by M C Drake
As Edward pulled into view alongside the various sized hangers dotted around the base, he noticed a soldier signaling for him to stop outside of Hanger 27. Edward again managed a weary smile. He came to a stop and wound down his window.
“Nice to see a familiar face, Edgar." He said.
Airman First class Edgar Hudson returned the smile, “Nice to see you too Edward, you look knackered mate, we working you too hard?”
“Hardly son didn’t think you fellas were ever going to order more tiles, we were getting worried that our jobs might be at risk.”
Hudson laughed, “Papers if you would be so kind.”
Edward handed them over and watched in his mirror as Airman First class Glen Owens completed his walk around check of the vehicle.
“Ok.” Hudson said, “You know the drill Edward.”
The truck driver sighed as he hopped out of the cab, “All yours buddy.”
Owens approached the keypad on the hanger door and punched in a code. The display beeped once then after a short delay the hanger door slowly slid open.
Owens returned to talk to Edward while Hudson waited to enter the dimly lit building.
Edward glanced over Owens' shoulder and something caught his eye, he strained hard to try and make the object out. He had to take a double take but he was now sure, it was a body led out on a metal worktop.
The delivery driver tried hard not to make it to obvious but he was taking a mental picture of what he saw. It was definitely a figure on the worktop but it was strange, it looked to be smaller than a normal person, it was hard to tell at this distance but it could not have been much bigger than four foot.
Edward noticed something was strange with the arms as well, they seemed to be longer than the body and were out of proportion. The body was a light green color with patches of black, the head was also strange with two large black eye slots.
The truck moved slowly into the hanger and obscured Edward’s view, Owen had noticed that Edward was on edge and he calmly moved him away from the outside of the Hanger.
“We’ll get you a coffee mate and bring the truck around for you.”
Edward was unable to argue as Owens let Hudson know what was going on over the radio.
The ceramic tiles were unloaded onto the internal lift without incident and ten minutes later Edward was in his truck, being escorted from the base. That night the truck driver could not get to sleep, the image of those dark black eyes haunted him and he knew then that he could not keep this to himself.
Edward appeared on the local news describing what he had seen at the base and told anyone who would listen that the government was hiding creatures from another planet at the base.
A spokesman from Wright Patterson appeared on the news a day later.
The man, who was bold and wore a smart black suit and dark tinted sunglasses, spoke in a monotone voice. He then presented the green object to the local news reporter.
“This as you can clearly see is a manmade suit, it is specially designed to protect the wearer from the stresses of radiation during space travel. What we are working on here is the next generation of spacesuits.”
The local reporter nodded with interest "What about Mr. Wheeler's description of it being about four foot in length?"
The man smiled, a smile that looked more like a display of pain than an expression of enjoyment. "Well, when the suit is bunched up on a worktop and viewed from a distance I expect it does look a bit like a miniature green man."
The local reporter laughed then turned back to face the camera, "And there we have it folks, you can all sleep easy tonight knowing that there are, in fact, no little green men from another world at the base next door."
Edward was watching at home and squeezed his beer can so hard that the brown liquid foamed out all over his lap and spilled onto the floor. He could not believe how foolish they had made him look.
Edward’s phone rang and he gingerly picked it up.
“Hello Mr….”
“What do you mean you’re going to have to let me go?”
“Sir…. But Sir….”
The phone was dead, Edward slumped down next to the phone, not only had he been made to look like a fool but now he was also jobless. His temper flared and he picked up and throw the phone across the room, it extended to the length of its cord then crashed down on the bare floor.
A knock on the door snapped Edward out of his self-pity, he got up and slowly went to open it but it creaked open before he could get there.
“Who said you could come in here… Who are you…What a minute you are the man from the news report.”
Edward stumbled backwards and picked up the closest weapon he could get his hands on, a poker from the fireplace, he pointed it at the advancing man in black.
“Be calm please Mr. Wheeler, this will go a lot smoother if you cooperate.”
“What will go a lot smoother? You freak.” Edward said threateningly.
Edward felt a sharp prick in his arm, he looked down to see a needle pushing a clear liquid into his vein.
“What the hell?” He shouted.
A cold feeling swept through his body, his vision blurred and he fell to the floor unconscious, it only took a few more seconds for his lungs to give up and he died then and there.
The police found Edward’s lifeless body on the sofa with a needle sticking out of his arm. The coroner gave the cause of death as a heroin overdose. Wheeler was to be forever remembered as a drug addict and a local laughing stock.
Inauguration
The 20th January 1969 was a chill morning, yet that did not stop a huge crowd massing on this historic day; joining the chill that day was an air of optimism that America would finally start the process of leaving Vietnam.
Chief Justice Earl Warren had just finished administering the presidential oath of office to Nixon. The Dark, beady-eyed Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, he stood and delivered his speech with his trademark slick-backed black hair; he had the air of a hungry shark and was just as dangerous.
