13

My story takes place in the future with advanced technology and I have a torture scene where I need prisoners to be immobilized against a wall—-but not permanently. I’m wondering if it could be done through energy or some kind of force unseen by the naked eye. I originally had magnetized nanobots that would attach to the wall through the prisoners’ skin, but that’s probably not going to work.... What other technology could somewhat realistically immobilize someone against a wall?

Jay Dee
  • 492
  • 3
  • 10
  • 6
    You just need a strong opposing force. Wind would do it. It might not be ideal but literally a big fan could be enough. – VLAZ Mar 05 '20 at 07:32
  • 1
    Drill a hole on the wall and play some sound behind it ;P – user6760 Mar 05 '20 at 09:02
  • 18
    Glue...........? – user253751 Mar 05 '20 at 12:17
  • 2
    Do you want your system to cause zero direct harm/injury to the prisoners? That is, once released from the "shackles" they are fine (other than any torture applied separately)? – Carl Witthoft Mar 05 '20 at 16:00
  • 6
    stargate sg-1 season 6 episode 6 – Richie Frame Mar 05 '20 at 17:51
  • 3
    Honestly, "advanced glue" is the best thing. – Fattie Mar 05 '20 at 19:02
  • 4
    At one of the Dupont plastic film plants, during certain humidity conditions it was impossible to walk forward (or turn) through a certain unobstructed path. You could walk backwards to leave, but no force could propel you forwards through it. Something to do with static electricity, and the thin sheets of plastic being rolled at high speeds (hundreds of feet per second?). So for your purposes, actual force fields aren't even out of bounds. – John O Mar 05 '20 at 20:02
  • 8
    @JohnO - say wut. Citation neeed! – Mazura Mar 06 '20 at 01:59
  • 2
    @Mazura google search - original seems to be this. Make what you want of it, I assume it's an urban legend but I didn't ever find time to dig whatever others have dug about. – Adrian Colomitchi Mar 06 '20 at 13:13
  • 1
    Getting stuck is almost always by means of the electric force, that is the major force in our day-to-day interaction. (interaction between molecules). – paul23 Mar 06 '20 at 13:37
  • 2
    It's also way way easier to talk in terms of fields than "forces" when you ask such a question: any field can prevent movement by being sufficiently strong. So you can use any of the fundamental forces as long as you can make sure it doesn't cancel out. – paul23 Mar 06 '20 at 13:43
  • 1
    Use the gun from Hot Shots Part Deux. https://youtu.be/LLkBjYxTiC4?t=98 – computercarguy Mar 06 '20 at 17:34
  • @paul23 electric force is what I’m leaning toward. I want to be able to turn it on an off (which is why actual glue isn’t gonna work). Soooo fields maybe. But I’m having trouble picturing how they would work and only affect the prisoner and not the torturer, who needs to be able to interact with them. Anyone have an article on how they’d work? – Jay Dee Mar 07 '20 at 18:12
  • @carlwitthoft I’m not opposed to it harming them as well, but it needs to be recoverable. The idea is to give the torturers enough control and power that they almost seem to have a supernatural ability, for lack of a better explanation. – Jay Dee Mar 07 '20 at 18:12
  • 1
    Sliders, season 2, episode 9 "Invasion" - main characters are held up on a wall with gravity machines. – htmlcoderexe Mar 09 '20 at 15:04
  • @htmlcoderexe That's what what happened in Sg1 S6E6 as RichieFrame said. – marsnebulasoup Aug 03 '20 at 13:34

13 Answers13

33

Use tentacles. Lots of tentacles. You never go wrong with tentacles and there is never too much of them.

A prisoner dangling from tentacles slithering over their bodies has no leverage to free themselves regardless of how strong they are. They cannot tear apart the tentacles because the tentacles are constantly moving and can easily maintain their grip while avoiding the hands, teeth and feet of their prisoner. And even if they get lucky the tentacles are smooth and covered with lubricant so you cannot pull at them enough to break them. And a compact cylinder made of metal is hard to crush.

