So Jade invited us to the museum after hours, for those that read my stories you will already know, but for noobs, Jade is my sister-in-law, and Vicki is my partner. Now when Jade invites us there it is normally for some private play time. This time she was particularly excited.
We arrived promptly and entered the museum just before closing, we wait in the café. Jade comes through locking the main door after the last of the gift shop hangers on left for the night. She is visibly jubilant and tells us to drink up and come with her. We are lead in to the bowels of the building through lots of large heavy doors, this is an old jail. We finally arrive in a large room lit harshly by fluorescent lights. There is a large sign propped up against a table which says “Restraints of the Future”, on the table there are large black cloths covering whatever is on top.
Jade strolls over explaining that this is going to be a new section of the museum and something she has been working on for almost three years. Taking the idea of restraint through the past and applying modern manufacturing and techniques to project some ideas of what the future might hold. She is so excited she literally hops over to the table and whips off the first cloth. There is all manner of metal “contraptions” laying there. One looks remarkably like a solid steel straitjacket.
I walk over and look at the remarkable quality of it. Gently running a finger down the smooth outside. “Wanna try?” she eagerly blurts out. She grabs it off the table and it falls open in her hands. “Traditional style, arms” I do as I am told. She hinges the straps across the back loosely, and the pulls the arms which are articulated in the most amazing way so they bend easily. She pulls my arms through three loops around the jacket and again does them up loosely behind me. “Now for the magic” she presses a button on a controller, one by one the straps get tighter starting at the top. “It’s all totally automated”. She gleefully declares. Lastly the arm strap gets tighter pulling my arms slowly around into a much tighter hugging position. Once this is done there are a series of clicks. “That’s the electromagnetic locking mechanism” she states matter of factly. She then goes on to elaborate stating that the battery power is only used to shoot the locking pins into place, afterwards the jacket is locked there is no power drain from the in-built batteries, so it can be worn indefinitely with no issues of low battery.
Vicki inspects the jacket, tugging at my arms, and slipping her finger between the jacket and my neck. “mmm, it’s just a little on the loose side” she states thoughtfully, “no problem” Jade replies, hitting another button on the control unit. Instantly there are slightly louder popping noises as the internal locks release, again one by one the straps pull much tighter and once again at the end popping noises as the locks engage. “So now you are stuck” Jade says gleefully. At this point Vicki chimes in, “so to release him all you would need is the controller?”, “sort of” replies Jade, “at the moment the jacket is locked and is not removable by the wearer. But yes anyone with the controller could remove it. However, there is another feature, watch” Jade walks over to a control panel she presses a button and a small flap opens, which she spits into, the flap closes, “DNA recognition in progress” says an automated computer voice, “Thumbprint.” Jade places her thumb on a small glass panel and a green light scans her thumb print, “Passcode.” Jade taps in a long code, I think it was about 20 digits, we could just hear the keys being pressed. “Time”, Jade taps a few more digits. “Locked, authorisation Jade, override disabled”.
“There, the computer has now analysed my DNA, my thumbprint, and my access code, and has created an encryption code based on them so only the same combination can unlock the jacket until the timer expires, once the timer expires there is a five-minute window where the controller can be used again to just unlock it.” If not the timer is reset to it’s default, I have set the timer for 20 minutes so you can appreciate the jacket, feel free to try and escape, and remember to be nice to me, as I am the only key to your escape, at least for the next 20 minutes”. She grins.
Vicki is looking at a collar, “does this lock in the same way?” “yes, everything does” replies Jade. “Can I try?” says Vicki, “Sure, lock me in that collar and some cuffs, your choice, I can direct you on how to unlock”.
Vicki places the collar around Jades neck, the two ends meet loosely one neatly fitting into the other and then it stops. “That’s it, the remote will do the rest” Jade says. Next Vicki pulls off the next cloth and starts examining all the different types of cuffs. She sees at the end a pair of sealed mittens that look like they enclose the whole hand, they are joined together in three places by a single link of very thick chain, Vicki picks them up and walks towards Jade, Jade holds up her hands in front of her. “Yeah right, like I’d let that happen” says Vicki, Jade turns and puts her hands behind her. The mittens slip on easily. “Right now grab the controller, and press the mitten button to select what you want to do up. Now press the auto 1 button” instantly the mittens pull tight around her wrists, she tenses and then relaxes. “Now press the collar button and again Auto 1”, instantly the collar closes. “Now go to the panel and press lock and follow the onscreen instructions”, again we both hear the spit, scan and code being entered, “New User Detected” says the automatic voice, and asks for a series of details, name, etc. “Program Locked, authorisation Vicki, time disabled, override disabled”. “There now I am locked up too” says Jade tugging the mittens making the chain jingle faintly.
