by Ward Wagher
In the middle of the afternoon, Ignatz walked up. “Just wanted to check on your progress, Dieter.”
Dieter looked up from his labors. “This one is a head-scratcher, Ignatz. No matter what I try, I can’t seem to move things along at all.”
“What you need to do, then, is to shift to something else and let this project rest for a while. In fact, maybe if you sleep on it tonight, you will have fresh inspiration in the morning.”
“That is a good idea. I have some ideas about using levels of opacity in the shield. If I can do that, we can eliminate the helmet visor. That has never worked well.”
“There is nothing wrong with refining what we have, Dieter. And, I would say that the Reich is pleased with your work. They do not hand out automobiles to just anyone.”
“You got one.”
Ignatz shook his finger in Dieter’s face. “Bad things come to those who torment their elders.”
Dieter laughed. “I shouldn’t take advantage of the elderly, but you are so easy sometimes.”
“Perhaps I should have you take over the job of cleaning the laboratory every night.”
“Is that something you could trust me with?”
Ignatz raised an eyebrow. “That is something to consider. Perhaps you should just stay around in the lab during the daytime when I can keep an eye on you.”
Dieter folded his hands and bowed. “Thank you, Master.”
“Yes. Well. Enjoy your ride home tonight.”
“Oh, I am excited about that. I could hardly concentrate on my job today.”
“That is understandable. Just do not bend your new vehicle. That would probably make Rolf unhappy.”
“I do not want that,” Dieter commented. “But Rolf seems easy going.”
Ignatz stepped in closer. “Do not assume that is always true,” he said softly. “Rolf is SS., And he is in the organization for a reason. As long as you provide value, he will treat you very well.”
The little man stared at him with raised eyebrows. Dieter thought about what he had just heard.
“Okay, Ignatz. I think I understand. And I will be very careful.”
“See that you are. I think maybe Jette’s life depends upon your good behavior.”
Involuntarily he looked over at the girl. She concentrated on sorting papers and didn’t notice his appraisal.
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
“I know you hadn’t,” Ignatz said. “I think, though, you should.”
Dieter nodded as the little man made his way back to the office.
As everyone prepared to leave at the end of the workday, Dieter invited Jette to ride home with him in his new car. He expected no trouble with his driving. Before securing his job in the laboratory, he worked as a lorry driver for a couple of years and was comfortable with the controls. And the KdF Wagen’s much lighter weight and size made it easy for him to master.
“I am amazed Rolf entrusted you with a vehicle,” she commented as they rode along the streets of Frankfort.
“I was amazed, too. But Rolf was right. I expect that my job is going to require some odd hours, and I could waste a lot of time lining up transportation.”
“I wonder what Frau Hohltaube will think of this.”
“That thought never occurred to me,” Dieter said. “Do you think she will be critical of this?”
“I don’t know. She is kind of different at times.”
“She is a lot different all the time. Scary different. Can I change the subject?”
“Certainly.”
“Were you serious this morning when you asked me to take you away from here?”
“I was. I am convinced that if I stay for very long, Rolf will have me taken away. He must surely know I am Jewish.”
“But, you bring so much value to the project.”
“That only goes so far in this country, Dieter. I think the only way I can survive is to leave Germany.”
“Is that why you are my friend?”
He looked over as tears streamed down her cheeks. “What did I say?”
“I had hoped you understood,” she choked out, “that I could not bear to leave you behind in Germany.”
“Oh.”
He pulled to a stop in front of the rooming house. Without another word, she got out of the car and walked to the door. He hurriedly shut off the engine and followed. He was very much aware that he had said the wrong thing to her, but wasn’t sure how he could have approached the topic otherwise.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
November 29, 1939
By driving to work instead of taking the bus, Dieter could leave home later and still arrive at the laboratory at a proper time. He was still amazed at his good fortune. Given the current German practice of minding one’s own business, nothing was said in the boarding house. But, he was sure there was considerable curiosity.
The only potential blight on the morning was that Jette pointedly took the bus, rather than riding with him. While Dieter tried to tell himself that it didn’t matter, he did worry about the girl traveling by herself. Oh, the bus itself was a safe conveyance for the employees of the lab, he wondered how many of the other employees knew that she was a Jewess.
Jette was a critical part of an important project for the Reich, and Ignatz carefully protected her. But after her comments about the way Rolf looked at her, Dieter began studying the SS man’s attitude and facial expressions when he was around her. He did not want to admit it, but he was increasingly convinced she was correct. Rolf found the girl distasteful. Dieter resolved to pay closer attention.
Dieter found it interesting to drive through the city and into the countryside to the SS base was interesting. There was not a lot of traffic this early as he made his way to the lab. He didn’t have to worry so much about the other automobiles; however, the horse-drawn wagons presented a challenge. The drovers always acted as though they were the only ones on the road – probably from that ancient assumption that the only things that were significantly faster were single men on horseback. So the wagons were apt to move in any direction regardless of what else was on the street. And to be honest, the little, bug-shaped automobile he drove seemed to present no threat to anyone.
