What story featured exploding brain implants?
June 12, 2009 12:42 PM Subscribe
What story did I read about explosive brain implants?
I remember reading a story sometime in my childhood or early-teenhood that a group of characters that were trying to leave a certain area (details are a little fuzzy). At some point in their trek, they started hearing a ringing or beeping in their ears, and eventually discovered/realized/deduced that they all had brain implants that would explode if they crossed an invisible border, and the ringing was an alarm that they were getting to close to that border. I seem to remember that one of the older girls died from triggering the implant, by stepping over the border, but this might just be my mind making up details.
I most likely read this sometime between 1996 and 2001, but the story could have been written before 96. I don't recall if it was a novel or a short story.
The concept is similar to what happened in Mission Impossible 3 and X-Files "Drive", but I'm quite sure that it's neither of those; my memory of it is descriptive instead of visual, so I'm pretty positive that it was something that I read.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I remember reading a story sometime in my childhood or early-teenhood that a group of characters that were trying to leave a certain area (details are a little fuzzy). At some point in their trek, they started hearing a ringing or beeping in their ears, and eventually discovered/realized/deduced that they all had brain implants that would explode if they crossed an invisible border, and the ringing was an alarm that they were getting to close to that border. I seem to remember that one of the older girls died from triggering the implant, by stepping over the border, but this might just be my mind making up details.
I most likely read this sometime between 1996 and 2001, but the story could have been written before 96. I don't recall if it was a novel or a short story.
The concept is similar to what happened in Mission Impossible 3 and X-Files "Drive", but I'm quite sure that it's neither of those; my memory of it is descriptive instead of visual, so I'm pretty positive that it was something that I read.
Does this sound familiar to anyone?
If you decide it might have been a movie and not a book, this question that I asked a while ago about name-that-exploding-head-movie got lots of answers which might help...
posted by widdershins at 1:10 PM on June 12, 2009
posted by widdershins at 1:10 PM on June 12, 2009
Response by poster: I'm pretty sure that it was a book/story/prose, and not a TV show or movie. I think another important detail is that this group of people didn't know that they were booby-trapped until they actually started hearing the alarm in their heads, which would rule out Battle Royale (which, if I remember correctly, had collars, and not implants).
posted by specialagentwebb at 1:17 PM on June 12, 2009
posted by specialagentwebb at 1:17 PM on June 12, 2009
The cortex bomb appears throughout cyberpunk. It's a pretty standard device in the genre.
I first encountered it in the RPG Shadowrun. But, that probably isn't where you saw it.
Can you tell us more about the story?
posted by Netzapper at 1:28 PM on June 12, 2009
I first encountered it in the RPG Shadowrun. But, that probably isn't where you saw it.
Can you tell us more about the story?
posted by Netzapper at 1:28 PM on June 12, 2009
Response by poster: Unfortunately, I don't remember all that much about the story. From what I can vaguely remember, it had a group of teenagers, and they were escaping from a small community that was very secluded. I seem to remember them making their escape through the woods, and I'm fairly sure that they weren't any big cities nearby. I hadn't heard the phrase "cortex bomb" before, so I'll start googling around with that and see if I can dig out the story.
posted by specialagentwebb at 2:22 PM on June 12, 2009
posted by specialagentwebb at 2:22 PM on June 12, 2009
Deadlock?
"A science-fiction adventure that steals from Alfred Hitchcock's 39 Steps and Stanley Kramer's Defiant Ones. Director Lewis Teague may not be in the same league as those two directors, but he did a dandy job with this futuristic prison flick. Originality may not be its strong card, but Deadlock offers appealing performances by Mimi Rogers and Rutger Hauer. They play convicts linked by high-tech neckbands that explode if one prisoner ventures more than 100 yards from another prisoner with a matching collar. None of the inmates knows to whom they are paired, so all are forced to stick around. When Rogers and Hauer discover that their collars match, the duo embark on a gutsy prison break. Of course, they must to stay together as they head for the diamonds he hid before his arrest. This may not be art, but it is, ah, a great escape."
posted by ellF at 3:00 PM on June 12, 2009
"A science-fiction adventure that steals from Alfred Hitchcock's 39 Steps and Stanley Kramer's Defiant Ones. Director Lewis Teague may not be in the same league as those two directors, but he did a dandy job with this futuristic prison flick. Originality may not be its strong card, but Deadlock offers appealing performances by Mimi Rogers and Rutger Hauer. They play convicts linked by high-tech neckbands that explode if one prisoner ventures more than 100 yards from another prisoner with a matching collar. None of the inmates knows to whom they are paired, so all are forced to stick around. When Rogers and Hauer discover that their collars match, the duo embark on a gutsy prison break. Of course, they must to stay together as they head for the diamonds he hid before his arrest. This may not be art, but it is, ah, a great escape."
posted by ellF at 3:00 PM on June 12, 2009
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Sounds a bit like Battle Royale, also.
Was it a comic or prose?
posted by mkb at 12:56 PM on June 12, 2009