Flesh for Fantasy Read Online Free PDF

wrapped his warm body around Jacob.
    Jacob wasn’t ready to think about the
care the cyborg had given him, or how it had been exactly what he’d
needed at that moment. He accepted it for what it was and thanked
his lucky stars Cal had been there to hold him.
     
    ****
     
    Jacob stood on the train platform the
following morning, waiting to go to work. Work was the farthest
thing from his mind. Cal was all he could think about, and Jacob
hadn’t wanted to leave his cyborg, not after what had happened the
day before.
    Cal acted more and more human with
each passing moment. If that was his programming finally coming up
to speed, so be it, but Jacob still thought there was more to it.
And if that lightning bolt had made Cal into the lover Jacob
needed, then so be it. Cal had ripped open barriers even Jacob
hadn’t realized were there and for the first time in a long while,
Jacob felt lighter, freer.
    Jacob felt his cell buzzing in his
pocket. He pulled the phone out and peered into the screen.
“Answer.”
    Declan’s face appeared on the other
side, a smile on his face. “Morning!”
    “ Morning,
Declan.”
    “ Hey, I ran the reports I
gathered from CAL’s data, and I found an anomaly. Remember I said
it was underproducing organic material? Well I wasn’t exactly
correct. This CAL unit is replicating organic material, and it
seems something kicked started it. Maybe it was struck by lightning and the
wound healed over quickly because of the regeneration.”
    “ What are you
saying?”
    “ The CAL unit is set up to
produce cells to take over when the older cells die. Your CAL is
self-replicating the cells himself, without producing any from the
computer system.”
    “ And that means?” Jacob
asked, worry filling him. He didn’t want to lose Cal, not now that
he’d finally gotten what he wanted.
    “ I’d like to take a look
at your CAL unit again and do a full diagnostic. This could be
huge, Jacob. If he’s replicating his own cells, he isn’t as
dependent on the computer system programming.”
    “ You’re not going to take
him from me, are you?”
    Declan frowned. “No, I won’t take him
from you. I just need to study him. If we can use him to create
more CALs like him, this will be a cyborg revolution.”
    Jacob paused a moment. The thought
that his cyborg used to make more like Cal bothered him. “And what
if I say no?”
    Declan frowned. “No? Why would you say
no to me screening him?”
    “ He’s special. Unique. If
you find out what it is that makes him special and mass produce my
Cal, then he’s no longer special.”
    “ You would be selfish and
keep other lonely people in the world from being able to connect to
their cyborgs better?”
    Jacob grimaced and glared at Declan.
“Don’t play that card with me. You see dollar signs. Well, my Cal
is mine and no one else’s.”
    Declan sighed. “I won’t lie and say I
couldn’t stand to make a fortune off this, but it also has to do
with the science behind it all. It’s a fascinating look at where
science meets the almost supernatural. I want to see how he works,
that’s all.”
    “ No,” Jacob said as his
train pulled into the platform. “End of conversation. You weren’t
willing to believe me when I said something was up with him, so you
missed your chance then. Cal isn’t going to become your guinea
pig.”
    Declan glared at Jacob. “You’re making
a mistake. You’re getting too close to the machine. The way he’s
changing, who knows what might happen next. You need me. The CAL
unit needs me.”
    “ Just stop,” Jacob
snapped. “I’ll think about it.”
    Jacob ended the call and raced to get
on the train. He dropped into a seat near the window and watched as
the city soon flew past him. Worry settled in his gut. Would Declan
do something stupid and steal Cal away if Jacob didn’t agree? It
was a simple diagnostic, no more than the manufacturer suggested
all cyborgs get every six months. Sure, it was a little early to
get one