Allison peered at the contents. “Looks like tinned peaches.”
“It is tinned peaches. And they still taste great. Try one.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“Honestly. We’ve both had some. They taste amazing,” Pete said.
Allison used her fingers to gingerly extract a slice of peach and put the slice into her mouth. The peaches were tinned in syrup. They were sweet and juicy and as the flavour flooded Allison’s mouth, she thought it was the best thing she had ever eaten. Suddenly, she was aware of just how hungry she was. “You’re right,” she said. “That’s amazing.”
“There are loads of tins in there,” Neeta said. “Enough to last us for weeks. Maybe even a couple of months.”
“We still need to ration,” Allison said. “We don’t know how long we’re going to be stuck here.”
“None of us have eaten properly since the crash,” Pete said. “Let’s just do a good meal for dinner tonight. We can put together a stew of tinned stuff. Beans, frankfurters, tinned beef, vegetables. And peaches for dessert.”
“Don’t forget I’m a vegetarian,” Neeta said.
“Two pots of stew, then. One with meat, one without. Can you two get that organised?”
“It would be our pleasure to,” Neeta said.
As Pete and Neeta got busy with sorting out dinner, Allison went back to the barracks room, where they had parked Daniel in one of the bunks. He was in his sleeping bag, injured leg stretched out, poring over the map of the complex that had been in the comms room. He’d asked to see it because he said he couldn’t bear sitting around doing nothing.
“How are you doing?” Allison asked.
Daniel looked up at her. “Frustrating that the infirmary is past the snow block. There could be a lot of useful stuff in there.”
“I know. We’re not having much luck digging through it. The ice is so hard the tools won’t break it. It’s like trying to dig through granite.”
“We’ve got some dynamite in the supplies, haven’t we?”
“Well yes,” Allison said. “But we don’t want to collapse the tunnel around us.”
“You’ve got two geologists amongst the party. Me and Ellen. And Jake must know something about explosives. Between the three of us, I think we could blast safely enough to clear the ice without collapsing the tunnel. Have Ellen and Jake come back yet?”
“Not yet. I hope that means they’ve found something interesting to explore.”
Daniel studied the map. “It’s possible there’s another entrance into the base from that building they were checking out. If there is, it should bring them into the side of the base that we can’t access from here.” He stabbed at the paper with a gloved finger. “With luck, they’ll be able to get into these storage areas here. I hope they find some parts we can salvage for that radio. We really need to get that working so we can phone for help.”
“The good news is we’ve found plenty of food that’s still edible,” Allison said. “So we won’t starve. Neeta and Pete are putting dinner together. At least we can have a decent meal tonight, and we’ve got shelter and heat.”
Daniel was still studying the map. “There’s a hangar over here. What do you suppose the chances are of there being a plane that still flies?”
“I think the Nazis on this base had to get off somehow. They probably took the planes.”
“Even so, we should check. And it says there’s a boathouse.”
There was a sudden humming noise, and a moment later the sodium light in the ceiling of the bunk room blazed into life. Allison and Daniel squinted in the sudden glare.
“What happened?” Allison said.
“I would say Ellen and Jake figured out how to turn on the generator.”
“Let me go and see if there are lights on anywhere else.” Allison went into the corridor. It was now lit by another overhead sodium light.
A clattering noise from the direction of the watch tower made Allison turn, cautiously taking a few steps forward. A moment later Ellen came into view, climbing down the ladder from the opening, bundled up in outdoor gear. As she reached the bottom she ducked to avoid Jake’s backpack, which sailed down through the opening. He followed it down.
Allison sighed with relief. She poked her head back into the bunk room and told Daniel, “Jake and Ellen are back.”
“Who else was it going to be?”
“I was afraid to imagine.”
Ellen squinted up at the ceiling light. “We were going to make this grand announcement that we found the generator, but I guess you already know that.”
