Machine Man - Max Barry [75]
Dr. Angelica sniffed. This was going to hurt me, losing control of my legs. I wasn’t sure how to put a positive spin on that. But when I opened my eyes, her expression was softer. “Well,” she said. “That was sincere, at least.” She looked at the syringe, then set it on the sink. “Clean yourself up when you’re done. You smell.” She opened the bathroom door and left.
It took me a moment to figure out. Dr. Angelica thought I’d been talking to her.
“THEY’RE ASKING everyone about you,” said Dr. Angelica. She reached across the kitchen table and speared a potato. “At the hospital.”
Lola froze, a forkful of lettuce halfway to her mouth. “Who is?”
“Better Future,” said Dr. Angelica. “They’re all through the place, telling us to report any contact.”
I was not paying attention. I was talking to my legs. Hello? I said. Can you hear me?
“What did you tell them?”
“Nothing.”
Lola glanced at me. I remembered I was supposed to be eating, and stabbed a carrot. “What should we do?”
“I already told you.” Dr. Angelica bent down and scooped up a dog that was whining at her feet. Its bright eyes fixed on me across the tablecloth. “Go to the feds. Say they’re conducting illegal medical trials. That takes care of Better Future, I guarantee it.”
Give me a sign. A twitch. Something.
Dr. Angelica stroked her dog’s ears. “He’ll be in trouble, but that’s unavoidable. He killed a man. The point is it gets the company off your back. And they’re the threat. You don’t know what they’re capable of. Get the authorities involved before they destroy evidence. While there’s still something for the feds to confiscate.” Her eyes flicked at me.
My right Contour bounced up and hit the underside of the table. The setting jumped an inch into the air and clattered back down. The dog bolted from Angelica’s lap and took shelter in the doorway and stared balefully at me.
“Charlie?” said Lola.
“Sorry,” I said. “Yes. I’m fine.”
I STOOD in the bathroom, brushing my teeth and looking at myself in the mirror. My legs were not conscious. That wasn’t possible. I would believe they could think for themselves when I opened them up to find them powered by tiny elves. You didn’t combine a bunch of inert materials and get personality.
And yet. Something was going on. A glitch I hadn’t anticipated.
Lola came in, smiled, and fished around the sink for a toothbrush. Her hip brushed mine. She came up with a short blue one, eyed it, and squeezed on toothpaste. “Did you know there’s a condition where you find your own saliva disgusting?” She poked the toothbrush into her mouth and spoke around it. “Imagine that.”
“Mrph,” I said.
“Ah had to schlee on the schofa las nigh.” She shook her head.
“Schlee?”
“Schlee.” She angled the toothbrush and tilted her chin. An ocean of toothpaste sloshed inside her mouth. “Sleep.”
I felt a subtle, invisible tugging.
She leaned forward and spat. “Let’s pull that mattress off Harrison’s bed. I can sleep next to you.” Harrison was Angelica’s son. He visited two weekends per month. Lola had told me this earlier, her eyes hot with outrage, before launching into a story about people I didn’t know doing things I was supposed to care about. I always have trouble with those kinds of stories because they contain no useful information. I was sorry to hear that Rod prioritized his own career over Dr. Angelica’s. But I didn’t know Rod. I didn’t understand what I was supposed to do with that information. “Maybe we can … get to know each other.”
I went to spit into the sink but the Contours didn’t move. They were rigid. I thought, Tilt.
Lola’s fingers addressed a wrinkle on my shirt. “Come to bed.”
A thought whispered inside my brain: The legs don’t like Lola. That was silly. But it fit available evidence. They’re jealous.
“Come.” Lola’s fingers found mine. She opened the door and peeked out into the corridor. I followed her to Angelica’s kid’s bedroom. Her back looked small and vulnerable and I had the sudden thought that