The Engineer. Part 7. Second Iteration

Beware great gifts! Here you lived—catching fish, beating crocodiles, collecting coconuts. A beautiful wife, sun-tanned kids running around on the beach. And then—bam! A crate. Inside: a battery-powered receiver, a flashlight with colored lenses, and a couple of shorts with tank tops. The happy ones grabbed them, put on their colorful trousers, and ran to the Field of Leaders to show off. And it’s good if, in your tribe, the exorcism procedure is simple: hold them in the campfire smoke for an hour until the demons can’t stand it anymore, and they’ll wag their tails and leave your smoked-up little body—then let you go. But there can be other options. And don’t tell me you’re not like that, and that you and your leaders have been wearing trousers with batteries for a hundred years already. Flashlights—well, they’re different kinds!