Machine Man - Max Barry [102]
I felt the stirrings of an invisible force. And I connected a few data points. The first time Lola’s heart had begun to generate EM, we had been getting intimate. The second time, I had leaped in via her balcony window to rescue her. At Angelica’s, we had kissed. While driving blind, we had sideswiped a car and she had said, “I thought you were hurt.” And now.
I tended to be skeptical of anything that couldn’t be measured, written down, and independently verified across a series of double-blind tests. But this was hard data. Lola’s heart beat fastest for me.
“Lola,” I said. “Kiss me.” Lola jumped and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I made you a heart,” I whispered. “It’s at Better Future.”
“Oh.” Her arms squeezed me. “That’s sweet.”
“You’ll need it. After this.”
“Charlie,” she said. “Charlie.”
“If you kill the truck. And me. My body.”
“No, Charlie.”
“They can’t. Get away. Then maybe cops. Medics. Save us.”
“Maybe?”
“Still. Better.” I felt small adjustments up my arm. It was correcting for Lola’s new position. “Please,” I said. “Now.”
WE KISSED. The high-pitched whine that came from deep inside Lola’s chest could have been her singing. The electric wind that blew through me could have been her breath. The darkness that followed, it felt like her embrace.
“OH,” SOMEONE said. “Terrific. Look at that.”
“That’s … what is that, second-stage?”
“No, it’s …” Several people inhaled. There was clapping, a whoop, and laughter.
“Online.” The word sounded heavy, the way you might say We made it.
I tried to blink. This didn’t work. But I could see. There was a vase, with three yellow flowers. Daffodils? I didn’t know the names of flowers. But the vase sat on a plain white surface, and behind that was a beige wall. It seemed to me that this white surface was a bedside table of some sort. I tried to turn my head to see the rest of the room and that didn’t work either.
Beside the vase appeared a face. A woman, with almond eyes behind brown-rimmed glasses. “Charles Neumann?”
I swallowed, or tried to. I said, What …?
The woman’s eyes flicked at something behind me. She was a little close for comfort. I was glad to be awake and hopefully safe but I wouldn’t mind this woman backing up out of my personal space. Her eyes returned to mine, shining. For a second I thought we were about to kiss. “Response. A clear response.”
Where am I? I felt panic. No part of my body was doing what I wanted.
“You’re in a research and development facility. You came here as part of an asset diversification process that occurred following the hearings into the Better Future collapse. We’re a joint-venture consortium of private and government interests. You …” She glanced to the side. “Should I …?”
“Go ahead,” said someone.
Her eyes settled on me. “The paramedics could do nothing. By the time they got in, you were unconscious. At first … well, they thought you were inside, of course. Inside a suit. They had the jaws, tools for rescuing people from automobile wrecks, and they began to cut you out. Until they realized there was no body in there. Your companion—the woman—she presented her own challenges. Her heart had stopped, but didn’t respond to compressions. At this point they didn’t know what was inside her. By all rights, you should have both died there. Then the employees intervened. The … ah … the artificially enhanced employees. During the hearings, they were heavily criticized. I think, looking back, people would regret how they were demonized. It was the shock of the new. Now, of course …” She shrugged. Her eyes were beautiful. That almond color, it was very deep. “Anyway, they saved you. They knew which parts could be detached without killing you. Killing your brain. They kept you alive until you reached a hospital. You can appreciate the picture you presented. The doctors saw nothing left to save. By their definition, you weren’t even a person. You were parts. But the Better People convinced them to stabilize you. They fed you oxygen, water. Then the authorities intervened. The Better People were removed. They