Machine Man - Max Barry [60]
“I know it’s early. Can I come in?”
“Um. Yeah.” She rubbed her hair. I had thought it was out of control before. Overnight it staged a full-scale rebellion. She swung open the door and I clomped inside. She was wearing an oversized yellow sweater and no visible pants. The sweater said: VISION + DARING = BETTER FUTURE. Her legs were very beautiful. You had to give it to biology sometimes.
“I’ve been working. I wanted to see you.”
She dropped onto the sofa. “That’s nice.”
I looked around. “Where’s that nurse?”
Lola’s eyes widened. “Charlie. You broke the pattern.”
I couldn’t believe it. I had forced myself to stop thinking about how to get rid of the nurse, because it was consuming all my waking hours. Now she was gone. It was a miracle.
Lola rose from the sofa. My heart thumped. Her hand closed on my shirt and pulled me closer. A delicious feeling shot through my body. I thought: I should map that for the helmet.
“She could turn up any moment,” said Lola. She leaned upward. We kissed. We had kissed before. But not like this. Not without external observation. I felt anxious, because one thing that nurse had been good for was covering the fact that I was not a good kisser. I was enthusiastic. I was interested. But I had no technique. I was all over the place. I got hair in my mouth and Lola put a hand on my cheek and guided me back to her lips. She did not seem upset or exasperated. She was prepared to tolerate mistakes. She had realistic expectations. I relaxed. I grew more confident. Lola pressed against me. I was doing this. I was some kind of superman. I kissed her and her tongue touched my lips and I gulped audibly and she sniggered into my mouth. It was hotter than it sounds. Her hand found the back of my head and pushed me closer. I fell into her. She was a gravity well. An irresistible attractor. She took hold of my metal hand and guided it to her Better Future sweater, where DARING rose and fell across one breast. I felt softness and warmth and violet harmonics around five gigahertz. “Not so hard,” she whispered. I opened my eyes because I wasn’t the one pressing there. She was. Except she wasn’t even touching my hand.
I tried to pull my hand off her chest. It resisted, then came away. Lola’s eyes popped open.
“Stop. Wait.” I backed away. “You’re attracting me.”
“It’s mutual.”
“Not like that.”
She looked confused. Then her eyes widened and she stepped back. As she did, I felt a slight release, as if I had been bracing myself against a force too subtle to notice until it was gone.
“Did you feel that?”
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Charlie?”
“It’s okay,” I said, although I didn’t know if that was true. “There’s something … maybe some kind of magnetic field.”
“Field?”
“Wait here. I need to get a scanner.”
“It’s my heart,” she whispered. “Isn’t it?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find out.”
“What did they put in me?”
“Please,” I said. “Don’t cry, Lola, because I don’t think I can come any closer without damaging one of us.”
She nodded. “Please hurry.”
I EXITED on the ground floor and headed for the elevators to take me to the labs. Halfway there a young woman fell into step alongside me. This was no mean feat because I was really moving. I glanced down. It was Elaine, my ex-assistant who had had nightmares. She was shorter than I remembered. No, I was taller. She clutched a clipboard to her chest. Her white coat flapped around her legs. Her acne had not improved. “Dr. Neumann. Are you busy?”
“Yes.” We rounded a corner and passed the atrium. Inside, early-rising suits strategized over bowls of muesli.
“I’ve been trying to reach you. I sent e-mails.”
“I don’t read e-mails.”
“Well …” She broke into a run. “I’ve been following your work and, well, actually, I wasn’t at first because I wanted to make a clean break. Because of the trauma. But you’re using so many people and everyone’s talking about