Beyond the Shield

by Nachman Kataczinsky

  “There are only eleven of us,” responded the Austrian.

  A Russian sergeant standing nearby shot the Austrian, shattering his hip. Wolf gestured for two Golani soldiers to disarm the Russian and handcuff him. The Russian didn’t try to fight or protest.

  Lieutenant Rabinovitz arrived on the scene a minute later. “Sergeant, are you crazy? The penalty for what you did is a shooting squad. Why did you fire?”

  “Comrade Lieutenant, I recognize this man. He’s an SS noncom who commanded the unit that burned down my village in 1941. I barely escaped with my life. My family wasn’t so lucky. He deserves to be killed but I knew you’d want information from him.”

  Wolf, as the commanding officer of the small force, took control of the situation. “Release the sergeant,” he told the Israeli soldiers, “and give him back his weapon.” He turned to the Austrian liaison, who stared at the scene, sweating despite the cold weather. “Get us another prisoner.”

  The first man was still shrieking and bleeding on the ground. The second man brought before Wolf looked visibly shaken and when asked about the whereabouts of his co-conspirators kept looking at the rapidly growing pool of blood.

  “Will you talk or shall I leave you to the Russians?” asked Wolf.

  He talked. Apparently the group found a basement under the warehouse and the rest were hiding there.

  “Are they armed?” was the next question.

  “They have guns, mostly pistols and a couple grenades.”

  The prisoner, who was a member of the Nazi group the Allied force had come to investigate, showed the soldiers the entry to the basement hidden behind a pillar and under a thick layer of debris. The ones who had surrendered piled the debris over the entrance before coming out, in hope of protecting the rest of the group.

  Wolf consulted with Rabinovitz and decided not to endanger the lives of his soldiers. According to the radar sensor the Israelis brought, the trap door was almost three inches thick. It also clearly showed a flight of stairs going down and some movement at the bottom.

  The soldiers placed a charge on the door, blowing it off its hinges. Thick smoke started billowing from the basement. It took only seconds for the first man to come up the stairs. He was bleeding from his nose. “We have several injured that need help,” he said loudly.

  Wolf had a message that the liaison yelled downstairs: “Everyone that can walk should come out now with their hands on their heads. You can carry those who can’t walk.”

  The soldiers moved about forty feet from the opening to prevent a sudden attack but none came. The rest of the group came up carrying two men that were bleeding from various wounds. Ambulances were waiting.

  A search of the basement and warehouse and recovery of firearms and an explosives stash completed the operation.

  On the way back to their base Wolf had a short conversation with Lieutenant Rabinovitz. “How reliable is that sergeant of yours? Will he talk?”

  Rabinovitz smiled. “He is not crazy and not stupid. The penalty for what he did, if a court martial were called, is a firing squad. He’ll be as quiet as a fish.”

  “Good. There’s really nothing special to report, just wounding three Nazis. This was to be expected in a firefight. Now it’s in the hands of the Allied War Crimes Commission. I’m sure they will demand an explanation from the Austrians why a large group of Nazis wasn’t prosecuted. I hope that the Russian representatives won’t accept the normal Austrian excuse that they were just as much victims of the Nazis as everyone else.

  “We need to look very closely at the Austrian police. They enabled those Nazis to ambush the British unit of Captain Campbell and then let them escape.”

  Wolf looked at Rabinovitz. “Tell me, Lieutenant, why are you still in the Russian Army? Don’t you want to move to Israel?”

  “I still have six months to serve. After my enlistment term is over I’ll go back to Bobruisk for my family and then we’ll leave.”

  ***

  Hans Paulus reflected on how much his attitude had changed in only two years. He had been working for Siemens when he was stranded in Israel after the time displacement incident. At first he was upset but also grateful for being in Israel and not in Germany. The Nazi regime did not appeal to him; he held Hitler personally responsible for his great uncle’s fate. The great uncle in question was Field Marshal von Paulus of the 6th Army, famous for being the only Field Marshal to surrender instead of commit suicide after a defeat.

  Hans wasn’t any more enamored of the Nazis now than he was then, but his attitude toward contemporary Germany had changed. His great uncle was one of the men that defeated the Nazis. Hans was eager to meet him. And Paulus was bothered by the fact that the Jewish state was one of the world powers dictating terms to Germany. If only Germany had the bomb. Hans developed a plan to get the necessary information but didn’t know to whom or how to transfer it.

  In the meantime Hans went to the University library where he was sure he could find all the information he needed. It took him less than half an hour to determine that all technical texts relating to nuclear technology had been removed from the library’s computerized catalog. He remembered clearly having seen a research paper on the vulnerability of Siemens industrial controllers to specific viruses in the context of nuclear enrichment plants. The paper was old and referred to the Stuxnet virus and the disruption of Iranian uranium enrichment; now it was missing from the catalog. Hans went home and thought some more. By the next day he had a plan.

  The information he needed was obviously still in the library but not accessible to just any visitor. He had noticed people approaching one of the librarians and, after showing ID, being admitted to a separate room. Hans approached one of the librarians, whom he chose because she was young and seemed nice, and asked to see the paper on virus vulnerability.

