by Ward Wagher
CHAPTER EIGHT
October 30, 1939
“Very well,” Colonel Klemperer said, “please demonstrate your device.”
Dieter let his eyes travel about the lab. Konrad, Florian, and Ludwig stood around the workbench along with Ignatz and the colonel. Jette remained at her desk and looked frightened. The colonel was about forty years old. His monocle glittered in the light of the lab, and his perfectly tailored uniform seemed to confirm he was every centimeter the starchy Luftwaffe officer.
Dieter nodded. “Before I conduct the experiment, I must ask you to put on the welder’s mask. The discharge is very bright.”
The colonel frowned at Dieter. “Is this your way of fooling me about the power of this supposed weapon?”
“I simply do not want you to be blinded, Herr Colonel.”
“I want you to understand, young Herr Faust, that every week I have people in my office trying to sell me advanced weapons that will surely win the war for the Reich. They are mostly grifters and con artists. I am here today because Herr Schneider is an old and trusted friend. He tells me that you have accomplished something noteworthy. But I have an obligation to the Reich to verify these things.”
“Of course, Herr Colonel,” Dieter replied. “If you do not want to wear the welder’s mask, I would suggest that not look directly at the device when we energize it. I don’t want you to be injured.”
Klemperer smiled at Dieter. “I appreciate your caution, young man. I am well able to take care of myself.”
“Of course, Colonel.”
Dieter wondered why Ignatz did not comment. The colonel had entered the laboratory and made his way immediately to Dieter’s workbench. Ignatz had come out of his office and walked up next to the colonel, but they didn’t even greet one another. He shrugged to himself. If the colonel was determined to blind himself, there was little to be done.
“What I have done, Colonel is build an apparatus using a glass rod and sixteen lightbulbs. I am taking power from this device here, which we created a couple of weeks ago. The glass rod has been polished on both ends. It is mirrored with silver on this end; the other end is partially mirrored. Currently, the lightbulbs are single-use only. They burn out almost immediately.”
“Yes, yes. Let’s get on with it.”
“As you wish,” Dieter said.
He closed the knife switch in the circuit and pulled the welder’s mask over his face. Ludwig, Konrad, Florian, and Ignatz all pulled hoods over their faces. Jette, still sitting at her desk, turned to face the wall and closed her eyes. Dieter reached out by feel and began to twist the rheostat in the circuit.
“And… here we go,” he said softly.
As he expected, the glass rod emitted an actinic flash, and the sundered air assaulted their ears with a loud crack. The smell of ozone and hot metal filled the laboratory.
“Gott im Himmel!” Klemperer shouted. “I cannot see.”
Ignatz lifted the mask off his head and turned to the colonel. “Let me walk you into my office, Herr Colonel. Hopefully, the effects of the flash will wear off in a little while. Do you understand why Dieter cautioned you?”
“Mein Gott! What have you done?”
“Please be patient, Herr Colonel,” Ignatz said.
“Patient? All I can see is a white bar across my eyes.”
“It took nearly a half-hour before I could see again,” Dieter volunteered. “There seemed to be no lasting damage, but we want to be cautious.”
“Easy enough for you to say,” the colonel shouted. “I cannot see.”
“Come on, Herr Colonel,” Ignatz led him away to the office.
“That went well, Ludwig said. “The colonel is very unhappy. I hope he doesn’t decide to shut down the lab. We would all end up in the army.”
“Since just a few of us can operate the thing, we will probably end up in the army anyway.”
Dieter looked up to see Jette standing next to him. “What is going to happen, Dieter?”
“I hope the colonel is simply shocked. Once he starts thinking again, he will see the possibilities. There is no need to be frightened.”
“I am afraid he could send us all to the camps.”
“He is not going to do that,” Dieter replied. He tried to inject as much reassurance into his voice as he could.
She wandered uncertainly back to her desk and continued working. Dieter gazed at her for a while and then looked down at his bench. Over the weekend, he had developed another idea that he wanted to try. He checked the clock on the wall and was surprised that it wasn’t yet nine o’clock in the morning. A lot had happened in the first hour of the day.
A half-hour later, Colonel Klemperer came out of Ignatz’s office. He marched over to Dieter, who looked at him warily.
“You were correct,” the colonel said. “I should have listened to you. But, mein Gott, that was bright.”
“Allow me to show you something, Herr Colonel,” Dieter said.
He pointed to the piece of steel plate mounted vertically at the end of the workbench. It had a circular hole melted in the center. A few bits of molten metal had dripped on to the bench where they had left burn marks.
“This is where the beam from the glass rod impacted the steel plate. The first time we tried this, I had a thin piece of sheet metal here. I thought I would be able to see the beam shine on the metal and we could test the focus.”
“That is amazing,” Klemperer said.
“More so,” Dieter added, “come over to the wall, please.”
He pointed to a second hole punched through the wall by the beam. “I was curious to see if the steel plate would attenuate the beam. Clearly, it did not.”
“How deep is the hole?” the colonel asked.
