by Ward Wagher
Now that the pillboxes had revealed themselves, multiple beams of coherent light slashed the fortifications open. French aircraft flew over the battlefield, attempting to hinder the Nazis. The angry beams of light from the magicians’ weapons blotted the planes from the sky. When groups of French soldiers broke from the bunkers, the coaxial machine guns on the German tanks cut them down.
By the end of the day, the Germans had completely broken through the French fortifications and spread out into France. There was little or no resistance. The French did not expect an attack in this sector and were utterly unprepared. It seemed the whole land was now supine before the invader. The road to Paris was open.
The introduction of the German SS magicians into the battlefront was, of course, completely unexpected. Another novelty of the day was the almost complete lack of bloodshed, at least for the Germans. The only German casualty was a corporal who wasn’t paying attention and got himself run over by a tank. Of course, the French suffered rather more, and the rout also completely broke their confidence.
Modern warfare had changed
CHAPTER NINETEEN
December 5, 1939
“Our magicians achieved a great victory for the Reich yesterday,” Rolf proclaimed as he walked into the lab. “And it is all due to the people in this room. You have made a huge contribution to making our nation great. The French are in complete disarray.”
Dieter looked up from where he was working. “I did not listen to the radio last night. What happened to the French?”
“We attacked the Maginot Line. A group of our magicians led the attack and knocked out the French weapons. It was magnificent.”
“That’s fantastic news, Rolf,” Dieter said. “What is going to happen next?”
Rolf marched over to Dieter’s bench and spoke softly. “The slug eaters will sue for terms if they are smart. Nothing is standing between the Wehrmacht and Paris.”
“Because of the magic?”
“We could not have done it without the magic,” Rolf admitted. “But the Führer saw an opportunity, and it paid off magnificently.”
“What will we do next?”
Rolf shrugged. “I imagine we will march on Paris and make the French surrender.”
“I mean, what will those of us here in the lab do next?”
“The craft workers are putting together new uniforms and equipment for the Magician Corps. We are working our way through the army as quickly as possible to identify those who have the talent. But as for you, my friend, I am hopeful that you will deliver new inventions. If your flying device is reliable, it will be very important to us.”
“I broke the flying device yesterday when it suddenly crashed to the floor. We are not sure why we are still having problems.”
“You will keep working on it, of course. And also keep working on invisibility.”
“I will do so.”
“And just to add to your store of personal information, we have connected a power unit in a U-boat. Two of our magicians are aboard to tend to the device. It is wired into the electrical system so that it can charge the batteries and also drive the propulsion.”
“That is very interesting,” Dieter said. “I wonder if I might get a chance to see it sometime.”
“We might consider something like that. In testing, the U-boat was able to move at high-speed underwater for thirty-six hours without having to surface. The Kriegsmarine was impressed.”
“If I might ask,” Dieter said, “how well did the magicians hold up?”
Rolf gave him a cryptic look. “They had to halt the test because the magicians were exhausted. Is there something you should be telling us?”
“When I spent a day testing the equipment outside, I was weary afterward. I bounced back quickly but wondered why I should be so tired. I thought maybe I was coming down with something. When I participate in heavy testing of the magic, I find it tiring.”
“Why have you not mentioned this before?” Rolf asked sharply.
“It is only recently that I recognized the problem myself.”
“Very well, Dieter. You should continue working on the flying device. I do not want to hear about you slacking off.”
Dieter looked over quickly at Rolf’s face. The other man had a slight grin. Dieter was never quite sure when the SS man was teasing. He shook his head with a rueful smile as he responded.
“I don’t know, Rolf. I woke up this morning and thought, what the hey, maybe I’ll go to work.”
Rolf roared with laughter and slapped Dieter on the back. Meanwhile, Dieter wondered if Rolf found it that funny. Of all the SS people he had met, and he had met quite a few, none seemed to be entirely human. He found it interesting that very few of the members of the Magician Corps had come from the SS. It was something to ponder.
Rolf leaned in closer to Dieter. “And how do you like your automobile?”
He answered with a huge grin. “It is wonderful. I think it will be useful in helping me serve the Reich.”
“Very good. I am glad to hear that. We like our inventors to be happy and productive. And you more so than almost anyone else.”
Dieter nodded, not knowing what else to say. Finally, Rolf spoke again.
“Very well. I must be off. The Führer has asked that I go to Berlin and give him a personal report on the performance of the magicians in the battle. I imagine Herr Himmler will be there as well.”
“I hope it goes well for you.”
“Thank you. One never knows when meeting with that bunch.”
After Rolf left, Dieter focused on the new device. Once again, he had built a nonsensical device, and he had heard the American word contraption and thought it was apt. His inventions produced remarkable, or even amazing results from something that his electrical engineering studies said shouldn’t be possible.
