Machine Man (serial)

I was carried from the limo to the underground synth lab by Carl. Carl was a Better Future security guard who had long carried a grudge against me for reasons I didn’t understand. He was not happy about carrying me to the synth labs. I wasn’t thrilled about it either, but I had the good manners not to make it obvious. Carl bore me through the white corridors like I was nuclear waste, his head half-turned away.

Once we passed through the unrestricted areas, Cassandra Cautery, the pint-sized lawyer who had grilled me at the hospital, materialized and fell into step beside me. Or beside Carl, I guess. He was the one stepping. “Well played.” Her lovely, poisonous scent drifted over me. “By returning to work, you provide yourself with opportunity to document the extent of your incapacitation, while demonstrating a good-faith desire to continue employment.” She looked at me for the first time. “But it won’t matter. I’m going to crush you.”

Carl stopped at an elevator. My head was positioned uncomfortably close to the doors, but Carl didn’t care. It was probably deliberate.

Cassandra Cautery leaned close. “There’s a reason this company hasn’t had a public image breach the entire time I’ve been chief counsel for Media Control. Do you know what it is?”

The elevator arrived. Carl stepped into it. My hair brushed the wall. Cassandra Cautery stood framed between the silver doors.

“It’s because I’m a machine,” she said.

The doors slid closed. The elevator hummed. The floor numbers ticked lower.

“She’s hot,” I said to Carl. “Don’t you think?”

Carl didn’t answer. But he agreed, I could tell.

10.