Sun of the Sleepless (39 page)

Jolene was intrigued by the cryptic nature of Paula's response.

'Who were the special girls?'

'They were called die Aldebaran.'

Dale caught the name and smirked.

'You mean as in the star system? Aldebaran? The name referred to a place or a location?'

Paula looked perplexed.

'No, I have said it is not a place, Aldebaran was the name given to the special girls of the Sisterhood, the girls who had performed very well in their schooling.'

Jolene glanced at Dale and then thought for a moment, considering the text of the letter.

'So a volunteer - Adrianna - was selected from the Aldebaran girls to remain behind with Maria, Sigrun and Heike? Maria left with them right at the very end?'

'Yes. That is correct. That was the plan.'

'Do you know what the name means?'

Paula shook her head.

'No, I do not know, but as you say I think it is also the name of a star, my great-grandmother told me, but I do not know what it means. I think the Aldebaran girls was also called
die Anhängerschaft
.'

'Really?' Jolene asked looking somewhat surprised. 'In English,
die Anhängerschaft
can mean the disciples' group!'

Paula's demeanour had softened as they flicked through the old photographs, letters and various other documents in the chest. As they had talked, she had momentarily excused herself and to Jolene's surprise had arrived back in the room carry a tray of mugs and a pot of steaming coffee. She appeared much more cheerful as Jolene held up the odd photograph and enquired after the location or when she asked about the identity of the subject in a portrait picture, eagerly discussing the scene or occasion depicted in the images.

Jolene picked up a colour photograph showing what appeared to be a family gathering, all the people posed specially for the picture.

'This is your family?'

Paula's face lit up.

'Ahh, you have found it, I have not seen this picture for many years. This is the thirtieth birthday of my father, I am sitting on his lap, I am five years old here - my mother is sitting next to him here - this is my
Großmutter
Lala, she is the mother of my father, his father, was already dead for two years, in an auto accident. This is Hanna, sitting next to my father, she looks beautiful, not so? She is eighty-three years old in this picture.'

Jolene smiled as she looked at the photograph, easily imagining the family scene of laughter and celebration.

'Is Hanna's husband here?'

'
Ne
,
ne
,' Paula said, shaking her head.

'Hanna did not marry. At the end of the war she was already fifty years old, but she wanted to have a family and so took in one of the girls she had rescued from Berlin and who was with her in Rothenhusen when they were found by the Americans, my
Großmutter
Lala. She was already sixteen years old but had not anybody to care for her and the Vril Society Sisterhood was no longer existing so Hanna cared for her.'

'What happened then?'

'Ohh, Lala was pregnant after three years with my father, Rainer. The boy did not stay around, but later, she met a very nice man and she did marry him, my grandfather Klaus Krom; together they raised my father and lived very happy until the accident. My father met my mother Irene in 1970 and three years later I was born.'

Jolene nodded politely but needed to get back onto the subject of The Vril Society Sisterhood and more importantly, any connection to the Sun of the Sleepless.

'Do you think that your father ever discussed these things with Laila or Hanna?'

'No, my father did not talk of things of that time, he grew up after but it was not a thing that people of that age like to speak of, they wanted to forget and move on.'

'Would it be possible to speak with your father?'

'No!' Paula emphatically replied, shaking her head.

'My father is ill, he is away - how do you say the name? -
Pflegeheim
- a rest home. He must not speak of such things.'

'Of course,' Jolene nodded reassuringly, 'but did Hanna or Laila ever specifically talk about the Sisterhood or about Maria?'

'Yes, of course, many times, it is how I know so much.
Großmutter
Lala loved the Sisterhood; you know when Hitler came to power, and even before, there was many pressure for children to join the youth groups, the
Hitler Jugend
and
Bund Deutscher Mädel
, all the children were forced to enter into the approved groups, but the Sisterhood was protected but there was always pressure. They wore a uniform like the BDM so they were not -
augenfällig
.'

'Obvious?'

'
Ja
.'

'What about Maria? Did Hanna or Laila ever speak about her, about her special classes?'

Paula thought for a moment.

'Laila, not so much, but I know all the girls loved Maria. She was not strict as you will think but very nice, you know
entspannt
?'

'Relaxed or laid-back?'

'
Genau
, I believe that she was not - brain-washed I think - by what was happening in Germany. She believed in strong values but not coming from the words of men, she looked around at nature and at the world, into the skies and she saw knowledge there and gave it to the girls. She had no hatred to other people and she had to be careful with the Nazis, but she was her own person, the girls had their own moral codes but did not speak of such things outside of the Sisterhood.

'Hanna said that Maria did not like the Nazis but she had to work with them in order to protect the girls, she knew some very important people of the time so they could not be harmed. Hanna knew all of these things and the girls were teached very well in the school but I think that Lala was not good in class - not naughty - I mean she was not -
schulisch
. I remember that Lala told me even Hanna was not allowed to talk with the Aldebaran girls about their special classes. That was secret.'

'Did they ever mention a special book?'

'A book?' Paula frowned as she tried to remember. 'There were many books of course, but I think that you mean the
Geheim Sonne
- the Secret Sun, not so? It was called so by the Aldebaran but you know how girls will speak of secrets. I do not think that Lala ever read the book but Hanna knew of it but would not speak of it. I remember that she was angry with Lala one time when we visited and she spoke of things of the Sisterhood. Hanna liked to speak of the girls and good things but she did not speak of secrets. Here, I have a photograph of some of the Aldebaran girls - somewhere -'

Paula leaned over the box and started rummaging as Jolene looked at Dale and raised her eyebrows.