Jake jumped the last few feet off the ladder and picked up his backpack. He frowned, sniffing the air. “Damn, that smells good. Someone cooking something?”
“It’s dinner,” Allison said. “We’ve got enough food to have a decent meal tonight.”
“Are we actually using that meat in the freezer?” Jake asked.
“Even if it looks OK, it’s still been there seventy years,” Allison said. “Nobody wants to risk it. We’ve got plenty of tinned food to provide sustenance.”
Hearing Daniel calling her name, Ellen stepped into the barracks. “Hey, Yank. How are you doing?”
“Going nuts,” Daniel grumbled. “Please tell me you found something useful in the infirmary that will help my leg heal. I’m going crazy not being able to move. They dumped me in here and I don’t know what’s going on.”
“We thought you’d be more comfortable on a bunk,” Allison said.
“And you thought I’d be in the way out there.”
“There is a lot to do.”
“Tell me what you found in the rest of the complex.”
“We couldn’t get into the infirmary because it’s sealed off,” Ellen said.
“What do you mean, sealed off?”
“It means exactly that,” Jake said, poking his head through the door of the barracks. “The door is sealed. The two corridors are also blocked off at both ends”
“Sealed how?” Daniel asked.
“Looks to me like the door has been sealed with some kind of soldering tool.”
Daniel held out the map to Jake. “Show me exactly where you’ve been and what bits are sealed off.
Jake propped the map up on Daniel’s good leg and studied it. Allison and Ellen leaned in closer. “OK, here’s where we entered the complex. There’s a trap door in the floor of the building. And here is where the snow block is.” Jake pointed to the relevant parts of the map. “There’s a sealed door here and here at the infirmary. There are store rooms over here. And this is a laboratory of some sort. We went in there, and it’s completely wrecked.”
“It looked like there’d been a struggle or a fight,” Ellen said. “And there’s a weird machine in there. We don’t know what it does, but it still seems to be working.”
“And here’s the infirmary.” Jake stabbed at the map. “But all three corridors are blocked – one with the snow block and two with concrete, so the only way of getting to the east side of the base is to access it through the trap door in the above-ground storage hut like we did.”
“Well that’s too bad because there’s a lot of useful stuff back there,” Daniel said. “Look, there’s a hangar. And this says it’s a weapon store.” He pointed at the map.
Ellen stared at the spot he was pointing at. “How do you know it’s a weapon store?”
Daniel looked at her. “Because I understand German.”
“Really?”
“I took it in college. Majored in geology, minored in German. Spent six months of my senior year at a geological dig in West Germany.”
“Maybe you can translate these books we found, then.” Ellen put down her backpack and started rummaging through it.
“The hangar seems to be on a lower level,” Daniel said. “We know we can’t get down the stairs at the north end of this corridor because they have collapsed. But on the other side there’s a lift shaft. Did you look at that?”
“We
did,” Jake said. “The lift doesn’t work. Even with the power on. The only way to get down the lift shaft is for someone to climb down. We might have to be prepared for that possibility.”
Daniel looked at Jake. “What about getting through those sealed doors? We’ve got explosives, haven’t we?”
Jake narrowed his eyes. “What of it?”
“I was talking to Allison earlier about how we could do a controlled explosion to move the ice wall. Maybe we could use the explosives to get through those sealed doors.”
“Is that such a good idea?” Allison said. “We don’t know why they were sealed off. Maybe there’s contamination or something behind them.”
“If there were contamination, it should have dissipated by now,” Jake said.
Ellen put the file from the lab and the notebook from the locker down on Daniel’s bunk. “Here we are. So the notebook seems to be a journal of some sort written by one of the Nazis. It might give us some clue as to what they were doing here.”
“What’s this?” Daniel picked up the file. “It has a title: ‘Outpost H311’. Maybe that’s what they called the base.”
“That’s from the lab. We were hoping it might give us some clue as to what that machine does.”
“This looks very interesting.” Daniel opened up the file folder.
