by John Holt
Suddenly the metal piece broke free from the rubble. The movement pushed Karl backwards, causing him to lose his balance. He fell heavily on to the rubble, causing a huge swirl of sediment to be thrown upwards. The murky sediment surrounded Karl, enshrouding him in complete darkness. Dazed and bleeding, he could see nothing. Suddenly he felt the ground beneath him start to move, sliding toward the edge of the shelf. As the movement increased, his foot became trapped in the rubble deposits. He struggled to get free, but the more he struggled, the more sediment he disturbed, and the speed of the earth slide increased. He could not see anything, and he had no idea how far it was to the edge of the shelf. He had to summon help somehow. He calculated that he had about eight minutes of oxygen remaining.
It was a huge risk, he knew, but he decided to release some of his precious air from the oxygen tank. This would cause a disturbance on the surface. If Fritz was watching, that disturbance should alert him. He took a deep breath, and took the mask away from his mouth. He then turned the valve to the maximum, increasing the pressure. A large quantity of air bubbles shot toward the surface. Please, Fritz, please be watching, Karl kept saying over and over again.
* * *
Back on the surface Fritz was indeed keeping a watchful eye. He was aware that Karl had been submerged for thirty minutes, and should be surfacing quite soon. He was sure that everything was all right, yet he still felt a little uneasy, he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was that sudden swirl of oily water rippling over the surface; that wasn’t natural was it. He looked at his watch again. Thirty-two minutes now. He was gradually becoming more and more anxious. He knew that Karl would not take any un-necessary risks. If Karl had forty minutes of air, he would only use thirty. Once again he looked at his watch. It was now thirty-three minutes. That’s too long. There’s something wrong he was sure. In anticipation he had moved nearer to the edge of the lake. Suddenly there was a burst of air bubbles spreading over the lake in front of him. There is something wrong.
Hurriedly, he selected a fresh oxygen tank, and strapped it on to his back. He then put on his flippers, then the nose clip. Finally he placed the goggles over his face, and dived into the water. He knew exactly where Karl would be. Consequently, he calculated that it should not take him too long to reach his friend. Nonetheless, he knew that if Karl was in trouble both time, and oxygen, were running out rapidly. Speed was essential. He became more and more anxious. The adrenalin began to flow, strengthening his strokes, and pushing him faster and faster.
Although now beginning to settle, the sediment that had been stirred up was still causing problems with visibility. It was extremely dark, and even with both torches on full beam, Fritz had great difficulty in seeing. Then it suddenly occurred to Fritz that the sediment that was causing him problems might actually be a great help to him. He reasoned that the sediment would be thicker, the nearer it was to the actual disturbance. He swam toward the thick cloud, and there, in the gloom, he could just make out his friend.
Fritz quickly swam down toward him. Karl could see him coming, and began to wave. As Fritz drew closer he took hold underneath Karl’s arms, and began to pull, but Karl was stuck firm. Fritz tried once again, to no avail. Karl began signalling, pointing downwards, and indicating that his foot was trapped. Fritz bent down, until he could reach Karl’s foot. He could see that there was a strand of thick wire wrapped around his ankle. The wire was partially encased within a large block of concrete. Fritz could also see that the concrete block was slowly sliding toward the edge of the shelf, taking Karl with it. Karl had now been underwater for over thirty-five minutes. His oxygen tank was almost empty. Fritz knew that he had to act quickly in order to save his friend’s life. He started to twist the wire attached to Karl’s ankle, trying to break it. Backwards and forwards, he bent the wire. Bending, twisting and turning. His hands were cut and bleeding, but he continued to bend the wire.
As he tried to twist the wire he began to realize that he did not have sufficient space in which to turn it. He could not get the sufficient leverage. Although the wire was weaker, it stubbornly held intact. Then it occurred to him that perhaps he should leave the wire wrapped around Karl’s ankle. He turned his attention to the other end of the wire; the end encased in the concrete. It might be easier to break this section of wire free from the concrete block. It appeared to be quite rusty, and a few sharp blows with another concrete block should do the trick. He picked up a piece of concrete, and smashed it on to the wire strand. It remained intact. Once more he smashed the concrete onto the wire. Did it move? Another mighty blow and the wire suddenly snapped. Karl was free. Now he had to get him to the surface as quickly as possible.
After what seemed like an eternity, they arrived back at the surface. Fritz scrambled ashore, dragging Karl behind him. He removed Karl’s oxygen tank, and threw it to one side. He then removed his own tank, placing it alongside. Karl lay on the ground, motionless, his eyes closed. But he was alive, thought Fritz.
“Thank goodness, for that,” he declared.
Karl suddenly opened his eyes, and sat up. “Did you say something?” he asked.
Typical Karl, Fritz was thinking. “I said thank goodness you are all right. That could have been, well, let’s just say you frightened me there.”
* * *
They sat there for another hour, until Karl had fully recovered from his ordeal. He suddenly stood up, and started to pace up and down. Fritz knew these signs very well. “Sit down, Karl, take it easy,” he said.
