tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16468692761136003102023-11-15T09:36:48.478-08:00Wilhelm Landig - Idols Against ThuleDisciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-73178015944731720952013-04-02T13:01:00.004-07:002013-04-02T13:01:54.852-07:00Translation Status<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This site is an archive for the translated portions of Wilhelm Landig's <i>Goetzen gegen Thule</i>,
in English known as "Idols Against Thule", "Godlets Against Thule" or
"Gods Against Thule". The following is an index of the translated
portions with respective links to their entries:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(BUCH I/BOOK I)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/chapter-1-secret-order_13.html">Chapter 1: Secret Order</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/chapter-2-bright-night.html">Chapter 2: The Bright Night</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/chapter-3-nuliajukanahnaq.html">Chapter 3: Nuliajukanahnaq</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/11/chapter-4-point-103.html">Chapter 4: Point 103</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/11/chapter-5-messengers_11.html">Chapter 5: The Messengers</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/chapter-6-flight-into-chaos.html">Chapter 6: Flight Into Chaos</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(BUCH II/BOOK II)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/sample-from-chapter-7-solstice.html">Chapter 7: Solstice (7% complete)</a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">(BUCH III/BOOK III)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/sample-from-chapter-18-om-mani-padme-hum.html">Chapter 18: Om Mani Padme Hum (13% complete) </a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://thule-trilogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/sample-from-chapter-19-stronghold-of.html">Chapter 19: Stronghold of the Spirit (11% complete) </a></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">For
personal reasons I have ceased my translation and will not continue. I
highly encourage any willing spirit to make use of the material on this
site or to expand on it, perhaps in an effort for a full translation.
Currently 35% of the novel has been given a rudimentary translation. You
can find the original texts at the bottom of this entry.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Notice that the "BUCH" label divides <i>Goetzen gegen Thule</i> into three sections and does NOT signify the three books of the Thule trilogy (the others being <i>Wolfszeit um Thule</i> and <i>Rebellen fuer Thule</i>). <i>Goetzen gegen Thule</i>,
Landig's first novel in the trilogy, has nineteen chapters. These are
merely chapter divisions that further divide it into tripartition. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Information </u></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Landig
was either told this story by somebody else or created it on his own, or rather
“experienced” it if those implications are to be believed. Serrano was
unconcerned with him when they met, indicating that he knew something about the
normalcy of the matter. We must think of Landig’s prose and purpose. If he was
told this story by somebody else, by “the mutterings of a prisoner in an
English internment camp”, then he wrote the book to fulfill his mission to his
comrade both to get the information out and to keep alive the legacy of the
“Leipzig group” around which the book is centered. </span></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Landig was well known for his
leadership in an occult society in Austria post-bellum, where he propagated
certain viewpoints akin to those in the book and even more scientifically
extreme. The book is not that imaginative in comparison.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> If the book was indeed dictated and
written from memory and a sense of duty, it may account for the dryness and
bluntness of the prose. Written in a typical chap-book style that increases
word-length with various sequential instances more akin to a list of facts than
a literary piece, the book is tedious and is compounded by the presence of
sequels. Perhaps this was a safeguard against readers who were not fanatical
enough, or else the mere product of his lack of craft. In any case the books
remain untranslated in English or any other language. The translation provided
of the first book’s first part is the only one that I know of to date, which
requires major editing for literary smoothness. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Perhaps because it has not been
translated, the works remain relatively obscure in the underground web of
information. A certain select group of people know about it from none other
than coincidence with their interests. Otherwise it is obscure. Physical copies
of the book are still in circulation for high prices and limited quantities on
popular internet retail services like Amazon.com, but they are virtually
unheard of in physical bookshops. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> However, one current of literature
does give mention to these books. Works about what has been called “Esoteric
Nazism” or “Nazi Occultism” are the only literary bodies which give reference
to them, often citing from them ideological and esoteric-related matters
relevant to the subject. In no other writing is Landig’s work mentioned. The book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arktos-Myth-Science-Symbolism-Survival/dp/0932813356">ARKTOS</a></i> alone has probably been the sole source of knowledge about his works, of
which Godw<span style="font-size: small;">i</span>n, the author, gives brief glimpses and summaries in parts of the
text. From this we have gained the entirety of our knowledge on the subject. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> A summary of the book will be given
here at a later date. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Translator Resources </u></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Goetzen gegen Thule</i> <a href="http://archive.org/details/Landig-Wilhelm-Goetzen-gegen-Thule">(archive entry)</a> <a href="http://archive.org/download/Landig-Wilhelm-Goetzen-gegen-Thule/LandigWilhelm-GoetzenGegenThule19711003S.Text.pdf">(direct download)</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Wolf</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>szeit um T</i><span style="font-size: small;"><i>hule</i> <a href="http://archive.org/details/Landig-Wilhelm-Wolfszeit-um-Thule">(archive entry)</a> <a href="http://archive.org/download/Landig-Wilhelm-Wolfszeit-um-Thule/LandigWilhelm-WolfszeitUmThule1980449S.Text.pdf">(direct download)</a></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Rebellen fuer Thule</i> <a href="http://www.forsite-verlag.de/uploads/media/Landig__Wilhelm_-_Rebellen.pdf">(direct download) </a></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Contact Information </u></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can contact me at <a href="mailto:current218@hotmail.com"><i>current218@hotmail.com</i></a> under the na<span style="font-size: small;">me </span><i>Disciple of Enoyloh</i>, or leave a comment on any of these articles. </span></span></span></span><b><u><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></u></b>Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-72239763840093866242013-04-02T13:01:00.000-07:002013-04-02T13:09:34.214-07:00Landig’s Claims and the Situation in Germany during the Downfall<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">About
Landig’s Literature and the Interview</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wilhelm
Landig was the leader of a folkish movement in Vienna, Austria known as the
Landig Group. He is a complicated figure, if not more so because of the things
he has said concerning the German power structure during the Second World War
and its aftermath. It is common of post-war folkish activists to denounce
Hitler and Nazism, firstly because it prevents their activism from acceptance
by the mainstream, and secondly because the nature of conspiracy theorists
often tend to dismiss every organization other than their own as being antagonistic.
The purpose of this article is to discern the probable truth concerning Landig,
his statements and experiences that he has propagated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">His
Weltschauung falls in line with those who believe that Masons are the main perpetrators
of the “global conspiracy” and have infiltrated everything. Only the SS, he
believes, was not under their control. How the “Masons” controlling Germany
through the 1930’s allowed the SS to rise independent of their control is an inconsistency
that can’t be overlooked. Also, Landig has the frequent urge to call everyone a
traitor but himself, which fits in line with the massive paranoia circling
among the German troops at the end of World War II. It was believed that
traitors and conspiracies were everywhere, Hitler himself recognizing and
issuing several orders in response to the treason of various government
officials. Those who were not around Hitler or who were not heads of state
would have known even less and the truth that we get from them may have been exaggerated.
For example, Landig calls Bormann a Soviet spy and that in the end Hitler was “surrounded
by figures of high-finance and Masons”. Landig did not adjourn Hitler anywhere
nor were they ever in proximity to each other, and we can only guess that he
had this information from the rumors and words of his fellow SS. It was also
known that Himmler was becoming increasingly distant from his loyalty to
Hitler, as Skorzeny testified when he visited one of the internment camps.
Neither Himmler nor the camp guards responded to his Hitler salute. It could be
gathered that Himmler spread rumors about Hitler spread through the ranks of
the SS, first through his immediate subordinates. At this point in the war, Himmler
wanted most of all wanted to retain a cache of SS loyal to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">him</i> even in the probable case of Hitler dismissing him from his
position as head of the SS. In this case, it was most important to cause Hitler
to look like someone who had betrayed the fatherland and no longer deserved the
loyalty of the SS, or at least was under the control and manipulation of a
foreign power such as Masons. He could not claim that Jews were manipulating
him because Jews had been systematically rooted out of Germany and the German
government with prejudice, while Masons could have gone into hiding easily more
so. Masons could be ethnic Germans at the same time. Many of the German
government figures were still Catholics, which further provided the possibility
that they were Masons. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Other
inconsistencies reveal the rumor’s exaggeration and paranoia. For example, if
it was known that multiple Masonic figures surrounded Hitler, why did no one
take action, not even the SS like Landig or his superiors who could have easily
drawn them up on false charges? The risk of death was not something feared by
SS-men. The SS was also more powerful than any other public organization in
Germany, and its independence - rather than subjecting it to the dictates of
hidden organizations – gave it the ability to instead dispose of organizations within
Germany as they pleased.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hitler
was betrayed by many people when the Reich was falling and this was a generally
known fact. Hitler called them traitors even when they hadn’t been disposed of
their official positions yet, because he knew by their insubordination. Many of
these people had been close to him. It could not be said, then, that Hitler was
unaware of the forces which conspired against him. The documents and accounts
left over from this time, from people who were there, prove this. Landig was on
the front. Hitler was not under the influence of his cabinet because he, most
of all, had the selective eye for betrayal at a moment’s notice. He had
identified the traitors before anyone else had. He was ready to dispose of
anyone who didn’t follow his will.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
strictness kept around Hitler prevented anything from going on that wasn’t
according to his orders. When this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did</i>
happen, Hitler dismissed them indefinitely. He was sorrowed by the betrayals
but took solace in those who remained under his command. A popular notion that
Hitler was under the influence of drugs and his doctor has also surfaced after
the war and was espoused by several Denazification groups operating by the
Americans in Germany, and generally historians of a later era that sought to cash
in on the Hitler-sensationalism with books like “The Goebbels Diaries”, which
are known to be a fake. However this era of academia disregarded veracity in
the name of sensationalism. We can therefore dismiss this claim among the many
others that tried to play up the image of Hitler as a raving madman, when
eyewitness accounts from the time never reported such a thing. The memoires of
the people living in Hitler’s bunker are the most historically accurate to take
from. The effect of this sensationalism from the 1960’s onward is evident in
the fact that Hanna Reitsch testified against herself decades after the war
with the claim that Hitler was withering away under drugs, while in the era
directly after the war her account was much different and that rumor had not
even begun to surface yet. Under this gigantic web of rumor and subterfuge, there
is a truth to be discovered. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
rumors of Hitler’s loss of control were most prominent among the SS stationed
outside the fatherland and the groups under Himmler’s direct control. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There
is no doubt that conspiracy theorists who had long had their eyes on Masonic
activity, and who believed that the entirety of the world was under the control
of Masons, encouraged Landig after the war in these ideas. It fit the idea that
Masons had orchestrated the war for high finance and had used Hitler, which is
still a prominent view today. Landig no longer had to have reserves in claiming
that the Reich’s government had been Masonic, and therefore subscribed to these
theories in their full weight. This still totally disregards the Jews, which
Landig partially blames but does not focus on because of the rumor about Hitler’s
cabinet mentioned before. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another
factor allowing Landig to propagate claims against Hitler was the fact that the
surviving folkish movement did not require, and nor did it want, the worship of
Hitler. Landig could view Hitler’s person as anathema and still propagate an
ariosophical, “Aryan” world-view such as he did in the Landig Group and the
ideology of the Black Sun. This effectively establishes a “new movement”
without the full stigma of Nazism from the past. In one word, it was
convenient. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Other
claims made by Landig are that the “last of the flying disks are rotting in the
Andes, without the personnel or money to get materials to repair them”. One
would think that if Landig believed in the fully-operational base of Point 103
in his first book, “full of facts” he hints, then they would be prepared with a
plan in the long run to maintain their base. His books pander to a folkish
crowd with various references and dealings of subject matter with the
Externsteine for example and Base 211. It is suspected that Base 211 came late
to his attention, only surfacing in his last novel in 1991 even though an
Antarctic base to rival Point 103 seems too big of a fact to not mention for
that long. Especially if an “accurate” picture of the world is attempted to be
given from these novels. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There have been
claims that Landig was “given a mission by Himmler to revive the Aryan imagination
after the defeat through symbolism”, therefore prompting the creation of the
Landig Group and its literature. Subordination to Himmler and a personal
mission given by him could have also been responsible for his anti-Hitler
views, which nonetheless try to revive a Germanic, “Aryan” culture through
literature. Himmler was known for his praise of the Bhagavad Gita and the Gitas
of India, which Hitler was variously indifferent to over the works of his own
Germanic countrymen, like the mythology of Wagner and Nietzsche. Landig also
has a huge Vedic influence in name, which may have been part of the
instructions from Himmler*. It could even be proposed that the world-view
espoused in Goetzen gegen Thule and its sequels is actually the view of the
world that Himmler wanted to survive had the war-effort failed, which
invariably doubted and dethroned Hitler in favor of the heads of the SS.
However Himmler did not want to heroify himself because of the suspicion that
would have arose. Had Himmler survived, he believed he would have made his own
name without the propaganda efforts he had instructed. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How
Landig would know that the German flying saucers were disposed of in the Andes
is also inconsistent. After his “experience”, he had no connection to the Polar
German bases or their personnel, as he himself stated. His role as a writer in
the Landig Group no doubt takes part in this sensationalism, and while not
being exactly counterproductive, it should not be taken at face value. The
interview is very amateur because the questions it gives do not follow one
another, rather they center around a very exposé-like format and center on
topics sequentially that would be viewed as fantastic. Another fact to remember
is that Landig did not manage to write anything other than fiction. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We
could therefore view this sub-current of folkish ideology as “Himmlerian”,
rather than “Hitlerian” National Socialism. Landig does not mention National
Socialism and presents its party members as counterproductive or antagonistic,
despite the fact that the entirety of the Germanic-folkish movement of the SS
was founded by the NSDAP and Hitler. In a way it provides an ideology “free of
Hitler”, as Himmler would have it. It is often said that the leaders in the
NSDAP each had their own personal version of National Socialism, and this one
may have been Himmler’s, distinctly different from Hitler’s. That is what
accounts for the major differences in ideology that appear as idiosyncrasies in
Landig’s works. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">*The
ideology espoused by Himmler and Landig is strictly mythological rather than tantric,
and therefore cannot be rooted in the Esoteric Hitlerism that Serrano learned
from.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here
is the interview:</span></div>
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</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
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<![endif]-->Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-71219134455975093802012-12-21T14:01:00.001-08:002012-12-21T14:01:18.078-08:00sample from Chapter 7: Solstice<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">SECOND BOOK</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">SOLSTICE</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The
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<i>
</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I
instructed this imperishable science of yoga </span></i></div>
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<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">to the
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<i>
</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">to
Manu, and Manu in turn to Iksvaku.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></div>
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<i>
</i></div>
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supreme science was thus received through the chain </span></i></div>
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<i>
</i></div>
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</i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But in
course of time the succession was broken, </span></i></div>
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<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">and
therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">(Bhagavadgita, IV: 1, 2)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Germany had capitulated! – The
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of the year 1945, the men of Point 103 stood before the radio device and heard,
everything happening far away from them, the last broadcasts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“…since
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Admiral the Wehrmacht has ceased the already hopeless battle. With this, the
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his people and will never be forgotten. The homeland has supported him to the
end with all of her forces and under the heaviest of sacrifices. The unique
performance of battlefront and homefront will find their final assessment later
in the righteous judgement of history. The achievement and sacrifices of the
German soldiers on land, at sea and in the air the opponent will not fail to
respect as well. Each soldier can thus place the weapon upright and proudly put
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for the eternal life of our people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
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enemy. The dead commit to unconditional loyalty, obedience and discipline to
the fatherland, bleeding from countless wounds!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That
was the final conclusion of the last German Wehrmacht report. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
expressions of the men were occluded as most. The collapse of the Reich touched
the very roots of their homeland and oppressed them. Their small, secret Reich
and an abiding faith which inspired their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gemeinschaft</i>
were the only things reserved to them in the chaotic world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
Reimer and Gutmann the day of capitulation was doubly painful as the short-wave
communication arrived in which Major Küpper announced the disappearance of
Juncker and Recke. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On
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that a woman had arrived the previous night as a messenger and had left after a
few hours. The Adjutant appeared quieter than usual and no further explanations
were given to anyone... </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">To be continued... </span></i></span></span></div>
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Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-70899969000401922092012-12-16T13:39:00.001-08:002013-12-17T23:05:03.932-08:00Chapter 6: Flight into Chaos<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">FLIGHT INTO CHAOS</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Far
more violence in the higher</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Space.
But to the angel no more:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
them in the mid grew the</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fruit:
his earth to atone away:</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
be redeemed.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">-Weinheber:
Between Gods and Demons </span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Three weeks passed
without fulfillment of the hopes and expectations of Juncker’s task force. In
the meantime Recke and Reimer, as well as the two SS officers, were being
schooled on the Dosthra as well as incorporated into the general
operation. The long, harsh announcements of the headquarters and the daily interceptions
of Wehrmacht reports had let their moods fall to a low point. Even Gutmann was
quiet and tripped over himself. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was now clear to the greatest of optimists that the
end of the war was imminent. Any introduction of wonder-weapons or other
manners of surprise was undoubtedly too late, if such hopes were at all still
held. The only pleasant factor in the monotony of their service, closed off
from the rest of the world, was the predominantly clear weather, which enticed
them to stay outdoors longer. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke was leading a long flight over the Boothia peninsula.
Reimer flew in Juncker’s place, driven by his curiosity for the Netsilik
settlement. Not only did they find it easy among the village, but that it was
also completely deserted. A little further south, where the peninsula struck
out from the mainland, appeared to the surprise of the two friends the two
outposts which Van Huys, who was experience here, had singled out as fur
stations. It must have followed then that the Netsilik had kept some reason or
another to not betray the relatively close presence of utility posts. No doubt
they’d had more contact with the white man than they cared to say. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Making a wide arc, the plane flew north again. The
coastline of the Canadian mainland was the southern boundary for all test and
training flights. This explicit command by the commander of Base 103 could
never be broken without a compelling reason if done without order. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And so passed virtually the month of April. Vienna had
fallen. The Red Army stood just before Berlin. In the West the Allies had
swiftly broken into the heart of the Reich and Italy had lost. Just when their
feelings of home and human solidarity drove closer to despair, Juncker and
Recke were summoned by the commander. Considerable time had passed since the task
forces had departed from the Grand Assembly, and nobody present counted any
longer on a mission for the Juncker Group. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the summoned officers stood in reception and reported
in, they came face to face with the Chief of Operations and the Adjutant. The
chief of the staff was a senior officer and he gave the two a friendly
handshake. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I can call you on the orders of the commander, gentlemen!
Are you ready for a mission that requires an individual’s total commitment?”
Recke caught a glimpse of Juncker, who with an air of indifference straightened
his body and answered affirmatively. He immediately followed his comrade’s
example. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I expected nothing less,” the Operations Officer said
quietly, “I have asked this unsoldierly question, simply and solely, because I
need men who are willing to perform their orders under <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> circumstances. At the same time you must take with the task the
knowledge of its hazardous nature, and to not be overcome by the possible
consequences. It has been my experience that voluntarily accepted missions find
the best performance.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The grey eyes of the speaker glanced over the faces of
the pilots, scrutinizing.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Back then the commander spoke of a mission to Prague,”
Juncker said, “It didn’t appear too difficult in particular.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Of the mission, nothing has changed,” he affirmed, “You
will be flying to Prague. But prepare to find yourselves in a difficult
situation. Above everything you must immediately go to your destination,
otherwise you will run into the chaos that is already beginning and be unable
to complete the tasks given. So be careful: your first task is to ensure the
security of the plans for the disk-aircraft which at present are stowed in the
Eastern Hall – remember this exactly, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine
Herren! </i>– of the BMW Center. Only, if at all possible, and only if the craft
is ready for flight, you are to save it as well and the designer with his
closest associates. The man’s name is Schriever. If you arrive to Prague at the
right time, you are also likely to meet Major Küpper, who will be a valuable aid.
Any decisions will be made according to the situation. In addition, try to gain
an overview through appropriate reconnaissance what kind of treatment is given
to our units by the Allies. This, of course, requires that you remain in the relative
area so long as you report it. But the highest priority is always this: maintain
the security of the aircraft entrusted to you!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You can count on us!” Juncker assured. Recke also
nodded. Becoming serious and urgent, he added, “Whatever you may experience,
and however your heart may change, turn off everything personal… This simply
and solely for your duty!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He grabbed a pile of maps and pushed them to Juncker. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Take the maps that’ve already been compiled. Everything
you need is there. Nothing’s missing. Anything additional goes to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adju</i>. Bring me Lieutenant Jensen, who
will provide you with rations and other necessities. And now, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine Herren</i>,” he looked at his watch,
“When can you depart?”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker quickly replied, “The morning is half-over. For
us… about two, three hours at the most.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He picked up the pack of
maps himself. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Excellent… it’s very urgent. Every hour lost could be a
decisive one. Any last wishes?“</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As they negated, he gave them his hand again.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Then off you go, break
an arm and leg!” Then, he added in a low voice, “God be with you…”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Adjutant warned
Recke, “Don’t forget – send Jensen to me immediately!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We will!” the Kasseler
nodded. Both officers saluted and left the room. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the Dosthra stood
ready on the matte-white runway, an Arctic phenomenon appeared in the sky. Like
a white, colorless rainbow, an arc spanned like a huge gate in the heavens of
the Arctic region. Equally, a gate that led back into the world of man. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the air whipped up by
the propellers flashed tiny, silver-shimmering crystals of ice from the ground.
Like a defiant challenge, the din of the giant beast began penetrating the seemingly
vast silence of the endless Arctic. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The crew had already
taken their place. Recke waved goodbye to his comrades, who stood among the
adjutant on the runway. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ade</i>, Herbert! – If all goes well, we’ll be back in about two or
three weeks. If it works out…” he corrected himself, “Of course it’ll work
out!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With a touch of gallows
humor he added, “You can’t even catch flies in the meantime. Such beasts don’t
even live here.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Stop bullshitting,”
said Reimer with bolstered roughness, “We have enough to do already to fill the
time. So make sure…”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He paused. After a firm
handshake, he stepped back and glided to the Adjutant. “He wants you to flip
the propeller for him!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Somewhat cumbersomely
the Kasseler climbed into the aircraft. Juncker followed as the last one closely
behind him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Ready for takeoff!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Ready for takeoff!”
came back. While the ground crew cleared the track, the Dosthra rolled away
slowly. Coming ever faster, it rose before the exit to the ring-mountains
through the clear air and thundered with full-throttling power from the secure
confines of the base against uncertain fate. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke sat next to
Juncker, who piloted the aircraft, and looked at the dashboard, “Six-hundred
kilometers – a new record!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker pointed through
the glass window to the land, “Grant Land. Northern Canada!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like a treadmill the
snowy land glided past. Then followed an excessive drift of water. With a
glance at the map, Recke noted they were flying over Robeson Straight, which split
from the rest of Greenland. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tirelessly the men
looked through the windows at the captivating image of the white desert of land
and water. Viewed from a greater height, they saw the drifting ice-covered
water like an infinite, green-veined surface. Then another coast came into
view. Greenland!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Like the back of a whale
the high-coast lifted away from the surfaces of the straight, the only bumps of
the scattered icebergs seemingly standing still. The speed of the aircraft
didn’t allow for a proper view of the landscape’s movement. A little later the
craft flew over the mainland. Mighty glaciers of an almost completely frozen
island – the biggest in the world – grew primevally like mountains in a realm
of giants into the pale sky. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The glaciations formed a
grandiose relief, little like a glacial landscape had ever showed before. The
last castle of magic Utgard of the Nordic Thursen; so the picturesque boundary
lines framed themselves familiarly away from the always anticipatory horizon.
It seemed almost inconceivable that humans had already crossed through this
infinite white Reich of Hrymthur, of the frost giants. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Peary, Rasmussen and
Lauge Kock had passed over the eightieth parallel here diagonally and triumphed
over the hostility of a defiant nature. Steadfastly the machine pursued its
course, which was to bring them from a sphere of eternal silence back into the
blazing riot of humanity. As far as the eye could see, ice and ice again.
Nearly two-thousand meters thickness of ice sheet rested on the plains of the
prehistoric paradise. Not as Green-Land, but as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hvidland</i> – the White Land. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Again a change of
scenery. Falling coasts and again the sea covered by drifting ice. Great and
small floes, icebergs from the purest white to the most unlikely crystal-blue
color and entire icefields beamed to the sides of them. In some places one
could’ve thought they were seeing a fairytale in nephrite. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later the ice became
lighter. The density of the ice floes loosened, increasing to blue-green areas
of open sea and then – the open seas!</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Still scattered spots of
white drove around them. Then in the distance, ahead westward, was an island.
Jan Mayen. Now the plane gave further to the south and took course into the
North Sea. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker had the intention to fly
over German territory within the view of southern Norway and reach Prague on a
non-stop course. After just two hours, the group of islands around Ålesund came
into sight. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Following the salient bow of the coast, the Dosrthra flew
just past the mountains to Stavenger and changed its direction at great
altitude over the waves to the Danish Esbjerg. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“By maintaining this speed we’ll reach the mouth of the Elbe
in about an hour,” Juncker spoke to Recke, “Now it’s time for all of us to
watch out! – It’s possible at any time that we’ll unexpectedly run into an
enemy bomber. Or worse – a swarm of fighters!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I thought our wonder-machine was immune,” the Kasseler
smirked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“In hindsight I’m not particularly worried. But now we have
other things on our minds than doing loopty-loops in the air!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Darkness fell. The land to the left in the German bay showed
no life through lighting. On the wide expanse of the see were neither warship
or yet-returning fishing boats. It seemed as if there was a spell of loneliness
on this part of the world. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Grimly and silently the men of the flight crew stared
through the windows. They studiously avoided every word or looking at each
other. Depressed they were caught up in their own thoughts. Even Van Huis was
no exception. Before them lay the homeland!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Coming from the depths of their souls, the men felt a deep
ancestry equal to an inner vision. The beginning of the night has spread a dark
cloak of compassion over the bombed country to spare the men the sight of the
rubble and unending despair. The night was gracious, but the light of the men’s
knowledge was stronger. Their eyes burned and their hearts beat up into their
throats. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The man of the Dosthra were all soldiers. They could not
chose their fate, rather they were positioned by providence in a place of duty
which placed heavy demands on them. They had lived through the war in all its
horror on various battlefields and had looked death in the eye without
trembling. But all their feelings from previous experience had made them not so
distraught as the area of their homeland, which despite heroic action could no
longer be protected. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Only a few hundred kilometers west burned German villages
and eastwards people were being hunted, tortured and massacred. Tanks moved
through columns of refugees, women were raped and children impaled. Their
hearts were heavy when they thought how in that same hour, while they lurked
behind board weapons, countless defenseless people were suffering inhuman fates
that no one could protect them from. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker pulled the clutch and let the aircraft fly its path
above the high bank of clouds. Playing by the pale light of the moon, the
clouds glowed like ghostly fog. Even the mother-of-perl vapor trail grew
iridescent in the appearance of the earth’s follower. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the Magdeburg area they received weak flak. Some blasting
clouds fizzled in the distance, and then they heard the shooting again. The
silver finger of a spotlight suddenly brought through a hole in the cloud cover
and jerked around, looking. After a few seconds it went out again. Apparently
no one bothered to send out aircraft anymore. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Earlier they shot from all their buttonholes when spotting
a suspicious aircraft,” Recke introduced a fixed resignation, “You can tell
they stay away from puffs and munition!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker nodded. With suppressed movements he controlled the
course of the machine. After a short while he added, feigning indifference,
“We’ll soon have reached Prague. Then we’ll be able to see trees again. Real
trees!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And sometimes even rainy weather,” the Kasseler said
maliciously, “Not just snow…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the clouds receded, the men saw the dull silver ribbon of
the river Elbe. Juncker compared the curves of the river to the flight map,
“Leitmeritz is before us. – Beer, radio the landing field! – It’s time for us
to report.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl!</i>” came the
voice of the Feldwebel through the earphones. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Send the password ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Polarfuchs</i>’
through!” Juncker added to his command. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl – Polarfuchs!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From Raudnitz they held to the Moldau river. Prague would
soon emerge. The craft went deeper.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Radio contact achieved with airport,” Beer reported, “We
can land!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Good,” going by the map Juncker steered into the Prague
airfield Gbley. Beer maintained contact with the air base. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After a few minutes a lit airfield suddenly flared up. The
Dosthra continued in a low arc and landed, rolling out onto the track.
Immediately afterwards the lights went out again and the place was covered in
darkness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Everyone remain in the craft,” the Major ordered, “Only
Captain Recke and I will get off. You can come out, Jensen, but you must remain
with the aircraft. Understood?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Understood!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The officers climbed into the open. The cool night air
received them, but to them it felt like the warm caress of a hair dryer. The
severity of the Arctic climate had no more power here. Men from the ground crew
ran up to them. An officer came up to the two of them. In the darkness they
could only barely make out the dim rank insignia. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The gentlemen are to remain in the aircraft! In a few
minute a Major from the Luftwaffe staff in Berlin will be here.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The dark hangars in the background of the place looked like
huge mounds. Before them stood some Messerschmidts, whose unclear contours
blurred with the darkness of the night. It was an old accustomed picture that
made everything they had recently experienced seem almost like an unreal dream.
The sensitive Recke ran his hand over his face, as if to prove his wakefulness.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“How’s the situation here, comrade?” Juncker asked the
strange officer. The man held his tongue for a time. Then he said slowly, “From
the East and North-East the Soviets are pressing on Prague. The Czechs are
restless and are even taking minor assaults. North-East of here at Niemes
Immelman is sorrowfully leading the fighter squadrons under Colonel Rudel, who
persistently continues his Panzer-chase missions. So far he’s destroyed
five-hundred enemy tanks on his own! He’s keeping the Red Army back a little
from the neck pushing constantly at their spearheads. In the North though the
Russians have already pressed through Dresden and they’ll get to us soon. It’s
all monkey business!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s certainly not rosy,” Juncker admitted, “Even though I
wasn’t expecting good news…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He was interrupted. A Wehrmacht car came up quickly and
halted with a screech in front of the Dosthra. The fine silver lining from the
slots of the headlight caps dimmed, then two men jumped out and ran up to them.
“Who is the commanding officer of this craft?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker stood to him and answered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Juncker? Ah, that’s excellent. We already know each other.
I am Küpper!” They shook hands. Then the Major moved to the Kasseler and in the
dim light of the night he tried to recognize his face. “We also know each other
already. You’re one of the men who left from Vernäs with Gutmann!?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl, Herr Major</i>.
Capain Recke!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ach</i>, that’s
right! I remember,” he took the two officers before him by the arms and pulled
them off a few steps, “It’s high time you came! It’ll only be a few days before
the whole fiasco’s over. I unfortunately cannot treat you to any peace but must
put you to use for your assignments. I already know your orders and am here to
support you. But above all, however: You may not stay here with the aircraft.
No unauthorized personnel is to see the insignia of the craft by sunrise. In
addition the airfield is at the utmost risk because the Americans have dominate
the entire airspace and harass us all the time.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Where are we going then?” asked Juncker. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Somewhat to the side of here,” he went with the two
officers of the Dosthra back to the group of men who stood before the aircraft.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Do you belong to the crew?” he spoke to Jensen. As he
affirmed, Küpper continued, “Then be all so kind and let my driver take you to
my quarters. I must take your place in the craft to bring it somewhere else!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl!</i>” replied
Jensen when he saw that Juncker did not argue against it. Without delay he
stomped with his thick flight suit into the car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Küpper gave some brief instructions to the ground crew, then
he stepped into the Dosthra with Juncker and Recke. The soldiers in the
airfield made the runway free, the engines roared again and yet again it lifted
off the ground. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Major had to know the airfield and is nearby destination
with absolute certainty. He had taken Juncker’s place and in a few words he
explained that he’d flown a Dosthra before. So it was understandable that the
Berliner could, without hesitation, undertake the enterprise to make a night
take-off under such dangerous circumstances. With somnambulistic alertness and
and calm the Major came with the aircraft to an emergency landing field near
the Bohemian capital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Here we’re reasonably safe,” he explained as the roaring of
the propellers came to an end, “And now we’ll get out. Don’t forget your
handguns!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the officers the other men from the crew stepped out.
Somewhat stiffly they walked around in circles. A cry from the dark forest
nearby startled them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Who goes there?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Gulls!” the Major cried immediately. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">From the dark wall of the nearby forest there was triggered
a series of people who came running to the plane. They were soldiers with
combat packs who immediately surrounded the aircraft, while a staff sergeant
reported to Küpper. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Our security team,” the Major said to the flyers, “Yes –
and then we’ll have to take the craft to the forest’s edge and camouflage it
against aerial reconnaissance. Against surface sighting we’re secured by a
watch cordon. We have to hurry!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Having landed in Prague, the men of Point 103 would no
longer be at rest. Heavy fighting raged in Berlin, the Russians were everywhere
in swift approach and it was only a question of days until the Allies from the
East and West would join hands. Küpper had lost all connection with Berlin and
saw himself all on his own. He acted accordingly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As Juncker and Recke asked him instructions as to the securement
of the disk aircraft and its plans, he waved, “As for this, I already took care
of it before the arrival of your Dosthra. The device is just before finishing
touches, because an imbalance caused some changes. The designer is adherent
himself even that the craft doesn’t come into the foreign hands and has the
plans within his reach at all times. We needn’t worry about him.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker knitted his brows but said nothing. He lay the
question in himself whether the designer would find his plans better secured in
the Dosthra or somewhere else. Later, when he talked about it openly with the
Kasseler, he immediately informed him of his opinion. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Major didn’t seem to want to come out of his uniform.
Day and night he popped up unexpectedly and handled messages or important
document material. As to help from the base’s officers, he’d mostly avoided
them. Juncker and Recke flew reconnaissance missions for them within a limited
area with his consent. Above anything else they informed the Major as to the
location of the nearest Vlasov units, who the High Police-Commanders of Prague
had distrusted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The flights always lasted for a short time only, since it
was already vulnerable to a lack of fuel. Recke noted in one of his excursions
that the first Vlasov Divisions had drawn upon Suchomast. At that time the
Czech partisan activity had multiplied in the country. He repeatedly noted how
groups of people had diverged in the squares of the smaller towns in Prague’s
vicinity when they roared low over them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On that day he met, just before landing in Gbley,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a foreign aircraft with no national markings.
He tried to fly in front of the plane but gave way to the high speed of their
maneuvers. They showed superior agility. Since they hadn’t acted hostile, Recke
dared not directly attack them. He only wondered at how a single aircraft was
still flying beside him in that space, since he was always having to be
prepared, just waiting, to evade a hostile formation of squadron. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When they landed on the airfield, he first tried to find
Major Küpper to send a message to the foreign aircraft. At the landing strip he
learned that Küpper was at the High Police-Commander’s office at Moldau. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As a request he asked the officer in the Kübelwagen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Don’t go alone!” he responded, “I’ll send two soldiers with
you. The atmosphere’s bad in this country!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ten minutes later Recke himself sat at the steering wheel
and drove towards the city. At a major intersection he stopped the car and
asked a Czech policeman on duty and asked him about the German police office. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To nevim</i>,” he
said and shrugged his shoulders. With a provocative gesture he turned his back
on the soldiers. One of the two swore. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“He doesn’t know, he says. So far every cop’s understood
German. They’ll be amazed at what’s coming to them…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke therefore called out to an advancing army patrol who
helped them immediately, “Just after the big bridge…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before the police station stood a double guard with
machine-pistols and Stahlhelms. From the guard in the hallway Recke heard that
Küpper had already left the building and was driving away in the company of an
SS Major. The information was given brief and hastily. The whole place was
filled with anxiousness and indicated the immediacy of the moving days. Recke
got into the car and restarted the stalled motor. At the same moment that he
began to press his foot on the accelerator, a man came running from the
building and called to him, “Captain Recke?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Kasseler affirmed it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There’s a call from Major Küpper asking for you! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr Hauptmann</i>, you shouldn’t leave the
office here until you receive more orders from the Major. Something’s going on
in the city and it’s no longer safe to go to the airport!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke whistled, “Is it? That’s a nice mess!” As if to
illustrate his thoughts a few shots rang out somewhere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the guards at the gate cried for the watch. Almost
simultaneously the guard came from the watch house. Again shots whipped which
soon passed into an irregular rattle. The guards pulled their machine guns up
and looked in both directions where the road ended. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Get in the car immediately, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr Hauptmann!</i>” The officer jumped to the side of the clear
driveway. Recke felt bound in Küpper’s direction. He immediately reversed the
car, turned the forward gear again and drove into the yard of the watch house.
Behind him the heavy gate closed. When he jumped out of the car, the two
accompanying soldiers waved to him and awaited hi command. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Stay at the watch until the coast is clear. If necessary…”
The Kasseler looked at the two man telling.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl, Herr
Hauptmann!</i>” Both of them ran to the driveway with their weapons. They came
straight to the door when there was a loud pounding, and then it opened and
three soldiers tumbled in. One of them had a head wound that bled profusely. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Uprising in Prague!” the injured one roared, “The Czechs
are armed!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke heard the man scream more and remained in the
stairway. When men rushed past him to give the report, he joined them. In the
corridor of the first floor they met police and SS officers who had come from
their rooms to go to the chief. Immediately they asked the soldiers what was
going on. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We were going through Ulica Karoliny Svêtlé,” they reported
breathlessly, “when we suddenly heard shooting. We immediately ran to the
nearby bridge and received surprise fire. Armed civilians fired from the Moldau
on the back opposite to us as we hurried through the short section of the
Františkovo Nabeži. At the same time we heard fighting coming from the station
area. We immediately sought refuge here and…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A door opened and a major from the police came rushing out,
“The telephone lines are broken! I can’t get any connection with the city
commander. I…” He didn’t continue speaking in the erupting tumult. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“To arms immediately!” the Lieutenant Colonel called with
commanding voice, “The spook will soon be over. Our forces are strong enough to
put things just in order. In the few hours until then we can hold here lightly
if we’re attacked!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After a few minutes Recke himself stood beside the ordnance
officer at the window and held his machine pistol in his hand, which he’d taken
from the car in the courtyard. Behind quickly improvised cover the entire crew
of the apartment stood prepared. Snipers had also taken positions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some stragglers showed up and were still let in. They
unanimously reported that the Czechs were getting the upper hand throughout the
city, “They’re hunting us like dogs– !”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">According to the most recent reports it became clear that
the rebels had taken the supply and arsenal and were in possession of the radio
station. The trains, the telephone center, the heart of the city and most of
the bridges of Moldau were in their hands. The situation was certainly very
serious. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fierce noises of fighting came down from the Castle District
where the government offices were located. Here the attack waves of Czechs
remained in the fire of the defenders. They likewise remained as the radio
station announced to the Office of Security Service in Bubene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“They’re coming!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the road they could see running Czechs carrying guns. The
snipers opened fire and drove back the attackers. Two men were left lying on
the pavement. Their armbands identified them as irregulars. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Somewhat later the rebels repeated the attack. They came
from all directions and tried to expel the defenders of the German department
through machine gun fire in the windows. Clouds of plaster dust and pieces of
stone flew off the wall of the house where the machine gun fire smashed with
short and hard hammerings. Every now and then a piece of glass from the opened
windows shattered on the floor. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Under the cover of high-lying sheaves some squads pressed
forward. The German snipers concentrated their fire on the enemy machine gun
units that had ventured too far and brought their weapons temporarily to
silence. The other weapons couldn’t do the defenders much harm since they were
usually positioned at acute angles to the row of windows. Immediately the
Germans were at the window row and held themselves with machine guns in close,
closely-dashed groups. Screams rang, men stumbled and fell. Under heavy losses
the Czechs pulled back again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That should suffice for the moment,” Recke said to the
ordnance officer, “The guys have had enough for a while!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His nose crinkled, the air rife with the smell of powder,
“I’ve already spent two magazines. Can someone spare some more?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’ll get some right away!” the aid said, “I know this place
better.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He ran out of the room and in a few minutes came running
back. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Here!” he threw a whole box of magazines onto the table,
“For the next few hours it’ll be enough.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The din of the battle lasted all day. The police station
received repeated fire a few times but a concentrated attack failed to
materialize. The roof posts reported that the rebels had sealed off all
entrances to the office and lied in wait. Penetration as a battle group through
to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hradčany</i> seemed inadvisable. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With the fall of darkness it became a little quieter. Only a
few shots were fired, however the Czechs bawled and screamed through the whole
night. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The men at the station slept little. The events of the day
and the continuous noise in the night let only a few men really come to rest.
To those few also belonged Recke, who laid on a table wrapped in a blanket and
after the strain of the last two days fell into a deep sleep. Only a renewed
series of close shots made him hurry up in the morning. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The newly flared-up fighting in the city seemed to imply
that the rebels were now trying to take down the individual block of German
defense. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning the enemy snipers also tried to hold down the
police station from above, thereby enabling a storm from the streets. But their
plan was hindered by German sharp-shooters. Several of the irregulars were shot
whereupon the rest went into retreat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hours later hell appeared to have suddenly broken loose. To
the bright popping of gunfire and automatic weapons came the dull firings of
artillery. An ulterior scratching and rattling hinted at tanks. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The ever-increasing noise of the fiercely raging street
battles broke quite abruptly. Shortly after German tanks were already rolling
through the streets and behind them followed closely and minded storm troopers
of a Waffen-SS unit. By evening the uprising was for the most part temporarily
crushed. The channel from Prague gave yet urgent calls for help from general
Bunichenko before the disbandment, the bulk of the first Vlasov unit of which
could still be found in the space of Suchomast. At the same time in the office
of the Higher Police-Commander and Chief of Police Administration began the
interrogation of the prisoners brought in, to determine the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>leader of the revolt. Reports came in that
the Czechs had committed inhumane excess and had also hunted the civilian
German population. The arrival of the foreign SS-units and above all the
alerting of the SS Action Battalions from the Division “Das Reich” in
Prague-Ruzyne and the replacement unit, the SS Artillery in Beneschau had
offered a temporary halt to the bustle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke initially decided to wait until he was notified by
Küpper. He sent the two Luftwaffe soldiers with the car back to the airfield and
gave a mediation under which he himself could be reached by telephone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Instead of a call a light tank drove through the evening to
pick up Recke on orders of the Major and to bring him to the Dosthra outside
the city. Küpper lost little words and acted summarily. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the tank rumbled through the streets of Prague, the
turret gunner told him that they’d seen massacred Germans a few hours before
that they would’ve thought in the long years of the war on the various fronts
of their missions impossible. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even women and children had been among the victims of the
fanatical crowd, whose Germanophobia knew no bounds. Weapons had been issued to
the rebels at the Bubna train station, which had fired immediately at the
hospital train standing there with wounded Germans. Further a large number of
Germans were missing, but the German task forces were not enough to carry out a
systematic combing through the city. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">No doubt some of the missing persons had been dragged by the
retreating Czechs into their hideout. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the gunner described what they’d seen and heard, he
peered through the slits of the pylon constantly, always ready to fire. Now and
then he swore in between. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The sun had already gone behind the white mountains and
violet veils sailed across the hazy sky of Prague. The Panzer drove over the
highway leading out of the city, between houses and farms all of which seemed
to be abandoned. Occasionally shots still rang out from somewhere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You ought to be able to drive behind the houses,” said the
driver, “But we have neither the time nor fuel!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After a long drive they stopped in front of a forest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I think we’re already here,” the driver murmured and waved
to the gunner. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He threw back the hatch of the pylon and lurched slowly,
cautiously peering around everywhere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Damn area! Each forest has the same trees and there’s no
reference table in sight. And in the face of this budding darkness…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The tank rumbled a bit further, then the man in the pylon
received a call from the forest’s edge, “You’re bringing the Flight-Captain?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl!</i>”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Name?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Recke!” shouted the Kasseler and squeezed up next to the
tank man before he could ask him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Correct!” Some soldiers jumped from the bush and a sergeant
reported to Recke.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Kasseler left the vehicle to follow the men. He was
mistaken when he’d assumed that the tank would immediately turn back to drive
to Prague. With amazement he heard the sergeant relate the orders of the Major
to the tank commander to retract laterally and to take cover while waiting.
Küpper’s special mission was revealed more and more by the auxiliaries provided
to him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A soldier led Recke into the forest while the group with the
sergeant stayed at the edges as sentinel. The two men stumbled in the darkness
over the roots and uneven flooring of the ground, hitting the branches of
bushes and scratching their faces. The Kasseler held his machine-pistol before
him and ducked his head. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then the trees grew slightly apart and a larger clearing
opened up. It could also be an indicator which stretched up to another wooded
area, but this Recke couldn’t perceive so readily. About twenty paces to the
left there showed the dark outline of a strange formation which threw deep
black shadows. It was the Dosthra hung with camouflage netting. Some wandering
shadows revealed a sharp watch. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the men posted nearby let out a low-voiced call that
was answered by Recke’s companion, “… safe and sound here!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Major came there from the darkness and behind him
Juncker and Jensen. The three officers made a circle around the Kasseler and
shook his hand. Küpper’s tone was almost cordial as he spoke, “I’m really glad,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Haputmann</i>, that you’re safely back.
You were looking for me but not at the right time. The main thing is that…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke spoke then, “These days you have to be prepared for
the possible and impossible! Actually I had an important message from my last
flight.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s most likely long become obsolete,” the Major tried to
cut him off, “Rather just tell me how it came off to you!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Kasseler didn’t listen, “I believe my message is still
important. On the flight back from the brief exploration…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“…you observed large groups of people from the air. Of
course, the gatherings were an uprising!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nein, Herr Major!</i>
– I came across an aircraft vastly superior to mine and carried no markings.
