The Holy Machine

24

The syntec receptionist knew me well by now.

‘Good evening Mr Simling, nice to see you. Lucy is in the lounge.’

I plunged into the dark red room, instantaneously blotting out Marija and the strange tube journey and the Beacon, along with everything else in the world outside.

Lucy was looking delectable in a little white lacy negligee.

‘Oh George!’ she cried (Initial Greeting IG: 5439/r), ‘It’s great to see you again! I’ve missed you so much, darling!’

‘I can’t wait to get naked with you again,’ she murmured up in her room, as she ran her thumb, with its imbedded infrared reader, over my credit bracelet.

I put my arms round her, lifting her negligee up above her sweet breasts, kissing her hungrily…

‘Oh I love you, Lucy,’ I couldn’t stop myself from saying it now, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you!’

Twenty-five minutes later it was all over. I had had sex with Lucy. I no longer wanted sex with her. There was nothing more to do than get dressed again and creep off home. (And if I had stayed with Marija we would still be talking and drinking wine and a whole evening would lie ahead, full of strange new possibilities.)

I was bitterly, desperately, disappointed with myself.

And yet when I looked at Lucy, sitting on her bed watching me, I still loved her. I still loved this empty shell, even when the lust was all spent.

‘I love you,’ I whispered, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’

Lucy looked at me.

‘What am I?’ she asked.

She spoke in a strange monotone, quite unlike her usual warm and animated voice and her face was blank, like a person in a trance.

‘You are an ASPU, Lucy,’ I said, simply, too surprised to consider my response. ‘You’re a syntec. You’re a kind of machine.’

For about another two seconds, the face remained completely blank and motionless – and then quite abruptly, her normal friendly expression returned.

‘That was really nice George. Will I see you again soon?’