As the new President spoke about poetry and the future of the nation, two men stood and watched from a distance, their presence there that day was purely to keep Nixon to the predetermined speech that they themselves had written for him.
These men were the same men who had personally checked all of the ballot results and delivered the final count to the nations various news stations. The unsuspecting American public thought the results were delivered live but this was not the case.
The men had actually switched various ballet boxes to make Nixon’s victory inevitable, they had their reasons for this but as always these men, the men in black suits kept their reasons to themselves. They protected the organization they belonged to by any means possible, they knew they were currently being investigated by the head of the FBI, Edgar J Hoover but they also knew they would not be discovered.
The two men smiled and planned their next move, they were growing tired of Hans Kammler and his constant failures. They needed to know why the Nazi's high command was so keen to unleash Die Glocke on the world, yes the device produced the potent Xerum 525 but that alone would not have been enough to win the war; it was time to put pressure on the old man.
The World as God Sees it
Four days had passed since the massive, three-stage, 363-foot Saturn V launched with 7.5 million pounds of thrust; so the three astronauts of Apollo 11 could free themselves of earth's gravity and get into orbit.
The control room in Houston was quiet, very quiet. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Wernher von Braun had returned to the control room and was listening with interest, so far his rocket had done its job; now it was up to the Lunar Module Eagle to get Armstrong and Aldrin down to the surface of the moon.
The doors into the control room opened and a security guard walked in.
“Mr von Braun, there are three people to see you.” He sounded confused.
von Braun turned around to berate the man, "
Are you mad, we are in the middle of a crucial part of the mission…No visitors." He turned back to face the screens full of the various readouts.
“That is no way to treat old friends Wernher.” A voice chimed out.
The hairs on the back of the former Nazi scientist rose up and a chill went through his very core. ‘He never wanted to see those men again, he made that clear last time, so why were they here now of all times?’
Von Braun turned, his face was red, “I told you never to visit me again, I kept my part of the deal so I expect you…” His eyes widened as he recognized the third figure.
“You, I thought you were dead?”
The elderly man came out of the shadows, “Nice to see you too komrade, can we have a private word with you?”
Von Braun got the feeling he was not asking.
“Follow me.” Von Braun led the three men into an empty office and locked the door behind him.
“Ok, what do you want Hans?”
Kammler laughed, “Always to the point hey old friend, my colleagues here say you might be able to help me with a little project I have going.”
“What have you got your murderous little hand into now?” Von Braun asked, he kept his eyes on the men in black, they looked disinterested but he knew better, they would not be here unless they had an agenda.
“Well to be blunt komrade, we have found Die Glocke…”
“You what?”
Kammler smiled, "We are having, um... well difficulties accessing its secrets. We were hoping you could help?"
Von Braun just shook his head slowly, “Only Gerlach knew how to operate that thing, and he took his secrets to the grave.”
“How do you know he’s dead, he only disappeared.” Kammler said angrily, “Now will you help us?”
Von Braun thought for a minute, he needed to choose his words carefully, “I can’t help you, I am too busy here and anyway I never actually worked on the device…”
The two men in black turned to face the aerospace engineer.
“However.” Von Braun continued, “If you are mad enough to try and activate the device then I know some people who may be able to help, they have great minds and are experts in their fields.”
“We are listening.” The men in black said in that tone that Von Braun feared.
"During Operation Paperclip you picked up a few men, try the Physics professors Gunter Guttein and Gerhard Schweinger. Also, Rudolf Schildt who is an expert in material Science." Von Braun paused as he thought, suddenly he snapped his fingers, "Theodor Benzinger who is the leading expert on chemical weapons, he should be able to help with the Xerum. And finally, Hans Amtmann who is an expert on Astronautics.”
Kammler’s face went red, “Is that it?”
Von Braun nodded.
“look here, you traitor I can have you arrested again and this time you will be on trial here…”
Kammler was cut off in his prime.
“Thank Wernher, we will take your advice. Get the scientists to Hanger 6 immediately.” The men in black said. “Come Han’s, we are leaving.”
Von Braun watched as the three men unlocked the door then left, the security guard showed them out. As soon as they were out of sight Wernher slumped into an empty chair and put his head in his hands.
The Lunar Eagle reached the surface of the moon without incident and landed in an area known as the Sea of Tranquility. Mission Commander Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first man on the moon, he was joined twenty minutes later by Buzz Aldrin and the pair spent just over two hours walking around the surface.
The two astronauts spent just under a day on the moon’s surface in total until the Lunar eagle rejoined with the command module Columbia in lunar orbit; Michael Collins, who had stayed alone onboard to pilot the command module, was the first to congratulate the pair.
The Apollo 11 mission returned to earth without major incident and when they splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and were picked up safely the whole world celebrated. Von Braun, however, was observed to be deep in thought, distracted and worried by the unexpected visit he had received.
