The Black Box

Edited by Todger65, and JessGabriel.

The following is intended for mature readers only. ALL characters represented are 18 years of age or older. This story contains strong uses of profanity, nudity, scenes of graphic sexual relations, science fiction, parody, humor, classic cinema, incest, and more scenes of graphic sexual relations. Reader discretion is advised.

* * *

Chapter 1: Whatever happened to predictability?

It was a calm and peaceful morning in the Miller household. Outside, birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and somewhere in the distance, a wind chime caught a gentle breeze. This was just the break Scottie Miller needed after the grueling spring semester. This slow, lazy morning was well-earned, as was his overflowing bowl of cereal he richly deserved. And so, wearing his sweatpants and a t-shirt, he sat at the kitchen counter crunching away at an overly sugared spoonful of Cheerios, caring not for the dribble of milk that ran down his chin. He just knew; this was going to be a good day.

He nearly fell off his stool when he heard his sister shouting his name.

“God damnit, Scottie! Get your ass out here and give me a hand!” she shouted while the doorbell repeatedly chimed.

Nearly tripping over himself, Scottie ran to the door and yanked it open. While expecting to find Hannah, he instead was greeted by dozens of brown boxes filling the porch, stacked so poorly that whatever was inside surely wasn’t in one piece anymore. Behind them and holding a box of her own, was his dear, sweet sister Hannah.

“Where the hell have you been!” she asked dropping down her load onto an already beaten and dented box beneath. Though she may not have heard the crinkle of something breaking, Scottie sure did. “Why aren’t you checking your phone?! You were supposed to be helping me three hours ago! I’ve been stuck shucking all these boxes on my own,” she said as she raked her short, dark brown hair back, tucking it under her bandana.

“…Huh?” was all Scottie could muster as Hannah groaned in frustration, turned in a huff and began marching across the lawn toward a large, yellow moving truck.

Scottie ran after her. “What are you talking about? We weren’t going to get started until Friday!”

“No, dumbass, that’s when they have to list it,” she said, barely turning back. “Mom specifically said we had to clear out the Westbrooke house today so it can be re-carpeted tomorrow.”

“What? When did she say that?”

Hannah stopped and looked at him, slightly dumfounded. “She texted me, like, a thousand times last night, like I would forget.”

“She didn’t text me,” Scottie said.

“Well there’s a shocker.” Hannah was never one to be low on sarcasm. Grabbing a handle, she hoisted herself up into the back of the truck, having left its roll-down door open. The interior was chock-full from floor to ceiling with varying shades of cardboard, crammed so tightly together it was as if pieced together by a grand champion of Tetris.

“Holy shit,” Scottie said seeing the work to be done. “You do this all yourself?”

“Fuck no,” Hannah said picking up yet another box. “Turns out there’s a fraternity across the street.” Her cheeky smirk spoke volumes. “Those boys were all too eager to help a young woman. Speaking of which…” she said as she pushed the box into Scottie’s chest. He took it with a grunt.

“Poor guys,” he said as she turned back to the load. He couldn’t help but think, with how she filled those yoga pants and loose tank top, they would have finished the entire renovation just to watch her hips sway. “You sure there’s anything left over there?”

Hannah picked up another box and dropped it on top of his other. He groaned slightly as his chin barely cleared the top.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “The last owner was a hoarder or something.”

She looked him over quickly, noticing for the first time his tank top and baggy sweatpants. “You really need to go change. We got a lot of shit to still do.”

Much to Scottie’s dismay, Hannah’s assessments of the Westbrooke site were pretty damn accurate as the house seemed to hold so many boxes, it could very well have stashed the Ark of the Covenant.

There was little furniture that needed to go. A table, two chairs, pots, pans, and yet no plates or glasses. All the cabinets were completely bare and looked as if they had never even been stocked. There was a single bed, but no mattress. They did have a Television, though it was an old bulky, heavy, 21-inch CRT surrounded by heaps of cables, wires, and various electrical tools.

It took two more runs for the siblings to pack up the site and offload it back home. The Delta-Beta-Kappas across the way did volunteer to help once more, but for some reason, they were less enthusiastic upon seeing Scottie.

It was close to 4pm by the time they were fully wrapped, truck returned, and back home. They loaded as many boxes as they could into the garage, but the rest went into the living room.

