Cyberman

"You’re just old fashioned," said Cally.

"Maybe, Neely, you’re just not being objective. It’s like this man has become your enemy. Why are you so obsessed about proving him wrong?"

Neely shrugged.

"I don’t know," he said. "But it’s like he’s attacking me."

__________

"Steff, go long!"

Steffan ran straight out, and far. Pete threw the ball which turned in a perfect spiral, silently closing in on Steffan. Stuart shouted for him to jump. The ball was too high.

Steffan stumbled back, craning his neck as the ball flew past overhead. There was no sound of it hitting the ground. Steffan turned around and saw a cybernary being standing before him. The ball in its hands.

"Here you go," it said, its voice monotonous and direct.

The being was tall, Steffan noticed. Frightfully so. It stood six to seven feet. The body was a strange mix of flesh and steel, but with ordinary clothes. The hands were normal looking except for their unusual paleness. But it was the head that froze Steffan in his place. It moved mechanically, jerky. It was all metal at the sides and the back, in a half circle shape. The top was glass and inside a bizarre mixture of fluids and lights and tissue were performing a violent dance. The face had the same pale material that he saw on the hands, with a blank, featureless expression.

The unblinking, round eyes stared down at Steffan.

The other boys came running to him, slowing more as the visage of the being became clearer. Steffan stood looking at the extended hand before him.

Pete reached over and took the ball from this hand.

"Y- you’re from CTI, right?"

"That is correct. My name is Hu."

"Hue?" asked Stuart.

"Yes. Hu Man," said the being and laughed mechanically.

The boys stood aghast.

"It was a joke," soothed the being. "I know my present form is a little unsettling at first. But you do get used to it. It’s a small price to pay for everything you could ever want."

"Uh-huh," breathed Steffan, still in shock.

"My real name is Rick."

________

"And you don't have to sleep?" asked Stuart.

"Nope."

"Or eat?"

"Nope."

"Or work?" asked Stefan.

"Uh-uh."

"Or get hurt or do homework or touch vegetables?"

"No. None of those things. Actually, I could work. But what's the point? If something goes wrong with me mechanically, there are computers to fix it."

"What were you before? As a worker, I mean," asked Neely.

"Construction. That's kinda how I got the buzz about all this," Rick turned confidentially to Pete. "There's not a great future in being a laborer."

"How did you get in there?" asked Steffan.

"Well, it’s all pretty complicated. But how it was explained to me is, all the information in my brain was transferred to this one. Just like you would empty your bag of marbles and put them into another bag."

"Wow."