Box of Miracles

Novacom launches the NovaBox with an enthusiastic advertising campaign. The silver device uses a virtual-reality helmet, a handheld controller, and Novacom programming. Its advertisements promise that it can improve schoolwork, assist people with physical limitations, and change users’ lives. Many people in Odyssey welcome it as a marvelous invention, but Whit fears that the device combines Eugene’s stolen radio-wave research with technology taken from the Imagination Station.

Jason returns from Alaska with the disc Eugene sent him. Although the file has already been copied by Monica Stone, Jason still hopes it might reveal evidence against Novacom. Whit explains that the FBI cannot act on suspicion alone; Agent Bourland needs proof of a crime. Eugene remains missing and unreachable, so Whit prepares to express his concerns publicly on Bryan Dern’s radio program.

Before the interview, Tom Riley insists on taking Whit to Hillingdale Haven. Tom’s wife, Agnes, has suffered from severe depression for years and has rarely been able to leave the hospital, but she now greets them cheerfully while playing the piano. She has begun painting again and remembers happy events from years ago. Tom is overjoyed because she seems like her old self, and the doctors are considering letting her return home.

Whit also visits Arthur Dent, who has recovered remarkably from his stroke. Arthur identifies the NovaBox as the central product in Operation Think Tank, which he describes as Andromeda’s plan to enter homes and control people’s thoughts and actions. His warning becomes wild and fearful as he declares that Andromeda will stop at nothing and that the end is near. Whit cannot tell how much to accept, especially after Arthur’s recent brain trauma.

Dr. Jennings explains that both Arthur and Agnes have improved through an experimental medical treatment. A device uses radio waves in an attempt to replace faulty brain waves, and it is a medical version of the NovaBox. Alarmed by the connection to Novacom, Whit asks the doctor to stop their treatments immediately. The doctor refuses because Whit has no authority over Arthur’s medical care and Tom has approved Agnes’s treatment.

Whit pleads with Tom to withdraw his permission. He explains that the technology has been built from stolen work and that Novacom may demand an unseen price after first producing good results. Tom cannot bring himself to take away the treatment that has restored his wife’s abilities and hope. Whatever Novacom may be planning, he has seen Agnes’s improvement with his own eyes and refuses to make her stop.

On the Bryan Dern Show, Whit warns listeners that the NovaBox is new, untested, and capable of affecting the mind. Bryan dismisses his caution because Whit does not own a television or NovaBox. He then introduces an unexpected guest, Novacom representative Martha Carman, who portrays Whit as an enemy of progress trying to impose his opinions on others. Whit asks whether Novacom has explained how the box changes learning and behavior, what risks it carries, or what safeguards could prevent its abuse. Martha avoids those questions and accuses him of attacking an invention he does not understand.

Martha then reveals that Andromeda, Novacom’s parent company, also owns Mary’s Story Shop and therefore has an ownership interest in the Connellsville Whit’s End. Whit has never known of the connection. Bryan treats the revelation as proof of hypocrisy and changes the program’s subject to whether Odyssey can trust Whit, leaving Whit’s warning buried beneath the surprise.

Whit confronts Mary Hopkins, who has long known that Andromeda owns her company but has seen no reason for concern. He tells her he cannot allow Whit’s End to remain associated with Andromeda. Their agreement permits him either to remove his name and contributions from the shop or to offer to buy it. Mary fears that closing or changing the shop will undo their progress with the children of Connellsville, so she agrees to bring Whit’s purchase proposal before her board.

Jason and Whit conclude that Andromeda used Mary without her knowledge. By drawing Whit into a second shop, the company kept him busy and brought itself closer to the Imagination Station. Whit admits that his good desire to begin a new ministry has been turned against him because he has not sought God’s direction carefully enough. Recognizing that their own plans are not enough, father and son pray for wisdom and guidance.

When Whit next visits Hillingdale, Tom announces that Agnes has improved enough to come home. Their joy is interrupted by Dr. Jennings, who reports that Arthur Dent has vanished. A nurse has found his room empty and the window broken. The hospital assumes he escaped, but Whit cannot know whether Arthur fled on his own or someone took him.