“Attacked? By who?” said Erich.
“I have no idea. All we could do was try to piece things together from what we heard by radio.”
“Where we have been. We have seen no survivors,” said Manny.
Jaeger did not react to this news. “From what we could hear, that is not surprising. It was utter chaos.”
“Mein Gott,” said Waechter the engineer. “The radiation must have been more than we imagined.”
The remark bothered Erich. He would need more information, but first he wanted another question settled. “You notified Berlin. How could you get a signal out of here?”
Jaeger looked up at him. “We had a team construct a special antenna buoy attached by undersea cable.”
“Ingenious,” said Erich. “Can we use it to inform Berlin of your rescue?”
“Certainly.”
Erich was pleased to know he was not totally isolated in this very strange place. He looked at Waechter. “Now, tell me about the radiation.”
“Similar to what you would call X-rays,” said Waechter. “But more…ah, potent. We call them ‘Tau’ radiation.”
Erich did not want to know what kind of terrible power had been unleashed here. No sense immersing himself in detail and situations he could not control. But he did want to know the timeframe. “When did this happen?”
Jaeger looked around, obviously haggard from the ordeal. “Three days ago.”
Erich had suspected something like this. The High Command had declined to tell him about the rescue mission until he had gotten underway, and he could surmise the reason. If there proved to be no survivors, there would be no reason to reveal the existence of this top secret base to an entire U-boat crew. When Jaeger’s radio messages persisted, Doenitz must have agreed to attempt a rescue.
The events of the last several hours had affected Erich in ways he would not have expected. The secrets of this base were clearly more profound than any other Nazi scientific projects, and he was not sure he felt comfortable with the likes of Jaeger and party zealots dubbed as its caretakers. Erich realized he would need more answers, but first he would remove the survivors from any further danger.
* * *
Several things happened in the next few hours: Kress and his men were able to repair the hydroplane, although he could not swear to how long the fix might last. Metal fatigue was one of those things that could not be assessed until an actual failure occurred. In addition, Dr. Jaeger and his four associates were pulled from the wreckage and returned to the boat for medical attention and food from Hauser’s kitchen. The U-5001 still floated on the serene inner sea of the cavern, but that would soon change.
Erich spent the time trying to make sense of what he’d seen at Station One Eleven. Too much of what he had seen did not “add up,” and he knew he would be demanding more answers from Jaeger, and perhaps eventually, even Admiral Doenitz himself. But for the moment, he had ordered a briefing with Dr. Jaeger and had invited Manny to sit in.
A tap at his quarters’ door announced their arrival.
“Come in.”
Manny opened the door, ushered in Jaeger, who looked better after cleaning up and a good meal. As they took seats on the bunk, Erich leaned back in his desk chair, regarded the scientist, who appeared to be in his mid-forties.
“I trust we have treated you well, Doctor?” he said.
“Wonderful. This is a magnificent boat, Captain. An impressive crew.”
“Good, good.” Erich paused, sat up, and assumed a serious expression. “Now, I will get right to the point. We are in the middle of a very important mission, but that does not preclude my asking you for some additional information.”
Jaeger grinned sheepishly. “To be blunt, Captain, I would be more surprised if you had no questions.”
Manny looked on, but said nothing.
“To begin,” said Erich. “What is the nature of the work being done there?”
Jaeger paused. “I am sorry, but the exact nature of Station One Eleven is so classified that—”
Holding up his hand, Erich spoke softly. “No, Doctor. Do not bother with the official party line. I have been inside the Station. It is no longer classified to me or my crew. Now, either you tell me what I need to know, or I will leave you here. This is my boat, and as long as you remain onboard her, I am the supreme authority.”
Manny grinned as a pall settled over the cabin. Jaeger’s silence indicated he was taking Erich’s words to heart. Finally: “You make a fine, logical point. I suppose there is no need to pretend the base has not been compromised.”
“Being here to effect a rescue, I would not use that particular word,” said Erich. “But I have no interest in semantics, only facts. Now tell me, what kind of work has been going on here?”
Jaeger drew in a breath, exhaled slowly. “Two basic lines of research, actually. One group has been exploring the ruins and the…artifacts of the cavern. The other group has been working to apply what we learn to our own new energy and weapons technology.”
“Ruins? Elaborate please. How long have our people been here? How old is it? Who built it?”
“The site that eventually became Station One Eleven was actually discovered in 1931 by Frederick Millhausen, a geologist from the University of Leipzig. His specialty was vulcanism, and he had been searching for evidence of volcanic activity. His team discovered a strange fault in the surface ice, and after some test bores, he uncovered unexplainable heat signatures and evidence of great geologic anomalies.”
“And that’s how Millhausen found this cavern?”
“No, not exactly. Several years later, after the Fuhrer had been sworn in as Chancellor, he heard about Millhausen’s work.”
“How and why would that happen?” said Manny.
