The Gemini Divergence (8 page)

Schwerig thought that he was blown away at
the spiel at the meeting, but this was even harder to palette. All
of this was just getting to hard to believe. It sounded like
something out of a pulp fiction novel; space travel, space
stations, atomic bombs, Antarctica, where would it end.

Still Schwerig listened, and Toelke went on,
“At first we didn’t know how we would be able to funnel enough
manpower to operate these new vehicles, but then the Führer had an
ingenious idea. He proposed that since the U-boat crews were
already receiving alarming casualties that no one would notice us
diverting submariner crews to New Swabia to man these new craft,
and they would already be accustomed to functioning under the
conditions of being confined in a mechanical tin can… So far very
few have noticed, but I hear that they are being dealt with as part
of the grander plan that you and I have been assisting in these
past days… Didn’t you wonder what all of those parts you were
loading onto the train during the Ruhr purge bolted on to?”

“I did not see the part about questioning my
own orders, in my orders Herr Toelke,” Schwerig sarcastically
whipped. He was extremely thankful for all of the information
Toelke was giving him, but he could no believe an operative with
any skill would be giving up this much information, unless,
Schwerig may have a need for this information soon. Otherwise
Toelke must not be a very bright operative.

Toelke went on, “The Schriewer, Schauburger
and Gocke craft will have the eventual capability to venture into
outer space. If we can keep the Allies focused on rockets for their
entry into space, it will give us years of a head start learning
how to live and defend ourselves in space.”

“It is imperative that we get to New Swabia
and start the engineering programs that will eventually lead us to
leaving the earth behind.”

Schwerig asked, “Why Antarctica? Why do we
have to go there?”

“I am not to keen about going there myself,”
answered Toelke, “but the higher ranks want a place that they will
be sure that we can operate in private, and keep the Allies totally
in the dark about what we are doing until it will be to late.”

“But what of these plans you said that you
found at Von Braun’s office?” queried Schwerig.

“I managed to sneak out facsimiles of all of
them to present when I arrive at New Swabia, They will be waiting
for me in a package that I have had sent to be waiting for me in
Riese, along with a change of uniform, as this one seams to be
missing some decorations.”

Toelke then leaned back to sleep. Schwerig
thought that this was an awful lot to digest, but it was a long
drive to Riese.

When they finally arrived at the Riese
proving grounds gate, Sergeant Stark pulled up to the yard arm and
a guard came to the window. After the guard was able to confirm
their identities and check them from a list, he allowed them to
continue onto the Riese experimental test area.

Schwerig softly inquired of Toelke, “Where
exactly are we going now that we are here?”

Toelke answered, “Building 125.”

Schwerig, in a much louder voice ordered
Stark to proceed on to building 125.

When they arrived, Schwerig could see that it
was a semi abandoned building that must not be used much. The front
entrance was on the same level as the road, but the rest of the
building hung out over a steep bank. There was a concrete balcony
on the back of the building that had no railings.

Stark opened the car door for Schwerig, who
then got out and turned his gun around to order Toelke out of the
car.

Schwerig and Stark both directed their
firearms towards Toelke as they marched him into the building.

There was no front door and most of the
building was vacant, yet there was some graffiti on the walls, and
most of the windows were broken out.

Schwerig noticed Toelke, standing with his
hands in the air, glance at a locked closet door. He made mental
note of it then ordered, “Feldwebel Stark, take the prisoner to the
edge of the balcony.”

Stark, thinking that they were about to
execute Toelke, walked him to the edge of the balcony.

Once there, the sergeant could view over the
edge and see that the hillside was already littered with corpses.
He thought to himself that this must be a common execution
location.

Sgt. Stark barked, “Herr Toelke, please turn
and face the edge of the balcony.”

As Toelke turned, Sgt. Stark raised his
Mauser and aimed it at the back of Toelke’s Neck as he could see
Major Schwerig start to come around him in his peripheral
vision.