Hannah lumbered up to the couch and fell face-first into the soft embrace of the cushions. She let out a groan of satisfaction right into the pillows as she melted into place. Scottie paid her little attention as he opened a cardboard lid and peeked inside finding it full of pink, white, and yellow forms.

“Jeez,” he said, then called out “Hey, Hannah.”

She groaned in response.

Scottie closed the box and opened another. More papers. “I never asked, but why did Mom want the boxes brought here? Don’t they normally go to donate somewhere or the landfill or something?”

With a slight turn of her head, she said “I don’t know. Maybe they want to sell the stuff, or Dad might restore something. She didn’t say.”

“Okay, just seems weird, is all,” Scottie said. “If you think he was a hoarder, shouldn’t we be worried about pests, or something?”

His sister remained motionless as he picked up a folder and looked inside.

“Shit, I think this previous dude had some health issues,” he said.

Hannah mumbled something into the pillows.

“What?” Scottie asked.

“Alzheimer’s” she repeated, louder this time. “He passed away a few months ago so his estate went up for sale or something like that.”

“Oh dang.” He dropped the folder back where he found it, then opened another.

Hearing her brother’s incessant rummaging, she opened one eye.

“Are you gonna keep rifling through his things?”

Scottie shrugged as he peeled back the lid on another box. “Should I not? It’s part and parcel with the place, right?”

“Technically, yeah,” she said as he moved to a new trove. “Find anything good?”

He shook his head. “No, not really. Bunch of medical files and junk so far,” he said as he opened a new box.

“Oh, scratch that! Hey Hannah!” he said turning to her, holding up a large ball of tangled RCA cables. “Look! Goldmine! We can finally start that vintage TV repair business we are always talking about!” He chuckled. Sarcasm was thick with them both.

Still laughing at his own joke, he turned back to the open box, catching sight of something tucked beneath the wires.

“Oh, hold-up,” he said, dropping the bundle and rummaging deep within the container. He pulled out a small device, roughly the size of a hardbound book. Its smooth metal painted a matte black and wrapped in a power cord. Flipping it over, he found a rectangular remote taped to it, simple but crude in design.

Seeing his interest had been piqued, Hannah rolled onto her side to get a better look.

“What’s that?” she asked.

Scottie frowned, turning it over. “I’m… not quite sure,” he said. “I think it’s something for the TV based on these connections, but there is no brand name or anything so I don’t know. Weird that it has a remote, though.”

He flipped the remote over in his hands. The little controller appeared to take the minimalist route. On the front was a small LCD screen and three buttons; Up, Down, and something that had a handwritten “ENTER”. Flipping it over, he saw the bottom had a small copper plate and above that, a little sliding switch with three positions: Off, T, R.

“It’s kinda weird,” Scottie said. “Whatever this is, I think he made it. Ages ago at that. No branding at all, and the remote feels homemade.”

“Sounds exciting,” Hannah said mockingly. “You should probably just-“

“Oh shit! I think I know what this is!”

Hannah raised an eyebrow as her brother smiled, pleased with himself.

“… I think… I think this was a black box!”

“What? For like, airplanes?”

“No-no-no-no.” Scottie was finding it hard to hide his excitement. “This was a thing they used to use back in the day to connect to the TV or Cable box and unlock all the stations. Kinda like pirating TV. I read about it on a forum a while ago.”

His sister rolled her eyes. “Okay, Captain. That is quite a jump to make-“

“I’m gonna try it out!” he said blowing past her and making for the flat screen.

“Well, you have fun with your new toy. I’m gonna go take a shower.”

“Uh-huh,” mumbled Scottie as he tried to slide the big, bulky entertainment center from the wall to get to the cables.

“Try not to screw anything up, please. Mom and Dad should be home in like an hour and you know who they will blame.”

“Yeah-yeah, I’m good.” Scottie was in the zone.

Hannah shook her head and headed upstairs.

* * *

Chapter 2: There is Nothing Wrong With Your Television Set.

Scottie was turning on the TV when Hannah returned, fresh, clean, and in a pajama camisole with matching shorts, tied at the waist.

“You still at it?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said as he shuffled four different remotes in his hands. “Took me a little longer to get the right cables, connections, and batteries for this little guy,” he said wiggling the new controller. “I think I got it all figured out… and there!”

With a click of the remote, the screen turned black.

The sound of a single person clapping filled the space. Turning around, Scottie found Hannah smirking at him with the world’s slowest applause.

