The Machine of Flesh

Chapter Six: Changes

ChapterSix: Changes

The next evening after my interrogation and torture of the Unschuldigs, I met with Manfred Dunst at his apartment on Wendestraße, Berlin, at the Kontinuum Suiten. At the front of the suites, I rang his bell and spoke into the microphone embedded in the electronic doorbell panel.

"Hey Manfred, it's me, Heinrich. Let me in." I said.

Over the speakers, I could hear a faint static buzzing and a raspy clearing of his throat.

"I'll ring you in Heinrich. The door should be open in a second." Manfred said.

The lobby door unlocked and I made my way in. I walked towards the elevators and took one up to the twenty second floor. I walked down the hall and made a right towards suite twenty two. I knocked on the door and looked into the peephole in Manfred's door to see if his eye would show up on the otherside. With the distorted projection of the convex side of the peephole, I could see an eye on the otherside quickly fade in and then disappear. Manfred unlatched the deadbolt, unchained two more locks and then unlocked the lock in the doorknob. He opened the door and said

"Quickly, come in Heinrich. Before anyone sees you."

He whisked me into the living room and Manfred looked out in the hallway, on both sides. He quickly latched and locked the door and looked one last time in the peephole. Manfred turned to me and gave me a strong hug. I was surprised and taken a back that Manfred, someone who was like a ghost in my life, would have such affection for me.

"It is good to see you brother. I knew you would make the right decision, I knew you would join The Resistance. It was only a matter of time before your conscience came calling, before it would finally hit you." Manfred said

I squinted my eyes at Manfred scanning him erratically and said nervously and rapidly,

"We must discuss that first Manfred, I, I don't want to get myself into something that I know I can't back out of without knowing that we will achieve total victory."

Manfred put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. I could see the worry in his face, in his unstable smile and darting eyes, scanning me. I wondered in that moment what it really felt like to be augmented with a superintelligence and the burden it must have been to know so much, but have so little power. The fabled Resistance could never defeat the Nazis, especially if they had similar technology. But who knows I thought, wars have been fought and won with lesser men, lesser weaponry and lesser advantage in the balance of power.

"Come. Come to the dinner table and let us enjoy a nice meal. Afterwards we can discuss everything I have, in mind." Manfred said.

The living room still had the square interlocking anechoic absorption padding on the walls, and the large metal box presumably containing the record player was still in the backhand corner of the living room, near the drawn shut windows. I never saw the rest of Manfred's suite, but he lead me into the adjacent room on the left which was the dining room. Once inside, I wasn't surprised by how it looked. More anechoic absorption material lined the walls and the ceiling. This place was an extreme fire risk and knowing Manfred, he liked to combust all types of drugs all the time. I'm sure the Kontinuum Suites wouldn't burn down entirely, but Manfred would have a hard time surviving the inhalation of all these toxic and noxious fumes from the burning of the hydrocarbon polymers in the absorption material.

In the middle of the room, a chandelier hung over the all steel dining table and the chandelier seemed out of place. It was probably something that first came with the suite when Manfred bought the apartment and was too much of a hassle to take out. A total of eight seats lined the dining table sides, with two along the width of the dining table, on opposing sides, and three along the length of the dining table, also opposing one another. I sat on the far end of the width edge of the dining table, facing Manfred directly. Manfred took his seat as well.