Machine Man (serial)

The ceiling of this section of Better Future was a checkerboard. The light-colored squares were actually lights: they glowed uniformly, as bright in the corners as the middle. I had never appreciated how pretty this was, until I lay on a gurney and watched them pass over my head. “These lights are really neat.”

“Can we get him on the gas?” This was Cassandra Cautery, walking alongside. Several other people were also walking alongside: we had been accumulating them since we left the Repository. “We have a time pressure.”

“I’ll find out.”

I said, “And Lola will meet us at the operating theater, right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?” I was feeling very light-headed. I hadn’t had any drugs. It was the imminent prospect of parts. “You’re not just saying that?”

“Charlie, in a short while you will be the most physically powerful human being on the planet. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

“Gas here.” A mask approached. “Head forward, Dr. Neumann.”

“Can you make a call?” Hands took hold of my head. The mask snapped around my mouth and nose, muffling my words. “Can you make sure Lola will be there?”

“I swear on my sister’s life. She’ll be there.”

We passed through a doorway. The glowing checkerboard vanished, and was replaced with stark white plaster and surgical lights. I raised my head and saw a great many people in green surgical gowns. They looked fuzzy. Fuzzy and warm. I lay back, because my head was getting heavy. Then, on impulse, I raised it again. I was under a thin sheet, but I could see the familiar shape of my torso, my arms. I smiled a little, and closed my eyes.

“He’s out,” she said. “Okay. Go.”

I heard a rustling of material. A click, then an electric saw, quite loud, like someone was testing it: vnnnn, vnnnn. A man said, “How much are we doing?”

“Everything,” said Cassandra Cautery. That was the last thing I heard.

143.