All was silent for about three minutes.
Shan had a question. “Can this bad person travel to other planets?”
“No, ma’am, He’s confined to Earth.”
“How about a clue, Harry?” Alice said.
“Okay, pretend you are an ant lion.”
“Son of a bitch,” Alice growled. “The tunnel in Peru goes two ways. We’ve been led around by the nose and we were almost there. We even had that cigarette butt that proved they were there. Talk about a last minute revelation. Good job, Harry.”
“Hey guys,” it was Fran, “Do I get in on the big secret?”
“I’ll let you read our report.” M1 said.
M2 reeled in the weather balloon so as to leave no trace of our visit, then we hopped aboard our transport to the station. On arriving, we quickly boarded the trolley for the long ride to Manheim. We were all absorbed by our personal thoughts except for Shan and Bob. At the end of the line we had to shake them awake for the transfer to our ride to the Phi-Phi station. On this final leg, Alice and the boys reported fully to the Colonel. It was still dark, but dawn of day three was just minutes away.
CHAPTER 32
Colonel Brockway met us at the station. “Harry,” he said, “If you were a girl I’d hug you, instead, how about a handshake and a pat on the back?”
“Fine with me,” Harry said.
“By now,” the Colonel continued, “my report will have reached the director. I hope for his sake it isn’t the middle of the night there. Just think of the uproar your revelation will spark. I agree you need some sleep. You can tell me your plans after some sack time.”
We began our walk back to Grand Central.
“Colonel,” Alice said, “we talked this over during our blue line ride. Since you will absolutely be receiving tons of messages from Washington, we should get out of here real fast. Besides, there’s no reason for delay. We face the unknown as usual, but we think we’ll be okay for supplies with Harry’s replicator. We’ll leave with some extra water, a few more bullets, grenades and a carton of flashlight batteries.”
“No problem,” the Colonel said. “How about some Marines? I can have them here when you wake up.”
“If only we could,” M1 said, “but how would we use them? I think we shouldn’t change the way we operate.”
“You’re right,” the Colonel said. “It’s just that I feel so helpless.”
“We understand, sir,” M1 said. “Before we turn in I’d like Alice to give you a recap of our trip to Purgatory.”
She was able to tell the story in about five minutes. “And in conclusion,” she said, “we think that when the Nazis left Paradise, leaving the last positive clue as to their travels, they went to Omaha for a short time and then on to this place—Manheim. They want us to think they did nothing here other than to pass through, on their way to Purgatory, but you’ve read our report. We’re sure we know where they really went. What we don’t know is their connection to the Prime worlds, who here was in collusion with them, do they have ray guns and stuff and how does the disappearance of Abraham fit into the whole mess? We think Purgatory is deserted. The whole place is an elaborate diversion and a trap. We’ll ask Fran—Major Alton to do a daylight flyover and take some pictures. It’ll be up to you to send people there to explore the place.”
We arrived at Grand Central and said goodnight to Colonel Brockway. It really was time to retreat. Our big news was important, but rest was vital. We had to move, but with all of our senses sharp and alert.
“Maybe we should sleep in one of the interior rooms at HQ,” Alice suggested. “I only slumber well in the dark.”
“There’s a joke there somewhere,” M2 said, “but I’m too tired to think of it.”
“I know,” M1 said, “most of the rooms are now occupied by the dreaded office workers, but maybe we could use Pixie’s room. I don’t know what plans Fran and Camila have for her today, but I’m fairly sure she won’t be hanging around there. I think I saw drapes on the windows when we were there.”
Things were quiet at Grand Central. The IHOO staff was somewhere asleep. M1 left a note for Fran with the night guard. He requested that she do a morning reconnaissance flyover of Purgatory for mapping purposes and to see if she could spot Pixie’s family. That rescue would have to be done by Lieutenant Kelsey and his crew. Since we were more tired than hungry, we went on to HQ and to Pixie’s room, picking up our sleeping gear on the way. Alice entered after softly tapping on the door. Half a minute later she waved the rest of us on in. Camila and Pixie were there on military cots. Our science officer was bundled under about four of those lovely olive drab blankets, but Pixie had only one sheet because she was wearing her arda. Both girls were awake and smiling, but showed no inclination to get up.
