Jackson mused before he spoke.
'- but these were never developed, right?'
'No, at least, not by the Germans. You see, the legend has it that in April 1945, as the Russian advance threatened the area, a ruthless SS General by the name of Hans Kammler collected every scrap of documentation from both the Wenceslas and Fürstenstein research sites, effectively covering both the 'lantern carrier' and Chronos projects. The vast majority of the equipment was completely destroyed or entombed in the mines using explosives, but the Bell itself was dismantled for evacuation and flown out of Opole airfield in a Junkers 390. However, in keeping with the best traditions of this kind of legend, both the plane and the General were ever seen again.'
Igor let the tale sink in and Jolene was first to respond.
'So where do you think that the Bell went?'
Another chuckle broke from the loudspeaker as Igor Farley considered his reply.
'To be honest, I have no idea! The Bell itself certainly never fell into the hands of the allies, although there is some evidence that knowledge of it may have been culled from captured scientists who had worked on the original project. The thing is, most of the original research team had been executed on the orders of Hans Kammler during the evacuation, over sixty men and women were shot, all scientists in the programme and just to keep the secrets of the Bell from falling into enemy hands.
'Inevitably, some workers managed to escape the net although they were probably lower level researchers and technicians on the periphery of the main project. That explains why none of the allies managed to get their own version of the Bell up and working after the war had ended, even though both the Americans and the Russians then had the cream of the German scientific community on their respective payrolls.'
'So this technology just disappeared?'
'That is about the size of it!' confirmed Igor.
'I'm afraid that your article isn't about to solve the energy crisis just yet, but, as the Germans might say,
die Wahrheit ist irgendwo da draußen
!'
Jolene smirked and nodded at the words.
'The truth is somewhere out there!'
Jolene and Jackson had their confirmation of the possibilities of the technology; however, Igor Farley's account of events during World War II was not exactly first hand even if the basic outline fitted with the sporadic documents that Jackson had uncovered in the official files. They thanked the author for his input and closed the call, assuring him that he had been very helpful but Jackson had sighed wearily after the telephone line had gone dead.
'So what now? All of this information is interesting, very interesting in fact, but it proves nothing. We cannot get anywhere like this, besides, Farley didn't even mention the Sun of the Sleepless, only the Vril Society.'
'Yes,' nodded Jolene, 'but that is fine. What we need to do is present this as supplementary evidence to Kappel, let him decide how to go forward and whether he can tell us anything further.'
'Further?' Jackson had picked on the use of the adjective and his tone was derisory. 'He hasn't told us any so far so I am not sure what else he will add.'
'Ahh!' exhaled Jolene somewhat coyly, 'I didn't tell you, did I? Kappel admitted to me that he knows more than he is letting on, although he was very discrete about it.'
'When did this happen?' Jackson asked, somewhat taken aback at only just learning the news.
Jolene blushed slightly in apology.
'Sorry, I meant to tell you earlier, it was during out last conference with him. Remember when I had to leave the table to take another call? He revealed that he had been under surveillance but he didn't elaborate. Suffice to say, we should use our next conference to get a bit more information out of him. We cannot operate in the dark for much longer; we need to know what he expects from us so that we can get what we need from him.'
'So you think that Dale was right? When he said that we were telling Kappel what he already knew?'
'Almost certainly!' Jolene nodded, stone faced.
'Alright, so what now?'
She looked at her watch as she spoke, 'We send across the recording of Igor's statements and then call Kappel via secure video conference, he should be available soon. Let us hear what he has to say.'
Firing Blanks
'Loftus?' Rey called out from his office door, immediately hearing a muffled Boss shouted back from somewhere in the farmhouse followed by the tramp of heavy boots against creaky floorboards.
Rey turned back to his desk and settled down, a cigarillo burning in an ashtray beside him and a mug of steaming tea within arm's reach.
Sergeant Andy Loftus appeared at the door.
'Yes Boss?'
'Come in, take a pew. Close the door behind you though.'
A chair scraped as Loftus sat down before the desk of his commander, a disconcerted look spreading across his face as he realised that something was wrong.
'How are the Claymores coming along?' asked Rey.