He wondered how it was that he had discovered this magical effect. It was in the world around them, so logically it seemed that someone should have long since figured this out. After all, Karl Helmholz was immediately able to duplicate his efforts and construct much more refined machines from his clumsy inventions. The magicians were able to utilize the devices as weapons and do so without extensive training. Further, the magicians out in the field had been able to improvise. They were regularly shooting down enemy airplanes – and this was something that had not occurred to Dieter.
He was something of a technician. He loved to drill down into technical problems and create solutions. He never expected to develop magical devices, but doing so was not inconsistent with his mindset. Yet Rolf’s visits set up something of an itch in his mind, and he was driven to scratch at it and create yet another solution. But he wasn’t quite sure about the definition of the problem.
Dieter’s magic had given the Nazis a weapon that was new and unique in the world. The way the French army had melted away under the onslaught of the new weapons was instructive. The Germans were now theoretically unstoppable. He had always thought talk about the Thousand Year Reich was a catchphrase or a slogan. Yet these new weapons that he invented turned that into a real possibility. He wondered if there was anything to stop the Nazis from rolling over the whole planet.
Someone nudged him, and he looked over at Ludwig.
“You were just staring into space, Dieter.”
“Sorry. I was lost in thought. I need to get busy.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Dieter said. He tore a piece of paper from his notebook and began rapidly sketching.
“I need a small box like this with a stick coming out the top. The stick needs to be able to move around anywhere up to about 35 degrees. It needs to be wired in such a way that moving the stick in one direction makes the lights on that side of the mechanism grow brighter.”
“I think I understand. What are you trying to achieve?”
“I want to see if this will allow me to control the… I’m not sure what to call it. Um… make the device tilt one way or th
e other.”
“That is what I thought you meant. This is much like the control stick on an airplane.”
“Exactly,” Dieter now grinned. “Once this thing leaves the ground, it just sort of floats around. That’s why I managed almost to destroy it yesterday.”
“Very well,” Ludwig said. “I need to figure out how to construct this device and manage the wiring. I have some ideas, but I’m not sure how well they will work out in practice.”
“We need just enough to control the device so that it doesn’t fly into the wall or into Ignatz’s office or something.”
Ludwig laughed. “Ignatz would not appreciate this buzzing around his office.”
Late that afternoon, Dieter was preparing to leave for the day, and he stopped by the desk where the little blond girl labored.
“Might I give you a ride home, Jette?”
She looked up in annoyance, but then her look softened. “Yes, I believe I would like that. Give me a moment to clear my desk.”
She quickly placed the folders of paper in their proper place on her desk and then stood with one last folder.
“This needs to be locked in the cabinet in Herr Schneider’s office.”
She quickly walked over and knocked on the open door to where Ignatz worked. When he looked up, she held up the folder so he could see it. He waved her in and returned to the report he was reading. She opened the third drawer in the file cabinet and quickly slid the folder into its home.
After returning to the lab, she shrugged into her coat and turned to Dieter. “Ready.”
She stepped out into the darkness of the early winter afternoon and looked shocked at the wind and blowing snow.
“I did not realize the weather had changed,” she shouted over the wind.
Dieter quickly guided her to the door on the passenger side of the KdF Wagen and opened it for her. After closing the door, he trotted to the other side and climbed in. When he started the engine, he still thought it strange to hear the sound of the motor behind him. And it didn’t sound like a proper engine. It was more like a piece of farm machinery.
The snow swirled and danced in the headlights as they rode across the base to the gate. The guards waved them through the checkpoints, and they followed the road into Frankfort. There wasn’t a lot of traffic. People seemed to be avoiding the weather.
“I was angry with you last night,” Jette said unbidden.
“I noticed.”
“I was convinced you were accepting favors from the SS even though you knew they would probably try to kill me at some point.”
“They aren’t going to kill you, Jette.”
He paid careful attention as he drove the little car through an intersection. An accident tonight would probably cause them to freeze to death. He continued speaking.
“Ignatz has managed to convince Rolf of your importance to the project. I think you are safe.”
“How safe, Dieter? Is anyone safe in this land?”
“About as safe as anyone right now,” he commented. “And to be honest, this car was a payoff from the SS. They want to keep me happy and not have me asking uncomfortable questions.”
“Like what happened to my parents?”
“Well, that certainly. But, it’s mainly because I delivered for them.”
“What is going to happen when our magicians cross the English Channel, or we get them across the Atlantic to America?”
“I think the British and the Americans will be in trouble.”
“We must not let them lose, Dieter.”
“Assuming I want them to win, what can I do?”
“You are a magician,” she said fervently. “I am also. We can take your car to a port and ride a boat to England. From there we can go to America.”
“That would take a lot of planning.”
“Of course, it would. Don’t be stupid. I have been thinking about it. We can do this.”
