Machine Man (serial)

Lola stood beside me in Angelica’s bathroom, brushing her teeth. I was thinking about my legs. About how they definitely, absolutely could not possess consciousness. Because that just wasn’t possible. I would believe my legs could think for themselves only when I opened them up to find them powered by tiny elves. You didn’t combine a bunch of inert materials and get personality. You just didn’t.

And yet. There was something going on here. Some glitch I hadn’t anticipated.

A subtle, invisible tugging brought me out of my thoughts. I looked at Lola in the mirror and she was looking at me. “Mrph,” I said, around the toothbrush.

Lola leaned forward and spat. “I was thinking. We could pull that mattress off Harrison’s bed and lie it on the floor. Then I could sleep next to you.”

Harrison was Angelica’s son. He visited two weekends per month. Lola had told me this earlier, her eyes shimmering with tragedy and outrage, before launching into a long, painful story of people I didn’t know doing things I was supposed to care about. I have trouble with these kinds of stories because they contain no useful information. I mean, I’m sorry to hear that Rod was an uncaring bastard who prioritized his own career over Angelica’s, but I don’t know Rod. I’m never going to meet him. I don’t understand what I’m expected to do about this.

I smiled through toothpaste. “Mmm.”

“It’s been so crazy.” Lola’s voice dropped. “We haven’t had a chance to… get to know each other.”

I leaned forward to spit into the sink. Then I frowned, because the Contours weren’t helping. They were rigid, when I wanted them to tilt. I tried again: nothing.

Lola’s fingers addressed a wrinkle on my shirt. “I think we’ve earned a chance to relax.”

A thought whispered inside my brain: the Contours did not like Lola. They did not want her touching me.

“And you, Charlie… you really need to relax.”

It was silly. It couldn’t be true. But my thought was: Lola was making them jealous.

“Come on.” Lola’s fingers entwined mine. “Let’s go to bed.”

115.