Made to Love by DL Kopp Page A

wink.
    And if my dad found out
about all this...
    I shook my head as we
entered the lab.  The whirring of the machines was almost
soothing, in its own way.  It was deceptive, alluring. 
If I kept this up, I'd be studying chemistry willingly and ignoring
my poetry, heaven forbid.
    Byron stood in the back by
the books.  His back – which I had never looked at before now
– was gorgeous: muscular and dimpled.  It was like he took the
best of four or five different very attractive, ripped men.  I
certainly wasn't complaining.
    Octavius grumbled, and I
leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek.  “Seriously, you
can go,” I said.
    “ No,” Octavius said. 
He sat on Byron's usual gurney, crossed his arms and legs, and
scowled in our direction.  I had a feeling he'd be like that
for a while. 
    Oh well.
    I crossed the room and ran
a hand down Byron's back.  I felt the seams with my palm; they
were almost softer than the rest of his skin.  He shivered
under my touch.
    “ Calliope!”  Octavius
shouted.
    “ What?” I asked, turning
toward him.
    “ Be careful.  The
creature doesn't think as we do.”
    It was Byron's turn to
scowl.  I sensed that things would become ugly if I didn't
intervene, so I stepped in the gap between them and held up my
hands.  “Look.  We have a lot of work to do, and I don't
need any interruptions, okay?  My parents are going to be
around tomorrow, and I need to take advantage of this now. 
Truce?”
    Neither looked particularly
inclined to do so.  I stomped on the floor.  “If you guys
don't cool it, Octavius is going to leave, and I'm going up to my
room to do more homework.”
    “ But--” Byron looked
hurt.
    “ Calliope--” Octavius
said.
    I held up my hand
again.  “You both be nice, or this is over now.  Got
it?”
    Byron nodded
immediately.  Octavius eyed him suspiciously, but he
reluctantly nodded as well.
    “ Good.” I walked up to
Byron.  “What book do you have?”
    He held it up.  The
title was embossed in gold on the green cover: Powering
Independent Biological Tissue .  It looked like the volume
we needed.  I nodded with pleasure.
    “ This should give us some
hints,” I said, flipping open the front.  I skimmed the table
of contents, found a promising chapter, and turned to the page in
question.  There was a fairly complex diagram of a motor, but
I didn't find it difficult to follow.  My dad would have been
pleased...if he wasn't busy murdering Octavius.
    “ Okay,” I said. 
“Most of the materials should be around here.”
    Byron came to look over my
shoulder.  He reached an arm over my shoulder – I shivered at
the contact – and dragged his finger across the diagram.
    “ I understand some of
this,” he said.  “But I don't see how the motor
runs.”
    I pointed to a wire. 
“It's self-sustaining after it's started.”
    “ That makes sense,” he
said.  “What I mean is...how does it start?”
    It was a good
question.
    “ Good question. 
Let's see...”
    I turned the page.  On
the next two pages were diagrams of two persons: a male, from the
looks of the genitalia, and a female.  It appeared wires
hooked into the nervous system, which made sense, but
how...
    The answer appeared. 
I flushed.
    Octavius noticed right
away.  “What?”
    Byron looked where my
finger stopped.  I didn't realize I was covering the male, and
I pulled my hand away with a squeak.  He turned his head and
made a surprised sound.
    “ It appears mating is the
initial power source,” Byron said.  “Correct?”
    “ You're a fast learner,” I
gasped.
    In a flash, Octavius was on
his feet.  He snatched the book from my hands and looked at
the pages.  “No,” he said.  It didn't look like he
understood what he was seeing, but he still seemed resigned. 
And horrified.  “No.”
    “ I don't understand the
extra appendage,” Byron said.
    “ Extra
appendage?”
    “ At the waist.  I
have never seen that before.”
    I goggled at him. 
“You