Unobtainium 1: Kate on a Hot Tin Roof

by Niall Teasdale

  Andreas Gantheim looked like he had not slept properly in months. Charles recalled reading that he had been no more than thirty when he vanished, and that had been perhaps three years earlier, but this man looked older, greyer than one would have expected. His hair was entirely white and there were dark circles under his eyes. He stooped, standing before one of the boards with hunched shoulders, and he turned slowly at their entry.

  ‘Herr Gantheim,’ Nachtigall said, her voice cold with contempt, ‘you may know Herr Doktor Barstow-Hall. You will instruct him in your progress and he will help you to complete the device.’ Without another word, she turned on her heel and left. The door was locked behind her.

  ‘Doctor Barstow-Hall,’ Gantheim said, his voice a hoarse whisper, ‘it is a pleasure to meet such a man as yourself, but…’

  ‘I think we both could have wished for better circumstances. I read some of your papers on atomic theory. They were most imaginative and quite brilliant. I need to know what von Auttenberg is forcing you to construct for him that I might counter it.’

  Gantheim sighed. ‘There is no counter to this device, Doctor, no defence. The Count means to hold the world to ransom.’

  ‘How?!’

  ‘By bringing about its end if he does not get his way. A bomb, Doctor Barstow-Hall. A bomb beyond anything you could imagine. A device which harnesses the very force of the atom to unleash disaster upon us all.’

  ~~~

  Antonia lay on the bunk in her cell watching the guard watch her. At least they had untied her arms and she could lie down comfortably. She had concluded after only five or so minutes that her main issue was going to be boredom. There was nothing to do aside from watch the guard. She was quite unlikely to notice anything particularly informative, and waiting for a chance to escape was likely to be tedious and fruitless. And then the outer door opened and two men walked in.

  The first of them was a short, skinny rat of a man with a long nose and short, scruffy, black hair. He had the appearance of someone who washed irregularly, if at all. He was excited about something, speaking animatedly in German to someone behind him.

  The second man through the door caused Antonia’s eyes to widen, though somehow she felt she should have been expecting to see him. She had seen him once before and would never forget his pale face with its pale, grey eyes and bald pate. He glanced at her, but seemed not to recognise her. Well, she had been one of many at his trial and had not taken the stand. Alfred Cooper seemed very lively for a man who had supposedly been decapitated.

  The ratty man peered at Antonia for a few seconds, grinned maliciously, and then went through the inner door into the other side of the building. Cooper followed after him, looking unhappy, but also a little eager. It was a strange combination and Antonia could think of only one reason for it: he was about to see his daughter again.

  ~~~

  Kate looked up as the two men walked into the room beyond the bars of her cell. Her eyes narrowed and, as the door closed behind the second of them, she said, ‘You appear remarkably healthy for a corpse, Father.’

  It was the other man who replied, his accent quite thick. ‘Ve needed you isolated from your companions, Fräulein Kate. Und your father’s death was convenient in stopping the police searching vor him. Two birds vith one stone, as you British say.’

  Kate peered at the man, though her nose was telling her more than her eyes. He stank, both of dirt and of various chemicals. Her father had smelled the same at times, when he became fixated on some problem and neglected his hygiene, but this man appeared to take it to extremes.

  ‘Might I know with whom I am conversing?’

  ‘Of course. You know your father, obviously, and I am Helmut Drafenberg. Ve share some interests. I have been attempting to do vat your father has achieved vith you. Zee fusion of man und beast, ja? You are a fine specimen. Very fine indeed. Vee must have blood samples. Perhaps ozer samples if these are insufficient.’ He waved at the guard. ‘Öffnen Sie die Tür. Wir haben nicht den ganzen Tag Zeit.’

  The guard seemed keen to take his time, whether from reluctance to actually open the door or just to annoy Drafenberg, Kate could not tell. He freed his pistol before working the lock, so perhaps it was the former. With the door swung open, Drafenberg and her father entered, syringes were taken from a bag, and they advanced.