They didn’t attack while I…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Küpper grabbed the Kasseler’s arm, “How was it? A plane
without a symbol? Are you completely sure!?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hm… the plane evaded contact?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Very interesting. Could you describe the design, or at least
approximate its appearance?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Only superficially! It was relatively short, the trunk
broad and tapering slightly to the rear. It looked like a triangle with a tail.
If I haven’t been deceived, it was a turbine aircraft.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sehr schön</i>. I can
already imagine a lot,” Küpper’s face avoided visibility in the dark, “The most
important thing is its origin. Where there’s no evidence or presentation of a
flight symbol, any conclusions remain conjecture only.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And its behavior?” Recke asked insistently. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s odd, but not unique!” Küpper replied. He also
addressed Juncker and Jensen, “You will have to be very careful in the air now,
gentlemen!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In soliloquy he added, “I’ll be going as well but I must
still take care of the disk designer. Perhaps this bat-plane is flying around
in the air because a little bell was tinkling at the BMW-Square.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The officers spend the night in the interior of the Dosthra.
A hut in the immediate vicinity the Major had left to the guards as a base. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next morning Küpper received a radio relay from the
Gbley airfield that loud incoming reports told of the Binuchenko Division
marching into Prague and disarming smaller German units. Furthermore an
organized hunting of Germans would begin in the country by the rebel Czechs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Küpper immediately called the three flight officers and the
lieutenant of the watch team to discuss the situation. In a few words he told
them the message bluntly and concluded, “I believe it will not be justifiable
much longer to leave the guards behind after the departure of the Dosthra, cut
off from all compounds. Sir, you would otherwise fall into the Soviets’ hands
if you were to defend against the Czechs first!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The leader of the guard smiled thinly, “I believe we only
have a few days, one way or another, before we…” With an elegant gesture he
moved a forefinger across his throat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“God forbid!” cried Küpper, “Does anyone have any
suggestions, gentlemen?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Awkward silence was the only answer to his question. The
Major looked at the men in the row before him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ja</i>, it’s a tricky
thing,” he confirmed to them, “I’ll make it short then: you, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr Oberleutnant</i>, I command you
immediately to move away with the guards to Prague, so you can settle in
together with your unit if the situation is untenable. Our Panzers will accompany
you to the city limits. Makes yourselves immediately ready to march!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The lieutenant raised a hand to his cap. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Anything else, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr
Major?</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ja</i>,” Küpper said
slowly, “Leave six Panzerfausts for me. I think we will perhaps desperately
need them. You can even make a follow up in Prague! – So, that would be all!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the lieutenant immediately summoned his people and
commanded the field watch securing the side of the road, the Major turned to
Juncker, “Now begins our job. Since I can’t do everything alone, I must ask you
to overtake command of the tank and make contact with the guard’s own units in
Prague, but take the extra effort to return here with as much fuel as you can.
Don’t stay away for too long because now we’re dependent on the tank for protection!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“One question, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Major!</i>”
Recke interrupted, “What happens to the Panzer men when we take off?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That too is already clear,” Küpper answered promptly, “The
Panzer stays here, because it’s essential for our next task and for protection.
If there’s no other way out, we’ll blow it up with the Panzerfausts. The men,
however, today or tomorrow will be deducted from the West in the Dosthra!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Without papers?” Jensen asked, somewhat naïve.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“They are under my special use,” the Major taught him, “I
gave them OKH-Marching Orders, so that they can’t be apprehended as deserters.
Because I cannot land on the few airports remaining to us, of course!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The lieutenant of the watch came back, “Should I still issue
a message, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr Major?</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No!” Küpper said shortly, “We have no time for nonsense.
See to it that you come back again. And all the best to you!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Immediately afterwards the men marched off. Under the bush
by the Dosthra were the six Panzerfausts. Like giant sand-colored eggs the
warheads of these dreaded anti-armor weapons lay in the green vegetation.
Juncker came out of the Dosthra, still clammering out. He’d picked up his
machine gun and ran after the retreating team to take up his post at the
Panzer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hurry back,” he shouted after Küpper. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke scratched his head in afterthought. It was more of a
gesture than a necessity. Then he said, “Major, now the Dosthra crew must keep
watch. We must be prepared for all sorts of surprises!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That’s right! – Let the four men come here immediately!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Kasseler yelled for the sergeant Beer and the other men.
When they came, they stood directly before Küpper and made it clear to him that
it was necessary for them all to take up posts regardless of rank. During their
explanations the men grinned.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Why are you baring your teeth like ponies?” he asked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s fun for us,” Beer said equably, “Perhaps we’ll even
find lilies of the valley…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Dumb jokes,” Küpper grumbled, “One of you must be at the
street in front to instruct the returning tank, taking care of our bird from
other directions of the wind. Now go!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl!</i>” In a
moment the four men were gone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Major said to Recke, “Wait a minute.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He walked up to the plane and from inside he pulled out a
briefcase. Soon returning, he opened it before the Kasseler he retrieved a thing
that looked to have the size and format of a wallet. When he pulled back the
lid, there was an intricate machine with a series of small control buttons, “A
new way radio!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Kasseler marveled, “It’s cute.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Küpper sat unceremoniously on the grass and invited Recke to
sit next to him. Then he began to explain the device in detail and instructed
him in how to handle it. After he repeated the few functions repeatedly, the
Major said, “Keep it! I’ve secured a few of them and we’ll come to rely on the
use of these small devices in the next few days. As far as I’m aware of the
overall situation, in the next few days the Red Army will move into Prague,
while the Americans are about to make a halt in the West. Thus a dramatic
period of history will find its temporary end and at the same time begin a
terrible tragedy. Our fate depends predominantly on our vigilance!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Then it’s about time we also retire,” Recke said. The
situation dismayed him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The tips of the Soviets will roll past us,” the Major
replied calmly, “If it becomes uncomfortable, we can still fly out of here
without consequence.” On an overall map of the protectorate, which he took from
the half-opened leather briefcase, he outlines the instantaneous front line. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Undoubtedly all of our bands laying in the space between
Bunzlau and Budweis will go to meet the Americans and as a result of this would
not fall into Soviet hands. Therefore the Vlasov Division under Bunichenko must
also vacate Prague, as they’ll have to hurry twice as fast if they’re not to be
liquidated under the direction of the red commissars, immediately. The second
Vlasov Division under Sveryev is already on the march west from the
Budweis-Strakonitz area. Details on these Russian volunteer units would be
extremely important to us, but we must leave it to the evolving realities to
learn more. We also need to worry about what’s going on at the BMW-Square.
Hopefully the disk will still be capable before the enemy bursts in and
inherits the toy. That must not happen under any circumstances!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Hm,” the Kasseler remarked thoughfully. Through narrow eyes
he spied a beetle crawling slowly on a stalk. A physical fatigue paralyzed his
thinking. That the end finally emerging looked so different from what the
victories from recent years would’ve suggested shook him. If he still managed
to defeat the emergence of desperation, it was partly due to the example the
Major gave him of ostentatious calm. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Already depressed?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nein, Herr Major!</i>
I was only wondering about the course of events that make up this life on
earth,” a made a small, force laugh, “The planet’s constantly rotating in the
same place and leaves incessant fates on its big tumble, ones of blood and
tears. And it’s all so obvious…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A strange expression passed over the face of the Major, one
that Recke couldn’t quite interpret. He then said getting up, “If you want to
philosophize, remember only one sentence, Captain: Life is a carrousel!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That’s military, Major, Barras-Philosophy!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“At the moment it’s the healthiest!” With the tip of his boot
Küpper grazed a few chunks of earth. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Let’s go to the plane; I’d like to radio the airfield!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before the Major could climb up, Beer appeared from the
bushes who was taking over the monitoring of the road. He gasped for air,
somewhat out of breath and cried, “Major– !”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What is it, Beer?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I think there’s something going on in Prague again. An
armed group of Czechs<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>just marched into
the city and sang songs. The Ivans will probably be in close proximity soon or
engage laterally.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So what?” Küpper thought for a moment and then gave the
sergeant one of the radios from his portfolio, which he’d tucked under his arm,
“Stay on guard at all times and take this with you! You already know how to use
it. You can send me messages easily then. But you may only leave your post if
you or us is directly threatened. Understood!?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl, Herr Major!</i>”
The sergeant took the small device and took again into the forest. Küpper now
tried recouping messages from Gbley with the radio. Curiously the radio station
was silent. Worried, the Major came out into the open and called to the
Kasseler who remained outdoors, “There’s already some devilry afoot! No more
tails wagging in Gbley.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What do we do now?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Wait it off,” growled Küpper. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the afternoon the Panzer came back. Jensen, who was
constantly on the lookout for aircraft, received Beer’s delivery and reported
promptly. Küpper and Recke rushed immediately to the road and waited until
Juncker had arrived in the vehicle driving into a small lane and stepped out.
When he saw the two officers he instantly came to them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“No more turning back to Prague!” he reported.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Why?” Küpper wanted to know. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“With the Russians’ help the Czechs have taken up fighting
again to take the city. They slaughtered our wounded and hunted all the German
civilians. The airfield at Gbley is taken and forty-six aircraft have fallen
into the hands of the rebels. The SS-bands and small armed forces are fighting
fiercely but can barely cope with the situation. Our guards immediately assumed
a defense from a hospital that was about to be stormed by the Czechs!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Fucking swine-gangs!” cursed Küpper. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“When they saw our tanks,” Juncker continued, “they piled up
like rabbits. When I had to turn around they peppered us again out of every
hole.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And what about the fuel?” said the Major. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We did capture back a truck-full. The Czechs left a convoy
in the stitch as we rumbled past and at the same time an SS-unit showed up. Our
tank’s fully loaded with canisters and the rest was taken by the men in the
unit.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Well said!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Now what?” Juncker looked at the Major, waiting. Küpper
considered briefly and then said, “Let’s take a detour to the Dosthra,
Juncker!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the tanks moved off again, the officers went though
the shortest path through the woods back to the machine and took Beer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We don’t need a Dosthra Watch,” Küpper had meant. Juncker
and Recke looked at each other but said nothing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I will fly out the Panzer crew immediately!” the Major said
afterwards, noticing their looks. At the Dosthra the Major assembled the men.
After a few words about the events that had just passed, he handed the tank
commander marching orders from the homeland. He would be partaking in the
departure with Juncker himself.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Get your things,” the Major ordered the Panzer men, “and
get to the plane immediately!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They were glad to get out, especially without risk from the
cauldron. Immediately they followed the instructions of the staff officer.
Küpper continued, “For you, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine Herren</i>,
I’ve made the following arrangements: you, Comrade Juncker, assume the Panzer
with Captain Recke! I will give you a man from the Dosthra crew as well. The
rest will take the plane for the evacuation of the tank crew and we’ll meet at
an approximate south-south-west direction from Prague. I’m thinking of it in a
way that you drive down the Moldau valley, the result of which will be
relatively secure from the shifting underground operations – for at least the
next two days – and at seven-twenty tomorrow morning we’ll begin using our
ultra-shortwave links. At this time I’ll be departing to south-western Bohemia
until we resume connection. Is everything clear?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker said differently, “By order of the base commander
from one-o-three I have command of the aircraft and it is not to be transferred
without the express command of my direct superior!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“My dear Juncker,” the Major said softly, “You know well
enough what duties and powers I have. It’s not so much about skills, but
completing what has been started. We have all liberties within our joint
communion and shouldn’t be petty. Do you not think so?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“If you accept full responsibility, then I accept,” Juncker
agreed. He chose Krammer as a passenger since the man was a little weedy and
wouldn’t occupy much space. With that the division of the groups was made.
Krammer took some rations from the Dosthra and on the orders of the Major
stowed three of the Panzerfausts inside, the rest loaded onto the aircraft. A
part of the fuel was also tanked into the Dosthra with a chemical additive
blended into it from some cartridges that Küpper had, the reaction as secret as
many other details about the craft.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At five forty five the Dosthra rose ino the air, quickly
gaining altitude and flying into the setting sun. Through the radio-phone they
yet still sent best wishes for the Panzer’s progress, which at the same time
was pulling its tracks through the Moldau Valley. Juncker thought it wise to go
directly to the site. Above all he cut their distance so as to not have any
surprise meetings with Soviet tanks that could come at any time from this area.
Passing over small towns and individual farms, the three men came to the
junction of the Moldau and the Beraun after about a half hour. Driving along
the left bank they met a few armored vehicles which stood on the road. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker had learnt from the lieutenant that they had orders
to Prague, but no one wanted to continue with an unclear situation. The Czech
capital could’ve been, for the most part, in the hands of the insurgents by
now. The two officers hadn’t managed to give him a response. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These were the first signs of decay for the minor missions
and fronts. The gears of the hitherto unsurpassed war machine had begun to
fail. They drove around the King’s Hall and were later overtaken by an SS
convoy that had managed to start bringing materials westward. Everywhere on the
street there was lively movement and various troops with vehicles busy loading
various things that were to be taken from the underground factories for
transfer in safety. They even had Czech workers who seemed to work willingly.
At present the German SS were respected here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A little ways from the bank-road, however, they were
ambushed. It was immediately clear to them that the Czechs were only waiting on
the withdrawal of the German units to descend upon the German civilian
population. At Mirowitz they branched off<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>while a Wehrmacht company charged with refugees drove to the south. The
coming of the night was clear and their progress was going easily. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When they rattled past a solitary home, they were called out
by a woman. It was a Sudeten German who wanted to remain even after all the
warnings issued by the army. She explained that some refugees had told her that
the rebels sitting near Pibram had captured Vlasov’s Chief of Staff Trukhin and
his Adjutant Romashkin two days ago. The Soviets had already broken through
Trukhin had been taken away immediately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke, who had spoken with the woman from the Panzer’s
hatch, thanked her. She rejected however his suggestion to travel through some
of the road with them and bring her to safety. The final words of the woman
revealed that there was no solid front any longer and that the Soviets had
already reached around the backs of the Moldau units. Juncker decided therefore
to drive around Strakonitz. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They crossed the road to the western side of Blatna when
they heard shots being fired in the nearby area. Juncker stopped the vehicle
while Recke carefully surveyed. Behind them to the right there was a group of
people on the road, their yelling and screaming becoming clearly audible. Then
two shots popped through the air again. A woman screamed shrilly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Go, come on,” he urged Juncker, “There’s a mess in
progress!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We can’t,” the voice of the driver came back from the
depths of the cabin, “We just can’t…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Bullshit you can’t!” Recke screamed back in despair, “Do it
or I’ll jump out and run to them myself!” Before he could go on they could hear
the woman with a blood-curtling scream again from the dark mass of people,
“Heeeeeeeeeeelp!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke abruptly swung the gun barrel from underneath and
unleashed a shot. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Fool!” cursed Juncker, “Now it’s neck or nothing!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He turned the Panzer with its engines roaring on and headed
for the crowd, which immediately darted apart. On the street was a passenger
car that had been held up by the Czechs. Two dark bundles lay before the
asphalt. A woman came running up to the Panzer without hindrance. The rebels
took cover from the tank, and after a few minutes they fired a few rounds at
its armor. They didn’t prevent Recke however from staying in the open hatch. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The hurrying figure was a young girl, her blouse and shirt
hung in tatters. She held her arms crossed in front of her bare breasts and
fell to the ground just a few steps before the Panzer. Juncker opened the
window completely and stopped their movement, “Get her inside, Krammer!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Ignore that!” Recke shouted back. He jumped from the tower,
rushed to the girl and picked her up. She was totally devastated and was lifted
like a helpless creature into the vehicle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Krammer waited ready and helped her into the cabin. No
sooner had the men stepped back inside than the Czechs began another round of
shots, but it could do no damage to the tank. From the nearby brush the fire
continued. Provocative calls followed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nenechte nêmce
startovat</i> – not let Germans take off! <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Usmrt
te nêmce</i> – Kill Germans!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Napred</i> – forward!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Despite encouragement from the coverage he didn’t allow
himself a glance at the inciters. Recke threw two shots from the tower while
Juncker took them to the standstill car and stopped beside it. The two bundles
laying next to the car’s radiator turned out to be in the pale light of the
moon two German flight officers who showed no signs of life anymore. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Krammer jumped into the open and in two steps he was at the
car, tearing open the door. With quick glances he saw that it was empty. He
took a small briefcase from inside and fled back into the Panzer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even as he stepped inside another shot rang out. The man
squeeled, “Heaven’s ass!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke took the case and helped him inside, “Anything?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Krammer, mubled, “I think a scratch on my leg…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The tower’s lid and seeing hole closed completely, the
caterpillar tracks chafing the pavement and then grinding off onto the soft
soil. Still the yelling could be heard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Zabite nêmce! Slay Germans!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Shoot, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr Hauptmann</i>,
shoot!” cried Kammer beside himself, “I got a good look at the officers. The
Czechs shot them in the neck! I saw it clearly…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Calm yourself, Krammer. Look at your leg!” Nevertheless
while speaking Recke looked out into the bright night. From a nearby bush two
Czechs tried to escape. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Kasseler pivoted and shot. One of the men lept high and
fell to the ground. The second continued running rather than taking cover.
Despite the darkness Recke caught the figure. With a cry he fell like a piece
of small game. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They drove around again but no one appeared. Even the
shooting had stopped, the Czehcs perhaps having seen the pointlessness of it.
The Panzer was invulnerable to them. Only inuntelligable curses followed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While Juncker continued carrying them, Recke looked to the
girl and then Krammer. The soldier crouched on the deck against the wall, his
pants pulled down without worry to fix his injured leg. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He took the first aid pack from his hand and looked at the
injury with a flashlight. It looked like no more than a fleshwound. He wrapped
the bandage above the thigh and brought two more rolls since the first one had
bled through, “Lay still, Krammer!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The girl also sat on the floor and was fully apathetic. As
she touched Recke gently, he could feel the continuous shiver go through her
body. He therefore reached for a blanket and threw it over her, “Wrap yourself
tightly!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Instead of an answer she suddenly cried out loud, “Oh my
God!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">She pulled the blanket over her head and the sobs turned
into a persistent wail. Recke looked at Juncker, “What should we do with this
poor creature?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The SS-Officer peered steadily into the night.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“If we come across a convoy, we’ll pass her on to them.
Perhaps we’ll meet one behind Strakonitz heading to Bavaria.” Light regret
crept into his voice, however. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Panzer ate mile after mile into the forested hills. In
Strahl-Hoschtitz they crossed a creek through a small bridge, despire their
weight. They were suddenly halted by a strong group. They were soldiers of the
second Vlasov Division who hadn’t been marching with the main unit towards
Krumau. A Russian Staff Officer, speaking fluent German, told them when asked
that the Americans in the south had taken Krumau as a detention camp. He and
several of the other officers were of the view that they wouldn’t be safe there
against the clutches of the Red Army. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I have no desire to fall into the hands of the Americans so
quickly,” Juncker told the Russians, “The proximity of the Soviets would also
be unpleasant.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We’re also concerned,” said one of the Vlasovite officers,
“If we Americans trade us off to the Kommissars…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Where are you going now?” asked the SS-Officer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Straight westward. Far to the west!” The Russian waved in a
big sweep with his arm.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It could be that we’ll meet again in the coming days,” said
Juncker, “In any case – good luck!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Russians stood crowded around the Panzer and
gesticulated lively, “Now not go! With us, with us…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker feared a surprise attack on the vehicle, “Make way!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The staff officer brought his face to the seeing hole, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Germanski</i> – good comrades! Stay a little
while with us! We’ll be leaving in a few hours. Protect our rear-guard!” Some
of the Russians repeated, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Germanski</i>
– good comrade!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke leaned towards Juncker, “We should stay if nothing
else! If anything it’ll help our observation. When the head of the unit comes
into contact with the Americans, we can escape from the rear!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker nodded.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Good,” he said to the Russians, “Temporarily we’ll stay
with you!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Good, good!” The man called with a few words of Russian to
the soldiers standing next to him. They ran off and came back promptly with a
fuel canister.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Here fuel! We drive no more. All march!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke stepped out and took the canister with thanks. Juncker
filled the tanks immediately and threw the empty container into a ditch. He
then turned the Panzer into the field while Recke stayed with the Vlasov
officers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After leaving behind Krammer as guard, the SS man returned
and the stff officer explained to him the details of the American terms of
surrender. He and the other officers expressed concern about accepting the
Americans as a protecting power in the Soviet vicinity, “They will turn us over
if the Kommissars make the request. And they will raise thar request for sure!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Kassler doubted them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“But!” argued another Russian, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amerikaner</i> khave no idea about Russian and about Europe! I was in
delegation and khave kheard the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amerikaner</i>
speak. They know nothing of Liberation Army and are dumb friends of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bolsheviki</i>. They will see yet!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That may be,” said Recke, “But turning you over…?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">All the Russians nodded actively, “They will…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The staff officer told the Germans that part of the second
division had already begun the march towards Kramau. A part of the brigades and
officer schools wanted, however, to keep pressing towards the West. He was also
leading two battalions westward. His distrust of the Americans here was too
great. He complained, however, that the Germans had not even met them with full
confidence. Nevertheless he handed out his hand impulsively to them, “We good
friends!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even in the darkness of the fading night the departure of
the unit began. Half-loud Russian commanders brought the soldiers to their
feet, which immediately formed disciplined marching columns. The leader of the
rear-guard and another officer requested permission to sit on the tank. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The bustle, which wasn’t without noise, had aroused the
girl. The fatigue after the shock of the experience had let her fall asleep
despite the uncomfortable position, while Krammer had held steadfastly as
guard. When the two officers got inside, they looked down at her. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Are you cold?” asked Recke.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s not bad,” she replied. Her voice was thick and
brittle. Shortly afterwards she tried to say a few words of thanks for the
help. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Where are you from?” Juncker wanted to know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I was a news assistant in Prague. Two officers took me with
them when we had to leave the town in a hurry. We came in a rountabout way into
the country and at first we had several cars and Panzers. It was only when we
turned directly to the south…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As far as he could see in the darkness of the cabin, the
girl had brought her hands before her face, “Oh – it was frightening!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Chin up, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mädchen</i>,”
the Kasseler said gently.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“They weren’t people anymore!” she screamed suddenly, “They
dragged us out of the stopped car, the officers were kicked and beat with
rifles right in the face. And then – then – I only heard the roar of gunfire.
They even wanted to rip my clothes off and take me. They were like animals –
like beasts! Oh, there’s no God anymore…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Krammer remembered something, “Whose briefcase was in the
car?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The girl swallowed a few times, then said, “That was
probably my luggage. The officers weren’t able to take any more.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s here,” said Krammer simply.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Oh! I thank you,” after a few seconds she added, “I can at
least wear a shirt and a blouse now…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You may do so!” said Juncker, “We’re driving again and our
men will all have to be looking outside the Panzer!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker made his way into the driver’s seat and pressed the
starter. While Krammer still limped after, the Panzer roared again back onto
the road. The hum of the engine swallowed the marching of the soldier’s boots.
Company by company they moved on into the incipient dawn with the Panzer as their
rear-guard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Russians sitting on the tank spoke softly with Recke who
stood in the open tower and looked out into the wooded land. They admitted
openly that they were all obsessed with an excessive fear. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke himself couldn’t escape the spell of this collective
fear of death of the desperate and agitated men. The whole atmosphere was
charged absolutely with the tension of a rectified thinking. Everything around
the Panzer dwindled now into a contained, mystical exhibition. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On both sides of the road the walls of the ancient forest,
black and looming, rose high while the sky arched like a pale-grey blanket. The
columns of the preceding companies were a snaking schema, which had been sucked
up by the retreating night and swallowed. Only occasionally rattled a rifle or
some cookware against a gun. If their engine was temporarily turned off so as
to catch the sounds of any foreign motors, the little noises in an almost
unreal silence could be heard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the morning mist rose completely and the coolness made
the men shudder, the specters of fear and trepidation marched next to each
individual Vlasovite as an invisible companion, called into speaking from the
consonance of sensations. Stopping exactly south-west, the unit left the larger
road and moved to the narrow trails. The transition slowed their pace
temporarily. They passed another small, unsightly place whose inhabitants were
invisible. At the head of the procession the top of a large and dark mountain
was balanced considerably. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a silent and hasty trot, the Vlasovites moved towards it.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The path began to rise and the forst drew closer to the
road. The underbrush was thick with ferns which decorated the seam of the path
like a primeval or magical garden, and the squarrose branches of giant, ancient
trees swayed gently in the cool breeze of the morning, which set the fog
moving. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The sound of the clanking tank at the line’s long end was
rendered ugly and sharp against the oppressive silence of the gloomy
environment. The Russian officers sat like gnomes shivering against the hull of
the steel chariot. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The leader of the rear-guard turned then to Recke, “Such
forests like here are also in our homeland.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His melancholy eyes roamed around. More to himself than to
the German he added, “Whether we will ever see her again? Oh <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sviataya Rossija!</i>” Holy Russia. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The procession stopped abruptly. Waving arms planted
themselves from column to column until the rear-guard halted. Scraps of words
whirled past.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Engine noises from the side.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The rear-guard leader, who had translated the order, asked
them to stop the Panzer. The men listened intently. Some of the Russian
soldiers had thrown themselves down and listened to the ground for the noises
propagated through the soil. Nothing. Only steadfast silence. Not even a bird’s
song. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The halt was also used then for a short rest while the
soldiers swarmed at the head. Since the Russians had only meager rations, the
Germans divided their morning snacks with both of the Vlasovite officers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The girl was now somewhat calmer in the morning too and not
coy when her breakfast was offered. When she stuck her head out of the pylon,
somewhat hungry for air, and was greeted by the Russians almost humbly, they
even stole a trace of a friendly smile on her face. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the dim and early light of the day it appeared that she
might have amounted to about twenty-three years of age. Her tousled blonde
curls could also not hide that she was unquestionably pretty. With somewhat
weary movements she brushed the hair back from her face. She had large,
blue-grey eyes still red from crying. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Good, that girl comes to homeland with us,” said the
read-guard leader, “Otherwise get through nothing alone. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ceski</i> like animals. Not good!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">With a few words Recke told the Russians about the incident.
Tears again fell down her cheeks. The Russians nodded seriously at what he
said, “Khave in recent days seen a lot. But could not khelp any more. Was
already too late.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The second officer added still, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ceski</i> khave killed wounded in khospital, before eyes cut out, ears
cut off and other tortures… khave found German women in village. Naken belly
cut open, breasts missing and babies thrown to walls of house. Khave myself
seen it, so may God khelp us…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The girl moaned, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mein
Gott</i>, can humans even do such a thing…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Oh,” the rear-guard replied, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ceski</i> not human!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Again there was arm-waving and half-loud calls. The columns
set themselves again slowly into movement. After a short stretch of the trail
the forest receded a little and overlooked a wider road that cut through their
path. Behind it gathered the green and brooding curtain of the great forest,
which rose steeply in places to the crest of the now harshly-rising mountain
road. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Behind this mountain range is Bavaria!” Juncker almost
cried from inside the cabin. He had oriented himself sternly with the map. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The unit crossed the road and swung into a dark ravine which
headed into the mountains. Juncker expressed concern about the distance, as to
whether or not they could keep following the troop. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before Recke could speak of it to the Russians, there was
the coming of several hundred throaty cries. Immediately after the explosion of
a grenade tore apart the previous silence of the vast, apparent loneliness. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The angst of the Vlasovites, which had until now been dull,
rose to an almost insane horror as the hull of a Soviet T34 emerged from one of
the deeper bends in the road with its wide tracks. Its long gun swung like a
finger and again a shot broke loose. Howling, the shell went over the heads of
the rear-guard and burst ahead with a light blow. The German Panzer finally
reached the road and offered it a good target. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the Vlasovites broke into broad lines in the forest to
seek protection in its increasing depth, Juncker first had to turn in order to
start issuing into the trees. The officers jumped from the tank and ran for
their men. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke shifted the turret to the rear, even though they had
already been bested by the Soviet tank. Before he could fire a round an enemy
grenade hit the crawler of the Panzer and forced it into an inevitable circular
drive, thereby hindering its escape. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Their tank was grinding into a pit in the earth and sagged.
In an instant Recke had opened the lower lid and pushed the girl out into the
open. In spite of fear and horror she pressed her small suitcase against
herself and fell behind a bush after just a few jumps. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the same time Krammer crawled out from the rear of the
Panzer and dragged out a Panzerfaust. Standing without cover, he removed the
tube from under his arms and worked it in a matter of seconds. The incandescent
cloud shot sizzling from the back of the device while the projectile bounced
just a short distance to the point between the massive hull of the tank and its
massive tower. A bright blaze beat high on up with a deafening roar and
splinters of fragments flew about. Then a powerful jet, the flame a bright
yellow, ran into a red hue and conceiled everything under a cloud of black
smoke – that was the end of the T34. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“So, that was easy,” said Krammer. He then knelt down as if
he had forgotten something. The tube of the Panzerfaust clattered against the
ground. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What’s wrong, Krammer?” Recke and Junger rushed to him. As
they stood by him they saw that his face was chalk-white. Krammer twisted his
mouth into a grin, “It was just by a hair. But life’s so cheap!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He slumped further and dragged his upper body with visible
effort. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Man, something happened!” Juncker reached for him but
Krammer refused. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Please
don’t – it would cause me unnecessary pains…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then talk,
Krammer! Where did it…” urged Juncker.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s just
a little thing. The Colossus didn’t forget to spare a few beans of its machine
gun for me. Just enough for a free ticket into the kingdom of heaven, or the
kitchen of the devil’s grandma.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two
officers looked at him perplexed. From the burning Soviet tank came the
crackling of exploding ammunition and the stinking fumes spread out in a
surging wall. Behind them, again, a roar was heard. Krammer’s face distorted,
“Give me another fist! Quick, quick – they’re coming!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Quit<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shitting us, Krammer! We’re taking you with
us!” The Major called to Recke, “Carry him by the legs…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nein, nein!</i>” screamed Krammer, “I don’t
want to. Give me a fist!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The men
hadn’t noticed that the two Vlasovite officers had also come back. The
rear-guard leader had brought without word the remaining Panzerfausts from the
tank and placed it in silence against the greviously wounded man. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Germanski</i> brave!” the Russian said to
Krammer. He knew there was no help anymore. He said to the German officers
hastily, “Make quick – up into forest! Hear! – There <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bolsheviki</i> coming…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Please
go!” Krammer begged, who’d understood his words. Juncker leapt back into the
Panzer and took out only a leather bag and some machine guns. In the bag was
ammunition, a few maps and the radio devices. As the men retreated into the
bush a second T34 blurted out from the smoke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They heard
him call out, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unterscharführer</i>
Krammer reporting out! Give my regards to…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then again
a detonation, accompanied by a prolonged roaring noise. Looking back they saw
what Krammer had done to the second tank. He was lying face down in the dirt
road and didn’t move. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After a few
steps they found the girl, who with fear in her eyes had watched the whole
scene and waited for the take-away. She had felt unable to flee further alone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was high
time that the men had left the road. Despite two burning tanks, already gunfire
was heard from behind the wall of smoke. The four men and the girl hurried
uphill. Before them and to the side rushed other groups of men through the
thicket. As they ran the rear-guard leader yelled to the Germans, “We khave
already some dead! First grenades – three men dead… Behind us <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bolsheviki</i> – now many die!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Sweat ran
in streams down their faces. Their breaths pressed whistling through their
noses, hastening undeterred. Again and again gunshots rang out through the
gloom of the forest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In crazed fear of having been hunted by superior forces,
they urged each other more and more into groups and pushed further up the
mountain. A large column of smoke before them then pulled its magic over the
fleers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Apparently the Soviets had had the better ground. Suddenly
squads of Soviets broke out at the same level as the escapers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vperjod!</i>” their
cries rang out, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Urre, urre</i>…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some of the Vlasovites fell down from being hit. Their
screams ran cold through the forest. Inflected by the clamor of the early chaos
the girl began to scream. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The officers cursed at her and tried to bring her to
silence. Only a harsh command from Juncker was successful. Bullets were already
whistling around them through the row of trees, and the Vlasovite soldiers who
tried to stand their ground fell immediately. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They continued running, following unconscious compulsion, to
the high smoke which swelled seemingly as a singular from the earth. Before
them a clearing opened up. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Behind it a weathered cliff towered with cracks and
crevices. A broad wave of the Vlasovites stumbled across the surface. Hundreds
of them ran towards the rocks as if they would find protection in the gaping
spaces. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“This is madness!” cried Recke and took hold of Juncker and
the girl. One of the Russians stayed, the rear-guard leader also running into
the open. After a few moments he also collapsed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“This way!” Juncker violently pulled his companions with
him. They squeezed themselves behind a bush that grew at the foot of a giant
boulder. The hole at the bottom of the cliff was just enough to protect four
huddled people. At the last moment the Russian broke out into the open and
tried to win with his comrades. He ran in a zig-zag after them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker and Recke peered at the events from behind the
branches. By chance the first earth-brown Soviet troops had come walking across
the clearing, the collapsed and wounded Vlasovites spiking them relentlessly
with bayonets. At the same time the wave of desperate men, obsessed with the
fear of a terrible end, surged to the rock wall. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And then the two Germans saw a strange figure suddenly
standing before them with both arms lifted to the sky in an imploring gesture.
A Mongol, with the strange garb of his country, and with the characteristic hat
on his head. A tension hung in the air that almost paralyzed and undoubtedly
emanated from the man who was standing like a statue in front of the Russians
pushing forward. A hypnotic effect was noticeable. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The smoke coming from the crevice thickened and became a
screen of invisibility before the drove of Soviets. Simultaneously the hunted
soldiers rushed, as if following a call, into the largest column in the wall
and disappeared inside, as if being swallowed up. Behind the screen the rock
danced in the flickering of the lowering smoke. And suddenly the Mongel had
vanished. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A little later the smoke dissipated from the ground
completely. The Soviet soldiers uttered cries of anger and surprise. The
majority of the Vlasovite battalion had dissolved into nothingness and had
escaped them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Carefully Recke and Juncker pulled their heads back as the
strange Mongol had disappeared as suddenly as he had stood before the rock. The
girl was pressed against the boulder and held her hand clenched over her mouth.
Her eyes were wide open with fright…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The officers looked at the time. The same thought had
inspired them. It was around seven. Recke took the radio device from the bag
and Juncker turned to him. Although the agreed time had not yet come, they
still gave they callsign. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There was nothing. The men had no choice but to persistently
lie flat in tranquility. The sun was passing minute after minute. The dewy grass
was an unpleasant cold. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After a while Recke tried again. This time he got a response
immediately. The Dosthra was already airborne and was circling around
somewhere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Küpper’s first request was their location. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Cannot be specified,” Recke replied, “Mid-height of high
mountain forest, near a cliff.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker took the device from his hand. With scarce wording
he reported that Krammer had fallen and the tank was unusable. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Break to the south and maintain connection!” was the
command from the Major of the Dosthra. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nothing else came through. In the opinion that the Soviets
had already regrouped, the two officers crawled from the bushed and called the
girl to come along. Readying their machine guns, they had only stalked forward
a few steps before they were suddenly called from behind, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ruki verkh</i> – Hands up!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker and Recke dropped the weapons. The girl tried to run
a few steps but a loud “Stoy!” halted her.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Damned and condemned,” Juncker railed under his breath,
“Such a situation…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In no time they were surrounded by a group of Soviet
soldiers. One of them picked up the weapons while another grabbed the woman,
“Oh, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mädchen</i> – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">khoroscho</i>…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Russian corporal rammed the butt of his assault rifle on
Recke’s side, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Davai, davai!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They stumbled forward and were still happy that the Russians
had tolerated the girl being moved along with the captured officers. Coming in
a small arch, they came back into the clearing of the dramatic event. They were
immediately brought to a group of officers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A Russian captain turned to the prisoners, “Where Vlasovite
soldiers, heh?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker looked at him. Then he pointed to one of the curved
shapes laying there. About ten feet away lay the dead and one of them still had
an arm locked in the air clenched tightly into a fist. On the upper part of the
sleeve was the blue St. Andrew’s cross illuminated with white. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pjos</i> – dog!” the
captain hit Juncker in the face. The SS man stood stiffly without expression. A
stream of blood shot from his nose that blotched his uniform. Only his eyes
gained an unapproachable and haughty expression. It was as if he could see
through those standing before him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Russian took Recke by the shirt, “You talk – Where
Vlasov people?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He pointed to the rock wall, “There!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Russian raged, “Nothing there – you come! – Show me!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The prisoners were pushed forwards until they stood beside
each other before the wall. In fact there was no sign of the vanished soldiers
to discover. Even to the Germans nothing was so puzzling as this. Only for a
moment there seemed to be the glimmer of some secret knowledge in the willed
and angular arrogant features of the SS Officer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the Russians took steps further shaking their heads,
the group came upon a man who lay groaning on the ground with his hands clasped
to his stomach. It was the leader of the rear-guard who’d caught a bullet. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the Soviet officers went to him and gave him a kick.
The Germans couldn’t understand the questioning because it was in Russian. The
Vlasovite officer rose a bit from the ground and looked at the them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Germanski</i> –
Brothers! – We will see Russia again – through the womb of mother earth…” A
bang, and his head fell to the ground. The Soviet officer had unceremoniously
put a bullet through his forehead. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Germans turned away disgusted. Although their fate was
completely uncertain now, they both worried about the girl whose fate was
undoubtedly within the next few hours. Escape was impossible here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Davai!</i>” On the
command of the Russian captain they were led downhill with their original
escort who still carried their weapons and had left behind the girl’s suitcase.
With intent the officers faked a rapid tripping and slipping down the hill in
order to keep the accompanying soldiers from walking in peace. They noticed the
looks of desire for the girl. Just before they reached the street where they’d
been taken out before, they heard the humming of a large aircraft. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A quick glance communicated an exchanged agreement, assuming
that the Dosthra had canceled their rendevouz for the search. Recke shrugged
his shoulders resigned. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The surprises of the day had not yet come to an end. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They walked onto the road not far from the still smoldering
tanks and were taken to a convoy which, abandoned by the soldiers that had fled
into the woods, was empty. The corporal pointed to a small car at the end of
the line which was open, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Davai!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some soldiers shouted to him. They raised their weapons and
pointed them at the Germans. The situation had become threatening. Apparently,
however, the corporal had given a command which barred the liquidation of
prisoners. With two Russians to the side and a few more sitting in the back
with the captured, the car drove for a short time northeast from the area of
the German border. They made good speed. The hard drive on the badly sketched
road shook the car properly. The guard cursed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At a turning point in the road the car stopped with a sudden
jerk. An open passenger car stood ajar in which sat Russian officers who were
exclusively Mongols. One of them rose from his seat and came to the prisoners,
which he observed closely. He scarcely noticed the girl however, instead
looking carefully at Juncker’s black collar tab and Recke’s yellow. He then
returned to his companions with whom he spoke in great detail. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the corporal began to drive off again, the Mongols turned
and followed close behind. After ten minutes they came to a small place whose
houses were marked with Czech flags. Irregulars with rifles and arm-bands stood
at the entrance and waved their weapons as the car came by, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zabite nêmce!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They stopped before one of the better looking houses. The
Russians stepped out and forced the Germans by the mass of raging Czechs into
the gate. The corporal walked ahead and went through a dark passage leading to
the barn house of the building. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the prisoners waited, he walked down the tract and
opened several doors until finding a stable suitable for them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pashol </i>– get in!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The officers let the
girl precede. The corporal made a gesture as if to snatch her back but it failed.
Only a mocking laugh was left on his features, distorted, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Evening!</i>”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The room was completely
dark. Only through the cracks in the door boards filtered a fine strip of light
which drew a bright line across the opposite wall. At times it disappeared as a
guard passed it. The girl was crying again and was completely broken. The two
men didn’t dare to award her consolation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker’s first impulse
was to take off his watch and empty his pockets. Recke followed his example at
his own behest. Then the asked the girl to stow the small radio devices and her
personal commodities in her suitcase. Juncker’s radio had unfortunately been in
the leather bag taken by the Russians. They had actually been very lucky that
the girl still had hers and that they hadn’t been plundered so readily. They
attributed it only to the excitement that had passed that morning, the Russians
themselves having been a big surprise. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Whispering, the two men
discussed things. The most obvious thing was their destiny, which in the best
case meant a deportation to the East. In any other case, their lives might be
concluded within a few hours. They studiously avoided talking about the girl. A
prison break was also completely hopeless. It was impossible for her to get out
of this place even if the guards were finished with her. Even the latter was
just a mind game. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Recke thought of sending
a message through the radio, but Juncker rejected this idea categorically.
Knowing the reckless Küpper, the Dosthra and her crew would only be endangered
without the ability to even get help. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“If there’s danger,
we’ll be shot!” said the SS Officer, “We already know how the Ivan does
things…”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Then we’re just
abandoning our possibilities!” Recke opposed with anger. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker reassured, “Time
will tell, as that nice saying goes!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And a cold grave in the
summer is good,” sneered the Kasseler.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After a while of deep
silence Recke asked, somewhat more conciliatory, “I’ll eat a whole straw hat if
I figure out what happened there with the miracle smoke. Can you explain this,
Juncker?”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s as strange as it
is simple! The mysterious Mongol, personification of the roof of the world, has
used his magic powers as the Asiatics would say. We Europeans can resign
ourselves that we’ve failed with a mass suggestion. The Ta-Lama is guiding them
especially well.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker stroked his
rough chin, “The esoteric would say: Agartha has opened the gates for the
persecuted and deprived them of a menacing fate. The exoteric: A mirage of the
gods beat the runner-up with blindness. Expressed even more simply: the Soviets
were fooled by a Lama!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The day passed on
without anyone bothering with the prisoners. Sometimes shots were still heard
in the distance, but no conclusions could be drawn. Juncker gave the suspicion
that they might be witnesses of the mountain spell, thus people of temporary
value and thus given a grace period. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The narrow strip of
light on the wall was already pale and completely extinguished after a little
while later. A new night fell and the girl let out a shiver, now clinging to
the men for protection. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Kill me,” she said
pleadingly, “Before you leave me to these animals!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As if to confirm her
unbridled fear there came a polyphonic din and growls from the outside into the
barn. Apparently the intoxicated locals were celebrating a cheap victory and
fraternized with the soldiers of the Red Army. The uproar continued
uninterrupted. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a single moment the
planked door of the barn stall was flung open. In the brighter doorway were the
silhouettes of several men. One of them said in guttural German, “Up! Come
immediately!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Juncker came first into
the open, the girl rushing immediately behind him and Recke following after.
There were four men who covered them on all sides. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Don’t speak!” one of
them warned. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Going across the barnyard,
the Germans saw the guards shrinking behind them and staring at them. The men
crowded into the hall where they waited a moment. A few minutes later a second
guard came out who handed the machine guns and Juncker’s leather bag to the
four. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Further!” the voice
said. In the light of the opening door, through which the guard had given the
items, the Germans had realized that they’d been picked up by Mongols. Perhaps
the same ones that had stopped the car that morning. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stepping out onto the
village street, they were pushed hastily into a car awaiting them. While the
Mongols took their seats they made space for the girl to sit between them,
Recke and Juncker having to squat in the foot space. Then the car took off
quickly. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before leaving the place
they stopped only briefly. A few words in Russian were enough to let them leave
instantly. As the car went on they could see that the armed Czechs were all
drunk at the village’s exit. Grinning they stayed behind. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Out drove the car into
the darkness of the night. After a short while the driver turned off the road
and rolled onto a narrow forest path. Recke estimated that the village was
somewhat over ten kilometers away by now. A few houses standing by the road
showed no light. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the vehicle stopped
at the edge of a thicket, and the pitch-black trees cast their shadows, the
girl opened her mouth to scream. Instantly one of the Mongols sitting beside
her moved a swift hand over the lower part of her face, trying to stifle the
cry, “Not speak. Otherwise broken!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">His threatening tone
intimidated her. One of the men left the group and stayed away for a long
while. When he return he conversed with his companions in a foreign tongue.
They then slowly moved the car forward into a swath and drove several hundred kilometers
across a clearing with fields. Rocking and moaning the car drove over a small
ditch and continued on a dirt road to a house standing by itself. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The door was flung open
at its hinges. No animal revealed itself and no inhabitants made themselves noticeable.
A Mongol’s flashlight showed that the house was in the greatest disrepair or
had been at least sacked at some time. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of them went back to
the car. The other three walked with the girl and the officers to the bedroom
of the house which had a bed at both walls. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The German-speaking
Mongol took the girl by the arm and pulled her to the bed, “Here – sleep a few
hours! No fear!”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then he turned to the
officers, “We stay here. Until morning.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“And then what will
happen to us?” Juncker asked without emotion. The Mongol looked at him for a
moment in the eyes. The mild finger-rays of the rising moon haunted his broad
face and his eyes glittered, “Buddha’s ears are everywhere. He has heard this
question and he will answer at the right time.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Buddha’s ears?” Recke
approached him. Juncker also seemed surprised. But the Asiatic only turned away
after speaking the faultless German sentences and went with his companions. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The watchers remaining
seated around the table in the middle of the room, the officers threw
themselves safely onto the second bed. The physical and mental fatigue made
them fall immediately into a deep and dreamless sleep. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Up!” the Mongols were
already at the door, “Quick, quick!” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Again a pale morning.
Fog and a cool freshness rose before the house. The car drove through the field
and the forest path back to the road and then at a great speed. Juncker and
Recke both noticed that the driver and his cohorts scrutinized any signs of
crossroads carefully. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Turning into a narrow
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">They trudged all
together over a soft ground, turned into a forest trail and were suddenly faced
with a large and strange aircraft, the remarkable design of which strongly
resembled that of the encounter that Recke had had above the Prague airspace.