“Sorry,” Camila said, “I can only offer you the floor, but we have lots of it to spare.”
“The floor, any floor at all, is that for which we are looking,” Amy said, while flipping her bag open.
There was a lot of flapping and fluffing for about thirty seconds. The next sounds were the thumping of boots as we hurriedly kicked them off and crawled into our sacks.
I was only interested in sleep, but seeing Pixie lying there in her arda triggered a thought that boiled up as an interesting question. “Pixie,” I asked, “who gave you your arda?”
“Our masters provide them when we are very young.”
“James,” Alice said, “I’ll need to ask you where that thought came from, but for now I’ll be quiet because this is very interesting.”
I thanked her, then said to Pixie, “I’d like to know where the masters get ardas?”
“I do not know how they came about,” Pixie replied, “but somehow their own ardas sometimes shed a small version just right for a child.”
“So then,” I said, “the Gray men are not really gray at all. Have you seen them without their ardas?”
“Oh, yes. I have seen them many times that way. Their skin is a little darker than mine, but they are truly ugly and can behave like animals.”
“How are they different from you, me and the rest of us?”
Pixie was silent for a while. “It is a curious thing, not easy to explain. It is like when I learn a new thing, I am anxious to share it with my family. The masters do not do this. I remember one time a master found a new way to throw a small stone in a sling. He did not share this with his family. They only learned of it much later when they saw him use it. They know some of our language, but only speak to give orders. They talk little to each other.”
She fell silent, so I said, “Thank you, Pixie. You are very helpful.”
“I think we should check their DNA as soon as possible,” Camila said. “I’ll call in a request tomorrow—or rather, later today.”
Alice had her question ready. “James, do you have any speculation about the possible results of the DNA test?”
“Indeed I do, my dear. If I’m right, it will be very interesting to many people, but it shouldn’t make much difference to us. Then again, who knows?”
“In that case, will you share now?”
“Sure. I think it’s possible the Gray men are Neanderthals, originally from Earth. If so, the history of the great disaster that Abraham knows is a complete fiction. Some unknown beings, for some unknown reason, have created a colossal fib. It seems that the Primes were visiting Earth for thousands of years, far back into our prehistory, and maybe even before humans existed. Maybe they were visiting Earth as far back as proto humans and Neanderthals.”
We all heard Harry say, almost to himself, “A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but we just got a peek at what’s inside.”
Alice picked up where Harry left off. “It began with the hunt for the elusive Carl Manheim. Along the way the Band found clues that lead us to the stars—away from Earth. Moses search for answers about his Mary and his people lead us to this place. This place, Manheim, has given us four ancient, but new to us, portals to Earth. This me
ans our ultimate discovery so far is not a gateway from Earth to the stars, but truly gateways to Earth from the stars. There is a light source somewhere in the distance. We are searching for that light, but there are things between the light and us. We are walking in the penumbra.”
“Good golly,” Bebe said, from deep within her sleeping bag, “we are finding more questions than answers. This is incredibly fascinating my friends, but Bebe’s brain only knows it needs sleep. Is there a Geppetto somewhere, pulling strings that make us twitch? I wonder.”
That was my last memory. Sleep came fast and lasted until one of Lieutenant Roy’s men shook us awake before noon. “Colonel Brockway wants to see all of you at IHOO immediately, he said. He looks very concerned.”