“I’m okay,” Karl responded. “I’m fine. Let’s get on shall we.”
“Karl, are you absolutely sure,” Fritz needed to be certain. “We can always leave it until tomorrow. Another day won’t make a great deal of difference, you know.”
“I’m fine, I tell you,” Karl said, getting a little edgy, a little agitated. “There’s nothing wrong with me. Okay.”
“All right, Karl. Have it your own way.” Fritz hoped that his friend was being honest, and that he was all right. Deep down he was actually glad that they could continue with their search. It was beginning to look interesting, and he didn’t really want to delay, unless he had to.
“We’ll carry on then. But the slightest sign of a problem, we stop,” said Fritz. “Is that agreed?” Karl signified that it was, indeed, agreed.
“Apart from the rubble, and the pieces of metal, there is something down there,” Fritz continued. “I don’t know what it is but it seems to be a concrete structure of some kind.”
“We better both go down, together,” said Karl. “We can carry extra lights that way, and we might be able to see what it is. What depth was it?”
“Oh, not more than six metres, possibly seven, maybe eight,” Fritz replied.
“All right,” said Karl. “As a precaution, because we will both be underwater at the same time, I suggest we tie ourselves to some ropes. Just in case something goes wrong, you know.”
“Good idea.” Karl was fully recovered, Fritz thought. He was pleased that he could rely on him, as usual.
Their preparations completed, they entered the water. Fritz leading, Karl a short distance behind. The safety ropes trailing behind them. The sediment had now settled, and visibility had improved. Nonetheless it was still quite dark. As they approached the area where Fritz had seen the concrete he switched his torch on. Taking his cue, Karl did the same, and swam closer to his companion. Fritz continued swimming, staying close to the shoreline. He directed his torch toward the shore. There, in the gloomy, misty water, he could see the concrete structure, extending downwards, from the surface. He signalled over to Karl, waving his torch, and then returning the beam back to the concrete. Karl directed the beam from his torch into the same area. As he did so the structure became clearer, and there, at the base, was a ramped section, extending downwards, and out from the shore. Concrete rubble and broken sections of metal could be seen scattered all along the ramp.
At a depth of approximately seven metres, the three circular iron plates,
attached to the face of the concrete, were clearly visible. The plates appeared to be quite rusty. They were hinged at the top, and it could be clearly seen that at one time they did open. Karl swam up to the plates, for a closer inspection. He then swam down toward the broken pieces of metal along the ramp. After a short while examining the debris, he picked up a suitable piece. He looked over to Fritz, and signalled that he was returning to the surface. Fritz took one last look around, and followed him.
* * *
“That must be the remains of the testing centre,” said Karl, back on the surface. He looked at the piece of metal that he had thrown onto the ground. “And that is probably the remains of a test torpedo.”
Fritz bent down, and picked it up. The piece was semi-circular in shape, and approximately two hundred millimetres in length. It was obviously part of what was, originally, a tubular structure, approximately three hundred millimeters in diameter. “Well it certainly looks the right sort of shape,” said Fritz, turning it over in his hand. “I think you’re right.”
“Incidentally,” said Karl. “What do you think happened to the main section of the building?”
“I seem to recall that the main section, the above ground part, was taken down, by the authorities three or four years ago,” Fritz replied. “All of that debris, down there, probably resulted from the demolition work.”
He stood up, and started to pace out the extent of the underground section that they had seen, marking its position on the ground. When he had finished, he turned around, looking at the boundary markings that he had made.
“Well, I think that’s about correct,” he said. “Quite a large place, if that is any guide.”
Karl stood up and walked over to join him. “I suppose it must have been a reasonable size. I mean, apart from the office areas, the laboratories, and the test areas, there must have been staff quarters, storerooms, kitchens, and who knows what else.” Karl looked at the marked out building. “I wonder what it looked like”, he said. “What was it like to actually be here, you know, back then.”
“Yes I was wondering that as well,” said Fritz. “I wonder if the underwater section is still intact. It would be interesting if we could find a way into the facility.”
Karl agreed that it would, but he did not think that it would be possible. “I don’t suppose that the facility exists anymore, not as it was,” he said. “Surely the authorities would have totally destroyed everything inside. They would have demolished all the walls, and probably taken down the ceiling. It would just be a huge pile of rubble by now, covered with undergrowth. It would be totally unrecognisable, even if it still existed.”
“I’m not so sure,” said Fritz. “I mean what would be the point of all of that work? You could just seal the area, by closing off any access points at ground level. That would be much quicker, and a lot cheaper. After all, the major part of the structure is already buried anyway. Looking around now, you would never know that it existed would you?”
What Fritz had said made sense. “You could be right,” said Karl. “I don’t know. Let’s have a look around, and see what we can see.”
They began to search, but found no further indications that a building had ever been there. Although there were sandy outcrops in several places, much of the area was covered by grasses, and, closer to the lake, reeds.
After some while searching, and finding nothing, it was decided that they should carry out a search of the area using their metal detectors.