They cannot really gather their strength because the tentacles coiled around their bodies constrict their breathing and they are constantly out of breath. They cannot even talk unless you want them to because the tentacles can gag them or constrain their breathing.

And since they are dangling from constantly moving tentacles they are too disoriented to really focus or target anything. So even if could somehow free themselves they would have no knowledge which orientation they would end up. This is really paralysing to people evolved from monkeys who had to fear death by falling from a tree. People evolved from cats might of course just trust they will fall on their feet.

The prisoner will also be unable to hide nasty surprises. The tentacles will search every inch of their body, repeatedly. They will even search under any loose clothing. If you incorporate some ultrasound technology they will even efficiently search inside the body as well. You can even take samples to check for poisons and disease. And all of this is more or less automatic result of the random appearing movements of the tentacles on the prisoner.

You can even add some chemicals into the mix. Since the prisoners will get thoroughly covered in the lubricant on the tentacles any drugs added to it will make their way into the mouth, lungs, eyes and other places there they can be absorbed. Typically you would want to make prisoners more docile and cooperative but fear and pain would be fairly easy as well. Drugs to block any special abilities would be good too.

Ville Niemi
  • 43,209
  • 4
  • 74
  • 149
  • 34
    Sometimes, I see something and I wonder how horrified I would be if I saw their browsing history with no context. – IT Alex Mar 05 '20 at 13:47
  • 9
    @ITAlex How rude! And I even censored myself not to mention body cavity searches despite that being important to stopping prisoners from having things you do not want them to have. LOL – Ville Niemi Mar 05 '20 at 15:08
  • 10
    @ITAlex I know...it's a great answer but I need a shower... – ribs2spare Mar 05 '20 at 16:26
  • 7
    This completely fails the "unseen force" aspect of the OP's question. Don't get me wrong, there's a great psychological factor here, but I don't see how this fulfills the OP's requirements any better than good old fashioned rope or chains. – Nuclear Hoagie Mar 05 '20 at 17:13
  • 3
    @NuclearWang The question does not actually specify "unseen". He just "wonders" if it could be done by "energy" or "force unseen". It would be reasonable to assume that "unseen force" would be a bonus and he'd prefer that but it is not what was actually asked for. So I gave a physical solution that has most of the benefits of an energy field. – Ville Niemi Mar 05 '20 at 17:23
  • 1
    @VilleNiemi Without that requirement, though the question is just "how can I attach something to a wall", which seems pretty mundane for Worldbuilding. The question title clearly asks for "energy or some other force", but a tentacle is neither of those. – Nuclear Hoagie Mar 05 '20 at 17:56
  • @NuclearWang The person is stuck by the force applied by the tentacle, note the "energy or some other" before the "force". And yes, it is quite open ended. Only real limitation is the "temporarily" which kind of implies it must be turned on and off without henchmen attaching and detaching the chains. I think he kind of wants something like a light switch maybe even one operated with voice commands. – Ville Niemi Mar 05 '20 at 18:07
  • I think it is pretty obvious that "force" isn't meant as any physical force in the Newtonian physics sense, given that the text does in fact say "force unseen by the naked eye". – Brian Stamper Mar 05 '20 at 21:19
  • @BrianStamper Look, I get what you are thinking but force means force nothing less and nothing more and in this question it is specifically "or" with "energy", both times it is mentioned, so it cannot be limited to force from an energy field and that means "physical" force must be included as on option. He would just prefer it to be invisible to naked eye. His own example used nanobots. – Ville Niemi Mar 05 '20 at 21:36
  • 2
    Great plan, until you get a female Japanese prisoner. Suddenly you're NC-17! – Harper - Reinstate Monica Mar 06 '20 at 00:20
  • Reminds me of this guy: https://coub.com/view/sghdg – Tobias F. Mar 06 '20 at 13:13
  • "And a compact cylinder made of metal is hard to crush." Wait? Where did the metal come from? I was envisioning biological tentacles (octopi or squid like) up until this point. – Glen Yates Mar 06 '20 at 21:58
  • @GlenYates I refer you to the comments by IT Alex and ribs2spare at the beginning of comments and admit my defeat. You have outdone me. – Ville Niemi Mar 07 '20 at 04:34
  • @villeniemi i was actually looking for an unseen force, in a way that might give off a supernatural vibe to the torturers, for lack of a better explanation. That said, my dark writer’s mind fully enjoyed the psychological implications of slimy, metal tentacles lol. I’ll have to save it for another prisoner some day. Haha – Jay Dee Mar 07 '20 at 18:16
  • @NuclearHoagie This answer could be easily modified to make the tentacles and their lubricant completely undetectable via vision. You get the 'unseen force' requested by the questioner, the benefits of tentacles outlined above, and the added psychological effect of the things grasping at the prisoner being completely invisible as well as being wet and slimy. The idea of being held against a wall by a mass of wet, slimy tendrils is creepy enough but even creepier is being held against the wall by something that feels like the above, but you can't be sure because they're invisible to you. – Brinstar77 Apr 08 '22 at 13:28
24

