We walk for a long time. The sun beats down. It feels good on me, it keeps me charged. Nick, on the other hand, is sweltering, and he unbuttons his coat as we walk. He does his best to keep cool, but I feel bad not being able to do much about it. In an attempt to lighten the mood, I tell him all about robots, how there were thousands of German scientists involved with our creation, how each unit was customized to fit the environment it was sent to, and how each part came from the different parts of the German Reich. I could tell he was bewildered by it. And he asked me why I wasn’t a Nazi like the others. I told him that perhaps I wanted ‘more out of life than just Aryan domination and genocide’. He chuckled, and agreed.
He still looks nervously at me from time to time, and I must confess that we both share the nervousness of talking to someone who is ‘the enemy’.
We approach the British camp soon after. Nick tells me to hide my metal body and features, so I take a handkerchief and cover my mouth with it. I put my cap and goggles on as well. I watch as he approaches a truck that has all sorts of repair tools in the bed, and acknowledges the officers sitting nearby. They nod back at him, and soon he pulls up and honks for me to get in. I sprint around the front of the truck, open the door and spring into the seat. Nick is already fanning his face from the heat as I get in. I slam the door shut, and roll down the window as a notion of charity towards Nick. I can’t feel it, but I know he’s feeling the air blow over him. I lean back in the seat as Nick feels the wind through his fur. I watch the desert pass by as the truck slips and rides over the shifting sands. It feels as though we are on an ocean.
“There they are.” He says. I turn my head and look upon a disabled tank.
“Our Churchill IV hit a landmine. The left tread was blown off. The tools in the back of the truck should do the trick.” At the sound of this, I perk up a little bit. I haven’t fixed anything since I got caught in a firefight with the crew of the Gretel.
“I can handle that. I know how to repair tanks.”
I smile as I say this. His eyebrow raises and I give him my friendliest smile. He smiles back, half jokingly, but he keeps the smile on his face, even after he lowers his eyebrow and hangs his arm out the window with a cough.
“Alright.” He tells me. “But, be mindful of the machine gun up there. It’s a Vickers K machine gun and I think it’s attached to the truck above the cab. Don’t bump it because it would just be dandy for us to hole our own truck.”
“I understand.” I tell him. I don’t want to get on the bad side of my new acquaintances.
“Good. And don’t mind Max. He’s a prick, but he’s a kind man. Jim is our driver, Tim is the radio man and coaxial gunner, Max is our gunner, Noah, the sleepy bastard, is our commander and I’m the loader. They’re going to ask me a lot of questions, a lot of which I can’t explain. So, if they try to kill you, you better run like hell.”
He laughs at his own joke, but I fail to see the humor in getting shot at…
I see the tank come up, and I spot the five men running the crew.
“Just keep calm.” He tells me. “Don’t do anything very fast, or you might frighten them. I don’t need a fire fight on my hands.”
“Agreed.”

Nick stops the truck and hops out, going to greet his friends. They exchange some small talk, and then he wakes the snow leopard sleeping on top of the turret. I can’t help but chuckle at them.
I quickly hop out, still wearing my face cover and uniform. I head towards the back of the truck and Nick meets me near the door.
“I’ll try to explain it to them.” He says. “Don’t say too much, it might frighten them.”
I nod in agreement, and then get to work, opening the tailgate of the truck and retrieving the tools as Nick talks to the guys on his crew about me. I hope what he says puts them at ease…
We all work quickly and soon the tank is back in working order. It was really easy, knowing what I know. It wasn’t hard at all. I help put the tools away. Max, a skeptic squirrel, keeps eying me suspiciously every time I pass him. I just look back at him, not knowing what else to do. I was as curious about them as they were about me, I was sure. Every time he looks at me, I take an unsure glance at Nick, who is just as nervous about this as I am. I stand by the tailgate of the truck, nearly underneath nick, who’s sitting on the edge of the truck bed, when Max asks me
“Hey, so why are you working with the Brits, chap?”
I look up at Nick, who raises an eyebrow at me, and I whimper a tiny bit. I do fear what they’ll do to me if I do something wrong. I think about my answer for a while. Then,
“I . . . I turned against Hitler.” I state. “I did not believe what they believed and they tried to force me to believe in their beliefs. When they did, I ran.”
Max raises an eyebrow. I think he buys it. But then he stares at me with digging eyes, as if he’s trying to see into my head.
“What’d you say your name was?”
All of a sudden, something clicks on inside me. I’ve never felt it before, but I suddenly call out “Afrikakorps Special Unit SdKfz, Number 29, Sturm Wulf! Under command of General Erwin Rommel, sir!” without even thinking. I feel a bad feeling well up within me. ‘This won’t end well,’ I think.
“And how can you lift those heavy pieces of tools without any help?” Max asks. He steps closer, and is nearly a foot and a half away from me. “It takes three of us to lift the same thing that you can lift on your own. Why is that?”