'Good,' nodded the Sergeant, 'the team is digging in and Lieutenant Akosua is rigging the woods. We're also working on setting the radar up. Nothing is getting in here without us knowing it, whether they show up on the scope, set off a Claymore or fire a signal flare.'
Rey hummed.
'Great, let's just hope that we don't get some couple from Oban heading up into the trees for a bit of extra-marital exercise.'
Grinning widely, Loftus started laughing.
'It could be a lot worse if the woods turn out to be a local dogging spot!'
His joke elicited only a stifled harrumph and he knew that Rey was preoccupied.
'What's up Boss?'
A short pause followed before Rey spoke, frowning slightly as he did so.
'Is it that obvious?'
'Afraid so, you haven't been right since you arrived. I thought that we were all set but you're making me worry to be honest.'
He gave a chuckle to nullify the effect of his words.
Rey took a quick swig from his mug of tea, picked up his cigarillo and flicked the ash off into the tray. He leaned back and sighed as he started absent-mindedly scratching at his forehead.
'We were bait. That is why Akosua and I were called over to The Netherlands. We were bait to ensure that the US had something to follow up on as part of an operation to misdirect he attention of the intelligence and security services.'
Loftus nodded and stuck out his bottom lip as he considered the assessment.
'Not entirely unusual though, why are you still bothered?'
Rey looked out of the window across the tops of the trees on a nearby hill before answering.
'I'm not sure that we're out of the woods, so to speak,' he said before turning back to face his Sergeant.
'I have a nagging suspicion that we're still bait.'
'What do you mean?' Loftus asked, somewhat unsurely.
Rey chewed the inside of his cheek before answering candidly.
'I can understand why Senator Dru needed likely candidates for the US to follow up on. It didn't go exactly as planned but it all turned out nicely, the US was put onto us and is currently looking for us. No doubt they'll track us to Open-EZ and they'll raid the premises but that is where it might end. However, just think for a moment -'
He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his desk.
'Dru has basically assumed that we've done everything by the book, nothing to lead the investigation into us up here. What if I'd bought something by credit card at a garage, or been stopped by the police, or crashed the car in the snow?'
'Well, you can't help providence can you?'
'Exactly, but Dru knows that. The more I think about it the more I cannot believe that he would lay a trail leading to us and then put us back into the field where any slip up could lead the US or British security services to us.'
Loftus remained silent, mulling over the thought before he spoke.
'What do you reckon then?'
Rey shrugged and lifted his hands up to signify his exasperation with the situation.
'I can only come to one conclusion.'
'Which is?'
'We're meant to be found.'
Loftus blinked and then grimaced in disbelief.
'What?'
'Think about it, the US knows the nature of the threat they are facing in order for it to be believable; technical specifications have no doubt been supplied to people in the know. Senator Dru drags us out to Europe so that we can unwittingly lead the CIA down a false trail. The thing is, false trails always lead somewhere, even if it is right into a dead-end. What if our whole team is a dead-end? What if we're here simply to act as a focal point for all of the efforts of the security services? That scenario is looking ever more likely and it also means that they will be coming for us. They have to come for us in order that the whole plan can work.'
'- but that is crazy,' Loftus breathed, shaking his head, 'they'll get us and the cannon. Why would the Senator do that?'
'What makes you think that they'll get the cannon?' Rey asked, raising his eyebrows.
A short pause ensued before Loftus frowned.
'It isn't real?'
Rey took another drag on his cigarillo before blowing the smoke up toward the ceiling.
'Dru admitted that the so-called sacred items we had been sent to retrieve were both fake, copies of the originals which are no doubt locked up safe and sound somewhere. If they were fake, maybe the cannon is too. When the security services come for us, they find what they expect to find. Senator Dru knows that if we are attacked, our orders are to destroy everything before trying to escape and he also knows that we'll keep to our oaths, we'll go down fighting before being captured.'
'So the Americans end up with a burnt out truck and bits and pieces of machinery that looks convincing enough but would never have worked?'
Rey nodded.
'Exactly!'
Another silence followed as they both contemplated the scenario. Spoken aloud, it had become much more feasible to Rey, a stark prophetic glimpse of their fate rather than just a suspicion.
