“Sir, you fail to understand. There should not be any resistance of this magnitude until we hit the sub-glacial terrain. Even so, the damage to the drill bit is so significant; we can only surmise that there is something unnaturally resistant down there...something that we could not possibly have anticipated. This problem may not itself be a hindrance to our progress but a find in itself, a find of great importance.”
Hans enjoyed listening to Cortese and in particular the way each and every word ended in a musical note of sorts.
“Speculate. What is it down there?” Hans barked as his intrigue grew. Cortese paced around in a small circle.
“Something metallic, unnaturally occurring geologically. Something hard enough to blunt our drill like a soft pencil on sandpaper.”
Hans immediately thought in military terms, he was undeniably short sighted when it came to opening his mind to new ideas.
“How can this be, we were assured that this zone was secure?”
“I think you are misunderstanding, Colonel. This cannot be modern. This ice is hundreds of years if not thousands of years in age. This could be an archaeological discovery greater than the tomb of Tutankhamen, the temple of Artemis...this, my friend is historical!” Cortese was becoming agitated as he bounced up and down upon the spot. It was compelling viewing.
“Why it conjures up visions of the mysteries of ancient worlds, Atlantis even!”
Hans laughed out loud at Cortese's dreamlike anticipation.
“Do not get ahead of yourself my friend. Could it not just be a rock formation, metal rich...?” Bauer was drawing at straws, unlikely to find the right answer with wild stabs in the dark.
“No, Sir. I do not believe it to be so. We must now begin to dig. Dig with great earnest!” Cortese was adamant.
“What? And abandon the mission detail? Do you know how much expense and trust the high command have put into this mission? Can we be side tracked by an anomaly?” Hans was pessimistic.
“An anomaly? Yes, it is! That is why we must dig. Surely the mission was to research and discover new possibilities to aid the war effort. If we find something so historic, so ancient...well, I am sure your propaganda minister will enjoy putting an Aryan spin on whatever we find, eh?”
Hans was beginning to see Cortese's way of thinking. If this was truly a significant find, it would be foolish to leave any stone unturned.
“What measures would need to be put into place to begin the dig?” Hans asked as he planted his rear upon the flimsy metal desk.
“It would be difficult and a lengthy process. It would take thirty men weeks, maybe months to manually excavate a hole that deep. We have drills and explosives but we would have to exercise great caution. We have no idea how large this anomaly is or how sensitive it would be to that kind of treatment. The risk to our team would also increase significantly. I suppose you could contact your superiors and request more manpower and specialised equipment?”
“No, Claudio. Let us first get a better idea of what we are dealing with here. Surely there are tests that can be performed?” Hans was not enamoured with the idea of causing a stir with his superiors. The last thing he needed was more prying eyes and the SS brigade to be snooping around the site picking holes in his command abilities.
“Yes, I have Sebastien Faust examining micro fragments from the drill tip; we have already concluded that the object is magnetic. Perhaps in a few hours, he can tell us what kind of material we are talking about.”
Cortese began to pull his thick gloves back on as the enthusiasm to get on with his work was palpable.
“Collect your team and prepare for a meeting at 14:00. Tell them to bring their ideas to the table and prepare themselves to get their hands blistered.” Hans instructed imperiously as Cortese smiled and hastened his way out of the office.
Hans slumped down upon his chair. Maybe the coming weeks might hold a little more interest than he had first thought.
CHAPTER 3
A billowing and fleeting cloud of fine white particles burst into the fine summer sunshine and then fell gently as a wave of sonic energy dispersed in all directions. Hans Bauer stood with Franz Hertzog at a distance, their arms crossed, their stances those of a couple of men who tired of waiting. Another seismic rumble and another day of blasting away mercilessly at a dense desert of ice which seemed more impervious to destruction every day.
“Better if it had been rock. Fault lines and structural weaknesses to be exploited. This ice seems to be fighting us.” Hertzog stated as he felt the impatience of his commander.