“From what we have been able to measure, about six or seven meters.”
The colonel studied the hole and then looked back at Dieter. “I think this will save a lot of German lives on the battlefield. Confidentially, we did not expect England to join the French in the war. That shocked everyone. I think what you have done is given us a short, victorious war.”
He turned to Ignatz. “Come, we must talk.”
Dieter watched as the colonel returned to Ignatz’s office, with their boss following him. The good news was that they had the attention of the colonel. He wondered what would happen next. After pondering that for a few moments, he returned to his work.
An hour later, the colonel left the lab. Ignatz walked out into the work area towards Dieter. The workers tried to watch him while maintaining attention on their work.
“Very well, people, I have news,” Ignatz spoke loudly.
He waited until he had everyone’s attention.
“Our demonstration captured the attention of the Luftwaffe. Colonel Klemperer has explained to me that he will speak with the OKW and begin working on some serious funding. The good news is that we will probably get to vacate this building and move to a proper research facility.”
There was a brief cheer from the people in the room.
“The bad news is I don’t know where the new location will be. It may not even be in Frankfort. Tomorrow we will all receive new stamps for our papers that mark us as critical to the war effort. That should make our conversations with the Gestapo go more smoothly.”
“I’d rather not have conversations with them at all,” Florian muttered quietly.
“That’s all for now,” Ignatz said.
He walked over to Dieter.
“You have that look, Dieter.”
“What look would that be?” he asked.
“You have another invention in mind.”
Dieter looked at Ignatz. “You are correct. I don’t know how you figured that out.”
“You are not hard to read. Can you tell me about it?”
Dieter twisted his head slightly. “I’m not sure if I can just yet. I got an idea Friday night and thought about it over the weekend. I’m not sure what it will do, but I have some ideas I would like to try.”<
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“Basic research, eh?” Ignatz grinned.
“Something like that, I guess.”
“Just don’t blow up the building, Dieter. We’ve finally got ourselves noticed.”
“Blowing up the building would get us noticed,” Florian commented quietly from his bench.
“So would finding your body in the rubble,” Ignatz said, pointing his finger at him. “And you should pay attention to your work.”
“Of course,” he murmured.
After Ignatz returned to his office, Konrad wandered over.
“Things are looking up, Dieter.”
“It would appear that is the case,” he nodded.
“Do you think it will mean more money for us?”
“I would hope so. Right now, this seems like a good way to avoid the army.”
“A good idea, Dieter. Let’s not rock the boat.”
“Absolutely.”
Konrad walked back over to his bench and continued working on a framework to hold the glass rod and its associated parts. He patterned the work after a rifle since the device would logically be used as a weapon.
He wondered what actually powered the device since it was merely a collection of parts that should not do anything. It was clear to him that Dieter was not trying to deceive them. The power was coming from somewhere. The lab team had joked among themselves that it was magic, but he was becoming convinced it really was magic.
CHAPTER NINE
November 3, 1939
“So, let me get this straight,” The Reichsmarshall said as he leaned across his desk, “we have a new class of weapons that is more powerful than anything ever invented…”
Colonel Klemperer nodded as Hermann Goering rambled on. It was clear that Goering loved to hear himself speak, yet the man was not quite as gullible as he was reputed to be.
“And only certain people have the ability to operate the weapons. It doesn’t work for others. Have I heard you correctly?”
“Yes, Herr Reichsmarshall. I witnessed a demonstration of the weapon myself. The device generated an intense beam of light. It not only burned a hole through a centimeter-thick steel plate but also bored about twenty meters through the wall and into the earth outside. It nearly blinded me. I could see nothing for ten minutes afterward.”
“So, it was probably good the laboratory is in the basement.”
“Yes, Herr Reichsmarshall. If the beam had been aimed across the street, there is no telling who could have been killed.”
“What do you take me for?” Goering suddenly screamed. “You bring this ridiculous story to Berlin and expect me to believe what amounts to magic! There is something wrong with this picture. Have you been at the Schnapps?”
Klemperer wanted to wipe the sweat from his brow but was convinced Goering would see it as a sign of weakness and pounce. But he also needed to persuade Goering that there was a viable weapon here.
“Herr Reichsmarshall, I am not asking you to believe me. I simply request that you allow us to demonstrate the weapon for you.”
“Bah! Last week I had to talk to an even half-dozen men who wanted to sell the Reich their latest invention that would immediately win the war for us. I didn’t expect something like this from my own people. Do you take me for a fool?”
The colonel wasn’t sure how to answer. He was convinced Goering was a fool, but that had nothing to do with the current conversation. If he was unable to retrieve the situation, Goering was just as likely to close down the lab and throw them all out on the street. And he was convinced they were on the cusp of something that would transform Germany.
“Get out of my office, Colonel. It has been a long day, and I am in a filthy mood. And the Führer still wants to meet with the other leaders and me tonight. We will talk again. Right now, I don’t need wild tales from Frankfort. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Herr Reichsmarshall. I understand.”