As they drove across the streets of Frankfort, Germany, Dieter Faust began to understand what she was saying. They could indeed do this. But he was asking himself why. He was an accomplished inventor, and the SS treated him very well. He could see a road to real wealth lying ahead. True, there was the risk to Jette. But that was true anywhere. He was confident that between him and Ignatz, they could keep her safe. Rolf certainly would not want to do anything to make him unhappy.
“What do you want out of life?” she asked suddenly.
He glanced over at her and then looked ahead of the car. “I grew up in an orphanage, Jette. I had no money. When I turned sixteen, they put me out on the street with nothing but the clothes on my back. I promised myself I would never be in a position like that again.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“Who knows? I have never been able to find out who my parents were, or if I have any family at all. I have dreamed of discovering a sibling or a cousin, maybe. If I had the money to do it, I would search for them.”
“And what if all your relatives are Jews? What if they are in the camps?”
He frowned as he drove, watching the road ahead of the car. “I have thought about that. I don’t know what I would do.”
“We are much alike, you know. We are both orphans and have no family.”
“Surely, your parents are still alive,” he exclaimed.
“Are they? When the SS takes people away, they never come back. What do you honestly think happens?”
“I think they die, one way or the other,” he admitted.
“So, it brings me back to the first question, Dieter. Why do you not want to leave Germany?”
He had no answer.
CHAPTER TWENTY
December 15, 1939
“How is your project doing, Karl?” Dieter asked as he walked into what was now called the manufactory, the others having adopted Dieter’s name for the room.
“See for yourself.” He waved a hand at the vehicle sitting on the floor alongside one wall of the shop.
The Kübelwagen was Karl’s starting point, and Dieter walked around it while studying the changes the craftsman had made.
“What happened to the engine?”
“Oh, since there is plenty of power from the magical power box, I replaced the engine with an electric motor.”
“The enclosed body will be nice during the winter,” Dieter commented. “And using a turret for the beam weapon is a good idea.”
“I thought that it might be a mistake to have our magicians acting like infantry. The actual capabilities made me think more of armor.”
“That is true,” Dieter said. “I would not have thought of that, but it makes sense.”
“Let me show you something else.” Karl opened the passenger door on the front and pointed to a box in the center underneath the dash.
“And what is that?”
“Funny you should ask,” Karl grinned. “That is a heater. Once again…”
“There is plenty of electrical power,” Dieter completed the sentence with a laugh. “My KdF Wagen blows a little warm air from the engine, but I still nearly freeze driving home.”
Karl tapped a tooth with one greasy finger as he considered what Dieter had told him.
“You know, Dieter, I need to get this prototype completed. Rolf wants to demonstrate it to the Führer as soon as possible. The experiment with the U-boats proved we could have normal people manage the equipment if a magician was aboard. We are extending that idea to vehicles that move on land.”
“It is an interesting concept.”
“Right. And I think that after we get this done, we will sneak your KdF Wagen into the shop one morning and put an electric motor in it. It would be much faster, and you would not have to stop for fuel.”
Dieter felt his eyebrows rising. He had never thought of something like this. “Is this possible, Karl? We wouldn’t get into trouble, would we?”
“Naah. Rolf would think it was a good idea.”
“I think it’s a good idea. In fact, I really like it.”
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“Good. Good. I must tell you,” Karl continued, “this has been a wonderful project. We will soon be able to deal with the enemies of the Reich. Nobody in the world will be able to touch us. I might even write a book about it. I’ve been thinking about this. I even have a title, The Triumph of the Aryans.”
Although it was comfortably warm in the workshop, or manufactory as Karl now called it, Dieter felt a chill in his bones. Would a Reich that no one could touch be a good thing? It would be nice not to have a war, but would the alternative be better?”
Dieter wandered back to the lab and stopped at his bench. Konrad had set a device on the bench and was waiting for him to return.
“What do you think?” Konrad asked.
He looked at the wooden box with a wooden dowel rod sticking out of the top. A tangle of wires was threaded through an opening along one side.
“So, all we have to do is wire it up,” Konrad said.
“How did you make this?”
“I found a wooden ball from a bedstead and drilled a hole for the dowel rod.” He wiggled the lid and pulled it free. “I have four rheostats with rubber wheels on the shafts at the 90-degree points around the ball. As you move the stick, the ball decreases or increases the resistance of the rheostats.”
“So we can control the level of the floater either forward and back, or left and right. Is this correct?”
Konrad shook his head. “It will do more than that, Dieter. Let me show you. If you move the stick towards the 45-degree mark, it turns all of the rheostats. So you have a much greater degree of control than you think.”
“What happens if the rubber wheels slip?”
“This is a proof-of-concept,” Konrad laughed. “It won’t work perfectly. But it should work well enough for us to find out if your idea is correct. We can leave perfection to Karl. He’ll figure out a way to make it work.”
“I guess that’s true,” Dieter agreed. “Very well, let’s get it connected and try it out.”