The first rays of the rising sun played over the hull. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Mongols went to the
fuselage in a hurry beneath the short triangular wing. The head of the plane
showed two horizontally protruding horns which gave it the appearance of a
caribou head. The two German officers couldn’t guess at the strangeness of its
purpose. Most strikingly appeared, after a few rushed glances, the caterpillar
tracks under the central fuselage and the lack of any flight markers. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: .5in; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There wasn’t a lot of
time to look. In a few minutes the men and the girl were stowed inside. Two
Mongols waiting in the plane even took the belongings of the Germans from the
car, which simply remained abandoned on the dirt road. The metal bird’s
turbines roared, lifted it into the sky and shot eastward with increasing
speed, flying the Germans now against an unknown fate…</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></div>
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<![endif]-->Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-15016378647560550222012-11-11T13:45:00.001-08:002012-11-11T13:45:31.735-08:00Chapter 5: The Messengers<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">THE
MESSENGERS</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Be
gracious to me, Providence </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">And
Psyche, as I write these </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Surviving
mysteries, alone for </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">An
only child immortality, </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">O
initiates, worthy of this our power, which </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
great god Helios Mithras ordered</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To
be revealed to me by his archangel, so </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">That
I alone, as an eagle, may </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ascend
into heaven and behold the universe. </span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">(Translation of the Mithras
Liturgy)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Arctic sky was a dreary grey.
A pale light behind the notch of the horizon foreshadowed the light of the
position of the distant sun. Gusts of wind swirled with small ice crystals and
blew a fine veil from the crest of the high ringed mountains. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Disagreeing
the two pilot-officers made their short daily walk outdoors. Gutmann had come
back so late last night that the conversation couldn’t be continued.
Consistently left to themselves, the two men found the emerging boredom
downright depressing.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Novelty
at all the latest technology as well as at the strangeness of their
surroundings was no substitute for action in the long run, to which they were
apparently condemned indefinitely. Somehow everything went along its right and
planned duration, as it had been by their commander who’d come from Vernäs with
them as well as with Major Küpper having transferred to Berlin. Furthermore the
presence of the Waffen-SS, themselves in their ranking, was another visible
proof that Point 103 must have had extraordinary importance to for the Reich.
For this reason it couldn’t have seemed especially strange to them that the
permanent staff of the secret base was formed by religious orders, which might
have taken a special mission within the orders of the SS. Gutmann’s words from
the day before had uncovered a smidgeon of these secrets now. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
two officers had pulled the warm hoods of the parkas low over their faces. As
they decided to return they suddenly saw in the sky three bright
light-phenomena which darted towards them both quickly and staggering in a
triangular formation. They were pale, iridescent disks like the one that had
appeared over the Eskimo settlement on the Boothia Peninsula. The men couldn’t
help appreciating the altitude and size of the disks. Nevertheless one could’ve
gained the impression that they might have been significantly smaller than the
first one. Like plates radiating light they sailed silently and then
disappeared after a short time. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
no wonder to me anymore,” Recke could be heard, “But flying here could get
uncomfortable with time!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
pointed to the weather station lying in the middle of the mountains, “The men
at Frogglass have also seen the light-saucers. You can see them behind the
station’s windows!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“They’re
always watching, even if there’s nothing to see!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
fine hum came through the air. A V7 flying top rotated closer and remained in
place over the lateral center of the landing drop. Shortly thereafter the
camouflaged trap door opened into a dark abyss. They could see clearly how the
flight machine adjusted with minor corrections in its position and slid then
straight down and disappeared exactly into the opening, which immediately
closed again.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Just
like us!” Recke said, “The first landing we’ve seen as observers. Whenever
we’re out here the airport’s usually abandoned. You’d actually have to watch
more to see the operations here in action.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
think we’ve slept too much, rather. That’s it!” Reimer grinned. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
looked at him askance, “Do you know something better against indolence?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
suddenly shifted the conversation, “I have a feeling it was Juncker that just
came back. If I’m not mistaken, we’ll be able to see what’s new. The flight
command doesn’t send V7s for the weather checks!” Followed by Recke he walked
with his broad-gauged aviator boots to one of the doors. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“When
the wind’s blowing, the freezing cold’s unbearable…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
made their way to the huge landing bay. Coming through a passageway, they saw
standing before the descended gyro two more that they’d never noticed in the
background. Reimer approached one of the men near the aircraft, “Has Major
Juncker landed?”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i>Jawohl!</i>” he answered, “As I
understand it, he’s already with the adjutant.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
thanked him. Turning to Recke he said, “He’ll be coming back to his room to
take his flight-suit off. It’ll probably be best to wait for him there.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
they walked their heard the loud-speaker abruptly shout, “<i>Achtung</i> – listen up!
– Bay three prepare for landing – Bay three – Also: Ground crew for external
landing, hands on deck! – I repeat, Bay three…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
seems the shop’s finally getting business,” Recke noted. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ve
noticed a greater bustle this morning,” Reimer agreed, “I wonder if it has
something to do with light-disks?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hm
– on the Boothia Peninsula it had also begun to alternatre and change places.
It was quite pretty then – Aladdin's lamp in the North Pole! – If the tragedy
with the shaman hadn’t happened…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
somehow hung together at that time,” Reimer said, “Provisionally this story is
still mysterious to us. Maybe we can find an explanation later. And besides,
we’d landed by accident. The magnetic pole isn’t on the Boothia Peninsula
anymore, it’s since moved north-west to the Prince of Wales Island. I spoke
with Gutmann about it a few days ago and he told me our maps still had the old
positions. The pole wanders and already dropped about three-hundred kilometers
from the point we’d taken it as. The movement in our magnetic compass was
perfectly understandable at that distance.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No
one told us before departure. Damn negligence in Vernäs.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Just
before the passage that housed their rooms, they met three Japanese in uniform.
The stripes on their shoulders pointed them out as officers. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
and Recke hailed them and thanked the Japanese as well, whereby they smiled
authentically. All three were small in stature but looked unusually
intelligent. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
Japs were dreaming not but six months ago of the North Pole as much as we
were!” Recke said when they’d left, “They’re good soldiers!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
guessed correctly back in the landing bay that Juncker would soon come to his
room. The two captains hadn’t been long in Recke’s room before Juncker entered
in flying clothes. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hello,
comrades,” he greeted and began to open his combination. Recke readily helped
him. He motioned to hang the bulky dress in Juncker’s locker but he protested,
“Leave it on the bed, Recke! It may be that I have to take off again soon. We
don’t have many men that can fly the gyro. Would you like lessons?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why
not?” laughed Reimer. Reimer nodded too with an affirmative gesture. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
don’t have enough men here for everything,” Juncker said casually, “You’ll soon
find all sorts of versatility.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hopefully,”
muttered Recke. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why
so grumpy?” Juncker said and looked to his comrade. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
answered in his place, “Curiosity. He’s expecting scalding-hot news!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah
– you’re not?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
am too,” he admitted and laughed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hm
– It’s actually the case that we’re the first ones in line to get news. I’ve
picked up an Asian emissary from some base outside the Arctic circle. We
already have a number of people here and some are still expected to come during
the day. At the Grand Assembly a lot will be revealed that we don’t already
know.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
met three Japanese officers,” Recke confessed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ach</i>, they’ve already been here for three
days! They’re envoys from the Black Dragon.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yikes
– how awful,” Recke laughed broadly, “What kind of club is that?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker
remained serious, “The most powerful organization in Japan! It has influence
far beyond the borders of their country. They’re valuable allies, the
Japanese.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Did
they land here in one of the aircraft?” Reimer pried. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No.
We picked them up with a long-range craft about half-way. Basically we do this
for safety reasons. It’s also very hard to fly this area!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why?”
asked Recke, “When you’ve come to terms with the navigation and you have a good
plane…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
didn’t mean that,” replied Juncker, “But there’s one particular area – not too
far from here – where there have been disappearances already, which couldn’t be
found despite our extensive searches. It’s forbidden land.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
don’t get it,” Reimer shook his head, “With current aerial reconnaissance?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
just it! I’d like to point out the sensational case of the polar aviator
Levanevski. This Russian flew a four-engine aircraft with five crew members
over the pole on a nonstop flight to Alaska. They mysteriously vanished from
sight. A radio was broadcasting his flight over the pole, and later came a
message that one of the right engines was aground and immediately all radio
communications ceased.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
then he crashed,” Recke said laconically. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
extraordinary part of the case is based on the complete disappearance and
probably misguided search flights. We oldies, who’ve been here at Point 103 for
a while, are very familiar with this story. There’s more: The airman Wilkins
led ten of the flights from Northern Canada, and the experienced Grazianski
also took off. The Russians even sent an icebreaker with airplanes into the
Beaufort Sea, but there was no success. The most interesting part of this
flight is the fact that the reconstruction of the flight-path over the pole
revealed that in terms of distance the planes would’ve had to find traces of
the missing men. As it was, the routes forked conspicuously around the area; it
seems as if forces had taken the planes from their original course to keep them
away from a certain area. The Russians later took a number of flghts from a
base in Crowned-Prince Rudolf Land but all efforts were in vain. The secret
around Levanevski and his companions remains unsolved. Since we’re able to keep
foreign craft from our base ourselves, it’s quite possible that…” Juncker made
a vague motion. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If
you’ve made a flight-path reconstruction, all you have to do is make easy
corrections,” Recke objected critically, “A strictly fixed route…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
told you before,” repeated Juncker, “that our Magnetic Radio can distract
approaching aircraft without the pilot noticing.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
would therefore mean that Levanevski found something and didn’t have a chance
to radio back. Then two questions remain: What did he find and who could’ve
crashed the Russians or stopped them from radioing?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Correct!”
Juncker confirmed, “However, it’s still unanswered.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very
strange,” Reimer ran his hand across his forehead, “There’s nothing to compare
it with.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There
is! If not being so tragic…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
looked at Juncker. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What
then?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Point
103!” Juncker replied, visible amused at the astonishment of the two captains,
“Land has been found in this area before. In the first World War, the Canadian
Macmillian undertook an expedition to find Cracker Land, which the known polar
explorer Peary had reported in 1906. Macmillian took incursions with sleds from
Ellesmere Island and Axel-Heiberg Island and came up to the eighty-second
latitude, but couldn’t find it. It must have been easier to find back then.
Since then Cracker Land has become a legendary land…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Is
that even possible?” Recke marveled. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh,
science knows of two such cases! In 1907 the Koch brothers sighted a place they
called Fata-Morgana Island. It was because thirty years later Lauge Koch went
back to search for that very island, suspected to be behind Nansen Island, but
they could no longer find it. Around the same time a great Russian expedition
under Samoilovich to find among other things the legendary Sannikov Island.
Despite their modern aids the Russians were unsuccessful. It’s north of the New
Siberian Islands lying around the eightieth latitude.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You’re
well versed in the history of polar exploration!” Reimer had to acknowledge. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Pff,”
Juncker was dismissive, “Gutmann knows a lot more!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
looked up, “Gutmann spoke of a mystical high-seat…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah
– really? – When did he tell you about the Blue Island?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Blue
Island?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
just said…!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Gutmann
never gave a name,” interrupted Recke, “He only spoke about it generally. But
still: Here the solution to the Levanevski Problem might lie. The command staff
of our base concerns itself with this unsolved mystery.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
rose from the edge of the bed, put his hands in his pockets and stood broadly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
very interesting, dear Juncker. But doesn’t our staff here have any closer matters
to attend to currently?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
think Gutmann’s given you evidence that shows the casual relationships!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Understand
Recke,” Reimer said in between them, “He probably understands everything but at
the moment he’s thinking of the most obvious things. We all have family members
in the homeland and we’re concerned about the emerging chaos they’ll all fall
to.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
understandable,” Juncker admitted, “It’s not much better for me. I have a
family in Magdeburg.” There was a slight twitch on his sharp-featured face,
“It’s clear we need to get out of this brooding. When the Grand Assembly is
over, there will be a grand wealth of operational orders!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What
kind of assembly is it?” Reimer wanted to know. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A
big council session,” Juncker said secretively. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
shuffled his heels on the floor, “Like Fiji islanders…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
Juncker didn’t listen, “I’m a bit tired. Let me sleep half an hour.” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
poked Recke annoyingly, “Some things one should take more seriously.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t
blame him!” Juncker lied to Reimer, “It’s always good to look at things with a
dry sense of humor. He understands, doesn’t he?” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He motioned with
his hand nervously and turned himself over facing the wall. A few minutes later
deep breaths betrayed that he was already asleep. When Gutmann arrived later in
the night, Reimer was already sleeping. In the morning he was already preparing
to leave when Reimer woke up. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Hey, Gutmann.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes?”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Where are you going so
early?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Much to do
today! Gotta go,” he pushed the door open and hurried away before Reimer could
ask any more. Through the thinly opened door invaded the command channelings of
the speaker system. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reimer stretched
his arms and jumped up with a start. Even as he dressed he yawned. He had a
somewhat restless sleep behind him and had dreamed. As the trapping of steps
could be heard outside the door and revealed an increase of activity, he tried
to sort out his thoughts and recall the dreams from the night. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But he could
only bring together vague notions relating to the mysterious high seat in the
Arctic circle. Gutmann’s hints and Juncker’s remarks about a blue island had
stimulated his imagination and dangled images into his dreams which didn’t want
to come back into the waking world. Somehow he retained the memory that the
strange glowing disks had played a role in his vision. A feeling not yet
justifiable brought him to the idea that the phenomena could be related to this
unknown center. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Even when he was
in uniform he was unsure if he’d taken the technical knowledge and logic to
help. Here lay a gulf he was unable to bridge. As he took up a towel towards the
end of the hall where the wash room was, he decided to keep these mind games to
themselves temporarily and see what Gutmann would say. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the laundry
room he met Recke who was already about to leave, “Since when dod you get up
with the hens?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recke wiped some
suds from his foot, “Funny comparison, especially when there’s not even a zoo
here!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“My God, it’s an
idiom!” Reimer put his small shaving box on top of the wash basin and stripped
off his shirt, “Gutmann’s flying again.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Juncker too!”
Recke said, “The whole place seems empty now. The bustling and the speakers
woke me up.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reimer turned on
the hot water and started to lather his face, “Yeah, there’s no longer anybody
in neighboring rooms around us. I think we’d have the whole bathroom to
ourselves for a while. No one’s pushing around.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh – the baths!
I want to see what’s going on. The base is like a beehive.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“All the
messengers are probably here, I suppose,” Reimer began to shave his chin
slowly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“For that very
reason. Hurry mowing your stubble and let’s go to breakfast.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“<i>Mhm</i>,” made
Reimer. He hurried in the restroom and hurried still from the baths. After
nearly a quarter of an hour he brought Recke from the room and to the dining
hall. Of all the comrades that had become known to them and were unknown still,
none of them were there. Only the three Japanese officers from the day before
sat at a table in the back and chatted lively with a bald Mongol, who’d had a
long black coat. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The foreigners
were engrossed in their conversation and payed no attention to the late
comers. Their expressions were serious and calm. No gestures disturbed the dignity
of their conversation. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I was once
handed one of the illustrated works by the famous Swedish explorer Sven Hedin,”
Recke whispered to his comrade as they took a seat, “It included a Tibetan
abbot that looked exactly like the black-caped one with the Japs!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It could be
that he’s the Ta Lama that Gutmann spoke about,” Reimer retorted, “An
interesting person!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Around the
bald-headed foreigner hung an indefinable attraction. Recke kept glancing
furtively towards the man, “The Tibetans are strange and seemingly impenetrable
people. I almost wish I could learn about their strange country!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reimer was about
to launch into a response when he saw the man abruptly shift his jet-black eyes
to Recke and penetrated his stare. The lama’s face was like a carved mask. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Drawn by the
force of this look, Recke kept his gaze for a few seconds and then became
restless. His lips moved slightly as if searching for words, but no sound came
forth. Only his fingers made jerky fidgeting on the tabletop. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“What’s wrong
with you?” Reimer bobbed one of his feet against Recke’s shin lightly. At the
same time he noticed a fleeting smile in the features of the stranger after his
comrade winced. It was only a slight twitching of the mouth, the otherwise
motionless face awarding an ironic look and betraying profound significance.
His small, black eyes glittered from under the half-dropped eyelids almost
piercingly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Japanese
were silent and motionless as well. A spell had settled on them. Then the lama
stood up and said loudly and clearly, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Buddha’s
ears are everywhere!</i>”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Buddha’s ears
are everywhere!” repeated Recke with difficulty, “The man can’t speak German
but he can hear nonetheless!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Tibetan
nodded to the Japanese for a moment, then drew the robe tighter and walked
slowly out of the room. His gait was slightly shuffling and his gaze turned
inward. A few minutes later the Japanese followed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reimer looked to
his comrade thoughtfully, who stared still at the exit way through which the
Asians had left, “That was no sleight of hand!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“That’s right it
wasn’t! What it actually was though we’ll never guess. Like a strange mixture
of telepathy and metaphysics.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Asia will
always have riddles for us Europeans. Just like you mentioned the inexplicable
or wanting to define it, it’s beyond our horizons. The materialism of the West
has drawn boundaries itself in which each outlook beyond is just a hindrance.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Maybe that’s
best,” said Recke slowly, “Otherwise we might not be creative but just dream
and dim ourselves. We have to built and create lasting things, but we don’t
have to always have a foot in the afterlife. Otherwise it might invalidate this
one!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A man from the
kitchen staff came up to them and placed breakfast on the table. Black coffee
and Komissbrot with jam. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I’d just like to
know how these guys get coffee beans,” said the Kasseler, who always drank two
or three cups, “In Vernäs there was only beet juice, called Nigra Sweat for
short!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Our patrons in
America, probably. Gutmann already said.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Hm.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">During the quick
meal the meager conversation between the two was interrupted several times by
commands over the speakers which guided the landing operations. Duties were
called upon constantly. Until now it had been little possible to estimate the
number of personnel at Point 103, but the current orders showed just how a
considerable many men had taken flight. The strategic import of the North Pole
was unmistakable. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The men were
clear on this without words. But for the moment their thoughts centered on the
man in the black robe, who still must have understood Recke’s thoughts. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recke said
abruptly, “When I get home safe and sound, I’ll read books on Tibet and
Lamaism. I’m very interested now how far our knowledge has come. Even if the
inner core likely remains a mystery, I still want to know the outer part.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Buddha’s ears
are everywhere,” Reimer repeated the translation from before, “It wouldn’t
surprise me now if the Ta Lama had a similar wish as well.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’d be incomprehensible if I had the time to dispute anything with the freshest energy
had I not been informed any better. But if we ignore the strangeness of this
incident, trying to guess at such a wish is meaningless. Anyone can guess at
something. They can’t bring it into action though!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">With the
progression of the day, stress was put on the two officers. The huge bustle at
the station and the haste of the men particularly disgruntled Recke, who was
already tired of doing nothing. Only the hope of imminent orders allowed the
men to suppress their mood. Reimer also began to grow mellow. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the afternoon
the captains slept in their rooms. Recke, who was the first to awaken, went to
Reimer and shook him harshly, “Up, Herbert! Previously, before stepping into
your boudoir, some kind of guy from the staff came down the aisle and shouted
something about a movie theater. We should see if they’re showing a movie with
saloon heroes and sweetie pies. We don’t even know what cute girls look like
anymore.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reimer scrambled
awake and blinked, “Who gossips about movies here? If it were true, Gutmann
would’ve said something about it long ago.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“No one’s
gossiping here!” Recke grumbled, “I heard the word ‘cinema’, so there has to be
one here.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Alright.”
Reimer got ready and went out into the hallway with Recke. Walking towards the
dining room, they met no one. They noticed that, unlike that morning, an
unusual calm prevailed. In the gyro hangars there were only a few men on duty.
All work had ceased. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recke went to
one of the technicians he knew by sight already, “Where’s the movies?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The man looked
at him in astonishment, “It’s…” He interrupted the beginning of his sentence
and showed uncertainty. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“You should
already know! Or – ?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“The heck we do
– a police dog couldn’t even find its way around in this labyrinth!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The man took a
deep breath, “Ah, is that so… From the hallway going towards the Frogglass, it
branches off from the blind alley just beyond the weather station to the room
marked with the number thirty-eight in Roman numerals. It’s through there – you
can’t go wrong!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Mm hm, thanks!”
Recke made a snappy salute and pulled Reimer along with him. “Funny guy. He
acts as if it’s the secret lab at Peenemünde.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They followed
the specified path. Their shadows on the floor waxed and waned, depending on
where they entered a circle of light from the overhead lamps or exited. Unlike
the other passageways of the complex, this corridor was sparsely lit because of
its extraordinary length. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Before the
emergence to the Frogglass, they came upon the entrance of the blind alley from
before that led about fifty feet in length to a little door, the Roman numerals
XXXVIII emblazoned on smooth wood. At the door stood a sentry whose stance was
firm. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Passing through
the half-opened door, they arrived in a small hallway which opened straight
ahead. Subdued lighting showed the continued path. The faint murmur of voices
came from within. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The two pilots
would never have guessed that the next few seconds would bring with them the
greatest surprise of their entire lives. Clueless, driven only by the need of a
little variety, they entered the next room and halted in awe. What their eyes
afforded was not a movie theater, not the sober or technical establishment, as
they’d found until now fully functional yet modestly following the aspects of
military necessity. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They found
themselves in an anteroom, the center of the ceiling from which a huge
astrolabe hung as a lighting fixture. Amidst the winding metal loop the opal
lamp formed a bright core which spread a mild, pleasant light. Two-thirds of
the otherwise barren room were decorated with the twelve symbols of the zodiac,
while the ceiling showed the figures of the starry sky of the North in bright
points painted against a dark background of night. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Their eyes
wandered. On the wall to the left there was another perforation with a red
curtain pulled to the side. From the next room came the murmur of voices like
the sound of an ocean. Like lightning the realization struck Recke in the
brain. He clutched Reimer’s arm, “The Grand Assembly!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Very strange,”
he continued for him. Behind the curtain opened up a spacious hall which bore a
set of steps leading downward. And here they saw a picture they presumed to be
the product of an exalted imagination. An uncommon hall with uncommon people. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The room worked
like the nave of a church. On both sides of the elongated hall ran some benches
on which some of the men of the station sat. The aisles were lower and the
processional path of the hall continued through four more planes. The whole
looked like a road flanked by the walls of a mutual, low parapet which led to
the end of the hall. Upon this path stood a procession of a type of people
which for the most part wore red capes. Something just like that was like what
the white robes of the Knights Templar would’ve looked like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">At the head of
the procession were foreign guests, whose attire also emphasized the
strangeness of this assembly. Over everyone dominated the black, helmet-like
headdress of the Tibetan Ta Lama, the Japanese next to him becoming small.
While the Tibetan wore the already-known black robe, the Japanese officers had
their uniforms on as well, however, also having black robes draped around them.
A bit later the two pilots could see that the left chest of these coats bore a
dragon in silver contours. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Remarkable was
also the presence of officers from other nations, including two Americans. A
portion of these men also had red robes, some of them black instead. Also many
Indians in their tight, white trousers and black frock coats stood at the head
of the long group. Some tall black men, one of them a typical Ethiopian, Arabs
in black burnous and two Persians in lambskin caps completed this picture of a
world tryst. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They all stared
at a man in German uniform who, the red robe just slightly folded back, raised
his arm into the air with a solemn gesture. On both sides of his collar patches
shone a silver oak leaf. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We welcome the
messengers!” His voice sounded out sonorously and was audible throughout the
whole hall. The captains pressed unobtrusively to the side and waited for the
things that were now to come. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of the quiet
murmuring in the hall fell silent. With rapid panoramic glances Reimer and
Recke saw yet that to the left and right of the man who’d just spoken stood a
still representation originating from ancient mythology. One of them
represented the lion-headed Kronos, the other was the famous statue of Helios.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">To the side of
these mythological figures stood a German and Italian officer of high rank, as
if depicting a kind of honor guard. The back wall of the hall itself had a huge
sculpted mural; to all peoples with humanistic education it was known also as
the Mithras Relief. The lord of the sun, slaying the bull, and on either side
the torch bearers, the lion, the dog at the belly of the bull, the serpent, the
scorpion at the genitals of the sacrifice and above Mithras the raven. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Meanwhile, the
red coat at the end of the hall began to speak again. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Prized be the
overseer, the lord, who rewards those who in their desire do good deeds and
purifies their obedience!” A slight murmuring answered him as his arm sank.
“The messengers know why they have come, and we are eager now to hear what they
have to tell us. The messengers may speak so that we might decide thereafter.”
He nodded to the messengers and stepped a little to the side. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Japanese
captain with the dragon robe was the first to come forward and face the
congregation. He bowed deeply before lifting to speak. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We ambassadors
of the Black Dragon bring the greetings of our organization to the lords of
Point 103. The Dragon is ready to fulfill the Great Commandment of the world
with other organizations and and is willing to cooperate in its redesign. In a
struggle on mental and mystical levels, the covenant will do everything in its
power for the achievement of our major goals together with the members of the
Ootomo Office. The Red Sun and the Black Sun serve the same lord! That is our
message and we will take the resolves decided here by the Dragon in the face of
our sacred mountain.” Once again the Japanese bowed solemnly and then stepped
to the side. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">From the small
group of Indians another messenger came forth. Simply, without ceremony, he
stood before the assembly, making only a measured bow. His almost perfect
German has a slight singing voice. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“What is above
the heavens and below the earth and everything in between the heaven and the
earth, what is also the past, present and future, is woven and interwoven in
space, as it is said in the Upanishads. I am a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chaprasi</i>, a messenger of my country, and we greet the lord of Point
103 who, like we, are in service of the King of the World! Our message is the
same as that of the brothers of the Black Dragon and our mission, to
communicate the decisions made here by the Grand Assembly to our guru in the
service of higher powers. Here near the Su-Meru, the ancient sacred high seat,
a force will be dispensed that will open the doors of humanity to a new era.”
The eyes of the Indian burned and he enthralled the present audience. If the
people, who here serve the Lord of the Sun, stir at the hands of the World
Clock, they will also be supported by centers of ancient wisdom. That is what
the Great Guru can say through my mouth!” With a slight bow to the German
officer, putting his right hand to his forehead, mouth and heart, he stepped
back and made way for one of the Persians. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I am the safir,
the emissary of the Sons of the Black Widower. We also look intently to the
world mountain, which in our language we purely call Haraberezaiti and we are
all close to it here. The grace of Ahura Mazda has opened our eyes and found it
worthy to convey the greetings of our community to those gathered here on
behalf of the Ustad. Whose who are the knowing know whose message I speak and
that it cannot be different than those of the men before and behind me. Who is
purified by the fire and left in silence waiting, all the doors are opened to
him. My brother Mukaddasi, the safir of the Sufi Bi clan, it as ready as I to
take the message we have brought you. It is time that the flame of the light
blazes brighter and the forces of darkness are relegated in their borders. That
is all I have to say!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“So it is!”
confirmed the second Persian, also protruding from the context, “In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">näzdi bäkuh dunjâi</i> – we are close to the
world’s peak, may the great power be with us! We are ready!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As he stepped
back, the first of the Persians added, “<i>Huda wänd dunjâi 'l-ed'an-e mubaräk
nikân-ra negâh nhi-daräd</i> – the King of the World, who must be obeyed, protects
the good!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Following the
Persians was a Chinese, who was again wearing a uniform and whom Reimer and
Recke had overlooked. Smiling authentically he introduced himself as an
ambassador of the Hung League and repeated in English similar phrases that his predecessors had said. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We invoke the
spirit of the North Pole, Si Nen Ti, who lives in the Great Bear, and we look
to the Tien Tze Shan, the Mount of Paradise!” he cried out. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It is the Tao,”
he then concluded, “that creates the harmony of the universe and that we serve
subordinately. The Tao that was taught from the Tai Shan mountains and by the
Master of Heaven and the Hung League recognized and preached as the foundation
for all existence. And so we knowing of our League also look to the secret high
seat of mankind, the Kuen Lun, to receive the strength to carry out our
mission. The way Confucius said in his book Lun Yu: The superior man is
familiar with duty; the common man is well-verse in profit! If the hour has
come for those who know they will be called, so are we ready. That is the
message of the great Koh, our old man of the mountain, and his two Hiong-Ti!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">After the
Chinese came a series including the Ethiopian, a Brazilian officer, a
Venezuelan, a Siamese and a full-blooded Mexican Indian with messages as
officers of the same rank. The willingness was on all sides to serve the same
goals at the given hour. As the last messenger stepped up an Arabian,
accompanied only by his two companions, to the platform by the two mythological
figures. Gracefully he picked up his right hand before starting to speak. From
under the dark kufiya looked a distinctive face out to the assembly, flashing
from a pair of passionate eyes. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We are the Sufar, the messengers of the Keepers of Secrets, of
the ancient Ali Sikhs from Cairo and the guardians from the Valley of Wisdom
from Jebel Hadhur! It’s us that they send to guard the ancient black stone Anat
in ‘the Tower of the Ephemeral’, considered the mother of all being. They’re
words are as follows: Bring those who are on the way to the mountain of
assembly our greetings! We are also willing to complete with time and even
reach full completion. Innumerable times has the path to the light been sought
yet caught in the thorns of doubt. We seek the knowledge no more, for the
knowledge will be us! The knowledge of the secrets of the world that separates
existence from appearance. Just so do the Yazidi at Jabal Sinjar sacrifice to
Melek Taus, the lord of evil, while they believe in the forgiving redemption of
the High Court, and the people of the whole earth bow to the increasing
strength of the negative pole and its magical influences.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Arab took a short step towards the listeners. His throaty
voice rose as he said in flawless German, “But no one can escape the path they
have led. A <i>sura</i> in the Koran says: When the sudden nears, there will be no
more denial, nor decrease nor increase. When the earth writhes in pain, when
mountains rub together and grind to nothingness, then you will be lined
threefold!” The Arab gathered the burnoose around him. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“There is no crescent moon over the world, but rather a cross
over humanity. The guardians of the stone of Anat see a division of the earth
into a western and eastern half. That is the visible, horizontal bar of this
cross. The polar forces: white and black magic, the top and the bottom of the
invisible, the vertical bars which dominate the horizontal! Thus the physical
force of the mental planes and the ethos of humanity is determined from the
Midnight Mountain, directly to which we knowing look. There follows the message
of the Sikhs: We have received an invitation to the Assembly of the Black Sun
and at the same time have seen the bright disk in the sky. We read the signs
that herald the turning of an age and promise the humanity of the coming
Aquarian age a new paradise. Before us is the high time of the Great Mother.
The gate of ‘The Tower of the Ephemeral’ is therefore open to those who know!<i> Insân
idhab ilâ 'lbhabi waftahhu!</i>”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Murmurs of approval became audible. The declarations of the man
in black burnoose had made an impression and showed it as the personality of
his group. The Arab had no doubt studied in Europe and spent many years in
Germany as well. His mode of expression in this language baffled them. Slowly
shuffling and stepping forward lightly, the Tibetan Ta Lama stepped into the
middle of the semicircle that the previous messengers had formed. This brief
moment of anticipation made Reimer and Recke slide forward even closer. No one
noticed them. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Tibetan tarried a little in pauses of breath. Then he
turned and let his inquisitive eyes wander from half-closed lids out to the
assembly. For those standing further on he gave the impression of a sleeper.
The strangeness of his person was heightened by the fantastically working
headdress; the typical Tibetan monk cap with a large dragoon-like ridge that
steeped deeply. When he began to speak in English, everyone bowed forward to
understand the Ta Lama better for he did not speak very loudly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I come as <i>Ku-Chap</i>, as envoy, of the Mahasiddha Lugtog, which
stands in communication with the ways of Shangri La and with the voices that
come from the midnight and from the underground Kingdom of Agartha. And this is
its message and its prayer: I bring the lamp which will illuminate all the
kingdoms of the world and is fulfilled with the light of the sun and moon in
its precious vessel, as great as the three-thousand worlds, and its wick
inserted into the swaying sea of butter, soaked in butter, as strong as Mount
Meru!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“The lamp enlightens the world on the point of falling into
chaos, when men do not remember in time. The glowing disks of Mani are signs in
the sky and they will multiply if the gap between peoples grows deeper. The
message of Ngönkyi Tsao Kung from the King of the World has not reached the
rulers of the West who let their soldiers fight against the entire world. They
are not warned and his enemies will therefore have benefited from it.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The eyes of the Tibetan narrowed even more, “The Masiddha will
mediate between the seekers and those who await. I have also seen men from here
that come to us, who by us are well received. All have to go the way they are
destined for and will fulfill it with time.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Everything will be fulfilled with time!” a voice repeated from
somewhere with a resonance, as loud as the ones what came regularly from the
loud-speakers. Simultaneously beamed an indirect light and played on the cult
relief of the back wall with a bright red glow. While all the participants in
the room remained in deep silence, the invisible voice continued.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We have heard the words of the messengers and know now that
the communities they represent represent the same knowledge and travel the same
path. We thus now give the news that will come to determine our course of
action!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Above all: The Yalta Conference on the first of the February
of this year there took place the agreement between the Japhetites of the
Kremlin and the Shriners, keepers of the Covenant in New York. These forces
represent themselves through the personalities of visible world politics. The
result was, beyond the fate of Germany, a dictate for the division of the world
into an Eastern and Western sphere of influence for a period of ten years.
These forces, both of which are subject to the grey magic, will be to blame for
the fact that over Europe will come chaos and especially in Germany, a terrible
time that reminds us of the Thirty Years War. It is the terrible fulfillment of
the prophecy of Walter Rathenau: Germany will be a desert!...” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">There was a little modulation in his voice. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It is already clear that a huge wave of persecution will be
initiated equaling the collective persecution of earlier times. Just as once
the Albigenses, the Cathars, the Templars, the Waldenses, the Patarines and the
Bogomils were persecuted because of their religious affiliation or company, so
in the near future there will be public baiting against the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schutzstaffeln</i>, the Vlasovites, the
Ustasha members, beginning against the men of the Italian Monta Rossa division
and also the Slovakians of Tiso, as well as many French and Flemish, will be
caught in the mill of the emerging East-West conflict.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A short, dramatic pause followed,
during which half-loud exclamations from the audience could be heard.
Dispassionate sober continued the unseen voice, “The persecuted collective will
take the same path as the hunted had in such an intolerant world centuries ago.
They are thus also chosen, remaining available as a substance, to go down into
the magical plane. You will therefore open the gates of Agartha! Those who have
violated the ethical principles of their communities and have contributed to
their misfortune through their personal debt, they have fallen to the world’s
court. The discovery and clarification – in what ways and to what extent the
persecution will employ – are the coming task of the tactical group at Point
103. For the messengers of our affiliated communities let it be further said:
Point 103 will endeavor in the period of the next five years to be able to
enter, at the appropriate time, as determining factors on the mental level. For
the reactions related thereto, which will be carried out globally, we seek the
support of friendly organizations. Furthermore we will devote ourselves to the
discovery and exploitation of specified raw materials to a greater extent and
in addition the seeking and exploration of the technical and physical potential
of ancient cultures. In this field we will also come into closer cooperation
with other groups! And a reminder to all: We have no time to lose, especially
since the Shriners have committed to securing the protection of the Great Pole.
Their newest creation is the foundation some time ago of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vereinte Nationen</i> – United Nations,
abbreviated as the UN, whose symbol is a blue flag with the pole as the center
of the earth. This gesture and symbolic diffraction around the pole, this
second edition of Woodrow Wilson’s old plan, must not be overlooked. The
measurement of forces on the mental plane has begun – the works on the mystical
plane strengthen themselves! We must therefore – having received the messengers
and heard their words – take decisions immediately. The results we will tell the
messengers. As Commander of Point 103 I order the staff immediately to their
command posts and suspend the Assembly, referring to the introduction of the situation
on the basis of recent reports and bringing the appropriate documents. The
renewed meeting of the Grand Assembly will be announced by loudspeaker. The
guests are requested in the common room for the duration of the interruption. I
repeat: Staff to their command posts immediately!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the voice ceased, the red light
also went out. In the incurred silence they could hear the voice of the officer
who’d opened up the meeting. With polite words he bid the messengers to follow
him. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While the men on both sides of the
pews remained standing in their places, the speaker with the red cap walked
slowly to the exit, followed by the Black Hat Lama, the three Japanese from
Akyoujuuku and the other emissaries. Behind the red coat ascending the first
level of the stairs, the Tibetan caught sight of Reimer and Recke who’d been
driven to the wall and stared at the procession closely. For a moment the Ta
Lama acted with a step faltering in the procession. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i>Sang-gye ku-wang chem-po!</i>” he said
loudly and fixed his eyes on Recke. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Kasseler took his right hand
hesitantly to his cap, “I don’t understand…” he stammered. A smile passed over
the mask-like features of the Ta Lama. More widely he turned his head slightly
and said in English, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Buddha is
omnipotent!</i>” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A secret knowledge sounded from the
sentence of the Tibetan, whose meaning was hidden in the future. Without taking
more notice of the <i>Umwelt</i>, the messengers left the hall. The strangest thing
was that the intermezzo had caused no surprise at all. The eyes of the other
men rested not much longer on the one being addressed, as the Ta Lama himself
had paid little attention to him. Only after the departure of the messengers
did the pews empty casually and the men crowded without particular haste
towards the exit. Only the two officers next to the statues of Helios and
Kronos, the German and the Italian, stayed in place. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer and Recke, who seemed also
not to hasten, saw from the red-cloaked suit of messengers a man pushing his
way sideways and coming towards them. It was Gutmann. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Who brought you here?” he asked,
not unkindly, as he stood near his comrades. Recke hung around the thoughts
filling his mind since the leave of the Tibetan and didn’t understand the
question at first. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Reimer answered in his stead, “Feeling lonesome and abandoned,
we wandered through a labyrinth of immortal gods and…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“And so on,” Gutmann cut him off mockingly, “I know such
phrases well enough!” He took the two friends by the arm and took them with
him, “It’s actually a good coincidence you came here by yourselves. I truly
didn’t know in these last few hours of the things I’d be thinking now. You
being here cuts down explanations!” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Between individual small groups of men they walked through the
cosmic vestibule, as Gutmann jokingly called the anteroom and then through the
corridors and gangways to their rooms. Immediately Juncker arrived behind them.
Both officers took off their red cloaks and made themselves comfortable in
Gutmann’s room. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“The red robes at the meeting remind me of a tribunal,” Reimer
said, pointing to them. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gutmann sat on the field bed next to Reimer and replied
earnestly, “That impression isn’t so inaccurate. It is actually – figuratively
speaking – an arm of the world court!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recke looked up from his reverie. Looking at Gutmann, he said,
“Whether court or not – that’s irrelevant to me! Something’s happening on this
sick planet that the little soldiers at the front have no idea of. There’s
still a lot of fog clouding my vision but it always seems that so much in politics
has to be hidden. One question: Who are the Shriners?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gutmann leaned back, “If you remember the words previously
spoken by the commander through the mic, he called them the keepers of the
Covenant. In this, in a shrine, they keep the personified magic of Yahweh as a
power center part ethnic and part cosmopolitan active substance that works in
both directions. Their political representation on the visible world stage
includes President Roosevelt among others. Churchill and other men in world
politics also belong to the world brotherhood of all the lodges, whose
mysterious leader, the HOATF based in Chicago, as well as over the Sanhedrin
stands in the inner government of the world. All lodges are subordinate to the
“Head of All True Freemasons”, which operate as the auxiliary troops of Mount
Zion for the goal of a One World government under countless secular disguises.
It is a power that has a network over all other forces and storm all together
against the Midnight Mountain.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh, I’m understanding slowly,” replied Recke, “As far as the
mystical or magical level is concerned, there already seems to be a very old
conflict between spiritual direction and ethical concepts!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“So it is,” Gutmann agreed with him, “The areas mentioned above
go back to the Golden Age of a bygone era of humanity. In the fragments of
traditions from the lost paradise, the Atlantis Period poses among other
questions that there was an interregnum in which black magicians of semitic
origin ruled over the Aryan Antlanteans. Doubtless they put their Bealim as
well – their Baal idols – in addition to dominate the God Poseidon. The old
black-magic god cults of the Baal persuasion are rooted in the Semitic living
space; the Bealim outlasted the Atlantis catastrophe and maintained themselves
– following the genitives of place names or even the article used to identify
God – as lords of those relevant places, primarily as mountain gods. Thus the
Baal Libanon and Baal Tabor. Baal-Melkart was a Phoenician City-Baal. The
latter was worshiped at the time of the Omri Dynasty in Israel-Judah. Before
the migration of Israel the Bealim were worshiped in the Palestinian areas by
the local inhabitants of Ur, which during the transition of the old cult-places
in Israel was merged with Baal-Yahweh. With the Israelites, the infiltrated
esoteric concepts and Mystery Wisdom from the eastern sphere of life conveyed
to them the knowledge of an esoteric world center, the Mount Meru known by
various names, the Midnight Mountain!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“This high seat of ancient Atlantis, from a time when Greenland
was still the Green Land, reminded the Israelites again that there was
previously historically an interregnum of their race. Isaiah took the mount as
Har-Moed in the Bible, the mount of congregation. The result was a spiritual
variation: the Mount Zion as the Jewish center with Yahweh as Baal-Zion. The
mystery of Asgard-Agartha is called in semitic: Gabbatha. Knowledge of these
things united the Israelites intuitively with a longing for the happy era of
their rule over generations of Atlanteans. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“This mystical subconscious is the real reason behind their
historical-periodically ongoing unrest and infiltration into the western and
northern spheres of life. In this they currently form a circle of gray magic
with a black-magical center, so they won’t be able to lose their black cultic
primordial reason. From this perspective on the Arctic world mountain results
now the movements into the areas of the Great Pole in a race with the
white-magical powers of the Indo-Aryan groups aspiring for an Atlantic
Renaissance. A decision in the long run in the offing: Either the Shriners
bring the Tablets of Sinai to the Midnight Mountain and assimilate the white
force for the rule of Baal-Yahweh, or the coming Aquarian Age of a new Yuga
comes through the purifying fire of the North!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s an invisible front, which the mass of people would call
irrational,” Reimer interjected. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Invisible – partly, yes! Irrational for those who haven’t
looked. Moreover, even the irrational of all things, as a counterpoint in
dualism, is a primal force, which without calculation and without mind to
understand affects us naturally and which isn’t replaced by any conscious
force. The materialistic world view of the modern era denies any relationship
with the primordial and as rational remains always on the edge of all that
happens. This knowledge is the secret of Asia. It is the result of objectivity
that we in Europe have become desolated or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vermonden</i>,
because the Europeans have sacrificed their inner strength, the irrational to
the coolness of reason, to the coolness of a ratio. To whom but knows these
things, there will come much else understood what otherwise in life seem
incomprehensible. If Tibet, the roof of the world, stands in nexus with the
Ri-rap-hlumpo and the Chang-Shambala – with the latter meant as Agartha – it
will thus be a result of obedience before irrationalism.” Gutmann lowered his
voice slightly, “And Tibet will become our best ally…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“But the collapse of the Reich can’t be helped anymore,” Recke said
somberly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“No – Germany will temporarily be the sacrifice in the struggle
on the mental plane. Not least because of some errors of its own policy… But at
the same time it will engage with other nations refined by the fire, which is
offered to it from the North. Until then, however, in the sign of the Black Sun
we must prevent through defense the grey-magical forces pushing into the area
of the White Circle!” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Then there won’t be a vacation for picking flowers and kissing
girls for a long time,” Recke sighed resignedly, “It’s obvious I won’t abandon
you all…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As a small pause entered their speech, Reimer placed a
question, “Why couldn’t we ever see the commander of the base? Previously he
received us with a message or even showed himself in any other occasion.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As Juncker laid taciturn on Reimer’s bed, sprawled, Gutmann
answered, “The commander lives among us, it could be said, undetected. Surely
we have all seen him without knowing that it was him. He comes through the
hangars and workshops as a mechanic, a sergeant and God knows what else. As a
result of the Quarter-Group Organization, to identify him is almost impossible.
Here everything is thought out very thoroughly. Only the Adjutant and the Chief
of Operations know him.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“And why all this?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“For reasons of security for his person! He has overwhelming
knowledge and the loss of the chief would be a disaster for us!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I thought the base would be shielded,” Recke said with hidden
irony.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gutmann looked at him disapprovingly, and then only said,
“Better safe than sorry!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Then the magic of the Ta Lama wouldn’t be able to faze him
either,” the Kasseler grinned. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“What do you mean?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recke hesitated for a moment. Then he told the SS officers
about the two short episodes with the Tibetan. He didn’t withhold his feelings,
which had caught him strangely. The few words the Ta Lama had given came back
to his memory. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“These words carry weight and meaning,” Gutmann explained, “It
wouldn’t surprise me should they affect your destiny. The man knew more than he
spoke!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The conversation stopped. After a little while the Kasseler
rose and went to his room. Juncker followed him. Before Gutmann could lay down
to snooze, he said to his comrade, “I have the feeling that’s having to do with
everything. There’s going to be a hard time ahead of us!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The rest granted to the men went by in a flash. The waking
dreams or slumbers of others were disturbed by the noisy loudspeaker
announcement, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Achtung – Achtung! </i>The
Grand Assembly meets back together in twenty minutes! The messengers are also
asked to… In twenty minutes! I repeat...” The voice rasped down the words yet
again. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hey, Reimer!
