A Gift from the Gods

by Martin Gunn

  Von Brandt raised his eyebrows at this; he wasn’t easily shocked.

  “Forthwith you are promoted to Hauptsturmführer, congratulations, a new uniform is ready for you in your barracks,” continued the general with a smile. “Come, finish your coffee and I’ll show you where you will be billeted. Everything you need has been provided, then we’ll walk over to Hangar One.”

  It was a short stroll to von Brandt’s new quarters. He opened the door and looked around. It was stark and very basic, having a bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers, on top of which stood a gramophone and records. By his bed was a bottle of claret and a glass.

  “There is little to do here of an evening, so I had these things brought in,” smiled the general, in an apologetic tone.

  Presently the two men made their way across the courtyard in the direction of the ominous-looking building.

  “There is a smaller building behind, still large you understand, which we call Hangar Two,” advised the general as they approached the entrance to Hangar One. The general pressed a button which gave out a loud ring.

  “Identify yourself,” came a curt response from an intercom.

  “Gruppenführer Viktor Weinlig, plus Hauptsturmführer Gustav von Brandt.”

  The door opened and a man in a light-brown lab coat greeted them.

  “We have been expecting you, Captain,” he said to von Brandt.

  They shook hands as von Brandt sized him up. The man was slim, about five feet ten inches and in his mid-forties. On his long narrow face, he wore round horn-rimmed glasses and his hair was short and dark brown.

  “Doctor Hugo Sprick,” he stated cheerily, “I’m sure you are keen to see what we have here – believe me it’s quite incredible.”

  Von Brandt, having had enough of hearing how amazing it was here, wished they would just get on with it. Anything after this was going to be an anti-climax surely.

  The general turned to von Brandt and announced, “Well I’ll leave you in the capable hands of the doctor; this is as far as I go.” With that the general opened the door and left.

  “Follow me Captain,” motioned Dr Sprick, as he opened a door which led from the lobby into the main hangar.

  Doctor Sprick instinctively knew that von Brandt would feel slighted by being addressed as captain rather than Hauptsturmführer, but he didn’t care. In the twenty years that he had been working as a scientist, he had toiled under the unstable incompetence of the Kaiser, then von Hindenburg’s ineffectual Weimar Republic, and now the tyranny of the Nazis. He believed that all scientists should be apolitical and amoral. These staunch human attributes had no place in a field which should be about nothing but the pursuit of truth and knowledge. What other people did with the information was not his concern. To hold back progress was, in his opinion, an affront to the human intellect.

  As von Brandt stepped into the main hangar, he was astounded at what he saw, even though he had no idea what he was looking at. In front of him was some sort of craft supported by scaffolding. Sprick observed with some amusement as von Brandt started to walk round the vessel, trying to take it all in. Its design, size and diagonal grey and purple stripes. The nose showed signs of damage which he correctly assumed was from some sort of impact.

  “What are you doing here, developing some sort of new aircraft?” he asked with a genuine sense of astonishment.

  “No – this is far too advanced for us,” stated Sprick with a chuckle, “this craft is not of this world.”

  “A spaceship?”

  Sprick nodded with a smile as he saw the realisation dawn on von Brandt’s face.

  “Where did you find it?”

  “We retrieved it from the Black Forest only seven days ago,” informed Sprick, “it crashed there one evening.”

  “How did you get it out?”

  “I wasn’t there, but apparently it was easier than expected,” replied Sprick, “the ship is much lighter than you would expect. The metals used are not known to us.”

  “Incredible!” exclaimed von Brandt running his hand over the ultra-smooth surface of the port wing tip. Then after a pause he said, “what about survivors?”

  “The ship had a crew of three,” stated Sprick, “we found one dead, one severely injured and one alive.”

  “You have two live spacemen?” blurted von Brandt, astounded.

  “The injured one died on the operating table,” reflected Sprick, with genuine regret in his voice, “we just didn’t know what we were dealing with.”

  “To start with,” he continued, “we didn’t take into consideration that their atmosphere must be almost entirely made up of nitrogen. It asphyxiated as soon as we removed its breathing apparatus.”

  “Can I see them?” asked a clearly excited von Brandt.

  “All in good time Captain. First, I would like to show you round the inside of the ship, and after that there is another matter to be dealt with.”

  Sprick led the way as they walked up some steps, then they had to duck a little at the top to avoid some scaffolding, entering the ship through a side hatch. As they passed the air-lock, Sprick led them into the main control room. The whole ship was in semi-darkness with low, glowing blue lights in the ceiling.

  “This I believe is where they control the craft,” he pronounced, turning to von Brandt.

  “How? There’s nothing here; not even windows,” observed von Brandt.

  The doctor smiled and simply said, “Watch.”

  He sat down at a plain-looking panel and waved his hand across part of it. Immediately a hologram appeared in front of them and they could see a view of outside of the ship; the inside of the hangar and a few of the staff, going about their business. Sprick could see that von Brandt was lost for words.

  “I discovered this yesterday, just experimenting. It’s an image which seems to project into the air. Quite incredible don’t you think?”