“It is. I am beginning to wonder what wondrous secrets it is guarding so valiantly.” Hans replied waving in response to a tiny figure on the horizon who was quite animated.
“Looks like a breakthrough!” Hertzog announced seeing his colleagues in the distance scurrying around like ants upon a sheet of glass.
“Don't count on it.” Hans said pessimistically. The excavation had been painfully slow and three weeks had passed. Three tortuous weeks where poor weather had hampered them and communications with command had been minimal. Isolated, Hans Bauer and his team felt as if they had been transported to some alien landscape and left to toil in a never ending trial of patience.
Hertzog, a medical officer from the Black Forest trotted off in trepidation, unable to wait for his commander to give him the order to advance to the excavation site. His impatience rubbed off on Hans who joined him in a light jog which grew steadily faster as the nearer they got where the more animated the dig team appeared to be.
Hans stood at the edge of the large irregular shaped crater as his feet sank deeper into the soft powder that had built up around the circumference. He could see several of his team sliding down the embankment and with the aid of rope and crampons, a few had dared the steeper decent into a darkened crevice which at first might have been an area which was deprived of light due to the high sides of the man made hole. Hans pondered over this sight though and concluded that it was not a shadow but perhaps something showing through the translucence of the ice.
“Hoi, you there! What do you see?” Bauer bellowed, his voice echoing around the crater. A distance reply was forthcoming although he could not tell from whom it originated.
“Something large, dark. It is smooth...metallic.”
Hans' heart sped a little as Hertzog looked up to him with a mischievous smile.
“Speculate. What is it?” Hans hollered. He hoped for a profound response. It would have been too much to bear if the findings of this period of toil were underwhelming or ordinary.
“Like...the hull of a ship.”
Hans grimaced; he had visions in his mind of finding some old wreck, a previous expedition or perhaps even an old trawler. The word 'ship' did not fill him with joy. As Hans mulled over the cryptic nature of the day, Cortese clambered his way up over the lip of the crater. He was puffed out and clearly tired from scaling the slippery sides of this mammoth impression in the terrain.
“Whatever it is, it is not a ship. How could it be, the ice down there is too old. Ships of that period would have been made of wood or at best, iron clad punctuated by giant rivets...” Cortese managed to gasp his way through the account whilst getting to his feet and saluting his commanding officer.
“The material is smooth, as smooth as glass. It has an unusual lustre, a coating of some form. There is no sign of rust or decay. It's...quite incredible.”
Cortese was clearly shell-shocked by his discovery and the enormity of the find was not lost on Hans who extended his hand to his Italian comrade.
“Well done, well done to all of you. This appears to be quite a find. I want to know what it is how large it is and if we can bring it up. Before I call this in, I want to be sure of what we have found here.”
“Bring it up?” Cortese queried. “It could be a mile wide.”
Hans shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.
“Yes...it could. Best find out.”
It was clear that Bauer fought hard to
restrain himself from his curiosity. Cortese was excited enough for both of them.
“Sir, may I suggest caution. It could be anything down there, some kind of trap...” Hertzog interjected with a rather weak argument.
“A trap? Then the designer must have been a man of great foresight. If it is a trap then it is one made a very long time ago and I feel unlikely to be one of Churchill's hair-brained schemes.”
A commotion from inside the white pit stirred curiosity and raised voices were clearly heard. The three polar explorers leaned out over the hole to better hear the cries of exultation.
“An opening Sir, an opening!” Someone cried out. As various tools such as pick axes were lowered down to the deeper section. Hans felt the need to be doing something; he had enough of being left on the sidelines.
“I'm coming down.” Hans called out bringing a rather surprised look to Cortese's features who was just as keen to explore.
“Well, if I am to report accurately our find, I must experience it firsthand!”
Cortese was in no position to argue. It was Bauer's privilege to see the results of the mission's hard work.
