"The Titanium Man"A Story by Jack Buckner“The Titanium Man” By John Smith
1. “Damn it!” Ben Jack said as his cell phone began ringing inside the pocket of his gray dress pants. He reached over and unbuckled his seat belt sliding it to his side. He reached into the pocket on his left side and pulled out the sell phone and answered it. “Hello?” He asked speaking into the speaker. “Hey honey I forgot to tell you about the cell phone bill…” His wife, Hillary, began talking on the other end of the line. “Hey honey! Listen, can I call you back? I’m kind of busy at the moment driving on a ten lane highway!” Ben said to his wife in an aggravated tone. He shuffled the phone to the other hand while trying not to lose control of his brand new Ford Mustang. “Yeah we can talk about it later…” His wife continued talking away into the speaker driving Ben insane. The wind began picking up as the clouds grew a darker and darker gray color. Rain began poring down on the car making driving much more difficult. “S**t!” Ben screamed. “Listen honey, I have to go!” Ben said imminently hanging up the phone. He could feel the rear tires began to hydroplane as the speed slowly increased. Finally the rear wheels spun the car around. “Holy S**t!” Ben screamed as the car drove head first into the silver guardrails. It busted its way through the guardrails and off of the road. The car flipped five times before finally coming to rest on a rock. Ben looked over to his side where he noticed that both his left and right legs were bent sticking up in the air next to his head. As blood began rushing out of his nose his head fell hitting the steering wheel. He was uncurious. 2 The next thing Ben remembered was the sun peaking through the blinds in the hospital room. He reached his arm up and shelled the light of the sun. The doctor rushed in the room and over to Ben’s bedside. The doctor was wearing the usual doctor’s gown with DR. REYNOLDS reading over the heart in a black cursive font. “Are you okay Mr. Jack? Do you know where you are? Do you even remember anything?” Dr. Reynolds asked him. Ben sat up in his bed and looked at the doctor. “Look, can you go shut those damn blinds and I’ll try to remember.” Ben told him. The nurse ran over next to the window and closed the blinds. Ben paused for several moments and then began to shake his head. But he did notice that he had an unusual gray beard on his face. “Do you even know what year it is?” Dr. Reynolds asked him. Ben shook his head again and placed his right hand over his head. “The year is 2031. Your accident took place in the year 2013. Do you even remember any thing about the accident?” Dr. Reynolds asked. Ben thought long and hard and shook his head no again. “Accident? What accident? Tell me what the hell is going on?” Ben shouted. The doctor looked at him and smiled. “In 2013, you were in a horrible accident. You drove your car off the road, through the guardrails, and flapped over several times before finally crashing into a tree. Ben, you died.” Dr. Reynolds informed him. “If I died, how am I here? Who the hell are you and what the f**k happened?” Ben shouted at the doctor. Dr. Reynolds sat down on his rolling stool and rolled himself over to Ben’s bedside. “New technology has serviced since you…slipped away. After you died, I just discovered how to save you. So I rescued your body from the merge and kept you alive until you woke up.” Dr. Reynolds said. “What do you mean by new technology?” he asked him. “I mean f*****g raising the dead! I did the impossible. I did an operation on you that not only saved your life, but enhanced it.” Dr. Reynolds said proudly. “What did you do to me?” He asked the doctor. Dr. Reynolds began to laugh. “I rebuilt you entirely. Out of 100 percent titanium.” Dr. Reynolds said. “You mean, I’m a machine?” Ben asked him. “No. You are still a man, but an improved one.” Dr. Reynolds told him. Ben stood up from his bed and walked over to the closet across the room. He opened the closet door. In the closet laid a pair of blue jeans and a tan colored polo shirt. He got them out and put them on. He stood up from the bed and walked out of the room. “Wait! Hey! Where the hell are you going? Ben!” Dr. Reynolds shouted loudly. Ben continued walking. He walked down the flight of stairs and out the front exit. He had no car so he just decided to walk. The truth is he wanted to know how his new robot body would hold up. Ben ran his entire way home. Faster than he ever did in his life topping out at just under 25 mph. When he finally reached his house he noticed something strange. It was no longer his house. Someone else has moved in. He looked down at a newspaper on the ground filled with the horrific futuristic news. He picked it up and began reading. It read: China owns USA The
United States Government has shut down for the third time in the last few
years. China has taken over the United States! The USA is now a Chinese colony. The newspaper was enough to sent chills up his spine. He was ashamed to be a US citizen. Ben dropped the newspaper and grabbed his head in pain. It was the worst headache he had ever felt. He fell to the ground and began to weep. 3 Dr. Reynolds locked over to his clock now reading 12:03 am. He stood up from his desk and began walked over to his office door. He opened it, turned off the lights, and walked out. He looked over to a chair in the waiting room. There sat Ben Jack. Ben cocked a magnum and began to hold it up. “What the hell have you done to me you sick son of a b***h? Why did you bring me back?” Ben asked him. Sweat began to roll down his face. He slowly began to walk towards Ben. “Now just calm down Ben! Okay? But the gun down!” Dr. Reynolds said to him. “I figured that you wanted to come back,” He continued. “Don’t give me that bullshit! That’s not why you did this! You did this for your own sick agenda! Why couldn’t you just let me die in peace? Why couldn’t you just let me rest? Why would you want to bring me back? Especially in this Goddamn world we are now? Huh?” Ben shouted. “And what did you do to me? The titanium isn’t just what you did to me is it? What the hell did you do to my head?” Ben asked as he clinched in pain and cupped his head in his hand. “Yes…I…I
enhanced it. You no longer have a brain, it’s a computer.” Dr. Reynolds
confirmed in fright. Ben looked up at him and then screamed out in pain. “Well
dip s**t, I think it’s overloading!” Ben said to him in a smart a*s way. “Take
it easy Ben! I can help!” Dr. Reynolds said putting his arms out. “Help?
I think you’ve helped enough! Believe me though, I’ll be doing you a favor!”
Ben said. He pulled the trigger of the magnum firing into the head of Dr.
Reynolds. He fell to his knees and collapsed on the floor. He was dead. Ben
grabbed his head and in pains once more and held the barrel of the magnum to
his head. “Please God! Forgive me! Just let me rest!” Ben said. He pulled the trigger once more splattering the remains of his brain and computer parts all over the wall. The magnum fell to the ground and so did his lifeless body…or what was left of his body anyway. Copyright 2013 by John Smith Courtesy of The Enchanted Press A division of TTP Entertainment
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9 Reviews  Last Updated on December 29, 2013 Tags: science fiction, dystopian, alternative history, John Smith Author
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