“Oh Captain, my Captain,” she said laughing.

He crumbled. “Shut up. I’m still figuring this out.”

“You put the batteries in the right way?”

“Yes, I put the batteries in the right way,” he mocked as he flipped over the remote. “Oh, maybe this?”

Scottie clicked the slider on the back of the remote from OFF to T.

The television flickered, then changed to a blue screen. White text appeared in the upper right corner reading:

SCANNING — 1%

“Holy crap!” Scottie said, turning to his sister with the expectation of unrelenting praise. Instead, Hannah was looking at her phone.

“Mom and Dad are running late. They said we are on our own for dinner.”

“Hannah!”

She looked up to see Scottie staring at her, then nodding to the TV.

SCANNING — 4%

“Oh,” she said. “Good job.” She took a seat on the couch.

Scottie jumped into the seat next to her, watching the screen with pure joy.

SCANNING — 6%

The room was silent as both siblings watched the progress ever so slowly increase.

Scottie looked at the remote and noticed the small LCD screen was illuminated. In faint 8-bit letters on a grey screen, the words “SCN%” appeared.

He laughed. “Dang, this thing’s old!”

Hannah looked up. He pointed to the screen.

“Looks like an old cell phone, doesn’t it?” he said, more than asked.

“Sooooo,” Hannah said. “… How exactly do these things work?”

“Never really seen one so I don’t know. The guy who had one online just said that it gives you all the channels in your region.”

“No shit,” she said, nodding her head in thought. It had been eight months since their father discontinued their cable subscription, and both the Miller siblings missed their trashy TV shows and sitcoms.

It took twenty minutes to complete — twenty agonizing minutes. The slow crawl it had taken seemed to drag them along, raising their expectations during the final 5 percent, until finally…

SCANNING — 100%

PLEASE ENTER PIN: _ _ _ _

“You got to be fucking kidding me!” Scottie said staring at the screen.

“Here. Gimme the thing,” Hannah said as she snatched the controller from his hands. “It’s probably all zeros-“

“It’s not going to be-“

“We’re in,” she said as she tossed the remote back to her brother.

“Huh,” he said. “Nice job.”

The TV displayed a setup screen; simple and antiquated.

Language

Restrictions

Reset

“What language you feel like?” Scottie asked Hannah. Her annoyed stare gave him his answer.

“Okay then,” he said as he selected his choice and moved on.

“Restrictions… on or off?”

“Off,” Hannah said. “I don’t want to get limited from HBO or something like that.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said making the change.

He skipped Reset and selected DONE to complete.

Moments later, the TV flickered again and the news appeared with the word Standard in the upper right corner for a few moments. The tiny screen on the remote read “STANDARD”.

“Hmmm,” Scottie said. “Well the picture is far clearer than I was expecting for the old connections.” He raised the remote and clicked the up arrow.

Drama appeared in the upper right corner of the screen, then faded. The News remained, then cut to commercial.

“Huh,” he said, then clicked again.

Action

“You think it’s broken, or something?” Hannah said as some new movie trailer for a superhero appeared.

“I don’t think so, I don’t really have many options here.”

“Maybe you have to use the regular remote?” Hannah said as she grabbed the Television’s and changed the channel. She clicked her way through their list, all was the same. Just run of the mill, standard broadcasts from their local stations.

“What the hell?” Scottie said as Hannah landed on a local station playing a rerun of the TV show “Friends”.

“You sure you set it up right?” Hannah asked.

“Yeah, pretty sure! It’s not like there were a ton of options.”

“Then what the hell does the remote thing do?”

Scottie kept clicking. “Apparently, not a damn thing!” he said before tossing the remote onto the couch. “I give up,” he said. “What a waste of time.”

Annoyed, he rose and retreated to the kitchen. “Man, sorry Hannah. Didn’t mean to get your hopes up.”

His sister turned around on the couch and watched him, resting her chin on its back as her fingers fiddled and traced the seams in the fabric.

“Honestly, Scottie, it’s no big deal,” she said with a laugh.

“I know,” he replied, opening the fridge. “I just thought it would be cool, and I know you were super pissed when dad cut the cable service…” He pulled out a couple of slightly stained cartons of Chinese Food. “Beef with broccoli or chow mein?”

“How long’s it been in there?”

“Two nights?”

“Chow mein,” she replied.

