gnomon algorithm]] | * [[Gnomon algorithm]] | ||
* [[Gnomon Chronicles]] | * [[Gnomon Chronicles]] | ||
* ''[[Gollum at the Movies]]'' | |||
== Nonfiction cross-reference == | == Nonfiction cross-reference == | ||
* [[Frank Herbert (nonfiction) | * [[Frank Herbert (nonfiction)]] | ||
== External links == | == External links == | ||
* [https:// | * [http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=39 Pain box] @ Technovelgy | ||
* [https://www.facebook.com/GnomonChronicles/posts/2454602914664352 Post] @ Facebook | |||
* [https://twitter.com/GnomonChronicl1/status/1330325987196874754 Post] @ Twitter | |||
[[Category:Fiction (nonfiction)]] | [[Category:Fiction (nonfiction)]] | ||
[[Category:Films]] | [[Category:Dune (nonfiction)]] | ||
[[Category:Films (nonfiction)]] | |||
[[Category:Frank Herbert (nonfiction)]] | |||
[[Category:Machines (nonfiction)]] | |||
[[Category:Pain (nonfiction)]] | |||
Latest revision as of 19:10, 4 November 2021
A pain box is a fictional device for causing pain by nerve induction.
It was described by Frank Herbert in his 1965 novel Dune.
Exerpt from Dune
From the folds of her gown, she lifted a green metal cube about fifteen centimeters on a side. She turned it and Paul saw that one side was open - black and oddly frightening. Paul slowly put his hand into the box. He first felt a sense of cold as the blackness closed around his hand, then slick metal against his fingers and a prickling as though his hand were asleep... "What's in the box?"
"Pain." He felt increased tingling in his hand, pressed his lips tightly together. How could this be a test? he wondered. The tingling became an itch... The itch became the faintest burning... It mounted slowly: heat upon heat upon heat... . The burning! The burning! He thought he could feel skin curling black on that agonized hand, the flesh crisping and dropping away until only charred bones remained.
It stopped! As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped... "Take your hand from the box, young human, and look at it." He fought down an aching shiver, stared at the lightless void where his hand seemed to remain of its own volition. Memory of pain inhibited every movement. Reason told him he would withdraw a blackened stump from that box. "Do it!" she snapped. He jerked his hand from the box, stared at it astonished. Not a mark. No sign of agony on the flesh. He held up the hand, turned it, flexed the fingers. "Pain by nerve induction," she said. "Can't go around maiming potential humans. There're those who'd give a pretty for the secret of this box, though."
—Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)
In the News
Frank Herbert's Groot is a children's adventure book by Frank Herbert which combines elements of his June (credited to Frank Herbert 1.1 "as told to OrbGazer") and the character Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy.
Gollum at the Movies is a movie review television program starring the malevolent yet pitiable Gollum. Shown here: Gollum review Lucifer's Women (1974).