Get up!” Gutmann had spring up and reached for his red cape. A creaking from
the door across the hall indicated that Juncker and Reimer were also already
up. In fact the former slammed with his boot toe against the door of Gutmann’s
room entirely, while other doors in the corridor began to be yelled at or be
struck, “Out with you, you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schlafhasen!</i>…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Just as drops
collecting in a stream, the men flocked together commanded from multiple sides
of the main passage way and walked in the same direction towards the meeting
room. Now Reimer and Recke found the red capes less peculiar than they had
before. They no longer seemed strange; everything was just as unusual thought
and strange details merely made themselves less noticeable. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For a second
times the loudspeaker droned on underway. A myriad of small things showed
repeatedly that there was a strict discipline. It was all as rigorous and exact
as in the barracks of a normal military unit. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
time
Juncker took the two pilots with him to the pews of the assembly room so
that
they’d have a good view and not have to stand in the back again. Gutmann
apologized that he was going to be accompanying the messengers instead
and
wouldn’t be able to meet them. Reimer and Recke has quite a few minutes
now to
inspect their surroundings in detail. Again their eyes were attracted to
the
Mithras relief on the rear wall of the room. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The light of
the overhead lights, which played less potently in the background, conjured
mild shadows on the relief and let the figure of the light-god and the two
torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates emerge plastically on either side. The room
itself was otherwise unadorned. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What does the
wall relief mean?” Reimer asked Juncker, who sat beside him, “I’ve already
sweated through a part of my classical education.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The questioned
turned his head slightly, “He is the Lord of the Sun! The ever-watching, never
sleeping, the all-knowing and all-bountiful. As the light-god he is the
implacable enemy of the darkness and its evil spirits. As protector of all
truths, honesty and peaceableness, he goes to court strictly with all
adversaries. His meaning…” He was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of the
messengers. All murmuring in the hall had died. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The train of
emissaries came walking again down the middle aisle, the Waffen-SS officers at
their head who had greeted at the opening of the meeting. Behind the men who
hailed from different parts of the world came still some officers of the base
as accompaniment, including Gutmann. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The leader of
the procession stepped onto the platform between the two statues while the
following messengers formed a semicircle around the steps. Again he raised his
arm, literally begging their attention. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Who sees the
higher world purely and alone and approaching no gods, he awaits to hear the
mighty roar of thunder so that he would be shaken. Then speak he: Silence,
silence! And the prayer: I am a star who with you goes his path of
transformation and is lit from below. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">After these words, the solar disk shall unfold!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
speaker lowered his arm and continued in changing tones, “We have bid the
messengers in our midst that they like us hear the decisions of the Task-Staff
of Point 103!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Stepping back
he pulled the red cape closer and took on a waiting stance. In the same moment
the red light shone again and covered the wall relief in a fiery glow. From the
hidden speaker system came the sonorous voice of the invisible. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The Grand
Assembly is convened so that it may fulfill the time as it is prescribed in the
plan of the world. The messengers may hear: To the previously made comments on
the major tasks of Point 103 of a general nature, their orders now endure to a
number of men. One does not need to be a prognostic to know that the Chaos is
already beginning to flood the earth and that already the policy makers of
spirits cannot become the lords they claim to be. We do not know, therefore, what
difficulties will oppose our troops in detail. Should individual members of our
base become cunning in areas against expectation, where men from our friendly
organizations live, so do we expect that they will give them help and support.
From now on we will take all available forces to Germany to save her with
technical potential and plans. The following orders will deal with a sampling
of our opposing forces, to determine their strengths and position. Regardless
of all plans however, a task force will be stopped immediately to devote itself
to an intensive investigation of the Arctic. All the essentials that will be
needed during deployments of their results will be delivered in a form suitable
to each friendly organization. We therefore also expect to obtain rapid information
in an exchange system. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A little pause
ensued. Then the voice continued, “At the conclusion of this assembly, all
off-duty officers report to Hall 1 and take the new order roster made by the
Ordinance Officer on my behalf to note. All officers who are not being sent
within the next eight hours are to stay in their rooms or common room on my
command. During this time a part of them will be called for operational orders.
With that we now turn into the world of human affairs in the sign of the Black
Disk!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The voice
speaking in short, military sentences broke off. Almost simultaneously the red
light went out yet again. The men in the pews looked at each other and
exchanged meaningful glances, while the faces of the messengers remained
unmoved. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke leaned
towards Juncker, “Do Reimer and I belong to the imprisoned?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If you’re not
on the new duty roster – then yes!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Hmm…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The
messengers now began to leave the dais behind the lead of the red-caped men.
They walked back through the aisle and then swung into the side aisles.
Dividing into two streams, they took up the places in the first two rows at
their leader’s behest. At the same time two men with the rank of lieutenant
went to the front and pulled down a canvas over the embedded relief from the
ceiling. Unbeknowst to the meeting participants, a movie projector had
meanwhile been brought into the hall entrance. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With precise speed the cables were connected
and minutes later a bright white beam of light flooded the canvas surface. For
about half an hour followed excerpts from German and partly foreign newsreels. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The included
clips illustrated clearly the true state of the European fronts. Immense
quantities of American military equipment for operations had been deployed on
one hand, and on the other the weary groups of desperately struggling Germans. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We must
recognize the situation as it really is,” explained the accompanying voice on
the tape-strip. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After the film
had ended a map of Europe was projected onto the screen. A tall officer came
out of the darkness at the edge of the light’s circle. He explained with a
pointer stick in detail the true situations of the fronts. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker nudged
the two captains, “That’s the Operations Officer!” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The speech
placed with responsible objectivity left no doubt as to the seriousness of the
situation. Unsparingly the staff officer told of the advance of Allied troops
and the discontinuation of their own units and the failure of replenishing the
absent fuel and materials. He concluded his statements that an occupation of
Germany would be an irreversible consequence of the development and in his
final words appealed to the men of the base to serve unwaveringly a greater
future. He concluded, “Let the messengers take with them the certainty that a
collapse of our country will not hinder the efforts of the organizations. And
however many persecutions repeat, so are they purifications by the fire of the
highest test. And let the highest of all things be our duty!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The projector
blanked out and for a few seconds darkness reigned in the room. As the room’s
lighting was turned back on, the assembly saw the staff’s chief already leaving
the room. The red cape waved like a flag behind him. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The Assembly
is concluded!” the speaker called throughout the hall. The audience rose from
their seats and let the messengers go first before they themselves began to
leave. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m stunned,”
Recke said to his comrade, “This openness…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker raised
an eyebrow, “You don’t mean to say the SS Front organizations consisted of
sheep, do you?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well… not
that…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schutzstaffeln</i> have an esoteric core, as
Gutmann has already clarified. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reichsheinrich</i>
– I mean Himmler – stands outside of it, but he knows of its existence. This
creates an awkward situation which must be met with caution.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I appreciate
openness a lot,” Reimer took a turn in his small speech, “Especially when
certain things need to be seen clearly. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">But whether or not it promotes morale…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“If a
troop is good, the truth will never cripple them. We’d rather promote preparedness
and bring out our last!” Juncker’s statement was dry and factual, “Here that
recipe has proven itself to us.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The three men
joined a small group of officers which discussed things lively as they aimed
into the hallway. The curious were jammed in front of the bulletin board. The
men who’d first arrived were already pushing back so that the other could move
up. In short time Recke stood as the first of the comrades before the board and
searched for their names. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His voice rose
above the banter of others, “Hey, Juncker, you seem to be among the chosen
ones! Off-duty! – And Reimer? – Stay there, old boy! – Also free! – You got
mighty lucky, you two!” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>His broad back
arched slightly and they could clearly detail the tesne search. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Eureka!” he
roared, “Someone has something against me!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Like a bull he
pushed back smiling all over his face. He drew Reimer and Juncker and squeezed
the Linzer’s arm in high spirits. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You’ve gone
crazy!” he became indignant, partly annoyed, that the grip was painful. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">Recke didn’t have any
too-delicate grips. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t
be so silly,” said the Kasseler, “We should see to it that we get into the
house-arrest soon!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the next
hours the three men waited together in Juncker’s room, who sought to entertain
his comrades. His comments were repeatedly interrupted by the loudspeaker that
came in well audible the ajar door. Mostly they were the calls of officers
being summoned to the commander. Recke was inattentive, and Reimer only now and
then gave Juncker answers. Time flew. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We forgot to
see if Gutmann was off-duty!” Reimer threw his hands together. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker was
about to reply when the loudspeaker interrupted his intent, “Major Juncker and
Captain Recke to the command center! – I repeat: Major…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a flash
Recke stood up, “All good spirits praise the Lord!” he cried out, “On, forwards
– us, Juncker! – Hey, what about Reimer?” He broke his spontaneous outburst and
listened. But the speakers were already silent and mentioned no names. “The
hell! – Are they tearing us apart?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker was
already at the door. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t complain, just listen!” he said
reassuringly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As Recke and his companion entered the
command room, he saw himself standing in a relatively small space whose
facility bore a large table in the center surrounded by some shifted chairs. A
pile of mapes covered it and lied apparently at random around an uprising
microphone. Opposite of the door a glass sheet was inserted into the wall which
granted no vision. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Major Juncker and Captain Recke!” the
first reported in.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“But there’s no one here yet!” the
Kasseler said surprised. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Shh!” Juncker
hissed, “They can see through the glass, they’re not in here. It’s like that...”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t talk so much, Major!” chided the
voice of the invisible, “For the moment we will only deal with one order. By
the way – the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adju</i> will be joining us
immediately.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oho, joining us…” Recke
sneered under his breath. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He looked to
Juncker, who stood there with a red face. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t forget the microphone, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr Hauptmann!</i>” the commander warned
mockingly. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Kasseler was biting his lips. Now
they’d both had their censure. He dared not even inspect the map in detail.
While he scratched the deck half-embarassed with his boot tie, the door open
and the aide came in. He had some papers in his hands and greeted them
friendly. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">His insignia showed
the same ranks as Juncker’s. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Now the invisible returned again, “I have
little time and we must get to the core of the matter immediately. For now only
one thing: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr Hauptmann Recke!</i> It
is well known to me that you are one of the most enthusiastic officers have a
great sense of duty. You have come through certain circumstances to Point 103
without first being prepared or screened. Major Küpper has taken responsibility
for the crew of the destroyed Twin-Model and has given for you and Captain
Reimer the best possible description. Allow me to make a long story short!
Hitherto you have not actually belonged to our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gemeinschaft</i>, but your comrade Gutmann – and Juncker too, I think –
has already largely informed you about everything. About our organization
itself you will be informed of in a timely manner. Are you ready, considering
the current state of things and your knowledge, to fly under the sign of the
Black Round and stand up?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Recke looked forward to the glass as if he
could see the commander physically before him, “So long as you stand by your
word –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jawohl, Herr Kommandeur!</i>”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
soft chuckle came back, “You have character. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">I like you, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hauptmann!</i> I’ll keep an eye on you and promote you.” An
indeterminable noise came through the loudspeaker system. Apparently papers
rustling. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Then the voice continued, “I order you
with the new Dostra-Maschine to Prague, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine
Herren!</i> – The new model has a seven-man crew, that is to say, five men to
administer the craft and you yourselves as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sonderkommando</i>
– special units – for the tasks provided. According to the progress of prior
technology, this craft is safe against attack because it has flak-armor. I see
your are astonished, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hauptmann!</i> You
will still have to get used to other surprises yet! Of course, the entire crew
bears the greatest responsibility for the security and confidentiality of this
model. If you land in Prague, allow no one to approach the machine. Juncker,
you may take the command!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jawohl, Kommandeur!</i>”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“You have heard my words at the Grand
Assembly, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine Herren! </i>Your task is
now to preserve certain plans or designs for a disk-aircraft from access by
foreign hands. It is a model fundamentally similar to our design. The
difficulty of your assignment will be that you can only be active during the
beginning of the flight. At the same time, however, you must observe the onset
of collective persecution and bring back a very precise report on the
methodology. Provided that it is in your modest power, you are to provide all
possible assistance if it does not compromise your assignment and the
conservation of the machine. I’ve already pointed out clearly in my words that
forces for the sake of persecution will be made extremely apparent. It is good
to observe particularly well in this respect, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine Herren!</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our later
decisions will be significantly influenced by your reports. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">Always remember!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Jawohl!” the two officers confirmed with
discipline. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“In the Dosthra-Maschine you will find the
complete flight-map equipment required for your route. Also I will give you an
army map to give you a one-to-one hundred thousand scale of Bohemia’s area. The
timing of your departure is not yet determined. Use the next few days to become
familiar with the peculiarities of the new aircraft, and especially familiar
with its weapons. There are yet secret weapons that the enemy doesn’t know of.
You are both relieved of base service, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine
Herren!</i> According to previous reports it may be that your deployment will
be in ten or fifteen days. Before you take off, I’ll call you up again. You
will receive detailed instructions for your order from the Chief of Operations.
</span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">I thank you in the
meanwhile!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Both officers threw up their hands and
saluted. The Adjutant accompanied them to the door and comradely gave them his
hand.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Congratulations,” he said, “You’ve got a
fine assignment!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Damn it,” Recke replied to Juncker
underway, “I forgot to ask about Reimer!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Just don’t ask,” Juncker warned, “We’ll
have a good chance without Reimer. Besides, our team is complete. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">The chief doesn’t
like to exchange!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Instead of entering their room, they first
went together to Reimer’s. There they found him in animated conversation with
Gutmann. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“What gives?” he asked as the two walked
in. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Everything buttered!” Recke replied,
using the popular expression among soliders, “We’re flying to Prague!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“And indeed with a Dosthra,” added
Juncker. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gutmann whistled, “Our best model. The
great surprise of airspace. If the chief uses this machine, then there’s going
to be all kinds of projects!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It appears so,” said the Kasseler, “I’m
pretty curious about this new type of model!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Tomorrow we’ll see!” Juncker ran his hand
over his head, “I’m aware of these things already, but they’ll explain to our
Recke soon enough. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">Moreover I’ll be running it too.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I just wonder when I’ll be brought to the
commander,” Reimer interrupted. To the surprise of all Gutmann answered, “Not
at the moment!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Ah – why not?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Gutmann winked, amused, “He doesn’t want
to interrupt your life now begun with all this tranquility.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Bullshit! Seriously,
what’s going on?” </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The questioned put a hand on Reimer’s
shoulder, “With me – Special Employment!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Special Employment?” The Linzer marveled,
“Because we’re still together as pairs. That’s cute of the chief.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It all has its meaning,” Gutmann made a
mysterious face, whose expression was already becoming known to his comrades. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Old secretive, you,” chided the
Linzer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh – not quite – As proof against
your assertion I’ll share with you that tomorrow we join a tour of the Dosthra
machine. The chief wants you to get to know this model and how to fly it.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The chief’s wish is my wish. He is
a very polite man if he refers to his orders as wishes!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“One more question,” Recke objected,
“What about the other five men in the crew?”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann made a casual movement of
the hand, “They’ll report with us in the next few hours once the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Adju</i>’s brought them to their feet!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann was wrong. The tension of
the busy day let the men forget the view’s they’d exchanged by the time of
midnight. The continuous artificial light could easily confuse the concept of
time. It was Juncker who, with a random look at his watch, diagnosed that it
was time for bed. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the morning the telephone
rattled. As Recke picked up the receiver, the Adjutant reported to him and told
him that the five other crewmembers would report in about half an hour. He and
Juncker were allowed to remain in their room for the moment. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two men had enough leisure to
grab breakfast and finish up. At the expected time there was a knock on the
door. As Recke opened it he saw a young Senior Lieutenant of the Luftwaffe
standing before him, and behind him on the opposite side of the aisle stood in
a row a Luftwaffe sergeant and three <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Unterführer
</i>from the Waffen-SS.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Lieutenant Jensen with four men
reporting in on the commander’s order!” He led his right hand with the casual
positioning of his fingers to the visor of his tight-fitting cap. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah – I’m glad it’s you!” said
Juncker, who came up from behind Recke into the gangway. He gave the flight
officer his hand and introduced him to the Kasseler. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Jensen and I have already flown a
few times together.” Looking at the four men, he said, “Well then – we already
know each other!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then turning to Recke, “These are in
order: Beer – an old Stuka-man, then Paulsen, Krammer and finally our Flying
Dutchman, the Senior Squad Leader Van Huys!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They were selected men, all lined up
for report. They all had awards and badges. Gutmann, attracted by the talking
at the corridor, came out of his room with Reimer and smiled.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A fine crew,” he noted as the
recent welcome ended, “An already Dosthra-trained staff…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two captain, led by the SS
officers, entered a hangar space blasted into the rock of the mountain-ring,
which was extended by a small camouflaged structure. Some of the men from the
ground crew were readily available. Gutmann left it to Juncker to give the
explanations. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After their initial queries, he
showed the two captains a large aircraft which stood like a monster in the
glare of the room. Reimer and Recke had expected a a design that would resemble
a larger Henckel or Dornier type. Instead they saw a machine that resembled an
outspoken attack craft. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This is the Dosthra-Maschine, Type
E!” said Juncker. It sounded simple as if he were pointing to an ordinary
object, “The latest standard-sized fighter, whose series production and use in
the homeland is no longer possible.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The captains, seeing the
technological marvel for the first time, took a few steps to the side to get a
better look. Before them they saw a high-sitting deck, which had a pentagonal
cross-section fuselage and its thickened nose gave it the appearance of a
maligned insect. That visual impression was reinforced by the fact that on both
sides, two great Black Circles worked themselves like eyes on a beast. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A powerful bird,” Reimer remarked
in meditation, “It well has a wingspan of forty meters.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Forty-five!” </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Juncker added factually, “Hull length about firty-five meters.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh boy,” said Recke reverently. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We still have Model C and D here,”
explained Juncker, “Model E is essentially a much improved pattern and, as
already indicated by the commander, flak-proof.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I can’t very well imagine that,”
Reimer interrupted. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s made of the latest material.
Namely <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quetschmetall</i> – “crimp metal”.
It’s this highly-compressed metal that’s literally crushed under pressures of
up to four-hundred-thousand atmospheres and therefore has a low specific weight
and high strength. Because it’s usually radioactive, the activity is insulated
with a plastic overlay. By this method almost any allow, including steel, can
be compressed into a light metal. As armor for aircraft it’s virtually
impenetrable. Furthermore secret inlays prevent the blowing out of hollow
charges.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You speak like a book!” consideration
sounded from Recke’s words.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Man must know his machine!” In that
reference was a slight reprimand. He stepped up the the pulpit extending far
ahead which showed two juxtaposed, well-formed combat positions. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here,” he pointed to two man-sized
wheels of some four meters in diameter, presiding over very strong roll-bars
like pincers from the head of the insect, “This chassis is capable of
retracting both wings underneath! It has four engines, namely Piston-Radial
engines from an Argus model. The hull has a fifth engine for particular
altitudes and in addition on the tips there are charge-ramjets. These nozzles
can be used for acute-angle depth changes.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Excellent,” expressed Reimer, “The
engine nacelles and the tail look a little strange.” </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As if to himself, he added, “Well, well… short, coaxial
Hammerhead-Propellers with four blades.” He let his eyes slide along the hull, “Interesting!
Not a common V-shape. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">The hull looks like a long cigar.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“And indeed, a strange coating,” it was now heard from the
Kasseler, “Looks as if the machine were sprinkled with countless eyes. Strange
bird!” He reviewed it also like Reimer, “Relatively narrow wings, stacked
split-wings. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-size: 12pt;">Somwhat obliquely
positioned and low set tail. Hmm…”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“A whole-metal model,” Reimer concluded his first
considerations. Juncker nodded, “Already two-thirds of the shell structure
without ribs!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“And the speed?” asked the Linzer.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yeah – You wouldn’t want to believe it. But the plane actually
flies at about eight-hundred and thirty kilometers per hour and has a range of
twenty-two thousand kilometers at a maximum altitude of twenty-three.
Especially noteworthy is its climb at about seventy-five percent of current
fighter-jets, so that a risky climb is possible at any time!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Damn it! With an air force of such technology we could still
turn this accursed war in our favor! Except for fuel…” The impulsive Recke
clasped his hands together. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I’m not nearly done,” Juncker added dryly, “The armament is
also new and still secret! The Dosthra has board cannons, which are actually
metal radiators.” The SS-Officer gloated over the questioning faces of his
comrades, before continuing, “These radiators are based on the working of the
sandblaster-principle and its cutting effect can readily cut through the wing
of an enemy aircraft. The weapon has a standard outlet as a mounted armament and
even looks as such on the outside. The process is somewhat like this, that
metallic dust is chased by magnetic fields and an extremely fine beam with
strong acceleration hits the target. The working of this weapon exceeds all
other airborne cannons!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh my God,” whispered the Kasseler,
“This Dosthra E could never be surpassed!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“But,” Juncker countered immediately,
“In a few years, the E-Model will be outdated already. In the new age of jet
fighters and supersonic speed we must increase the speeds of our great war
machines significantly. Work is already under way on new energy sources. We
stand before revolutionary changes!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s enough with the
explanations,” Gutmann cut him off, “Let’s look at it from the inside now!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the four officers left the hall
at noon, they were serious and silent. </span></span></div>
<br />Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-89783985028686935162012-11-03T21:24:00.001-07:002012-11-03T21:24:47.742-07:00Chapter 4: Point 103<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">POINT
103</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">According to the hymn</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In the regard</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If one knows not</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What helps the hymns then?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We, that know, </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Have gathered us here.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">(Nrisinhapûrvatâpanîya Upanishad)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Neither Reimer nor Recke knew for
how long they had slept. They had been restless during and throughout the onset
of sleep on their furs and tossed; their faces clearly betrayed he inward
vision of vivid dream pictures. Only later showed long and deep breaths a sense
of calm and redemption. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
they were suddenly awakened, they had lost all sense of time. Ublosiasukshut
had shaken them violently and blurted out excited a series of sentences which
were not understood by the officers. Only when she pointed to the exit of the
igloo with her hands and then up in the air did they both realize that it could
again been a plane. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While
they hurried to get dressed, they heard Aglumaloqâq shouting through the hut’s
entrance, “Pavungah – mahunga! Up, come out, white men! A nice magic is
circling above us! Quick...”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Never
before had any war an alarm that so encouraged the Eskimos awake. What kind of
surprise stood before them? If it were Gutmann, the Eskimos would’ve surely
reported the giant eagle. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
grabbed their weapons, glanced at each other briefly and hastily crawled into
the open. Fresh, cold air played on their faces and again the inhabitants of
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engine noise to be heard or plane to be seen. Had it already flown by?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sule
– now, suna una – what is it…?” From the direction where the marker had been
placed cam a strange formation flying towards the village. Eskimos and
Canadians screamed at each other. The rough voice of the harpooner drowned out
the cries and shrieks, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A flying puzzle</i>…!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Instead
of the otherwise expected drone of propellers, only a fine buzz and ringing
could be heard. The disk-like rotary rose sparkling through the heavens slipped
slightly inclined towards the settlement. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With
eyes wide open the captains followed the movements of the flying object, which
showed no signs of nationality. It was a giant disk manned and controlled by
humans. The dogs of the Eskimos behaved no differently this time than any other
dogs around the globe. They barked and drooled, without following the magical
act.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
flying body circled around the small area, then darting to the nearby face of
the coastal slope and landed smoothly without difficulty. But it wasn’t the
strangeness of this technical miracle, but the incomprehensible personal
encounter in these circumstances that surprised the two captains. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For one of the
two men who left the strange vehicle was – Gutmann. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke and Reimer
called out the name of the comrade at the same time. The impulsive Reimer
pushed some of the Eskimos standing in the way to the side and hurried to the
expected companions followed by a few snarling dogs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You’ve found
rescue damn quick!” laughed Gutmann in greeting and clapped Reimer’s shoulder,
“Here – may I introduce you: Captain Reimer – Major Juncker!” Pointing to the
upcoming Recke, he concluded with mentioning his name as well in brief
presentation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Still people
came over in amazement without end. The combination-jacket of Gutmann’s
companion was open at the neck and displayed the insignia of the German
Schutzstaffel. Reimer asked again, “Major?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Jawohl!”
confirmed the officer of the Waffen-SS. Now driven by curiosity Aglumaloqâq
came to him with some Netsiliks, just as the Canadians did. The latter showed
undisguised dismay when they recognized the newcomers as German. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bless our souls</i>,” Howard muttered,
shaken, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The German invasion…</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Who are they?”
asked Gutmann, pointing to the Canadians. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Men who’ve lost
their ship,” answered Reimer, “They were going somewhere south-west where there
was a station they knew of. I don’t remember the name.” He turned to Howard and
asked that he explain again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“To Port Epwurth
at Coronation Gulf!” returned Howard briefly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gutmann looked
at the man firmly, “Are you already old arctic men?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Yes, sir!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hm. Then you
should know there’s a station not too far from here that you can push on to.
Somewhat south of here, a casual two-hundred kilometers, an outpost located on King
William’s Island which to my knowledge has no radio. You only need to cross
Peterson Bay. In general the Canadian police posts are easy to reach without
any particular difficulty. Even if there’s a big station further north on North
Devon’s Island, you’re still more likely to encounter aid more quickly, as if
you’re blindly tapping left and right to the west.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Canadian
harpooner’s eyes widened and looked at the German officer at large. “How do you
know that, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sir</i>?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I know it just
like you do!” Gutmann’s voice became hard and unfriendly, “Why are you lying?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I beg your pardon</i>,” muttered the
Canadian, “I couldn’t know first – I had reasons…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“They don’t
interest me,” Gutmann cut him off from further words. Then he turned back to
his two comrades, “We should get your things and take off immediately. Juncker
will remain here for the time being so that no one gets to close to our craft
or damages it…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Major nodded
in agreement and shrank back slowly, endevouring to keep the Eskimos away from
him. Near the igloos Gutmann said, “The trick with the flight marker was well
done. It wasn’t really hard to find you. Although the storm did blow in the
meantime a lot. Now we can bring this little adventure here to a close and open
up a greater one!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’ve already
had enough of this, well enough,” put Recke dryly, “It could hardly get any
better!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gutmann smiled
finely, “Perhaps…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now came Reimer
fiercely, “I don’t understand the world anymore. There come our comrades with
an aircraft that could’ve been mistaken for some kind of toy top and instead of
dealing a much-needed explanation they start chit-chatting as if we were
sitting around a big <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stammtisch</i>.
Whether an adventure or not, whether madness or something else, explain to us,
Gutmann, these wonders and secrets!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Easy, dear
Reimer! First we need to part from this place with the V7, then we’ll have time
for explanations. We don’t want to let ourselves be surprised by another enemy
aircraft.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke snorted,
“Well, it’s a German V-Model?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ja!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Aglumaloqâq had trudged
in silently beside the three officers. As the white men crawled into his igloo,
he remained standing in the open. He felt that he would now lose his guests,
which gradually caused him discomfort. Restlessness and witchcraft had
overtaken his little world ever since they’d gone to the smoke signs of the
giant eagle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">His face was
expressionless as the white men came out of his building. How casually he said,
“Are the qablunait flying away now in the big magic drum?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Eh,” nodded
Reimer, already having dominated the Eskimo word for “yes”. Gutmann talked with
the English-speaking chief on even terms, “The three sailors stay. Help them
get to the nearest police post. You know it’s modest. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oder?</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The old man’s
eyes twinkled, “Takujamablugo – we’ll see what we can do. But we’d much rather
have you take these men with you. People from whaling ships are mostly raw and
dangerous.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We can’t, good
Aglumaloqâq,” remembered Reimer, “We don’t have enough space in that thing you
call a magic drum.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Then the qablunait
should move on with the three Avertormiut in the smoke-kayaks,” replied the old
one stubbornly, “They’ll get some meat and fish. Ublime – only for today!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It should be as
the chief wishes,” Gutmann decided shortly, “The Canadians pull out with their
companions and get some food. Their returned to so-called civilization is only
a short matter of time. We ourselves can do nothing else about it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Aglumaloqâq
showed satisfaction at the acceptance of his proposal. He received grinning
gratefully some small tools and utensils from Reimer which the pilots looked at
as dispensable. For him these items were great gifts, for his people possessed
not much. Returning to the flying disk before which stared the whole Netsilik
folk, Recke called over to Howard who was standing with his companions. He gave
his previously detained rifle back which he’d kept in Aglumaloqâq’s hut, “Here.
Don’t do anything stupid, you!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The harpooner
took the weapon hesitantly. Only when he held it fast in his hand again and
realized the sincerity of the foreign pilots did he offer his hand to Recke,
“The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Germans</i> are a different breed,”
he said, more to himself than to his counterpart, “Thanks.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Standing before
the disk, Reimer and Recke realized this machine had a substantial
circumference. Around the spherical body, which was provided with a glass cover,
an upwardly molded, convex ring-disk was built which consisted of a number of
blades mounted between the strap trim of the globe and outer centered ring.
They could make sparse more observations at the moment as the Waffen-SS officer
pressed for boarding. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gutmann threw
their packs in and urged his fellow passengers to enter through the hatch to
the gondola-piece, “In with you in the thing the old geezer sees as a magic
drum. Chop chop, comrades!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer jumped
nimbly, boosted by Juncker, through the entrance to the inner chamber. The
broad-shouldered Recke followed more slowly and finally made his way even after
Gutmann, who closed the entrance behind him. Through the windows of the spherical
compartment they could see the speechless, expectant front of the three
Canadians and the Netsiliks, which with their each and everything waiting for
the spectacle of their departure. Juncker settled himself in the driver’s seat
while the three officers behind him took their seats in no particular order. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Finished!”
called Gutmann. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Some quick
motions from the SS officer. A loud roar, flames flickering away from the
disk’s rim, the circular-connecting blades beginning to rotate rapidly, and
with a gentle tug the aircraft came off the ground in a steep climb. While
Juncker let his eyes stay undeterred between the arctic expanse and the cabin’s
armetures, the other three occupants saw how the Eskimos, growing ever smaller,
were dispersed, shocked or had thrown themselves to the growned scared. Three
figures standing close together seemed to be the Canadians, to which the rise
of the strange disk also seemed hazardous. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A short moment
of silence reigned over the men. Reimer and Recke were suffering from a mood
which made them stare silently at themselves still contemplating the great
surprise of such strange circumstances of Gutmann’s return in a dreamlike,
unreal condition. It was some time before Recke asked the first question, “Tell
us now, Gutmann, what kind of bowl are we flying in?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gutmann hardly
moved as he answered. Only his eyes wandered searching over the faces of his
companions, “We find ourselves in a flying gyroscope, which is known in small
initiated circles as the V7. We’ve equipped our post here in the Arctic with
two such machines. When I arrived at the base known under the code of ZYX <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with the captured Canadians and their plane,
Comrade Juncker readied immediately for takeoff according to my description of
the situation. If we arrived a bit late, it was due to the weather reports and
other certain preparations. But we were confident we’d find you back safely!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very
nice,” said Recke, “The recovery worked. It also satisfied our curiosity a bit
more, didn’t it?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
come?” asked Gutmann hypocritically.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Man,
don’t pry us over a bed of nails!” Reimer interjected, “Explain to us in turn
where we’re going for the time being, and then whatever’s with this top-plane
and anything else that’s of interest. Put yourself in our shoes again: You’re
sitting in a glass ball, a horizontal disk flickering rapidly in circles before
your very eyes with a fiery aura spraying from its edges. I think you’d be asking
more questions than an old grandma!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
just as you say,” admitted Gutmann, “Naturally, it should not and cannot remain
a secret to you. I just wanted to tell the whole story in peace a little later.
But still, we can talk about the technical questions of this aircraft before we
land. It’s quite understandable that you’re so captivated to it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
about time you realized that,” grumbled Recke. Gutmann waved reassuringly,
“Therefore! Our thing here, the V7, is designed according a strange principle.
Assuming that hitherto the take-off and landing of a plane has always been
connected to the question of runway space and the speed also having to be taken
into account, a resourceful engineer from the helicopter project found a
solution by circulating flyers around in an arched chamber. Then a duplicity of
the incidence came to light by which our units already stand fully operational,
while another designer somewhere near Prague is employed with the production of
the same project.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That
a solution to runways was long overdue is understandable,” Reimer interrupted
the dry, lecturing Gutmann, “But why the unusual gyro solution?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Calling
it a gyro is right!” Gutmann explained more calmly, ignoring the objection for
the moment, “After several attempts we came to realize that even by the trial
stage this model promised to reach an extraordinary speed. This flying machine
actually surpasses all flying speeds ever thought possible.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
fast?” Reimer asked excited. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“With
moderate engines it can theoretically reach – that is, without considering the
human factor – four-thousand kilometers per hour with a climbing rate of a
hundred meters per second. The kinematics are very simple: After climbing up –
you must have already noticed this to some extent – the rotor runs a bit
slower, so that the craft can float in the air, and then the forward flight
jets can be started up. Naturally the maximum speed can only be achieved if the
ramjets are operated in addition to the turbine engines, which can only work
one eight-hundred kilometers per hour has been reached. Its extraordinary agility seems reasonable thanks to the ingenious gyro-design. Of course the
craft can also stand still in open space. The engine prevents the descent when
the horizontal drive is on.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“So
it’s a jet aircraft,” Recke remarked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Correct!
I already said it before,” Gutmann continued, “It would be constructive to
explain briefly that the fuel tanks are mounted under the cabin floor. Around
the center outside is the bearing of the rotor-blade ring, including the
thrusters that start the rotor. Outside of that is the center ring, which encloses
the rotating blades. Almost brilliantly simple!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Phenomenal!”
Reimer couldn’t contain himself, “And what’s the V7’s range?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Currently,
when away from a base – some two-thousand kilometers,” Gutmann replied, “That’s
the only weak spot. Nevertheless the military capabilities are quite
extraordinary. I think the V7 will come to greatly concern the minds of this
world!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
where’s our destination?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
turned to the questioning Recke, “You’ll have to wonder. It’s near the eighth
latitude!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i>Potzblitz!</i>”
Recke couldn’t help himself. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
long will it take?” Reimer asked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“To
our destination?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“About
half an hour,” said Gutmann, “We’re flying at a decent speed.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
and Recke looked past the spinning disk and out towards the countryside. From
the slow gliding of the landscape they could estimate the speed as experienced
flyers. It was considerable after all. As far as the eye could see, masses of
water and ice flittered underneath. A dark landmass wandered to the side, also
covered by snow-white fields, as if pulled backwards by an invisible hand. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
would interest you,” Gutmann came back suddenly, “That this type, a model from
Breslau, has a diameter of thirty-one point four meters. This corresponds to
the number Pi. Since you can’t use fractions with machines in certain cases,
the number of nozzles around the circumference was set to thirty-two. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
almost looks like a math trick,” Recke replied slightly mocking. His critical
nature found room for comment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
remained serious, “Everything in nature has harmonious laws. The same applies
for technology. Furthermore, there are known examples…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Another
tech question,” bid Reimer, “How does the rotor take the air in?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That
you’ll be able to see once we land. On top are slots for air penetration while
outflow fields are located on bottom. It’s also very simple!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Everything
is simple if it’s justified or explained,” Recke leaned forward suddenly, “You
just talked about known examples, Gutmann! We bet there are some that you can’t
even begin to guess are real!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah!”
Gutmann showed great surprise, “Might you actually have seen another disk
already which appeared supernatural in origin?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
exactly what I mean!” Recke confirmed, now surprised in turn. Reimer also
nodded excitedly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A
manisola…” muttered Gutmann. His words were barely discernable in the roar of
the aircraft. Rather than admit explanations, he asked a counter-question,
“What impression did you have of the phenomenon?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
made eyes just as big as Reimer, “Have you gone omniscient, Gutmann?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Answer
me first,” he urged, “Tell me what you and the Eskimos saw!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
was in the Eskimo village,” admitted Recke. With few words he explained the
whole process from the appearance to departure of the luminous disk. Only now
and then did Reimer interrupt him to explain some of the details closely. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
nodded often. In between he made them understand he knew of the phenomenon well
enough. The strange behavior of the dogs and the death of the shaman made the
greatest impression on him. After describing the obscure undertaking of the
medicine man and the sudden departure of the discoloring disk, he said, “You’ll
get to know the whole matter in depth soon. Right now’s not the time to talk
about it in detail. That you can’t have closure on this strangely seeming
problem is very understandable. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
smiled enigmatically, “For your comfort in the coming hours: In about two
years, millions of people will see these phenomena and not know what to do!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Is
it also a V-Model?” Recke’s new question sounded doubtful. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do
you think this phenomenon, in the way it acts, is technically possible?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Technically
impossible!” Reimer spoke in Recke’s place, “I would consider it a metaphysical
affair, most likely.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
muttered a name before,” added Recke, “You know…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
cut from the subject with an energetic movement, “I. Know. But I already said,
you have to be patient for a few more hours. There is more to speak of, as
you’ve guessed.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
your quirk, always playing secretive,” put Recke, whereby he studied the
sullen sky. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not
at all,” the blamed one defended, “Now that we’re so close to our target…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“…we’re
close to our target,” Recke mimicked, “We’ll be fed first then sent to bed. I
suppose our renowned organization has provided appropriate conveniences!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Certainly!
You’ll be able to tend to your satisfaction in a short time.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Again
the eyes of the pilots flew through the windows of the cabin. Ice and water
stretched everywhere, as far as the eye could see. Attracting and tiring at the
same time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Our
comrade Juncker flies his route quite surely,” Reimer remarked casually,
“Appearantly without navigation; since the departure there haven’t been any
markers. Can’t the magnetic pole play antics on us?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now
was the first time that Juncker mingled in the conversation of his comrades,
“We’re trained with a Magnetic Radio! Our craft is guided by a signal beam
which leads us to each point within range and back to home base. Our flight is
monitored from the station with a television screen.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
pursed his lips, “If the Yankees unearth us here one day, they’ll shatter us
with bombs of all types concentrated in a tiny area. Since we’ll inevitably
attract attention to this area after a certain time…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t
worry!” Gutmann calmed in Juncker’s place, “It’ll hardly been the case that any
aircraft will ever find us.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
Yanks and Canadians won’t be so complacent to keep playing a blind man’s
bluff!” said Recke wryly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“But
– we can force them to!” Gutmann chuckled like a hen, “Our station is in fact
capable of confusing incoming aircraft by magnetic repellency, so that their
tracking systems provide a barely noticeable deviation. This
artificially-induced error leads the craft around our base. Knowing that
navigation in arctic zones is difficult in and of itself, a foreign influence
on such equipment can hardly be noticed. Minor errors are therefore believable
This method is better and more reliable than our otherwise excellent Flak.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Heck,
yet again,” Recke thundered off anew, “Why are we procrastinating here in the
ass-end of the world because these magic gadgets instead of at home so we can
divert the bomber squadrons of civilian killers? I really thing our supreme
warlords are getting soft in the head!” Furiously he tapped his forehead. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Again
it’s not quite what it seems!” Gutmann fended, “Even the Magnetic Radio is of
too recent an origin for these purposes. Also, within the Reich’s territory
there’s no more sure thing than betrayal now. Also, we alone cannot bring about
the turning point in the fortunes of war. Neither with these tools or even with
our latest V-weapons and other things. We’ve simply missed our last time and
opportunities. We pretty much knew this in Vernäs.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke’s
mouth twitched slightly, “If I may in part also agree – you’re a pessimist by
nature!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
straightened. With a quick movement he pulled down the zipper of his
combo-jacket somewhat from the neck down. Instead of the expected blue-grey
<i>Fliegerbluse</i> showed a field-grey cloth with the collar patches of the
Waffen-SS. Four rayed stars of silver showed the same rank that Juncker had.
Without heeding the amazed faces of his uncollected comrades, he said, “I hope
this actual, rightful uniform protects me against certain suspicions. Anyway:
would I otherwise be so familiar with the ultimate secrets of our warfare?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
easily explained! Before I came to you, I was first involved in the development
of this machine – the V7 – in Breslau. Gutmann and Disks – that sounds good
together, right? – But back in Breslau, I was tired of getting some of the most
unnecessary fuss from people in the Party, and in a necessary moment I opened
my trap too far. I was notified very illy since the big shots felt depressed. I
stood to the point that where there were entrance bans for soldiers it applied
at least equally for the pompous civil-generals who nevertheless wanted more
and more golden cords and buttons. The match ended in a draw. That is, the
Golden Pheasants took not a step in the grounds of their curiosity, and on the
other hand I was transferred as a Captain in the Luftwaffe and then came to
Vernäs because of a decision by the OKL. A short, simple story.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
now?” Reimer’s voice was filled with expectation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ve
been promoted to Major and utilized for other uses in grace. I received this
notice shortly before we left Vernäs. Colonel Troll and Major Küpper knew about
it. No one else. Thus...”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker
cut off the conversation, “Point 103, straight ahead!” The simple communiqué
from the man at the craft’s pilot seat directed them from personal and
problematic things. Four pairs of eyes stared out into the region which
promised their approaching target. The sky showed an above-average brightness
and let the frozen sea shine between the ice fields. Like a network of small
rivers and streams the water gained ground between the cracked ice, floes and
small bizarre mountains that glided like small glaciers in the water. From the
hinterground a raised surface came closer which showed a gate-like fissure among
a ring of towering mountains to the observers in the flying disk. There was
nothing to indicate that this was a station. No doubt that it was the mainland
and only there could the promised Point 103 lay.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Point
103?” Reimer asked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Calling-station
ZYX is identical to Point 103!” Gutmann pointed to the internal area of the
small ringed mountains, “Here’s the station!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
and Recke couldn’t see anything that suggested a human presence. They shook
their heads puzzled.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
flying top fell steadily during its horizontal approach. The craft passed
through the opening in the ring at a low altitude and then remained there for a
moment suspended in the air as if held by a magic hand. Only the on-board disk
rotated further and showed the operation of the gyro. A few seconds later, the
flying machine fell straight down. The occupants felt as if they were riding a
downward elevator. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker
looked through the floorboard to control the landing. To the surprise of Reimer
and Recke is suddenly turned very dark, and then an artificial light began to
shine through in the cabin. With a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>gentle push the sound of the motor stopped. “Terminal – everyone exit!”
quipped Gutmann, gloating over the surprise of his comrades. The hatch opened
and the crew climbed from behind Gutmann into the underground space. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
spacious hall gathered the eyes of those who had landed. Confident the two SS
officers preceded their comrades. A number of men in Feldgrau and blue-grey
Luftwaffe colors rushed to pass the newcomers and saluted. Reimer and Recke
couldn’t reign over their astonishment. The lowest ranks they met wore the
epaulettes of the officers. Not a single crew member under the various personnel
was to seen. The haste and behavior of the men betrayed care and punctuality. Hardly
a command could be heard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
glare of the ceiling lights blinded their eyes. The four officers swerved
somewhat from their straight path, a large flat rail cart forcing it into an
arc. So far they’d walked alongside the tracks of a railway. Even while turning
to the side of the hallway Recke pointed at everything to Reimer. At the end of
the semi-darkness there loomed a strange steel structure whose purpose and
meaning was unknown. Gutmann however gave them no time to consider and pressed
forward. They came to an opening which bore no door. Still under the unique
impression of their first time here, the Luftwaffe captains felt a stark change
in temperature. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
couldn’t hold back an exclamation, “How…?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
warm air curtain closes against the outside temperature in place of a door,”
Gutmann explained as they walked, “The indoor temperature comes from electric
heating!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Even
the noble establishments of Berlin have never seen such a thing,” said Recke,
shaking his head. Cozily he breathed in the mild air. Striding into another
gangway, the arrivals reached a series of chambers before which stood
consistant doors identified by number. In the middle of the corridor Gutmann
withheld his steps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“This
is my room,” he said and opened a door. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
men stepped into a small that appeared sparse but clean. Two field-beds, a
simple locker and a folding table with two accompanying chairs made out the
furniture. The overhead lights activated and spread out a bright glare. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Juncker
and I each have a bed free in our rooms,” Gutmann explained, “If you want to
stay here with me, Reimer, Recke can go with Juncker. His room is just across
from here. I have Room 24, Juncker has 29. As you can see, we’re very close!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
all the same to me,” Recke said, “The main thing is that I fall into one of
these charming beds soon.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And I’d do anything for a hearty
meal, like I said before,” Reimer added, “But no Eskimo Menus!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Wouldn’t you like to take a nice
bath first?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I would gladly,” Recke made, “If
you say it again I’ll be tempted to think this luxury is credible.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then I’ll have to repeat my
question!” Gutmann laughed, “Everything needed to sustain a longer existence is
all here. Everything.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two captains still persisted in
their amazement. They helped each other take off their bulky flight-suits and
took off belts and handguns. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“After bathing we’ll take our stuff
to our quarters,” Juncker turned to Recke.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“After dinner,” Gutmann corrected, “The
order is final: bathe, eat, sleep!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Understood – Go!” shouted Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the evening of the next day
Reimer and Recke sat gathered in Gutmann’s room and they received the first
explanations for why they were here. Both captains felt with their gut instinct
that Gutmann was trying with care to not go beyond the general features of this
hidden base. Even if there was undoubtedly no suspicion that something was
being held back, the officers still had no explanation for the cautious
behavior of their comrade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Everything you see here and
everything that excites your surprise and admiration,” Gutmann spoke, “was
created according to a carefully contemplated plan with long preparations. That
this operation and the base could be shielded from treason is based primarily
on the special and thorough testing and selection of the personnel. It took
efforts and preparation that are unparalleled.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“One question,” injected Reimer, “The
expansion seen before suggests with certainty that the base hasn’t been working
for just a few weeks, but working under this basis for a long time already. I
hardly think the Reich government had foreseen the distress of our military
situation or were just willing to accept it. For what reason was this work even
undertaken?”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Gutmann looked at his questioner with
surprise, “Logically and deliberately spoke, dear friend! For that is precisely
the point I want to leave for later.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ve
noticed,” Recke added dryly. The major ignored the objection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“In the coming
days you’ll need to change your previous views and see thing that will introduce
you to a new world-picture. You’ll be shown power-politic conditions that
aren’t fixed geographically and will cast all popular expectations away.