Jette was already at her desk when Dieter arrived, and she pointedly did not look up as he walked into the lab. He tried to remind himself of the trauma of the rape by the Gestapo agents, not to mention seeing her parents carted off by the SS. Yet, it seemed like her mood swings were unpredictable, and he was sometimes at a loss for what to say to her. It seemed almost anything could set her off.
He shrugged it off and set the paper bag containing his two small loaves of bread on the bench and then went to retrieve that first coffee of the morning. Thankfully Karl did not come into the lab this morning. The highs and lows of the previous day made it difficult for him to be civil, despite the excitement of having his own automobile to drive.
At the workbench, he sipped his coffee and studied the apparatus and tried to imagine how the thing should work. His previous inventions had worked the first time he made the connections and applied power. This one was stubborn, and he could not visualize the end result. Usually, he had a good mental picture of what he wanted to achieve, and yet this experiment still seemed hazy to him.
“You look puzzled, Dieter,” Florian said as he joined Dieter at the bench with his cup of coffee.
“And I’m not getting inspiration from this,” Dieter smiled as he held up his cup.
“Things must be bad, then. If the coffee doesn’t stir the brain cells into action, nothing will.”
Dieter laughed. “That is so true. I wonder if we might find some brighter light bulbs to test this apparatus with.”
“Ahh. The brute force solution. Hit it with a bigger hammer.”
Dieter looked over at his grinning friend. “Eh, something like that. We are working with forces we fundamentally do not understand, and my previous successes were the result of a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve.”
>
“And you want to achieve invisibility, right?”
“Well, that was sort of the idea, but it just doesn’t feel right.”
Florian studied the equipment parked on Dieter’s bench for a while without speaking.
“I don’t know, Dieter. I don’t claim the insight that you have, but it seems to me that one could try disconnecting the lights from alternate rods on the top and bottom so that each rod has a single light source. But the source would alternate between top and bottom.”
“Hmmm.” Dieter studied the device a while longer and then turned to Florian. “Why not? That somehow feels like it might achieve something.”
“I’ll help you then. The only other thing I have to do right now is visit the toilet.”
“Is that before or after?”
“During.”
“Right. Let’s get busy, then. We don’t want you to have an industrial accident at my workbench.”
“Perish the thought.”
The two men quickly reworked the connections to the light bulbs and set it up for a test. Florian rapidly scribbled in the lab notebook to document each step of the experiment... Ignatz was fanatical about documenting the work. Dieter made the final connections to the power source and looked at Florian, who nodded.
Dieter flipped the master switch and began increasing the power to the device with the rheostat. The lights slowly began to glow and then brightened. This time there was no effect upon the empty coffee cup sitting in the center of the ring.
“Well, I suppose a negative result provides as much information about the experiment,” Dieter said with disgust.
Florian watched the device carefully. “Dieter, did one side of the device lift up when you applied power?”
“I did not notice. I wonder if it was the stress of the wiring that was pulling on it.”
“I don’t think so. How close are you to the maximum power to the lights?”
“Probably about 80 percent.”
“Take it to 100, please.”
“Very well.” Dieter eased the rheostat up and observed the voltmeter carefully. If he blew out a bunch of bulbs, Ignatz would yell.
This time, the entire device levitated over the table.
“Whoa!” Florian exclaimed.
The others in the lab looked up quickly as Dieter shut the power down to the device. Florian and Dieter stared at each other in astonishment.
“Did we just see that?” Dieter asked.
“I think so. Is this what you were planning?”
“No, but it does give rise to some interesting thought.”
“That it does. And here comes Ignatz.”
“Might I infer that you two have uncovered something significant?” asked the little gnome-like man as he stopped in front of the bench.
“Show him,” Florian said, as he picked up his lab notebook and began scribbling the documentation.
“Watch the device closely, Ignatz,” Dieter said as he turned on the power again.
Once again, he eased the rheostat to increase power to the device. And once he reached the threshold, the device raised from the table.
“Ach du lieber Himmel,” Ignatz whispered.
Konrad and Ludwig left their workbenches and moved over next to Ignatz. Ludwig whistled.
“Dieter, you’ve done it again.”
“Except I had no idea this would happen,” Dieter said.
Konrad shook his head. “Just to be perfectly pragmatic, Dieter, you’ve assured our paychecks for the next three months. You are aware, of course, that something like this is going to require much more thorough testing. We don’t want our magicians falling out of the sky.”
“And they would all come back to haunt Dieter,” Florian laughed.
“All right,” Ignatz snapped, “all of you back to work. Dieter, in my office, now.”
Ignatz spun around and marched back to his office. Dieter eased the rheostat back down, and the device settled to the desktop.