Neeta’s voice floated down the corridor. “Dinner’s ready, guys!”
“Great, let’s go get some chow. I’m starving,” said Jake.
“I’ll bring you a plate, Daniel,” Ellen said.
“You do that,” Daniel said, eyes glued to the folder. “I’m happy to stay here and look at this. It looks like lab notes. It could be the key to what the Nazis were doing here.”
CHAPTER 21
They ate the stew from tin bowls, using spoons they had found in the base. They pulled together two of the tables in the refectory and the six of them sat around it. The electric heater was on and the place was now so warm everyone had shed a couple of layers. It might almost have been cosy had Allison not been dogged by the notion that they were stranded and no one knew where they were.
There wasn’t much conversation during dinner. It had been a long time since anyone had eaten a proper cooked meal. They concentrated on the business of eating.
Neeta got up first, gathering up the tin bowls and spoons. “Since we don’t have a dishwasher we’re doing our own washing up,” she said. “But we rather need hot water for that.”
“What we need is a three-bowl system,” Jake said. “It’s what we used to do in the desert. One bowl full of hot soapy water, used to clean the plates. Second bowl of cold clean water, to rinse off. Third bowl with disinfectant in water, to kill off bacteria. Then you let the crockery air-dry instead of drying them with dish towels.”
“Sounds like a lot of effort to me,” Nathan groused. “What’s the point of all that?”
“To stop cross-infection,” Jake said. “When you’re living in close quarters with a lot of people in a very hot climate, you don’t want anyone getting sick because then everyone gets sick.”
“But we’re not in a hot climate, we’re in a bloody cold climate.”
“The principle is the same,” Jake said.
“Sounds like an excellent plan to me,” Allison said. “Jake, can you get the water sorted? Nathan and Ellen, you can help with washing up duties, since Neeta and Pete cooked. We’ll do another rota for tomorrow.”
Nathan huffed. “You’re still hot on ordering everyone else about, but you haven’t given yourself any tasks there.”
“I’m going to set a watch rota for tonight,” Allison said. “It’s important everyone gets plenty of rest, but we need to keep a lookout at all times.”
“Is that really necessary?” Nathan said.
Allison glared at him. “Given the state we found David in when we got here, yes it is. We still don’t know what happened to him. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow so I want to make sure everyone gets a good night’s sleep.”
“We should try blasting through the ice block tomorrow,” Ellen said.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Jake said.
“While we’re formulating a wish list of jobs to do, how about getting running water into those showers,” Nathan said. “Since the Nazis built them, they must have had a way of getting water out of them. What’s the point of going to all this trouble of keeping bacteria off our dinner plates if we’re all breeding germs through not being able to wash?”
“He has got a point,” Jake said. “When I’ve finished this I’ll see if I can rig up the water heater. We should be able to run it off the generator.”
Allison stood up. “I’m going to see if Daniel’s done eating. Then I’ll get on with that rota.”
Daniel was sitting on the bunk engrossed in the file. The two bowls Allison had brought him, one containing stew and one containing peaches, had both been scraped clean. The mug of tea was also empty. “You finished your dinner, then?” she said.
“What?” Daniel looked up. “Oh, yes it was marvellous. Thanks very much.”
Allison picked up the bowls and mug. “Neeta and Pete did the cooking, so I’ll pass on your thanks to them. Have you been able to make any sense of that file?”
“My German’s a bit rusty these days, and whoever wrote these notes had appalling handwriting but yes, I am able to follow much of it. And it’s fascinating reading.”
“So what have you discovered?”
“Well it was a Nazi base, as we deduced. But it was actually set up before the war. The entries are dated, and the first one is dated October 1938. It wasn’t fully staffed at the beginning. They started off with a skeleton crew, and then others gradually came in over the next few years. I was right about Outpost H311. It was the code name for the base.”
“Seems an odd name,” Allison said.