However – I must confess to you – it wasn’t supposed to be that you two were
here because of your good standing but because the twin Do-Ju model had to be
flown, most of all. That fell through, and that’s not our fault. But I took
full responsibility on myself to introduce you as reliable and hope for your
support in a fight beyond the current, seemingly limited war!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Werwolf</i>…” Recke said sarcastically. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Pfft,”made
Gutmann, “You could make a Werwolf in the Thirty Years’ War. In a densely-populated
Central Europe, which is dependent on technical supplies and sufficient food
stores, this type of warfare is limited to a disruptive factor and it not
fundamentally effective. Even if it’s something possible in the Balkans or
Eastern Europe…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Because there
doesn’t seem to be a higher position?” Recke’s comment sounded cool and
objective.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“However,
comrade! We musn’t forget that the imprudent demands from Casablanca, demanding
an unconditional surrender which would bring a super-Versailles with it, almost
force desperate actions.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We know
that,” Reimer confirmed bitterly, “Likewise, the realization’s already
spreading – the terms of surrender aren’t directed against the regime but
against the German people itself. Somehow it’s been playing on their flutes again:
War against the Kaiser, not the People! – but the truth is that it’s the people
they want to see suppressed.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann looked
past his two comrades as he continued thoughtfully, “Old and known things. It’s
all idle polemics. We have to face the realities and develop practical
attitudes about them. My explanations from before mean therefore the explanation
of global political forces that work at a higher level and work effectively,
and which I will gradually reveal. If I’m not ready to tell you things with
full thoroughness, immediately, it’s because you would view the whole complex
of conditions unlikely, indeed downright fantastical.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’re not
little kids,” grumbled Recke, displaying an insulted demeanor. “After all, we
did come to this fairy-tale castle with a new aircraft. That it,” he corrected
himself almost immediately, “We nearly got here ourselves.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Actually a
plane was planned for this mission which would’ve had diesel engines. With this
model we could’ve landed lightly and started up again,” Gutmann spoke, “There
seems to be confusion from Berlin, however. Whether it was intentional or not
is hard to clarify.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You could get
tired of the circus quick,” said Reimer, angrily, after having held back fairly
till then, “We soldiers always have to pay for this swinery.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We need to
get past it,” said the Major, “We at Point 103 are already making an active
Einsatzgruppe – a task group – that will serve its ambitions even if there’s no
German government anymore. And that will soon be the case, unfortunately.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yeah, to
heck,” Recke roared on, “We shouldn’t talk suspiciously, but for whom should we
fight if there’s no order or authority in the homeland?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Our friend
Reimer mentioned before that it’s already common knowledge how our enemies
pretend to fight our Reich’s government but mean our people,” Gutmann answered
calmly, “We therefore serve in interest of our people a higher order.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If it doesn’t
go against our military oath and abuse our efforts…” Reimer said hesitant.
Gutmann cut off the sentence with metallic sharpness, “There are no
Stauffenbergs here!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Forgive me,”
murmured Reimer, “But it’s good if everything is stated clearly.” With a firm
hold he took Gutmann’s hand, who’d held it out to him. Recke followed his
example and added the question, “What’ll happen to us now?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think
you’ve deserved a few days of rest. Before us lies a time which conceals
manifold secrets behind its veils and which will bring dangers to life and limb
as well. Use the few days remaining for your recovery, before the deployment
order comes. And another thing: If within the next days you encounter other uniforms
and foreign civilians, don’t be so surprised! We have friends and allies in the
world who are all willing to serve a new order.” Gutmann’s voice urged and
warned, “But above all, make little questioning and learn some silence!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“As if we’d be wash-women…” Recke growled softly. Before Gutmann could appease him Reimer
remembered something, “A comparison comes to mind especially; in Vienna we have
an amusement park known as the Prater. Between the shooting galleries and the
Wurst booths there’s a tunnel ride drawn by an ugly dragon-cart. If you shelled
out your six-piece marks you could get into the little cart and be pulled by
the monster, a mixture of crocodile and herring, through the tunnel. It went
through something like Hades. Then on either side of the dark passage suddenly
appear small, half-lit grottoes, animated by cute characters and portraying a
moving, magic realm. Thus it was a threatening descent with all kinds of funny
nonsense afterwards. And it seems to me we’ve might as well paid our sixes to
rush into a new gallery!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And so?” It
should’ve sounded jokingly, but it couldn’t hide its ambiguous tone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And so!”
Recke spoke feisty, “For kicks and shits, right? At least tell us a fairytale
like our friend Reimer can, Gutmann. You have to let the mind’s eye believe
anything at which the soul can build before you miss the ball or something
else!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why not?”
Gutmann spoke slowly and meditatively, “So far as I can recall, you’re both
somewhat well versed in history. Do you know perhaps of the traditions from the
ancient king Mithradates Eupator, also called Mithradates the Great?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As the two
captains shook their heads no and Reimer told him how he could only remember
glancing at such names back in school, the Major went on, “Mithradates led three
protracted wars against the then-world-power of Rome with varying success. He
also found support from the Sicilian pirate state which in truth was a kingdom
in exile, of Mithras-cult followers from nearby countries. The strict
discipline and order of the Mithras people from Sicily, that had contended in a
hostile <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Umwelt</i> – the surrounding
world, the environs if you will – <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all on
its own, made them formidable adversaries and so their help for Mithradats was
of great importance. And it wasn’t because of Rome that the king fell, but that
the waste of his sons resulted in the suicide of the lord of Asia Minor.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The world’s
always been shabby,” said Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not the
world, but the men!” Gutmann corrected him, “Anyways – I’m making the
comparison that Point 103 represents a Sicily in the time of Mithradates
Eupator, where men decide to fight back against a set environment. Guided by
invisible, evil forces, this environs is the visible expression of an
intolerant and tyrannical era. It must have been because of the time that
Mithradates, the “gift of Mithras”, couldn’t fulfill his highest historical
goal. The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Umwelt</i> of his epoch was
only stronger. But it needs not always be so!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer nodded,
“Not at all. It just depends on how much you cope with the powers of the
ancient and the earthbound.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Everything
new is mostly earthly; men just don’t want to admit it since the carriers of an
existing order don’t like being replaced with a new order. With that the
hostility of an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Umwelt</i> is
understandable!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very nice,”
Recke said, “With that everything follows suit. It’s just precisely as old
Mithradates…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He had his
reasons,” Gutmann countered, “Links of causality will yet arise!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Wash me but
don’t get me wet,” Recke scoffed, “Somewhere I’ve read the sentence: dark is
the meaning of words!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Let’s leave
it at that,” Reimer decided, “I understood Gutmann. It would be more realistic
and prompt with the name of our mission. Namely, Ultima Thule. But still…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann seized
his fingers so that the joints cracked, “The pieces come together…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ultima Thule,
the island of the last heroes!” Recke called slightly theatrically, “Alright,
I’ll keep flying if it makes use for our homeland. If it’s not already too
late!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s never
too late,” Gutmann answered, conducting himself, “Our motto is this: Not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">ex oriente lux</i>, but from the north comes
salvation and light!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the days
following, Reimer and Recke had leisure enough to become familiar with their
surroundings. They were ordered not by the commander of the base or his
adjutants, and nor did anyone else look after them. Recke found his roommate
Juncker and affable fellow, with whom he got along well, and who very often
took the place of the very often impeded Gutmann around the two captains.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two
air-officers noted on their extensive tours that the centers of the
astonishment they’d felt when they’d first arrived at the base were but a
fraction of the equipment they now encountered. Among other things Juncker told
them of a partial support, that the deck lids of the disk-hangars would also
extend as rocket launchers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In semicircles
within the ring of mountains the caverns were hewn to support various types of
aircraft, which had an excellent runway leading outwards. As Juncker hinted,
the models here found themselves not yet mass produced and in many ways
superior to the presently used models by far. In this way at least a part of
their military secrets were removed from the hands of the invading armies in
the Reich’s soil, Juncker explained. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the center
of the ring there was a weather control center, which was named shortly and
humorously Frogglass. Furthermore they learned that the station had its own
underground power plant which had an enormous energy capacity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Looking at the
landing site, Recke said, “Only for experienced pilots…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You have to
fly to the landing, grease laterally, capture the craft and only then land,”
Juncker explained. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It couldn’t
be any other way,” Recke admitted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Upon a random
question made by Reimer concerning the functions of replenishment, Gutmann
himself gave a startling answer, “The technical supplies comes from the
homeland, and the food supplies mostly from the USA!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A bad joke!”
Recke roared angrily. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s true,”
Gutmann affirmed, “We have – as I mentioned before – friends which have taken
our concerns. There are circles in the United States and Canada that know the
presence of Point 103, but without knowing its location and would never find us
against our will. Our Magnetic Radio provides more safety than a range of flak.
Even men in the U.S. Federal Courts know of the existence of our base.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And the
support?” asked Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very simple!
Our supporting powers on this continent are of the opinion that they’re not
acting against the interests of their country, since Point 103 escapes
potential as a stacking point for the Reich, which can currently be used as a
running utilization. Moreover they look at the whole unit as a kind of
opposition to certain powers of the Reich-government which are market with the
cipher six-hundred and sixty-six. These aren’t official bodies of the enemy but
only a small group of sufferers who have a different political view. These
circles are the ones that provide our transport planes with provisions as well
as certain metals and alloys, which we need here. We also have workshops and a
laboratory here. In the next few days you’ll get to know the current
facilities.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer seized
Gutmann by the arm, while Recke held his mouth, “If Point 103 is a place of
potential withdrawal…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t get so excited,”
Gutmann calmed the captains down, “There are two ways to look at it: a worm’s
perspective and a bird’s perspective! As an aviator you should be ashamed to be
counted among earthworms.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nonsense!”
Recke barked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“One needs
only to replace the word ‘potential withdrawal’ with ‘potential rescue’, then
you’ll have grasped the true meaning of the station!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Juncker has
already hinted that to us,” Reimer admitted.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You should
pay attention to such information,” Gutmann said coolly, “Then some rocket-heads
won’t need to explode!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke saw that
Gutmann was on the verge of losing his almost inexhaustible patience. He put
his massive hand on his shoulder and said good-heartedly, “No offense,
stargazer, but you have to raise understanding for us ignorant sheep, who’ve
been constantly attacked by new findings and facts until now. We have full
confidence in you, but it could be the case that we’re all just puppets of an
infamous game together, whose background is not recognizable. You know, these
days anything can!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
alright,” the Major replied, reconciling, “But whatever may come, we can serve in
confidence!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The next
morning the captains found a new surprise. They were just on a little morning
walk in the open air – dressed in fur parkas – when an aircraft rolled onto
the runway which in place of the expected emblem bore a stranger signature.
This time they were alone. They both halted their steps and stared at the wings
and fuselage of the vehicle which rose skywards, where black points were emblazoned
as its call-sign.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Potzblitz!</i>” Recke cried and looked
around him. Some men who were present at the startup disappeared as if into a
rock cave. “What’s that, a midnight-version Japanese flag?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Let’s see
where Gutmann is,” Reimer took his comrade with him as they walked inside. He
murmured, “Strange, very strange…I met a comrade in Oslo who claimed to have
seen a plane that also had black points on its wings and was flying towards
Sweden.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If I hadn’t
seen the same thing just now, I would’ve said he saw a ladybug on it!” Recke
replied, “Sometimes hallucinations like that come after carousing. As it is…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hurrying
through the underground halls and corridors, they looked for Gutmann
everywhere. For the first time they came across the civilians their comrade had
told them on, moving free and at ease among the German staff. They had no time
to look at these strangers more closely. As they hurried past they could only
see that there were exotic kinds below. Pocketed and foreign military men also
crossed their path.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They couldn’t
find Gutmann. It was only on the way to their rooms that they met Juncker, who
stopped immediately when he saw them.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Where is
Gutmann?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“At a meeting,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine Herren!</i>” Juncker told them in
his room “What’s the problem, comrades?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Um,” Recke
began hesitantly, “There’s this thing with a black dot…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Our Flight
Emblem! Well – and?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Our…?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You don’t
know that yet?” Juncker snapped his fingers. “Gutmann will be back around noon.
He can explain it to you better. I’ll leave it to him. Well, I’ll see you boys
later for the time being!” He pushed the back of his leaning cap straight,
tapped his finger against its brim and made off. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Simple
stuff,” Reimer speculated, “It’ll probably be the new SS-Luftwaffe that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Herr</i> Himmler had always wanted. They
just didn’t want to tell us in order not to hurt us as competing club members.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What do you
mean ‘hurt’?” Recke sat on his cot, “I’m concerned they can paint anything on
the aircraft they want. The main thing is that we’re staying so intact here
that we’re disregarding holding the invasion from the East of our unfortunate
homeland!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s already
begun!” Reimer added pensive, “The last Wehrmacht reports already mentioned
German place names on both fronts. East-Prussia is already gone!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I know it
just was well as you. The poor women and children. Unbelievable. It’s clearly a
sow-stupid strategy to hoard weapons and people here instead of using the last
of it to protect our civilian population. I’ll tell Gutmann since he was a
local commander, the great unknown one, that he should put a good word in for
me to secure my transfer to a front-line unit!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Would that
even be of use?” doubted Reimer, “Whatever we’re able to use, the time is too
short and the fronts too compressed to stop the tides from the East and West.
The Promi can’t even hide that.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
Propaganda Ministry just plays another tide,” Recke admitted, “But what then?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Gutmann
already hinted what! Enduring and forcing a liberation and reversal of the
conditions on a higher level unknown to us. Your return to the home front
wouldn’t change the existing facts. I share your feelings and I’ve also never
pressed when being used. Let’s give it a rest for the tasks provided for us,
because we’re soldiers, not politicians!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was little
over an hour that the two sat together before Gutmann appeared.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I heard from
Juncker you were looking for me. I’m sorry, but my duties…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s not our
fault we don’t have any,” Recke interrupted, not liking idleness, “In any case,
we wouldn’t be looking for you if there hadn’t been something that needed an
explanation. We have to know at least who’s friend and foe, once and for all!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Junckers told
me this was because of our flight symbol, is that true?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ja</i>,” they both admitted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That can also
be explained,” said Gutmann. He threw his cap on the bed sheet and sat on the
edge of Juncker’s couch instead. Then slowly sinking back and laying down the
elbows of his bent arms, he began to speak, “I want to establish without much
introduction why we have no Balkan Crosses on our planes and chose a black
blank instead. Above all, it’s already become clear to us that the homeland
will have to surrender sooner or later…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We discussed
this shortly before you arrived,” replied Reimer, “A bitter realization!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Right! But
you can’t be an ostrich that sticks their head in the ground. And it’s even
more bitter how we’ve already marched all throughout Europe and even near the
Suez canal. But you know the saying, times are changing. Whether it’s a huge
portion of sinful politics or a number of missed opportunities blamed for this,
it’s without any particular meaning at the moment because it’s not the past
that’s crucial but what’s given in the present. Now if the case should really
occur that Germany has to surrender or the war is declared over after
occupation, all hostilities will be set after a certain date. That would mean
that the German Wehrmacht would cease to exist and no one would be authorized
to keep fighting under the flags or signs of the Reich!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oh ho!” Recke
let himself be heard. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s so that,
not recognized as belligerents, which…” Gutmann made a shooting gesture, “If the
fight can go on, the Reich won’t be compromised since otherwise it would
increase the poverty and misery on the civilian population through reprisals.
For this reason we’ve decided to, as a self-standing organization, choose a new
mark for our aircraft from details we’ll discuss later on. This black dot, as
you call it, is ‘sol nigra’, or the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schwarze
Sonne</i> as it’s called in German. It has a deep, symbolic meaning and it
should be seen as a dark red instead of the optically visible black. It is the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">negredo</i> of alchemy, the color signifying
a particular phase of lapis.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke’s mouth
twisted, “What does it have to do with alchemy?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“So slow!
First, the importance of the sun: it’s the same symbol as the Gammadion,
however, under the aspect of crucifixion. Precisely: our Balkan Cross!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah!” Reimer
frowned, “What’s the symbolism of crucifixion? </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">That we sacrificed…?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Gutmann
looked past his two friends, “You could interpret it how you want. It could be
that the round form of the sun is a sign of salvation and in the sign of the
cross of sacrifice to save the German people! World politics is indeed not
operated by governments alone, but by forces beyond the visible powers as
well.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s no big
secret anymore,” said Reimer calmly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That depends.
You’re talking about forces which are barely visible, yet are still
recognizable. But I’m talking about powers which are neither recognizable nor
visible! That’s the big difference. Behind the scenes of world history a big
power struggle is going on, that will itself determine for certain a force
known by insiders as an esoteric world center, or the high seat of ethically
positive forces. It is the true Ultima Thule, not only to the Aryan peoples but
to all the world!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke laughed
mockingly, but Reimer leaned in with interest, “Where is this world center?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
shrugged, “I don’t know that either. It could – globally speaking – not be too
far away from here, but very few people are likely to know the exact location
of this mystical point. Not only we at Point 103, but other organizations and
groups strive to find this place as well, or at least to obtain the protections
and support of its power. The future will tell whether or not our search
results in success.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“In conjection
with the words mythic and esotetic: Couldn’t this be a mere assumption, made in
the case of an error in the assessment of world powers, that would have dire
consequences for the gullible?” </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Reimer looked at Gutmann with admonishment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“This
center exists!” the Major answered with certainty, “Even the ancient Egyptians
knew of it and called it Mount On, somewhere in the north. Likewise the ancient
Sumerians, who called it Kharsak Kurra or ‘world mountain’. In the Bible, in the
book of Isaiah, it appears under the name Har-Moed, that is: the mount of
congregation.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Still not proof. Only
traditional assumptions</span><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
ignored Reimer’s objection, “In Asia they’ve actually taken up connections to
this power.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Through radio?”
Recke said ironically. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“No –
telepathically!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Haha, now
oriental storytellers are coming back in fashion!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I appreciate
your critical mind, Recke. Think, however, how all the knowledge one possesses
always makes up only a fraction of what exists. We Westerners for centuries
have looked down on Eastern peoples through arrogance and contempt for the
so-called natives and we must now determine with shame that their traditions
and history are at least as old that their art and philosophy is as great as
ours, and in some ways even superior. Their transcendental knowledge and forces
in this domain are developing highly, while we Europeans are still locked
before the front gate. You’ll get to know Mongols here – I see you’re
surprised! – Maybe after a few discussions you can see things differently than
before.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why not?!”
Recke replied vulgarly, “But further – what kind of connection is this?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very simple.
Tibetan Lamas of a higher level came into nexus with this center. They also
know of a world mountain and high seat, which to them is called Rirap Hlumpo in
their language. At the moment I still can’t say more about these details us
looking at Tibet will undoubtedly be very beneficial and provide details worth
knowing. An emissary, a Ta-Lama of the Black Hat Sect, is actually expected to
be here today or tomorrow!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke shook
his head, “What does Tibet have momentarily for possibly helping the German
Reich?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Momentarily
nothing. But they’ve helped and will do so again, when the possibilities arise.
Until not long ago they’ve procured important documents of the English war-command
through its liaison offices in England for the German government and can find
out for us the results of the secret sessions in the House of Commons
twenty-four hours a day. The whole thing shouldn’t have proven very difficult!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And what
interests does Tibet have?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A very great
one!” Gutmann smiled, “Before all, the visits by the German Tibet Expedition
under Professer Schäfer have produced a valuable and affordable personal
contact between the Germans and Tibetans. Even when the officers of the
expedition failed to resolve certain esoteric tasks and gain insight into
secret books in the library of Potala, which should contain among other things secret
prophecies about the resurgence of the former Mongol empire, the visit had met
expectations enough. It also resulted in Tibet seeing great political opportunities
while awaiting relief from the British and Soviet pressure by supporting the
new Germany. It was not only assumed that Germany would bind the two dangerous
neighbors of Tibet but they certainly hoped for a better opportunity to win the
West for Lamaism through the suppression of the Roman-Christian position of
power and prepare grounds for prophecies unknown to us. We don’t need to
investigate whether it would ever be possible or be a miscalculation; the
nearest political goal, to relieve each other by throwing the ball, is a good
move and Tibet has the greatest interests that Germany remains strong and
strong again. And nondescript helpers are often better than so-called friends
that are strong.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t know much
about the Tibetans,” said Recke, “Only as much as that they like drinking tee
with rancid butter. But nevertheless I could muster sympathy for them. Except
for the seal blubber I could suffer the Eskimos as well.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Again a smile
flittered over Gutmann’s serious movements, “One should never judge a people by
their diet. This often leads to false conclusion. Further I shall counsel: Take
the Mongols seriously and don’t doubt them. They have keen instincts and feel
immediately whether you’re thinking or whether they’re not taken seriously. If
they notice a trace of sarcasm, they’ll go away and be as silent as fish!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
swallowed, “Mhm…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Black Hat lamas come into the Reich of the
Black Sun,” Reimer whispered thoughtfully, more to himself, but Gutmann heard
his soft words.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes, it is
the Reich of the Black Sun! It is the rallying point of the esoteric circles in
the SS, whose knowledge Herr Himmler also suspected but was not to take part
in. It’s this group of men which according to the instructions of our spiritual
leader, of Standartenführer Rahn, in search for the right and rights, who have
found their own right and duty regardless of the twelve Mosaic commandments;
men who, arbitrarily and proudly, do not expect help from Mount Sinai but went
to a “mountain of congregation in the furthest midnight, in order to get help
and bring it to the people of their blood!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
pondered briefly, “Rahn? Isn’t that the man of the modern Cathar Tradition?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah – what do
you know about that?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Strictly
speaking, nothing. I heard of it second-hand.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes, it
shows. The Cathars in the SS and the Black Hats have above all directed their
eyes to the far north and Tibet. Rahn has also won the most important links,
only a select few of which are known.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke sat up
from his reclining position, “Now I see more clearly. I don’t know much more
than Reimer but your explanations have opened my eyes. I am a soldier and
understand nothing of the esoteric and metaphysical. But if the Reich is
further served here, it’s good. What one calls things and how they’d explain
them is all one to me. I already said days ago: For the island of the last
heroes I’ll keep flying. See to it, Gutmann, that I step into a fuselage again!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ll see what
I can do. I have to go back in any case, maybe I can get an order for the next
few days. In the evening we can discuss further details on our next topic.” He
stood up and brushed the skirt flat. After adjusting his cap, he said, “Till
later, comrades. Bye!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two
captains heard him cross the gangway and at the creaking of the door, which he
shared with Reimer, entered the room opposite. Immediately afterwards he exited
and went away again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I have to see
what Gutmann wanted in the room,” Reimer said curiously. He went out followed
by Recke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In the other
room everything was as it had been. Reimer saw that Gutmann’s locker was open
with a fine gap. He carefully opened its door and looked inside. Recke saw
Reimer’s surprise. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What’s wrong?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not much,” he
spoke with an air of indifference, “Two days ago I found a red cape in his
cabinet. A kind of robe. Now it’s gone. What would Gutmann have to do with it?
Funny thing…!” </span></div>
Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-43621505489613495672012-10-25T20:15:00.001-07:002012-10-25T20:15:34.238-07:00Chapter 3: Nuliajukanahnaq<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">NULIAJUKANAHNAQ</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hamungah-yah, hamungah-ya,</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Hai-yah, hai-yah, uwangah…</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Down to the west,</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Down to the west, Heya,</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Heya, Here I am ...</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">(an Eskimo Song)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The two
airmen trudged with their backward-rubbing seats against the coast of the
western Boothia Peninsula. They beckoned a close survey for a more sheltered
camp site and where to wait for Gutmann’s return. Still embarrassed greatly by
the tragedy of their most recent experience, it was still relatively easy to
master their physical and psychological fatigue. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They were too numb to look at the
time. It seemed to them too much trouble to even brush off a glove and then
push back a sleeve to take a single look at the dial. Nevertheless it could’ve
only been a short time that separated them from the disaster site. As they
rested for a few minutes for which they found the emotional time, they saw a
series of dark points half-sideways from the coast which quickly advanced upon
them. The men pulled the machine guns from their shoulders and remained ready
at arms. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The points moved slowly. Smaller and
bigger. Dogs and sleds approached the men on which crouched men masked in fur.
Small, pointy-faced dogs with shaggy hair and bushy tails, smooth and mottled,
then people whose faces peeped out of white ovals of fur, as if they were
embellished jewels. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Between the barking of the dogs they
could heard the shrill cries of “heya” from the people. There were half a dozen
sleds, with as many as there were Eskimo men, who halted before the two pilots
starting up in a semi-circle. They jumped down from their long, flat-boarded carriers,
grinning and chatting. Their Mongolian-looking faces almost all had chin beards
or goatees and from their fur hoods peeked shaggy hair. Some of the men had
bows with them for weapons, reminding one of a Tartarian or Mongolian types.
Nevertheless they looked peaceful and bared their yellow teeth, “Sunakiaq una?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t understand,” Reimer tried,
communicating in English. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>An Eskimo stepped forward and
smattered English, “Who are you – wer?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How could we explain that to him?”
the Linzer asked his companions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke took a step forward and, after
hanging up his weapon to the side, he spread his arms like wings and marked a
bird’s flight, to which he added an uttered hum. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Cupanuarpaupsuaq…!” gabbled the
Eskimos and stared then in awe. The English-speaking man, who seemed somewhat
of a chief, incanted in German, “Giant eagle!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The pilots nodded in confirmation.
Recke whispered in between, “The guys palaver a beautiful lingo. I could never
learn it…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ilibse
qablunait – you – white men! Uwagat netsilingmiut – we Netsilik-Eskimos!” a
grin slipped over the face of the chief at this finding, “Uwangah Aglumalogâq!
Isfit – I am Aglumalogâq – And you?” He pointed to Reimer. As a precaution he
repeated his words in English, since he might of not understood. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I am Reimer,
and this here – Recke!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Rai-mer and
Rek-ke. Good. Picaivoq!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The other
Eskimos repeated the names. They then zoomed to in sequence and told theirs.
Tiäksaq, Netsersuitsuarssuk, Itqilik, Inalusaurshugohk… </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The two flyers
would’ve liked to close their ears. They’d never be able to learn to repeat
these words fluently. But they found no time to express their astonimshent at
this strange encounter. The leader of the Netsilik people asked wherefrom and
whereto they were going. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He was very
lively. With words and gestures he explained that the men from the nearby
settlement on th coast had seen the dark mushroom cloud and that the shaman had
spoken of it as a lucky sign. Despite the dark color of the smoke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In between them
the other men were noisy. They all pointed to the direction from which the two
airmen had come. In the background of the white landscape the burning site
stuck out like a black giant flower. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We want to look
there,” said the chief, at first without waiting for the answers to his surge
of questions. His people demanded, “Qablunait – white men, you come with us!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Admonishing his
men to calm, he offered Reimer a place on his sled and pointed Recke to
Itqilik, who stood nearby. The two seats were stowed with the bound-up luggage
to another flat side at his command. “Avaya – go!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Avaya –
pavungahjah…!” repeated the gooded men. Whips cracked through the frosty air,
attracting panting and barking from the small, thick-furred dogs. And so the
whole crowd began to move. During the short ride Recke and Reimer felt, as a
result of the sleeplessness, the cold coming up more and more in their bodies.
Both men trembled together, chilled, and accepted gratefully the caribou skins
offered by the sled men, which they put over their heads. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In a few minutes
they reached the scene of tragedy again which they had only previously left
trudging laboriously. The Eskimos made a cry like a swarm of wild geese.
“Avayaja!” they yelled and reached for the scattered pieces of metal, which to
them seemed like valuable booty. During their burrowing around they cried out
words to their chief and looked at the two pilots. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“My people can
make good use of the things here!” he observed, translating the shouts. It
sounded just so that it could be taken as a statement and at the same time a
request. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Take, take!”
Reimer encouraged them, speaking to the old one. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Netsilik
eagerly gathered and loaded their sleds. Pieces of metal were in high demand
for them. Reimer asked the chief to leave the propeller blade as it was, the
Balkan cross on it still almost entirely visible. It was a bit to the side and
later at their resting stop he interpreted it to them as being a signal mark. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Meanwhile the
bright, twilit night sky grew somewhat darker. The Eskimos sniffed their air
and they were quick to finish with their preciously darkening rest. Some of
them shouted, “Qanik!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Snow falls!”
replied the old man, “We must hurry to get to our village…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Again the
Eskimos cried and chattered, the huskies yawled and the teams moves like a wild
hunt across the white surface. Uttering shrill cries the men drove their nimble
animals on, evading scents from small obstacles and vilifying them, showing the
white men their skills. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They hadn’t been
wrong. During the great race, singularly large white flakes began fluttering
from the sky. More and more they condensed in fall into a regular flurry, which
made the view difficult and uncomfortable. Thanks to their usual familiarity
with the weather, the men found their way without difficulty and the instincts
of the dogs also facilitated their speedy return. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer and Recke
didn’t see much of the village following the snow, into which they were being
brought. At the entrance all the dogs barked at the bet, women, masked the same
as the men, and children came out from the white snow-huts and stared in
amazement at the whites. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The old man
directed his vehicle before one of the snow-builds, on whose semicircular dome
stuck a caribou skull with moose-like antlers, and called Itqilik to bring
Recke there also. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Qablunait, here
is my house – you are my guests!” Before their eyes he dropped the packs into
his lair and then showed them in, crawling up the tunnel opening into an
interior. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Warmth received
the two friends. In the middle of the rounded room burned two oil lamps, which
donated light and heat at the same time, and the floor was covered in caribou
skins. A young girl crouched on a stock of pelts was amazed from her lightly
slanted eyes at the strangers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hungry?” asked
the host who came behind them. The pilots both shook their heads. Reimer added
to it, “No food… just sleep!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shortly
thereafter the old man, with the help of the girl, had prepared two warm
deposits of skins and furs which seemed as ready to lay down as the tired men.
Their flight-suits and boots loose, they covered themselves with a feeling of
relief. There was no more room in their thoughts for urging them to be
cautious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were content with being
safe for the moment and even the strange smells inside the igloo hardly found
their attention. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I feel really
light-headed,” Reimer still struggled to speak, “From one night in Vernäs to
the next with Canadian Eskimos – that’s some spell. I think I’ll probably be
dreaming…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Me too,”
mumbled Recke, “I’m already too sleepy to pinch my nose… Heaven, a…” his words
died away. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer blinked,
then followed with a sigh his companion’s example and rolled deeper into the
fur blankets. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Both of them
slept…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Over the Boothia
Peninsula roared the northern land-storm. Black, gigantic, ragged clouds raced
low under the darkened bell of sky thereto and swirling, blowing snow made
everything in sight disappear under veils of flakes. An uncanny ringing filled
the frigid air. The sea on the coast roared against the beach with thunder and
bright bands of foam rode on the crests of the waves. Ice floes crashed
together and drowned out with excess noise the powerful and high whirring and
wheezing whose air-mass had been drawn from hundreds of kilometers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It was one of
those storms that raged towards spring time in the north. The Eskimos had holed
themselves with their dogs in the small but resistant igloos and slept through
the time belonging to the spirits. Only the Angätkoq, the shaman, sat in his
snow-house and sang his statements of invocation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Time passed. The
fury seemed to have no end and it took a long time before the storm had
somewhat abated. Only when the whimpering dogs demanded outside and the Eskimos
were busy gossiping lively again did the two flyers come awake. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">First Reimer
ripped his eyes open and looked around in amazement. He found himself not able
to handle it immediately and fancied himself still in dream. Only when the
smell of burning animal oil hit him and he saw the two blackening flames in the
two adjoining lamps made of soapstone that he returned to the strange reality.
His eyes wandered. Through an ice-window, which recessed over the
tunnel-entrance in the wall of the snow-hut, came the dim luminosity of the
outside world. Looking back inside he saw and old Eskimo woman who’d just
brought a pot over the flames. Behind her stood up the girl on a lounger who’d
helped him and Recke prepare the bedding with the old man. Her upper body,
brighter than her weather-marked face, was naked and her full breasts betrayed
both youth and maturity. She was only beginning to get dressed. As if she’d
felt the eyes of the guest resting on her, she turned her face to him and
smiled broadly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At that moment
the old man looked up to him and said a few words in the Netsilik tongue, which
he didn’t understand. But she pointed to the pot and made the gesture of
eating. Reimer was somewhat suspicious and hesitated to show his
acknowledgement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Of course we
want something to eat!” came from Recke’s bedding. The Kasseler was now fully
awake and sniffed, “It seems we’ve landed ourselves in a wild land…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Netsilik
woman had not the words, but she understood fully the sense of the ones Recke
had spoken. She immediately picked up a small tin cup, which might have been
left behind by a whaler or seaman once in exchange for their furs, and moved to
fill it with sluggish, smelling food. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Linzer
warned, “Watch out – here comes the liver soup!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Uhhh… ahhh!”
made the Kasseler, horrified, and quickly turned to face the wall, again
falling into the sleep position. As a precaution Reimer followed his example,
in order to not hurt the people with rejection. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Again, time
passed. The two pilots began to doze off against their will once again. Only a
renewed, increasing noise kept them up. They were still drowsy. This time,
apart from the two Eskimo women, crouched huddled the chief and two other men
as well around the oil lamps. They talked and gesticulated eagerly, often
turning around to the strangers. As they saw the two were awake, the chief
stood up at once and came to Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It’s good that
you’re awake! The Angätkoq is here and wants to see you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer and Recke
saw with curiosity a tall Eskimo, wearing a strange belt which hung from a
strip of caribou skin. He also came closer, driven by curiosity. Now they could
see that he had a headband made from the peritoneum of the same animal from
which dangled small strands of beads down to his nose. It seemed a bit odd and
gave the man a certain effeminate air. Had he not been wearing a
walrus-mustache and a shaggy tuft of locks at his chin, no doubt he would’ve
been taken by unknowing guests for a woman. The clothing above all showed no
special differences between the sexes. Behind him huddled two hot-headed dogs
forwards. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Qingmima
kavnah! Back, dogs!” the shaman shooed the host’s dogs back harshly. He then
grinned at the guests and asked, “You have a good magic! But why was the giant
eagle burnt?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The chief
translated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer looked at
Recke, “What should we tell him…?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Leave it to
me!” With a straight face he continued in English in Reimer’s place, “The old
giant eagle was burned and with it a new eagle has flown off. He’s coming back
soon and will take us up!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Avayaja…!”
cried the Eskimos. The shaman nodded solemnly and added, “This is surely a
great magic.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The airmen
jumped up and pulled the warm furs back. While they answered another series of
questions, they slipped into their flight-suits which gave them only partial
heat. The shiny zippers aroused the amazement of the people. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The guns the
officers had strapped unobtrusively under the combination suits. On the other
hand the machine guns were very much in the open.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Serqorsishut?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The Angätkoq
asks if those are weapons,” the chief repeated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ja,” said the
Kasseler. Precautiously he pulled the gun up close to him and gave Reimer a
sign to do the same, “It’d be good if we gave them a little something to
distract their attention. These guys might look docile, but what do I know
about Eskimos? We didn’t learn anything about these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Schneeneger</i> in school.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Me neither,”
confessed the Linzer, “We could safely leave them the two chairs and some of
our tools. That should have a special value for them!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke found this
offer excellent. Immediately he told the old man that he and the shaman would
receive one chair as a gift each. Tools they would also look towards later and
even leave them behind. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Picaivoq,
picaivoq!” they laughed happily. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Eh,
eh…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
fingered the seats thoroughly to make themselves familiar with their new
property. Without their joy seeming to diminish, Aglumaloqâq said, “These sleds
are very beautiful, but very small.” He’d seen the strangers carrying their
stuff on the seats and had taken them for transportation equipment. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
took up a seat, brushed the fur lining and covering away with his foot to the
ground, and heaved the chair with all his strength, the pivot pin downward,
into the soil. For a moment he stood straight, then he fell. The ground was
frozen too hard. But still his performance of strength made an impression and
the Netsilik had understood. Busily the old man scratched a pit with a Bonn
tool until the chair could stand. Prideful he sat down and then leaned back, as
if accustomed to this piece already. He had a quick mind. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
shaman was more leisurely. He sat down against the back-rest to test it out and
rested his upped body on the seat surface. The backward, off-standing pivot
looked as if it were the fastening piece of an bottled man. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Amidst
all this curious primitiveness the seat-parts worked so strangely to the Netsilik
men that the two flyers simultaneously broke into laughter. The crass change in
their whole situation, and the fact of having been completely ripped away from
of a service in the habitual monotony of a closely-guarded everyday, caused the
feeling that let them look at everything as a comical farce.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Netsilik took the hilarity as a sign of a particularly good mood and were happy
about it. With a call from the old man came renewed his wife with the battered
tin cup and offered it as food. Perplexed and secretly appalled the two
officers looked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
was the first to reach for it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What is it?” he
asked their host. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Blood-soup with
seal meat!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ah,” replied
the Linzer and heaved his eyes extatically. He handed the bowl to his companion
and rushed away, without waiting for the objection, to the packs they’d
brought. He dug out a stick of caffeinated chocolate that had come with them,
ripped open their wrappers and broke them into several pieces. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Here… here!!”
He gave some to the old one, the shaman and the two women. The rest he kept for
himself. The Netsiliks attacked it greedily. First they smelled it, then wolfed
them down. Reimer also ate a piece while Recke slipped out of the igloo with
remarkable haste. He’d had to eat the soup during Reimer’s excursion and felt
miserable from his reluctant and refined stomach. A few steps behind the
snow-hut he vomited. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then he felt
lighter. The cold, pure air freed him from his stupor. Had he brought his fur
cap, he could’ve remained for a while in the open. It was only the frost that
drove him back in. He then noticed a group of Eskimos standing before the hut,
who were waiting with understandable curiosity at the return and report of the
shaman who took his time inside. With begging gestures they stretched out their
hands, “Tabacco – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tabak</i>…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They all knew
the English word for this stimulant. One of them stepped forward and spoke
brokenly, “You – give tobacco – I lend woman…” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">With a surge of
Eskimo words the other men invaded, women also pressing forward. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke declined
and showed them his empty hands apologetically. Nevertheless, it seemed the
people didn’t want to believe him. He thus fled back into the igloo. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer welcomed
him immediately, “I took advantage of the good mood of the kayakers and assured
us their help. We have to start designing a clear flight-marker for Gutmann,
immediately. And so we’ll put the wing piece with the… Balkan cross to good
service. We need to finish this already!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s all
good,” said Recke, “But watch out, Herbert – the guys outside want to trade
their women for tobacco…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“How do you know
about tobacco?” the Linzer asked the old man. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Oh, tobacco!” the
Eskimo rolled his eyes, “Tobacco from the white men in the giant, smoking
kayaks! They give us tobacco and take our women off in their ships. Are you
also here for business? Give me a roll of tobacco – you can take my daughter
Ubloriasukshuk for yourself. There – Ubloriasukshuk – Evening Star!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The buxom girl
with the mischievous narrow eyes had understood the words <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tabak</i> and her name being said. She promptly came to Reimer and
stood beside him, “Eh, eh?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Later,” Reimer
told the chief. He wanted to gain time and said therefore, “First the work.
Making the sign for the giant eagle!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Uh… yes, yes!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The officers
zipped up their suits, put on their lined hoods and took up their weapons as
precaution, “All done!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They crawled
after each other into the open, where the chief ruled the surrounding Eskimos
into quiet and bade them to come along. The wing piece with the white-outlined
cross was loaded into a sled and accompanied by two others, the men walking up
the slope of the coast to reach the plateau. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The biting cold
has eased. The violent storm had in its aftermath had a small alleviation so
that the pilots felt a winter temperature familiar, usual, like back home. A
view out to the see taught them that the pressures of the wind-swept waters had
accelerated a drift in the wake so that the wider waterways and flows had been
torn. The darker colors left a friendlier turquoise. A small lightening of the
heavens also came about. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The men soon
came to a halt. Still they were close to the village but not too far away from
the crash sight. “Here we’ll mark an arrow!” voiced Reimer. He took a can
half-full from the accompanying slides and spilled the contents across the snow
floor in the shape of an arrow. Igniting a wad of paper, he threw it into the
fuel. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The fire jumped
with a sudden flush. The Eskimos sprang fearfully backwards. Like a warm foehn
it followed the suddenly heated air. The melted snow beneath the fuel-arrow
hissed and vaporized. What was left was the charred scar in the ground in the
shape of an arrow in the direction of the nearby settlement. At the opposite
end of the point the men put the wing piece. The piece of alloy metal with the
cross stood out well against the white surface and as a whole showed a highly
visible and perfect flying mark. In the short time of Gutmann’s arrival, in all
likelihood it would hardly come to be covered up by a new layer of snow. The Eskimos
assured that, though their might be storms, little snow would be expected at
the time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Giant eagle
will soon pick you up,” the Aglumaloqâq comforted his guests, “Earlier not, but
now they come so often…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Canadian
Weather Squadrons, of course!” Recke agreed to Reimer, “If only they won’t get
here before Gutmann does. Then come new complications…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I hope Gutmann
gets here earlier. He wouldn’t leave us in such a pinch.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Under
circumstances he could be here in a matter of hours,” the Kasseler looked at
his watch, “It stopped…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mine too!”
annoyed the Linzer shook his head, “At these latitudes you can barely
distinguish the night from the day. As it is, we have to be extremely careful
that we can give Gutmann the right signal at the right time when he comes
buzzing over.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Heavens!” Recke
hit his head, “I didn’t think of the flare gun when we were cleaning the
plane!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Therefore I,”
Reimer said dryly, “Pistols with signal flares. We’d need only to shoot a
rocket into the fuel-decked aircraft instead of patiently burning a soaked
line. We’d have prompt fireworks, but it would cost us a rocket, and we only
have a few. In a situation like ours you can never know…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Good,
at least one of us is in their right mind. Otherwise – two brains can think
better than one.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then
they went back to the small village. The huskies moved the men squatting in the
carts down into the lowlands. Their throats steamed during the brisk pull. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Again
in the the village, Reimer spoke to Aglumaloqâq, “You need to keep a man outside
at all times to keep on the lookout. We’ll give you a beautiful gift when we
leave!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Eh,
eh!” He gave the nearest kinsmen the appropriate instructions. In the middle of
the conversation one of the men cried out suddenly, “Ahrluk, ahrluk…!” With an
outstretched arm he pointed to the sea. All eyes followed in direction. Far
out, between vast, sporadic floes, a number of dark bodies darted through the
turquoise waves. Cetaceous animals, with long-pointing dorsal fins, which like
swords cut through the air. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
airmen looked at Aglumaloqâq, “Ahrluk – killer whales!” he explained, “Very
bad. They attack everything!...”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Interesting,”
said the Kasseler to Reimer, “In Vernäs we only saw herrings…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Netsilik watched the creatures. The chief said, “A shame, the white men aren’t
whaling here. With a big harpoon gun…” He shrugged his shoulders regrettably. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
the old one’s hut, the pilots looked to the home of the Netsilik people with
increased attention. Their igloos were scattered under the protection of the
coastal slope and all had the same strange entrance of a low, ascending tunnel.
Every one of them had a sunken window of ice which proved to be well translucent.
Only Aglumaloqâq’s igloo had the previously seen caribou skull attached as
decoration. Before some of the hut stood poles from which sporadically hung
hides and skins. As they inspected a strange fencing closer, they were amazed
to see great, frozen fish stretched upside down in a row in the snow. They were
salmons half a man high. Everything was simply, mostly primitive but
nevertheless useful. Next to the row of salmon there lay some tilted kayaks.
They were long and narrow, cleanly made from caribou skin. Two of them had
cantilevered beams on both sides, so that as transport kayaks they couldn’t flip
over. These were the boats with which the Eskimos undertook many long trips.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Everywhere
whining or growling dogs were roaming around. Every now and then one slipped
into the upward tunnels to warm themselves in an igloo. As Reimer and Recke
crept behind Aglumaloqâq into his hut and the shaman had toddled off, the
chief’s dogs also followed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
time other guests were here. Besides the woman and the daughter of the old man
were a young couple who grinned friendly and moved aside to make space. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Erneq
Katsarsuk – my son Katsarsuk!” said Aglumaloqâq proudly, “I have five sons.
