The Metal Man: An Account of a WW2 Nazi Cyborg by Ben Stevens Read Free Book Online Page A

split almost cleanly in two, horizontally along the stomach, the top half falling to ground, the guts spilling out like the contents of a burst sack.
     
    The legs continued to stand for a few seconds…
     
    Then they, too, collapsed into the mud and rubble.
     
    All around was the flash and noise of gunfire, the yelling and screaming of those trying desperately to flee from this awful, ever-advancing black figure…
     
     
    9
     
     
    ‘Brilliant, Jonas – brilliant!’
     
    Captain Wilhelm Reinhardt praised his senior scientist, the pair of them stood in the small workshop that was off from the massive room where the Metal Man was currently lying on the large table.
     
    ‘Seven operations in four days – and then back here for maintenance,’ continued Reinhardt happily. ‘How soon before…?’
     
    Schroder pursed his lips as he thought.
     
    ‘The left leg has sustained some minor damage from a grenade blast; I think a part of it will have to be replaced. In any case, some of the scientists outside are attending to that now – they hardly need me to oversee such a routine task.
     
    ‘Other than that, the titanium-alloy armor has proved even stronger than I thought. A few standard tests and then it can be taken away in the lorry again… ‘
     
    Schroder shrugged, and finished –
     
    ‘But in answer your question – the machine will be ready by this evening.’
     
    Reinhardt’s eyes now became a little brooding.
    ‘The military want to know,’ he began, ‘if it’s possible for the Metal Man to remain longer in the field – on active operation, as it were. Perhaps the lorry in which he is transported could be outfitted with more equipment? Just something that will mean the Metal Man doesn’t have to be returned to Berlin for maintenance every few days…’
     
    Schroder shook his head almost irritably.
     
    ‘Please understand, Captain,’ he said, unusually addressing Reinhardt by rank even though the two men were talking in private. ‘I have obviously never constructed anything like this before. So I have to keep a close eye on… it.
     
    ‘Also, you know how much this lab and all the equipment it contains cost to construct; you also know how much space and personnel are required. Also the sheer amount of electricity required to recharge the Metal Man. Clearly, the lorry which transports it only has room for the most basic of equipment – a temporary battery recharger, some spare parts, ammunition for the gun – and at the most two scientists to also ride in the back.’
     
    Reinhardt nodded.
     
    ‘The question was asked by a number of officers – I was merely relaying it,’ he stated. ‘So, by this evening the Metal Man will be ready to be transported back to Poland, anyway. To fight against the Russian advance.’
     
    ‘Wilhelm, I have to ask – my mother…’ began Schroder uncertainly.
     
    Again, Reinhardt’s heart sank. He cursed the day Major Fleischer of the Gestapo had chosen to inform him where Schroder’s mother was being kept. If indeed she was still alive. Many Germans had seen friends and acquaintances – Jewish, usually – ‘disappear’ from out of society; and many knew exactly the sort of places where they’d been taken…
     
    But the half-Jewish Schroder, almost cosseted down here in his subterranean world of invention and thought, seemed not to be aware of the existence of these places…
     
    Although, from previous conversations, he was clearly concerned by the strangely banal letters he was purportedly receiving from his mother…
     
    ‘I want to see her,’ Schroder continued, his voice becoming firmer. ‘I have built Germany this Metal Man, and in return I deserve to see my mother, if only once!’
     
    ‘Leave it with me,’ Reinhardt muttered. ‘Leave it with me. I’ll see what I can do…’
     
    With an uncertain nod, he opened the door of the workshop and exited out into the large room where the Metal Man was lying upon the metal