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Page 24.

Machine Man (serial)

CHAPTER SIX

I woke from dreams of being crushed to the sound of a baby wailing. This wasn’t unusual, because there was an intensive care facility for newborns down the hall. Actually, the dream wasn’t unusual, either. Ever since I deliberately crushed my right leg, my brain had been drowning me in dreams of being trapped in tiny, shrinking spaces. I think it was fighting back. It was telling me that it did not want to lose any more pieces. I found this annoying. It was like the pain in my legs: a defensive mechanism deployed against me by my own body. What my body needed to realize was that I wasn’t taking orders from organs. My biology existed in order to serve me, not the other way around. These self-interested clumps of flesh and fluid, they had better get with the program, because if it came down to them or me, it was going to be me.

24.

Comments

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David OS (#3946)

Location: Liverpool
Posted: 5082 days ago

A lot of this page reminded me of hangovers.

Also of some of the stranger things anoretics say.

towr (#1914)

Location: Netherlands
Posted: 5082 days ago

He should crush his brain next, that'll teach it to give him bad dreams.

coolpillows (#3749)

Location: new york general sort of vicinity
Quote: ""It's not working" -- Joseph Clark"
Posted: 5082 days ago

Whoa, hang on Commenters! Friday was standard-issue, first-kiss, love-interest plot element and then <SCREECH, G-forces press as vehicle changes directions> it's an existential musing on the self. What constitutes "me?" Where does biology end and self-awareness begin? And when does he get to make out with Lola again???

C.J. (#3948)

Location: New York, NY
Posted: 5081 days ago

To quote Emo Philips: I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.

Ben (#3924)

Location: Alberta, Canada
Quote: "I don't wanna ride the elevator."
Posted: 5081 days ago

LOL C.J.

This was probably the most screwed up page yet. I love it. Maybe only eclipsed by the one where he crushes his second leg.

Max, you have issues, its probably that ginger from march trying to get out again and thus messing with your brain.

Ian Manka (#3916)

Location: Los Angeles, California (school) | Akron, Ohio (home)
Quote: "Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance."
Posted: 5081 days ago

@coolpillows: Boy, Max sure got you with the next page. ;)

Jason Wallwork (#4608)

Location: Peterborough, ON, Canada
Quote: "Soylent Green is people."
Posted: 4850 days ago

These self-interested clumps of flesh and fluid, they had better get with the program, because if it came down to them or me, it was going to be me.

I love that bit. Totally contradictory and yet not.

stanley becker (#5283)

Location: black hole
Quote: "DON"T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER!!"
Posted: 4367 days ago

Ok Max, crush all thought - like Burroughs in Naked Lunch - where did the impulse come from to crush your leg - from the default brain? - or the parasite brain often a feature in sci-fi - do you have as many different brains as you have selves - or of course there is the left brai and the right brain - thought and emotion and then you have the medulla our reptile brain - maybe your character has been brainwashed unbeknown to himself

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