Jaeger looked at him with a patronizing expression. “Hitler has always been driven by the idea of secret bases at both poles. He believes the antipodal positions mark the widest possible boundaries for the reach and control of the Third Reich.”
“Go on,” said Erich.
“Later that year, the new Chancellor financed new expeditions. One to Greenland and one to Antarctica. The northern expedition found an entrance cavern, and the ruins. Hitler was ecstatic. He believed he had been ‘fated’ to uncover this place.”
“Hmmm,” said Manny. “I have heard rumors that he and his cabinet are quite interested in things mystical.”
Jaeger smiled sadly. “Yes, that has been said.”
“What do you know about the ruins?” said Erich.
“Not as much as we would like. The best estimate is that they are at least fifty thousand years old, but that figure could just as easily be one hundred thousand or one million. There is no way to be certain.”
“Fifty thousand? That in itself is incredible.” Erich felt a slight shudder pass through him. The idea unsettled him. A million years was simply incomprehensible.
“Where did they come from? Who built them?”
Jaeger shrugged. “We do not know yet. There are theories, of course.”
“Such as?” Erich leaned closer across his desk.
“The earth is very old, perhaps billions of years. It is not difficult to imagine previous civilizations farther back in time than we ever realized. It is quite possible they were totally wiped out by some catastrophic events. All traces scrubbed clean from the surface of the earth. Perhaps more than once.”
“But not beneath the earth,” said Manny.
“Correct,” said Jaeger. “Or beneath the waves. Perhaps the legend of the sunken city of Atlantis is based in fact. Such as this place.”
“What about records? Language? Art? What is left?”
“We have found traces of all those things. But they remain mostly a mystery.” Jaeger shook his head. “Deciphering a language with no links to any known language in existence is dauntin
g. We have had better results using mathematical cues.”
Erich nodded. What the scientist was saying did not sound unreasonable to a thinking person. “Tell me more about the station. Our people have been here more than eleven years?”
“Yes, but in small encampments…until a large-scale permanent base was established in 1939. It has been under the command of General Hans Kammler—although he does not spend all his time here.”
“What about that tower in the harbor?” Manny said.
Jaeger smiled. “One of our greatest achievements. The first teams in here found the ruins of something very much like it. We used rare earth phospho-vanadate phosphors—based upon what we found in the original artifact. They emit light under extreme heat. We built the tower and the geo-thermal energy system by back-engineering.”
“Geo-thermal?” said Erich.
“Heat from the molten layers of the earth’s mantle.”
“Impressive,” said Erich. “Did it require all six years? Is that what contributed to blowing yourselves up?”
Jaeger looked embarrassed as he smoothed down his thick blond hair. “No, no. We have uncovered many remnants and artifacts of a very advanced technology, but we will need many years to understand even a small fraction of it.”
“What caused the explosion?” said Manny.
Jaeger shrugged. “Until we can get more people in here to investigate, I have no way to know for sure. Most of what we do here is trial and error.”
“Tell me more about the Tau radiation. You said it did more than you realized.”
Jaeger appeared hesitant to speak, then: “It may have…how would you say…awakened something in here.”
“Awakened? Awakened what?”
Jaeger shrugged. “Whatever attacked and killed everyone at the Station, obviously. You saw the bodies…”
Erich shuddered at such a notion. He mentioned the statue they’d seen, and Jaeger nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “There are others like that, scattered throughout these ruins. Some depicting even more bizarre beings.”
“Are you suggesting we may be in danger from these things?”
“At this point, I don’t know what I think. I am sorry.”
“And what exactly were you trying to do when the accident happened?”
Jaeger looked at him with eyes tinged by fatigue and a touch of madness. “Have you ever heard of the Philosopher’s Stone?”
Erich paused as he searched his memory for the vaguely familiar term. Then: “Something to do with alchemy, as I recall.”
“Very good, Captain. Yes, it was the element sometimes called carmot, which could be changed or transmutated into whatever element was required.”
“All right,” said Erich. “Go on.”
“We have discovered artifacts that appear to be something like carmot. When we presented our initial findings to Dr. Heisenberg, he was intrigued enough to come here himself.”
“What?” said Manny. “Werner Heisenberg has been here?”
Jaeger nodded. “Rather than carmot, he called the substance we discovered ‘inter-matter’ because it appears to exist in a state unknown to modern physics. But the implications are world-shaking, gentlemen.”
“In what way,” said Manny.
“If we can discover the mechanism, the means to convert any substance into any other.” Jaeger beamed as he imagined a future utopia. “We can create infinite supplies of energy sources from our garbage, and that is just the most obvious use!”
“Hmmm,” said Erich. “It sounds like the term ‘precious metal’ would become obsolete.”
Jaeger waved him off. “Inconsequential. Whatever country controls inter-matter will rule the world.”
Erich sighed. “I think I’ve heard that phrase before…”
“What do you mean by that, Captain?”
“‘Ruling the world?’ Perhaps you have not noticed, Doctor, but things have not exactly been working out to plan.”