It took us about three minutes to boot up and run to the restaurant where the Colonel waved us to the coffee urn. “Get your coffee and gather around,” he said. Lieutenant Roy had full mugs ready for us. We grabbed them and sat down. “I have very bad news,” he said. “Your visit to Purgatory must have triggered some signal to someone somewhere because we have lost all contact with Earth and the other planets. My communications people tell me it was a cascade effect that lasted less than ten minutes. First, Nexus reported that the portal to Ganymede had closed. Moses is on Earth so presumably he is working on the problem. Next Paradise lost contact with Nexus, then Omaha with Paradise and finally Omaha was closed to us.” He paused for a sip of coffee. “And so we are on our own. We have military all over the places, but they have nothing to fight. Even the Dance Band is stranded here.”
“I hope you can answer this question,” M1 said. “Did the portals just quit on their own or did they refuse to open once they were closed by touch?”
“I’m pretty sure it was the latter based on what I was told. Is that relevant?”
Alice banged her cup on the table. “It’s the one right here and Bebe left it open.”
We all were on our feet.
“The gear you requested,” the Colonel said, “is on that table by the door. Grab it and get going, but first, Fran has a report.”
“I sent a drone to Purgatory at first light, she said. “The most significant thing I saw was railroad tracks running right through the middle of the city. On the western end there was a train just like the one in the Hollow Mountain—an airplane on one of the cars, anti-aircraft guns—everything.” She approached M2 and put her hand on his arm. “You take good care of yourself and your friends—okay?”
He was taken by surprise, but recovered quickly. “Sure, Fran, sure. We always land face up. You know that.”
We said our final goodbyes and walked away.
CHAPTER 33
M1 had been sure to close the outer chamber door at HQ so that we could open the new dome door while leaving the portal active. Once outside we gathered close.
“Well,” Alice said, “welcome back to Pee-Roo. It looks and smells the same. The cave still goes off in two directions, but I don’t have that angry feeling.”
“Perhaps,” I said, “whatever shut down the portals also deactivated the barriers.”
“That’s good,” M1 said. “I don’t hear, smell, taste, feel or see anything different. Are we okay to go?” He looked at the group and gave a start. “Jo, is that you?”
“Yes it is, M1,” she said. Our robot was no longer silver. She now had regular human type skin. Her shorts and halter were black. She smiled and said, “I am in disguise.”
“Wow,” M1 said, “Anyway, are we good to go?”
We all agreed and started down the cave in the opposite direction from the entrance. There was no difference for about thirty yards. There we found a sharp bend to the right and proof that Harry’s idea that the Nazis went underground was a good one.
“Holy cats,” M2 said, as he flashed his light in the new direction. “Mother nature had nothing to do with this section.”
The tunnel, leading slightly down, was perfectly carved from the solid rock. It has straight side walls and a domed roof.
“No street signs,” Amy said, “but I think the walls are starting to glow like the subway room.”
“Save your batteries,” M1 said. “Keep a sharp watch.”
The softly illuminated tunnel stretched on arrow straight, but ever deeper. After an estimated quarter mile the tunnel leveled off and opened to a sizeable room, but what we saw was not a portal.
“These guys sure like their bank vaults,” Alice said. “It looks like the one in the Hollow Mountain except that there are no controls.”
“What do you do with such a thing?” Shan asked.
“With luck,” M2 said, “James will open it.”
Bebe pointed at two silver lightning slashes on the left side of the massive door. “Those two shiny metal pieces are the symbols of the Nazi SS are they not?”
“Yes,” I said, “that they are.” I carefully pushed them, but they seemed unmovable. “No buttons, no handles—nothing.”
“I see something here in the middle,” Bob said. “It is just some faint lines and small circles.”
We all moved to the center where we saw that the lines and circles were engraved into the surface. They were very shallow and hard to see, but they covered a yard wide area.
“Damn,” Harry said, “that’s a star chart—maybe a constellation. Any of you guys recognize it?”
No one did. M2 tried to take a picture, but there was too little contrast. “I’ll try different angles,” he said. “James, stand behind me and shine your light over my shoulder.” Before he could take a shot, he said, “James, do you see what I see?”
