Machine Man (serial)

Page 185.

“Charlie?”

I opened my eyes. No, I didn’t. I had no eyes. I was simply, abruptly aware. And I saw her: Lola. She had one hand supporting her chin, her elbow on the benchtop. Her hair looked as if she had pulled it into a neat pony-tail, then walked through a blizzard. She wore a white collared shirt with what was possibly a grease stain on the cuff. She was here.

“Hey, you.” Her free hand reached out and rested on what felt like my head, but wasn’t. It was my camera. “There you are.”

Lola, I said. Oh Lola, it’s so good to see you and I don’t know what’s happened and can you hear me, Lola? I can’t talk, I can see you but I can’t talk.

Her eyes shone. “You are talking. Here. Let me…” She swiveled me around so that I could see the gray box with its attached monitor. It said: I CAN’T TALK I CAN SEE YOU BUT I CAN’T TALK. “See?” She moved closer, staying within camera range. “You’re talking. We’re talking, Charlie.”

AM I IN THERE IS MY BRAIN IN THERE

“No. Well, yes. But not your brain brain. You’re solid state.”

HOW AM I SOLID STATE

“You’re intrigued, right? I’ve been dying to tell you about it, Charlie. It’s amazing. Well. I have told you about it. Like about a thousand times. But you couldn’t hear me.”

I AM A ROBOT, wrote the screen. I AM A BOX DEAD MACHINE BOX

“No, Charlie. You’re not a box. The box is your body, that’s all.”

DO NOT WANT TO BE A BOX LOLA

She stroked my camera a while. I couldn’t feel it. But it was comforting anyway. “They took you away from me, Charlie. After we kissed, and my heart fried everything, the Better Future people tried to drag you to their truck. They shifted you about ten feet, then they dropped you and tried to run away because the police were coming. I could see you, Charlie, but I couldn’t reach you. The paramedics put me in an ambulance and I didn’t see you for four days.” She straightened and unbuttoned her shirt. There was a white scar across her chest: thick, not new. “I made them give me the heart you made for me. I had to yell at some people. But I got it. I’ve had to yell at a lot of people over the last three years, Charlie, because they keep wanting to give up on you.”

THREE YEARS HOW IS IT THREE YEARS

“It feels like three days, all of a sudden.” She smiled, and leaned close again. “So let me tell you about the box. Because I know this is a lot to take in, but seriously, you are going to love this. The box has ports.”

PORTS

“Yes. Right. You can plug things into it.”

THINGS WHAT THINGS

“Well,” she said, “that’s an interesting question, Charlie. That’s a very interesting question. And it’s probably a question you want to put some serious thought into yourself. But, well, while I’ve been waiting, I kind of went ahead and…” She bit her lip. “I was going to surprise you. But now I can’t wait! I’m just going to say it. I made you an arm. You can probably do better. Much better. But I wanted to give you something, for the heart. Something from me.”

YOU MADE ME AN ARM LOLA

“Yeah. It’s pretty cool, Charlie. I mean, it can’t lift cars or anything. It’s just a prosthetic. But it’s a start.”

A START

“Yeah.” She smiled. “That’s what it is.”

It was odd, knowing I was seeing her through a camera lens. But not as odd as I would have thought. Perhaps you could get used to anything. Now I thought about it, it was kind of strange that people felt comfortable walking around in bodies that were mostly juice. That was pretty bizarre.

CAN YOU SHOW ME THE ARM, I said.

THE END

THE END

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