'So what do you want to do now?' Loftus asked warily, almost certainly knowing what the answer would be.
'We stay, we have to! We do what we were put here to do. If we are still bait then we have to see it through.'
He thought of the strange looking cannon they had nicknamed as the 'Horn' within the large crate on the back of the Scammell.
'If we were operating the real cannon, rather than a decoy, we'd want the other team to do their job. Our success could depend on it. If in fact it is our team that is playing second fiddle to somebody else then we still have to see it through or everything has been a waste of time. If we move out then the security services will start looking somewhere else and they might end up finding the real thing. Besides, we'd never be able to go back to the Order; we'd be executed as traitors.'
Loftus frowned and looked about the room.
'What about the rest of the crew?'
Rey's eyes focussed into the unseen distance.
'If it turns out that we're firing blanks then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, otherwise, we do as we've always planned to do. I don't want Akosua to know of this just yet - perhaps never. It is just you and me for now, understood?'
The old soldier nodded.
'Yes Boss. So we just sit and wait for them to come to us?'
'Basically, yeah, but in the mean time, we check out the Horn. I really want to be proven wrong but I'm almost certain that our rig just blows a lot of hot air.'
Circles and Spirals
Jolene typed at her keyboard and waited, tensely aware that the moment had come for all to be revealed, at least, that was what she expected. Within a few moments a secure video conference connection to Stefan Kappel, Deputy Director of the CIA, had been established and as the image of him materialised on her screen she jiggled her chair to allow Jackson to edge himself in and be seen by the small camera mounted at the top the laptop they now both stared at.
'Deputy Director. Hi, I have Jackson Revere here with me and I am hoping that you can provide some extra details that will clarify the situation for us.'
Kappel nodded on the screen and pulled a taut smile.
'I hope that you've had a chance to review the material I sent over earlier,' Jolene continued, 'our interview with the author, Igor Farley? It doesn't provide much factual information but it is interesting nonetheless.'
Again, Kappel nodded.
'Just so,' he sighed, intertwining his fingers and flexing them.
'Sir,' she said earnestly, 'I have to admit to a certain amount of trepidation. We've spent the last few days looking into the Sun of the Sleepless and have found nothing of substance. Admittedly, our research shows a tenuous link between the people that abducted both Gertrude Verker and Johann Janssens, but nothing that cannot be explained away as coincidence. We've heard some radical notions concerning advanced technology based on an alternative physics theory, which if true, could present a major threat to the US in the context of the current terrorist alert, but it is all hearsay and supposition.'
Jolene leaned forward for emphasis.
'My point is, sir, on the one hand we seem to be groping around in the dark, yet, we are clearly dealing with some form of well organised group with a direct insight into what we are doing - the interception of Jackson and theft of
Dirigo Lux
required inside information. In spite of my reservations concerning our investigation, I am convinced that we have been compromised which ironically suggests that we are on the right track. So, I have to ask, are we wasting our time? Is there something that we need to know?'
'Jolene, Jackson -'
After stating their names, Kappel thought for a moment before bowing his head solemnly and then finally raising his face to the camera.
'I need to convey a bit of history to you and in doing so, I may well confirm that you've been wasting your time over these last few days, but I will explain everything, I assure you. First, though, I need to take you back to 1940, when Heinrich Himmler initiated a top secret operation called Rheingold -'
Jolene and Jackson looked at each other and then settled themselves in, sitting back in their chairs to hear the story that was about to unfold.
'The name Rheingold was taken from one of the four dramas in Wagner's 'The Ring of The Nibelung'. For background, the opera basically starts with a character called Alberich who renounces the most sacred of emotions - love - in order that he can steal the enchanted gold of the Rhinemaidens to forge a magical ring that will make him all powerful. Himmler was no fool and deliberately used the name to reflect the basic nature of the project, also, to impress Hitler when the time came to unveil its success.'
Kappel sat back in his chair and stared sideways out of his office window as he continued speaking, seemingly lost in remembering the details of the story.