“What has his knickers in a wad?” Florian asked.
“I have no idea. I suppose I should not keep him waiting.”
“Too right.”
Dieter walked to Ignatz’s door and knocked.
“Come.”
Dieter walked into the office.
“Shut the door, Dieter. Sit down.”
“What’s going on, Ignatz?”
“First of all. Congratulations! It appears you have done it again. You continue to amaze us all.”
“Thank you,” Dieter said softly.
“That being said,” Ignatz continued, “I think you need to be more considerate of Jette’s feelings. She is here working for the people who caused her parents to disappear. Can you imagine how that would make her feel insecure? I do not know what you said to her yesterday, and I do not care to know. She admires you greatly. I would not do anything to undermine that admiration. Do you understand what I am saying?”
“Of course, Ignatz. It just that I never know what to say or not to say. She seems to get upset at the strangest things.”
Dieter knew the laboratory manager was upset with him. He had seen him get this way a few times over the past couple of years he had worked for him. His voice was little above a whisper, and he was intense.
“Just remember that,” Ignatz said. “I am doing the best I can to protect her against these Nazi thugs. I could use your help.”
“Of course. I am trying to look out for her.”
Ignatz quickly stood up and leaned over to grasp Dieter’s arm. He almost cried out; the grip was so tight.
“You must try harder. I don’t know if you understand the danger we all face. Understand this well, Dieter. Rolf and the SS are pampering us because we are useful. Remember, he knows Jette is a Jew. He suspects you and I are as well. He could have us all in the camps in a heartbeat. Now you better get back to work before they wonder what is going on.”
“Okay, Ignatz.” Dieter stood up. “And thanks.”
The little man just waved Dieter from the room. As he made his way back to his bench in a daze, Ignatz stood in the door of his office.
“And remember Herr Faust, no more sloppiness in the experiments. These discoveries are wonderful, but if you get careless, you may kill us all.”
“What was that all about?” Florian asked quietly.
Dieter tapped his finger on Florian’s notebook. “He saw your notes, Florian. He thought they were sloppy and unprofessional.”
Florian looked at him as though he didn’t believe him.
“You heard the man,” Dieter continued. “We need to be more careful in our preparation and then conducting the experiments. Suppose we had had an accident with the beam gun?”
“I take your point.”
“Very well. Let’s see if we can shake the wrinkles out of this machine.”
They worked on the device for the remainder of the day and gathered data on its performance. They were unable to measure the lifting power of the machine accurately, but in one test, they briefly lifted the entire workbench off the floor.
Florian scribbled notes as they worked, and suggested ways to test the equipment further.
“I am going to have to rewrite these notes,” he commented. “I’m not sure even I can read them.”
“I would suggest giving them to Jette to type up,” Dieter said with a laugh, “but she probably would not be able to read them, either.”
“I just cannot believe the things you are coming up with.”
“Your talent is almost as strong as mine, and you seem to be able to visualize these things when I describe them to you.”
“True,” Florian said. “I get these odd pictures in my mind sometimes, and when I look at your creations, at least the ones that work, I get this sense of rightness.”
“Maybe we should try to develop that.”
“I would be grateful for any help you could give me.”
Dieter looked around the lab. “It is getting close to quitting time. Perhaps you should tak
e the time now to rewrite your report.”
He nodded. “I shall do so.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - INTERLUDE
December 4, 1939
Hitler was working on another addition to the Thousand Year Reich. Following the Anschluss with Austria in 1938, he had cast his eyes upon Czechoslovakia. After agitating for the rights of the Sudeten Germans, he had eventually absorbed that entire land. Ignoring the warnings of the now unified allies, he had successfully invaded Poland.
While Britain and France, along with the remaining continental allies, declared war on Germany, nothing further seemed to happen. But, in his most audacious gamble yet, Hitler marched twelve divisions directly across the frontier into France into the teeth of the Maginot Line. The French were surprised at the direct attack on their most fortified position along the border, but they were confident in their defensive technology. Near the French town of Veckring, the Germans encountered their first obstacle.
In the front ranks of the armies, along with the tanks and the infantry, were fifty SS Magicians. From an observation post on a hill above the plane where the Germans moved, the French were puzzled at the strange sight. Several dozen men were dressed in long black robes with stars and moons embroidered in the material. They wore the pointed hats and carried what looked like magic wands. Was this a joke? But it couldn’t be.
The Germans had spent years infiltrating France and observing the details of France’s premier defensive fortifications. One of the magicians swung his wand around in a manner that resembled the use of a rifle. He pointed at the observation post, and with a blinding flash, the men in the post flared in a burst of incandescence.
Lower on the hillside, round pillboxes rose out of the ground and fired their cannon. The projectiles were poorly aimed, though some of them glanced off of the magicians in a shower of sparks. Occasionally a shell would score a direct hit on a magician with a burst of flame. The magician would be forced back a step but would then continue forward.