He continued, “… Cool. So, yeah, I got a little excited as last semester kicked my ass.” He snagged a group couple of chopsticks from a drying rack and handed them to Hannah. “Do you want me to heat it up?”

“No, I’m starving actually,” she said as he handed her the carton. “Thanks, ‘Lil Brother.” She popped open the top.

“Yeah, no problem,” he said. “Look, Dad said he cut the service to save money, yet we still order out like five days a…”

Scottie trailed off as something on the TV caught his attention.

“Hey, you okay?” Hannah asked seeing her brother lose focus.

“… Yeah,” he replied, his eyes locked on the television. “I never really watched this show, but it wasn’t on a family network, was it?”

She nodded, swiveling on the couch to face the screen with a small waterfall of noodles hanging out her mouth. Hannah slurped. “What show? Friends? Yeah, I think so, why?”

“I, uh… I don’t think I’ve seen this episode…”

Scottie set his leftovers down and took a seat back on the couch.

On the screen, all the cast members were in a coffee shop, seated on a couch. They appeared to be in the middle of a conversation with overly exaggerated expressions and gestures as one does in the world of sitcoms. Yet behind them, the extras appeared to be peppered with puppets of bright and whimsical colors.

“Did they ever do a crossover?” Scottie asked.

“… I think so, but this is weird,” Hannah said as they watched as one of the characters, an attractive dark haired man named Joey, approached the counter. Standing there, waiting at the register was another character; a pink, female muppet. Without batting an eye, Joey started chatting with her as if it were a normal thing to speak with a puppet.

“Can you turn up the volume?” Hannah asked.

Scottie found the TV remote and clicked the buttons.

“… So if the juice costs $2, and I have $5, you mean that would give me $3 in change?” Joey asked the fluffy barista.

“That’s right! Isn’t math fun!” she said while turning to the audience, “But remember boys and girls, you should always ask your parents’ permission…”

“What the fuck is this?” Scottie said in utter confusion.

Hannah’s expression matched her brother’s. “I have no idea,” she said, as Joey returned to the couch with a large glass of orange juice.

“Can… Can I see the remote?” Hannah asked without taking her eyes off the screen.

Joey handed her the controller for the TV.

“No, it’s… fuck it, just move,” she said and stretched across Joey before he could respond.

“Hey!” he said as his sister briefly pressed her body onto his.

Hannah pulled back with the new controller in her hands. Brushing a few loose strands of her hair out of her face, she looked at the handheld device, then pressed the “ENTER” button.

Family appeared in the upper right corner.

Both siblings looked at each other.

“No…”

“You don’t think…”

Hannah aimed the remote at the TV and pressed the UP arrow.

The screen briefly flickered as the word Mystery appeared in the corner. All the puppets were gone, but the same cast remained. What was once a bright and colorful coffeeshop, now was dark and borderline ominous.

Within moments, a scream was heard from off-camera. A woman ran on screen and shouted, “Gunther’s been murdered!” Gasps and cries erupted from the crew, but Phoebe sank in her seat with a wicked grin.

“Holy shit…” both siblings said. Hannah clicked UP again.

Comedy

Gunther burst in from the back saying “Gotcha!” and everyone laughed.

Hannah clicked again.

Horror

A ghostly child rose up from behind Gunther dressed in a dirty white gown, then lunged.

Documentary

Gunther was in an interview saying why he left his MBA for a coffee shop.

“This is unreal,” Scottie said as Hannah kept clicking.

The screens continued… Sports, Fantasy, Thriller, and on. With each click of the remote, the show flickered and changed as if it had been made for that channel. It was seamless.

Adult.

Hannah paused.

“No. Fucking. Way,” They said in unison.

It appeared as normal; Joey made a joke and the audience laughed. Ross was awkward with Rachel and they chuckled. But then, Chandler winked at Monica and nodded to the door.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Monica said. “I have a… thing… to baste. You know, Chef’s stuff. Hey, Chandler? Do you think you can help me?”

Playing up the ignorance. “Oh, me? Cooking isn’t my forte, but I’m expanding my horizons.” Before the two dashed out of the shop.

A guitar riff played showing a New York Skyline as the episode transitioned to a new set.

“Fuck yes! Give me that cock!” Monica screamed, wearing only a bra as she bounced atop a handcuffed, blindfolded, and gagged Chandler. From the waist down she was naked; totally, completely, bare-assed naked. Even more shocking, was that Chandler was as well. He was sporting a raging erection glistening with Monica’s juices as she slid up and down his rigid pole. Hannah and Scottie could see EVERYTHING.