Magnets

Just make the shackles out of iron or some other metal, then place magnets inside / on the walls. Turn them on and off and there you have your "magically pinned to the wall" effect.

Tobias F.
  • 733
  • 6
  • 13
20

G-Force

The "room" is actually moving. It can be made to move very fast and will thus exert very strong force on anybody inside. Very likely pinning them to the opposite wall.

One way to do this is if you have the room attached to a spinning arm similar to ones used for testing pilots.

The problem might be that if you have anything else that's not very well attached, it will also fly in the same direction any people would go. Which might actually aid the effect. But if you need only people to be "pinned" then there shouldn't be any loose objects around - furniture would need to be bolted down or otherwise immovable.

The real problem might be if you want to have other people in the same room, as they'd be similarly affected. A solution is either to have

  • mobile robots who can withstand the g-forces and appear to be unaffected.
  • immobile robots like arms extending from the walls/ceiling. Those can rotate around and do whatever they are supposed to.
  • nobody else, just speakers and microphones to communicate with the people currently being partially crushed against a surface.
Community
  • 1
VLAZ
  • 7,889
  • 2
  • 24
  • 56
  • Difficult and expensive to build & operate :-) . Depends on how long you want the prisoners to live, as any sufficient G-force (like 5g or more) is likely to cause permanent internal damage. – Carl Witthoft Mar 05 '20 at 15:59
  • 1
    @CarlWitthoft hey, we don't refer them as "prisoners" - that is so negative. They are our guests. And guests require the very best! (also, generally, torturers aren't too concerned with the long-term well being of their subjects) – VLAZ Mar 05 '20 at 16:02
  • 1
    :-) :-) . Have you read some of Iian Banks' description of extreme sociopathic kingdom rulers? One of them caught an assassin, cut his head off & attached it to a survival system, then proceeded to taunt & abuse the head. – Carl Witthoft Mar 05 '20 at 16:08
  • Depending on how much "advanced technology" you want to incorporate, you could use artificial gravity that only extends a foot or so from the wall. – Matthew Mar 05 '20 at 16:11
  • @Matthew that's also an option but sadly I don't really know enough about artificial gravity (not sure if you can "angle" it and how easy it would be). Still, it would essentially work the same - you "point" it somewhere and people experience high G in that direction. I just went with what we already have as a concept, just expanding it to a room size. – VLAZ Mar 05 '20 at 16:14
  • 2
    @VLAZ I mean, artificial gravity doesn't actually exist in reality (other than the spin-the-whole-room kind), so if you're using it in your story you're already inventing fictional technology, and if you're doing that, you can define the rules however you want to. Can you angle it? Sure, this thing I just made up in my head can do that. Just so long as you keep the rules consistent within your universe. – Darrel Hoffman Mar 05 '20 at 16:30
  • @DarrelHoffman but what about artificial gravity on space stations? Sure we don't have artificial gravity on the ones IRL but I was under the assumption that there was a theoretical way to get that. – VLAZ Mar 05 '20 at 17:27
  • 2
    Only in science fiction so far. Some fictional space stations have the whole station constantly spin to provide gravity (though this would make the outside of the station "down", so if they have windows on the outside, they'd be in the floor). Another possibility is if the station was constantly accelerating (down = back) or decelerating (down = front). Most scifi doesn't even bother explaining it. Artificial gravity of the type seen in Star Wars/Trek et al. where down = the bottom of the ship simply does not exist and there is no known means of creating it. – Darrel Hoffman Mar 05 '20 at 17:36