This is the fourth son with his wife!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
loneliness in these latitudes brought with it the fact that the Eskimos showed
more sense of community as the space-poor culture of nations, which coveted
every inch of ground and every possession. They hunted collectively and shared
the spoils, helped each other out, so that an entire tribe lived like a family.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Still,
it was a barbaric life they led. They killed some of the newborn girls by
strangulation not to have any useless eaters during periodic, upcoming times of
need. They gave the old of the folk as much as they gave the healthy and they
were able to do without the diplomatic. They did all of this in a way that was
to them natural and understandable, differing only through the simplicity of
their methods from civilized people; among which brilliantly decorated hands
moved the wheel of the newest super car while people starved in rags at the
nearest street corner. There the social strata called for far more victims as
than demanded the hard nature of a hard, fighting people. The two pilots
learned all of this as they were left curtly by Aglumaloqâq a depiction of the
life of his family and his people. And the comparisons made by a socially
enlightened thinking led to the conclusion that these people acted ignorant and
barbaric because of their low level of development while civilization worshiped
mass-murder from gluttony and lust. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Even
when Recke and Reimer didn’t try to adjust to Eskimo thinking, they grasped yet
the pride of the old one about the capable son. Katsarsuk himself told with
zeal how he’d already speared thirty seals this winter under their breathing
holes in the ice. It was certainly, as could be seen by the description, a good
number in hunting. That gave much meat and oil for the heating lamps. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
time the captains couldn’t avoid with rejection the food that was once again
offered. Only the fact that the trip undertaken to the fight marker had
awakened their appetites and that the cold brought with it a natural need of
fats facilitated their acceptance. They were fortunate that the blood soup with
the strong smell had already been eaten up. Thus they had to be content to be
satisfied with seal meat. With death-defiance they snaked down a few scraps.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
can expect Gutmann by the hour now!” Recke gave his companion with casual
understanding, “I’m somewhat restless from the strange circumstances of our
existence.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It
seemed as if Recke possessed a sixth sense. This reliable instinct was
something only children of nature like him usually possessed wherever there was
imminent danger. A similar thing happened to Reimer, even if he didn’t want to
admit it. The Kasseler was about to rise to go outside to watch for the
incoming plane when all the animals in the settlement began to throw themselves
violently. Even Aglumaloqâq’s dogs crawled, nagging, outside. Before the ice
window shadows scurried past and the plodding of of seal-skin boots showed
haste. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ready
to crawl out of the exit, they hear before the entry way a man calling in,
“Pingasut qablunait…!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Three
white men!” the old one translated, and he got up nimbly, “Maybe there’s a ship
in the area…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
officers looked to each other. Almost simultaneously they reached for their
weapons, Reimer took the flare gun with its ammunition out of the pack and they
followed the crawling chief. The whole tribe was ready on their feet. Like shy
mutton the children pressed themselves around the adults and with round, tilted
eyes looked northwards where three sled teams with two men each ran up to. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
couldn’t be Gutmann. Neither the first or second…” Reimer concluded unspoken. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
men who approached were foreign. One of them had a gun on him, the others
appeared unarmed. On each slide they could pick out and Eskimo and a white man.
Panting, gasping, the teams descended into the village. The German officers
immediately attracted the attention of the strangers. In their clean, leather
jump-suits they stood out conspicuously from the crowd of Netsilik people
standing around in their bulky fur clothing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Heavens!</i>” said the first man, who jumped
from the halted sled, “Police flyers here?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">No</i>,” said Reimer cautiously. He decided
to speak little so as not to give attention to his lacking pronunciation
or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>accent. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
did you get here?” the man asked further. He and his two companions were
visibly surprised to come across whites here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sky</i>,” said Reimer curtly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“So
it seems,” quipped the man, “You seem to be lazy in the mouth.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Eskimos formed a curious circle around the group. Excitedly they spied the
development of a meeting of white men who were foreign to each other. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Where
are you from?” asked the Linzer in turn, to forestall with reverse questioning.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There’s
not much to be said,” explained the man more readily than his counterpart,
“We’re from the whaler <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Seahorse</i>.
We’ve been stuck in some pack ice for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>while and haven’t been able to get free. The ice trapped our hull quite
miserably. Meanwhile it’s just a ball of sheet metal to the fish below.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
made a gesture of resignation, “The Cap’n is over with twelve men at the Bellow
Street. I’m the harpooner and I’m on my way to Port Epwurth at Coronation Gulf
with two men per sled. As a whole group we’ll hardly get there. They’re all men
of Christian seafaring aren’t accustomed to the harsh country. In this stormy
season we’ve gone hungry to the heels. With a threesome accompaniment we have
more of a chance to reach the place. I think an airplane can bring our crew food
and could get directions from our radio,” with noticeable relief, he added,
“The whole thing’s much easier for us now. Since you’re here with a plane...“ </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Wait,”
warned Reimer, “No hope. Our plane crashed.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
not a problem either,” the man smiled, two rows of yellow teeth becoming
visible from his thickly bearded face, “If either of you are late flight, a
whole pack will come looking for you. If that’s the case, it’ll be a beautiful
double-rescue!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
other men stood behind their leader. Between questions Recke gave only an
untintelligible hum in response. The pilot had launched out all his restraint
towards the newcomers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Damned!</i>” their leader suddenly thundered
out, “I’m no harpooner and my name’s not Billy Howard if it’s going to go right
for you guys. Only ‘yes’ and ‘no’ and nothing else, I’ll swallow a whole whale
if you’re trying to pass as Yanks or Canadians!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
aren’t those either,” answered Recke calmly, without more particularly to
ensure correct pronunciation, “We’re Russian couriers.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
quickly turned his head sideways to his a surprised laugh. Billy Howard however
had already seemed to have been around the world. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Russians?
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">By Jove</i>, you’ve changed my mind!
Until now I’ve never seen one with blonde stubble. Only short, stocky men,
almost always dark-haired. Well well…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
turned indifferently to Aglumaloqâq, “These white men here are very hungry.
Give them food and shelter so they can rest. You’ll get great gifts!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’ll
help them build a snow-house. It goes very quickly,” he called his people to
order. They ran away and cam back immediately with long snow-knives in their
hands. Together with the three Arvertormiut Eskimos that had come they cut out
large bricks from a nearby slope and piled them into a round building which
quickly grew into a dome. Two men brought from the beach a small floe which,
heated several times, had become thin and transparent so it could be used as an
emergency window. Consisting of frozen saltwater, it was much more turbid than the
otherwise-employed fresh water ice. Hides and skins the visitors had already
brought for the most part. Aglumaloqâq let them take only a caribou skin for
laying on. He also introduced to the new guests oil lamps they could use. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Netsilik people brought the foreigners meat and salmon. Although summer and
winter were their main hunting season, this time they’d still had enough
supplies that they could give from their reserves, hopeful for receiving useful
supplies. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Recover
first!” Recke said patronizingly as the men moved into their new building,
“Later we’ll come to talk more!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Alright,”
the harpooner thanked him curtly. He pushed his musket into the tunnel of the
entrance and followed his men. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m
in good hands,” chuckled Reimer, “When it really counts, you two, you and
Gutmann, are really blessed to have enough noodles in your head. That we’re
with the Russians… hahaha!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
cheerfully clapped his hands at his thighs to that the leather itself clapped,
“For the moment we have the guys going. The magnetic pole really does seem to have
magnetic powers in every respect. It’s truly the most attractive point in this
vast deserted area. Here a newspaper could be starting up soon.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
agree with your analysis. Hopefully Gutmann comes before flying season begins!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But
the day passed and Gutmann didn’t come. The unrest in the pilots increased. If
something had happened to their companion, then they were in a very nasty
situation. Aglumaloqâq had told them of the storm which would be roaring over
the land with tremendous force while they slept. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
could do nothing else but practice patience. While the female housemates were
working outside, Reimer and Recke lay on their fur-stores and tried to
understand Aglumaloqâq’s explanation. Though his vocabulary was very small, one
understood his mishmash of language tolerably because he gestured with it
eagerly. His English skills has been appropriated during the temporary passing
of the whalers. One of heir ships had years ago – in the time of the sun, he said
– come and stayed the winter north of here. It was a good time for his people.
The women had brought a lot of tobacco back from the ship… He was sorry even
that all of his guests were devoid of tobacco rolls. A cigarette offered to him
he’d chewed along with the paper and subsequently swallowed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
a while he told them his guests would be different than the white men that had
been here until now. One always had to let them have their way. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">They would be like little children. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Naughty
children! – That was Aglumaloqâq’s conviction. It was to him insofar
understandable, since the white people were bastards. The Eskimos had once
chased out some disobedient and arrogantly-behaving women. They’d then formed a
small community far to the south and fathered bastards with dogs. Thus came the
qablunait to them from the south and it had only become intelligible to them
that these people, as a whole, were arrogant and unteachable. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">When they were provoked, they murdered…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Aglumaloqâq had
no intention of insulting his guests. He gave his knowledge harmlessly and gave
his views the best he could, and was happy when the men of the giant eagle
showed a cheerful face. As the men told him that they’d never been among
Eskimos and knew nothing else about them, he explained to them the hard nature
of the lives they led. The good hunting grounds decreased, the herds becoming
smaller and less frequent. The whites drove the Indians north, Crees and
Chippewyans and Yellowknives sometimes coming to the hunting grounds of the
Eskimos and then it came to war. Often times the Indians had guns and the
Eskimos were powerless against them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Earlier,
endless suns before, their current living and hunting grounds had been a paradise.
Then no one needed to fill up lamps with whale blubber. During these times
forests grew at the bottom of the sea and storms ripped the trees loose and
threw the trunks everywhere at the coast. There was wood in abundance. The
people had mastered magical formulae and knew how to conjure their huts in
distance places. Thus they never needed to go hungry. Aglumaloqâq sighed as he painted
these pictures. Later the earth had come into contact with a star and a large
part of the land was destroyed. An immense flood eradicated all life. Of
mankind there remained only two shamans, and of the animals none. The two
shamans lived together and one of them had a child. He was a great magician and
made himself a woman who, later, also bore a child. Thus woman had stemmed from
a shaman. And slowly they repopulated the earth again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
stories of the old man sounded simple, almost primitive. The greater,
therefore, was the astonishment of the two officers as they came across ancient
traditions that would’ve been forgotten without books in the civilized world. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Remember
Gutmann’s statements about the Golden Age and the fertile Greenland?” asked Recke
suddenly, looking his companion full in the face, “When we were flying over the
geographic pole…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Certainly!
Gutmann explained briefly an Atlantis Theory,” with thoughtful expression
Reimer continued, “The short and simple traditions of the Eskimo folk are
consistent with the hypothesis. All the knowledge preserved from prehistory had
a kernel of truth.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
nodded, “Right. And its strange that traditions among primitive peoples confirm
what the current science not always dares to recognize on the basis of their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">exakt-konstruktiv</i> attitude. Of course it’s
not only the conscience but also the dutiful responsibility of scholars; two
concepts that often call opposing views for meaning-seeking people in their
plans. Naturally in the age of materialism constructionism is always placed
before spirituality. That’s probably because too few surviving principles are
at hand. And principles are prerequisites for evidence. The difference however
is that the fragments, as undeniably existing things – so far as their physical
substance – a priori evidence around which the scaffolding of constructionist
thinking can be built; however, even older traditions are mostly subject to the
personal perspective of the researcher, to be taken as such or as only myths of
fairy tales. It’s then understandable that the sparsely surviving traditions
are doubted and not always checked carefully. A consequence of constructive
criticism is that the wiser will always want the most probable to happen. It’s well
known that you can build in different directions. It’s just a matter of
opinion. Among primitive peoples one thing is but noticeable: Notwithstanding
different layers of culture are preserved traditions whose core is based on
real events. Whatever decorations or embellishments were added later on, the
core was not destroyed. In a few cases, perhaps distortion. And this ancient
wealth of knowledge remains eternally popular, because it is holy. By books on
the other hand, entrusted in the materialistic sense with the custody of a
thought or knowledge limited to the times, they decay or even become condemned
as nonsense in earlier times. And for the simple reason that the books of a
materialistic epoch crush the core of the concepts with constructive
commentary. Comments of an arrogant, poor time which is an intolerant era as any
before.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m
amazed,” interjected the Linzer, “I thought you didn’t waste thoughts on these
things, as we thought first during the flight. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">Your views fully coincide with what I was thinking.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’ve rarely
concerned myself with many problems,” Recke candidly confessed, “Although we’re
currently under the pressure of extraordinary events, I haven’t come out of my
habit of profound reflection. The narrative of the Netsilik man has piqued my
interest. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">Once the war is over…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’ll be a
while still, my dear! Even when no one’s firing any longer, the war will still
go on in a different form. You don’t need to be a prophet to know this. If
Germany falls, only the true chaos will begin. And where chaos reigns, there’s
no peace!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
know that as well as you do. Nevertheless there should be, ‘if but once’, a
small lamp that should light our way through the darkness ahead. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">That light is also called hope!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As Aglumaloqâq
had told the short story of the early days of his people, he no longer bothered
himself with his guests and began to doze off. The ensuing disputes of the
white men he didn’t understand. He knew very well that they didn’t speak the
language of the qablunait from the south, but it was the same to him what tribe
his guests may have belonged to. While they lapsed into silence and indulged in
their own thoughts, he got up slowly and prepared to leave the igloo. At that
moment Ubloriasukshuk appeared from the tunnel entrance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
spoke a few words in their Netsilik tongue, strange to the ear, and Aglumaloqâq
translated, “The white men in the new igloo are awake. They ask if there are
still usable things at the giant eagle that crashed. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">They want to visit the place!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
completely unnecessary. You saw for yourselves that the giant eagle was burnt.
You’ve already taken away any metal that seemed useful to you,” Recke told the
Eskimos. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Eh,
eh,” nodded the old one, “Nevertheless they hope to find something…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ll
go speak to the myself,” said Reimer deciding shortly. He didn’t wait for an
answer but immediately crawled into the open. For better or worse Recke had to
follow. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Together
they turned their steps to the new snow-house before which the last arrivals appeared
eager to negotiate with some Netsilik men. Of the three Avertormiuts there was
only one standing with them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
began to speak, “If you still hope to find something at the remains of the
aircraft, you’re wro–” He stopped suddenly as the men looked at him surprised.
Their brows frowned and Howard, who was holding his gun in his hand, began to
slowly raise the weapon. Understanding the cause of this mood swing before
Reimer, his companion had taken his pistol free lighting fast. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hands up!</i> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And down with
the rifle. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Down!</i>” As Reimer also
instinctively pulled his gun up quickly, the three pairs of hands slowly drove
into the air. Howard angrily bared his teeth and slid the flint gently to the
ground along a slightly-bent leg, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Damned
Germans!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While
the Eskimos still stared blankly and couldn’t understand the procedure, Recke
took up the foregone weapon quickly. Without letting the men out of sight he
explained, “We blockheads haven’t shown them our flight-suits. Now the guys have
seen them with the officer tabs on the collars. That these aren’t pajamas or
Russian uniforms, they know full well, of course. It’s no big deal then that
their eyes grew so big!” After a brief survey of the prisoners, he asked, “Are
you soldiers?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Again
Howard was the leader of the speakers. Surly he replied, “We’ve already said
that we’re sailors!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">“I know. I would merely have that confirmed again. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We don’t want to
wage war on civilians.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Don’t understand…</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
very simple, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">misters! </i>You could pull
away from here if you were sufficiently equipped. And you could go hunting with
your guns!” Surprised Howard and his people looked at the two officers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t
look so dumb!” the Kasseler said comfortably, “We’re not ghosts or monsters.
Where people are threatened by nature, it’s our duty to help! The war doesn’t change
that. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Understand?</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,”
the response was hesitant and suspicious. Recke wanted to add a few words when
he suddenly felt one of the stray dogs nudging him several times for the
muzzle. He saw how the other dogs were dabbing Reimer, the Canadians and many
of the Eskimos and then craned their heads skywards as if to attract their
attention to something. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Takuvah,
takuvali – seqine! Look, look – a sun!!!” shouted the Eskimos, excitement
showing think the air. The whites looked high up too while the dogs could be
heard whining joyfully and jumping around excitedly. High above them, under the
grey expanse of the twilight Arctic sky, rotated an orange-flickering disk. As
quickly as an arrow it had appeared on the horizon and remained just above the
small settlement. The appearance did look like a small sun and radiated an
intense light to the earth which broke out like a dancing fire-spook onto the
ice floes of the coast. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Seqineq,
seqineq…!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>More
and more Eskimos were brought to the group of beholders, lured by the
diligently reporting dogs. Suddenly the shaman stood in the middle of the
gathering. His eyes were mixed with a strange expression of rapture and
transfiguration at the quietly persisting disk. Around him the tribesmen formed
a ring to prevent the snarling and growling dogs. Reimer and Recke observed
closely the peculiar behavior of the animals and of the shaman. It seemed as if
the dogs were subject to a higher transfer, which they instinctively obeyed, to
force the people into a circle. The calmness in the shaman lasted only a few
moments. Then he suddenly began to dance. Around him sat, as well as in the
inner circle, a ring of dogs which looked with crooked heads to his grotesque
movements. A middle circle was made with the five whites and again a number of
dogs formed a third ring. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Strange,”
murmured Reimer and looked at Recke, who nodded. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“By
God, this is no circus…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ever
wilder waxed the dance of the shaman. His face showed ecstasy and his legs
stomped on the ground as if beating a drum. The eyes of the onlookers wandered
incessantly to the bright glowing disk, then back to the dancing man in the
middle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
hands of the shaman twitched as if longing for the disk, which rotated
constantly without changing its place. Long ago had the hood slipped from his
head and his forehead-beads were strewn in the snow. Sweat ran from his oily
face and his chin hair trembled. So great was the excitement that no sound was
audible. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
hanging strips of caribou skin that adorned his belt flew like the cables of a
carousel. Ever faster, ever more grotesque was the dance. Then – the tension
almost unbearable, he tore from himself the fur clothing from his body with a
sudden movement, which induced then an almost supernatural force. Piece by
piece, until he was in a state of ecstasy, stark naked his figure continued to
dance, ever more and more passing into a belly dance; already largely
exhausted, he gradually limited himself to movements that betrayed a decidedly
erotic nature. They didn’t seem obscene however. Still stood the disk in the
sky and still twitched the body of the man in a trance. The pounding steps were
slower. Then – the bystanders feeling an increasing cold coming down – the
shaman suddenly threw up his arms on one last effort. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nulliajuk
– Mistress!” he cried with a bestial shriek. Then be broke altogether as if hit
by something. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Horrified
the whites and the Eskimos saw that the shaman was dead. Their gazes moving to
the disk, they saw now that it had lowered deeper and showed a blood-red
coloration. While perplexity and astonishment still reflected in all their
faces, a golden glow from the strange materialization drove over them down to
the dead man, and as it were establishing a connection between the body and the
disk. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Takuvah…”
murmured the Eskimos shyly, “Look, look…” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Immediately
thereafter the disk rose steeply upwards, where it changed in color to an
intense yellow and disappeared north again flying behind the jagged white
ridges of the land. While the dogs stared after the vanishing phenomenon in a
crouching position, the Eskimos in the rows fell to their knees and raised
their hands up following a visible instinctual ritual as they spoke a prayer of
reverence. The two officers and the Canadians as well felt a strange feeling
like they weren’t masters here. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
the spell of this strange event began to slowly move away and the Netsilik
people whispered shyly, the chief of the clan walked into the center ring and
bent over the dead. The murmurs died down and all around the bystanders waited
for what the old one would do. Aglumaloqâq took up the naked body at which he
spoke soft words which none of them could understand. The flesh of the dead showed
no pressure sores and seemed to be, contrary to the slow onset of rigor,
already frozen solid. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
brought his mouth to Reimer’s ear and whispered, “This whole thing is plenty
strange. You could even thing we’d been hypnotized. This stiffness…” He made a
motion as if wanting to get to the middle of the ring, but Reimer stopped him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Tusarpah
– listen!” called the old man, righting himself, “The Angätkoq died of a
magical death and his body is enchanted.” Turning to the white guests, he said
his words in broken English, “The soul of the Angätkoq is raised and followed
the Great Mother – Nuliajukanahnaq!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>With
an imperious gesture Aglumaloqâq shooed the dogs away which had gathered around
the corpse. Reluctantly and baring they moved about a foot away. Then he gave
the men of the tribe, in a key easy to recognize, a short command. What
happened next shocked the white guests so much that they turned away with a
shudder. The Netsilik people crept into the surrounding igloos and came back
with knives and axes to dismember the rigid body according to the instructions
of the chief. Then they picked up the pieces and the limbs to carry them in
several directions from the spot. Growling and whining followed the packs of
dogs. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What’s the matter</i>,” asked Reimer softly
to Howard who lingered next to him, “What does this all mean?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Canadian looked behind him upset to the already divergent group and answered
readily, “About that thing I can’t say anything. At first I thought it was
another one of your damn inventions. But not only is that it, but also the extremely
strange behavior of the people here. This isn’t my first time with a whaler and
I know half-way the customs of the Eskimo folk. And I know that if one of them
dies they adhere to strict funeral ceremonies, which are quite different than
what was just seen. They keep their dead by burying them like other peoples.
Before a funeral they hold various rites. They may not clean or comb, ride sleds
or even feed their dogs. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">They grieve like
other people. But this here – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">horrible</i>…!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">One of the
Canadians confirmed Howard’s details, “My name’s not Boissart if this doesn’t
seem like dog feeding more than a burial. And moreover that the dead man’s a
shaman. I’m also not a novice here, but this reversal of their customs I’ve
never seen, nor heard tell.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
should withdraw provisionally into the igloos and leave the Netsiliks alone,”
Reimer suggested. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
have concerns,” warned Recke, “If these people are acting contrary to their
usual nature, it’s unwise to leave the three Canadians defenseless without
weapons alone.” He spoke in English so the others could understand him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Howard
waved casually, “We’re not in any danger ourselves. Their prestige of the white
man is too great…” He calmly turned and walked toward the igloo designed for
them. His companions nodded, threw a glance at the Eskimos standing around and
crawled behind Howard into the dwelling. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
officers pocketed their handguns. They had clammy hands from holding the
weapons throughout the strange occurrence. Recke took his comrade’s arm
lightly, “I can’t let go of the idea that just a week ago the casino in
Trondheim was our only diversion from supply service and now a capricious fate’s
swirling around us. It must be like Gutmann said, that there’d be additional
dangers and tasks. What can we expect to come now?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Sentimental?”
the question was without ridicule. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not
at all! If Aglumaloqâq hadn’t just come to us, I would’ve still believed it was
all a dream!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
old man walked in the company of his family to the guests. With a straight face
he said, “The Great Mother has called our Angätkoq to her. He’s left no apprentice
as successor and his son was torn by a bear. The tribe was honored by the
appearance of Nuliajukanahnaq, but it’s bad to be without a shaman. I must
consult with the elders of my people. It would be best if you go alone in the
igloo for a while. If the giant eagle comes, I’ll call you right away!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
and Recke merely nodded. As they followed the prompt request they found
themselves accompanied by the woman and daughter of the chief while he alone
went off to visit a group of older men standing off to the side. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
thinking of the Eskimo women wasn’t as complicated as that of their men. They’d
been well impressed by the appearance of the bright disk, but in the manner of
all primitive people they never forgot the most obvious things. So it was understandable
when Ubloriasukshuk ventured to ask inside te igloo with a coquettish smile, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tobacco?</i> </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">Achiugaunga…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Neither tobacco
nor… <i>gaunga</i>,” said Recke. He’d guessed on a feeling that the Eskimo word was a friendly
call. “We want peace!” Uncomprehendingly the girl looked at the white men.
Sullen and worried about Gutmann’s absence, they threw themselves onto the fur
stacks. </span></div>
Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-69815550304684009632012-10-19T14:29:00.002-07:002012-10-19T14:29:38.445-07:00Chapter 2: The Bright Night<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">THE BRIGHT NIGHT</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Is it a delusion that I behold?<br />
Is it Ragnarok?</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ye dead men ride,<br />
And your horses with spurs urge on,<br />
Or is to warriors a journey home granted?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Poetic
Edda – Helgi’s Return, verse 40</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Twilit and grey arched the sky of
the northern land over the dark-leaden water surface of the sea. The sun was
veiled behind the eastern horizon, matte colors, almost whitish opalescent. The
solitude seemed oppressive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
steered the passage between the Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land. South-East of
Svalbard moved a dark spot through the water. A Russian transporter. The wake
was only a thin white-grey line. The German craft came down lower. From the
stack puffed suddenly a thicker smoke and the boat took on full steam. It had
already spotted the enemy and recognized them. It tried to avoid an expected
bombing with a zig-zagging course. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A
lucrative deal!” stated Recke, carefully looking into the depths, “He’s darting
around like crazy. It never imagined being joined by a German pilot out here.
Because,” Recke focused on the radio, “they’ve already radioed the civilian
harbors in Kohlen-bai!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
doesn’t matter,” said Reimer, “Why shouldn’t people have an airrade too?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
feel like a toothless wolf. No bombs, no armaments!” The captain from Kassel
cursed. Reimer pulled back on the stick. The ship with the curved wake behind
them, they continued on their course. They flew over Kvitøya. From the right
gleamed the brilliant glaciers of the north-east Spitsbergen. “We’ve already
passed the eightieth latitude,” said the Linzer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Increasingly
the drifting patches of ice disturbed the dull surface of the sea. Part
dirty-white, part crystalline, the floes and icebergs floated lazily. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m
getting cold just by looking down there. Despite our combined body-heat!”
Reimer shook himself like a dog pulled from the water. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
should approve ourselves a hot sip!” suggested Recke. He reached for the
thermos-bottle and poured hot tea with rum. Thoughtful, he handed the cup to
Reimer in the front. “Sorry I can’t serve you, Gutmann.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ve
already opened my thermos,” answered Gutmann from beside, “I was already cold
from the sky color!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
the drink Recke took out the maps again. He measured the distance of the
planned route to X-Point in Greenland. “Damn it – we have to stay damn-sharp on
target and be careful! We only have five percent fuel left, which we’ll be
using of course. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
already know that,” replied Reimer calmly, “Out of everything it’s the outlying
magnetic North Pole that’s forcing us to take a bit bow. I’ve known it since we
took off that this is already over Canadian soil.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,
on the Boothia Peninsula, north of the Franklin isthmus. I’d never dreamed that
I’d come to America day come next!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
drift increased. Through the glass they could already pick out the vast and
bizarre forms. Constantly engaged, the positions were determined where the new
navigation device proved especially useful, while the normal compass remained
restless. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ice,
water and ice again. Ever whiter and greater were the faces. Mighty and
grandoise blocks. Floes heaving themselves into barriers. Flakes brushed
through the air. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
engines sang uniformly. Reimer held up at the exact geographic North Pole. He
headed for the first goal in a straight line, strongly impressed now by the
adventurousness of their company. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
bottom landscape was changing. The faces of the dark water dwindled into
gullies and rills, the white-grey of the ice-scape spreading more and more.
After a quarter of an hour in flight they seemed to have reached the inner
Arctic. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
remark sounded from Gutmann, “Atmospheric conditions.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ve
already noticed,” Reimer confirmed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It
won’t disturb our course.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Is
it possible to land at the pole?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You’re
already having a polar-tantrum!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What,
you can’t even ask?” Gutmann felt insulted. Reimer was more pleasing, “Of course
I assume you can. That much I know, everything’s there. We’ll be there soon
enough to see it with out own eyes. However – I’m not going to land. If we get
damaged, we’ll be pushing up daisies!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
looked over to Gutmann, who was pressing his face against the window of the
cabin looking. He left hand pointed downward, “How much longer?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“About
half-an-hour,” replied Reimer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Just
as I calculated. What a fateful moment!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Fateful,”
replied Recke as usual, “What do you do on such occasions?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Tilt
half a cup!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What’s
that, Gutmann?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“3
S C!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Are
you trying to tease us?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not
at all. Just look behind the second seat,” called Gutmann calmly over. Recke
did immediately as he was told. He cried out, “Eureka!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Our
stargazer stowed the stolen bottles here from the start!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Didn’t
I promise? A hearty swig is still allowed. I’ve already done my part as a
precaution.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Children,
compare your measurements!” Reimer demanded. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s
almost time. We need to fly over the pole exactly right.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
captains addressed immediately responded. After a few minutes Recke bent down
over Reimer’s shoulder to read the speedometer. Then he looked at the last
position and on the map, “Ten more minutes – damn it again!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
flew deeper. Three pairs of eyes stared fixated at the flat, white surface,
which spread out like a huge, white cloth. A seemingly endless white desert. An
iridescent pale light lay over the field and exercised a magic spell.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
tension in the men grew. Five minutes… three…</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Circle…
review of position… the pole!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Cheers!
– Prime cognac! – A great moment! – 1945 – Germans at the pole! – Cheers
again!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Only
three victory laps!” said Reimer, “We have to go on and get to the magnetic
brother. Otherwise there won’t be enough fuel left. Unfortunately.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>All
three men felt excited and agitated. To just have flown over the pole was an
experience. A favor of fate?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
the last bend the plane flew back towards the equator, to the Canadian side.
Even further away from home. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Suddenly
Gutmann shouted from beside, “Hey, Recke, don’t you want to see if the radio
works?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why?”
The man from Kassel was surprised?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“An
experiment,” bid Gutmann urgently, “Try it out, try sending the letters ZYX.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And
if we reveal ourselves?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hardly,”
said Gutmann, “Try it!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No
way. What are you thinking? We’re flying with secret orders!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
turned his face and looked out the other side of the panes. He was annoyed.
During a later position check he gave only two curt answers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Strange
fellow, Gutmann,” said Recke to Reimer. He knew that Gutmann was overhearing
him. “What would’ve happened if I’d had the same crazy idea?” Gutmann didn’t
respond to the conversation of the two friends in the mini staff meeting.
Reimer just shrugged his shoulders and continued looking out over the white
land. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
polar magic took possession of him. The two other captains were also subject
silently to the strange mood. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Still
there was the infinite polar expanse. Approaching projections on the ground
threw grey shadows away from their sources of light. Sharp ridges cut
borderline in contrast between the pale white and dark shadows. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Fatigue
pressed to come upon the plane, but the excitement of the great experience was
stronger. Continually they stared on. The aircraft was flying pretty low. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
wonder if we’ll see polar bears on the seaside,” Reimer asked softly, speaking
more to himself. It was his great desire that he carried in his heart, like a
child who had a craving for a particular toy. He sat in his seat slightly bent
forward. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Should
I let you off?” asked Recke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thanks,”
replied Reimer, “It would be awkward climbing around. We’d be smashed like a
disk. There’s something about this cold, how prevailing it is… Brrr!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
only meant it like that!” Recke toned down. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here
– want some pervitin?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not
at the moment. I’d still want to wait even with a stimulant. One shouldn’t get
too used to it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
quarter-hour passed by the fourth hour. The sky was a pale and shady bell.
Greenish lights flickered over the firmament. Again it was Recke who broke the
long silence, “What if this was all ice since time immemorial?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This
time Reimer turned in surprise. And both felt instinctively that Gutmann was
also looking over excited. A simultaneous look at the right cockpit confirmed
the feeling. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There
are only theories,” Reimer gave his answer slowly, “But somehow I think it’s
possible that it wasn’t always like this.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do
you have reasons for this assumption?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Of
course, Recke! Remember the Spitsbergen; the coal-seams there are evidence of
an earlier flora. I also believe that Greenland, in German “grassland”, must
have been a green, fertile island once. A rapidly occurring and progressing
glaciation covered the country later with lethal ice. The alleged Atlantis myth
could be connected to that. It could also be that it was still ripe for
colonization during the Viking era. By the way – I once heard that cornflowers
are beginning to grow back in Greenland. As a part of the general glacier
decline it may very well be that at least the southern parts of the once green
lands can be cultivated again.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
can tell you even more about it,” Gutmann spoke up, “I also know what Reimer
just said and I can add to his knowledge. I’ve dealt with the study of Iranian
manuscripts namely in civilian life and was able to gather from them that the
Vendidad of the Avesta tells of a catastrophe about an ancient race that lived
in earlier, warmer Arctic regions, which was displaced and partially destroyed
by the sudden onset of an ice-age winter. Within the said Vendidad speaks Ahura
Mazda, the White Lord, among other things to Zarathustra: ‘Only once a year can
the stars, moon and stars be seen there. And the people there have a day which
is a year.’ I noticed this passage in the book well because it captivated me
now as does the dreamlike reality under us now. This reference, which also
refers to the course of the stars, is proof to me. This knowledge could only
come from a previous knowledge of the place, and never a theory, as the ancient
star-watching civilizations were based on careful observation. I’ve even given
myself over to the idea that the pole was the original paradise!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nope,”
muttered Recke, “Now you’re just starting to lay it on thick!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
don’t have to believe it,” came across through the microphone, “But I want to
tell you more, something Reimer also hardly knows of; the famous researcher
Dacqué is hardly a stranger to you and is undoubtedly a recognized scientific
authority. He also refers to old traditions according to which grew green
forests earlier in the Arctic. With grapevines even. Furthermore geological
finds have brought forth plant fossils under sections of sediments which
confirmed the presence of these plants as well as animals. The verification
showed that in the Tertiary period it was very warm in this region and a lush
flora flourished. Science confirms the old legends. I therefore say again: the
pole is the earlier paradise of the former Golden Age. Somewhere in these
large, isolated spaces is the mysterious island of the Hyperboreans, and if a
new age dawns on the human race in the future, which is tied in with the old
polar <i>mythos</i>, so will it be that all cultural fertilization came from the
North. Even fabled Atlantis is postulated to be a Nordic culture. And to
Reimer’s correct words I’d like to add that there’ve also been discoveries made
in Greenland provide evidence of an ancient Nordic culture. Danes, among them
Rasmussen, as well as a Canadian researcher, found valuable material under the
current glacial layer, which became known as the ‘Thule Culture’.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
snorted, “I can’t imagine how you’d dig in these regions at all.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not
here, of course. But at the ice’s edge. The archeologists haven’t had it easy.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
do you explain the fact that they’ve found no more traces of the Atlantis
culture in easier to reach places?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke’s
interest began to deepen. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Atlantis
consisted of conjectures according to some very large islands which, according
to Hanns Hörbiger’s World Ice Theory – concerning the moon and satellites we
see today, were sunk by those that once orbited the earth. According to
Hörbiger, there then came a great catastrophe and a massive tidal wave circled
the globe in an equatorial direction. In the traditions of mankind, the
cosmically influenced event was called the Flood. Offshoots of this ancient
culture were identified, however. The well-known Africanist Leo Frobenius was,
with his finds in Yorubaland, convinced of the connection therewith because
they had no Negroid elements. Oddly enough, the German geologist and coastal
explorer Edmund Kiss found an over-sized head near Tiahuanaco in the Bolivian
Altiplano which had purely Nordic traits. Incidentally Kiss confirmed with his
research in the Andean heights the accuracy of Hörbiger’s theory. The latest
speculations suggest that at least in the Dogger Bank area around Helgoland, it
was still in the old annals and maps up until the seventeenth century called
‘Holyland’.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then
you believe Plato’s report?” asked Reimer, without taking his eyes from the
direction of flight. Despite the eavesdropping he worked closely with steering
the plane and stayed on course. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yeah,”
said Gutmann simply, “That’s because Plato couldn’t afford to be misunderstood
by his contemporaries or viewed as a fraud or a liar. In addition, the literary
genre of the historical or fantasy novel didn’t exist at this time, which can
be gathered from those and even earlier writings. Has Plato still invented this
story, he would’ve thought it even better for his purposes.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
captain from Kassel also observed the landscape and the airy sky. Still he said
tensely, “It’s strange that a little of our lives were fixed in outlying
Trondheim in the history of the world and had no clue how we’d kill the boredom.
Now, ironically, we actually get to know. We have an immense amount of time to
spare for talking about these things in detail.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’ve
had time. If, however, there’s interest, it’s questionable. Everything has its
time. You often have to take into account the circumstances,” lectured Gutmann.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Which
ones?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
Gutmann stayed silent, Recke continued, “The flood associated with Atlantis is
actually more realistic than the Biblical records.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
can boast of some knowledge myself here,” came Reimer from in between, “The
biblical scripture was in fact no direct writing, but rather taken from older
sources and was partly transcribed, partly changed according to needs. And
ancient sandscrit Vana Parva in the Mahabharata, the Siva Purana and the oldest,
the Hari Purana, all report of a similar great flood. In the biblical version,
in which all who knew Jehovah’s decision knew it was to punish mankind, is a
repeat of the much older version of Brahma in the Hari Purana. Also in the
original epic of Gilgamesh, the floor is given a similar treatment.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Shiver
me timbers!” cried Gutmann, “I knew too, but I thought that’d be too advanced
for you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Do
we look that stupid?” asked Recke, insulted. The man from Linz smirked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
can tell you something stranger,” said Gutmann again, clearly, “Reimer already
mentioned the Bible. The creation of the world included in the first book of
Genesis comes about in the same way. The Hebraic urtext of the Masoretes
describes Jehovah as the creator of the world, like Vishnu, the all-pervasive,
is described in the Canti Parva which is thousands of years older. If you look
up the first chapter of the Indian Laws of Manu, you literally find the
beginning of Genesis. The most remarkable fact is that even an ancient myth of the
Quecha indians in the Anses tells the creation of the world virtually verbatim.
For me personally the conditions are there to drawn conclusion with the
cultural connections of the Atlantean period, just like the uncovering of the
head by Kiss in northern Altiplano show did.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then
the Bible would be a copy of older works,” the Kasseler couldn’t hide his
surprise. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,”
came almost simultaneously from Reimer and Gutmann’s mouth. The latter
continued thereto, “But this is good, since the oldest myths of mankind in our
geological era – through plagiarism – have been made popular, although their
origin has been concealed.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
are we thinking all this all of the sudden and getting heated?” Recke <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was really excited. For a moment there was
silence. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then came quietly
from across the right, “We’re under the spell of the pole!” Reimer looked at
the restless compass needle. “It’s all very interesting,” he said after a
while, “But now – let’s do the navigation check!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Soldierly
soberness came over the men. The values recently identified with the Heaven
Compass were in order. The technical part of their mission was resolved
properly and satisfactorily from previous results. Soon they’d be circling the
magnetic pole. Recke compared the map with the landscape. White paper and
white-grey surfaces, that was true. The heights, crevasses and barriers were
largely unmeasured and more fictive than actually specified. Guessing from the
total distance from the geographic to magnetic pole, he came to the surprising
conclusion that the distance was just as great from the Porsangerfjord to the
pole over which they’d just flown. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
route had changed again. Gradually the dark spots and toughs of the Arctic
ocean appeared again, gradually growing larger. Gigantic icebergs of grandiose
appearance enlivened the show. They’d reached the end of the center polar
region, this time on the other side. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’re
flying to Canada now!” cried Reimer, “I have to ask, watch the sky with full
attention. An encounter with Canadian aircraft, especially with enemy weather
squadrons, is very well within the realm of possibility.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Land
sighted between floes!” reported Gutmann.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
already see it,” Reimer added yet, “The map of Axel Heiberg Island.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“In
about two and a half hours we could’ve reached the magnetic pole,” Recke made
it felt again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That would be
good, because something might be wrong here,” Gutmann spoke through the
microphone. Reimer snapped on immediately, “Man, don’t let us die in flight!
What’s wrong?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I don’t know
either. Any noise bothers me. Still we should’ve arrived earlier. Maybe we
should’ve noticed something.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Why didn’t you
say that?” from Reimer’s tone was definitely an accusation, “See to it
immediately that you find out where a mistake could be!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s easily
said,” answered Gutmann, “We probably won’t be able to avoid a landing.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Tube
druff!” demanded Recke to the Linzer in the speeding flight, “Make that we dash
to the magnetic pole with a monkey-like speed of a hundred seventy-five
antelopes per second. Maybe we’ll be faster than Gutmann’s suspected disaster!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
immediately followed Recke’s advice. Brighter sounded the song of the engines,
the plane shot forward and the dim land slipped back to her feet as if pulled. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“With
this monkey-ride we’ll break even faster!” howled Gutmann from the right, “If I
only knew what was wrong over here…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
don’t understand,” said Reimer excitedly, “We already tested the plane prior to
the launch in Vernäs. The flight was perfect before!” Nevertheless he lessened
the speed again. Full stress on the plane was dangerous when the time came to
pull through.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Funny guy,
Gutmann!” mumbled Recke.“He finds out something’s going on and doesn’t know
what. When the time comes he gets shot in the head, he’ll start scratching his
knees first!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Sit down over
there!” shouted Gutmann angrily as he heard the conversation through the
headphones, “Then you’ll also think you’re walking on a mine!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Let’s
not make slapstick,” placated Reimer, “If something’s really wrong with
Gutmann’s side then it’s too serious for us to be arguing. If nothing else
works, then we’ll land. And if Gutmann doesn’t find a problem in the cabin…
There aren’t any material breaks showing?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
couldn’t tell otherwise,” came from the right.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hopefully
we can find a favorable landing spot somewhere,” continued the Linzer. With a
worried look he turned around, “The maps, if we land near the pole. They show
sufficient areas. We have to hurry if we don’t want to freeze.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Kasseler grumbled, “We’ll have blue noses! Our Christmas fest back home will be
a Midsummer Night’s Dream in comparison.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
plane pushed further south. Between ice and water one of the easternly Parry
Islands appeared, soon after the western spur of Devon Island. Then drift ice
again until Franklin Island came into view. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’re
already in Canada now!” Reimer said very objectively. Still he had this
strange, awesome feeling that affects every human who beholds another continent
for the first time. It seemed to all three of them the greatest adventure of
their lives, without inner preparation, suddenly being able to know the end of
the world and a new continent. They couldn’t know that they’d first pulled a
card out of a game which fate had prepared for them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since
Gutmann’s alarm, Reimer payed twice the attention to the sounds of the engines
and the functions of the apperati. Everything he checked was fine. The Kasseler
let himself sample with increased attention the airspace, now becoming
dangerous, and plotted the new positions. Another waterway. The Barrowstreet.
And still ice in between. Despite the heated flight-suits and cabins the flyers
felt the cold. Then further southwards. The Sumerset Island rose with an
increasing coast. The island’s plateau was tundra. Just like the northern half
of Axel Heiberg Island, over which they’d already flown.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If
we maintain our leisurely four-hundred kilometers per hour, we’ll be across the
island in half an hour. Only the Bellot Straight will separate us then,”
explained the Linzer. It was a majestic, yet oppressive, land. Despite the
monotony and the seemingly infinite expanses the men in the airplane never
tired of watching anything. Though already in the polar Eskimo zone, they
noticed no signs of human life. Then, quite unexpectedly, on the southern side of
the island there moved dark points! The plane came down like a bird of prey.
Reimer screamed as the first, “There – seals – from – no, walruses – they’re
walruses!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,
walruses!” echoed Gutmann, while Recke craned his neck forward, “The first
animals. We haven’t seen any polar bears or even a spouting whale.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
insisted not to fly an extended loop around the animals. Quite low, the
airplane roared over the dark, shiny bodies. The animals could be seen waddling
excitedly across the beach; the opened mouths looked like red dots out of which
shimmered terrible tusks gleaming white. Some of them slipped hurriedly into
the spraying water and submerged. And as if moved by an unseen hand rose
suddenly hordes of brown-feathered birds into the air, which had been quietly
resting perched on the slopes. And then – somewhat to the side again there were
more. Slipping to the right, the men saw some auks. With steeply up-turned
beaks they peered at the strange, giant bird which clamored so tremendously.
Their wings fluttered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
pulled the stick and climbed back up. A look at the armatures showed him the
magnet-needle of the compass was dancing like crazy. He said to his comrades,
“We are now over the Bellot Straight. Straight in front of us now is the northern-most
part of the Canadian mainland. The Boothia Peninsula. In half-an-hour we
reached the North Pole!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
new navigation proved one-hundred percent!” gave Recke as an anwer. “With that,
we’ve already complete three of the four orders included in our order. There
only remains number four now – X-Point!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
new peninsula on the continent showed a snowy tundra-scape. Reimer flew again
at a higher altitude to secure themselves from surprise attacks in the air. The
distance to the nearest major enemy air base was only about five or six hours
away. With greater airspeed this was even less. The senses of the men sharpened
from previous sorties lurked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
– finally – the furthest point of their order! The geographic position of the
magnetic pole in the north had been reached. The point, laying almost on the
border of the Arctic circle, was like a symbolic marker of civilization which
pointed to the other, now hostile hemisphere. The new navigation system showed
the exact location and the plane went deeper. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Solitude
all around. The sea of ice beat sluggishly toward the coast at Cape Adelaide,
where the magnetic pole lay. In the sky the twilight dusk stood unchanged.
Recke was the first to speak, “I think we’re the first German soldiers in this
war to set foot on the American continent as enemies instead of prisoners!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s
so,” admitted Reimer, “It’s strange – the war against America isn’t that
popular to us. Many people of German descent live here that bear arms now
against the folk of their ancestors. Against a country at whose struggle for
freedom and whose culture we have a huge part in!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke agreed, “Of course, we have
nothing against America and America has little against us. All things
considered – my sister lost her life to their relentless and unsoldierly air
raid on Dresden. The murder of hundreds of thousands of women and children was
wicked! Look – we fight as soldiers against soldiers – but they destroyed
culture and murdered relentlessly, wherever German hearts beat…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You didn’t tell us anything – about
your sister,” called Gutmann from over, “Nevertheless – believe me, it’s not a
genuine hatred, its instigation!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s right! But the clique of
haters lead the masses in hatred and further coup themselves! For once you can
believe the Promi: it’s Morgenthau’s people that laid in Casablanca the
foundation for a soon-coming chaos! – Because of a turning point – a turning
point I no longer believe in myself. We’ve definitely applied our arms of war
too late.” Recke said it very quietly like a man who’d come to terms with the
facts. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer pushed the stick in order to
get closer to the ground. “You’re right, Günther – I don’t there there’ll be a
turning point. We’ve already squandered too many chances. That means that today
we’re here as soldiers, tomorrow as prisoners. From Greenland…” He forced the
plane at an angle eastwards, “So – now we’ll see first where we can land.
Somewhere here…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Three pairs of eyes stared at the
space beneath them. The men knew clearly that a bad landing with damage would
mean the end of their mission. And with that no more return to the homeland as
well. The Linzer found a place just appearing in the view of the Boothia Gulf.
“Keep your fingers crossed, children!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If it goes well…” sighed Recke, “It’s
still all full of snow.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Never before in his life had Recke
scheduled a landing with so much thoughtfulness and attention. Snow dust and
crushed shreds wisped high in the back. The throttled engines hummed dully.
