I sat opposite the doctor, the madman.

"What do you have there?" I asked, pointing at the black box.

It was a small black box with a glowing red button on it, marked with the letters O and K.

"It's the OK button," the madman said, with the confidence of a man with thirty years' experience in his field and a very expensive grant.

"The OK button?"

"Yes. The OK button."

"That doesn't explain much. What is the OK button?"

"It's exactly as it sounds."

"Well, one presses it and?"

"And everything is OK."

"Everything?"

"Yes. Everything."

"In the whole world?"

"Don't be silly," he said, as if I were the mad one. "It's just a box."

"So was Pandora's."

"I'm sure hers was grander than this."

"And that's why hers caused all the problems in the world."

"And this one fixes them?"

"One person at a time."

"How does it work?"

"How did hers work?"

Are we still on Pandora, Doctor? Fine. Let's humour each other.

"You tell me."

"Curiosity made her open the box," he said. "Realization made her close it. The only thing that didn't escape was hope."

"So, science had nothing to do with it."

"You think curiosity will make you press it?" he asked. "Or hope," he added, smiling. "Or desperation."

"So, this thing runs on hope? Because it looks like it runs on triple-A batteries."

"Hope runs on triple-A," he said. "That's why you run out of it."

"What's the box made of?"

"That's immaterial."

"Surely it's some material."

"Of no matter."

"Of some matter."

"Of no consequence."

"You're a scientist," I said. "You have a grant. Is this a scientific device or a magical one?"

"At some point," he said, "they are both the same thing."

"For the love of — this better not be a device of faith. Metaphorical, like the ring of King Solomon. How does it work? Physically. Mechanically. Chemically?"

"You forgot biologically."

"Does it do something biologically?"

"Are you asking me how it works biologically?"

"Add that to the list of questions. Why not."

"I have tested it. Everything is fine."

"Doctor, if someone has cancer and presses the OK button, does the cancer go away?"

"I have not tested this on a cancer patient."

"This device better not release pheromones or hallucinogens."

"I am a scientist," he said. "Not a free-love guru."

"You really have me wondering right now."

"You want to press the button or not?"

"Not. Not until you tell me how it works."

"It aligns everything," he said. "Energy. Frequencies. Wavelengths."

"That's just random words."

He smiled.

Curiosity got the better of me. I picked up the box, stared at it, and pressed the button. It clicked.

Nothing happened.

The heavens didn't open. No beam of light fixed the cosmos. Hell, even the red light didn't flicker.

"Everything is OK now," he said.

"My dogs come back?"

"If that's what it takes."

"I feel the same."

"You will realize soon enough."

The only realization going through my head was that this was not OK. They would have my head for this. I should have checked his work much sooner.

"You've heard of the Romanian Box?" I asked. "Con-men sold them as money-cloning devices."

"Are you calling me a con-man?"

I looked at the OK button, then back at him.

"You tell me, Doctor. What does this look like to you?"

"If you don't want things to be OK," he said, "then the device can do you no good."

It was a placebo after all. A device of faith. King Solomon's ring in a cheaper casing. I had hoped for more — that this brilliant man had reversed what Pandora unleashed, one press at a time.

"That concludes our meeting," I said, slowly gathering my papers.

I knew my recommendation. The grant would be cancelled. His placement would end. His device had failed him.

On my way back, I couldn't stop thinking about the box. What if such a thing existed? One man's OK could destroy another man's world. Things were not supposed to be OK always. People were supposed to grow old and die. Accidents were supposed to happen.

A week later, the colleague who had accompanied me to the meeting asked if I had heard about the good doctor's fate.

"Heard what?"

"His tenure had been extended."