  • @DarrelHoffman ah, I see. So, if the station spins...it's just centrifugal force, again. I thought there was something more sophisticated than that. Not sure why I got that idea from but I never really thought about it until now. – VLAZ Mar 05 '20 at 17:50
  • 1
    You can just have the outer wall of the room spin, which would pin anyone moving along with the wall to it, while leaving the rest of the room unaffected. This would be similar to a "Gravitron" amusement ride, where the riders get stuck to the wall and the operator sits in the center. Of course, it'd be a bit harder to interrogate someone that's whipping past you at 30rpm. – Nuclear Hoagie Mar 05 '20 at 17:51
  • This is fantastic !!! – Fattie Mar 05 '20 at 19:01
  • 1
    @NuclearWang use a holographic interrogator. It also has the added benefit that they can't harm the interrogator. And if they even try... you increase the gravity field for a while. – John Dvorak Mar 05 '20 at 19:20
  • 2
    You can buy a Gravitron carnival ride second hand for around $50,000. Should be well within the budget of any respectable supervillain. – Robyn Mar 06 '20 at 01:47
  • 1
    And as for torturing them... You can just stand there and hit them with a stick when they zoom past you. Or leave them in there for days with loud music on until they're severely sleep deprived. Or lean something heavy on their legs, so their bones break when it hits 4 Gs. The possibilities are endless. – Robyn Mar 06 '20 at 01:53
  • Please call it the correct way, it's the coriolis effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_force) – paul23 Mar 06 '20 at 13:41
  • 1
    @VLAZ - the robots rumble around "upright" on the walls and are thus pushed against the wall by the coriolis effect. They can pluck a prisoner from the wall, hold them immobile in their grasp, then grow "upwards" to the center of the room (where the coriolis force is weak/non-existant) where they're dropped into a hole which leads to a slide which carries them out of the room, ending in another room which contains...well, that need not concern us here. :-> – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Mar 06 '20 at 17:29
7

Programmable goop.

There is a class of polymer which is solid at room temperature which then is rendered liquid when activated by (eg) ultraviolet light:

Certain polymers, however, are permanently solid—even when exposed to extreme changes in temperature or pressure, they never become liquid. These materials, which are called covalently cross-linked polymers, can be modified so that an external stimulus such as light or heat causes them to switch from solid to liquid.

  • So, throw the prisoner at the wall, flick the light switch for a second or two, they melt into the wall - light off again - they're stuck there like flies on paper. (Han Solo in Carbamite).

  • Until that is you chose to "let there be light" again. (Gives you a shivver of that god-like feeling of omnipotence for just a second).

There's a nice article in Nature of the first such material made in 2018, refined to your specification by the time of your story though.

Escaped dental patient.
  • 24,651
  • 6
  • 57
  • 115
  • This was a significant part of the setting for the game SOMA. A cross-linked polymer substance called "structure gel" was created and programmed by a rogue AI that was then routed around the various facilities. When it broke out of the walls, it could turn solid, trapping whatever object, creature, or human that was unlucky enough to be nearby. – Abion47 Mar 06 '20 at 19:26
5

Coulombic Attraction

enter image description here

** $$F = k \times \frac{Q_1 \times Q_2}{d^2}$$ **

where k = Coulomb's constant. k's value depends on the medium around the charged objects. In air, k is approximately $9.0 x 10^9 \frac{N m^2}{C^2}$

where $Q_1$ and $Q_2$ are the respective charge on two objects in Coulombs (C)

and

where d is the distance between the objects.