Before touching down the plane staggered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer had listened carefully to the
surface and had to take a light curve to avoid a small hollow. Then he’d
accomplished the feat entrusted to him, to bring the plane to a stop without
crashing it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann was the first to impatiently
strike back the cabin roof, “Damn it, it’s still pretty cold!” Stiffly he
climbed out of the cockpit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The second canopy flew back. The
abrupt collapse of fresh air stung almost painfully in the faces of the two
occupants. They also began to climb out. Their legs were stiff and numb. They
didn’t respond right. Before jumping to the ground, Reimer turned off the
engines. He said thereafter, “Hopefully they’ll come soon. It’s so cold… but I
have to save every drop of fuel. Otherwise someone will find some lonely,
frozen men later on in Greenland.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The men beat their arms around to
stimulate their blood circulation in the cold and in the legs as well. “Can you
think of anything?” asked Recke after grating his nose. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What do you mean?” Reimer made
heavy steps as if making an Indian dance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well – we are after all almost
fifteen minutes into our landing and can’t really tell between night and day.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here a day lasts half a year and
half a night,” Gutmann said smiling finely, “We went over this in Vernäs, where
were already close to the Arctic circle!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s nice when we have bright
nights. It makes flying easier. Nevertheless – I’m feeling really tired all of
the sudden,” Reimer yawned downright provocatively. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Caution – lockjaw!” warned Recke
smiling, “But I’m also tired. I’d even take pervitn!”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I already took some,” claimed
Gutmann, “Curiously I can’t complain about tiredness. I’ll take Reimer’s
place!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Linzer was not averse, “If you
want to…” They walked to the fuselage on the right where Gutmann had sat.
Reimer climbed up first and thoroughly examined the second controls, the
connections and the wiring, but couldn’t find anything. Together with Recke he
struck with thick gloves against the metal parts of the fuselage and the wing. Everything
held fast. No crack, no loose parts. Meanwhile Gutmann climbed on the other
side into the left-hand compartment. Recke looked at him with a side-long
glance, “What’s the stargazer looking for from us, huh?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Let him be,” said Reimer
inattentive. He was completely preoccupied with the search for a fault. Shaking
his head, he said after a moment, “I’d say we should start her up again.
Perhaps Gutmann was overwrought…” He broke off as Recke suddenly seized his
arms. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Now it’s all to clear to me!”
thundered the Kasseler, “The whole time the stargazer was out to get my place. Come
here, Herbert!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They trudged awkwardly around the
chassis. When they reached the other side, they saw only the curved back of
their companion. Recke jumped up first. Carefully and slowly, as if he were trapping
an animal. He saw Gutmann fiddling, completely engrossed in the radio
apparatus. Then Recke clamped down completely from on high. His face was red
with anger, from which only his cold nose stood out as a pale blue. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You damn corpse, you crazy little
kid – the ice has gone to your head!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann went in terror. Unlike Recke
he was suddenly pale. He wanted to say something, but his lips only twitched. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Gutmann radioed!” cried the
Kasseler to Reimer, who appeared beside him, “I’d just like to know – just why
and for what…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Linzer pushed closer to the
opening in the cabin and slid into his seat. “It that really true, Gutmann?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes – it’s true! I had to do it.
But I can’t tell you yet...” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before everything Reimer tried to
start the engines up again. Several times in vain. The cold chilled rapidly. Then
– Reimer already looking worried – a few times: tick – tick – a light tremor
and the propellers began to revolve again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Whew – we’re once again in luck! –
Because of your imagination, stargazer, we were almost frozen at the pole. Teixl–”
he added in his own dialect. As he turned around, Recke had pulled out a
handgun. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What did you radio?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now Reimer let loose, “You stupid
mutton! Do you want to lead a private war?” He hit Recke with a high hand,
which undid the cold steel-grip of the weapon. The pistol tumbled before
Reimer’s feet at the bottom of the seat. “Put your gloves back on, Günther! –
And you, Gutmann – out with it, the truth! – Quickly, quickly – we can’t lose
any time if we want to manage fuel, so…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
this moment –with the earpiece – Gutmann raised his hand and commanded silence.
Recke jumped up in his seat as well and pushed himself next to Gutmann. Curious
he pressed his left ear to the outer half of the earpiece. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“-beep-beep-Z-Y-X-Z-Y-X-stop
– expecting you – stop – position –”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
crashing and rattling interfered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“–
new – ord – ty degr – ate br – beep – beep –”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Damn
it!” Gutmann railed angrily, “What’s going on?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He
fumbled around furiously. Then – it repeated, “Z-Y-X… expecting you…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
made a face like a dummy. He’d heard the call-sign that Gutmann had asked him
to send some time ago. “And ZYX made contact? They’re expecting someone. Who
was ZYX?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
engines throttled still. Reimer, probably the most curious himself, waved a
hand. “Off, Gutmann, go to your cabin! – We have to still…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
promised to replace you! – I’m still fresh. Hurry up and–” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No,
I won’t do it, Gutmann. If I let you back with Recke you’ll be at loggerheads
again. Only one of you needs to have a tantrum, then adieu… So quickly, march,
march!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
hesitated. Recke gave him a shove, “Come on, come on…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">It took him a while before he was in his cockpit. The roofs
were closed, the windows slightly dull. “We have to wait for a little inner warmth,”
said Reimer, “Gutmann, see to it that you pay attention to the runway. With
that we won’t run into any holes!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">This time it was Recke who, in the meanwhile, got new readings
from the device. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Great radio,” he said, “since now there’s a concert going
through the air!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Our Gutmann’s awakened the whole world,” claimed Reimer, “Hey,
stargazer – explain quickly, everything you meant!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Not now – the time is short! – Only one thing: you now must
fly with my directions! I’ve taken a map into my cabin. Or more simply – I’ll
fly with my control. Reimer can dose off a bit and you, Recke, pay attention to
the ground and sky-space. We’ll come out with our fuel since the new route is
shorter.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“This can only be treason,” said Recke flatly. His powerful
body trembled with excitement. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Treason? No!” screamed Gutmann across passionately, “No and
yet again, no!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Do you have a second order that the two of us hadn’t known
about until now?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“An order?” There was a small pause, then, “Order? Yes!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The Linzer ran his gloved hands over the steering wheel which
still showed their lining. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“It is an unfortunate thing when a team is played among
themselves. At first it was: Secret Order, Recke, take it as senior officer…
then, Captain Gutmann, another order! Who would understand that? Gutmann, I
also think you’re making an irresponsible, incomprehensible play!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“I’ll try to explain to you during the flight. First let’s just
get away from here!” He saw as Reimer merely nodded over approvingly while
Recke grimly looked forward. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Slowly the plane began to take off. Again fine banners of snow
waved away to the side from the chassis. There were also scraps of an
underlying lichen. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Reimer had to pull himself together. The cold outdoors had
refreshed him contrary to his expectations, despite its unpleasant new
property, his heated flight-suit waking him and renewed his hidden need for
sleep further. “Give me a tablet, Günther! Pervitin.” With frantic eyes he
stared at the takeoff surface. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It seemed
smooth. Ten meters, twenty meters, forty – the white snow looked pained. Yellow
and violet circles danced before the eyes of Reimer. From the right screamed
Gutmann, “Achtung!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A push, the
right side of the plane fell back with a little jerk. The right landing gear
was pushed into a small depression and didn’t come out right. The plane made a
slight involuntary turn. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer
immediately pulled on the rudder and slowed the engines again. An even greater
swing followed, a slight push in the new direction, then the airplane hung
still again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Out! See what
it is!” ordered Reimer, while the plane broke to a complete standstill. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The canopies
flew back, the other captains jumped out, this time much more quickly, to the
ground and to the right fuselage. What they saw was not particularly encouraging.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The wheel was
caught in a recess, half-covered with new snow, which was only visible from a
short range. Gutmann had spotted it at the last moment, his warning unable to
stop it. When the plane was turning, the wheel had slid almost a meter in the
longitudinal direction of the hollow’s oval as the result of the burden upon
it, unable to take the weight of the ridiculously low pitch. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We have to put
something underneath to prevent it from slipping!” cried Gutmann. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Easily said,”
retorted Recke, “We don’t have anything!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The men looked
at each other perplexed, and not having acclimatized they froze horrible. They
were supposed to wear face-masks. The drought of the slowly moving propellers
whipped the cold air. Reimer didn’t dare to cut the engines off any more. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Scraping with
his fur boots, Gutmann tried to expose the lichens to use as a roller base. It
proved to be so difficult that it wasn’t worthwhile without equipment. He
therefore stopped his actions and returned to the hull where he took out a larger
piece-tool. As fast as his heavy clothing allowed him, he raked free the scraps
of moss around the depression. Recke was without word and followed his example.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It took a long
time before they paved the trough with a thick layered of matted vegetation in
the continuation of the wheel’s path. “Try to start her up, Reimer! – Perhaps
we’ll be able to get the plane out now.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The engines
roared back stronger and the propellers made glassy circles. The plane moved
again and lurched forward a little this time. But she couldn’t get over the
small slope. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Again at a
standstill. The Linzer also jumped out of the plane and brought out a coil of
rope, “Lay a serpentine twist under it!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It was Gutmann
again who first too grip and hastily took over the rope. Recke helped him and
Reimer hurried back to his place. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">At the next
attempt, the wheel came up almost to the brim, then suddenly the entire moss
pad slid from the hollow within which the cable was resting. They had gained
but a yard. Several times they repeated the experiment and the men became
warmed up from the work. It took nearly an hour before the feat was underway,
getting the right-hand fuselage out of the hollow without breaking. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The men now had
to fight a great weariness like Reimer as well, as the previous long-haul
flight inevitably entailed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke had almost
reconciled with Gutmann again since the smuggled brandy had become a valuable
source of heat. The still yet dominating cold had strangely enough still added
to it. They even powdered the stimulants given to them as they pursued their
work with the haste and mobilization of all their forces. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Just as they
were preparing to climb to their cabins, the rapidly increasing sums of silence
in the white desert were broken. Shortly thereafter, a rapidly moving shadow
darkened the bright surface of the landscape. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Get in!” roared
Recke, “Flyer over us…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like two plump
toads they hopped up and threw themselves into their seats. As they closed
their cabin doors, Reimer was already starting up. Without particular regard
for the terrain ahead of him, he risked a speedy takeoff. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“From the buzz
of our own plane we haven’t heard anything else!” Recke defended, as Reimer
swore violently despite his tenseness, “Yeah, now we’ve frozen our asses off
too!” he had to confirm. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Still the plane
had not yet taken from the ground when there already whipped up a whole series
of small snowy fountains on the nearest field next to them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The guy’s
bombarding us with onboard weapons!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer hit the
gas and the metallic twin-bird flew up over the surface like the shadow of a
heron. With the break from the earth, the plane had reached its first match on
wings. With a vicious pounding the bullets smashed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“There’s no more
grit!” Reimer took his foot off the gas and put in for a fresh landing.
“There’s nothing more to want…” While they landed the enemy aircraft thundered
away just over the German plane in an arc. Now the three captains could see
clearly the Canadian flag.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The sweeping arc
of the circle closing, the Canadians let to the ground and began to land. The
pilot of the enemy aircraft was a master, for he led out over runway in front
of the Germans in order to block any takeoff. Just before the twin-structure he
brought the obvious two-seater to a halt. The rigid board-weapons were pointed
directly to their enemy. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Don’t shoot,”
warned Reimer, as he noticed that Recke had taken a machine-pistol to hand.
“Else they’ll shred us overboard before we even put a scratch on them. Wait and
make sure they don’t get out order. Before anything else the map with X-Point!
If you need to, fuel over everything that’s paper and burn it!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’ll put it on
me,” said Recke firmly, “You and Gutmann, you have to make a wall around me.”
As for the Canadians, the cabin roof flew back and a masked man jumped to the
ground. He had a handgun in his right, “H a l l o, G e r m a n s!” he shouted
in English. The second man was crouched in his seat and had – which was easy to
guess – his hands ready on the trigger of the board-gun. As the first man
approached, the captains noticed he had a cloth wrapped around the grip of the
gun. Understandable in the cold. His right glove dangled on a string.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Y o u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a r e<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>p r i s o n e r s!” the Canadian thundered to the three men, in English
and then beginning in German, “Prisoners…” The man had a respectable cutting.
Despite the clamor of the two machines his words had been understood. He came
up close to the left fuselage and first forces Reimer and Recke to come down.
Both of them obeyed perforce, yet unwilling to let anything fall into the hand
of the enemy. Recke had previously slipped the gun into his right boot. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They were barely
on the snow-field when Gutmann jumped out unsolicited from on over. He came
rather awkwardly to the ground, not wanting to part with a sack that he had
with him. It dropped our from the sack.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“W e a p o n s –
Weapons?” The plump and red face of the brave Canadian looked at them
demandingly. Reimer declined. He carried a gun under his flight-suit, where it
was invisible but not very handy. Recke mumbled something indistinctly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The engine noise
swallowed up all the words that weren’t screams. The foreigner held the gun in
their faces and grabbed them fleetingly from waist-high. His mouth moved as if
to say “Okay,” which he’d growled. Then he looked at Gutmann, who appearantly
stood undecided. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hello, f e l l
o w!” said Gutmann as if he hadn’t noticed. Slightly bent he trotted to the
enemy plane dragging the bag behind him, the tail of which was black from
moisture. He made himself out to be such a strange, helpless figure that the
Canadians showed an ironic smile.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“C o m e<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>o n, come with me!” the man asked Reimer and
Recke. With a hand he indicated that they should follow Gutmann. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“No!” made Recke
with a face of defiance. Reimer was desperate for a moment, unable to find a
solution from keeping the enemy from getting the papers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Now the grey
eyes of the Canadian came over with a dangerous shine. He raised the handgun. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer and Recke
threw up their hands as a sign of surrender. Then the wind blew over a
uncertain cry. It sounded like a long drawn-out “Heeeeeeh…” All three turned
their heads to the other aircraft. They saw how Gutmann lay on the ground and
got slowly to his feet. He’d already come up against the driver’s seat. When he
stood upright again, he brushed the snow from the cumbersome thick clothes,
then picked up the bag and looked inside. Appearently, nothing being broken, a
trace of moisture had already started from the twin-engine. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The remaining
Canadian leaned out and yelled at the Germans in English, “You damned bloody
fool…” In that very second Gutmann ripped out his machine gun with his bare
hands and hit the opponent over him, thoughts fluttering quickly. A short
staccato of gunfire came harshly on the wint. The man in the airplane suddenly
reared up, then fell limp over the edge of the entrance. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For a short time
the three men by the German aircraft were rigid. The lightning-fast event had
overtaken all of them. “Damned…” shouted the Canadian. Again he shrugged up his
half-lowered gun, “Damned…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There was no
time for Recke to bend down and grab the gun from his boot. With presence of
mind, like never before he’d quickly torn of the glove from his hand and tossed
it in the man’s face. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Bang, bang,
sounded the gun. The Canadian had has unswervingly shot, though he was deprived
of his targets. While the bothersome glove fell, Reimer threw himself on top of
him. Through the impact both of the men faltered and tumbled to the snow. Recke
sprang immediately, grabbed the gun and pressed it to the Canadian’s hip.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Another
‘hands-up’ – but this time on the other foot!” Reimer and the others scrambled
to their feet. The last one breathed a warm breath onto his hand and then
resignedly fit the dangling glove over it. He cursed, but his words were
incomprehensible. Then Gutmann came back. Holding the gun in front of him, he
stepped up to the prisoner guarded by Recke.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“S o r r y<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>f o r<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>y o u r<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>c o m r a d e – Sorry for
your comrade!” he shouted and made a sign of regret, “D o<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>y o u<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>k n o w<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>S h a k e s p e a r e?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The man nodded
blankly. Only his eyes were suspiciously moist.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Well – to be or
not to be, that is the question! – According to Hamlet…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer came up
to Gutmann, “You’ve made a lot of damn crap, stargazer!” he shouted in his ear,
“But now you’ve ironed everything out again. I wasn’t even betting fifty cents
on us. Thought we didn’t have a chance…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Kasseler
went to Gutmann, without taking his eyes from the man, “You have a tick,
Gutmann, but when it comes down to it you’re a patented guy.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Ach, let it be.
We’re soldiers!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Well, we are
after all,” shouted Reimer, “But now what?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Let’s go to the
plane and take the fuel!” Gutmann thought of the man laying nearby, “Maybe the
guy left a few drops so he could fly back south. If he get’s back to
civilization, it wouldn’t be too bad for him anymore.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Then go,” said
Recke, “I’ll watch him for the time being.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer trudged
off approvingly with Gutmann. As they stood before the other plane, they saw
that the second man was dead. A thin strip of frozen blood loomed down the
outer wall of the fuselage. It came from a deeply hanging sleeve. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gutmann couldn’t
see right. He’d never fought that way before. He got sick. Reimer stepped up
carefully as if to not disturb someone sleeping and saw the driver’s seat over
the man’s body. “It’s still worth it for the fuel. We could even leave a few
drops. We’ll form a support-related decanting caravan with a fourth of the
tank. Now!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He carefully put
the dead back into his seat so that the exit was free. He threw a can from
behind the second seat down to the ground. It was full. As the two captains
stood again by their plane, it was Gutmann again whose eyes were everywhere. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“What kind of
puddle is that, under the center-piece of our apparatus?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer looked
back and winced, “That couldn’t be…” His nostrils flared slightly, trying to
perceive a smell. Then he jumped cumbersomely forward from between the two
hulls to the center-piece. “Our fuel…!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Together with
Gutmann he examined the mid-section from below. It was simple, really. Some of
the shots reigned down from the Canadian had punctured the fuel tank. Now it
was leaking like a scraped-up boat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Walking with the
Canadian before him, Recke also joined them. The three companions looked at
each other desperately. It was only the prisoner who understandably showed a
mocking laugh. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“There’s no more
sealant,” called the Linzer, “We should see how much fuel is still available
overall!” He jumped to his seat and looked at the fuel gauge, “Heh, comrades… we
can’t do anything more about the leakage.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He turned off
the engines and slowed the intake. The strong roar died down all at once and
the men could understand each other effortlessly now. The noise from the second
plane wasn’t as strong. “Fast talk, gentlemen! What now?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The three men
stomped curtly in the snow to keep themselves warm. Gutmann advised, “On the
other hand, we could use the remaining fuel to refill the Canadian plan. We’d
just have to switch planes!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Three men in a
box?” Reimer shook his head, “And the Canadian?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He threw an
empty canister from the cabin, “Gutmann, put him under the exit hole and start
with the fuel. A shame for every drop!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There was an
awkward silence for a few minutes. Then Gutmann suggested, “I only see two
possibilities. Either we fly off as a trio with two of us crammed like sardines
in the second seat and leave the Canadian behind, or I’ll take him and just one
of us! To land at Point ZYX,” Gutmann’s voice sounded urgently, “To come back
again and pick up our second man.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s not very
possible,” said Recke, “One of us alone here… I think that’d be really
dangerous. Although I’d do it myself…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“No!” replied
Reimer harshly, “The answer has to be something else. Of course we can’t leave
the guy to the dogs here. The Prisoner Statute burdens us with responsibility
for his life. We can’t leave one back here alone either since we have to
destroy the plane as quickly as possible, so it won’t become another surprise
victim. Therefore I propose: Recke and I will stay back together and will get
picked up at the soonest possible time. You, Gutmann, have to naturally make
sure that the prisoner stays secured during the flight. Anything else is simply
out of the question, and so further debate about this is a waste of time and
can’t be militarily justified!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’ll be hard
already,” said Gutmann and looked at the powerful prisoner.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Binding and
strapping him in. Simple stuff!” said Recke, “Reimer and I will clear out
anything of importance from the airplane and build an igloo. The Eskimos that
live in these parts supposedly live in such things. I read it once somewhere…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Tying up the
prisoner in the second seat and building an igloo are viable thoughts. It takes
the longest time to find the simplest answers!” With these words Reimer boarded
his seat again and began to work. He was determined and energetic. Gutmann and
Recke forced the Canadian to his plane. There they pushed him into the second
seat and let him help take out the dead. Recke, as the strongest, let him slide
gently to the ground and laid him somewhat aside on the snow. The Canadian out
a blanket from somewhere and threw it to Recke with which to cover the fallen. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">They understood each other without words. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We’ll bury him
when you guys are gone,” said the Kasseler to Gutmann. Then he asked the
prisoner to give him his hands backwards where he was tied together at the
wrists. From the equipment inside he’d unceremoniously cut off a pair of belts
which rendered their service excellently. Then the man was strapped in with the
seat belts. “There’s no other way,” Recke regretted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer came up
with the fuel canisters and filled the tanks up. After a second time he handed
Gutmann the maps, “Just take them!” he said as Gutmann showed him the Canadian
regional maps. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Where?” asked
the Canadian, who’d followed the surprise preparations for departure. He then
stammered and switched back to English, “Europe – it’s not possible…!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Of course,”
grinned Reimer in response the two words thick on his accent, “We’d never get
to Europe with this plane.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then, “Officer?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes,
Lieutenant!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We can untie
your hands if you give your <i>Ehrenwort</i>. <i>Ehrenwort</i> – word of honor – you
understand?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Okay! I
understand. You wouldn’t have trouble with me… Errenvuord!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Then free his
hands again, Gutmann!” Reimer asked for the prisoner, “He’ll hold his word…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’d also like
that! It’s a dumb feeling knowing that there’s a bonded person behind you,” he
reached for the Canadian’s hand, “His word it is!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes,” said the
man, closing his gloved hand tightly with firm pressure against Gutmann’s
right. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“And so it goes,”
interrupted Recke half out-loud, “But if we were to leave him with one of us
alone, I wouldn’t trust him…” He turned around and went back to Gutmann’s cabin
with Reimer to help clear it out. Gutmann oriented himself with the equipment
and apertures of the still alien aircraft. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Twenty minutes
later the stolen plane was ready for takeoff. “Don’t distance yourselves too
far away from here,” bid Gutmann, “Don’t forget, look out for the emblems of
any coming aircraft facilitating retrieval. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">I’ll be back as soon as possible!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“My comrade?”
asked the Canadian again in English and pointed with a hand to the dead man
laying to the side. It was obvious that it was close by. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“He’ll be buried
– ‘burried’!” explained Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’m astonished.
Are you not Huns?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Dumb ass,”
cried Gutmann, “Did they fill you with fairytales of Huns too?” To Recke, who
standing further away hadn’t understood as much, he repeated, “He think’s we’re
Huns and such…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“He really think’s
we’re man-eaters,” Recke snarled. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Just in case,
Gutmann stashed the handgun in the knee of his fur boot, on his inner leg.
Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to act if the Canadian decided to pull a violent
stunt. The machine gun he tucked behind his legs on the floor. The Heaven
Compass he’d already taken over himself and had already stowed it. The flight
direction was flawlessly clear for him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The companions
shook hands, “Break a leg, stargazer!” The Canadian saluted. The plane, which
had been reversed before, began to roll out and thundered across the white
face. Clouds of snow-dust rose up, and then the plane came off the ground and
flew slowly gaining height, off into the grey twilight of the northern night. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke and Reimer
sat in the closed cabin and took counsel. They were aware that their plane,
despire some ridiculously small holes, was beyond the point of recovery at this
point. The awareness that they had to end a flight begun with such hopes
because of the loss of carelessness with their problematic plane oppressed
them. Recke’s prompt accusations at Gutmann had only been too justified. The
two men couldn’t shake the feeling that Gutmann had played them, violating
despite his cutting and efficiency in the rules of true pilots’ camaraderie.
His previous hints had been all too ambiguous to gain any comprehensive
picture. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“So let’s go
build an igloo!” Recke concluded the previous palaver, “It’d be really
convenient if all we had to do was wait here and endure. But if another or even
more Canadian wasps show up, we’ll be handed up on a platter with the plane
too. We won’t be able to give them a black eye the second time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes – what must
be, must be!” the Linzer was very down-beaten. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“There’s no
other way! Start with the fact that we’ve mucked out everything that’s useful. I
suggest we take the seats out since we can hardly squat in the snow. </span><span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">No one wants a wet or frozen butt.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The men went to
work to put the proposal into action. They took the seats out and threw them
into the open. Then came three warm blankets. Food and thermos bottles and
brandy – a bottle of cognac that Gutmann had had to sacrifice in his dealing
with the Canadian plane – the Kasseler himself brought down to the ground. Likewise
the two M-Pi’s, which he threw tentatively into a blanket. Some tools, knives
and other small items were also placed in the blanket. Reimer squeezed an
overview map of northern Canada in his flight-suit. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Do we have
everything important, Herbert?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes,” replied
the Linzer, “Here – the order. We’ll burn it too. I have the position of
X-Point in my head.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">“Then our with us. Adieu, old timer!” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer emptied
an overflowing fuel can into the seat, having brought the second one with the
rest of the stashed items. He soaked some rags, tied a string to it strong with
moist fuel, and then sprang to Recke. He’d thrown the order into the fuel pool.
Recke ignited his lighter and held it to the line. It took a little while until
the fire started and a bluish flame began to slowly twitch. Then the fire
suddenly slipped on as if driven by an invisible hand. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Get back!”
shoutet Recke. He and Reimer ran cumbersomely, as much as their legs could
give. With precaution the men walked further backwards. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Even while
running they could feel the tan blazing higher. Far enough away, they turned
around. A bright flame steeped diagonally from the driver’s seat with the loud
roar of the draft. As a thick cloud a black, suffocating smoke grew over which
grew more and more in size. First a few bangs, which continued in a chain
reaction, then the flash of a flame which was accompanied by a horrible crackling.
Debris flew into the air, followed by a wobbly fire. The hydraulic of the left
landing gear collapsed like the leg of a bruised stork and one half of the
plane fell unfolding onto the ground. At the same time the mid-section buckled
and the plane rushed into burning. The radiating heat was so great that the
snow vaporized around it, hissing. Hot waves swept over the faces of the two pilots.
Black puffs of carbon impregnated the air. At the drama’s end there was a heap
of twisted and melted metal parts which still glowed. In the bright night stood
a dark column of smoke like a giant admonitory finger. Deeply stirred and with
narrowed eyes, the two friends went to their salvaged belongings. Reimer took
out one of the two remaining bottles of cognac and handed it opened to Recke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span lang="DE" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: DE;">“<i>Halali</i> – fight on!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Fight on!” repeated
the Kasseler. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They lashed the
knotted blankets onto the two seats, after which they took up the machine guns
and armed themselves. The rope-ends of the two luggages they secured in a wide
loop, to follow the seats like a sled. It was tedious, but it was nevertheless.
After the work they went to the dead Canadian and dragged him to the trough in
which they’d sacked the left-hand chassis of the plane. They pulled the lichen
aside and placed the man at the bottom of the oval hole. Then they poured the
moss on again, and then the accumulated snow to form a small hill.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As Reimer stuffed
the papers he’d taken from the dead in his pockets, in order to bring them to
th Canadian lieutenant, Recke went back to the burning place of their plane. He
returned with a propeller part that had flown away. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We don’t have
any crosses,” he said harshly. Thus he heaved the flier sign at the head of the
grave-mound in the snow. Then both of them rendered the fallen one last salute.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The light of the bright night slept like a dim veil over the
lonely expanse of the polar landscape. </span></div>
Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-59500450279487338362012-10-13T14:40:00.002-07:002012-10-14T11:31:08.750-07:00Chapter 1: Secret Order<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">SECRET
ORDER </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The
sky above Trondheim was grey and overcast. The Nidelven flowed lazily through
its crooked bed and through the Elvehavn, between Bratoren and Lademoen in the
rippling fjord. The old city, the cradle of the Norwegian Reich, showed little
life and the trees in the park behind the Fruekirke and the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Kongsgaarden
reported yet with bare branches against the opaque cloud cover. Still this
late-winterly Trondheim was beautiful. Upon the city lay the mood of a
historical tradition and the old buildings showed testament to the skills of
the elder northern architecture. The shipyards and factories elsewhere <span class="hps">heralded</span> <span class="hps">by the</span> <span class="hps">industry
and</span> <span class="hps">the</span> <span class="hps">vitality of a</span> <span class="hps">settlement, which</span> <span class="hps">had been burned</span> <span class="hps">repeatedly</span> <span class="hps">and yet</span> was <span class="hps">still</span>
<span class="hps">completely</span> <span class="hps">undaunted,</span> <span class="hps">newly</span> <span class="hps">purchased</span>. The port, or the
lively hub of international trade and much loved port for Norwegian travelers,
was now in the fifth year of the Second World War deprived of its
determination. In Elvehavn and Ydrehavn, aside from some Norwegian fishing
vessels, lay only some smaller units of the German Kriegsmarine. The mouths of
the guns stood out into the open bay and the thin tubes of the Flak-quartet
threatened against the western half of the sky prepared. From the elevation of
the district Baklandet also lay the old Norwegian artillery-barracks at its
foot, rising high like a silent doom up the long steel fingers of the Flak. To
the locals, military life in the city had already become a habit. They also
showed no more particular curiosity when German cars entered the harbor or left
it. But one could see that they showed no particular love for the occupation of
their country, yet they were quite polite and made no troubles and one could
even see they were impressed by the accuracy and discipline of the Germans. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For this reason
a few of the locals were now polite aside as two German flight officers with
the rank of captain came out from the Theater-Café at the corner of
Prinsensgade and Erling Skakkesgaade. The Germans tipped their caps in thanks
and went in the direction of the By-Bridge. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“We actually had some more time, Günther”, said one of them,
throwing a quick glance at his watch. “Captain Gutmann only comes in an hour
with the car!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The addressed, Captain Recke from Kassel, motioned slightly
with his hand. “It’s better if we come earlier to the agreed meeting point.
Gutmann is able and could drive without to the airport without us.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“You’re right,” replied the second officer, Captain Reimer,
“Gutmann’s capable of anything. He’s a good comrade, but sometimes very
strange.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They crossed the intersection of
Munkegaden and saw before the cathedral a three-man strong patrol coming up
which greeted them slackly. This time the two officers also lifted their hands
in a German salute, as regulations prescribed for about a year. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes, we still have the war firmly
in hand. But news from the front, especially from the East, isn’t very
encouraging,” replied Recke thoughtfully, “There probably isn’t even enough boot
polish anymore – damn tough!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer, who came from Linz, nodded.
“The sparrows are have already whistled from their roofs… but there must be
some sense in that we’re still here in the north. It looks as if it there’s
only five minutes till midnight. And whether the Supreme Command of the
Wehrmacht wants to wait with a change of location until about one or two before
twelve? …”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I see it as if we’re to come back
into play after then,” Recke muffled his voice even more, “The official
information on the Alpine fortress being under quick construction and the
secret bases in Greenland suggest certain things aren’t ready to use yet. Only
then would our presence here be understandable.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I wish you were right,” replied
Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Namely,
that we come into play at all?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Are you already such a pessimist?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes and no! – And I don’t trust
that we’ll stand the whole world, which stands in its entirety against us, on
its head. But for that we’ll need enough ammunition and fuel, and above all a
political event. With prohibitions and ammunition restrictions, you can’t win
anymore victories. And in this respect it seems very windy.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Why’re you telling me what the
whole troop knows anyhow?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Because you’re out to confuse my
pessimism with defeatism,” Reimer made pinched lips. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke grabbed reassuringly on the
arm of a comrade. “I know exactly what you mean, Reimer! Who could shut themselves
from the facts already? Still, I’m hoping for a miracle…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It looks as if we’ll only hope. We
don’t have much else with which one could start something up. It’s only a
flickering flame, but I still carry this tiny light in my heart.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both were silent. They went over the
By-Bridge and turned left to the Rosenborg basin. Once again walking between
rows of houses, they heard the screeching of the gulls still that swept over
the waters of Elvehavn. There and again fluttered some of the white birds over
the roofs of the neighborhood. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They stood still before the
Bakkekirche. “If Gutmann is on time, we won’t have to wait much longer,” Reimer
took up the suspended conversation again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke nodded, “Gutmann’s a
pedantist. If he’s not stopped without any fault, it comes sooner than later.”
He fumbled at his fur collar to get his neck free. With the course of the
winder the cold had already waned considerably. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They’d gone only twice before the
church square as a jeep of the German Wehrmacht from Bakkegaden in Kirkegaden
made a sudden turn and with sudden brakes stopped before them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Ah, Gutmann!” The officers saluted
casually. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Captain Gutmann waved invitingly,
“Just got here, gentlemen! There’s still enough space to sit in the car, you
just have to tighten your legs a little. There are some nice boxes sitting
there I don’t want to throw out because of you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke was the first in the car. He
inspected the cargo which consisted of several small boxes from which some
straw peeped out comically. In black stenciled lettering stood painted, “DON’T
DROP – GLASS!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hey, what’s that?” Recke tried to
sniff with his nose. The grimaces provoked laughter. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The otherwise locked face of Gutmann
showed a mischevious smile, “I’ll let you guess three times!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nonsense,” rumbled Recke, “It’s
not raspberry juice…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“And no bottles to throw against the
wall for the Kaiser’s birthday either,” laughed Reimer in between. “Give up your
usual secretive actions, dear Gutmann! What’s been loaded in the jeep?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Three starlets,” hummed the Captain
on the handlebars. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke and Reimer looked at him
drowsily. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If you have a long line, that is,” grinned
Gutmann and tapped his forehead with his right pointer finger, “then it stays
dark in the upper story.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I got it!” Reimer gave Recke a
gentle nudge, “Cognac’s what our stargazer’s loaded.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes! – Cognac with three starlets.
Real French!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s because it surprised me that
the paymaster’s moved around so much. Usually the best things are hoarded so
long until they finally fall into the enemy’s hand,” grunted Recke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Maybe there was a Führer-decree
concerning Cognac,” quipped Reimer over the paymaster. “The mealhorses are only
like that if they’ve a gun at their chest or are drunk.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The idea with the decree can’t be
right. Decrees end for the most part in the latrines,” philosophized Recke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Remember that God’s ways are
wonderful,” said Gutmann jokingly. “Above all it should be the last of this
famous variety of Cognac.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You’re right, Gutmann,” agreed
Recke. “From now on the Yanks have probably taken subscription to this mark
under Eisenhower. Since the failure of the Ardennes offensive our source will
probably be lost.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The captain sitting upfront narrowed
his eyes. Gruffly he said: “Let the damn front out of the game! There both
sides they have no time to think of booze. Just us at the ass end of nowhere…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, it’s not so bad,” protested
Reimer, “A beautiful city in a gorgeous fjord, what else do you want? Thousands
of tourists dream in peaceful times of it, to be able to visit this beautiful
Norway with its harsh landscape. And Trondheim…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Alright, Reimer,” soothed Gutmann,
“You’re already sitting tight? – Then full throttle!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While the boarded officers yet
lolled, the driver pressed the gas pedal and drove rapidly. In a few minutes
the car had left the district of Baklandet behind it, driving through Lademoen
past the foothills of Ledehammeren and along the shores of Stjördalsfjord to
the waterlogging airport. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A peaceful wind whistled against the
travelers. They pressed their caps deep into their foreheads and stuck the fur
collars of their long leather coats high again. While the driver looked out to
the road, strutting towards his goal with great speed, he jammed the legs of
the rear passengers against the lightly rumbling boxes to prevent the slippage
of the precious cargo. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer tried a few times to start a
conversation with his neighbors. Because the wind tore the scraps of words from
his mouth, he gave up the attempt. From time to time the two officers drove the
backs of their hands over their faces as they drove the water from their eyes
against the sharp breeze. Only Gutmann was slightly better off because he was
directly behind the protective screen, protecting him from the wind. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After about a forty-five minute
journey they arrived at the water-logging. “Today we come as Santa Claus,”
Reimer joked as the car came to a halt at the airport. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What do you mean?” said Gutmann, “I
deliver my Cognac alone. See to it that you get out here!” He twisted his face
into a broad smile. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Stargazer, stargazer!” called
Reimer wistfully warning and waving the significant gesture of an inxed finger.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He tapped his cap’s visor lightly
with his right hand and jumped from the jeep. Recke came a little portly after.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“’Till later,” grunted Gutmann,
“Bye!” – He drove on and disappeared into a Barrack alley with the car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer’s legs had become somewhat
clammy from the crowded seats. “Now some boring days lie before us. Except for
one good Cognac and persistent bad news on the radio, we’ve nothing here.” His
countenance expressed discontent. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A young officer came straight across
the airfield to the newcomers. He had a short warm flying jacket on and upon
the right half of his head sat daringly the blue-grey ship with a silver
poplar. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Any news of importance?” he called
out to Recke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Naturally,” the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lieutenant shouted back, “The adjutant’s
given that the two Rs may arrive with him at once after returning from
Trondheim!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two Rs were Recke and Reimer who
got this jocular name from the whole airfield because of their inseparability
and from the same initial letters of their names. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hm, of course it won’t be quite
so,” whined Reimer in between, “Naturally just the boredom.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Lieutenant Weiss had come very close
to the two Captains. “I believe with the boredom time will pass quickly within
the next few days. Tonight a strange bird came to our airport. There – he’s in
the back!” His right hand pointed to the background of the field. The captains
followed the direction-giving hand with their eyes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The two machines standing in the
very back?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A</i>
machine,” the Lieutenant emphasized, “It’s a new design. A DO-635 with two
hulls. The twin-structure is generally flown as a two-seater.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The radioman on the right, the pilot on the
left.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s mighty interesting,” said
Recke, “We’ll want to inspect it once out of the vicinity!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If I may remember – the Adjutant’s
demanded it urgently already!” threw in the lieutenant reluctantly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Well then, we’ll go to the Adjutant first,” decided Reimer
summarily. Somewhat curious, they walked with long strides towards the staff
building. The lieutenant trotted along behind them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Still looking around on the road,
Recke asked, “Are some of the planes not prepped? – The place looks a little
thin.”<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Three Me-109’s have taken to the air with orders,” answered
Lieutenant Weiss, “Just a plane ready in the weather squadron. The new Do-635’s
also been assigned in the way of the weather squadron.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Immediately before the staff
building they discovered a lanky young lieutenant that hadn’t known them. He
gave a greeting but looked very depressed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Who’s that?” Recke turned back to
Weiss. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Arrived tonight with the funny Do
and transferred to us. He’s got worms in his heart, so he runs around like a
scalped paleface.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He probably pulled some shit,” said
Recke lightly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The swallows say differently,” said
the Lieutenant lightly back, “I already had a short talk with him this morning.
He told me he was previously stationed in Denmark, where they were shipping
boxes everywhere but had strict bans on aerial engagement.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“A strange disk that was placed and
played there,” muttered Reimer.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Lieutenant whispered, “He told
me he took off on a reconnaissance flight over the lake and was attacked by two
British Spitfires. One of them he shot down – his first hit – the second he
chased wounded. As he proudly said, his victory in the shaky flight, rolled out
and announced to his commander when he made landing, let him wait for a full
hour in the hallway before meeting him. Instead of an award and a promotion he
was given a kick that washed him up. The commander went so far as to threaten
the poor guy with a court martial!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Unbelievable!” Reimer was
indignant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It seems to be fact,” Weiss
confirmed his story, “There was a racket where Lieutenant Mohr drew the short
straw, as it couldn’t be any other way with the difference in ranks. The final
result was a transfer to us. Now the poor guy’s filled with anger and can’t
understand the world anymore.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Me neither,” interjected Reimer
again, “This whole thing’s already royally screwed!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Tut-tut-tut,” clicked Recke,
“Speech is silver, silence is golden! We can’t sweep a stable alone.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Unfortunately,” whispered Weiss. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well, one is flown away from the
eyrie and, if necessary, shot.” Recke wanted to end the conversation with this
sentence. “We thank you, dear Weiss, you’re our indispensable living newspaper.
Now we’ll see what the Adju wants. Bye, for now!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Weiss also saluted and then turned
around.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A few minutes later Recker and
Reimer stood before the Adjutant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It’s good that you came,” greeted
Hauptmann con Wendt with a slightly nasal voice, “I’ve just been appointed as
commander. Will you do the same, because the Colonel’s asked it several times
of you!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hopefully nothing bad?” asked
Reimer entering. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Nah, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meine Herren</i> – But psst! – Secret commander things!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hopefully something sensible,”
groused Recke. Von Wendt curled his brows, his face becoming an arrogant,
repellent display. “Everything is reasonable with us, captain!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke acted as if he hadn’t heard,
“Should we wait here in Waiting Room?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think that would be best,” laced
the Adjutant. He went away with a map under his arm. Recke sat on the simple
table of the Adjutant without much circumstance while Reimer stayed before the
large Norwegian land map which hung on the wall next to the window. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thumb-tacks and miniature flags were stuck to
the chart. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It looks cute,” muttered Reimer,
cocking his head. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s everything so far,” added
Recke dryly, “One tends to chalk up or mark lost items simply because a point’s
a point and has to be drawn after the LDV.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That’s part of what’s commonly
called an organization.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“That too,” said Recke with slight
irritation and picked up a drawing from the table which lay between stacks of
business papers, “This war-division that our O.I. accompanied so dedicatedly
also belongs to organization. It’s just another war of paperwork then, which
eventually just ends up in the trash bin. It makes me sick…” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer relented, “It’s not to me,
Recke! Everything here has a necessity that we can’t just abandon. It’s no
different here than anywhere in life, it’s just that too much is unhealthy. Let
the O.I. quietly scribble his statements. It’s better he’s writing an overview
on firepower instead of dozing off or painting naked women on the document
files.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You have an excuse for everything,”
laughed Recke spiritedly. He then took the outline he’d picked up and looked at
it in more detail. “The group’s target plan exists on paper, but our work
doesn’t even put out the amount of a squadron.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Who knows what tomorrow brings?”
lectured Reimer precociously. Recke was stripped of yet another objection. The
door opened and Von Wendt appeared. “Both the Rs to the Commander,” he said
raspily. He left the let the two summoned go on their own and stayed behind.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Break a leg,” he called out. While
Reimer continued on indifferently, Recke turned around in surprise. “Why, Wendelin?”
He knew that Von Wendt couldn’t stand that nickname, and would bit a little
from hearing it. So he added weakly, “Hummel-Hummel!” since the Adjutant was a
native of Hamburg. At the Commander’s door the two captains adjusted their
belts and patted the pockets of their leather jackets flat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As they entered, the Commander stood
over his table looking at a pile of Wehrmacht maps. A map lying on top, the
paper surface illuminated with fields of white – clearly an ice or snow
landscape, seemed to capture his interest. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Captain Recke and Reimer returning
from Trondheim, Colonel,” both officers hoisted their arms after Recke’s
report. Colonel Troll, Commander of the Flight Base, moved his head only
slightly. “Just a moment, <i>meine Herren!</i> Just a brief moment…” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He sought further on the map,
encouraged, until he’d clearly found a point. Then he sat up and eyed the
officers intently. “I have an assignment, gentlemen!” He waved his hand and
lowered his voice a little, “Come, look here!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>While the addressed answered his
call, the colonel said, “Alright, my gentlemen, I’ve received a top secret
document from Berlin. I’ve chosen you to carry out the related order. I need
two officers that I can rely on for it. Your orders are secret and you’re
henceforth acting under secrecy!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Both captains took briefly to
attention. “You can count on us, <i>Herr Oberst!</i>” said Recke tightly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I know, I know – just come here!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Commander rummaged among the
papers next to the pile of maps and plunged again into a document which jumped
into vision with the red overprint “TOP SECRET” across its cover. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You’ll be starting with a new
machine and perform long-haul test flights with a new type of navigation
system. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The machine that you’ll be taking has a range of
seven-hundred-five thousand kilometers, but no weapons. Since this is a new
design, it cannot fall into enemy hands under any circumstances. You understand
me, gentlemen. I can’t give you hunting license.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The captains considered the searching eyes of the commander
standing quietly. None of their gazes faltered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Good, then! I’ve given the order that no one from the local
staff is allowed to deal with the machine any closer. That’s naturally untrue
for you! Afterwards contact Major Küpper, who’s flown the machine alone with a
radio operator, and get detailed instruction. Küpper’s flying back again early
tomorrow morning with a crow, while an accompanying lieutenant is staying with
us. Ready yourselves further for a long flight and think about how you’ll be
gone from here for some time. Temporary stationing at a certain base point may
be necessary. So – and tomorrow morning at half past seven you’ll meet with me,
where you’ll receive your orders. I’ll prepare your maps personally too.
Everything else that’s important – that’s also for tomorrow morning!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“<i>Jawohl, Herr Oberst!</i>” The two captains hooked their arms
together and saluted. Then they began to leave the room. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Stop – there’s something else!” The commander snapped the
fingers of his right hand. “Tell Küpper he can teach you detailed enough about
the Shadow-Navigation Device. Tell him to do it when no one is listening.
Utmost secrecy is called for.” His voice became very powerful: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“I’m counting on you, <i>meine Herren!</i> And now, please send Von
Wendt to me, I’ll draw the order up with him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">He came out from behind the table and walked up to his officers
who already stood before the door of his room. He hefted his right hand, “Good
bye!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">As Reimer stood with Recke before the headquarters building, he
pushed his cap against his forehead and scratched above his neck in an
embarrassing gesture. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“So this time I’d had nothing against boredom. Whoops! It’s
probably like the late Wilhelm Busch said: First it comes differently, then
what secondly as one thinks…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“I don’t make anything of it,” explained Recke. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Alright, so we explore the North Pole to the umpteenth time
again. Judging from the white spots on the map…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Aha – it’s good that you reminded me of it. I might’ve
forgotten it. Now I’m really curious again, I’d do anything to be in Wendt’s
place. If this Major – well, what’s his name again now?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Küpper – he probably doesn’t know too much. He probably
brought the secret orders – closed of course – but otherwise?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Then let’s go ask him!” urged Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Let’s go ask him,” mimicked Recke, “Where is he then?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Oh yes, hmm…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">A window of the headquarters building stood opened slightly.
