Page 145 of Godslayer
Xi shrugs. “Some men have problems with the day one changes. Clearly, you do not.”
“Why would I? I’m stronger, bigger?—”
“Yes,” he says, cutting me off. “But the physical enhancements can sometimes… be…”
“If you’re talking about my dick, I’m not disappointed.”
“Excellent. Some men lose in that department.”
“Oh.” Then I laugh. “Well. I can attest that I haven’t encountered that side effect. In fact, I’ve been blessed with the opposite.”
He presses his lips together, eye smiling with delight. And I have to remind myself that this man—god—thing—it’s not even real. He’s made of light.
It blows my mind.
“Jasina is happy as well, I take it?”
“More than satisfied,” I say, grinning.
“Perfect. Then let’s begin day two.”
“More screens?”
“No,” he says, curtly. “The screen time is over. You learned everything you needed yesterday and signed all the forms, so we’re officially on.”
“Signed forms?”
“Your consent, Finn. I’m an ethical god. I don’t augment men against their will.”
That wasn’t what I was implying, I simply don’tremembersigning any forms. But whatever. “Good. Let’s go.”
He gestures to the table. “Have a seat.” And just as he says this, those worker-bot things come back in holding trays of needles and tubes. “Don’t worry, today’s tests are quick. We’ll take blood samples every day for tidy recordkeeping.” He holds up a tube from the worker’s tray, right in front of my face.
The next thing I know, I’m holding that tube in my hand and Xi is laughing.
“What the hell just happened?” I ask, looking down at the tube.
“Test number one—pass.”
“What do you mean? I… how did this tube get in my hand? It just… appeared there!”
“No,” Xi corrects me. “I simply let go of it and you reacted before it hit the floor.”
“I… reacted? But I didn’t.”
“Your reflexes are so fast now, Finn, you didn’t even see your hand move.”
“What?” I look down, studying my hand. Feeling jittery and unsure again. Then I look up at Xi. “But?—”
He puts up a hand. “Don’t worry. Day one is reflexes, which has integrated perfectly into your biology. You didn’t see your hand move because your eyes haven’t been augmented yet. Day two is sight, sound and smell, as well as a data display. From this day forward, you will see life in a whole new way.”
“I don’t think I understand.”
“You will, when it’s over. Unless you’d like to back out?”
“No,” I say quickly. “No. I’m not backing out.”
“Perfect. Then let’s get started. Please remove your clothes and lie back on the table.”
