>>6107069>>6107188>>6106847>>6106854You have to go for it. You can't wait any longer, you really can't process any more of this contract, and you really don't want to risk being blown up before you can find your freedom. You turn on one of the overhead lights and pick up a paring knife. There's a small join where the two halves of the implant's shell meet and close. The electronics are waterproofed and draw their power directly from your own physiology, which is a constant if minor drain on your body. Constantly running the contract provides a second level of pain beside the effect on your eyes- but hopefully, you won't have to worry about that any more.
You visualize the structure of the device, from the transmitter to the RAM to how it runs a couple of lines directly to your spine. You need to cut correctly, and leave a lot of it intact. After all's said and done, you probably need to cover the result in medical tape, though you shouldn't have to worry too much about getting shocked.
Carefully, with as much focus and calm as you can muster, you push the knife between the gaps and feel the plastic shell yield. Like cutting off your own jaw... No, like hacking off your ear maybe. You don't need it, and while it's going to be painful, you'll live. You have to. Taking the shell off, you do your best to feel out for where you can break off components without trying to sever your own spine. It's embedded in and fused to your own nerves, so you have to be careful.
Knowing that, and knowing the risks, you still feel compelled to get it off and out of you. It's a parasite, and you definitely don't need it! You dig the knife into one of the transmitters, and the contract fizzles out before your eyes. You feel an immense pressure lift off of your eyes, but the gap seems to be getting filled with a dazzle of multi-color. Ambient, leftover impulses translated to senses. But you need to get rid of the receiver, before they finally process what's going on.
Running the blade up and down the component as if sharpening your knife, you feel impulses run across your body, an uncomfortable, roiling electricity and pain building in your neck. A component chips off entirely, and in response, a bolt rides from your neck to your heart, slowing it momentarily. You're forced to your knees to brace yourself. The fear is overwhelming, but you force yourself to keep going through the tears and shivering. This is for you. You lean on the mattress you slept on to support your upper body when you're between cuts.
Pushing the point down and into the implant, risking digging below the skin right at the most vulnerable part of your neck, you pop off a component and it leaves with a crackle. Your vision on the opposite half of your face spins and warps, before transitioning into static. That static bleeds into both halves of your eyes, but you try to keep going. As soon as the transmitter is gone, you're safe!