Jaeger bristled under the remark, but said nothing for a moment. Then he added: “I understand you may be war-weary, Captain. And I respect your feelings. However, we are all working under obligations, and we must all do our part. In fact, there is one more thing we must do here before we depart.”
Erich looked at the scientist with the perfect Aryan features. No doubt Jaeger had mortgaged his soul to the cause of the Fatherland long ago, and for a man like that, there was no turning back. “Let me guess,” said Erich. “We need to retrieve your magic stone.”
Chapter Nineteen
Dex
The translation routine became automatic through repetition, and Dex had lost count of how many pages he’d processed. Captain Bruckner had a lot to say, that was obvious. The Transliteral website was slow and clumsy—obviously designed only for snippets of text—but Augie had plenty of “Red,” as he called it, and he was treating the evening like a party. It wouldn’t be a problem. Pushing on until he cut-and-pasted the last of it into a big document file, he printed it out on Augie’s little Canon inkjet, and began to read. He handed off pages to Tommy, who was a slow, but careful reader.
The early pages were short and to the point, but no less interesting for it. Bruckner had been precise and detailed without being expansive. In each entry, he’d always noted the time, the depth, and map coordinates. With each passing word, Dex knew he and his pals had stumbled onto something extraordinary. As he and Don had figured, the big sub had been some sort of underwater aircraft carrier, but so far he saw no mention of its mission—other than a single notation regarding an eventual rendezvous with a German cruiser, Sturm.
Day after day, Bruckner continued to log in the story of his boat, and with each notation, Dex could see the captain allow more of his personal feelings and personality leak onto the pages, revealing a real person behind the words.
A person Dex found himself admiring—both for Bruckner’s obvious erudition and academics, but also a suggestion of a moral code other than the standard Nazi crap.
He read on, getting to know—through repetition—a few members of the crew: someone called Manny, the radioman Bischoff, and an apparent troublemaker named Liebling. Reliving the depth charge attacks, and the harrowing escapes from disaster felt realistic and vivid despite Bruckner’s precise language. Either the captain had a knack for using the exactly right word, or the online translation program was exceptionally good. Whatever the case, Dex found Bruckner’s log entries compelling.
The release of all the bow torpedoes was clever, but the entries which followed, detailing the entrance into a secret Nazi base, were utterly amazing. The total weirdness of the story came out of nowhere like a sucker-punch in a bar.
Although his initial reaction should have been to blow it off as a crazy story, as complete fiction, he could not.
For one reason.
Tommy and Dex had found the strange slab, and with the mention of “inter-matter,” he had a very good idea what it might be, and its possible value.
But even without the artifact, there was something starkly convincing in Bruckner’s words. It was clear Bruckner didn’t care whether or not any reader would ever believe him. For Bruckner, belief was not the issue. The underground Nazi station was real; the artifacts and technology there were equally real.
He hadn’t realized he’d paused to let his imagination ramble. Tommy was looking at him with a puzzled look.
“What?” said Dex.
“You got more pages? I caught up with you.”
Dex looked at the sheets on the table. “Yeah, there’s more. What do you think so far?”
Tommy shrugged as he glanced over at Augie dozing on the couch from one glass of Red too far. “Man, I don’t know. It’s a good story, that’s for sure.”
“You up for finishing it tonight?”
Tommy looked at him and smiled. “You know tha
t one about the Pope in the woods, don’t you?”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Dex as he picked up the next page.
Chapter Twenty
Bruckner
Log Entries
3 May, 1945
Before we could arrange a final trip back to the ruins, Bischoff received a reply to my message to Berlin.
After applying the proper keys and rotations of the Enigma, I read the following:
Fuhrer dead by suicide. Russians and Americans at gates of Berlin. Checkmate. Admiral Doenitz assuming control of the Reich. Stand down. Await further orders.
With our mission on the verge of being stillborn, I needed time to think what we should do next. Where to go now? Do what?
When I informed the crew, a sense of relief permeated the heavy atmosphere of the boat. I told them our mission had changed, and we would be underway once I had all the details and specific changes.
I called in Fassbaden. I told him everything I knew about the impending end to the war, the mission, and the catalogue of choices we faced.
We were interrupted by Bischoff who brought me the following uncoded message:
ALL U-BOATS. ATTENTION ALL U-BOATS. CEASE FIRE AT ONCE. STOP ALL HOSTILE ACTION AGAINST ALLIED TARGETS. DOENITZ.
I had suspected as much. The war is over for us. I informed my crew and they are relieved. They began to sing beerhall songs. Perhaps they will not die after all.
* * *
One hour later:
Dr. Jaeger accompanied Decker, Manny, and myself in the dinghy. We returned to the section of the base ravaged by the explosion. Now, seeing the structures with a new understanding, my awe of the place had heightened. How old might this place be? What race of people labored here? And what destroyed them? Were we in danger of the same fate? If I dwelled on such things too much, I feared it would affect my decision-making.
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