Recke took a few steps towards it and shouted in, “Hello! Lieutenant: Berg! Do
you know where the flying Major Küpper is?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">While the voice called out some barely understandable words,
from the entrance of the building a strong voice intervened, “Here’s the bird
that just flew in, gentlemen!”<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The two captains turned and
snapped to attention. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“<i>Herr Major</i>…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“No circumstance, if I may. You called?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“On orders of the Colonel to you, <i>Herr Major!</i> Captain Reimer
and Captain Recke…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Ah! May I trouble you?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“<i>Zu Befehl, Herr Major!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The Major, also still a young Flight Officer with a
fighter-pilot badge, an Iron Cross First Class and the German Cross in gold on
his flight suit, stepped out of the complex and walked to the buildings
standing outside, “We want to be disturbed.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Recke and Reimer exchanged glances, taking to The Major. In the
next building, which they entered, were the living quarters of the squadron
officers. The Major had refused to move into a better quarter in Trondheim and
requested field-standard accommodations at the airfield. He was awarded the
room of a lieutenant assigned on short leave. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">In the quick and concise manner of old Frontofficers, the Major
single-handedly took two chairs from the neighboring rooms and grouped them
around the small table by the window. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">With the major’s hand motion, the two captains took their
places with a tight nod. Without formality he began to speak, “I take it, my
gentlemen, that the commander has already explained a special mission to
perform under the strict compliance of all security rules. They have their
trust and,” the major smiled away, “also that of the General Staff Officer and
of the NSFO. You understand, yes, even in the Lufwaffe High Command…” The
speaker bit his lips, as if he had already said too much. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Recke looked very serious, “We’ll fulfill every order to our
best ability and with dedication to the fullest, <i>Herr Major!</i> – Otherwise the
commander issued orders without even mentioning the objective. We’re to receive
the order tomorrow morning…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Stop, captain! You must be mistaken; you’re being handed the
order only after the departure’s been sealed. Do you mean rather the general
instructions?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“The commander gave explicit order! I was surprised because I
had the impression we’d have to take on a machine without it having been flown
in…” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Of course you’ll have to fly in it. You have two days’ time,
so far as flying weather holds. I will…” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The major was interrupted by a heavy knocking at the door. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Come in!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">In the doorway stood an orderly. “The <i>Herr Major</i> to the
Commander immediately!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Ah – I’m coming! Keep your seats, gentlemen, I’ll be back…” He
walked quickly over the orderly out of the room, closing the door behind him.
The rumble of boot soles on the floor boards faded. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Funny stuff,” grumbled Recke,
“They’re swirling about in the base as they’re bringing a revolutionary wonder
weapon into use. From here…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Better something than nothing,”
replied Reimer and crossed his legs, “My school friend wrote to me that the V2
has already lost its first surprise-effect and everyone’s in the homeland’s
waiting impatiently for new and more effective weapons. The constant references
in broadcasting through the <i>Reichspropaganda</i> sheikh expect a tube with which
one could just cough away the entire Eastern Front. He also writes that the
skepticism was well advanced and the popular jokes already speak of a V6 being
a man throwing a rock and then saying ‘boom’ just after.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What boneheads! They’re probably
the ones that sent Panzers on the Eastern front hay instead of fuel. Or that
supplied the Russkies with the same Panzers as the Axis, where they – without
punchline or counter – can use the same things. What do they have, pop jokes…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t get mad. Remember the
immortal words of the great Viennese Richard Genèe off the bat, ‘Happy is he
who forgets what is too late to change…’”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Bull!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You really shouldn’t let yourself
go, but your thoughts return to our 3-SK!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What kind of design is that?”
Reimer laughed loudly, “Three Star Cognac!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Don’t get too excited!. It’s first
long incubated by our feedhorse long before a single serving’s drop comes.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“There’s a remedy against that,”
chuckled Reimer, “We invite the guy to a small leisure flight and slip and spin
with him around in the air until he throws up his covetous black soul from his
body. In this condition, afterwards such involuntary acrobatics are always very
personable!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Then you’ll never get into a single
box. He looks at the tail from the highest of the airplane.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">After
a while the major came back, “<i>Meine Herren</i>, given circumstances’ sake, you’re
getting another comrade as a third companion as originally planned.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Well well,” made Reimer, “I thought the new machine is a
two-seater?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Who said that?” The voice of the major sounded metallically
sharp. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Reimer put his ear sharply back and restrained himself. If he
mentioned Lieutenant Weiss, it could turn out uncomfortable for them. Even
though he’d revealed little more than any sentry knew. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“<i>Herr Major</i>, my comment was referring to a guess when I saw it in
the background of the landing field!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Is it so?” The Major looked at the captain from Linz
suspiciously, “Therefore – as the third man you’re getting Captain Gutmann with
you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Of all people, Gutmann?” Both officers looked to each other. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The major tapered, “To you have something against your
comrades?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Recke swallowed, “Not at all. A good comrade, very reliable.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“But?” continued the Major for him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“No buts, actually. He’s somewhat eccentric. However, always
ahead!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“So nothing to complain about?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Nothing, <i>Herr Major!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Hmm.” There was a small pause. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Suddenly Recke asked, “Our commander told us earlier he only
needed two officers. Not everything is clear to me. If, sir…?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“A mistake of the Colonel’s! If you insist on an exact answer
to your question, then it can be unpleasant for one of your comrades. Because
it’s then, in case of not knowing better, for sure, that someone knows the new
design and talked despite orders. But they’ll probably put little emphasis on
the prosecution for finding the Person-X. Or?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke and Reimer
sat silent. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Treachery and
stupidity are completely separate concepts,” said the Major in a quiet tone,
speaking as if to himself, “One cannot always be stubborn, as required from the
provision of an old braid. We pilots also have to uphold a camaraderie.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You speak from
the heart, sir,” Recke looked at Küpper warmly. The Major grunted. But before
any new things could be said, there was a knock. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Come
in!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
door opened and Captain Gutmann stepped in. He saluted and made himself at
home. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Captain,
feel free to grab a chair from next door!” Major Küpper smiled pleasantly.
Gutmann turned immediately and came back with a shaky-looking seat. With a nod
he sat beside Recke and waited for him to speak. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’ll
try to be brief and cut to the chase,” began Major Küpper impersonal and
objectively, “Above all, I want to set it straight that I described the newly
introduced machine as a DO 635 with intent as if incidentally, a type more or
less unknown, but not representing the latest…” He stopped briefly and smiled
faun-like at the two captains, “So incidentally, you can also easily see how
remarks, made seemingly inadvertently, have served their purpose. Don’t you
think so, gentlemen?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
nodded stiffly like a doll, while Reimer coughed and made a face. The lewd
smile disappeared from Küpper’s look and his voice became hard. In the jargon of
the front’s soldiers he only said, “It’s namely the world to give a damn what
model is really flown here.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“…the
world gives a damn,” mimicked Recke, an old habit, as if to confirm. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Major studiously ignored the repetition, “Since you’re all subject to special
secrecy now, <i>meine Herren</i>, I’ll explain that the machine that’s been mentioned
to you is a type of Junkers improved and redesigned, which was expanded as a
three-seater and has yet a greater range; namely eight-thousand kilometers.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Beautiful,”
murmured Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“In
the three-man crew, the operator’s seat is in the left fuselage, which is
behind the pilot’s, while the right is normally designed for an air mechanic
with a second controller. In this particular case we have to be in agreement over
these seat, that is role, placements!” Küpper looked at the three captains
questioningly in turn. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“If
I may make a suggestion?” threw in Gutmann, leaning forward slightly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“So
I may ask,” Küpper encouraged him politely. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well
– I mean – since my comrades Recke and Reimer apply as lovebirds here…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
want the place for the sole occupant?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i>Jawohl,
Herr Major</i>!” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very
nice. Very comradely. That pleases me,” said Major <span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;">Küpper appreciatively, “The personal would therefore be settled. I will
therefore immediately begin to make you familiar with the details of the design
in theory. Tomorrow morning we’ll go to the machine to connect the practical
lessons and start flying. So much as it is, the whole thing isn’t too
remarkable. But now the main thing, gentlemen!”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; letter-spacing: .1pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Major made a dramatic pause and
saw three motionless faces which betrayed stress. “The purpose of your flight
with the Do-Ju Design is the testing of a new navigation device mainly out of
the additional implementation of a military assignment. This device – we can aptly
call it the Heaven Compass – is a new invention from our scientists back home
and has to be tested for its usefulness in polar regions. I take the liberty to
confide in you that these zones will gain increased strategic importance during
the current overall military situation in the near future. If the Heaven
Compass lives up to its expectations, then our Luftwaffe will be ahead of the
enemy’s noses – one can say even quietly, as long as an elephant’s – once
again.” </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Küpper
belittled his own comparison, “Now I’ll try to help you understand the
principle of this navigational aid with just a few words. If something appears
unclear during the presentation, interrupt me quietly with questions,
gentlemen. Clear?”<span style="letter-spacing: .1pt;"></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Gladly
– <i>jawohl, Herr Major!</i>” were the words that came back.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
continue thus: the benefit of the new device lays in that it with its help you
can find the position of the sun at any time of the day. However the condition
is that there has to be some of the blue sky showing. It also functions at
twilight, when the sun is just below the horizon. With the relevant provision
of the sun and other instruments you can always calculate the position of the
plane easily. As you know, the magnetic compass is an irritable in the polar
regions. At certain times we thus have an error-free position detector, with
this device in the polar region, which will increase flight safety
substantially. The design-principle itself is about the same, that during the
day the sunlight striking on the ground is partially polarized. That means that
the electromagnetic oscillations in the plane will be strongest. Since both the
sun and the observer lay on this plain, it’s possible to determine the position
of the sun through an analyzer. Measurements conducted on the ground give up a
degree of accuracy. From the airplane a minimally increasing inaccuracy is
given, which is of little importance. This is understandably due to the uneven
movements of the plane. And again going back to the polar regions; the new
Heaven Compass is of particular benefit for these areas because the twilight
there lasts long – and therefore at certain times – as opposed to the irritable
compass which inevitably prepares anger and worry. It’s strange that the Heaven
Compass is more precise near the poles than anywhere else. This is due casually
to the measurements together with the actual measurement at hand. So much for
short theoretical introduction, gentlemen! Tomorrow we’ll talk about the plane
even closer, the practical tests will then be entrusted to you. Be responsible
and appreciate this trust!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“<i>Jawohl, Herr Major!</i>” said all the captains at
the same time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hm…
and due to additional responsibilities, hm… you’ll be given more details by the
Commander before the scheduled takeoff. I have only the technical part of the
mission to tell you. Prepare and we’ll meet tomorrow morning, well – say, at
seven-thirty, by the machine itself. For today we’ll want to stop here. I thank
you, gentlemen!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
three captains rose. Küpper raised his hand, as if to say goodbye with this
salute. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How
do you greet someone in Norway?” he asked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
grinned, “By this time you can say God Aften already, <i>Herr Major!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“God
Aften? That’s just good evening, isn’t it?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i>Jawohl</i>,
it is!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“So
then!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
Reimer, Recke and Gutmann stood alone outside again, they looked at each other
dumbfounded. Recke was the first to speak, “Now I’ll just have a go at it
sometimes and say I wasn’t a prophet. For little over an hour after being dismissed
from the commander I said that we’d follow in the footsteps of Wegener, Nobile
and Admunsen. From the white maps of the north pole and so on. Sky, ass and
twine! Now we’ll actually have to slip over the humps through the northern
lights!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Be
happy that we’re getting away somewhat from this bleak operation,” Reimer threw
in, “I’ve imagined such a flight before as being eerily beautiful.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“..eerily,
eerily,” Recke mimicked again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
looked around to see if anyone from the ground crew was nearby, then he tugged
his ear like a cocky schoolboy and stuck out his tongue. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Blah!”
he said, “You cynical spirit, I’ll go down deep and photograph the ice-bears.
I’ll only let you see the pictures once!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I’m
not a fan of bad pictures anyway, hahah!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’ll
see who has the last laugh! Moreover – shouldn’t we ask our dear Gutmann how he
managed to be the third one in our crew?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yeah,”
called Recke, “Come on Gutmann, out with it! How did you spin this thing?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
made a mischievous face that matched any other little seriousness of his, “A
little Christmas bell lightly rang and something happened to me by a nice
commission, then I just went to Wendt and had him put a good word or
recommendation in with the Commander. Over all Von Wendt found a flask of
Three-Star Cognac in his room, for which he has a particular weakness.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
two others laughed. Recke said, “Yeah and where in devil’s name did you come by
the brandy?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Didn’t
we load some up in Trondheim?” asked Gutmann with an innocent expression.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“How’d
you divert it?” Reimer was the questioner.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Very
simple. I had some bottles reported as ‘broken’”. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Haha,
that’s great. And where are the other flasks?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Reserved
for the takeoff to the ice-bears!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Fantastic!”
laughed Recke in between, “And the feed-horse believed it?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Not
really, but he had to. I laughed at him when he spoke of the need to make a
report. He thought he’d have to blame himself.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Of
course! That’s his guilty conscious. It probably won’t be the first time he’ll
report them ‘broken’. If others do the same, it’s not the same to him. Old
recipe. Also, if he becomes an example, he’s afraid that someone will step on
his tail.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
squeaked happily, “For inner warmth he’d worry enough!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
darkness slowly interrupted while the three officers talked around the
airfield. Gutmann, otherways always very cautious, was tidy this time and in
good spirits. Recke and Reimer enjoyed themselves, their comrade now receptive
and more human to get to know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Where are you
from?” asked Reimer and looked at Gutmann, “One knows so little of you. Your
accent’s probably Hessian?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I’m Hessian
myself,” protested Recke, “Gutmann talks more of a Frankfurt tone.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Both of you are
half-right,” said Gutmann, “I come from Runkel.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Runkel? Where’s
that?” Reimer shook his head, “I’ve never heard of it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It’s a
tiny-little town in Nassau. On the Lahn, east of Limburg.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“So it is
Hessia,” Reimer defended his first conjecture. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You could say
that. Recke has disgraced himself!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Oh, whatever,”
Recke looked annoyed and embarrassed he pushed a rock out of the way with a
boot toe, “Of course I know Runkel. I’ve been there, but I can’t remember all
the vernacular subtleties.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Quietly, more as
if to himself, said Gutmann, “It’s beautiful back home. And also – my
birthplace has a special meaning to me. But that’s something you won’t
understand. Maybe later.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“You’re stuffed
full of secrets, Gutmann! No one ever knows anything right about you. You’ve
either caught hold of something or it’s caught you.” Recke flicked his finger
to his temple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gutmann showed a
lost smile. “Eveyone lives their life the way they have to,” he said. And
looking at his watch, he finished, “I think it’s already time for dinner!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A little while later the three
captains sat in a circle with their other comrades, and it was pretty quiet for
the time being. The radio had recently repeated just briefly the latest
Wehrmacht reports, which were little comforting. Especially Lieutenant Mohr,
freshly displaced after Vernäs, when arriving with Küpper bore a dejected,
almost desperate expression. He still felt as if he were a stranger here and
had only found conversation with Lieutenant Weiss. Weiss sat next to him, but
hung himself within his own gloomy thoughts. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Immediately
after mealtime the commander stood up. “Stay seated, gentlemen! There’s a more
urgent matter I need to attend to. Von Wendt, can you come with me for a
moment?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
Adjutant immediately stood up and answered. Colonel Troll spoke a few quiet
words to him. Von Wendt’s eyes grew large and replied promptly, “Let’s go,
commander, let’s go.” With long strides he ran ahead of the commanding officer.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>No
sooner were the two officers out of the room that a broad-shouldered
lieutenant, who’d sat next to the Adjutant, make a calm and hushing gesture, “Kids,
listen up! The Colonel whispered something to the Adjutant about a bottle of
wine. You can call me a monkey-ass if he’s not by the feed-horse getting a few
free drops at the commander’s request!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Bravo,
bravo! A good old idea! Excellent!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Immediately
the mood was relaxed. It didn’t even last until the arrival of the feed-horse
personally with his aid and put down two towed-load boxes of wine bottles.
Afterward came Von Wendt and laughed gleefully, “Greetings from the commander,
comrade! He says you should fill up and not sit there like scaredy-cats. It’s
already like a corpse-club here. Late and leave me a bottle!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Everything’s in order, Adju! Hummel, Hummel!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The delivered
bottles began straightly to start up a more upscale atmosphere. Even Major
Küpper was in no way coy, rather he held fearlessly with his drink. With a
pretty tenor voice he began singing the pilot’s song, “Bomben auf England”,
along with his other things common to soldiers and mercenaries. Uncorking the
last bottle, is was he who asked the question around, “Are there any alcohol stations
here in Vernäs where you can get a refill?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lieutenant
Zastrow, an impudent Berliner, crowed out, “Ah, ‘course Major! Past the
entrance there’s a lil’ <i>Budicke</i> where…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“That’s enough,”
cried Küpper, “You wanna go, Lieutenant? I’ll donate fifty marks.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The fund started
by the Major soon transformed into a remarkable collection. Zastrow took the
sum and asked Weiss to come along. They quickly disappeared. While lively
conversation went on, Recke watched Mohr across the table. The newcomer sat
lost in thought in his chair and gave little attention to his surroundings. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">His eyes were
somewhat watery. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hey,
Lieutenant, you’re not going to get flabby are you? Some sit here. Captain
Reimer and I will keep you entertained until Weiss comes back. Just come over!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mohr came to the
invitation without hesitation. He tipped his glass and pressed it close to him
while he switched seats, “Much obliged,” he said politely. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Recke gave him
immediately then, “To your health, Lieutenant! May you soon get accustomed to
us. We’ve splendid comrades here.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes,” said the
Lieutenant mechanically. Again he drank hastily. A hectic flush lay on his
handsome boyish face. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The time passed
and suddenly the two lieutenants were back again, “We’ve brought rum!” they
called out, “That’s a good grog!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“The cook’s
needed!” yelled one, “Galley, galley!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Sometime later
Von Wendt came back and found himself in noisy society, grog-haze in the room
and cigarette smoke. Mohr was about to go back to his seat and already
staggered with shock at Weiss and Zastrow who called to him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“They’re already
soiled silly,” the Adjutant told him. “Don’t take to much.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Hic-,” chuckled
the lieutenant, “Hic- it’s all the same! Dri-drink, so long a-as it’s there.
Then your b-buzzed anyway. Hic-“</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Mohr, you’re a
dashing guy. Don’t give in now!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Gi- hic- give
in, that’s what I’m here for – commanded here. Hic, hic – sh-sh-shot
Spitfires<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– hic- almost court-martialed.
Damn mess, captain! F-funny war. Punishment for cutting, hahah! Everything
treachery and shit…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Von Wendt patted
him reassuringly on the shoulder. “Don’t take it so badly, Mohr! None of that
will happen here. Cheer up!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mohr shook his
head stubbornly, “Hic- everything’s shi- shi-…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Appearanrly, as
you say, right?” Recke, who came over, laughed uproariously. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Lieutenant Mohr
let his empty glass fall to the floor where it remained unbroken below the
table. “No-not even broken,” he whispered sadly. Ceasing to look at the row of
chairs, he staggered out of the room. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“It’s got ‘im,”
laughed Weiss over a distance to Reimer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reimer stayed
serious, “The alcohol isn’t it, it’s the worm in his heart.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Yes, really,”
the Lieutenant nodded, “Just like was said at the airfield today.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mohr’s departure
had not gone unnoticed. The officers had mostly put up their seats already and
chatted in groups before going away. They almost all had small eyes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Küpper was the
one who gave the final sign for the general dispersal, “Let’s make sure we get
to the door!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In an instant,
as the little flock pushed out of rht room, the bright shock of a shot whipped
through the night. Immediately the chatter stopped. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Get out!”
roared Küpper, “Go see what’s going on…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Completely
sobered the officers rushed into the open. At first the light-accustomed eyes
only saw a deep blackness before them. Only gradually did they get used to the
darkness. The adjacent building also opened a door up and a wider beam of light
lit up the area. As a silhouette the massive figure of the commander stood in
the doorway, “What kind of mess is this?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">From the
darkness of the night appeared the figure of a sentry. The man went up to the
commander and said, “Corporal Kohl on patrol duty, sir! The shot came from the
Officer Quarters!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“All right,
Kohl. Move on! Go see what it is,”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Followed by his
officers, the commander went into the quarters. As they entered the building,
all was quiet. The corridor was empty. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Except for
Mohr, none of us could be here,” Weiss said shyly, “Aren’t we always usually
here together?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Where’s Mohr?”
asked Colonel Troll. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Weiss pointed to
the second door, “Here, commander!” The colonel took a few steps forward and
opened the door, “<i>Ach–</i> ”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">From behind him
the officers pushed and looked into the room. The ceiling light was turned on
and at first it showed only sparse furnishings. Gutmann was the first to point
to the figure lying on the floor. “Mohr…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The young
lieutenant was laying prostrate on the ground and in the middle of his open
hand lay his hand-gun. His face was as pure white as a whitewashed wall and a
small, dark stain spread slowly, coming from his temple out onto the wooden
floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The corners of the dead mouth
were bitterly warped. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The commander
was the first to break the icy silence, “Where is the Chief Medic?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Here,
Commander!” The man being spoken of pressed forward. Colonel Troll stepped
aside and let him pass. With a rigid face he watched the doctor’s doing. The
other officers also watched, shocked. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“There’s nothing
we can do, <i>Herr Oberst</i>. We humans have limits…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“I know.” He
stepped quickly to the dead one and picked up the gun. For a moment he weighed
it thoughtfully in his hand before he quickly pocketed it. Then he turned to
his men. “Show your comrades a last labor of love by laying him on a bed!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Weiss and
Zastrow came immediately after the commander’s request. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Everyone come
in, gentlemen. Go in the back some if I may ask. We all have space.” The
colonel looked at the officers in turn, “<i>Meine Herren</i>, I know why Lieutenant
Mohr was transferred to us. It will probably be enough to say that the man is a
sacrifice to his loyalty to duty and his courage.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">With a raised
voice he continued, “Mohr fought for a lost cause, as we do here. He deserves
the highest esteem and has reaped vulgar meanness. He broke because of that. We
want to be good comrades and think of his relatives. Lieutenant Mohr was
accidentally killed in service, gentlemen! …Understand!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The officers
straightened up and nodded silently. Most of their throats were dry. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Colonel
nodded, “I thank you, <i>meine Herren!</i>” Then in a familiar tone, “I’ll make the
report myself and enter the Lieutenant for an Iron Cross later. Chief Medic,
take care of the rest.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The commander
threw another look with a petrified expression to the pale boy’s face and left
the tragic scene with rapid steps. The squad officers followed distraught and
retired to their quarters. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gutmann picked up Reimer and
Recke the next morning. The three of them trudged across the airfield. A hazy
morning mist lay over the fjord-land and the damply cold air made the officers
shiver slightly. They’d already received word from the Adjutant that Major
Küpper would give the time when they would receive the orders from the
commander. The sad thing with the young Lieutenant Mohr occupied their minds
and made them silent and slightly embittered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>At
the other end of the field the contours of the strange twin-aparatus balanced
out from the gradually forgiving mist. Just before the aircraft stood a sentry
and reported to Recke, who was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>step
ahead, “<i>Herr Hauptmann</i>,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>orders from the
Commander to allow access only when accompanied by Major Küpper.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
know,” said Recke gently, “the Major summoned us here.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
man squirmed a bit, “I have express orders, <i>Herr Hauptmann!</i>”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well,
we’ll just wait a bit then,” Reimer said good-naturely, “Küpper’s coming soon.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
guard lifted the strap of his <i>Karabiner</i> and resumed his post again where the
three officers stood. Ten minutes later came Küpper. It was half past seven
exactly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Morning,
gents,” he greeted causally as he came, while the captains went to attention.
He gave them a quick hand salute and hurried to the craft. “We’ll climb into
the baby together and look at the device. Somewhat later we’ll have godly
flying-weather – if your weather-squadron hasn’t lied – then we can all begin
with the flying portion. Let’s go zooming then in a jiffy!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It was at ten-o-clock that Küpper
could command, “Let’s fill up the tanks, my gentlemen!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Gutmann
shouted across the square. Men from the ground crew gave gestures of
acknowledgement and hastened to carry through. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“The
plane has excellent two-by-two DB 603 A motors,” explained the Major as he went
on, “Be careful when landing, gentlemen, since the main landing gear was
reduced to a two-wheel unit. That way the whole middle space is free for fuel
storage. Top speed is 725 kilometers an hour. As you can see further on, the
crew spaces are built as pressure chambers. Armaments – none! But just in case,
if you need to make an emergency landing, you can carry an M-Pi.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Küpper
went into the individual technical intricacies and then determined, “As
requested, Captain Gutmann will sit in the right single seat at the second
control while you gentlemen,” he nodded to Reimer and Recke, “Will be together
on the left. See to it that you soon agree on who’s going to be pilot and
radioman. Therefore– ” The Major broke off as the men arrive to fill up the
tanks, “ Good, good. Hey, you earthworms, do something pronto!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
four officers somewhat distanced themselves from the plane. Küpper and Recke
lit up a cigarette. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
sergeant came over to group after a moment, “All done!” he reported. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Thanks!”
Then the Major turned to the captains, “Fly it the same as you would any old
junker. Break a leg!” He looked at his watch as if incidental, “Watch out for
enemy aircraft. You have a mission and you can’t defend yourselves!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As
the three officers crept into their cabins ready to fly, it looked like three
furry animals climbing around. They closed the cabin’s hatch, checked the seat
speakers and even fumbled with their flight stuits. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
motors jumped with thunder. Reimer had taken the place of pilot and turned back
to Recke. He simply nodded. As the man from Linz looked back into the field,
Küpper gave the command himself. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A
fine vibration ran through the aircraft. Like a living thing, thought Reimer
and let the plane roll forward. Effortlessly she lifted herself up into the air
and described a slight curve in the ascent which was to lead them out over the
surface of the fjord’s water. The leaden waters of the sea-arm flashed
peacefully like a middle-European Alpine lake. Only the mountains showed that
Nordic austerity and force, lacking insufficient in green slopes. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Working
at the control stick, Reimer said through the microphone, “The plane is
alright. It’s fine flying.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
think so too,” came back from Recke. Gutmann also came out from the adjacent
compartment, “Works like a charm.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
flew over the Aasenfjord, then across the frowning summit of frost on the
protruding peninsula and headed towards Namsos. Over the Lyngenfjord he made a
loop, turned onto the Flattangergruppe and made a stretch over the open sea. He
tested out the elevator and the rudder, let the plane go down a bit, went into
glidding with throddled engines, slipped sideways and carefully checked the
valves. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke
dabbled with the position measurement, Gutmann calculating as well and giving
the values he obtained through the microphone. Recke added these to the values
from the Heaven Compass and received perfect results. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>About
an hour later they flew back to Vernäs again and landed smoothly. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Captain
Gutmann, Reimer and Recke standing by for further orders, sir!” reported Recke
as the senior officer. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Good,
<i>meine Herren!</i> Major Küpper told me that you’ve already grown accustomed to the
new plane. So you’re flying in God’s name! Before I hand out the next order
now, I have some useful and necessary explanations for you.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
commander looked again at the three officers before him before he went on, “The
state of the war is well known to us. Back home we’ll already be defending our
own soil on both fronts. In the Promi – Reichspropagandaministerium – the
statements have already been made that Wehrmacht are being withdrawn<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>into the emerging Alpine fortress to end the
war from there victoriously using new weapons and conditions.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>An
ironic, bitter smile played furtively on the mouth of the Colonel, “In the race
against time, as well as for strategic reasons, the Wehrmacht High Command has
decided to create a secret base in Greenland, on one hand as a starting point
for applying a pincer movement to recover lost home soil, and also to have a
superb and dangerous base of operations so close to America.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“To
avoid endangering the structure and the equipment of this base, the greatest
caution and secrecy is to be maintained. The true position of this place is
specified in the order you’re to open only after taking off from our northern
air-base in Porsangerfjord. We’ll call it X-Point for the time being. As Major
Küpper said, X-Point even has a small airfield which is already working to a
great extent. You, gentlemen, are to remain there indefinitely and you will
disclose the information gathered from your flight experience with the new
navigation system and utilize it. To what extent the whole group here is
concerned, I don’t know. Von Wendt has adequately prepared maps, and I’ve used
them myself for all you care, so you don’t need to worry about your well-being.
Remember that with the fulfillment of your mission you’ve made an important
contribution to the OKL or rather the OKW. Thinking of everything, I’ve decided
on the recommendation of Major Küpper that you three be equipped with M-Pi’s.
The weapons I already requested from the garrison in Trondheim and picked up.
You’ll find them already in the airplane. I’m fully aware of the gravity of
your mission and seeing that you could be exposed to risks of an exceptional
nature, I cannot neglect anything. Does anyone have a last wish?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
three men in the thick flight suits looked at each other.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“No
thank you, <i>Herr Oberst!</i>” replied Recke for them. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Good.
By the way, the wireless radio is only to be used in extreme emergencies.
Consider also the statements from the OKL. So, in a few words that’s
everything. I would’ve liked to be one of you, actually. So must I confine
myself, I give you my best wishes!” The commander came out from behind his desk
and shook the men’s hands tightly, “Take care!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’ll
do our duty!” assured Recke simply.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
know that. Otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen and proposed this company for
Operation Ultima Thule. Now go to your plane!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In
the commander’s antechamber the captains met with Major Küpper, who was talking
quietly with the Adjutant. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hah,
here come our polar bears,” joked the Major, “I’m going!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Von
Wendt regretted not being able to join. He had to remain at the disposal of the
commander, “Nevertheless, see you soon!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“You
get the picture?” asked Küpper on the way to the aircraft. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Without
limits, Major!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Which
one of you has the order?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I,”
answered Recke, “The Commander handed it to me when we left.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
must return to the writing desk in Berlin. For OKL Planning Staff. Hopefully we
haven’t been rotten fish everywhere else,” Küpper sighed resignedly, “I’m
flying back today.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
men walked across the runway to the machine standing to the side. For the
comrades close by and the ground crew it appeared to be nothing more than a
test or service flight. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
climbed back into the twin-unit. Küpper was comradely helpful before he stepped
back in order to give takeoff. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
cabin roofs closed, Reimer pushed the stick forward, the motor sang its droning
song, the plane rolled forward, lifted itself from the ground, hovered, flew. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There
was a lap of honor for farewell over the airfield and then a steep curve over
the fjord. Three men flew with secret orders against an unknown fate. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
hum of the engines sounded monotonously. Wispy clouds sailed over deep beneath
the plane, ridges and crevisses of the Norwegian mountains looming darkly from
the depths. Vernäs and thus Trondheim were already far south. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Recke,
as well as Gutmann on the other side, looked through the windos at the sky and
the landscape, calling through the microphone, “We’ll probably be relieved of
boredom for a while. But still, it was nice in Trondheim.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Yes,
it was nice,” It was Gutmann who was talking over, “It <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was</i>, because I don’t think we’ll ever see it again.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Oho,”
sounded Recke, “Pessimist?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Never,”
came back from the second cabin, “Just confident that our fate is to never
return!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
kept a course along the coast. From Namsos he held against Mo. At the island of
Vägen they sighted two southward steaming freighters, escorted by a destroyer.
The Linzer flew deeper so the people below could easily see the Balkan Cross of
the german Luftwaffe. Behind the ship there dragged a white, gusty stream.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>West
of the Sandhorn Peninsula, before Bodö at the entrance of the great Westfjord,
Recke gave the carefully forsighted alarm, “Enemy aircraft side of us!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
immediately followed the direction indicated by Recke’s outstretched hand. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Hostile
reconnesance,” said the Linzer, “Who’s afraid of who now?” His light laugh
sounded lik the cooing of a bird through the microphone. He jerked the still
and chased the foreign plane. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Are
you insane?” barked Recke. His right hand clutched Reimer’s shoulder, “Think of
our mission!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For
that very reason!” Within seconds Reimer showed a mischievous face. Thundering
he flew towards the enemy. Upon the fuselage and tail surface shone over the
British emblem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
enemy must have had already noticed this strange aircraft with twin-hulls. He
immediately changed his original course and tried for a bank of clouds lying
seaward to escape. “Into the laundry room with him!” called Reimer cocky. He
increased his flight speed to terrify the enemy even more. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
enemy craft fell for the bluff. It couldn’t have known that the remarkable
invention of the Germans was a harmless unarmed plane. It tried clearly for the
protective clouds. But no sooner had it disappeared into the white-grey bench
that Reimer turned around and headed back toward the coast. Gutmann’s voice
became audible, “That was swell and simple! Better than chickening out or
getting others on our neck.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Reimer
crossed the mouth of the Ofotenfjord, flew over Tjällö, laying to the right of
Narvik, and turned into the Solbergfjord. He’d already flown this route several
months ago and knew he’d reach exactly the ONO, the airfield at the southern
end of the Porsangerfjord. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Colonel
Troll hadn’t said too much when he’d explained that he’d take care of the food
personally or through Von Wendt. They were excellent and provided everything
needed on a long flight, including reserves, in case they broke down over water
– if that was even possible. Because no enemy contact was expected on this
route from Narvik, the pilots could have a good snack. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
the landed later on the northernmost runway of the German Luftwaffe in Europe,
everything was waiting and ready to fill up the fuel tank. Colonel Troll had
advised them over the radio. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The
first impression they had after landing wasn’t very encouraging. There had
already been talk of abandoning the airfield and destroying most of it. Fuel
shortages had come already from flights against the streets of Murmansk, and
they had already had scout and troop messengers taken from a procedure of
Soviet and Finnish troops in the northern zone. Appearantly, the Norwegian
bastion of the north was being rolled up. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Nagging,
swearing and depressed the members provided the pilo unit their necessary
service. “We can’t even go home one more time with our aircraft,” whined the
people during refueling. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Well
what do you want, then?” Gutmann threw out so casually, “There one be anymore
airfields left in the homeland!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“What
a mess,” the people grumbled. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>They
stayed over night, and incidentally there was already a strange light and on
the next morning their continued their flight. Even here, too, they got best
wishes for their unknown flight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We
keep holding North-West,” Reimer explained and Recke considered it, “Then you
can open the orders!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When
the airfield was far behind them, Recke opened the brief. The order was: “…flight
over the geographic and magnetic North pole, then approachment to Point-X (see
position according to the enclosed sketch-map). Preliminary stay at the new
base.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Where
is this silly Point-X?” Reimer asked his comrade who sat behind him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Here
in North-East Greenland!” Recke slid the sketch forward over his shoulder. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
want to know too!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gutmann turned from
his cabin. Recke gave him his wish. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’ll
want to keep reference with the larger map!” returned Reimer, “Watching out at
the Spitzbergen!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I
know, I know,” answered Recke. His eyes gleamed. The excitement over this great
and dangerous mission had seized him. Now he understood why Major Küpper had
put so much emphasis on their winter gear. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After
a while Gutmann spoke over through the microphone, “Everything happens the way
it’s designed and intended!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“How do you mean, stargazer?” asked Reimer back. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">But Gutmann merely remained quiet. </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><b>TN:</b> All names of places here are real places in Norway. Trondheim is an old historical city on the Northern coast of Norway. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The word "jeep" is used for </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Kübelwagen</i>,
the "bucket-seat car" made by Volkswagen and designed by Porsche. It
was heavily based on the VW-Beetle as its military counterpart, and its
successor was the VW "Thing" of acclaim in the Americas. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The word <i>Flak</i> is the word used for <i>anti-aircraft gun</i>, an abbreviation of <i>Flugabwehrkanone</i>. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The Kriegsmarine was the German Navy during the second World War. </span></div>
<br />Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-59907186844141062832012-09-30T19:49:00.001-07:002012-10-09T14:03:46.082-07:00sample from Chapter 19: Stronghold of the Spirit<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“And so we wait,” sighed Reimer, “Life, next to time, will send
us a lot!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Pah,” a Viannese named Hase, who’d been the Over-Lieutenant of
the division <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Das Reich</i>, made the
gesture. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Ever since I was a soldier, I became used to being
overwhelmed.” Soft blue eyes twinkled with slight amusement from his otherwise
hardened face. “I’m happy to have vacations from the mudholes and not having to
endure twenty-four hour firing spells.” Becoming serious again, he continued, “We
all know in our little circle here that warring parts have continued to be <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>divided through the last dramatic events in
the world of the Lebensraum of the white human race. While we wait, they acquire
new frontlines. Not only the East – the whole colored world has been controlled
by subtle forces to rise up against the whites!”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“This shifting of fronts confirms the ancient Greek proverb <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pantha rhei</i> – everything flows,” added
Recke, “At Point 103 we still had the colored world beside us. I doubt it’ll
stay that way. Even the special position of the Germans to colored peoples will
wane. Greater Thule will have to become the sword and shield even for the
blinded of the white Lebensraum. Then comes our parole and our hour!”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“We Franks also will also be there again,” said Frêne with
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that’s happeing. Didn’t my friends help defend a broken Berlin in a situation
of war that became hopeless?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">While the men nodded to Frêne, he asked Von Lothar of the
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Recke raised his hand, “Frêne can come with me for the time
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The Carcassonner sought to fend this off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“No excuses, Major!” said Recke, cutting off every objection. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“That’s right,” affirmed Hase, “Close together and then
straight through. That was also the old division’s motto. We survivors must
stay together, to be able to hold our own!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“That we will do,” agreed von Lothar, “We remain a stronghold
of the spirit in survival of this era. We’re guilty to the dead of three
Reichs.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Greater Thule is to become the new spiritual concept for all
white peoples of the North, a spiritual Reich above all structures of state and
time, in the old and new world. In this womb also lies the fourth Reich of the
Germans!” Hase leaned forward, bright lights dancing in his eyes. “I know a
hundred-year-old text that speaks of a mountain white at midnight and of the
white midnight sun. Tiger and dragon beset the heroes of the north. Even the
three-fold Diadem of the Pope turns to dust.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Another passage of the transcript from the year 1671 announced
that Europe would bear a powerful child, a lord of the fourth Reich! And in the
“Themis Aurea” there’s talk of a Germania that lies wide over the geographical
boundaries of which until today divide nations. The demonism of the collective
is known in the old foresight and realized as Gog and Magog. The great
anonymity in the world-system of today have indeed mobilized nihilism against
us, they have used black and grey magic through their <i>Beth-Midrashim</i> on a
metaphysical level, temple and ark activated and in foreseeable times turning
the colored peoples against us and to oppress us.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“We face a decisive movement of history. The now lost war was
only a prelude, not the end. Friedrich Schiller coined the words: Evil may win
the day, but eternity belongs to the true and good. Be we ready!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">In the room was a deep silence. Through the window danced
sunbeams. The Salzburg sky showed a deep, rich blue and the sun itself hung
like a gold-blazing disk in the firmament.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“Blue and gold – the ancient Antlantean colors,” said Hase
after a while with a slightly husky voice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Dreamily he continued, “They’re the colors of the sons of the
sun, of those my friend Edmund Kiss spoke to me when I was in the prison camp
at St. Avold with him. They held us there worse than animals. The prisoners
were dying off like flies and we felt the power that wanted to break us. By the
time we were discharged as survivors, Kiss was terminally sick. And therewith
he ripped up his work. He went away too soon, like Kurt Eggers and many others.
But he left us this piece of knowledge in his book Swans of Thule:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The earth once belonged to the Northern
people, now they are smashed and shattered and err on the ice-ridges of Thule,
like the swans of their homeland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">But the lance of the soul still seeks the
peaks and heights.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">In the deepest need they are determined to
once again impart the world round with the pressure of their souls.</span></div>
Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-51098228152784537182012-09-21T23:59:00.003-07:002012-09-22T00:31:40.483-07:00sample from Chapter 18: Om Mani Padme Hum<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Who strives to
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">(Tagpo Lhadje)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Bearded, hollow-eyed and torn the five men and the girl had moved for days in the direction given by Dubtób. The pace of travel was quite slow.
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: large;"></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In a remote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gompa</i>, whose monks stood out through extraordinary silence, they took
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offered considerable security. Yet they had to contend with a simple storage
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the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gompa</i> of the Seven Lotus, and
they were also clearly of a different sect. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Through the whole day one could hear
the murmurs of the praying monks and the creaking of prayer-wheels, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Om mani padme hum</i> – Oh, Lotus-Jewel!...”
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In this cloister Gutmann made a
remarkable discovery. In the brief and merely formal farewell ceremony, given
by the abbot of the abstruse <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gompa</i>,
Gutmann saw on a low table top a round copper plate with the form of a temple’s
rising tower in the middle. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>He stepped closer to the abbot, “Permit
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curious disc, “What is thus, oh <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i>,
oh Abbot?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i>’s air was almost hostile, “Why would you want to know,
stranger?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“It reminds me of a thing we call <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mani</i> and has an archetypal form that
resembles this piece.”</span><span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">It wasn’t appearent for sure whether the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i>, the ordinary abbot, had understood the explanation. His
face betrayed neither knowledge nor ignorance. After a brief pause he allowed
reluctantly, “It is a symbol of of a Buddhist city, we call it Chot-Mandal…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">Gutmann looked meaningfully at Juncker, who’d accompanied him when
they were leaving. In a low voice he said, “A very peculiar name. Undoubtedly a
synonym of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">mani</i>-form. Right here
in this monestary…”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">The abbot had tried distrustfully to catch the whispered words,
but he was unable to understand their foreign language. With an almost
rude-imperious gesture he demanded attention, “Are you scribes, that you know
more about this disk?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“We’ve seen disks flying,” diverted Gutmann, “They glowed with
different colors, or had a long flaming tail!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kye</i> – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">He-!</i> – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nis-chu' terykh</i> – flying carts!” The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i> did not hide his excitement. “You are guests of my <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">gompa</i>,” he continued, after a brief
moment of surprise, “But I have the right to ask: are you spies for a foreign
power who are seeking these disks? If that’s so, then know that I know nothing.
I don’t know anything!” The tone bespoke his lies. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“We’re no spies,” assured Juncker
calmly, continuing in Gutmann’s place, “But surely you’ve seen disks in the sky
at least once, like us. It doesn’t make me a spy if you saw some things and acknowledge
that you remember them!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kye!</i>”
cried the tangpo again, “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nis-chu' terykh
mk'a la</i> – the flying carts in the heavens, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kye</i>, they’re the sign of some new era! And it could be that our
secret writings in Potala are right, that report of a time that will come to
finish the tests. When it is fulfilled, the King of Shamballa will appear and
save those who are faithful and lead them from the sorrows of this world into
his realm of bliss, which is more beautiful than the paradise of Amithaba. Who
but resists will be destroyed must suffer through agonies before, and then,
chastised by this, being able to move into bliss. That is the last battle on
this earth, the last strife of the three worlds. Then the teachings of
Tsongkhapa will rule the universe and all the blessings and gifts will be common
to all men…” The cheeks of the zealous tangpo showed a hectic color, “Hear, you
strangers, hear and say it further!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“He cited the Lamaist world-mission,”
said Juncker to Gutmann quickly, who scarcely understood a piece of it. To the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i> he went on loudly, “We have heard
what you have said to us, oh <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i>.
But you said not but earlier that you knew nothing, and now you show us the
signs in the sky!”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i> made a scowl and at the same time a threatening hand
gesture, grabbing the little thungerbolt symbol and holding the demon-banishing
cult fetish with the thumbs as well as holding the middle two fingers of his
right hand while sticking just his index finger and little finger up. “Evil
spirits guide your thoughts! How could you even allege a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">tangpo</i>? I see you want to say bye and go. I won’t hold you up – right,
strange men, right?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Juncker and Gutmann left after a
formal gesture from the belligerent abbot. A bit later the little group rode on
into the partially quilted landscape. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The groups of nomads appeared much
less dangerous, abundantly against Indian coins and gladly gave milk, cheese
and brick tea. Even flour and some millet could be acquired.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Minion-Regular;"><b> TN: I'm glad to be able to put this out. Translation has been erratic so far as I've not had a lot of time to continue it. I hope to post the completed first chapter by the end of Autumn 2012. </b></span></div>
Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1646869276113600310.post-24181999818969748312012-07-10T13:22:00.002-07:002012-11-08T20:29:22.658-08:00Table of Contents<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 16pt;">WILHELM
LANDIG</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 22pt;">Idols against Thule</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A
Novel Full of Facts</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif";">HANS PFEIFFER
VERLAG GmbH Hannover</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif";">(C) All Rights, particularly printing, translation and movie adaptation, are reserved. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif";">Copyright 1971 by
Hans Pfeiffer Verlag GmbH, Hannover Herstellung: Rudolf Kreinz, Wien</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif";">ISBN
3-87632-208-1</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Table
of Contents</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">First
Book</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">SECRET
ORDER...................................................... 2</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
BRIGHT NIGHT...............................................32</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">NULIAJUKANAIINAQ...........................................
102</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">POINT
103 .............................................................. 143</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
MESSENGERS..................................................190</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
FLIGHT INTO CHAOS ..................................253</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Second
Book..............................................................327</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">SOLSTICE
...............................................................328</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
GRAILSBURG ...............................................375</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
KNOWING......................................................417</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">SHADOWPLAY
..................................................... 440</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
TRIP ................................................................ 498</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
WAYS OF ALLAH................................................ 586</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THOUSAND-AND-ONE
NIGHTS............................... 634</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Third
Book .............................................................. 676</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">AGNIS’
FIRE BURNS........................................ 677</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">SEVEN
LOTUS FLOWERS........................................ 729</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
SECRET REICH........................................... 811</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">THE
WAY LEADS ANYWHERE ................... 874</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">OM
MANI PADME HUM …................................. 930</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Minion-Regular","serif"; font-size: 12pt;">STRONGHOLD
OF THE SPIRIT.......................... 966 </span></div>
Disciple of Enoylohhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10485908441081902844noreply@blogger.com0