Page 48 of CHOICE Lover
He takes Electra’s arm, sliding down until he can entwine their fingers. She doesn’t resist as he tugs her forward. They pass various staff members in the hallways, some of whom he recognizes. All recognize him and give the three of them a wide berth. When they are safely ensconced inside an elevator, she holds up their joined hands. “Considering we’re at your company, is this necessary?”
“Yes.”
“You aren’t holding Chryl’s hand,” she points out.
“I don’t have to worry about Chryl misbehaving.” For her part, Chryl gleefully nods, pretending to zip her lips. He permits himself a bemused grin as he leads them into the hallway that connects the research and development laboratories.
“Good afternoon, sir,” Lextr says. “We weren’t expecting you this afternoon.”
He pulls Electra forward. “Electra has agreed to a few scans.”
Chryl starts, “You can scan me if you want—” but Res6 cuts her a warning look. She mouthssorryand re-zips her lips.
“Excellent. I can take care of it.” Lextr holds out his hand in a gesture that says,Just hand her over to me.
Electra takes a wary step back, edging behind Res6. The fingertips of her free hand wrap around his arm, and an emotion he’d rather avoid swells in his chest. “I’ll accompany her. We should do a full bio check while we’re at it.”
Lextr’s brows rise, and he shoots an incredulous glance between them. “As you wish. Unit, please follow me.” He leads them through the nearest double-paned glass door and down the long corridor that leads to the medical wing.
“Her name is Electra,” Res6 repeats when they enter a large exam room.
“With respect, sir, I don’t care what her name is. To me, she’s an experiment. Fascinating, yes, but still an experiment.” As Lextr collects the equipment, he shoots Chryl, who is shimmying with excitement, several wary glances. “Is she malfunctioning?”
“I’m not,” Electra answers, busy eyeing the different pieces of medical and scientific equipment. He tries to see the blinking gadgets and human-sized chambers through her eyes: the shiny metal electro-regeneration scale, the transparent particle panes of the Spot-Gene Interface. His lab must be a strange place to her.
Chryl steps to Electra’s side, shaking her bosom. “He means me, obviously, babes!”
“My mistake. Well, in that case . . .” Electra mutters, trailing off.
Ten minutes later, Lextr has collected a saliva and blood sample. They’ve come back normal. Res6 hovers nearby, trying not to fidget while Lextr takes the first of many scans. As the blue biowave makes a pass over her body, Electra is stiff.
The device beeps twice before lighting up green. “All internal systems are intact,” Lextr says. He steps closer, inspecting her face. He lifts his hand, tapping her cheek. “I would suggest we remove these since you plan to keep her.”
She flinches, and Res6 steps forward, forcing Lextr to take a step back. “Absolutely not.”
“But they’re a defect and will make her acclimatization in our society more difficult,” Lextr pushes.
“I said no. The freckles stay,” Res6 states.
“Fine.” Lextr shakes his head, mumbling, “When was the last time you took good advice when I offered it to you?”
Lextr runs three more scans, each a different color of light. “Her long-term DNA malfunction prediction report will be emailed to you automatically as soon as it is finished processing.” He glances up at the particle pane displaying the time, the indoor temperature, and the current light setting, and sets the scanner on the counter. “If that is all, I’m needed elsewhere.”
Res6 narrows his eyes. Considering the scan results will be ready shortly, it surprises him that Lextr isn’t eager to review them. Each failure bothers Lextr too. The man is as eager to succeed as he is, though his lead scientist is more interested in replicating the experiment, which will help them isolate the precise factor causing the NAM activation.
When the door closes behind Lextr, Electra lets out a long exhale. “That was exciting. Lextr seems like a real piece of work.”
“I think he’s kinda cute.” Chryl twirls a lock of hair, but she jerks like she’s surprised herself. “Don’t be jealous, Daddy!”
“Chryl, please,” he snaps, and turns to Electra. “Lextr means well, and he and Tommy balance each other out.”
Before Electra, it never occurred to him that Lextr’s behavior might be rude. Perhaps that means there is some value in attending his FRIENDS group after all. But if he showed up now, would anyone realize he’s been sending a manupartner in his place the entire time? He could put in for a new group and within a week, NHOS would assign it, but it seems like a lot of trouble. Besides, he has her for human interaction now. Except he doesn’t have her, given that he chose to avoid a long-term attachment, and she did too.
The woman is a disruption. Why did he do this to himself? His curiosity. Right. His thinking is growing increasingly repetitive, and his rationalizations are weakening by the moment, despite how desperately he’s clinging to them. On the bright side, Electra’s existence gave him the idea to bring back Jerme, so her presence will be worth it.
Electra groans. “Please tell me all future people aren’t like him. What about the conduct classes you mentioned? He’s probably due for one soon.”
“I’ll have to check his file. Then there are a few things I need to do in my office while we wait on your DNA malfunction prediction report. If anything comes up, we can stop by the corrections department to get a gene editing procedure while we’re here.”
