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Page 69.

Machine Man (serial)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

I followed Lola into the recovery room and there he was: Carl, sitting on the edge of the bed, naked but for boxer shorts, flexing his arm. By which I mean my arm. He was wearing a Versitor: three feet long, very thin, hollow bands of delicate al-titanium alloy foil rods on four ball joints with independent axes of rotation. Its main advantage was it could reach in any direction, including backward, and it supported a variety of different hands. It also weighed only ten pounds, ideal for the user who hadn’t yet upgraded the load-bearing capacity of his spine. It was essentially a trainer arm. But this did not change the fact that Carl should not have it.

To his credit, he looked mildly ashamed. He stopped flexing, and his eyes shifted away from mine, then back, and then his lips twitched, as if he wanted to smile, but thought maybe that would piss me off. This was a good call. Because in this moment, it was everything I could do not to kick Carl through the wall.

69.

Comments

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Robert Dillette (#2827)

Location: Brisbane, QLD
Quote: "Cante Jondo and The Blues; Popular suffering raised to a high art."
Posted: 6335 days ago

Contour vs Versitor... Fight! (Charlie, the secret is Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A)

Alex (#237)

Location: London, England
Quote: "We're today's scrambled creatures, locked in tomorrow's double feature"
Posted: 6335 days ago

@Robert: I thought it was Up Down Up Down Left Right Left Right B A B A?

Sander (#4031)

Location: Amsterdam, NL
Quote: "Write a wise saying and your name will live forever. —Anonymous"
Posted: 6335 days ago

"It also weighed only ten pounds, ideal for the user who hadn’t yet upgraded the load-bearing capacity of his spine."

Haha, nice save (regarding my comment on the previous page) ;)

This book has great movie potential by the way, I can already see the scene where two mechanic legs take on two mechanic arms and both their wearers can only try to hang on to their respective body parts..

Arnab (#3918)

Location: Brisbane
Quote: "Now, I don't know Max, I've never met Max, or know anything about him, but I have it on good authority, that he is, in fact, a werewolf."
Posted: 6335 days ago

That last sentence is making it seem less and less likely that Carl is about to be kicked to death.

Dammit.

gstein42 (#585)

Location: 127.0.0.1
Quote: "That's not change! That's more of the same!"
Posted: 6335 days ago

@Alex: please hand in your geek card now. Robert was about 95% right... the konami code is Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A START

David (#1456)

Location: Sydney, Australia
Quote: "Why are the pretty ones always insane?"
Posted: 6335 days ago

Carl's got his arms, and his girl! What's a cyborgus-interruptus man (yes, I did flunk Latin, thanks for noticing) with super-strong legs but only puny flesh and blood arms to do? Kick, kick, kick that bastard!

C Leffelman (#3968)

Location: IL
Quote: "You can only be young once. But you can always be immature. - Dave Barry "
Posted: 6335 days ago

So when did Charlie gain control of the contours?

SexCpotatoes (#2188)

Location: Navarre, Ohio
Quote: ""Democracy is the theory that the common man knows what he wants, and deserves to get it good and hard." - H. L. Mencken"
Posted: 6335 days ago

Chip: He probably has a simple learning program installed in them that helps them progressively acclimate to the nerve commands of their user. He hadn't tested them extensively and lived in them day in and day out before taking them for a spin to impress Lola, so they were more willful and dangerous. Plus, he's obviously done some more work on them, as he wouldn't want to have the legs automatically use people (and babies) for landing cushions like they tried to before.

Or I'm just making excuses for Max. But really, you can leave a lot of the details out when writing because your readers fill in the important things for you with their imaginations.

CrystalR (#4160)

Posted: 6335 days ago

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

When all you have is metal legs, everything looks like a soccerball.

Ben (#3924)

Location: Alberta, Canada
Quote: "I don't wanna ride the elevator."
Posted: 6335 days ago

When al you have is Max Barry, everything looks bizarre.

I am curious how he lost his arms. Carl seems to have considered actully being friendly there. Maybe they become friends and take on organized crime; with Carl holding the guy while Charlie kicks the crap out of him. They could use the good old "bad cop, bad cop" routine on all the criminals in the area. Im also curious, if Carl really was attempting friendly behavior and he lost his arms in an accident, why he has always been so gruff in the past. Or maybe he lost his arms in an "accident" he was not briefed on.

Stygian Emperor (#2947)

Location: the Stygian Empire
Quote: "Flesh is a design flaw."
Posted: 6335 days ago

Huh, he's only got one cybernetic arm on... Does this mean he's just got a stump on the other side, or did he only lose the one arm?

Electrichead (#3898)

Location: Toronto
Posted: 6334 days ago

@gStein I think he had it 100% right actually. The code had to be entered on the pause screen, so you had to hit Start to go back into the game. The code didn't need it though.

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