Vicki is looking at the hand controller, “what does the punish button….” She presses it, Jade instantly screams and collapses to the floor. Shocked Vicki releases the button and rushes over. “It’s ok, just a shock, literally” says jade, “I got it as I was the last restraint selected” she went on. “Wow so you are truly under my control, I just press the restraint button, and then punish and whatever restraint is selected administers the punishment. I like it” She says. She is still looking at the controller, “so what happens if I press …. “ Vicki has already pressed another button, there is a click from Jades collar, and it tightens, Jade struggles but her arms are held firmly behind her, she is gasping for breath, Vicki panics and presses the button again hoping that it will stop, but the collar tightens again, jade is now on the floor, wildly struggling, kicking her legs, until she simply stops, passed out, unconscious on the floor. The collar loosens to its original setting.
“Timer Expired” the computer voice says, Vicki presses some buttons on the controller. The jacket pops, and then gets really tight, locking again. Vicki checks on her sister, she is fine, just out for the count. “One minute remaining” the voice states. “10 …. 9 … 8 …. ~ 2….1 …. No Authorised Code Entered…. Entering Lockdown Mode” then silence.
Jade is just about waking up. Vicki helps her to her feet, “how long was I out for?” Jade enquires, not sure, about ten minutes I guess, “has the computer said anything yet?” she asks, “Yes, something about a code and entering some mode” “Shit” Jade says. That means because I did not enter my code, the system thinks I have been incapacitated and has entered its lockdown mode” she says angrily, “What does that mean?” Vicki asks. “It means dear sister, that not only are we locked in this room, and these restraints, but we can do anything at all about it for 24 hours”.
Hours pass, Vicki pacing up and down, we are sat together quietly chatting, for the most part ignoring her. She looks at a set of body restraints, collar, hand and feet cuffs, I see her holding them up to herself, she places the collar around her neck and then reaches down and puts her feet in the shackles lastly she places the belt around her waist and slides her wrists into the manacles either side of her, she tugs her wrists out “No” shouts Jade, but it’s too late, they instantly snap shut, and tighten. “Great now you are locked up too, don’t touch anything, it’s all now in automatic mode.” Vicki stumbles backwards in shock, she sits down in a chair by the wall she throws her head back as if to bang it on the wall, a metal head contraption attached above the seat to the wall hinges downward and slams closed over her head pinning her to the wall, again the familiar click. Jade, laughs so loudly, walks to the controller and presses a button, I see vicki’s cheeks bulge. “what was that button” I ask, Jade laughingly replies “mute”.
So let me get this straight, no pun intended, you have locked me into this inescapable straitjacket, using a secure biometric code based on your DNA, Vicki has locked you in those cuffs and collar using the same process, and Vicki has both tripped the lockdown mode and has managed to chain herself up, and you have just effectively trapped her to the wall 10 feet from the DNA reader, and filled her mouth so we can’t even get her to spit?
“Shit Shit Shit” jade says, “It never even crossed my mind! “Timer Elapsed, restraint time reset” says the automated voice. “What does that mean?” I asked “Well I set a timer on your jacket of 20 minutes, so after 20 minutes, if it’s not unlocked it doubles to 40 minutes, that was the second one so now it will be 40 minutes” she reals out. “So what will be the case by the time you get out, as I assume I am stuck until the timer elapses” I try not to sound angry, she says a little more meekly sensing my trepidation, “Well, it’s in lockdown mode so it will only double every hour so 20 * 2 is 40 …. “she stops mid-sentence “Yes, alright, I have fucked everything up. “she says in a dejected tone. “Great, so it’s 10pm Friday now, we are stuck until someone comes in tomorrow morning how many periods is that?” I do the mental arithmetic, so nine hours 20, 40, 80, 160….. 10,240 minutes, assuming they get us out on time, so that is, divide 60, 170 hours, divide 24, 7 and a bit days…. Great”. Jade, obviously proud of her maths, states “14 if they are an hour late ….” “Magic, bloody magic”
She kicks her bag over to Vicki, get my phone out, look in the contacts and call Alice. Vicki scrabbles in the bag just able to reach down and feel her way around, she pulls out the phone, presses some buttons, the speaker kicks into life and we hear a ringing tone, “Hello” says presumably Alice, “Hi Alice, it’s Jade, look I was wondering, erm ….” Alice cuts her off “You’ve done it again, haven’t you?” “Yes, but this time it’s much worse, can you come back?” Alice quickly replies, “ok, but I am taking full advantage of whatever situation you have got yourself into when I get there. I have to finish some stuff, will be there in an hour, this is the last time, next time you are stuck”. The phone call is terminated.
I looked over at Vicki and I knew exactly what she was thinking by the twitch in her eyes, and readers I am sorry for this…..
“Alice - Who the fuck is Alice”
For those that don’t get it, look up Roy Chubby Brown, Alice on youtube J
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21.11.16