Cole

Hell

For the next hour or so I lay on the floor tied up listening to Rick digging the hole for my body and Manda's brain in the back yard.  There was this constant sound of the shovel and then the pick.  Occasionally I would hear him swear.  He did not like digging the hole.  My body ached badly from the hard kicks that Rick gave me, particularly my balls, ribs and jaw.

I focused my attention on how I was bound.  There were no chains. It was all done with ropes.  My arms were brought around behind my back and my feet were brought up behind me and all were then tied together.  The rope then led to an exposed beam in the wall where it was wrapped around and knotted.  The rope was substantial, probably 3/8" twisted nylon.

Somehow I needed to get out of this or Manda would be doomed.  I had to save her again, somehow.  I was her only hope. My leverage with my muscles was really poor in this position and I could not see the knots very well because they were behind me. 

I knew I was pretty strong and if I could get enough leverage I could rip the beam right out of the wall, but the ropes were pretty binding. Even if I ripped the beam out I did not know how I could move because I would still be tied. There were two slight chances of hope: First, I was getting quite sweaty and my skin was becoming a little slippery under the ropes, and second, the knots these guys tied were all "granny" knots that don't hold well.  It was obvious that Gold and Rick did not know how to tie knots.  I could not move my hand, though, to untie anything...at least not yet.

At this point Rick came in and glared at me on the floor.  He then ran at me and kicked me hard in the kidney and I yelped in pain.

"I hate you, Cole!  I can't wait to get rid of you!", he said.  "I also hate having to dig this damn hole!"

Gold was in the other room typing something on his computer.

"The program modification for the DaVinci robotic surgeons are just about done.", he said. 

"Cole, I stole the brain scans and MRI images you made of Amanda's brain from Thorne, so I have a detailed dimensional description of her brain.  You were stupid to let that information out. For Dr. Mos, your pretty stupid. You see, Cole, I thought of everything!  With these coordinates logged into this program I only need to type GO on the computer and the robot will do almost all of the surgery.  I will only be needed to assist and deal with the anesthesia. The robot will remove her skull cap and then bring microsurgical elements in from the sides to detach the left side of the brain from it's skull case and the base. A third arm using a special attachment will lift the left brain out.  Then we will bring in Rick's left brain and begin the neurosyn process to bond it to the brain stem and restore the skull cap," he continued. "Of course Rick's brain will have been removed beforehand. Rick's body will be disposed separately. He does not want his discarded body to be in the same hole as yours. We will probably burn it. "

"Don't worry, Cole, I am a thoughtful person.  I will remember to save Amanda's left brain to throw in the pit with you," he chuckled.  "In any case, Cole, I am going to become very rich.  I will make these surgeries routine with these robots and the neurosyn.

I did not say anything.  There was nothing to say.  I was seething in anger.

"Which reminds me, Cole, tonight we will shave off Amanda's hair.  We can't have that."

I thought of Amanda's beautiful hair.  My anger rose still more.

"How are you doing with that hole, Rick?" he said.

"Not that great.  There seems to be a lot of rock in the ground I have to dig out.  It is not as sandy here as I thought it would be."

"We need to go down four feet."