Coulombic attraction is why you can rub a ballon against your hair or cloths and hold it against a wall and it will stick.

As a tool of torture, remove $1 \times 10^{-3} Coulombs$ from the victim and add the same charge to a plate under the victim — separated from the victim by 1 cm by a insulating plate made of a dielectric material like plastic or porcelain - and you’ll generate a pressure equivalent of approximately 20 atmospheres (assuming the human has an area of $2 m^2$

enter image description here

EDL
  • 11,510
  • 2
  • 19
  • 49
  • 5
    I considered adding static electricity to my answer, but I fear that Coulombic attraction strong enough to pin a person to the wall will be quite harmful. Plus, prisoners' hair will stand on end, making the attraction less than unseen. – Klaus Æ. Mogensen Mar 05 '20 at 09:58
  • 1
    @KlausÆ.Mogensen, as long as the victim is electrically isolated then there won’t be enough current flow or power transfer to cause any injury. The torture also has to be floating at the same potential. And his implements need to be insulated to avoid discharging the charge pinning the victim to the wall – EDL Mar 05 '20 at 14:35
  • 1
    This has actually sort of happened. At a 3M (3M makes tape) factory, a fast moving sheet of polypropelene picked up enough charge to create a static "force field". People could not pass through the invisible static wall, and couldn't turn near it either and had to walk backwards to get out of it. – jreese Mar 06 '20 at 15:00
4

Shrinkwrap

A transparent (or not) flexible rubber or plastic membrane moves across the interrogation chamber a la the garbage compactor scene in Star Wars, pressing them against the wall. Any torture implements can be placed behind this membrane, which can serve to protect the interrogators themselves if eg. gas is used.

Flipper
  • 41
  • 1
4

I think that I have seen television scenes in some sort of play setting where children wear velcro covered clothing and throw themselves at velcro covered walls and sometimes stick to them.

I found an article with the history of velcro walls.

http://www.airfungames.com/party-rental-resources/velcro-walls-history1

This article says that heavier people don't stick to the walls:

Philip, not quite tall enough to jump on the wall by himself, was hoisted against the Velcro by Sportland's two wall attendants, Joe Laroche and Fernando Martinez, both 18.

"Little kids usually stick, but we have to hold older people because they weigh more," said Martinez, who calls himself "Velcro Man."

"This one guy weighed 200 pounds plus. His foot went right through the seam in the floor. . . . Usually at 150 pounds you stop sticking. It throws you right off. So when someone big comes along, I'll be sure to ask Jack {Goldstein} for my break."

After wall jumpers put on their suits and pay $3 for three jumps, Martinez and Laroche usually ask which way they want to hit the wall. Grabbing the participants by the bottom of the canvas suit, Martinez and Laroche help the jumpers gain momentum from the ground and make sure they stick to the wall. After the jumpers remain on the wall for a minute or two, they are peeled off and returned to the ground.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1993/06/13/area-daredevils-newest-shtick-velcro-jumping/f50ab536-db2c-45de-a4d7-8c5f6f2a6a6b/2

And an improved and stronger velcro prison suit could stick prisoners to improved and stronger velcro walls so hard that the prisoners would be unable to free themselves from the walls until and unless the guards pulled them off. Apparently it is normal for the attendants to peel customers off the wall, not for them to free themselves from the wall, so with stronger velcro-like materials prisoners wouldn't be able to release themselves from the prison walls.

M. A. Golding
  • 30,215
  • 1
  • 21
  • 76
3

Suction

Your wall has a lot of tiny holes with sensors that activate strong suction whenever a piece of body is near. Every bit that touches the wall get stuck there, but parts of the body that don't touch the wall will not feel any suction. The wall may be somewhat elastic to maximize contact surface.