  ‘Your speech is much improved,’ Cooper said, his voice quiet and a little sullen.

  ‘I was taken in by people who bothered to educate me,’ Kate replied. ‘I learned quickly for the first few months.’

  ‘That stopped when you matured?’

  ‘Around the time of my first oestrus. Did you know I was going to begin craving sex every few weeks?’

  ‘No. It was a possibility, but much of your nature awaited discovery rather than being pre-planned.’

  ‘She appears oblivious to zee needles,’ Drafenberg commented.

  ‘I’ve had a lot of needles stuck into me in the last six years,’ Kate told him.

  ‘Zat is goot. Zer vill be many more.’

  Kate turned her gaze on him. ‘There will not. You will die and there will be no more needles.’

  ‘Fräulein, you cannot hope to escape from zis place. The Count vill hunt you down, like an animal, und he vill not be so kind a second time. Ve will not be able to stop him from–’

  ‘The Count will die first,’ Kate stated and Drafenberg backed away from her.

  ‘I think ve have everything ve need for now. Come, Cooper, to work.’

  Kate watched them go. Perhaps taunting the man, scaring him even, had not been the best of ideas, but she had very much wanted him to be worried. And she most certainly intended to keep her promise.

  ~~~

  Charles shook his head. ‘I understand what you are trying to do, but such a device would require large amounts of two-five-seven to generate the kind of explosion von Auttenberg wants. He cannot have obtained such quantities.’

  ‘He can,’ Gantheim replied, ‘and this is also my doing. At least partially my doing. This camp is set upon an Unobtainium mine of great abundance, but almost everything here is two-six-zero. I have created a process which is able to convert that into its unstable isotope. Bombardment with helium nuclei at great velocity is required. I call it “atomic alchemy.” My prototype was what attracted von Auttenberg to me. I have paid greatly for my hubris.’

  ‘Hubris? It’s genius, man! I’d never even considered it. We could power the world with reactors using your process.’

  ‘But instead we face its destruction. Hubris, Doctor. I admit that I have since discovered that a variation of the technique can create a much more fabulous result. One which I was amazed to discover possible. Cooper, working alone, has created two-six-two in substantial amounts in this manner.’

  Charles frowned. ‘Cooper? Alfred Cooper? He’s alive?’

  ‘He was a few hours ago. He works with Drafenberg, attempting to create creatures hybridised of man and animal. Drafenberg has been attempting the same for years with only very limited success. His experiments on corpses have proven more useful.’

  ‘The supposed death of Alfred Cooper is what set us on the road to this place, and here he is, alive and well, and continuing his work. That explains why they wished to capture Kate.’

  Gantheim gave a nod. ‘Cooper was adamant that his work would take years to replicate without her. The Count is not a patient man. He wishes to have his invincible army of man-beasts now.’

  ‘He must be stopped, sir. We must put an end to this mad man’s machinations.’

  ‘It is impossible, Doctor. I have considered many options, but none have proven viable. This place is a prison staffed by professional soldiers and walking corpses. It is surrounded by thousands of miles of jungle and hostile plains. There is no way–’

  ‘There is always a way.’ Charles looked at the tired man, who seemed so sure that his situation was beyond hope and so wished that it was not. ‘Through the application of sufficient intellect, we
will find that way. I need to understand everything which is happening here, the layout of the camp, and all you know of von Auttenberg’s plans. Once I have that, we can begin to formulate his destruction.’

  2nd September.

  Charles was on his way into the laboratory block with his escort when he spotted Drafenberg walking out along with another man he recognised. Not Cooper, whom he had yet to catch sight of, but someone far more unexpected.

  ‘Falk?’ Charles said, glaring at the man.

  ‘Doctor Barstow-Hall,’ Falk acknowledged, his brow twitching in an attempt to stop a sneer forming.

  ‘You are supposed to be dead.’

  ‘Zer is a lot of zis about,’ Drafenberg drawled. ‘Herr Falk has been most invaluable for his knowledge of Unobtainium’s properties, and several of your discoveries.’

  ‘That explains how they knew about Vulcanium. How could you, man?’

  ‘Easily. The Count offered me my own laboratory, money, and as much Unobtainium as I needed. Neither you nor your grandfather had the vision to make full use of the Wonder Metal.’

  ‘You’re insane. He’s going to destroy the world.’

  ‘No, sir,’ Falk replied. ‘London. He’ll destroy London, and good riddance to it. After that the rest of the world will bow to his wishes. You could have created the device for the Empire, had you wished to, but you found Vulcanite difficult enough to bear. Now you will see the true power of Unobtainium, in the hands of those willing to use it to its fullest!’

  Charles narrowed his eyes but said nothing, walking on past Drafenberg and Falk. He felt a need for alcohol, which was a rare event for him, but would have to make do with physics and planning for escape.

