Free Heart of Steel by Elizabeth Einspanier

camera.
    “Um,” she said. “Hello?”
    “Yes, Miss Julia?” Arthur responded.
    “Oh. I was thinking that Dr. Mechanus would answer.”
    “Dr. Mechanus is currently in one of his laboratories, working on an unspecified project. I believe he is suffering a fit of melancholy after your reaction to Jim.”
    A fit of ‘melancholy’?
    ...Ugh. In other words, she’d hurt his feelings. Great . This made things both easier and harder.
    “Yeah. About that.” She scrambled for the sorts of words that might function as an apology along the lines of I’m sorry I freaked out by your turning my boyfriend into a horrifying cyborg and came up empty. Because she wasn’t sorry for that. Not at all. You don’t apologize for fight or flight reactions.
    She rubbed her hands together as she thought, in an unconscious hand-washing gesture.
    Get his trust, Jules .
    “Look, I... I know he worked hard to get Jim back on his feet. Or any feet.” God . What was she saying? “So I wanted to, uh, thank him for the effort?”
    Wow. That sounded lame.
    Arthur was silent for several seconds. Then:
    “Dr. Mechanus accepts your gratitude.”
    Julia let out a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding.
    “Okay. Good. Um.” What else what else what else? “I was wondering if he might be willing to allow me some graph paper and pencils.”
    “For what purpose?”
    Here we go. She took a deep breath. “I’d like to map the complex. I mean, I feel like this place was designed by Daedalus, you know?”
    There came another one of those oh God this was a bad idea I know he’s going to say no silences.
    “A map of the complex will be provided to you,” Arthur said finally.
    Wow. That easy.
    Arthur continued speaking. “You should remain aware, however, of the continued hazards of venturing outside.”
    “Right,” Julia said. “The wolves.”
    “The dire wolves,” Arthur corrected her mildly.
    “The dire wolves, got it. No going outside.”
    “Dr. Mechanus wishes to additionally assure you that he is willing to provide you with anything you like in order to make your stay more comfortable.”
    Gah. Then again...
    “Could you have him... not send the shark-thing by with any more gifts? He... was the one who grabbed us and he kind of freaks me out.”
    “I shall—” Arthur began, but a loud click overrode him.
    “What’s wrong with Scarface?” Mechanus asked over the speaker, sounding confused. “He’s a complete sweetheart.”
    “He’s an eight-foot-tall shark monster!” Julia returned.
    “Seven and a half ,” Mechanus corrected her. “And he’s done nothing to hurt you since you arrived.”
    “He pulled my leg off at the knee! ” Julia exploded. She didn’t usually yell, but there was no way that Mechanus was this dense.
    “Well, uh, aside from that.” Mechanus cleared his throat. “I could assign a different employee to make deliveries...”
    “Not that cat-monster,” Julia said.
    “You needn’t worry about that. Bagheera has been assigned to latrine duty for the foreseeable
    future.” He sighed. “In any case, as we speak I’m working on a new companion for you.”
    Julia put her hands over her eyes. “Oh no...”
    “No, it’s really no trouble,” Mechanus protested. “I want to make up for your loss of Jim, so I’m building something cuddly to keep you company. It should be done in a couple of days.”
    She groaned. She could only imagine what he was building in whatever lab he was in, and her imagination turned out to be entirely too fertile in that regard.
    “Look, uh...” she said, choosing her words carefully. “I know you probably have lots of other projects going on...” She tried to think of hobbies that mad scientists would have, and came up blank. “So I wouldn’t want to keep you away from any of them.”
    “My dearest Julia,” he said, and the metallic note to his voice was nearly inaudible now. “It is my greatest pleasure to provide you with your every desire. I only