The Gemini Divergence (14 page)

Snow was being blown inside as crewmen
shivered and yet willingly endured the cold.

The whirl of saucer turbines could be heard
as two silhouettes floated out from the storm’s virtual curtain of
snow towards the hanger. They came more into focus as they prepared
to cross the threshold of the giant doors.

As they hovered into the hanger, the giant
doors began to close. Finally, they extended gear and landed as
their ground crews ran out to begin service on the vehicles.

Schwerig descended a flight of stairs as the
cockpits of the vehicles opened and the ground crew started helping
the pilots out or their seats.

Upon seeing Schwerig approach, the pilot of
the first vehicle stood up in his cockpit and gave him a long arm
salute.

Schwerig returned the salute and then
gestured for the pilots to come talk to him.

The pilots egress their respective craft to
join Schwerig on the hanger floor.

“Any problems?” asked Schwerig.

“Nein, Herr Oberstleutnant,” reported the
first pilot, ‘Hauptman Pfautsch’, “The flight was exactly as
planned.”

“Then you are no longer having any problems
getting into space and re-entering the atmosphere?” quizzed
Schwerig.

“Nein, Herr Oberstleutnant, we can now drop
out of the sky anywhere on the globe and play with the air forces
of the world as if they were confused children… The war would have
ended much differently if we could have had these three years
earlier.”

“Excellent, I see that they have been able to
greatly reduce the glow of the exocoronas.” praised Schwerig, then
made a facial expression to show discomfort with the smell and
continued, “But I see that they still have not been able to
eliminate the smell of the ozone given off by the coronas.”

“Yes, Herr Oberstleutnant,” reported the
Hauptman, “They have finally increased the efficiency of the
turbines enough to burn most of the energy given off by the vril.
We no longer have to expel all of the excess energy by converting
it into light and heat.”

“Do you believe that once we have perfected a
Strahlenkanone that will work in both the atmosphere and space that
they will be adequate fighters?” queried Schwerig.

“Oh, Yes, Herr Oberstleutnant,” answered both
pilots, the lead pilot, ‘Hauptman Pfautsch,’ continuing, “There
will be no aircraft in the world that will be able to maneuver into
our six. We will dominate every dimension of battle.”

“Wunderbar!” exclaimed Schwerig. “I hope your
news from the experimental orbital station is as good.”

At that the pilot changed his expression and
dropped his head and said, “I am afraid, Herr Oberstleutnant, that
things are going slower than hoped on the station.”

“Oh, that is a shame, please, tell me
more.”

“Well, we have had a few more accidents and
have lost more brave men… There has been a steam explosion in one
accident and a loss of pressure in one of the chambers in yet
another. We are also still having great trouble finding plant life
that will flourish in that environment… Until we find the correct
plants to live there, it will be difficult to remove the carbon
dioxide that we exhale, and we will have to continue to waist
valuable cargo space, shuttling oxygen up to the station. Once the
proper horticultural system is in place, then we may solve both of
those problems and many more such as food.”

Schwerig gave the pilot an encouraging slap
on the back and said, “We have thousands of dilemmas to still
solve, but we must attack these one at a time. We have made great
strides. We are still eons ahead of the rest of the world in
technology, and they can’t even catch us when they don’t even have
any idea how far we have advanced.”

“Please excuse me Oberstleutnant Schwerig
but,” reluctantly uttered Hauptman Pfautsch, “I am sure that you
are aware that I must be getting to our post flight debriefing. Was
there something else on your mind?”

“Yes there is Hauptman Pfautsch,”
acknowledged Schwerig, “When you are through with your debriefing,
I would like to see you in my office. An urgent matter has come up
and you have been the most highly recommended pilot for the pending
assignment.”

“Certainly Oberstleutnant,” Hauptman Pfautsch
enthusiastically responded, “I will report to you as soon as my
obligations are satisfied, perhaps later today sometime, if that
would be sufficient for the Oberstleutnant?”

“That will be satisfactory Hauptman, I will
see you then,” answered Schwerig as he turned and walked away.

*~*

“It is quite remarkable isn’t it?” Schwerig
proudly spoke as He and Hauptman Pfautsch looked out of the picture
window in Schwerig’s office.

The view was a stunning example of extreme
earth; violent Antarctic seas crashing onto ferociously jagged ice
with the biting wind whipping snow into a serpentine sastruga over
the crests of the unassailable sea walls as well as on top of the
summits of the coastal mountains.

“Yes, Herr Oberstleutnant, the view is
stunning. You are very fortunate to have an office with such a
view. I would have expected this more in a General’s office,”
remarked the Hauptman as he gazed in total awe.

“Yes, well it was worth the wait. Believe it
or not, I have never been fortuitous enough to be assigned an
office until I reached the rank of Oberstleutnant… When I was a
young officer in the Luftwaffe, much similar to your duties now, I
was always on a flight assignment. When I was transferred to the
SS, I was always on a field assignment. It was not until the
creation of the Raumsfahrtwaffe and my promotion to Oberstleutnant
that I have finally warranted an office of my own, and I have
fallen into an extraordinarily propitious situation here at New
Swabia.”

Then Schwerig motioned to the desk as he
changed the subject, “but enough talk about stellar views of ice,
can I ask you to sit Hauptman Pfautsch?”

They both sat and got comfortable. Schwerig
leaned forward onto his desk with Hauptman Pfautsch across from him
and relented, “I have been told of your bravery during the war when
you piloted the transport plane that carried Skorzeny and his
Geheim Luftwaffe Fallschirmjaeger Heit to carry out Operation
Eiche.