  “I will need your ID and the reason you need to see the paper.”

  Hans presented his ID card. “I work for Siemens Israel and the paper describes some problems with one of our controllers. I need to review it.”

  The librarian smiled. “Just let me scan your card. You should have clearance by tomorrow.”

  “Is this a general clearance or is it going to be specific for this paper?”

  “I can request a general one for material at the same level so you won’t have to apply every time you want to see something,” the nice girl responded.

  “Good. Let’s do that.”

  On the way out Hans noticed a well-dressed man intently looking at him. He assumed the man was part of Israeli security and nodded to him. Hans Paulus wasn’t worried. After all, he had done nothing illegal, yet.

  When he arrived at the library the next day the librarian smiled at him from afar and motioned for him to come over. “Mr. Paulus, I have the clearance you requested. Please feel free to enter the special reading room.”

  On the way to the special reading room Hans noticed that the man from yesterday was again observing him.

  The man was there when Hans left the reading room two hours later. He stopped by the librarian’s desk. “I would like to copy a couple of pages to review in my office.”

  The librarian smiled her usual wide smile. “No problem. Leave whatever you want copied with me. Mark the pages. Copies will be ready tomorrow and cost you one shekel for every five pages.”

  Hans was slowly walking through the campus when the man from the library approached him. “Hans Paulus?”

  “Yes?” Hans replied carefully.

  “I’m Rudolf Gerzitz from the German embassy. We met about two years ago.” The man looked hopefully at Hans.

  “Ah.” Hans smiled with relief. “That’s why you looked familiar. I mistook you for a security agent.”

  “No no, I’m the third secretary at the German embassy. As you know, diplomatic relations were re-established after Germany surrendered. The German government decided to use the services of the up-timers who were already here.

  “But back to the business at hand, I g
ot interested in you after Germany surrendered. You are the great nephew of General Paulus, yes?”

  “That’s a widely known fact. What is it to you?” Hans was slightly impatient.

  Gerzitz looked around and said in a quiet voice, “Since you gained access to the restricted part of the library I am assuming that you may not be happy with Germany’s position in the world. Please correct me if I’m wrong and you will never hear from me again.”

  Hans said nothing for a while. They continued their slow progress through the university campus. Finally Hans responded, “You are not wrong. I think Germany needs to be much stronger and more respected than it is.”

  Gerzitz nodded. “Possession of nuclear weapons might do it.”

  Hans stopped. “Assuming that’s correct and assuming I may be able to collect the necessary information, there’s no way to give it to someone outside of Israel.”

  Gerzitz resumed the slow walk. “There may be a way. Would you entrust the information to me if I assured you that it would get into the right hands?”

  Hans hesitated. “Yes, as long as it isn’t going to the Nazis.”

  Gerzitz was surprised. “What does it matter who gets it as long as Germany benefits? I can tell you that there’s only one entity in Germany that would be able to make use of this information. The group is headed by a former Nazi, but please remember that the Nazis are no longer in power. Whatever this entity develops will benefit the German state.”

  Hans Paulus said nothing for a long time. They left the campus and walked in the general direction of the Siemens plant, though it would take hours to get there on foot.

  Finally he said, “It is true that the Nazis are no longer in control. I do want Germany to be one of the great world powers, so I will give you the information. We need to work out a system so the Israeli security services do not catch us.”

  Gerzitz smiled. “That’s simple. You know what a dead drop is?”

  ***

  The Prime Minister started the Cabinet meeting with formal introductions. “You all know Dr. Ze’ev Hirshson or at least have heard about him. I propose that we let him make a presentation which we will discuss later.”

  Ze’ev began by explaining why he thought that Israel would be wise to prepare an escape hatch in case things go sideways and how his technology of opening a portal to a parallel Earth could provide a safety valve.

  He continued, “We have the means to move the whole country to Earth 2 but if there’s no prepared base we will find ourselves in a bad situation - We need sources of food, energy, and raw materials. We can’t wait for these resources to be developed on Earth 2 after an abrupt more. Our reserves would run out too soon. I propose setting up an agricultural and industrial infrastructure and settling enough of our population on Earth 2 so that if the time comes we could all move with no great shocks to the system.”

  The Finance Minister asked, “I assume that you expect the government to finance you?”

  “Not at all.” Ze’ev smiled at the surprised expressions around the table. “We might need some loans but no direct financing. The oil companies received government guaranteed loans. We would be satisfied with similar terms.”

  “I can see how the oil companies will make a nice profit selling their oil in order to repay loans. How will you?” the Infrastructure Minister asked.

  “We expect to profit in a number of ways. The technology necessary to open the gates is ours. The government declared it a ‘National Security asset’ and controls its use but we are still paid for traffic that passes through the gates. We also expect to acquire some real estate on Earth 2. As you know, we received approval to move some of our plants there and have already started doing so. This will significantly reduce our costs.

