Machine Man (serial)

Page 23.

Days passed and Lola Banks the prosthetic specialist did not come. In this respect it was just like my first time in the hospital: no-one visited. The difference was now I wanted them to. Well, not them. Her.

I was badly tempted to ask the nurses. But I couldn’t: since they had turned hostile, letting them know I wanted something was a strategic mistake. My meals were proof enough of that. But I couldn’t wait, either. On the fifth day, just as I was formulating a plan involving dragging myself across the floor to the phone in the hall, Lola appeared. She was not carrying any prosthetic limbs. It was just her, in her too-big shirt and brown glasses. She hung in the doorway like she was afraid to enter.

“Hi,” I said.

She chewed her lip, but didn’t answer. Then she made a decision, and marched toward me, but stopped two feet short of my bed. “You crushed your own leg.”

“Yeah.”

She said, “Why.” It wasn’t a question. The word came out of her mouth like it was heavy. It slid soundlessly to the floor and lay there.

I shrugged. It seemed obvious. Lola had seen my prototype. She had touched it.

“They think you’re suicidal,” said Lola. “They say you like hurting yourself.”

“What?”

She put her hands on her hips. “Well? What else are people meant to think?”

“That I’m improving myself! I’m augmenting. Do people haveget their visioneyes laser-corrected because they like hurting themselves? Is that why they pierce their ears, or… pluck their eyebrows? What about peopleears? People who hitwork out at the gym every day, enduringgym, are we worried they’re suffering from some kind of psychological ailment because they’re prepared to endure a little short-term suffering in order to make their bodies to work better? Is there anything wrong with that? The only difference between me and them is I have access to better technology.” Lola sucked in her breath, but I was too riled up to stop. “And“And, incidentally, the reason I’m inI have pain isn’t my fault. It’s because the biological design of the human body is so conceptually flawed that the only way to make significant improvements is to scrap what’s there and start over.”

I realized from

From Lola’s expression thatexpression, I realized I had gone too far. She began to move.was moving. “Wait,” I said, butsaid. “Let me rephrase.” But she was leaning closer, and beforecloser. Before I realized what was happening, she kissed me.

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