Are machines taking over? When societies use machinery to eliminate work, does it free consumers to realize higher callings or merely make them dependent on machines and less able to care for themselves? If each new convenience means greater dependence, is the consumer a slave? "The tool is the slave of the being. The being is the slave of the machine." This is a Samerac saying. Sameracs are against machinery, a stance that makes them outcasts. The Telefax Box is a social and political satire depicting this clash over technology. No element of modern life, from spy ware to gene pools, is immune from examination, especially as technological development blurs the line between people and machines. When a scientist, developing fully functional, reproducing machinery, is murdered at the most prestigious laboratory under the highest security, a shiver of fear runs through the galaxy. Satire combines with elements of science fiction and mystery to explore a modern Frankenstein.