Cyber Man

/ May 7, 2019

Cyber Man

Pixabay image by Brigitte Werner

~

Thanks to Diana at Myths of the Mirror, I was inspired to write another short story. Generally, I don’t like writing challenges and prompts. They feel forced and gimmicky to get blog traffic. But somehow, Diana’s creative choice of images, month-long time frame, and gentle offer inspire me to dig deep and write something new and fresh. And for me, short stories are a whole new realm that I only started recently with one of Diana’s prompts.

If you choose to play along, the idea is to write anything you want based on the image Diana picks. You can write poetry, short stories, real life, or whatever you want. Here are the details for her May Speculative Fiction Prompt. Happy writing!

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The download complete, he opened his newly enhanced eyes, seeing a world not quite right. Sparks of light flashing before his eyes, Hank feels dizzy and disoriented. The last thing he remembers was racing down the highway on his new Ducati Monster 1200.

Ugh.

Hank realizes he’s in great pain, especially on the right side of his body and face. It feels like he got run over by a truck. Oh wait, he did get run over, or more accurately, run off the road by a pickup truck with four white racists screaming at him to go back to Africa. It seems like every week, he encounters some group of wackos, spouting hate about blacks, immigrants, liberals, or anyone who is different from them. Thanks to our Commander in Chief, everyone has been given permission to rant, rave, and act out their hate. A white nationalist group just stormed a library in DC to protest an author and book they didn’t like. Where will it stop?

Welcome back Lt. Peters, we’re glad to see you awake. Admiral Rourke tells the hospital staff to clear the room for a classified debriefing.

Hank remembers being rushed to the Army hospital, but very little afterward. The doctors tell him he was in a coma for two months with little chance of living, having broken so many broken bones, extensive organ damage, and a severe concussion. With no family to make decisions, the government made some choices for him. As the Lieutenant of an elite Delta Force, Hank was a valuable asset, and the Army wanted to protect their investment. The commander of his base made the decision to enhance Hank with cutting edge military prosthetics designed to turn his mind and body into an unstoppable weapon.

It turns out that Lt. Hank Peters has become the Army’s first enhanced soldier, part man, and part machine. His right arm is loaded with lasers capable of taking down buildings, tanks, and anything in his way. His brain has been enhanced with the latest microprocessors, his left eye can take x-rays, videos, and relay images to the Delta team via his new digital neural network. The question is does Hank still have free will or has his mind been programmed along with the “enhancements.”

Hank is not anxious to find out the answer to these questions. Meanwhile, the Admiral wants him released to perform more tests and training back at their secret base. Hank screams NO!

Angela shakes him and says “wake up honey, you’re having another nightmare.” Oh man, that was one crazy steampunk dream. Maybe I shouldn’t watch so many sci-fi thrillers.

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49 thoughts on “Cyber Man”

  3. I’m so glad the prompt inspired you to try another one, Brad. Yay! A great story and I liked the twist at the end. That was a nightmare indeed. Thanks so much for your story. I can’t wait to share. Happy Writing!

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  6. This is great, Brad, your creativity has taken a perfect turn into the world of writing stories 🙂 Diving into such writing is another realm, but I can see it is one you enjoy. Love the ending ~

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  11. A most entertaining story, Brad. You and I were on the same wavelength this time around. I like prompts. I enjoy the challenge of thinking of a story and I love reading other people’s ideas and interpretations of the same prompt.

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  12. I’m glad you’re trying your hand at stories Brad and it seems from this that you really had fun with it. A nice use of the prompt, with something that has enough realism to make us think about a possible future, and a nice twist to keep it real at the end!

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  19. Phew! I was getting really worried for/about Hank and wanted to scream “NO- don’t let them use you for experimentation!” This is a case where a nightmare is a good thing – better than what he thought was reality. I’m glad you “played” along with Diana’s prompt. I’ve tried to not read too many before I posted mine, so I wouldn’t mimic anyone. Yours was great!

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  20. I enjoyed your story, Brad! It’s a good question about free will when the government can make choices regarding the machinery/human that they appear to own. I wonder what Hank signed off on in his dream. What rights did he willingly but unknowingly gave up? Regarding how Hank was mistreated in his dream and wanting the hate to end badly: this “story” was a good way of sharing that reality nightmare.

    I, too, never really got into prompts but Diana’s are unique and it’s more fun and less contrived. Maybe I will be inspired to write again.

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    • Thank you for caring about these tricky topics Ka. I wanted to hint at them as food for thought. Mostly, I simply had fun letting my imagination run wild with Diana’s prompt. I hope to see some creative writing from you. Hugs…

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