  “Indeed, but how do they control it?”

  “We haven’t worked that out yet,” confessed Sprick, “this is advanced technology; possibly thousands of years beyond what we are capable of. It’s going to take time.”

  The doctor stood up, waved his hand again and the hologram disappeared.

  “There is more to see.”

  Fascinated, von Brandt followed Sprick into the rear of the ship and into what looked like a cargo bay. He approached a wall and stopped.

  “This is intriguing too,” he continued, “I really don’t know what to make of it.”

  Sprick held his hand up to a particular part of the wall, and suddenly a large section of the wall seemed to disappear. The missing panel exposed what looked like a compartment, eighteen feet high and twelve feet across, recessed back about three feet. Inside the compartment was a bright, light blue illumination. Opening the panel also activated images on a screen at the bottom of the compartment. The pair had to squint their eyes until they had adjusted to the light. As von Brandt’s eyes became accustomed, he saw a strange image. It was basically bell-shaped with a bulbous convex underside. One third of the way up its height there were what looked like vents radiating around its girth.

  “What on earth is it?” enquired von Brandt.

  “It’s another three-dimensional image,” stated Sprick, “but of what, we can only speculate.”

  He swiped his hand in front of the image from left to right and the image began to rotate. Then he moved his hand up in a vertical motion and the image inverted. The screen at the bottom seemed to be scrolling through schematic diagrams of the device. Sprick touched the screen to pause it.

  “We think that this is some sort of electronic circuitry, though it is nothing like anything that I have seen before. A few elements of it make sense, but as a whole it is baffling.”

  The implications of all this were not lost on von Brandt. The opportunity to acquire advanced technology like this was serend
ipitous beyond the extreme. Such advancements could make the Third Reich invincible – if only it could all be deciphered. He now fully understood the secrecy surrounding this project. Keeping the base secure was going to be vital.

  “None of the activities here must leave the facility,” insisted von Brandt finally “security is going to have to be watertight.”

  “I’m fully aware of that,” frowned Sprick, “which brings me to the other matter which you will need to attend to. We already have a potential security problem.”

  “And that is?” frowned von Brandt, eyebrows raised.

  “We have a boy here, Anton Keller; he witnessed the crash in the Black Forest.”

  “Has he been interrogated?”

  “No not yet. He is here with his mother and father,” stated Sprick “I thought I’d leave the interrogation to you.”

  After leaving the spaceship, they were now heading in the general direction of the building where the boy was being held.

  “The lad is a member of the Hitler Youth and luckily was able to alert his District Leader who lives nearby,” continued Sprick, “who in turn was able to contact his superior and get this whole operation under way. As far as he is concerned, it is a top secret experimental aircraft.”

  As they reached the hut, von Brandt stopped at the door and asked, “Was the boy alone?”

  “As far as we can tell yes, he hasn’t spoken much,” replied Sprick, “being an SS officer maybe you can get more out of him.”

  They entered the hut and Sprick led von Brandt to the room where Anton was being held. Sprick opened the door and walked into the room first. It was sparsely furnished with only a table, four chairs and a window. A small wood burner at one end was keeping the room moderately warm. Anton sat with his back to a window, facing the door; he looked up nervously as the two men entered the room.

  The SS officer immediately glared down at the boy.

  “Stand to attention when a superior enters the room boy!” he bellowed.

  Anton shot to his feet, saluted and barked, “Heil Hitler!”

  He was wearing his uniform and stood there rigid with fear. Sprick sat down opposite him and von Brandt did likewise. After inviting Anton to sit back down Sprick spoke.

  “This is Hauptsturmführer von Brandt, he wants to ask you some questions. There is no need to be afraid, just tell him the truth.”

  After this inauspicious start he decided to lighten up on the boy. Smiling, he took out a cigarette and lit it. Taking a long inhalation, he let out the smoke slowly and started the investigation.

  “So, Anton,” coaxed von Brandt in a calmer voice, “tell me exactly what happened that evening in the forest.”

  They listened intently as Anton told him everything, making sure to omit the fact that Hannah was with him that night.

  “You actually saw the, err… spaceman?”

  “Yes,” confirmed Anton excitedly, “I was almost as close as I am to you now.”

  “And your mother and father, do they know also?”

  Anton nodded.

  “Why were you there alone?”

  “I often go out walking in the forest alone,” stated Anton. There was an element of truth in this, though obviously not on this occasion.

  Satisfied, von Brandt stood up and walked round the side of the table and stood behind the boy, placing a hand on each shoulder.

  “You did the right thing lad, you are a credit to your uniform.”

  With that the officer quickly placed his right hand on the boy’s chin, with his left hand holding the back of the boy’s head, then yanked it hard round to the right and backwards. Anton didn’t know what hit him; with a crack his spinal cord was severed and he was killed instantly. Von Brandt held him for a few seconds and then let him go. Anton’s lifeless body slumped forwards onto the table. Sprick looked on horrified.

  “For the love of God!” he spluttered, “the boy was only fifteen.”

  “If he is prepared to wear the uniform,” stated a dispassionate von Brandt, “he must expect to die for the cause. What did you expect? Now show me the room where his parents are.”