  ~~~

  The cell block door opened and Drafenberg walked in, followed by a man Antonia did not recognise. Taller than the biochemist and more heavyset, but not much younger, the newcomer had the same sort of driven look as his compatriot, which did not bode well, especially when Drafenberg ordered the cell door opened.

  There was an argument which ended with the soldier looking ashen and opening the bars. Antonia did not speak German, but it had similarities with both English and Afrikaans. Drafenberg had said something about an experiment. His words as he walked into the cell confirmed that.

  ‘You are most fortunate, Frau Wooster. You will be allowed to witness first hand zee results of my latest experiment.’

  ‘First hand?’ Antonia asked, pushing her back against the wall of the cell.

  ‘Ja. Very intimately.’ Drafenberg produced a large syringe filled with some sort of fluid from his pocket. ‘Hold her, Falk.’

  Antonia lashed out, kicking Falk in the shin as he approached, but the only result of that was a snapped order from Drafenberg and the guard standing over her with his rifle aimed at her chest.

  ‘What are you doing to me?’ Antonia asked as Drafenberg pushed the needle into her neck and, slowly, squeezed the plunger down.

  ‘Zis formula is similar to zee necromensch solution. I have been trying to perfect it for living subjects.’

  Antonia felt her skin go cold and her throat dried suddenly. ‘And what happened to your previous subjects?’ she croaked.

  ‘Pain, excruciating pain, und death.’ He stepped back and Falk pushed her onto the bed before backing away. ‘Except vor von, but he is now a simpleton. I am quite confident zat you vill survive.’

  ‘Oh.’ Pain shot through her neck and arm and she flinched.

  ‘I cannot say you vill not suffer zee same agony, however.’

  A minute later, as Drafenberg and Falk left, Antonia was screaming.

  ~~~

  Kate listened to the screaming coming through the wall and knew that it was Antonia. Even the guard shifted uncomfortably at the sound, but for Kate it was torture.

  She was quite sure that her friend was not being tortured because there were no gaps in the shrieks of agony. They had done something to her, something which was causing her the kind of pain Kate herself had had to endure at certain points in her father’s experiments. That left Kate in a truly conflicted state.

  While she had told her father she would kill him, she was still not sure she could do it. He was her father and she felt something for him, even if she was not entirely sure what that was. He had been the only other person she had seen for five years. He had mistreated her, abused her, experimented on her, but he had also cared for her. Cared for her as one would a pet rat, perhaps, but he had soothed her burns, bandaged her wounds, and even comforted her a little when she was very young and in pain. He had caused the pain, but…

  But that was causing pain to her. Now he had, undoubtedly, caused pain to someone Kate loved. He had done something, or perhaps Drafenberg had, but those screams… Both of them were going to have to pay.

  So far it appeared that there were three guards, working four-hour shifts in rotation. Two of them, including the one currently sitting on the other side of the bars, were older men who looked like they had seen action, probably too much of it under bad circumstances. Though the current man seemed unhappy with Antonia’s screaming, he was not reacting as much as Kate thought he should.

  The third guard was another matter. He would likely have been squirming by now. Younger, and better looking, he seemed like a relatively new recruit. His rank insignia seemed to be less complicated, so Kate assumed he was of lower rank. Most importantly, he was starting to develop something of a relationship with his prisoner. It was a relationship based upon lust and staring through the bars at a half-naked, large-breasted girl who appeared more or less his age, but it was a relationship. He was going to be Kate’s ticket out of there.

  But not while Antonia lay there wailing her lungs out. Kate’s plan was going to have to wait for that to stop. Which would probably not be too long, because no one could take that kind of pain for a long time. Kate knew from experience that she could not and she had her own pain to deal with; she had been without her pills for an entire day now and it was starting to tell. She knew that if they did not escape soon she was going to be of no use in that escape when it happened, assuming she was not dead.