“HOLY SHIT!” both siblings cried in unison as Scottie rose to his feet while Hannah jumped onto the couch.

“How can they-!”

“How is it-!”

“What the FUCK!”

“This is unreal!”

They both kept tripping over their words as they watched the Friends become far more than that.

“Wait a second,” Scottie said as he stood, changing the channel on the TV.

As the genre stayed on Adult, every channel seemed to be in that vein. Newscasters were nude. Commercials were for sex toys. A station was listing the top ten places to masturbate in public. A game show called “Who’s In Me Anyway?”

He clicked again and the image became black and white. On screen was a gothic living room crowed with antique furniture. Large cobwebs clung to the walls and darkened corners. In the center of the space sat a couch, upon which was a rotund man wearing an exquisite tuxedo. His pale skin, thick eyebrows, and widow’s peak suggested he was a vampire, just like the woman kneeling between his legs sucking his bone white cock. Her hair, slick and black with long streaks of white. The hem of her dress flipped over her shapely ass, showing the camera her wet vagina as she rubbed her clit. All this accompanied by the sounds of canned laughter for every moan, groan, and gasp the elderly undead muttered while receiving a killer blowjob.

“This is fucking wild!” Scottie said turning to his sister, right as her eyes went wide.

“Jesus, Scottie! Change it!” Hannah cried.

“What? Why?”

“It’s The Munsters!” she said. “That’s Lily Munster blowing Grandpa! Her Dad!”

“No way,” he said again.

“Oh, fuck it.” Hannah dropped off the couch and grabbed the new remote. Flipping it over, she switched the slider to OFF.

Immediately, the screen flickered and Lily Munster was walking around saying some sort of gibberish, while her father sat on the couch reading the newspaper. It was programing as usual. Normal. Clean.

Scottie blinked his eyes as if breaking a spell.

“Jesus Christ, Scottie. What the fuck did you find?” she whispered.

Scottie shook his head, noticing for the first time his sister. Her skin was slightly flushed, nipples hard and trying to cut tiny holes in her top. He shook his head and averted his eyes upward to her luscious, pouting lips-her lips, her regular, normal, sisterly lips. Fuck, he was horny.

The sound of a deadbolt being turned broke them from their stunned silence.

They shared a look and mouthed “Mom and Dad!” before scrambling onto the couch as the front door opened. Hannah pulled her feet up on the couch and started scarfing down her Chinese food as Scottie pocketed the remote.

“Hey, kids! We’re home,” chimed Angela Miller from the entryway.

“Hey,” they both chimed in unison, nerves high and focusing on the game show.

Scottie turned back as Angela hung her coat on the rack. Perhaps it was his blood already hot, or something that got switched from on from moments ago, but he found his eyes wondering over his mother. Her long dark hair with a natural curl had been recently styled and seemed to be crimped to accentuate its volume. Her frame, was curvy, but not unfit. It seemed similar features to that of Hannah, foreshadowing what his sister would become in twenty years. But for Angela, she wore a tan V-neck jumper with high heels. Based on how low the neckline was, it led Scottie to assume they have been to a showing today.

“Where’s Dad?” Hannah asked.

“He’s on a call, fighting with the contractor-“

“Not fighting. Negotiating!” Dale called in from outside.

Angela looked at Hannah and mouthed “Fighting” with a smile. She looked around the room.

“Oh, good! You got all the boxes out Westbrooke?” she called out to them.

“Yup,” they replied.

“That’s great! Thank you, Scottie!” Angela said as she leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.

Scottie shyly cast an eye to Hannah as she glared at him once more, subtly shaking her head.

“And thank you too, Hannah,” Angela laughed.

“You bet, Mom,” Hannah said, saluting her with her chopsticks.

Angela smiled. “What you watching?”

“Nothing,” they both mumbled.

“Just The Munsters,” Hannah said.

“Oh, fun!” Angela replied. “You know, when I was a kid I wanted to be just like Lily.”

An image of their family in the show popped into Scottie’s mind, but in this one, Scottie sat naked on the couch while his mother was dressed in Lily Munster’s gothic dress, hair dyed black and white, crawling to him with this look of lust. Slowly, she slithered up between his legs, dragging her tongue up his erect…

Scottie started choking on his broccoli.

“Jesus, Scottie,” Hannah said as she kicked him.