  Feeling a little nauseous, Sprick left the room and von Brandt followed.

  “It’s that room down the corridor,” indicated Sprick, pointing, “the one with a guard outside.”

  “You are not needed here, Doctor. I’ll deal with this alone.”

  Inside the room the Keller’s were getting more and more concerned. They hadn’t seen their son in twenty-four hours and were anxious for any news.

  “Do you think he’ll tell them about Hannah?” wondered his mother.

  “Anton said he was alone and if that’s what he is telling them then we should say the same. Our stories must match,” insisted his father.

  “I don’t understand,” quivered his mother, close to tears, “he said that he was going to meet her that day.”

  “I know,” hissed his father, “but why bring her into it. There’s no point in dragging her family into this unnecessarily. Now you must pull yourself together, and not mention her again.”

  His wife dutifully nodded and took a hanky from her handbag to wipe her eyes. Mr Keller, after being uncharacteristically stern, placed a comforting hand on hers and tried to placate her with a smile, trying his best to cover his own presage; he had a bad feeling about this whole situation.

  Von Brandt spoke to the guard and then entered the room. Anton’s father started to get to his feet but the officer motioned with a smile for him to relax and sit back down again.

  “When can we see our son?” enquired his father.

  “He has been very helpful,” smiled von Brandt, “I just want to make sure that there is nothing that he might have left out. Something that he might have told you.”

  The officer related Anton’s account and waited for the Keller’s to respond.

  “No, that is as much as he told us,” claimed Mr Keller, “can we see him now?”

  “You will be with him very soon” stated von Brandt, standing up. He gave them a reassuring smile and left the room. As he did so, he nodded to the guard who immediately entered the room. Von Brandt was nearly at the end of the short corridor when he heard a long burst of machine-gun fire. As far as he was concerned, the breach in security had been contained.

  Presently von Brandt made his way over to his barracks. He sat on the bed and kicked off his boots; took off his jacket and sat back on the bed. Noticing the gramophone, he stood up and walked over to see what records had been left for him. Thumbing through them, he was relieved to see they were mostly classical. There was some Verdi, Beethoven, and to his delight Wagner.

  Choosing Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture, he slipped the record from its sleeve and placed it on the gramophone. Then he opened the bottle of claret and poured himself a glass. As he drank the wine, he let the soothing strings of the orchestra wash over him. He closed his eyes and thought of the spaceship and the creatures on board which he had yet to see. It occurred to him that this was confirmation if anyone needed it that Germany was intended to be the master race, and global domination was only a matter of time. Tomorrow was going to be another very interesting day.

  ***

  The following day von Brandt made his way over to Hangar One to look for Dr Sprick. He eventually found him inside the spaceship examining the bell-shaped hologram. Alerted to his presence, he turned to the stern-looking officer with a smile.

  “Good morning Captain,” he greeted, cheerily, “I trust you slept well.”

  “Well enough,” replied von Brandt curtly. In fact, he hadn’t slept that well at all. As the night progressed, he had become more and more anxious about meeting these creatures and it had made him restless.

  “What are you doing?”

  The doctor was looking into what looked like a glass tank set back about a metre from the main
panelling.

  “Trying to make sense of this object,” replied Sprick, clearly perplexed, “it seems to me to be some sort of capsule, but for what purpose is still a mystery.”

  “Maybe these schematics will shed some light on things,” commented von Brandt pointing to the screen at the bottom of the glass window.

  “Perhaps,” agreed Sprick “we will have to find a way to transfer them to paper, so they can be studied easier.”

  “I’m sure you are keen to see the crew,” continued Sprick, “at least what is left of them.”

  Von Brandt nodded; his unease was not lost on the doctor.

  “Come, follow me,” instructed Sprick, “I’ll take you over to Hangar Two.”

  As they walked across to the smaller hangar, Sprick’s manner became premonitory.

  “I am going to show you the dead specimens first, I trust you have a strong constitution; they are not a pretty sight.”

  Von Brandt gave no response as he followed the doctor through a door into the hangar. They walked a short distance down a corridor and eventually entered another door into a room with a glass wall, where a makeshift operating theatre had been set up. Both men walked over to the glass screen.

  “As you can see, we have two dead specimens,” commented Sprick, “the one on the left was found dead at the crash site, and the other died on the operating table.”

  “Presumably his injuries were too severe.”

  “This is the problem,” continued Sprick, “anatomically they are very different from us, and when we tried to administer oxygen, the creature died. On examination of its breathing apparatus, it transpires they breathe pure nitrogen. As you can see from the second creature, their bodies are long and slender and the limbs seem under-developed: quite long in relation to the body. Notice also they don’t appear to have any genitalia, so how they procreate is a mystery. The pale lilac grey pallor of their skin we believe to be natural. Shall we step inside for a closer look?”

  Von Brandt nodded and the doctor walked over to a table and picked up two surgeons’ masks.

  “You will need this,” he advised, handing one to the captain, “the smell is quite awful. Like nothing you’ve smelt before. I suggest you put it on now.”