  ~~~

  ‘What are you working on, Doctor?’ Falk asked as he entered the lab to find Gantheim working at a blackboard while Charles sat at a bench working on some sort of mechanical device.

  ‘This,’ Charles said, not looking around, ‘is a vaporous dispersal mechanism.’ He felt no desire to lie about the function of the device. It would do exactly what he said it would do, even if it would also achieve another end.

  ‘You are supposed to be working on the explosive–’

  ‘I understand Doctor Gantheim’s theories and the application of them. I have calculated the explosive potential of the bomb and agree with the theorised explosive force. Such a device would spread radioactive material across a wide area making the capitalisation of captured territory virtually impossible. However, the dispersal of Vulcanium at high pressure in vaporous form followed by a suitable detonation will produce similar effects without the disastrous fallout. I hope to persuade the Count that such a device would suit him better rather than a weapon which may well destroy the planet if utilised incorrectly.’

  Falk was silent for a second or two. ‘You seem to have changed your tune, Doctor. You stated that the Count was a mad man who had to be stopped.’

  ‘I did, and still believe it true. However, he is a mad man with too much power for me to defeat. I am a rational man, as you well know. I can find no way to prevent von Auttenberg from coming to power, but I can, perhaps, prevent him from destroying civilisation entirely.’

  ‘He will not be satisfied with something–’

  ‘Approximately ten of these devices dropped by parachute in an achievable pattern should be sufficient to reduce any city to a smoking ruin within a matter of seconds. The explosive force is equivalent to several tens of thousands of tons of trinitrotoluene. Temperatures will reach some four to five thousand degrees. The resulting pressure wave wil
l level anything which it impacts for several miles. But when the flames subside there will be nothing left but ashes, instead of radioactive, uninhabitable ashes. Even a mad man can see the benefits of that.’

  ‘My apologies, Doctor,’ Falk said, sounding almost as though he meant it. ‘I stated that you do not have the vision to use your abilities in the manner they should be used. Clearly you have far greater resolve than I thought.’

  ‘Sir, you have no idea what I am capable of with sufficient motivation.’ Tightening a screw, Charles turned, eyeing Falk through a single magnifying lens. ‘Pray that you never have to find out.’

  ~~~

  The pain was coming less often and was not quite so extreme when it did, but Antonia lay on her bunk with her eyes jammed shut anyway. She was entirely unsure of how long she had been in agony, but it had been a long time and she could not understand why she had not passed out.

  As it was, her head throbbed, her lungs ached, her throat felt raw, but it was the blinding quality of the light which kept her eyes shut. Even with them open she could barely see. At least it seemed that she had survived. Unless she was, in fact, dead and had yet to get used to the blinding light of Heaven. She thought not; Heaven would have better bedding.

  Pain lanced through her skull again, wringing another shriek of pain from her tormented lungs. Except that her lungs did not seem so tormented now. As the pain died away, she realised that what was left was not uncomfortable.

  She risked opening an eye. The light was coming from an oil lamp on the guard’s desk. The room had only a single, barred, window and there was barely any light coming through it. It had to be late evening which meant she had spent most of the day in pain. The light was still a little too bright, but she could see quite clearly. In fact, the dim lamp seemed to be providing more illumination than such a device normally did. Presumably some improvement on the design one of von Auttenberg’s people had created.