“Everything alright, Bud?” Dale called as he entered carrying a large brown bag.

Scottie coughed and coughed but gave a thumbs up.

“Good to hear,” Dale said as he walked behind the couch. Some considered him the perfect example of a man in between generations. He was taller than Angela, and still somewhat fit, but the slightest hint of a gut was starting to show. He kept a short beard, trimmed very short, with slight hints of grey at the temples. Hannah had once told Scottie that the moniker “Silver Fox” would likely someday be applied to their father.

“Wow, kids, you both did all this?” Dale said, looking around at the piles of boxes.

Angela beamed. “They did, indeed.”

Hannah nodded. “Most are in the garage.”

“Good work, you two,” he said, then raising his bag. “Anyone hungry? We picked up some Greek.”

The rest of the evening was mostly uneventful. The siblings shared their success with recruiting the frat boys to help with the move but omitted their findings when curiosity got the best of Scottie. After dinner, Dale and Angela curled up on the couch to finish a movie they had started. The news of this plan brought a big knot in Scottie’s stomach, but luckily, the blue-ray player started without issue.

As Scottie said his goodnights, he found Hannah waiting for him at the top of the stairs.

“We need to talk,” she said and nodded in the direction of her room.

Like conspirators, the two slipped into her sanctuary and Hannah closed the door behind them.

“You have to get rid of it,” she said.

“What? Why?” Scottie was taken aback.

“I shouldn’t have to explain it, but it’s weird and gross, and-“

“First off, that was only with one channel. And second, you were the one who chose unrestricted content.”

Hannah’s voice began to raise. “Yeah! I did! And I didn’t know that it meant we’d-“

“Shhh,” Scottie whispered.

Hannah continued, in a loud whisper. “I didn’t know that meant we were gonna watch the Munsters fuck each other!”

“Well, technically, we didn’t-“

Hannah punched his shoulder. “Fuck off, you know what I mean.”

“I know, I know.”

He took a deep breath as Hannah put her hands on her hips.

“Scottie, it weirds me out. How the hell is it even doing that? It’s like whatever the feed is, it changes the genre. How is that possible?”

“Beats me. This is far from the thing I heard about. I think this dude who made it was either a freaking genius or way off his rocker.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Genius? Really?”

“Absolutely. Think about it. We don’t need cable TV when any station can be turned into whatever we want to see!”

“That doesn’t creep you out at all?”

Scottie shook his head. “No way. It’s not real. It’s just the TV. And you saw how many boxes are down there. I’m sure he wrote up instructions or something. I tell you what, tomorrow’s Saturday. Mom and Dad have an open house all day, so it will be just you and me here. Let me just mess around with it. I’ll leave it off the porno channels, but let me see if I can find out a little more about it. If you still don’t feel comfortable by tomorrow evening, I’ll reset the thing.”

For some strange reason… she said yes.

* * *

Chapter 3: To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.

For Hannah, the following morning played out in a similar fashion to her brother’s the day prior. It was going to be a relaxed, casual day. Hell, she earned a day of rest after the bullshit morning the day before. If she wants to do nothing, fuck it, she’ll do nothing. If she wants to just wear her baseball shorts and sports bra, then by God she will. However, downstairs, it was a whole other ballgame.

After a lazy morning stretch, Hannah went downstairs and straight to the kitchen, lured by the scent of a pot of coffee. She poured a cup, fancied it up with some cream, then casually sipped it with both hands as she watched her brother in the adjoining room.

The living room looked like it had been turned over during a crime investigation. Papers were scattered, boxes were overturned, and Scottie was like a man possessed pouring over the contents of each item he found. She watched as he would move from box to box, marking the side with a pen and occasionally flipping through pages or rearranging stacks.

“How’s it going,” she asked.

Like a prairie dog, Scottie looked up, spooked by the sudden sound and tried to find the source.

“What? Oh! Hey,” he said. “Yeah, I may be a little over my head.”

“You don’t say.” Hannah chuckled as she blew a stream of air across her coffee. “Any luck finding the instruction manual?”

Resigned, he threw his hands in the air. “Honestly, I think it may be possible that there isn’t one,” he said. “If that guy made it, there might be a journal or something, but otherwise… Who really keeps instruction manuals, right?”

“Right,” she said, then took another slow, slurping sip.

