The Black Veil

Cal Jordan slips through Alex Jefferson’s bedroom window to learn more about Alex’s illness. Alex says his trouble began after he stayed awake all night watching ordinary movies at Scott’s house. Scott’s family has one of the new satellite systems being tested in Odenton, and Cal wonders whether the system and the so-called Odenton bug might be connected. Alex doubts it, but the possibility continues to trouble him.

Still grounded, Alex visits Whit’s End long enough to apologize to Whit for his angry outburst. Whit forgives him but reminds him that he must also apologize to Nick. Before leaving, Alex asks whether a satellite system could affect a person’s mind or make someone sick. Whit thinks television programs can certainly influence the mind, but he doubts properly tested equipment would cause an illness.

Then Jason calls from Alaska. He describes the sudden anger and violence that have swept through the community there, and Whit realizes that the same thing is happening around Odenton. The towns are far apart and have blamed different causes, but both are testing identical new satellite receivers - plain black boxes placed near customers’ televisions. With no other clear link between the outbreaks, Whit and Jason agree to investigate the equipment.

Cal obtains one of the boxes from Odenton and takes it to Alex’s room, where he opens it. A label identifies the manufacturer as Veil Industries and gives a post-office box in Odyssey, but the company’s website provides no telephone number or street address. Cal thinks the secrecy proves the company is hiding something. Alex wisely decides that they should stop tampering with the unfamiliar equipment and bring it to Whit.

Meanwhile, Jason has stayed awake all night watching the new satellite system at the Merriweathers’ house. He becomes tired, stubborn, and angry when Walter tells him to get ready for a visit to the Becker family. Once Walter gets him away from the television, Jason recognizes that he is beginning to show the same symptoms as the other victims. The connection still appears imperfect because Mark Becker’s family does not own a television. At the Becker home, however, Jason hears their neighbor’s television through Mark’s bedroom wall. The neighbor has used one of the black boxes for three weeks - the same length of time that Mark’s behavior has been changing.

Jason and Whit compare their discoveries by telephone. When Whit examines Cal’s box, he finds an extra port that appears to send a signal outward instead of merely receiving commands from a remote control. Infrared light could not pass through the Beckers’ wall, but radio waves could. The box may be transmitting a signal strong enough to make nearby people ill, explaining why even someone without the new system can be affected.

As Whit studies the circuitry, he makes a more alarming discovery. Much of it resembles the plans for the Imagination Station that were stolen from him. Whit had deliberately omitted a vital component from those plans so that thieves could not build a functioning duplicate. Inside the black box, someone has substituted a part he does not recognize. Connie immediately remembers Eugene’s experiment and suspects Novacom. Cal imagines that a medicine company might be making people sick on purpose, but Whit believes the violent behavior is more likely an unforeseen side effect of whatever the test-market system is intended to do.

To discover the new component’s effect, Whit installs it in the Imagination Station and enters the machine himself. He tells Connie to use the emergency shutoff if anything unusual happens and asks her to pray while she waits. Almost immediately, Whit cries out and warns Connie and Cal to stay away. Connie shuts the machine down, but Whit needs time before he can explain what he has endured.

Inside the Imagination Station, Whit has felt as though he were some of history’s cruelest people: Cain standing over Abel, Pharaoh ordering the deaths of innocent babies, and later rulers who treated human life with contempt. The strange component has filled him with concentrated hatred, greed, and evil. He concludes that the satellite boxes are producing a weaker version of that same effect, provoking anger and paranoia in the people around them.

Whit orders Connie to warn the affected families while he contacts Jason, a friend at the satellite company, and Agent Bourland of the FBI. He also has the Imagination Station locked away. The danger is deeper than harmful programs or faulty equipment, he realizes; it is a spiritual battle and must be treated as one.

At the satellite company, Whit learns that Veil Industries has unexpectedly recalled every black box, claiming that the receivers may short-circuit. Customers are furious to lose them, and the manufacturer’s telephone has been disconnected. The mysterious company has disappeared. The boxes in Alaska are also confiscated under the explanation of a technical glitch, bringing the immediate crisis to an end without revealing who made the devices or why.

Walter then introduces Jason to Paula Jarvis, an older intern supposedly sent by the missions board. Although Jason had not expected an intern, he quickly welcomes her and invites her to dinner. Alone afterward, the woman telephones someone named Charles and identifies herself by her true name: Monica. She reports that she has made contact with Jason Whittaker. Charles asks whether she has found the package from Meltsner, and Monica promises, “If he’s got it, I’ll find it.”