“How are you doing this?” He asked terrified at the loss of his own free will.
“You asked this last time” Slick back said turning to Story face, “Maybe we shouldn't wipe his thoughts every time, then we wouldn’t have to keep repeating ourselves”.
Story face looked over at Slick back, dismissing his words with a raise of his eyebrows.
“Oh dear Tom” Story face said, “You're not as free as you think you are. Gina is, she isn't wired into the Neuro-Net, but you are”
“I can't be, I never had it implanted” Tom objected.
“We implanted it for you, like so many others. The scientists that have their own complete free will did well to convince us that their partners needed to be free too, but we knew that a lot of these scientists couldn't be completely trusted. We had to implant the Neuro-Net into their partners, well most of them, it's been a busy week so far” Story face explained.
“But when? I don't remember”
“Of course you don't” Slick back replied.
“With you implanted we were able to log all your conversations and experiences with Gina, all the little plans she was making. We must admit that she managed to keep you out of the loop, so you appeared to know nothing, but when we analyse the data we receive, we analyse it thoroughly. Every little detail could hold a clue. Every overheard phone call, every facial gesture. We knew something was happening with Gina” Story face said, “We got you to help track her friend James too, without you even knowing. With Gina, we wanted to know her whereabouts, any little differences in what she did would flag up alerts, but she was clever. Clever enough it seems to have got away from our clean up team, and hence why we are here”
“I don't know anything” Tom cried.
“Of course you don't, and if you did you wouldn't tell us, which is why I had to download your data from the earlier phone call with her, just to see if there are any clues to help us track her. It takes too long to process the chain of data back at the office so it was better that we came here and isolated the section of your memory we wanted” Slick back said, pleased with himself.
“You can't do this” Tom shouted angrily.
“We can do whatever we want” Story face replied
“Take this fucking thing out of my brain now you fucking assholes” Tom screamed hysterically. He couldn't believe this was happening, he had no memory of any procedure, he had no after effects or pain to suggest anything had happened to him, he didn't want it there.
“Very well” Slick back replied walking towards him and pulling out a knife.
Tom screamed as Slick back sunk the knife deep into his skull with a twisting motion, slicing through bone and tearing at brain matter indiscriminately trying to find the implant. Tom's surroundings went numb, before the intense pain floated away and he dropped his head. Slick back pulled the implant out from where it was resting, ripping parts of Tom's brain out with it viciously.
“There you go” Slick back said throwing the implant on the floor, “as you wish”.
“You didn't have to do that” Story face said shaking his head, “He may have had some use again; you really need to stop losing your temper. You should see a counsellor”.
“Yeah sorry, I just don't like it when people shout, it gets me all wound up” he said walking away to the front door, “Let's check the download”.
They both left, closing the front door behind them. Tom's body lay there lifeless, his own self whisked away from his shell and thrust out to a new realm. It started with confusion as it all happened so quickly, then he started to relax and realise what had happened. Any anger dissolved away to acceptance as he was spirited away through a kingdom of souls.
JAMES
James was running, faster than he thought he had ever run before and the two guards fired off a series of rounds. The bullets swept past James and behind him. He turned to see his two assailants hit square on, the bullets fracturing bones, shattering organs, both their bodies collapsing to the floor. James continued his sprint and reached the two guards.
“Hey, thanks” James said when he finally got to them.
“Don't mention it” one of them said, “Ms. Rogers said you might be compromised. We need you to remove all your clothes quickly”.
“What here? Now?” James said, “It’s broad daylight, anyone could see me”
“Just like anyone can see those two bodies over there, so hurry up” the second guard said.
James could tell they weren't in a sociable mood, so did as they said.
“Have you got anything I can change into?”
The second guard handed him a large flowery dress.
“What the heck is this? A dress?” James said bewildered.
“Yes, it was the only item of clothing we could get at short notice” The first guard replied. James knew that somewhere there was a bewildered overweight grandmother now wandering the city in her underwear. He had no alternative so quickly slipped it on and climbed into the car. The two guards jumped immediately in the front and they sped away.
“Did you see any more following you?” Guard number one asked James.
“I thought there were a few earlier on, but they seemed to disappear” He replied, “Do you think they could still be on us?”
“Anything's possible. Better buckle up, we're going to be doing some fancy driving”
Guard number two was driving, carefully scanning the scene around him for anything that looked out of place, fully focused on the road.
“So, what're your names?” James asked.
“I'm Antony” said guard number one, “This is Gabriel”
“Nice to meet you” James said. It wasn't