“Right… But! But… I did find this!” he said, tripping over boxes as he made his way back to the couch. Tossing a pile of loose papers aside, he pulled out a college notebook.

“You found his notes?” Hannah asked.

“Oh, no, these are mine.” He flipped through until he came to a page resembling electrical schematics. “So I was doing a little experiment this morning after Mom and Dad left, and it was around the time I was watching Anime Full House, which was better than I expected, I started cataloging all the stations, or channels, or whatever we are calling them. It looks like there are about twenty-six.”

He handed the notebook to Hannah who started reading the list.

“Game show, Sci-Fi, Fantasy…” She looked up. “Home Shopping?”

Scottie shrugged.

She continued on. “What’s with the channels with the stars?”

“Those should be the restricted ones,” he said. “I was able to compare with it turned on and off. So, if I’m right, turning off the restriction will only mean we lose a few channels, like Horror, True Crime, and-“

“Porn.”

“Correct. Well, it’s called Adult,” he said.

Hannah handed back the notebook and looked to the TV. The screen was blue once more with text in the upper right corner reading:

SCANNING — 99%

“So, what’s it doing now exactly?”

“Ah!” he said, excited once more. “So I think I’ve figured something else out. Yesterday, it didn’t work until I toggled this switch, right?” he said, gesturing to the bottom of the remote. “So I think the T stands for TV, or Television, or something like that.”

Hannah squinted her eyes. “So what does the R stand for?”

“Not really sure. I was just about to test it. I was thinking it means record, or rewind, or something. Whatever it is, the setup for it is much longer than for the TV. It’s been scanning for the last several hours.”

“Hours?”

Scottie nodded. “Yeah. I thought it was frozen at first but then I saw it move up a tick. It’s probably just because it’s really old technology,” he said, waving the remote. “It’s been on this screen for the last 10 minutes.”

Hannah was about to respond when the screen suddenly went black, then flickered and showed the words:

SCAN COMPLETE

“Oh, sweet!” Scottie said as he dropped the remote on the couch and grabbed the television’s remote. “What are you in the mood for? There’s a ton of soap operas on that I think we can turn into a music video or something… I believe I have that queued up,” he said as he was clicking through the basic channels on the TV.

As Scottie remained focused on the TV, Hannah’s eyes were drawn to the black box remote. Setting down her coffee, she reached across the couch and picked it up carefully. She looked at the small LCD screen seeing it was illuminated. In small, 8-bit letters, it read ADULT.

“Scottie,” Hannah said, holding the new controller. “When you set it up again, did you allow restricted content?”

“Ummmmm” Scottie said, slightly turning to look back. “I don’t know, I might have.” He was a terrible liar.

“Uh-huh,” Hannah smiled.

Scottie landed on a re-run of Baywatch. “Oh, well I guess… maybe this could work,” he said as he turned back to Hannah.

Hannah stared at him, feeling smug and having no reason to hide it.

“So, little brother,” she teased. “What station were we going to test again?”

“Music?” he said slowly, somehow adding syllables to a normally two-syllabled word.

“Oh really?” Her smile widened. “So, all I have to do is click this button here, and it will turn on?”

With hesitancy, Scottie replied. “That… should be it.”

Her smile couldn’t get wider as her eyes narrowed.

Hannah pointed the remote at the TV and said “Why you little Perv-“

She never finished the word. The moment she pressed the button, there was a flicker, not on the television, but with Hannah herself. For a moment, she was there, and the next, Hannah vanished; remote and all.

Scottie blinked, taking a moment to register what he just saw.

“Ha… Hannah?” stuttered Scottie as he looked into the space she was standing mere seconds ago. “Where… Hannah?!”

Tentatively, he reached his hand in her space, or at least where she was. For a moment, there was a brief tingle of static electricity, enough to make the hairs on his arm raise. Then the feeling dissipated.

“What the fuck…” he said, then “Oh shit. Oh, SHIT!”

In a frantic burst of energy, Scottie ran through the house screaming “Hannah! HANNAH! Oh-fuck-oh-fuck-oh-fuck-oh-fuck…” over and over with varying volumes, tears, and expletives.

He tore through her room, looking in the classic hiding places they would use as kids. He checked all around the inside, then outside of the house, trying to keep his calm and appear collected when Widow Anderson waved to him while pruning her roses. He even looked through the boxes, because at this point, there was nowhere else to check.