Suddenly there rang out a shot.

Toelke turned suddenly to see Sgt. Stark
standing there still pointing the gun at him in silence, but after
a few intensely suspenseful moments Sgt. Stark dropped his gun and
fell over, dead.

Toelke looked at Schwerig and asked, “Why
Stark?”

Schwerig answered, “Do you remember when we
left the meeting and the General reminded us that we were to still
follow our orders to the letter.”

Toelke responded, “Yes, I remember. But why
did Von Sterbenbach want you to kill your Feldwebel?”

Schwerig responded, “The General would have
permitted me to take him along, even though I had no idea where we
were going, provided that he would leave his family behind. He
would not. So I was not permitted to leave him behind to be
captured and interrogated by the Allies. What a pity, he was a fine
Feldwebel.”

Schwerig started to pick up Sgt. Stark’s body
and drag it to the edge of the balcony. Once at the edge he rolled
the body over and watched it roll down the hill.

Unbeknownst to Schwerig and Toelke, once Sgt.
Stark rolled to the bottom of the hillside, his body lay with that
of the Axis clerk and of the young Lt. from the train.

As Schwerig was standing in a moment of
silent reverence for Sgt. Stark, he did not notice Toelke picking
up Sgt. Stark’s Mauser.

As he turned, “You know…” He froze and fell
silent as he had turned far enough to see that Toelke was aiming
the rifle right at his head.

“What on Earth are you doing,” demanded
Schwerig?

“I too, must carry out my orders to the
letter Major,” replied Toelke.

Schwerig closed his eyes and braced for his
doom, when suddenly there was the sound of what seemed like hail
falling on the roof followed by a sound similar to somebody
dropping a large melon on the ground.

Once he opened his eyes, he could finally
hear the gunfire of a Russian Sturmovik strafing the compound. He
could also see Toelke lying dead on the ground. The dropped melon
sound must have been the rounds penetrating his body before the
actual report of the gunfire reached them.

The aircraft had already passed over his head
when Schwerig heard gunfire again, but this time it was from a
German Bf-109 chasing down the Sturmovik. He watched as the
Luftwaffe aviator shot holes in the Sturmovik until it started
smoking.

Just before they went over the horizon he saw
the 109 spin off and rise to the right turning to come back, as the
Sturmovik fell behind the hill and exploded.

As the Luftwaffe fighter passed back by to
his right he could see the pilot waggling his wings in victory for
the soldiers on the installation to see.

Even though Schwerig could not see the
soldiers directly, he could hear many of their cheers and whistles
as the 109 whistled by again.

Schwerig stood silently for a moment,
thanking God for his life. Then he wondered what he should do
next.

He didn’t know where to go, and he had to be
careful now because Von Sterbenbach had ordered him dead. He
couldn’t just show up somewhere now, especially without Toelke.

He went through Toelke’s pockets but found
nothing useful. Then he remembered Toelke looking at the locked
closet door, and him saying something about a package waiting for
him here.

Schwerig picked up Sgt. Stark’s Mauser and
used it as a hammer to beat the padlock from the closet door.

Once he had opened the closet, he found a
sealed parcel. It was dated just a few days earlier and addressed
as official business for Major Toelke only.

Schwerig
thought
, I don’t know how things can get
any worse if I open it
.

Upon opening it he found the open packet from
the first meeting with the orders to liquidate Schwerig, signed by
General Von Sterbenbach and originating from his office.

This was somewhat of a relief to Schwerig,
because it meant his extermination orders may not even be known
about in higher ranks, or in organizations other than the SS.

If Von Sterbenbach didn’t survive the war or
disappeared like he was planning, Schwerig may be able to carry on
with his life.

Under the open packet was a spare uniform, as
Toelke had said, but underneath the uniform along with a sleeping
bag, there were two more manila envelopes, both sealed.

One had no markings whatsoever, but the other
was posted for a classified courier to Toelke’s office from the
central headquarters of the SS. It was further marked for Major
Toelke and only to be opened upon arrival at Riese.