The clearing was approximately forty metres long, and, at its widest point, approximately ten metres wide.
“I don’t know if we’ll get this finished today,” Fritz shouted over to Karl.
Karl merely shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe not, who knows? So what, let’s just get on with it, and see how far we get.”
The area was divided into strips, approximately twelve hundred millimetres wide, extending over the entire clearing. About an hour later all of the necessary preparations had been completed and they were ready to commence their search. They walked over to the edge of the clearing, switched on the detector, and began sweeping the area. Within a short while the sensor begins to bleep. “We’ve found something, Karl.”
“If it’s more ammunition, I’ll scream,” said Karl. He walked over to where Fritz was standing, and started to carefully remove the covering soil. “I knew it, more cartridges.”
Fritz put down the detector, and bent down to see for himself. As he looked he realised that there was something unusual about the shells. “Karl, do you notice anything? Anything different, that is.”
Karl did not notice anything at all. “All I noticed was more and more bullets,” he said.
“Right,” said Fritz. “But these bullets are different. These have all been fired. All that we have here are the spent cartridge cases.”
Karl did not understand the significance of his friends comment. He stood up, and looked at the area. “So they’ve been fired,” he said. “What about it?”
Fritz had to admit that he wasn’t absolutely sure of what it meant, or indeed, whether it was significant or not. “Well you have to admit that it’s something different,” he said.
“I suppose so,” agreed Karl reluctantly. “Come on, let’s see if we can find some more.”
* * *
For the next four hours they walked back and forth, along the clearing, scanning the area with the detector. More and more spent cartridges were found, scattered over a distance of about fifty metres.
“I wonder what happened here?” Karl asked nobody in particular.
“It looks like there must have been some kind of battle going on,” Fritz responded.
“Maybe the Allies had arrived, and the German troops put up a fight,” Karl suggested.
Fritz looked back along the edge of the lake, to the south. “Perhaps they came in from over there,” he said. “And there was an exchange of gunfire.” He looked down at the ground. “I wonder how many had died right here?” he asked. He then looked back at Karl. “We’ll probably find more ammunition over there” he said pointing toward the southern shore. “Only this time it would be American ammunition.”
“Well that would be a change, but please, no more; I couldn’t stand the excitement,” said Karl.
“I know what you mean,” said Fritz. “It’s either coins or bullets.”
“But still no gold,” said Karl despondently.
“Why not try Kammersee?” said a voice behind them.
Immediately, Fritz knew that last night had not been his imagination. The noise in the undergrowth hadn’t been a fox, or a rabbit. They had been watched, but by whom, the authorities, the police, or somebody else? They both turned to face the voice. It was the same man who had been in the restaurant.
“Who are you?” Fritz demanded to know. “And why have you been following us?”
The voice belonged to a tall dark haired man, in his middle twenties. “My name is Hans Mueller,” he replied. “I come from Regensburg, a small town a few miles to the south of Hannover. I have been watching you for a while now. I am sorry if I startled you. I have been trying to decide whether or not I could trust you.”
“Whether or not you could trust us?” said Fritz indignantly. “You have been spying on us for some days now, and you wonder if you can trust us? What’s more to the point is can we trust you?”
“How do we know that you aren’t with the Austrian police?” asked Karl.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen, I fully understand how you feel. And I really must apologise for my actions,” said Mueller. “If you give me a chance I will explain everything.”
“Go on,” said Fritz. “I’m listening.”
“Firstly, let me assure you that I am not from the authorities. Secondly, I am here for the same reason you are.”
“And what precisely is that?” asked Fritz.
Mueller stopped, and looked at them. “We both know why we are here,” he replied. He then walked slowly toward the edge of the lake.
A short distance from the water he stopped, bent down, and picked up a handful of the spent cartridges.
“These are German bullets,” he said. “But I’m sure that you knew that.” He bent down once again, shook the bullets in his hand, and threw them back down on to the ground. “What you probably didn’t know is that there was a small detachment of German troops stationed here, at the test centre.” He looked around the clearing. “It must have been located here somewhere.” He looked back out across the water. “Such a beautiful lake,” he said. “Who would ever imagine it had such a violent past.”
Fritz was beginning to be intrigued with their visitor. It wasn’t so much what he was saying, but more the manner in which it was said. “We had actually guessed that much. We thought that maybe the Americans had come in from the south. Over there,” Fritz pointed back toward the south. “Obviously a major gun battle took place, just here.”
Mueller looked in the direction that Fritz had indicated. “Yes, that sounds about right. It is probable that several of the German soldiers were killed; Americans as well I imagine,” he said. He then turned back to Fritz and asked, “Have you found any insignia, or identification discs?”
“Not so far,” said Karl joining in the conversation. “But we had only just started our search of the area.”
“All right, Karl that’ll do.” Although intrigued, Fritz was beginning to wonder where this was leading. He wanted to tell Karl not to volunteer too much information about their activities, until they knew more about this stranger. “Can we get back to the point of your story?” he said. “We know your name, but exactly who are you, and what do you want with us?”
