Jackson knocked at the door to the office where he was supposed to meet with Jolene, waiting for the lock to click so that he could enter, unawares as to what the electronic entry code was. After a moment, the handle was grasped and the door swung open, revealing Jolene who smiled and jerked her head to indicate that he should come in.
'How are feeling?'
Her tone was concerned and authentic.
Jackson raised a hand and hovered it over his temple where he had received the blow the previous day.
'I think I'll live, but it was one hell of a right hook, it completely knocked me out. At least they didn't use a knuckle-duster on me!'
'Well,' Jolene said, peering at the bruised and swollen lump where the fist had connected, 'they knew what they were doing, but Oliver was the real threat so I guess they wanted to be sure that he was out cold. His head must still be throbbing this morning.'
Jackson raised his eyebrows and harrumphed as he looked at the table and the central conference phone unit.
'So we're calling Kappel?'
'Not quite yet, he isn't available for another hour so I thought that we could try calling the author, Igor Farley. His name was given to us by Paula Krom when we went to visit her. Apparently he is an expert on the whole subject and looking at the summary of his books that Langley sent through, I thought that he might add some colour to the information that you dug up earlier.'
'How much does he know?' Jackson squinted.
Jolene seated herself and pointed to the chair next to her.
'He seems to have done his research, although of course, it is all shrouded in mystery as you would expect. I just think that it helps to confirm the report that you provided, besides, he is in a position to tell us a lot more about the technology side of things, even if a lot of it is guesswork. It may help to prompt Kappel to give us what we need.'
His body jerking as he stifled a guttural laugh, Jackson rubbed his lips.
'The rich tapestry of conspiracy, eh?'
Jolene smiled and stood, 'I'll get you a coffee. You should have a look through Farley's profile so that you are better acquainted with his books before we call him.'
A quarter of an hour later, Jolene had dialled a number on the room's conference phone and they both sat in silent anticipation as the line purred through the loudspeaker. They were aware that it was only breakfast time back in the US but eventually, a muffled crackle announced that the handset at the other end of the line had been lifted.
'Hello, Igor Farley speaking.'
The voice was soft with a slight Texan drawl.
Jolene fidgeted in her chair to get comfortable, leaning forward slightly to speak.
'Hi, Mr Farley, my name is Eloise Jacobs and I'm a journalist working on an article for Vanity Fair magazine, I'm sorry to call you so early on a Sunday but I wondered if I could ask you a few questions for the piece that I am writing?'
There was a pause and then a slight cough.
'Vanity Fair? What kind of article are you writing?'
Jolene knew that some flattery was required as well as an oblique entry point into the events of World War II.
'We're following up on Al Gore's global warming initiatives and asking the question whether there are any suppressed energy technologies that could replace the use of fossil fuels. Once our research started looking at synthetic fuel developments in Germany during the 1930's and 1940's, we were led to some rather more exotic technologies and your name came up as an acknowledged authority on the subject matter.'
She raised her eyebrows at Jackson and there was another pause before Igor answered, somewhat self-deprecatingly.
'Well, I don't know that I am an authority on the subject, I am very happy to admit that I regularly reference the research of other excellent investigators, but I do have some strong opinions on the nature of some of the technology that the Germans developed.'
Jackson grinned at Jolene, knowing that the bait had been taken. She continued speaking.
'That is exactly what we're after! Do you have some time to talk now?'
Igor was obviously consulting a clock.
'Umm, well, it is a bit short notice but yeah, sure, why not? I'm free for the next hour or so. I guess that there isn't a fee, but presumably I'll receive a good credit?'
'Certainly you will Mr Farley,' Jolene reassured, 'this could provide some real exposure for you.'
She decided to embellish the lie a bit more.
'Of course, you'll be requested to proof read any statements prior to publishing so you needn't worry about being misquoted, also, we will be recording this conversation for ease of reference. We can send you a copy for your records if you'd like?'
There was a murmur of approval from the speaker.
'Sounds good,' said Igor, 'Where would you like me to start?'
'Well, firstly, I would like to introduce a colleague of mine, Jerome Revell, he has been acting as a scientific advisor to me; I am more concerned with the issue of the politics of cheap and clean energy.'
Jackson glanced at Jolene as he mouthed the alias she had just assigned to him on the spur of the moment.
'Hi Igor!'
His salutation was cheery and enthusiastic.
'I am particularly interested in your theories involving the so-called 'Nazi Bell'. Would you give us some more details about that?'
'Ohhhh man,' Igor chuckled, 'that is a whole can of worms! I assume that you've read my book on the subject of the Bell? What is it that you specifically want to know?'
'Your book? Yes, of course!' Jackson lied, having only read through the summary details that Langley had provided.
'We're actually looking for some more background material confirming your theory on the purpose of the Bell and what may have happened to it. Reading between the lines if you like? It seems to us that it could have represented a source of clean energy and we'd really appreciate your input. Obviously, if it was developed over sixty-five years ago the question is why we're not using it now?'
A cough sounded as Igor cleared his throat.
'Alright, well, as I say, most of the details are in my book, but just to recap, the first productive experiments using this technology took place in the May of 1944 although the concept does appear to have been around for quite a while. The whole design was only realised quite late in the conflict but it immediately produced some effects that could have changed the whole course of the war let alone prevented the energy crisis we are now facing.'
