Free The Metal Man: An Account of a WW2 Nazi Cyborg by Ben Stevens

course be given every assistance by this department…’
     
    ‘It can’t be done – not one a week!’ returned Schroder passionately. ‘The thing is impossible. This Metal Man is a one-off, impossible to repli – ’
     
    ‘You’re not hearing me, Jonas,’ interrupted Reinhardt almost harshly. ‘I am merely passing on an order from the Fuhrer himself. I repeat: you have no choice in this matter.’
     
    Schroder rubbed his face.
     
    ‘And my mother?’ he said then. ‘Did you mention anything about – ’
     
    ‘Goodnight, Jonas,’ said Reinhardt firmly. ‘I suggest you get some sleep soon. I will speak to you about Hitler’s order again tomorrow – for I’m to supply him with certain details as soon as possible.’
     
    With that the Captain of the secret research lab walked away, heading towards the double-doors which led into the large room.
     
    Schroder remained stood virtually in the centre, staring down at his creation as it lay on the metal table recharging, the only sound now the steady hum of the machinery lining the walls. 
     
     
    14
     
     
    It should have been lying in unthinking darkness.
     
    But images were troubling it.
     
    Sounds too.
     
    That cry had been made by a…
     
    …Woman.
     
    A new word? But it felt as though it had known this word all along.
     
    Men… and women.
     
    Different.
     
    It thought of the word ‘woman’ again and a picture briefly flashed up, so quickly it could not properly see it before it vanished again.
     
    A dark-haired – woman – smiling…
     
    A smile.
     
    It could not smile.
     
    So why even visualize a… woman… smiling…?
     
    A woman cried – not that woman appearing for a split-second in the darkness – and it froze. It knew that it did this now. Knew that it would do so again, if it heard this cry. That it would freeze. Rendered immobile.
     
    That scream – that was the word. Another new word that was at once also somehow entirely familiar.
     
    Men… it could attack… and kill… men.
     
    But not these – women.
     
    There had been another cry.
     
    Brittle and –
     
    A strange thought: a stick being stirred in a dark muddy pool?
     
    Too many new words and disturbing images occurring. It felt as though such things had set… something… whirring fast inside of it –
     
    Felt ? What did this word even mean?
     
    Another cry. A baby. Another flash of a picture. That dark-haired smiling woman was now holding… a baby…
     
    It felt something else now. Some feeling of warmth.
     
    This feeling stirred another flashed image. Four men crouched away from those other men gathered outside that place it had been ordered to enter.
     
    It thought it had seen… had known...? them before; yet this was impossible.
     
    But that sensation of warmth; of…
     
    Affection.
     
    The word flashed inside it just like the pictures. Another new word whose meaning it felt rather than consciously recognized.
     
    But…
     
    This feeling of warmth dissipated now. Other images, lasting longer although it almost did not – want – them too.
     
    A big man. Damaged face: his nose. The recollection of that damaged nose stirred something else; but what this was, was not clear.
     
    Another, more distant memory. The stick stirring the muddy pool more deeply.
     
    Shouting… a sudden blow…
     
    But this man with the damaged face pulling at the baby and…
     
    The whirring within it seemed to be getting ever louder and faster. It did not breathe but somehow it felt choked by…
     
    By…
     
    Anger.
     
    Another new word; another new feeling somehow instantly recognized. It had released this man when ordered but it had wanted to destroy him.
     
    When ordered… That order coming from another man. A face somehow already familiar. But again that whirring increasing; more anger.
     
    A superior it had to obey but –
     
    Someone it already hated. The feeling intensifying now. Giving it yet more new vocabulary.
     
    Detested.
     
    Something