  “In addition, Consolidated applied for the right to extract some mineral resources necessary for our industrial endeavors. Approval of this application will also increase our profits. Any industrial company moving to Earth 2 will be in a position to realize future profits. I could go on and on but you get the general idea.”

  The Justice Minister nodded. “I’m not an economist but you seem to make sense. My expectation is that your plan will eventually be approved. It will require some thinking and fine tuning. We will probably have to pass new laws, or at least new regulations, to account for the different conditions.”

  Ze’ev smiled. “Minister, the government doesn’t have to approve a ‘Grand Plan’ all at once. Parts of it are already being executed. The oil companies are working at breakneck speed. Consolidated is also working as fast as we can, and construction is moving ahead on auxiliary services and housing for workers. As long as you approve the essential parts of our application and start working on the master plan we are going to be fine. Just don’t let the bureaucracy take over and extend the timetable.

  “The only reason I’m here is to offer the State of Israel an escape hatch. This I do not for profit or any other gain. I am a child of Holocaust survivors and it is my sincere estimation that sooner or later the world will again gang up on the Jewish people. I’m preparing an alternative to fighting an unwinnable and bloody war. I’ll do it with or without your support, although I very much hope that you will agree to help.

  “In the meantime the resources of this alternative Earth will, hopefully, postpone the need to escape. It may even eliminate it completely. Still, it’s better to prepare for the worst.”

  The Defense Minister shook his head. “What do you mean by ‘do it with or without’ our support?”

  “I mean that we don’t need the government involved at all beyond authorizing the use of our technology for this project. If loan guarantees are not forthcoming we can still manage. At a slower pace, but we will do it. Don’t misunderstand me. I would prefer the support of the government. My company would benefit from it, as would Israel.”

  The Foreign Minister nodded. “I have some concerns, which I voiced when we were discussing the original permission for the oil companies. What do we do if information of the ability to go to alternative universes leaks and foreign governments ask to participate?”

  Ze’ev responded, “I have a partial solution. Every person that knows about this project has signed the Official Secrets Act form. This will not prevent the secret from leaking eventually but will buy us some time. At present the gates are operated by Consolidated with government inspectors present and are protected by IDF troops.

  “We can change the whole structure. We can form a new company. Call it the Gate Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of Consolidated. This company could own and operate the gates under an exclusive contract with the government. The contract doesn’t need to be published and can, in fact, be protected under the Official Secrets Act.

  “The Gate Corporation would be responsible for security, using a government-approved contract to sign up others for the project. In case the government is approached by a foreign entity you can refer them to us and not get involved directly.”

  The Prime Minister nodded. “This is a good first draft of the idea. We will discuss it and, if we approve, let our experts work out the details.” He looked at Ze’ev. “It will not take long. I’m as aware as you are of the dangers. Most members of the Cabinet agree as well.”

  ***

  The Security Service agent who authorized Hans Paulus’ access to the special section of the library set up surveillance and notified the Mossad.

  A couple of days later the agent met with his Mossad counterpart and heard the news. “I’m glad that someone finally showed interest in nuclear affairs,” the Mossad agent said. “We’re conducting an operation in Europe and this fits in.”

  “What is the European operation about?” the agent asked.

  “I won’t give you details, but it’s important. Someone is discreetly financing nuclear research. As soon as we became aware of it we concluded that they had a chance only if they could steal information from us. This is the first sign that someone is trying. I’m telling you this just so you k
now how important your catch is.”

  “Good,” the Security agent smiled. “We will take care of this on the domestic side. Any special requests?”

  The Mossad agent nodded. “Yes, one. We need to feed them false information. I will deliver packets to you to be fed to Hans. We will also need to know how they smuggle it out of the country.”

  ***

  “Ladies and gentlemen, every one of you will have to agree to this basic contract. If you don’t agree you won’t get access. If you breach any of the conditions you will lose access and be liable under the Official Secrets Act.” Ze’ev Hirshson paused to let his assistants hand out printed copies of the contract.

  The meeting was being held in the brand new auditorium on the grounds of Consolidated’s headquarters in Hertzlia. The auditorium had no windows. It did have two sets of doors, one on each side of the large room. Everyone entered through the doors on the east side.

  After every participant had a printout of the contract Ze’ev continued. “As you see, the contract is only two pages long. These are the most important points:

  “1. The environmental laws of the State of Israel apply in all of the new domain.

  “2. The Labor laws also apply, except as explained in the addendum.

  “3. The criminal and civil code of the State of Israel will serve as a guideline for the new domain but it will be up to the community to decide which rules to enforce and how to enforce them. There are two exceptions: the death penalty is reinstated for certain crimes, and everyone is free to carry any weapon they desire.

  “You will also note that every applicant to enter the domain will have to pass a thorough background check as well as a medical exam. We will not allow criminals, even those convicted of petty crimes, or carriers of infectious diseases to enter.

  “Any questions?”

  The room was quiet at first. About fifty people were in attendance, which left the auditorium more than three quarters empty. The attendees were business people, including heads of oil companies, food processors, agricultural exporters and a representative of the power company.