I scramble for an answer. I look to Nick frantically. He shrugs, and I struggle to come up with an answer.
“It . . . it . . . it . . .” I sigh involuntarily “I . . . don’t know.”
All of a sudden, Nick takes his cap and whaps Max with it. Max looks to him, as do I.
“You remember those fifty pounds you owe me?” he asks of Max.
“Aw, Nick, not now. You know I don’t have that money.” He says.
“Well, if you can keep a secret, you can forget about paying me that money.” Nick says to him.
Max looks to him with surprise. Then he looks to me, and glares at me, his tail frisking about madly, before walking back to the tank, not six feet away. Nick smiles and looks to the rest of the crew, who are now focused intently on me.
“That goes for the rest of you, you lousy gamblers.” He says.
“Keep a secret and we’re all even.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Everyone says.

I look up to Nick, a tad confused. He nods at me, and I know what I must do. I look away and pull my cap and mask off my face, before sliding my goggles down around my neck. I turn and look at the crew. They all have looks of shock, bewilderment and wild fascination on their faces.
Bloody hell.” Max says and stumbles backwards. “What is it?”
“I’m… I’m a robot.”
This has got to be a joke.” Max says, his eyes wide in disbelief.
“Nick, this is a joke, isn’t it?”
“No, it isn’t.” he says.
“Please, Nick, allow me.” I say, feeling a bit more confident.
I reach down and unbutton my field jacket. Once all the buttons are undone, I pull the flaps to the side, under my arms, and lift up my tanker shirt, showing my steel chest, the Afrikakorps insignia spray painted in white on my left pectoral, and my name, SdKfz-029 painted right underneath it in bone white paint. The dent from Nick’s pistol is dead center on my chest. They all gasp as I lift the shirt up.
“That’s . . . that’s the damndest thing I’ve ever seen!” I hear Tim exclaim.
“Yeah, damn awesome, is what it is.” Jim says.
“Now, everybody even?” Nick screams out. “We’ve got a new ally and we’re going to treat him right, am I right?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Everyone says.
“And we’re not going to tell Montgomery are we, everybody?” I hear Noah, the commander, ask from inside the tank. I find it funny that he can still be an active listener, even as he slumbers.
“No, sir!” Everyone yells, including Nick, as if at attention.
“And what do we do if questioned?” Noah continues to ask.
“Captured soldier, sir!” Everyone yells.
“At ease, at ease.” Noah says.
As the shouting subsides, I redress, and put my cap back on, stuffing the kerchief into my back pocket. Everyone is amazed, I can tell, but they chat as if it were nothing. I look to Nick, a beaming smile on my face.
“I said you’d be on your own if my superiors caught you, not if these damn fools get you.” I say to Sturm.
He smiles even larger.
“Let’s not go getting killed and whatnot.” He says in a fatherly way. “Although the crew knows about you, the people don’t, my superiors don’t and the British Empire doesn’t. So you’ll still have to stay under wraps.”
I nod wholeheartedly.
“Agreed.”
Nick shakes his head and laughs, a big grin on his face.
“Hoy!” He calls out. “We need to get out of his hellhole, agreed?”
Everyone focuses their eyes on Nick.
“We need to find the 7th Armored Division before we get lost in this hellhole.” He barks. “So what say you if we get on the road, eh, chaps?”
“Yeah!” Everyone caws
I look on as Nick’s crew resume their positions in the tank. I cannot wipe my smile of my face. Nick turns and pats my shoulder. He grins and finally, he says
“Get in the truck, my friend, we’re on the road.”
I hop in the cab beside Nick and we head out. About 45 minutes or so into the ride, I start to hear noises in my head. I start to lose some control of my body, and I start twitching. I was intercepting German radio signals!
“Sturm? You alright, chap?” Nick asks.
I cannot reply, my face is twitching too much underneath my kerchief and goggles.
He stops the truck and puts his hand on my shoulder concernedly.
“Sturm, Sturm, what’s wrong?” He says, louder and louder
Suddenly I regain control of my head, at least, and though I still twitch, I try to decipher what just went through my head.
“Reports. Attack . . . counterattack . . . Tunis . . . massive army . . . surprise . . . Rommel . . . rout the British . . .”
Suddenly I stop shaking.
“What was that about?” Nick asks, worriedly
“Radio and other waves.” I quickly reply. “I intercepted a German report going from Tunis to Rome. Rommel plans a huge counterattack, throwing three hundred tanks and about forty thousand men at the oncoming British force. General Montgomery does not know about the attack and is walking right into a trap.”
“A trap, Montgomery??” He asks.
“They are going to destroy the British force before they know what hit them. We need to find General Montgomery and warn him before the British force approaching Tunis is destroyed.”
Before I know it, we’ve kicked into high gear and doubled our pace. We’ve got to find General Montgomery, and fast.