The victor laid out his surgical instruments with the same degree of tidiness one would expect of an instructor or a student preapring to test. Not only were tools of the craft arranged by type, size and use but even the blades of the scapels and the curves of the hooks faced in uniform direction. The victor tapped in the air along the length of the tray to double and triple-check his work then satisfied he knitted his fingers together and then rested his hands between his legs as he swivled to his conquered victim.
The sight of the portly man, trussed-up as he was in the bedsheet, unable to move, held to the makeshift table was quite the spectacle. Even the face was tightly wrapped save for a pair of bewildered eyes that darted back and forth for clues about impending fate or an ever-dimming escape. It brought a smile to the victor's face.
"You've probably heard of sensory deprivation," the victor said smiling, giving the conquered a moment to focus his eyes where they were needed.
"Most people have dimly heard of it in some movie or a passing reference in the media or some such.
"It seems man is a sensory animal. A social animal. He has to have things to focus his attention. He has to have people to relate to. As much as some would argue the mind defines the reality the fact is the mind must be anchored in reality. It has to have input.
"In trying to figure out the extent of the mind's tether to reality much ink and many research dollars have been spilled. I mentioned sensory deprivation.
"Fascinating stuff that.
"It seems the researchers would take a subject and have them lie inside a tank. The tank was absolutely lightless and sound proof but they had more tricks than just that. They would use these sub-sonic emitters to deaden all sound to the point that even if the subject screamed he couldn't hear their own voice. And inside the tank they were lying in a pool of heavily salinated water so they floated, seemingly weightless but couldn't discern any sense of touch.
"The human mind, under these conditions, turns in on itself. The Russians--and we all know what tough sons-of-bitches they are--once put a KGB officer in one of these tanks and even though he had been training for the event he could only last 6 hours before he was reduced to a quivering, sobbing child.
"The Russians! Only 6 hours! Can you believe it?
"So that brings us to you."
The victor rose from his stool and hovered over the conquered. His voice softend to a whisper.
"First, I'm going to take out your eyes. Then I'm going to hollow out your ear canals so you can't even feel the vibrations of sound. Then I'm going to take your tongue."
The victor smiled as a tear beaded along the eye of the conquered.
"And then...
"...then I'm going to perform a procedure known as pithing. It's what they do to lab animals when they want the animal to be alive so they can inspect the organs while they still function but immobile and incapable of pain. I'm going to insert a blade into the base of your neck where it meets the skull and take away your ability to move and feel.
"Your darkness will be...
"...complete.
"But you are not going to die. Medical science, being the miracle that it is, will keep you alive for decades to come.
"Alive.
"Alone.
"In your complete darkness as your mind turns in on itself and I seriously doubt you're
"And when you finally do get to die. The 'one true judgment' perhaps?"
The victor renewed his smile.
"You know...Jesus, on the rare occassion He ever spoke of Hell, never spoke of fire and brimstone.
"He called it, 'The Outer Darkeness.' A place--a void--devoid of all aspects of reality as we know it. No light. No sound. No sensations whatsoever. It seems that those who reject the Creator are denied every facet of creation."
The bead had become a steady stream of tears on the conquered's face.
"Let's get to work, shall we?"