Bauer carefully stepped over the edge of the pit and descended carefully, sliding quickly at many points only to gather his balance again at an outcropping of stiff ice. He could see by the various ruddy and excited faces that he passed on the way down that the team were in high spirits. Hans offered them a casual smile and they nodded in respect of the square jawed blonde haired Goliath who attempted to hide his lack of climbing skills.
Accepting a rope which had been secured in a solid shelf of ice, the last twenty metres were almost a sheer drop and pendulously he swung guided by another three men who squeezed themselves into a compact cylindrical space clearly made in part by a ferocious drill and widened with a TNT charge. Hans recognised the men as Hoffman, Keller and Hahn, all fine men with a fire in their bellies. They grappled to pull Hans closer and only after he set his foot on solid ground that the Colonel realised he was stood upon the giant metallic mass which was almost as slippery as the ice itself.
Of the shiny gunmetal grey mass, about four or five feet had been totally cleared but with a little more excavation, it was clear that another ten square feet of surface area might be visible with some effort.
“Did I hear someone say there was an opening?” Hans puffed the chill of the air and the restrictive nature of his thick coat made movement tiresome.
“Yes, Colonel. We think this lip here might be some kind of a hatch.” Hahn said confidently, he was a young man in his late twenties but sported a generous helping of upper lip hair.
“What gives you the idea that this thing is hollow?” Hans inquired shortly followed by a rudimentary demonstration by Keller who unceremoniously hammered the handle of his axe into the dark surface. A chiming clang seemed to indicate that there was a resonance that could not be associated with a solid object. Hans raised an eyebrow, it was a convincing display.
“Well, what are you waiting for, clear the ice, men.” Bauer ordered and initiated a scurrying yet uncomfortably cramped digging routine where Keller hacked away at the ice and the others cleared the large chunks away as best they could. Hans could only stand and watch for there was little room to manoeuvre and he felt a little guilty that he stood over his men like an Egyptian overlord.
As more of the ice was cleared away, the raised lip which was regular in shape appeared to extend for several feet under the ice but unlike the current designs as seen in the U boats, there was no obvious mechanism to release the door. The sleek, slightly rounded surface to the object was reminiscent of a submarine yet it was almost too perfect. The metallic surface was not pitted or damaged in any way except a shallow circular marking where the drill bit had struck the surface. Whatever this compound was, it had to be something new, something quite magnificent in its durability. This metal alone would be a grand prize for the Fuhrer. If adapted for tank armour, ammunition or the like, it could be significant in turning the war back in the Axis' favour.
Hans called up to several engineers further up the shaft who had gathered to watch.
“Document this, fetch the camera.”
Hans was keen to have on record the magnificent efforts of all those involved. He recognised the team who had put so much into a mission of dubious value.
Suddenly, Hoffman yelped and jumped back, treading heavily on Bauer's foot. About to berate his subordinate for his clumsy actions, Hans realised that if he had not swiftly taken action, he would have fallen into the newly formed and pitch black cavity which had suddenly appeared where the raised flange had been.
“Himmel! What happened there?” Keller exclaimed as he too clambered up the icy shaft, the rope saving himself from falling inside the mysterious opening.
“What did you do?” Bauer barked more in inquisitiveness than anger.
“Nothing, Sir. The door just began to slide open!” Hoffman whined like a small child being scalded.
Bauer fumbled at his coat and its numerous pockets and folds in search of his small battery powered torch which he faithfully kept on his person for such an occasion. Plucking out the narrow black cylindrical item, he flicked the switch and the bulb emitted a dull, yellow glow. It would not be the most effective tool for exploration but in the heightened excitement, no one wanted to have to return to the shelter to fetch something more suitable.
Bauer grabbed a secure rope and suspended himself perilously over the abyss. The other men held out their hands as if in fear of their officer falling. The torchlight gave very little away except that it was apparent that the inside of this object was much larger than the surface area that they had uncovered.
