Machine Man (serial)

Page 17.

Lola Banks walked in a circle around my new leg three times. She stopped beside the die stamp that had crushed my old one, although she didn’t know that. It was gleaming clean and humming on standby. You couldn’t leave that caliber of machinery idle just because some idiot managed to lose a limb in it. It was expensive as all get-out.

“That looks heavy,” she said.

“It’s about 180 pounds,” I admitted. “It tends to dent the floor.”

“How do you lift it?”

“I don’t. It walks by itself.”

Lola looked at me.

“See that tripod wheel at the base? That rotates. There’s always some part of it touching the ground.”

Lola crept closer to the leg. She squatted, reached out, and touched it.

“So…” I said. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s beautiful.” She ran her fingers down the chrome. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Thanks.” I felt myself flushing. “Thanks.”

17.