Chapter One - Making Friends
Thomas lived in a happy little cul-de-sac, in a happy little suburb, because that's what people do.
He was an inventor and all the wonderful things he created in his basement had earned him a decent fortune. That wealth afforded him the option to choose, and he had chosen to live as normally as he knew how.
Thomas was a bit of an eccentric, however, so he did not always get along with people perfectly. He was often lonely, and sometimes it even made him sad. But, like always, Thomas was sure he could invent a device to fix all that.
A machine that will make people friendlier? Yes, the world definitely needs that,
he thought. He had never had many friends, so he was not exactly sure how to define friendship, however.
He decided to err on the side of caution -- he listed a bunch of attributes he would want from a friend, and then went on with creating a process that might encourage those features in a person.
Thomas got to work, and soon he had a prototype ready for testing.
Alice was young housewife, living on the same street. She often smiled at Thomas and sometimes even made small talk with him. She was definitely already a nicer person than most people so Thomas decided she would make the perfect test subject for his new machine. Having someone so nice to test on could give his machine an advantage on it's first run.
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining from a blue sky and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves. A scent of freshly baked cookies wafted into Thomas's basement laboratory. The time was right. He headed out.
"Good day, Alice," he shouted from the yard.
Alice came to the window and waved back at him.
"Fresh cookies?" Thomas said.
"You know it," Alice said.
"Could I bother you for a sample?" Thomas said.
"Of course you can," Alice said. "Knock yourself out."
"Actually, I'm kind of in the middle of something right now. Would you mind bringing me a plate? I'll be in the basement. Just come right down," Thomas said.
Alice hesitated, for just a brief moment, but then smiled again. "Of course. I'll be right over," she said. "Just give me five minutes to get the last batch out of the oven."
"Thank you ever so much dear," Thomas said, and headed back to his lab.
As promised, Alice soon followed. "Hello? Are you here?" she said, from the stairs.
"Thanks again, Alice," Thomas said.
"Wow. This place is amazing," Alice said.
"Oh, that's right. You've never been down here. Well, this is where I work," Thomas said.
Alice laid her plate of cookies on a table and spun around, her head on a swivel, taking it all in. She was mesmerized by the racks full of complicated scientific equipment, each with their own little blinking lights.
"Oh, it's so exciting," she said. "However do you keep track of what all of this even does?"
"It's not that complicated," Thomas said. "I've always just had a knack for science."
"What in the heavens is this, then?" Alice said, seeing a big, hulking machine in the corner. It was as big as a small car and even had a sturdy hatch on it.
"That's actually what I've been working on recently. It's a relaxation machine. I'm hoping it would give a person the equivalent of a full night's rest, but in just a few minutes," Thomas said. He'd long ago learned that it was usually smart to lie to people, to get them to do what he wanted.
"Oh, Thomas. That sounds fantastic," Alice said.
"Would you like to try it?" Thomas said.
"What? No. I'm not sure. Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's a bit scary," Alice said.
No matter. Thomas had prepared for this eventuality. He was nothing if not meticulous when he planned the protocols for his experiments. Alice barely even realized what was happening before the chloroform had already knocked her out.
Stronger than his scrawny body would suggest, Thomas had no trouble lifting Alice's unconscious form into the friendliness machine. He even pulled down the hem of her dress, to protect the poor girl's modesty. He closed the hatch, entombing Alice inside.
Thomas powered the machine up, fairly confident it would not be too dangerous. The machine hummed ominously and vapor hissed out from it's flaring cooling vents. A simple pull of a lever was enough to start the process. Alice should be safe, in theory. All the machine really did was just a gentle irradiation of the brain.
Alice looked peaceful and happy inside the machine, like she was just sleeping. Thomas smiled and went back to work on his other inventions. He was reasonably hopeful the chloroform would not cause any side effects, either.
Fifteen minutes later an automatic timer cut the power to the system. The hatch hissed open. Excited, Thomas went to have a look. Alice seemed like her normal self. For a moment, Thomas wasn't sure if she might not have suffered some brain damage after all, but then she opened her eyes.
"Good day, mister Hill," she said.
"Alice, please, call me Thomas. And it's Doctor, actually," Thomas said. "How do you feel?"
"Wonderful, Doctor Hill, I feel wonderful. Thank you ever so much for letting me try out your machine."
"You don't resent me for rendering you unconscious, and then forcibly inserting you into it?" Thomas said.
"Not at all. It was obviously the right thing to do, and you would know best, Doctor Hill," Alice said.
Thomas was relieved. He'd almost gotten worried there, for a moment. "Thank you, Alice. What a nice thing for you to say," he said.
A moment passed with Alice just smiling and staring at him.
