Machine Man (serial)

“Dr. Neumann.” Now it was a woman with blue eyes and wild gray hair. She looked vaguely familiar; possibly we had spoken a few times about crossover research. “I know you’re busy, but I would really like a moment to speak with you about Lola’s heart.”

“Registering with core,” said a man, and another replied, “Seeing that.” I was the kind of busy that didn’t require my participation. Which was good, because at this point I was focused internally. I was asking myself questions and listening for answers.

“I feel very uncomfortable about this. We had a lot of questions about the procedure in the first place, and several of us felt strongly the technology wasn’t ready, but management…” She threw a glance at Cassandra Cautery, who was out in the hallway having a doctor peer at her scalp. “Anyway, that’s in the past. The unit’s installed now.

“The issue is the EMP function. The weapon. It draws a great deal of power. And we built in a safety margin, of course, to ensure that even after an EMP wave, the battery has plenty of power to maintain regular heart function. We were very careful about that! We also ensured the EMP won’t fire unless the battery is full. So it’s single-use.” Her eyes switched rapidly between mine. “Except that part is possibly not working completely properly. I don’t think it’s anything to be concerned about. But, well, as I mentioned, we were very early in QA and all of a sudden they were telling us there’s a woman on the table, we had to install… and, the thing is, the EMP shouldn’t have fired twice. It definitely shouldn’t have been able to do that. I saw the subject briefly, that is, Miss Banks, when you were brought in, and… and probably this was the light, but her skin looked gray. She seemed to be having some trouble breathing. Which wasn’t a problem, because we can recharge the battery in-house, it’s a simple procedure. But before we could, this terrible thing happened with all the shooting. And now she’s gone. So I’m just a tiny bit concerned that her battery has been drained to a point where it’s impacting heart function. And please don’t worry, because it needs very little charge to pump blood—it’s not going to stop! I’m almost certain of that. But I am thinking that if the safety mechanism isn’t working and her heart rate reaches the trigger threshold, then possibly the EMP will fire for a third time, which would… well, the battery doesn’t have the capacity to support that. So, again, this is just a precaution, and I don’t want to make life harder, because I know you have a lot on your plate already, but when you find Lola, it would be extremely good to avoid making her scared or excited or engage in any kind of vigorous exercise.”

156.