'So why didn't it?' Jolene asked.
'Well, firstly, let me go through some basic details. The original project was called
Tor
- or 'gateway' in English - and was actually initiated in early 1942. This title appears to have been used to characterise the objective of providing an entry point into what was entirely new ground in the field of physics. You have to realise that the Germans were trying to develop a new unified theory of physics and one that specifically supported the concept of the Aether, are you familiar with that?'
Jolene recalled Jackson's presentations and nodded in affirmation.
'Yes, I understand that they wanted to derive an alternative to what they regarded as 'Jewish Physics'.'
'That is exactly right, now, the initial project was more of a proof of concept and highly theoretical but toward the end of 1943 it had progressed to a point where it was obvious that more specific areas of experimentation were needed, in other words, the concept had been proven and they then needed to concentrate on application. The
Tor
project was closed down and the personnel and areas of research transferred to two new projects named
Laternenträger
and Chronos respectively.'
Jolene squinted slightly.
'
Laternenträger
, that means 'lantern carrier' in English, but what about Chronos? That implies a connection with time itself. Were they building a time machine?'
'You speak German Eloise?' Igor's tone sounded impressed. 'You're right about the lantern carrier, but, they weren't trying to build a time machine, although granted, Chronos is traditionally the personification of time and usually associated with a bearded old man who carries an hourglass and a scythe. No, in mythology, he originally had a serpentine form and together with his consort named Ananke he wrapped the primal core of the universe in his coils and ripped it apart to form the physical reality about us.'
Jackson thought about Igor's definition for a moment, formulating an understanding.
'So the Chronos project was probably concerned with the action of change, creating physical effects?'
Igor was clearly impressed again and hummed contentedly that his premise had been grasped.
'Spot on Jerome and that was my conclusion, although the ambiguity of the names given to these two projects has been the cause of some debate as to their real function. My own research indicates that
Laternenträger
was still primarily concerned with the theoretical and high-level empirical side of things, investigating their alternative unified physics theory in order to understand how it manifested and interacted with the physical universe that was directly accessible.
'In a complimentary way, Chronos was more about the utilising the knowledge that had been gained in the form of exploitative technology. Basically, the 'lantern carrier' illuminated the path of knowledge which ultimately led to the invention and creation of new technology!'
Jolene interrupted him, wanting to understand his bias completely.
'Mr Farley, Igor, I was under the impression that scientific advances under the Nazis were something of a hit and miss affair? Are you saying that this was a concerted effort by the whole of the scientific community?'
Laughter erupted from the loudspeaker.
'God, no, not at all. You're quite right Eloise, although all of the scientific disciplines suffered to some degree from the ideological perversions of the Nazi regime and the interference of specific individuals that directed attention away from mainstream research into what we would now regard as pseudo-science at best.
'Himmler in particular was always coming up with hair-brained ideas and threw funding at pet projects regardless of the fantasy of his concepts. As an example, at one point he funded a scheme to investigate whether alcohol could be extracted from the fumes expelled by bakery chimneys. Although alcohol was an important commodity during the war and used in any number of manufacturing processes, the majority of his ideas had no basis in practical reality but, of course, nobody was about to tell him that he didn't know what he was talking about.'
So what about the Bell? Was that a crackpot scheme?'
'Well, originally, yes!' Igor exclaimed gleefully. 'During the 1920's there was a group known as the Vril Society which was heavily influenced by the occult teachings to be found throughout the ages. A group of psychics associated with the group claimed to have received messages from the Aldebaran star system which detailed plans for highly advanced spacecraft and propulsion systems. My research indicates that a small group of scientists caught on to the idea, fired by the esoteric teachings to be found in old alchemical and even Hindu texts.
'For example, there is an ancient text known as the
Samarangana Sutradhara
which describes men using the latent power of mercury to drive machines that could travel the skies. Admittedly, the authenticity and interpretation of some of these writings have been questioned, but alchemical texts have often cited the power of mercury as a catalyst for extracting untold power, linking it to methods for deriving the classical fifth element.'
Jolene interjected again.
'So why did this idea take off?'
Even through the speaker, Jolene and Jackson could hear the rustle of clothing from the shrug that Igor enacted.
'Himmler liked the idea, it was as simple as that. He was enamoured of occult teachings and with the offer of advanced propulsion systems and even weapons on the table, he jumped at the chance to throw some funding at it, regardless of whether more mainstream and viable propositions were left begging for resources.'
'You mention propulsion and weapons systems,' Jackson pondered, 'but I thought that this was a machine for tapping into what is often called zero-point energy?'
Jolene quickly followed up.
'That is why we have looked into it for our article.'
'Oh yes,' Igor responded eagerly, 'but it was actually concerned with all three spheres of development. Interestingly and perhaps coincidentally, the god Chronos was imagined as having three heads, that of a bull, a man and a lion. Now within the project there were three main areas of research and in a way these related to the heads. The bull, traditionally castrated and used to pull carts as an Ox, was concerned with propulsion. Perhaps inevitably, man was concerned with weaponry and the lion was focussed on energy developments, being seen as a symbol of strength and vitality. However, these were regarded as high level groupings and as time went by there were numerous smaller projects that concentrated on specific developments and products that made use of the advances in all three fields.'