“Yes, Oberstleutnant Schwerig, it was the
proudest experience of my life,” Pfautsch proudly responded,
“carrying the secret Luftwaffe paratroop unit to rescue Mussolini
from the Campo Imperatore Hotel during the Gran Sasso Raid.”

“I was very impressed when I heard the news
that day,” beamed Schwerig, “I think the whole world paused for a
moment to marvel at Germany’s abilities, parachuting right into
enemy hands and plucking Mussolini out, just like a bird of prey
pouncing on a field mouse… Germany was quite proud of you and your
unit that day… It made Skorzeny a national hero. We also would not
be able to carry on here at New Swabia if Skorzeny had not been so
instrumental in smuggling most of the Third Reich’s gold deposits
out of the Fatherland. You are well within your right to be proud
of such an accomplishment.”

“The esteem that you bestow on me is
delightful Herr Oberstleutnant, but I have never known you to be
one to waste words. What is it that you have brought me here
for?”

Schwerig smiled as he always did when he
observed acute professionalism in subordinates, then leaned back
and put his hands together with all of his finger tips touching and
said, “A few years back, during the organizational madness just
before the pending Allied occupation, we were able to deliberately
plant an operative into the Operation Paper Clip scientists, with a
mission to report back to us on occasion what the Americans were up
to… The rest of the world has been totally oblivious to our
presence for these past years, but regrettably something has been
brought to our attention by the same operative… It seems that there
is a person inside of Von Braun’s team that may be on the brink of
figuring us out.”

Pfautsch listened intently and nodded as
Schwerig went on, “His name is Volmer, and he is a radio scientist.
We have been made aware that he has been zeroing in on our radio
transmissions, and to add insult to injury, he used to work on the
Schreiwer Kugelblitzen project and may be aware of our ability to
enter space.”

Schwerig made a wincing facial expression as
he said, “To make matters even worse, our operative has discovered
that there may be drawings in this scientist Volmer’s possession
from his time on that project.”

Schwerig was still keeping his previous
knowledge of the drawings from his superiors, but he knew now that
he finally had the blessing to do what he wanted to do all
along.

He then got to the point and said, “We cannot
allow him to put the pieces together and alert the Americans to the
possibility of our presence… We must engage in an operation to
surgically remove him and the drawings from the Americans before
they know anything, and because of your prior display of superior
talent to do just such a thing we have unanimously selected you to
spearhead this mission.”

Captain Pfautsch stood and presented a long
arm salute and stated, “I will again carry out my orders with great
honor Oberstleutnant!”

Schwerig than reluctantly went on, “I regret
that I have even less information about your objective to present
you, than I myself would require to carry such an action out, so
our first order of business must be to collect the information that
we need.”

“Yes, of course Oberstleutnant, where shall I
begin?” asked the Hauptman.

“Our operative is being kept in the dark
about his exact location by the Americans. All we know is that they
are somewhere in the deserts of the American South West.”

“You must immediately start patrolling this
area and discover where the Americans are carrying out their V-2
research with our captured A-4s.

Once you have discovered the location, you
must orchestrate a plan to remove Volmer and his drawings without
leading the Americans to us and without giving them knowledge of
our existence,” Schwerig ordered, “Do you think that you can handle
this immense undertaking for me?”

Hauptman Pfautsch, still at attention,
exclaimed, “I will carry out the responsibilities that you have
presented me in total, and to the letter, Oberstleutnant
Schwerig.”

~~~**^**~~~

The Cold War \
The Wave Of 47

25 June 1947

Residents of Silver City New Mexico report that they
were stunned to see a saucer shaped object that appeared to be
about half the size of the moon, fly over their town and then
disappear into the desert sky.

26 June 1947

While sight seeing during a vacation to the Grand
Canyon, four citizens of Lexington Kentucky, report a large silver
saucer flying over the canyon. They boldly refute that it could
have been a balloon, blimp, or dirigible as it was flying at a much
too great of a speed.

*~*

Schwerig was sitting in a flight debriefing room
chatting with his new subordinate, ‘Hauptman Graff’, taking care of
one of many of his new tasks.

There were maps of the world and various parts of
the planet on the walls along with assorted bulletin boards.

On the same wall as the entrance
door, there was a picture window that looked out onto the ground
floor of the hanger, with many people working on saucers in the
background.

Schwerig could see Hauptman Pfautsch as he
approached the room.

As the Hauptman entered the room and started to
salute, Schwerig was looking over the shoulder of Hauptman Graff as
he listened to him. He gestured for Pfautsch to not bother saluting
and come and sit at the table with them.

Pfautsch sat quietly and waited for his turn.

After Schwerig’s subordinate finished, Schwerig
responded, “Thank you Hauptman Graff, that was very thorough.”

He turned to Pfautsch and asked, “Well Hauptman
Pfautsch, were you successful on your first days out?”

Hauptman Pfautsch reported, “Nein, Oberstleutnant
Schwerig, I sent ten kugelblitzen out yesterday and then the same
again today and all came back with nothing. I hope that you will be
patient, as the American’s south west is much larger than I
originally anticipated.”

Schwerig looked over at Hauptman Graff, as Graff
then used his thumb and index finger to make an improvised caliper,
in order to measure the size of Germany on the world map that was
hanging on the wall, and then super imposing that hand measurement
over the American south west to better illustrate the immense
difference of size.

Schwerig’s reaction was to drop his head, face down
into his interlocked arms on the table and remain silent for a
moment, as if he were thinking and then said, “Well then double the
patrols. Tell them to be discrete… This is supposed to be a secret,
you know.”