And so, it was in the living room, twenty panic-filled minutes later, where Scottie was seated. Barely on the edge of the couch, he held his phone out, finger hovering over his mother’s phone number.

“I have to tell them… I have to tell them… What do I tell them?… I can’t tell them… But I have to…” Over and over and over again, when suddenly, he felt an odd… sensation.

It was a sudden shiver or tingle that ran through him, though the room was far from cold. His eyes narrowed as he felt the tiniest of pull on his arms and he watched as the tiny hairs start to raise up as the room started to fill with a strange static energy.

Right as he was about to say something, reality seemed to flicker before him, and suddenly, there stood Hannah.

Her arm was outstretched as she held the remote, her eyes were wide, skin flushed and sweaty, and hair ruffled. She was panting, hard, causing her chest to rise and fall with each breath. She brought a hand up to it, holding her chest as she let out a deep, heavy sigh of relief.

“… Hannah?” croaked Scottie.

As if startled, she looked at her brother, noticing him present for the first time. In the blink of an eye, her expression went from shock to rage.

“You… fucker!” she screamed and slapped him across the face so hard his vision blurred.

Scottie was just able to catch her throwing the remote down on the ground as she ran out of the room and up the stairs.

He started to run after her, feeling a sting on his lip and the metallic taste of blood.

He made it to her door just as it slammed shut in his face. He stopped, pounded on the door, and then the pain caught up with him.

“Hannah! Hannah are you… oh shit!” he said as he clenched his jaw. “What was that for?”

“Shut the fuck up, Scottie!” she said from the other side. “I don’t want to see you, or talk to you, or hear you. Just go the fuck away, please!”

It was such a mix of emotions. For Scottie, there was the pure, unfiltered relief of his sister being back blended with the heavy concern over her obvious emotional distress.

“I’m so sorry, Hannah! Really, I am! I had no idea it would do… whatever it did.”

“Please just go away,” she said. “Just… leave me alone.”

He opened his mouth, but in reality, what more could he really say?

With a heavy heart, all he said was “Sure, Hannah,” and then walked away.

On the other side of the door, safe and secure in the solitude of her room, Hannah could hear him retreat down the hall. She leaned her back against the door and she slid down.

“Oh fuck,” she said, eyes shut as she tried to control her breathing.

Slowly her senses returned as if loading one-by-one. Her body felt hot and sticky as her pulse thundered. Running a hand across her chest, she felt the rock-hard bumps of her nipples, still sensitive and begging to be tweaked. As if by reflex, she squeezed the nub and felt a shiver of pleasure ripple through her. Her fire was still lit as she felt herself get wetter. Even more so when she pulled her hand back finding a thick, viscous fluid still on her bra and now coating her fingers.

Cum. His cum. And the scent was overwhelming.

“Oh fuck,” she said again as she let her head rest against the door, squeezing her thighs together.

Downstairs Scottie was pacing. He was thankful his sister was back, but devastated at the same time. She was obviously afraid and hurt, and it was all because of him. After all, she hit him. She’s never hit before, and she had every right. Who knows what this device truly is or what it can do? He could have put her life in danger. If she never returned, he would never be able to forgive himself. It must have been frightening, whatever she had gone through.

…. What did she go through?

It goes without saying that it was something traumatic. She returned in a state of distress, to some degree. But… she did come back.

Obviously, he never even intended for her to go through that experience. He truly thought the R meant Record or something that didn’t have to do with… whatever the hell happened! He just wanted to record a naughty version of Baywatch. It never should have been her. He was going to test it. He was moments away from even doing it. So if something bad was to happen, it should have been him.

Come to think of it, it should still be him, right? Hannah did come back after all, right? Yes, of course. It wasn’t right that Hannah was to suffer like this alone. She has already demonstrated that it wasn’t life-threatening. So, if Scottie was to have any way to connect with her, he would need to do the same.

He just needed the remote.

It took him a few minutes, but he was finally able to find it under the end table. It was a tight squeeze but with a little stretching, he pulled out the device. He quickly positioned himself in front of the Television, which was still on and showing an infomercial for some allergy medication. With a deep breath, he pointed the remote toward the little black box and clicked the button.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, still nothing.

Confused, he looked at the tiny device in his hand. Looking at the LCD screen, he could see that it read STANDARD in tiny 8-bit letters.

Interesting. When he had it last, it was on ADULT, but she likely changed it back at some point. He clicked the arrows until it was on ADULT once again and hit ENTER.