General

Inside was a jumble of rubber coated wires, their original vibrant colours subdued with undisturbed dust. Doubtless the casings would be brittle but not the metal inside, that copper would be malleable and untarnished, ready to put into the make-shift cells. The chances of a live wire were almost zero, how long had it been since the plant fell silent? Jayla lent in and stuck her tongue on the exposed end of the red, her lip ring making her flesh sag with gravity. I might have smiled if she was expendable, but she isn't. No Jayla and we get set back years... but what can we do, treat her with kid-gloves and she'll sulk till next Christmas.

General

From the mass of loose copper wires in her hand to the wiry black hair on top, there was no escaping her fate. Jayla was wired inside and out. We'd all read the same electronics books, the same chemistry books - hell, we'd even been to most of the same universities and got similar grades. It was just that somehow she remembered everything with photographic recall and so long as we kept her supplied with chocolate, nice boots and alcohol she was all ours. We just had to pray she got to like us before someone else made her a better offer.