“My God, it is gargantuan.” Even Bauer's whispered words seemed to echo around the metallic cave. “The light does not seem to reach the inner walls. I must go inside.”
The three engineers all looked at each other in trepidation.
“Is that a good idea?” An Italian voice called out from above.
“Maybe not.” Hans called back as he tested the tension of the rope.
“What makes you think there is anything in there?” Cortese added.
“I feel heat.” Hans replied as he impetuously began to lower himself down into the unknown.
CHAPTER 4
Hans looked up to the rectangular aperture where the bright sunshine streamed in, occasionally compromised by the movement of his comrades as they jostled with each other to allow another metre of rope to be fed through their hands. Hans was disoriented as looking down into the void offered no frame of reference for his movement and as the bright white opening reduced in size, he realised only then how deep this cavern was. With his plainly ineffective torch in his mouth, he could still not make out the detail of his surroundings although his senses detected warmth within. It was not hot, just about enough temperature to allow removal of his thick padded outer clothes. There was also a smell, an unusual odour that Hans could not place. It did not smell as expected like the internals of a submarine which was the only relatively similar experience he had with which to make assumptions; it was a clinical smell, not fresh but not old either. Considering this atmosphere had been stagnating for possibly hundreds or thousands of years if Cortese was correct, the air was quite breathable.
Suddenly Hans's legs buckled as he felt a hard surface beneath his feet. Suppressing the urge to call up to his comrades which were merely shadows blotting out the sun from high above, he staggered to be upright and free standing.
“There is no more rope, are you alright?” A voice echoed down from the now tiny orifice.
“Yes, I am at the bottom.” Hans called back up with caution. He felt at odds with himself raising his voice. He did not dare taking anything for granted in this place which remained blacker than the sky on a cloudy night.
Plucking the torch from his mouth he waved it around in vain as for some reason, the light that it emitted seemed to travel less of a distance than expected, almost as if met some kin
d of resistance in the atmosphere. Stooping low, he shone the light at his feet to get an impression of the surface he was stood upon. At close range, the bulb gave off enough illumination to see that he stood upon a smooth flat floor that did not seem to reflect light well. Taking his glove off, he ran his fingers over the surface and concluded that it was cold to the touch, much like metal but seemed to have a very complex and regular micro-pattern to it. Hans imagined it to be akin to snake skin yet rigid. It was certainly not a naturally occurring material that he had encountered.
His eyes beginning to adjust a little to the gloom, he resisted looking back up to the white and bright light of the hatch lest his eyes lose their sensitivity.
“I am safe; I will take a more detailed look around. Very little to report at present.” Hans called out, again with caution. When entering the bear's cave, you do not go waving your arms about, shouting.
“I have sent Baumgartner to fetch more rope and the large torches. Do not take any risks, Colonel.” An Italian voice called out in reply.
“No, no.” Hans muttered under his breath as he stumbled around with his arms outstretched, careful not to walk into anything untoward.
Just then, Hans began to get the distinct impression that something significant was happening. An eerie feeling that his presence in this place had been detected. It was an instinctive thing and Hans' already tachycardic heart rate became even more furiously rapid. A soft glow seemed to begin emanating from the floor about his feet and for the first time, Hans was afforded enough light to gain a little orientation in this most confounding of places.
Hans stepped forward a couple of paces and as his foot fall seemed to be registered on the 'living metal' surface, so came the light, almost as if in response to the pressure with which he exerted on the floor. Hans tapped his foot gently upon the surface and the movement brought about subsequent explosions of silent light which decayed almost as quickly as they appeared. The surface was hard yet it responded as if it were a liquid, the pressure of his footfall causing ripples of light. It was a beautiful, mesmerising yet fearful thing. Hans now felt more cautious than ever, this place was unlike anything he had experienced and it was not possible to conceive what other secrets it held.
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