The Metal Man: An Account of a WW2 Nazi Cyborg Read Online Free PDF Page B

Baer, whose nose Brucker had broken barely two hours before), he found Brucker’s men crouched almost defensively in front of their fallen leader’s body.
     
    ‘I’ve given the order to clear out,’ Ackermann informed them curtly. Darkness was beginning to descend. ‘Might be space for you on top of one of the three tanks, otherwise you’ll have to walk. Usual thing.
     
    ‘You might want to…’ – he gestured at the covered corpse with his chin – ‘get him buried quickly before we move on.’ 
     
    Mayer shook his head, staring steadily back at the SS officer.
     
    ‘Seems we’ve got to wait… sir,’ he said levelly.
     
    ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Ackermann snapped back. ‘I’ve just given an order, damn you!’
     
    ‘We were able to get hold of General Hirsch’s secretary on the radio,’ Mayer informed him. ‘Told him what had taken place here…’
     
    Mayer allowed a brief but awkward silence to develop; then he continued, ‘We were also instructed to wait with the body of Lieutenant Colonel Karl Brucker, as they’re sending a vehicle to pick him up. Should be here within the next half hour, I believe.’
     
    ‘What?’ spat Ackermann. ‘Coming to pick his body up? What the hell is this – just get him buried, and get your asses –’
     
    ‘Those are the orders we received, sir – and those are the orders we’ll follow,’ declared Mayer, his right hand moving almost imperceptibly towards the pistol on his belt.
     
    Again, for the sake of avoiding a possible mutiny, Ackermann considered he’d no choice but to back down.
     
    For now – he wouldn’t forget what had just happened…
     
    ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘Let them come and pick up Brucker’s body. Maybe they’ll take it all the way back to Berlin, and give him the hero’s burial he so richly deserves.’
     
    With that, he turned and walked away, followed by the men he’d brought with him.
     
    Mayer followed him with eyes like flint.
     
    ‘I wonder what did happen in that room, with Brucker, the woman and that sod,’ he muttered, almost to himself.
     
    The others looked curiously at him.
     
    ‘How do you mean?’ asked Bach.
     
    ‘I don’t know… I just…’ Mayer began; then he shook his head.
     
    ‘I don’t know,’ he repeated, continuing to shake his head with some vague, nameless suspicion…
     
     
    6
     
     
    The required daily report for Operation Metal Man having been made, Wilhelm Reinhardt left his department’s bunker, taking the large elevator to the surface.
     
    A cobbled courtyard was formed by the surrounding, nondescript buildings, which housed several offices but also the garage for the large military lorry that was currently being converted so that it could transport the Metal Man to wherever this machine was sent.
     
    Yes – machine , thought Reinhardt firmly. That parts of a human brain including the cerebrum and cerebellum would be required in constructing the Metal Man did not give it any kind of soul.
     
    It would be an automaton, obeying every order it received without any extraneous thought, designed and created purely to kill…
     
    Reinhardt almost shuddered. Despite his enthusiasm for the project as a whole, he’d trouble accepting that the Metal Man would not be entirely mechanical.
     
    But Jonas Schroder had informed him, right at the start, that there was no other way. For this project to be successful, parts of a recently-deceased soldier had to be utilized.
     
    Sections of the brain, mainly, but also…
     
    Reinhardt shook his head, refusing to think about this matter any further.
     
    He approached the barrier, beyond which was a busy street, and perfunctorily showed his identification card to the soldier manning the small booth as he passed through.
     
    It was evening. Slowly getting dark. Again, Reinhardt had worked a twelve-hour day. He was exhausted. He’d get a couple of drinks and something to eat at an excellent little café he knew, and