suBsequent ComIng

About the author

Here’s a picture of me in a play at the Wright Opera House last year. I’m hard to spot among other people, which is probably for the best.

suBsequentComIng by Brendan ZaChary AllIson

“I know you’re feeling invisible. Lonely. Unloved. But God has a plan for you. It’s called the Unlimited Plan. We appreciate your loyalty but see that your Unlimited Plan expired. Just think here and you can unlock His solace – ah, we’ve just received your payment! Close your eyes and clench your teeth – good… here it comes…”

Roland flailed pathetically as his Halo Hybrid White stimulated key areas of his limbic system. The first zaps gave him solace, connection, love, hope, and billions of sizzled synapses. Well worth tithing 80% of his salary. Worth learning how to overcrank the stimpulses. At first. Now, even though they were strong enough to kill the average elephant, they didn’t even bring him back to baseline. He couldn’t even remember where, what, or who he was.

He was used to the side effects like drooling and unwanted releases from his nether regions. Fortunately, he’d learned to stay inside and connect his air freshener to his brain interface. It made scents when you think about it. Then he got an unexpected call.

“Have you been harmed by neurevangelism? Have you collapsed or had awkward muscle failures during the pseudoseizures? Public embarrassment from those sudden stains down there?  Our legal experts are standing by! Just think here and-” Roland thought away but another message was already queued up.

“We noticed your last financial transaction. God doesn’t need to be paid for His love. Join the Second Coming of Luther church for free! Just like our competitors, we can sense when you’re feeling down and provide soothing, targeted stimulation… but at no monthly cost! Just purchase our CloudTop Lifetime headset -”

Roland thought away and muted calls from unknown thinkers. He noticed a message reminding him that his doctor needed samples of his stool, urine, semen, and blood. He thought back that he’d send his underwear. After a brief delay, a nurse wrote back and told him that was disgusting. She was cute. One more woman who didn’t appreciate his unique style and wit. Yet another…

“We sense you’re feeling down again! Close your eyes and clench your teeth!” Roland was too slow this time. He regained consciousness and swallowed bits of tongue, teeth, lips, and his carpet. His headset’s messaging module was damaged and he noticed blood dripping on to his shoulder. But God loved him and so he smiled as best he could with what was left of his motor cortex. He slowly crawled to the kitchen as he realized his left leg was paralyzed, checked his cupboards for food, then remembered he couldn’t afford any. Didn’t his wife buy anything? Ah, he remembered, she left him after he spent their kids’ college fund on neurevangelism. He was really hungry. Was he dying? Would he die alone? He was so lonely! The next stimulation pulse hit him without the usual warning message. As his neurons fired their last, he thought he saw God. But ?e looked so different this time.

Author Commentary

Neurotechnology and religion. Most of my short-short stories posted here don’t go into that combination since I delve into it more in “Attentional Blink,” which isn’t posted here.

The ?e in the last sentence is not a typo.

Realism

Also much closer to reality than I’d like.

It’s intentionally unclear how the poor protagonist (or anyone) “thought away” or otherwise selected information. Other stories have people answering or ending calls by thought alone and other fun tricks. The concepts we have of selecting, thinking, conveying information will become increasingly obsolete as neurotechnology advances.

Hope

This is a particularly nasty direction that I hope doesn’t materialize. But it will, well within my lifetime. You think televangelism, scams, and predatory nastiness will ignore such opportunity? Neurevangelism.

Edit History

I wrote this last year. I’m posting it on New Years’ Day, 2026, so last year wasn’t that long ago.

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