'The project was initially run under the auspices of the Ahnenerbe, the Nazi think-tank that concerned itself with cultural and ancestral affairs and subordinate to the Reichsführer-SS himself. Within the Ahnenerbe were two sub-sections, the 'Survey of the so-called Occult Sciences' and the 'Military Scientific Research' section, but don't ask me to pronounce the German titles for them. Suffice to say that various teams were coordinated specifically to support the new project within the domain of the SS armaments staff and it fell under the direct administrative command of a certain SS General by the name of Hans Kammler.'
He turned back to his camera, his face staring out from the laptop screen.
'Himmler had ordered this new venture with the objective of procuring scientific advantage for Germany via the analysis and interpretation of the knowledge of the ancients albeit in a methodical and technical way. It was a highly secret affair, a kind of pet project since Himmler wanted to present the fruits of his initiative as a
fait accompli
when the time came. He regarded the whole thing as critical for the war effort but went to great lengths to ensure that nobody knew about it. He was aware that other members of the Nazi elite laughed behind his back at what they regarded as a fanatical interest in the occult and mysticism and so went to great lengths to protect his project.'
Jackson could not help himself; he had been so wrapped up in his recent investigation that he was dying to fill in the blanks of his research.
'So is this related to the Sun of the Sleepless, the Vril Society and the Society for Truth?'
Kappel simply closed his eyes slowly to acknowledge the assumption.
'As kooky as it sounds, the idea was to come up with a unified physics theory based on occult knowledge, however, as Jackson's previous findings indicate, this was not about black magic but an attempt to understand the hidden stream of knowledge that Himmler believed flowed directly from the theorised spiritual and physical ancestors of the Aryan race, the inhabitants of an island called Thule or Hyperborea. The whole idea had initially been heavily promoted by the Vril Society and through the Society for Truth there had been some experimental success in the 1920's and '30s that prompted Himmler to invest in the scheme, subordinating the whole project to the control of his SS scientific divisions. He had been aware of both groups since the beginning due to his involvement with the Thule Society and it appears that the Vrilerinnen - those allegedly psychic maidens - well, they made sure to keep contact with anybody that could help their cause. Of course, he didn't know that the Sun of the Sleepless was pulling the strings behind the scenes but, they now had what they wanted, funding and protection from the state to advance what was in fact their project; Himmler couldn't know that he was simply being used as a facilitator.'
Jolene sat forward and rested her arms on the desk.
'So Jackson was right about the Sun of the Sleepless controlling the Vril Society and the Society for Truth scientists? Are you saying that this is where it all began?'
'Yes, although the ideas had been floating about for a while it was the Sun of the Sleepless that covertly seeded the whole project for the Nazis.'
'I knew it!' exclaimed Jackson, smiling broadly but quickly recovering his composure.'
'The link with Wagner's opera was simple,' continued Kappel, 'within the occult circles of the time the Aether was identified as a divine element, holy in itself, maybe even the very physical essence of God. By renouncing any concept of sacred significance attributed to the Aether, it provided Himmler with the spiritual opportunity to harness its properties to beneficial effect, especially in a military sense. As far as he was concerned, he would sacrifice the divine to further the interests of the master race.
'As Jackson has pointed out previously, the whole physical concept was based upon vortices and Himmler saw some kind of synchronicity between the Wagner opera so beloved of Hitler and the idea of the 'ring'- a vortex if you will - enabling the Aryan race to achieve a god-like state of existence with control over creation itself. Vortices have been regarded as spiritually significant throughout history and by civilisations all over the world; circles, spirals and intertwined helixes - all regarded as potent magical symbols and Himmler saw them as portents of the reality of the Aether.'
'So Hanna's reports were more useful than they seemed at the time,' Jolene mused drily, glancing at Jackson.
'There is something I don't understand about that though,' Jackson frowned quizzically, 'we had Hanna's reports which referred to
Dirigo Lux
way back in the thirties and forties, but my research also turned up references to the book in the public domain from quite recent postings to some internet sites, even some fully transcribed passages. If that was out there and we recognised as a link to an organisation that we had been hunting for decades, then why didn't we track it before?'
'Because it would have led us directly back to the Agency,' harrumphed Kappel.