Schwerig was very interested in this because
this meant that SS headquarters was dealing directly with Toelke
and bypassing General Von Sterbenbach.

Schwerig thought to himself,” How could all
of these people be putting their faith in such an idiot? He had to
be related to somebody, either that or someone owed him a very big
favor. Maybe they just knew how big of a weasel he was, or how good
of an actor.”

Schwerig opened the package and was not
surprised after all that he had been through in the past few days
that the package contained liquidation orders for Toelke to kill
Von Sterbenbach.

He chuckled to himself, “When will this
madness end?”

He wondered if Toelke had even known yet,
since he had not yet been able to open the packet himself.

Schwerig sat back against the wall since
there was no furniture and thought to himself as he handled the
last unopened package.

This may be a blessing, because if Schwerig
goes ahead and kills Von Sterbenbach, then nobody else would know
that Schwerig was supposed to be dead as well. If they find
Toelke’s body, they will surely be able to see that he was killed
by a strafing plane and not by a side arm.

He leaned back against the wall and counted
his blessings, then he leaned forward again an opened the last
remaining envelope.

Inside he found a key and a hand written
note, without a signature, but in Von Sterbenbach’s hand
writing.

The note was instructions to meet Von
Sterbenbach in the Riese senior officer’s quarters on tomorrow’s
date.

Schwerig could have gone to spend the night
in the officer’s quarters, but did not want to risk Von Sterbenbach
discovering Schwerig in his sleep, so he would use the sleeping bag
and stay here.

Tomorrow he would go and wait for Von
Sterbenbach.

As Schwerig started to relax he began to pay
attention to other sounds and sights emanating from elsewhere on
the military installation. He could hear the occasional sounds of
gun shots and knew that what played out here earlier in the day,
was no doubt playing out over and over again in different places on
the base.

It was already growing dark, as they had been
driving all day since the meeting, when suddenly. There was a great
flash of light like a flair shining outside.

He went to the window to look, but noticed
that whatever it was, it was on the other side of the hill from
him.

Schwerig thought that it was just the guards
setting off combat flairs to be able to see in the dark, but it was
unusual that they were blue instead of white.

Maybe they were the only color that they
could get since the wartime supply system didn’t always allow
anyone to get what they wanted.

As he sat through the night, he noticed that
the flair would emit light through the windows, lighting up the
entire horizon, once every half hour, on the hour and half hour,
just like a train schedule. He thought nothing more of it though,
as he lay his head down and slept.

*~*

Into the night, the Riese installation
commandant was watching the brightly lit saucers come and go. Men
were working through the night loading and fueling these new craft
for their trek to their new home in Antarctica.

“That Bf 109 sure made short work of that
Ilyushin today; didn’t it Commandant?” Asked the Riese installation
commander’s assistant.

“I am not as optimistic as you my friend,”
responded the commander, Oberst Kreutztrager. “I have been facing
the Russians for the last three years of my career, and I tell you
that the Russians don’t waste air assets… they would not send out a
Sturmovik on a random hunting mission. The only reason that
aircraft came from the sky today is because the land that we are
standing on now, is inside of the peninsula of their next offensive
plan. They are obviously clearing our ordinance and mechanized
fighting vehicles out of the way for an eminent ground attack.”

“Oh, we could surely beat back any offensive
here, It is too close to the Führer’s Wolf’s Lair,” suggested the
assistant.

“I have the experience to see more,”
continued the commandant, “Seeing that red star bird in the sky
today tells me that there will be another tomorrow. And when we
shoot that down there will be another the next day, until they
finally shoot down our 109, and the plane that comes the next day
will strafe us at will. Next thing you know, there will be very
angry Russian Infantry soldiers standing here in a week or two.
Sure we may take the base back, but they will be here just the
same. Mark my words.”

“That is horrible to imagine Herr
Commandant,” said the assistant.