the sum of all fears

'the sum of all fears' said alex, 'is a psyche ops program, so secret, so advanced, drawing on unheard of technology that can sense, through a combination of computing power and secret psychic nano-technology, an individual's deepest, most secret fear... And then represent that fear in the most terrifying way through audio-visual technology coupled with drugging that can reduce a subject to an eternal broken wreck... Just look at these pictures...' alex flashed up photos of various subjects showing a still shot of them a week, a month, six months, a year, 2 years, 5 years
after shocktime... Some of the players sucked on their thumbs, like babies... Others had blank, vacant stares, some shown in short sequences were shown shaking... Or on wheelchairs in convalescent homes

'behold gentlemen, i bring you the patented -i scream- room' and yoinking a cheap curtain asunder, there was a black door with an ice-cream cone and a smiley face on it and emblazoned with the words 'i scream' and in arabic cursive text was the translation written for 'i scream' and 'ice cream'....

...it didnt seem particularly insidious or scary, but the photographs gave great pause, for although none of the subjects had missing limbs or burns or scars, it was clear their spirits were shattered... They were hobbled... Some were shown carrying out simple actions like buying a loaf of bread... And they seemed timid and fearful, like ostraylians or deer caught eternally in headlights....

'who dares take the ice scream challenge?' asked alex.