Community
  • 1
Klaus Æ. Mogensen
  • 16,053
  • 1
  • 27
  • 60
  • This will lead to permanent skin damage at every suction site. May not be desirable – Carl Witthoft Mar 05 '20 at 15:58
  • @CarlWitthoft, unless the wall has zillions of extremely tiny holes extremely close together, connecting to a low pressure chamber rather than individual tubes. – WGroleau Mar 05 '20 at 18:44
  • 2
    @WGroleau without individual tubes, you will have a hard time sucking the prisoner in instead of the surrounding air. Try drinking through two straws at once, of which one points upwards instead of into the liquid. – John Dvorak Mar 05 '20 at 19:17
  • Let me guess: you believed as totally realistic the scene in which an alien is sucked into space through a hole less than 2 inches in diameter. Just what's the percentage of the total area for those tiny holes that you plan for? Cause surely, can't be 100%, otherwise we are speaking about a nothing, not a wall. Then use the 1atm=10332 kgf/sqm and check whether or not one requires such a huge force to unstuck "every bit" one after another. Or at least the palm, then hand, then arm, then both arms - so that I might end having something to fight you off. – Adrian Colomitchi Mar 06 '20 at 13:48
  • Billions of short tiny tubes that only open up when something is pressing against them.... could work. The prisoners would need to be naked though. – fishinear Mar 06 '20 at 17:24
3

Since you have some advanced technology, I'd consider going with an electrically activated adhesive. You stand the prisoners flat against the wall, then turn on the power and the adhesive holds them firmly. Turn off the power and they're released.

Carl Witthoft
  • 1,847
  • 11
  • 13
1

Honey. I mean you might have to use perhaps use invisible honey from the future. Though it would be something most associate with getting stuck to walls.

questionerofdy
  • 149
  • 2
0

I read an IEEE article about how scientists managed to levitate a drop of water using sound. Maybe using a sound to propel someone against a wall could work.

CheetSheatOverlode
  • 39
  • 4
  • 3
    Interesting. A phased array of powerful speakers (somewhere above 150db each) may work, but it is very likely they'll break the bones of the prisoner in the process. Just don't mind his ears, he won't be able to hear your questions during "enhanced interrogation" – Adrian Colomitchi Mar 06 '20 at 13:55
  • They can wear wireless headphones that listen to the interrogator. And they can answer with microphones implanted near their mouth. – CheetSheatOverlode Mar 08 '20 at 17:50
0

Electric shocks Electric shocks propel people back. If your prisoner is throw against the wall from the first one, they could continuously be given electric shocks that keep them thrown against the wall, unable to move away. The electricity wouldn't necessarily even have to touch the prisoner. According to Wikipedia:

...physical contact with energized wiring or objects may not be necessary to cause electric shock, as the voltage may be sufficient to "jump" the air gap between the electrical device and the victim.

So, if your voltage was high enough, it could keep the prisoners "glued" to the wall, with no apparent reason. There will be some other side-effects though, that have to be taken into account, to your prisoner being electrocuted. And, depending on how long this torture lasts, your prisoners might not be so conscious, and very close to dead, by the end of it.

user613
  • 626
  • 3
  • 11
  • 2
    I don't think electric shocks physically push people back - as far as I know that's because they make you contract all your muscles and you throw yourself back. So continuous electric shocks will not keep pushing you. – user253751 Mar 06 '20 at 18:52
-1

A tree can grow around fences, incooporating the obsticle into itself.. if you have antiseptic bars (silver) such a thing could happen to a long time prisoner. The bars have grown into his back.. over the aeons..

Pica
  • 3,912
  • 11
  • 23
  • The OP specified non-permanent immobilization... this doesn't seem to fit. – Matthew Mar 09 '20 at 16:31
  • You can always sew the metal rods off and hammer them in as a second rib cage.. – Pica Mar 10 '20 at 13:28
  • @Pica Freaky and totally disturbing, which means I'll probably end up logging it away in my idea folder. lol Though for this particular instance, my characters are only around for about three weeks and they're sometimes moved around from one place to another. But it's not beyond my bad guys for having permanent structures infused with human beings in other instances. – Jay Dee Mar 10 '20 at 19:25