“Then, go!” Goering pointed a finger. “But, stay in town. I may need you. Let my secretary know where you are staying. I will want to talk to you again.”
Goering decided he at least owed the colonel another hearing. The man had been a reliable and hard-working member of his staff for years. And if there really was something to this new technology, it would not do to ignore it. However, the colonel’s report simply defied belief. Goering wondered why he was afflicted with such people.
“Of course, Herr Reichsmarshall.” Klemperer braced to attention, clicked the heels of his shoes together, and then turned and marched from the office.
If Goering’s mood was filthy, then Hitler’s was vile. He began the meeting by berating Ribbentrop for allowing the English to enter the war. The war had gone well so far. Germany and the Soviet Union had partitioned Poland, and the subsequent invasion had gone according to plan and was ahead of schedule. However, the United Kingdom and its European allies had immediately declared war on Germany. Hitler had not expected this and was scrambling to react. Germany was vulnerable.
Fortunately, most of the Führer’s wrath was directed against Joachim von Ribbentrop, the foreign minister. He had confidently predicted that the English would stay out of the war. It was now apparent how badly they had misread the English and the French. Those countries, as well as others, had warned Hitler about trying to absorb Poland, and everyone in the German government assumed the decade of appeasement would continue.
As the meeting wore on, the head of the SS, ReichsFührer Heinrich Himmler, leaned over to speak quietly to Goering.
“I understand your scientist colonel was in Berlin to see you this afternoon.”
“Your people are observant.” Goering grinned at Himmler. “I have grown weary of the man’s infatuation with strange ideas. I have enough problems with my real engineers and scientists.”
“Give him and his people to me then, Hermann. It worked well when you merged the Gestapo in with the SS.”
Goering thought about it for a few minutes and leaned towards Himmler.
“Why not? Perhaps you can do something with the man.”
“Is there something you wish to share, meine Herren?”
Goering looked up quickly to see that Hitler was glaring at him.
“Just working through a mutual problem, mein Führer.”
Hitler glared at him a few moments longer and then returned to his lecture on the correlation of forces in Europe. Goering returned his attention to the Führer. It was dangerous to let one’s attention lapse while in the presence of the man. He was liable to question Goering about it later, and the Reichsmarshall was not in a mood to receive a dressing down by the leader of the German people.
Hitler kept the group together until after ten in the evening, and Goering had yet to eat supper. He decided he would stop by the bar in the Adlon Hotel and get a sandwich. Klemperer was staying there, so he could take care of both things that night.
Klemperer had just gone to sleep when a pounding at the door awakened him. Fortunately, the hotel provided dressing robes to its guests, so he struggled into it and walked over to the door. He switched on the light and then pulled the door open.
“Herr Reichsmarshall, I did not expect you. Please pardon my appearance.”
Goering looked at the disheveled man in the robe. He was amused at disturbing his sleep. At least the Reichsmarshall was up protecting the Reich, regardless of what this worthless scientist was doing.
“There has been a change in plans, Herr Colonel. We are transferring your operation to the SS. Please remain at the hotel until someone contacts you from the SS. Do you understand?”
“The SS?” Klemperer’s hand slid unbidden up his chest to his neck. His annoyance at being awakened was now shedding itself in a wave of fear. “Why the SS? We are doing military work.”
“You are working to defend the Reich, as is the SS. They will give you more attention than I can. I think it will be a step up for you.”
“Jawohl, Herr Reichsmarshall,” Klemperer said softly.
Goering marched a
way from the man’s room and walked downstairs to where his car waited in front of the hotel. During his ride home, he concluded that he had taken care of one problem during the day. He didn’t know what Himmler would do with the Colonel and his people, and he didn’t care. The scientists were all crazy anyway.
CHAPTER TEN
November 6, 1939
“Jette, come over here, please.”
The girl rose from her desk and moved diffidently over to Dieter’s workbench.
“Yes, Dieter?”
“I would like you to help with an experiment.”
She looked at him expectantly. Florian had spent the previous week upgrading the original experiment. He had replaced the wiring and the lights with an inch-thick bar of copper that he laboriously had bent into a U-shape so that each end connected to the generator apparatus. The center portion of the loop ran through a coil. The coil was wired through several resisters and attached to a meter. An industrial switch and controller had replaced the knife switch.
The team still struggled to get an accurate measurement of the power produced by the device. Dieter had tested the new arrangement and concluded it worked as they planned. He decided on some further testing. He looked at the girl.
“Florian has upgraded the original device, and I just realized we had tested it with everyone in the building except for you.”
“Will this hurt?” she asked.
“No, of course not. You have seen us testing this with other people, right?”
“Yes. I’m sorry, Dieter. The machinery makes me nervous.”
“There is nothing to fear. What I want you to do is flip this switch and turn the dial on the controller. We will watch the power meter.”
“Okay. When do you want to start?”
He smiled at the waifish blond girl. “No time like the present.”
“Very well.”
She reached out to touch the switch, and then with some effort, managed to snap it to the on position.