Machine Man (serial)

I walked to my lab and swiped my way into the Glass Room. This was not the smartest idea, because I had been awake for twenty hours and could feel an adrenaline crash coming. But I didn’t want to lie in that room, alone but for a dead potted plant, staring at the ceiling. I didn’t want to wait for the inevitable ache to begin creeping into muscles I didn’t have. Most of all, I didn’t want to think about what I’d just asked Cassandra Cautery to do.

My lab assistants greeted me cordially, as always. I walked through to Lab 3, switched on the halogen lights, and lowered the Contours to a comfortable height before the workstation. Spread across the bench were many very delicate hand-fabricated metal parts. They didn’t look like anything much at the moment. But this was my hobby, on which I’d worked in between my project work over the last four weeks. As far as anyone else knew, it was project work. But it wasn’t. It was an idea I’d had. A present. I was making Lola a heart.

73.