Cor Hominis

            The girl slipped into the factory. It’d long since been abandoned. The windows were cracked so rhythmically and tightly that they resembled spider webs. Conveyer belts housed mechanical limbs, each one rusted with age. Desperately, she navigated through the rows of levers and machines, her eyes focused ahead. “Don’t worry, Love,” she whispered, kissing the glass vial in her soft hands.

            One might call her a girl. She’d only seen eighteen summers, but she’d known the love that eludes some their entire lives. She clutched the vial dearly. Within it, white smog swirled and funneled, becoming restless. “Soon, Love. I promise.” She weaved through the factory, each one of her footsteps echoing around the walls and disturbing the layers of dust. “Father said…before it was shut down…” She ran her hand along the smooth cement wall, searching.

            A crack divided the wall, the only natural thing in the entire factory. Or so intruders thought. The girl knew though. Gently tapping it, the wall groaned and creaked. It twisted to open for anyone who knew its secrets. As she slipped in, a slim beam of crimson broke through the darkness, scanning her forehead.

            The line dissipated and bright lights flooded the room.

            A golden orb rolled across the floor, a red dot in its center. The girl jumped, nearly losing the vial. The eye studied her before spinning away. On the back wall, copper wires weaved together, sizzling and sparking at their ends. They were contained in slim metal casings, only a few inches long.

            The girl swallowed, turning to the golden apparatus filling the room. She studied the mechanical body, the already ticking heart, like an impatient click. From her pocket, she pulled a photograph.

            The man depicted was scarcely older than her with crystal blue eyes crinkled with a smile and straight dark hair hanging in his face.

            She held the photograph beside the figure. Each joint and hinge was visible, but the copper veins beneath were concealed. The contours of the body were harsher than the natural versions and bulkier than he’d been during his illness. The girl touched her hand to a cheek, unnatural warmth radiated from it, unlike the cool metal of the inactive arm. The long straight nose was undoubtedly his as was the strong square jaw. She opened one copper eyelid. A cobalt iris stared at her.

“Are you ready, Love?” She asked, kissing the vial once more. Rounding the machine, she uncapped the vial. Before the smoke could escape, she capped it with a black tube. She heaved down a lever. The machine creaked to life.

The white steam traveled up the black tube and into the golden machine. Gauges fluctuated. Gears riveted. Pistons pumped. The generator surged with life.

Her eyes watched desperately, full of tears. The room clouded with smoke. When the noise could increase no more, it stopped.

A small creak was heard after the silence. A figure walked through the smoke, a familiar smile on his face. “Hello, Dear.”