“I sure do,” I said and invited the others to stand in my place and look.”
“It’s that SS symbol,” Alice said. “They aren’t engraved, it’s just a slight alteration of the surface. “They seem to be the same size as those silver bars.”
“I have an idea,” Harry said. “I’ll test it with a blade of my handy Swiss Army knife.” He held the knife close to one of the bars and it stuck. “Magnetic,” he said while prying his knife from the silver bar. “This has to be chrome plated steel.” He grabbed one of the symbols, gave it a yank and pulled it away from the door. He handed it to M2 and then pulled off the second. M2 placed his symbol over the faint pattern in the star chart, but nothing happened.
“Okay kids,” Harry said, “here goes nothing.”
The instant he put the second symbol in place we heard a heavy clunk and the huge door slowly swung open to reveal another, much larger chamber.
CHAPTER 34
“Great balls of fire,” Alice gasped, “Am I dreaming.”
“Gee whiz,” Shan said, “did I not see this in the Hollow Mountain? How can it be here?
This new chamber was enormous. Long, wide and high enough to contain the entire Führersonderzug Brandenburg, Hitler’s personal train—or was it?
“That car even has the same fighter plane on top,” Amy said. “Now we have three identical trains.”
“Amy,” Harry said, “keep in mind the duplicate barracks in Purgatory and those gazebos in Eden. My guess is that there is just one real train.”
“Jo,” Amy said, “can you tell if this is the real thing?”
Our very human looking android placed her hand flat on the side of the car. “This is real. I do not know about the other two.”
M1 pulled out his binoculars and looked to the front. “This thing is on normal tracks,” he said, “but the steel has a blue cast. The tunnel goes on beyond this station.” He lowered the glasses. “Harry, do you know how to operate a steam engine?”
Before Harry could answer, a voice called out, “It will not be necessary, the driver is on board.”
There, standing in the rear door of the center car, was the missing Abraham. He looked at us—we looked at him. We did that for almost a full minute.
“Abraham,” Alice called out, “Are you okay? What happened to you?”
“I am in good order, Alice Dance,” Abraham said. “I have been waiting her
e, hoping that you and your companions would find this place. I bear you no malice.”
I felt a warning tingle trickle down my spine. ‘I bear you no malice’? That didn’t sound right. I glanced at Harry and saw what looked like a key ring holder in the hand I could see. It had a cotter key dangling from it. I knew that in his other hand was a grenade with no safety pin.
“I—we don’t understand,” Alice said. “Were you not captured?”
“Perhaps it would be best,” he said, “if you all join me in this car. We have a long ride and we can talk in comfort.”
“Just one freaking minute,” M2 said—his shotgun swinging loose in one hand. “Join you in the car? Just like that? No explanations?”
“Seems to me,” Harry said, “that you’re no longer one of the good guys. Maybe you never were one of the good guys. Maybe there are black boots under that robe.”
Abraham took a deep breath and sighed. “Save your outrage, Mr. Bismarck. Treachery is as old as humanity. Allow me to quote your ancestor, Otto Von Bismarck: People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election. He was correct, you know.” He raised his voice. “Mr. Bismarck, the war did not end in nineteen forty-five—you on the surface simply did not know it. There is ever so much that you do not know. Again, let me quote your ancestor: The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.
“I stand here alone and unarmed. You could shoot me or take me to the surface as a prisoner.” He spread his hands like a supplicant. “And then, what? I have answers to many of your questions. Only I can take you to the Core.”
My mind played tricks with me. I thought if the Earth were an apple then the Core would be in the center. Were we going to the center of our planet? I hoped not. It’s rather hot down there.
“Choose now,” Abraham said. “Come with me or turn and leave. You may not like what you find on the surface. Keep your weapons and your backpacks.”
LOST AND FORGOTTEN: BOOK THREE - ENIGMA Page 22