'Yes, here -'

Paula handed over a sepia picture, creased in one corner and on the back was written the date of June 1942 and a list of names in neat cursive handwriting.

Jolene took the picture and peered at the group in the image, twelve girls in their Vril Society Sisterhood uniforms arranged in three ranks. The middle rank of five was seated and the little girl in the centre was proudly holding a book on her lap which Jolene immediately recognised as
Dirigo Lux
, the gilt sun on the front cover clearly apparent. She flipped over the photograph to read the handwriting on the back to put names to faces.

Standing at the right hand side was Hanna and on the left was the now older but unmistakeable figure of Maria Orsitsch, her long mane pulled back into an almost absurdly elongated pony tail and braided along its length in a criss-cross pattern of thick hair ropes. The girl holding the book could not have been more than eight or nine years old and was simply named as Adrianna.

As Jolene looked at the picture, Paula drew a breath and frowned slightly.

'Why do you ask me about Hanna?'

Jolene looked up as Dale raised an eyebrow.

'We are investigating a group that appears to be connected to the Sisterhood in some way.'

'Yes, but you are not interested in the girls,' Paula answered drily. 'You want to ask about something else, not so?'

Jolene returned the quizzical stare of Paula.

'Something else? What do you mean? Is there something you think we should know?'

'I have been asked about this before,' Paula sighed. 'Maybe two or three years ago, I do not remember the date, but a writer came and asked me many questions about Hanna before I told him to go. I thought he was also interested in the girls but he wanted to know about other things.'

'- Such as?'

'I remember flying saucers and strange music instruments and - what did he call it? -
Die Glocke
!'

Dale's expression abruptly turned to surprise and he slowly looked to Jolene before clearing his throat and speaking to Paula.

'Flying saucers I understood, but what does
Die Glocke
mean?'

Paula's tone was immediately dismissive, 'It is a bell, like in a church, but I do not know of such things and he wanted to say Hanna was working for the Nazis so I told him to go. I was pleased to speak of the girls and how Hanna had cared for them but I will not hear of silly things that are not true.'

Jolene broke the short silence that had ensued.

'Do you remember his name, the writer that came to see you?'

'Igor - Foley, or Farrell, no, Farley, yes, Farley. He was American. I remember that he had travelled here on his way to Poland. He said that he was researching a book and he had a copy of Maria's letter, not very good though, it could not be read easily. I did not show him my letter, he was speaking of strange things and so I asked him to leave. He was polite, but -
verrückt
, a little crazy I think - but, you are here now and talking of Hanna and Maria and asking questions and so I think there is a connection.'

She raised her eyebrows and challenged both Jolene and Dale, looking at them expectantly before assuming a deadpan expression.

Jolene felt the need to placate Paula's suspicions and tried to adopt a reassuring tone.

'We do not know anything about flying saucers, but we think that there was a connection between Maria and a group of scientists that we are interested in.'

Paula remained impassive and so Jolene decided to qualify her statement further so as not to offend her.

'This all happened a good few years before the Nazis came to power, in the 1920's mostly, but we think that Maria knew some of the scientists and we're just trying to get an idea of what they were doing.'

Paula rolled her eyes.

'I do not much know of the scientists, you are saying almost one hundred years ago, Hanna was not a scientist, but Maria wanted the girls to learn about nature and science, she thought this are very important subjects. Hanna showed me things when I was little, how nature and -
Mathematik
, they are all connected.'

'So you know nothing of the
Wahrheitsgesellschaft
, the Society for Truth?'

Paula thought for a moment.

'No, I know nothing of them, who are they?'

'Well, we think that they were working on some new forms of technology, they may have been funded by the government during the war years.'

Paula's tone became icy at even the hint of insinuation.

'Ah, so you are talking of the Nazis again! Always it is the same! You must ask the writer, Farley, such questions, I do not know. I only know of the good things Hanna was doing.'

She glanced at her watch.

'I think you must go now, I have many things to do before Herr Traum arrives this evening and I would like to spend some time relaxing.'

She stood up to emphasise her point and stared at them intently.

Jolene looked at Dale and nodded before standing, she turned to Paula and smiled.

'Of course, I understand, you have been very helpful and you are right to be very proud of your great-grandmother, she clearly helped many girls to have a much better life in a very difficult time. Thank-you.'

Paula nodded in mute acceptance of Jolene's verbal olive branch before turning and leading them to the front door, swinging it open and latently indicating to her visitors that it was very definitely time to go.

As the door close sharply behind them, they marched down the paving of the front garden to the roadside path and started walking toward the car they had been issued with at the base, Jolene keeping just a step ahead so that Dale felt like a schoolboy tagging after his mother.

'Where to now?' he asked irritably.

'We drive back to the garrison at Wiesbaden; we can contact Langley and initiate some research on the writer that Paula Krom mentioned, Igor Farley. I'd like to speak to him, get some background on where his research led him.'

'Isn't that a bit risky?' Dale frowned. 'He's going to think it's a bit strange that the CIA or even the FBI is contacting him about Nazi flying saucers. I don't think that even Jacqueline Lillard will be able to pull that off.'

'Obviously,' Jolene intoned with a heavy hint of sarcasm, 'I'll get him to talk and he'll be none the wiser, I'll appeal to his greatest weakness.'