Wernher von Braun never admitted it but he was worried that Kammler and the men in black might actually succeed in utilizing Die Glocke as a weapon. This thought above all others kept him awake at night.
Ancient flames awakened
The last two weeks had seen a renewed amount of activity around hanger 6 (Hanger 27 as it was known on official documents), a group of new scientists had arrived, along with a lot of new raw materials; finally, last week a huge amount of electrical equipment was delivered on three separate semi-trailers, these included large, industrial-sized electrical transformers.
“What they building a new city in there?” One of the guards casually remarked.
“Designing equipment for space travel clearly consumes a lot of energy, your papers all check out, let them through.” The second guard said.
Deep inside the cavernous hanger 6 the project was picking up the pace, the new group of ex-Nazi scientists was working well under the watchful gaze of Hans Kammler. Kammler finally felt alive again, he was leading a project and he could sense his workforces fear, that fear is what he lived for.
Two young American technicians were dressed head to toe in full radiation suits, they were nervous. They had the unenviable task of clearing the transparent cylinders of the highly toxic red mercury. They gingerly took the half-full tubes and placed them in lead tubes full of liquid nitrogen; this was considered much safer than just lead casing. The tubes crackled as they were frozen instantly, one of red mercuries stranger properties was that it did not seem to freeze under any temperature.
After fresh tubes were placed on the structure the device looked complete, it stood twelve-foot-tall with a layer of ceramic tiles covered by a thin metallic skin. It looked much more like a bell now and not a golden acorn.
“Are you sure this is right Amtmann?” Kammler snarled from his perch.
Amtmann snorted in annoyance. “Who is the only one here to ever see a picture of Die Glocke? Me or you?”
Kammler’s face flushed red with rage at the insubordinate tone the man had used but he let it go.
“That’s what I thought, now please let us work. The faster we can get this thing completed, the quicker we can go back to our lives.”
Kammler smiled, ‘Keep thinking that fool.’ He thought.
The lift slowly descended to the bottom floor with three trucks full of the electrical equipment.
“Finally.” Ernst Baars said with relief, “I thought it was never going to get here.”
He ordered the lab technicians and engineers to unload the equipment so he could inspect it.
The two Electronics experts Baars and Josef Boehm shook their heads and tutted, “It’s American made, not the German quality we were expecting but it will have to do.” They laughed.
The engineers got to work on connecting this new electrical city together, a group of twenty men worked for six hours straight, for three days but the project was still not ready, Kammler’s patience was wearing thin.
The ex-SS member walked up to the men as they were having lunch, “Get back to work you useless fools.” He shouted, arms gesticulating wildly.
The sight of the old man in a fit of rage amused the engineers and they started laughing, which only made Kammler worse.
“Look old man, don’t have a heart attack, we will get it done.”
That was the last straw, Kammler pulled a Luger P08 pistol from behind his back and pointed it squarely at the senior engineer.
“Woah calm down buddy...”
Hans Amtmann had seen what was happening, he walked over to talk Kammler out of it, “Hans what are you doing!?...”
“Shut up, both of you.” Kammlers eyes narrowed as he focused on the engineer, “I’m going to give you two choices, I can blow your brains out and make your wife a widow or…” Kammler slowly took one hand off of his pistol and took out a small tube with red and yello
w packaging and held it out in his open hand.
"Or you and your lazy, pathetic excuse for a team can take a couple of these pep pills but I expect you to work until it is finished."
The engineer did not say a word.
Amtmann recognized the packaging straight away. “Where the hell did you get Perviatin from?”
Kammler smiled, “The men in black gave it to me, they have instructed me to get this project moving and that is exactly what I am going to do.”
The engineer could not take his eyes off of the gun, "Look pal, I am not taking an unknown pill from a crazy old man with a gun."
“Fine with me.” Kammler grinned.
“Hans NO!” Amtmann shouted but it was too late.
Kammler squeezed the trigger and a single shot rang out. The engineer fell where he stood, his sandwich hit the floor at the same time as his lifeless body, blood trickled from a single bullet wound to the head. His lifeless eyes stared blankly at the wall.
The whole hanger was stunned, the other workmen did not know what to do for a second, they all got to their feet and considered rushing the crazy old man. That thought was quickly wiped from their heads.
Two men in black appeared out of nowhere and stood behind the former SS General, they shook their heads before speaking in unison.
“I see you men have been making life difficult for your project manager. Please can you rectify this straight away by taking the pill, it will help you work without the need to rest.”
The engineers felt dazed, one by one they stumbled forward and took two pills. Pervitin is a methamphetamine and soon the worker’s brains were releasing dopamine and serotonin.
Two of the engineers were instructed to remove their colleague's body, he was buried in an unmarked grave under the concrete, and the hole was quickly covered.
The engineers kept working for the next three days straight, they did not sleep and they barely ate. They only stopped for some water and a couple more pep pills. At the end of the third day, Die Glocke was wired up and ready to be tested.
