“We lent it to Automotive Robotics. I can go see if they still need it.”

“That’s going to put us off our schedule,” another technician says. “And I can’t work late today. My kids have soccer practice.”

There is a lot of sighing and muttering as they discuss what to do with me. None of them sound happy.

In the end, they decide to postpone removing my brain until tomorrow. By then they’ll either have fixed their drill or gotten the spare drill back from the Automotive Robotics lab. They won’t have to rush things. They’ll have enough time to do everything they want to do to me.

My circulation pump is still beating fast.

“Sorry, Cog,” Nathan says to me as they return my speech and ability to move. He begins to unplug the cables from the data ports in my fingers. He smiles. “We’ll have our act together tomorrow, I promise.”

The technicians are now talking about other things. Other projects. What they’re going to have for lunch. Their kids and soccer. They don’t seem to remember I’m here until Nathan tells me to get up.

“I do not wish to have my brain removed,” I say as Nathan walks me back to my room.

“Cog, I told you it won’t hurt. And it’ll only be out for a little while.”

“I understand. I do not wish to have my brain removed.”

Nathan’s smile is tight.

“Look, you just get some rest and take it easy.”

“I do not wish to rest. I do not wish to take it easy. I do not wish to have my brain removed.”

He starts to tell me again how painless it will be.

“Nathan, if I told you I was going to remove your brain with a drill, and that it would only be outside of your skull for a short time, and that it would be painless, would you want me to do it?”

“That’s an entirely different thing, Cog.”

We reach my room. Nathan opens the door for me.

“How is it different?”

“In more ways than I can count. Get in.”

I step inside and he closes the door. The lock buzzes and hums.

I try the knob. It doesn’t move.

I am locked inside.

I have been hit by a truck and separated from Gina and I have lost my home and been strapped to a chair without the ability to speak or move. Of all those things, being locked in my room is not the worst.

But it is enough to push me into formulating a plan.

I am going to leave uniMIND.

In order to do that, I will require an accomplice.

An accomplice is someone who helps you perform a task that is against the rules.

I have already decided who my accomplice will be.

Together, we will exercise poor judgment and have bad experiences and learn things.