Machine Man (serial)

As I fell through the air, the Contours extended to their full length. The hooves splayed into three toes, maximizing their surface area. The Better Future lawn rushed toward me, and I closed my eyes, and then my spine tried to impale my skull. When I could open my eyes, I saw the Contours were about three feet long and had no hooves. I thought they had snapped. Then they began re-extending, and I remembered that this was what they did on impact: retracted, to soak up deceleration. And the hooves were there, too: they had just sunk into the earth. I pulled one free, then the other, and shook off clods of soil.

The Manager lay on the concrete path a few yards away. I felt sick. He didn’t look any better up close. Then I felt angry, because if the Manager had had some of his own Augmentations, he would be totally fine right now. He would be walking around on his artificial legs, and I would not be in this situation. What kind of CEO organized a project to manufacture artificial body parts but didn’t try any himself? It was a dereliction of duty. I stared at that biological mess and was furious. It was not my finest moment.

Ahead, the lobby doors slid open. I thought: Maybe it won’t be guards, and was wrong. Then I thought: Maybe they don’t know this was me, and they drew their guns, and I thought: They don’t shoot unless you try to run, and was wrong again.

91.