Machine Man (serial)

Page 182.

I tried to blink, but couldn’t. I could see, though. I could see fine. Everything looked slightly off, like a TV show instead of real life, but I could tell I was in a room. It was a bright room. It had the ambiance of an operating theater. But it was not. I had been in enough operating theaters to tell the difference. This was probably a laboratory. << more >>

“Hello,” said D. Peters. “Hello, Charlie.”

I swallowed, or tried to, but that wasn’t happening either. I tried to say: What?

D. Peters looked at something to my left. His eyes flicked back and forth. He was a little close for comfort, to be honest. He was in my personal space. “Good. That’s good, Charlie.”

“Oh,” he said. “I’m a whistleblower. Better Future is… well, it doesn’t exist any more. Parts were absorbed into the military, others were shut down. A few were sold off.” He shrugged. “This happened years ago.”

“Whoa,” said Cassandra Cautery. “No need for that.”

<< I don’t think the parts can respond at all. >>

183.