“I think it was meant to be as anonymous as possible. It was supposed to be a top secret project. The base was set up, by order of Hitler himself, to do confidential research.”
“What kind of research?”
“I haven’t got that far yet. There are hints in some of the early entries that the base was going to be conducting research into paranormal and supernatural phenomena. That seems quite likely, especially if the base was supposed to be a top secret operation. It’s well documented that Hitler was obsessed with the supernatural. But there are some entries here that talk about some research into preserving things.”
“What sorts of things? Food, that kind of thing?”
“The detail is sketchy so far. If any more details come up about the experiments they do, I’ll let you know.”
“Well I’ll leave you to it,” Allison said. “We’re tidying up a bit and then bedding down for the night. I’m organising a watch rota. Don’t worry, I’m not going to include you – you’re injured and you need to rest. But make sure you do rest. Don’t stay up all night reading that file.”
The watch rota had Jake and Nathan on first watch, Neeta and Pete next, and Allison and Ellen last, finishing their shift with breakfast. Everyone was on a three-hour watch shift, so in theory everyone could get six hours of sleep.
After the tidying up was done, everyone took their sleeping bags and found themselves a bunk. Allison was surprised to discover it was still early when she looked at her watch – just after 8pm. It was impossible to tell what time it was here. Not only did the perpetual twilight make it dark outside all day, inside the base they couldn’t see outside.
Allison set her sleeping bag out on one of the empty bottom bunks. There were electric lights in all the rooms powered by the generator, but mindful of preserving their limited supply of energy, and the fact that other people were settling down to sleep, Allison didn’t bother with the light and set down the oil lantern she was carrying. She put her outdoor padded jacket and her scarf down at the foot of the bunk and sat down to take off her boots. She was acutely aware she’d been wearing her clothes for over 48 hours, but she was reluctant to st
art taking any more off. They might have some heat, but they were still having to endure the sub-zero Arctic climate. She hoped Jake managed to get the hot water running. She couldn’t remember ever being in more desperate need of a shower in her life.
Ellen came in, pack on her back and sleeping bag rolled up under one arm. “Is it OK if I take the top bunk?” she said, speaking quietly to avoid disturbing the others.
“Feel free.”
Ellen tossed her sleeping bag onto the vacant upper bunk and put her back pack on the floor. “Do you really think a watch is necessary?”
“Until we know what’s out there, I’d rather play it safe. We don’t know what happened to David.”
Ellen paused in unrolling her sleeping bag and shuddered. “I keep seeing his face, the way it was when we found him. It was a look of pure terror. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep if I keep thinking that whatever he saw is still out there.”
“I know what you mean, but we all need to get some rest. Someone will be awake and keeping watch all night.” Allison picked up the lantern and put it within reach of the bunk before getting into her sleeping bag. Lying back, she watched Ellen shucking boots and layers as she prepared for bed. The flickering flame from the oil lamp cast eerie shadows around the room.
“It’s nice to be out of the cold,” Ellen said as she took off her hiking pants. “These are supposed to be waterproof but they’re soaking wet, and I’ve been in them for hours.”
“There’s been a lot of walking about in the snow today,” Allison said. “Hopefully, now that we’re in the base, there will be less need to go outside tomorrow.”
Ellen hung her wet hiking trousers from the foot of her bunk. “If these haven’t dried by morning, I’ll have to dig out my other pair.” Wearing thermal long johns, thick socks and a woollen sweater, she climbed up the ladder onto her bunk.
“OK for me to blow out the lantern?” Allison asked.
“Go ahead. I figure we’ve got six solid hours before we get woken up for our watch.”
“Goodnight then.” Allison snuffed out the lantern’s flame. The room plunged into darkness. She lay awake for a while. Apart from rustling and breathing noises as the others slept the base was eerily silent. Allison wasn’t convinced she’d get any sleep at all, so uneasy was her mind, but eventually she drifted off.
Outpost H311 Page 10