'Hanna's reports told us of
Dirigo Lux
and she even gave us some paragraphs from the book, so, in one of our attempts to draw the Sun of the Sleepless into the open a minor operation was mounted to post the passages onto the internet, using conspiracy message boards and chat rooms. Project 'Sugarcube' was supposed to attract the attention of the Order, allowing us to track the IP addresses and cross-reference them with other internet traffic. The idea was to provide an identification that would lead to an entry point into their organisation.'
'So it was just a fishing trip and didn't give us anything new?'
A sigh leaked from the laptop speakers.
'From what we already know, the foundation work for this whole project of theirs had begun in the 1920's just as you supposed. Hanna's reports detailed the rise of the Vril Society, the Society for Truth and of course, she also mentioned
Dirigo Lux
, describing it as a spiritual text from a group known as the Sun of the Sleepless. The mysterious Maria Orsitsch was indeed running the show and through the Vrilerinnen psychics seems to have provided the impetus for the whole thing. We don't need to debate the validity of that assertion, but your own research only turned up half the story.
'There is a whole host of other intelligence documentation that shows this to be correct but you just can't get to it. In any case, from our perspective, once Himmler had adopted the scheme it became a wholly SS affair. At that point, our interest in the activities of what we initially regarded as amateur crackpots waned somewhat and we concentrated on more traditional means of following the progress of their research. We discovered that as part of Rheingold the 'gateway' project was initiated to produce a theoretical model of the Aether and in 1943 it had progressed enough to be superseded by the 'lantern carrier' and 'Chronos' projects. At this point, however, our story begins to diverge from the conspiracy theories.'
'So Igor Farley was right about that much?' Jolene asked.
'Oh yes, Mr Farley has been right about a good many things. In fact, I marvel at how he managed to get hold of his information, although, just like you he doesn't have the whole picture. Most of what I'm about to tell you is locked away in the files that Jackson wants to get his hands on, but, he would never get anywhere near them through normal channels. They are strictly off-limits!'
Kappel grinned a lop-sided smile.
'As part of the 'lantern carrier' project, the Bell was constructed in an underground test chamber in the Wenceslas mine near to the village of Ludwikowice, or Ludwigsdorf as it was known then, in what is now part of Poland. It was the main research facility but prototype exploitation technology was developed and tested at a number of other sites and in particular there was a propulsion test site at a laboratory near Schloss Fürstenstein.'
'Then Farley's commentary wasn't just anecdotal even about the laboratory locations,' Jackson considered, 'so what about his story of the apparatus ripping itself free and flying up to the ceiling, did that happen?'
'Yes,' nodded Kappel, 'he was basically correct. The event clearly demonstrated the propulsion possibilities to the German research team. The incident was relayed to us via a concentration camp inmate who had been assigned as a slave labourer to work on the project but who later managed to escape. Farley is also correct about the alchemy they performed on lead, although it wasn't quite a production line with gold bars being generated by the truckload. Gold to fill the coffers of the Reich may have seemed like a dream come true but at that time they really needed the 'Wonder Weapon' that could spell success for the war effort.
'Rather than creating gold, they actually experimented with producing enriched uranium to support their atomic ambitions and in truth, they had some major success, but that is another story that need not concern us just yet. So, notwithstanding the possibilities and even as the Bell became the goose that laid golden eggs, by late 1944 it was clear that the nation was militarily on the back foot and all they could do was stave off defeat for as long as possible, waiting for the development of a weapon that could deliver a knock-out blow.'
Jackson frowned slightly.
'- but sir, surely if the Germans had the Bell as you say and considering the propulsion effects that they had already achieved, couldn't they have engineered incredible aircraft and flying devices?'
'You may think so,' agreed Kappel, 'but at that time, the main difficulty the research team faced was not so much in generating effects but in actually being able to control and direct them. The field that the Bell generated was like a giant vortex that revolved about the core of the machine itself, just like the magnetic field of force around the earth, flowing out from the North Pole and penetrating again through the South Pole. Remember your presentation when you mentioned Willy Ley comparing it to an apple cut in half? Well, his visual analogy was just about right with the Bell smack bang at the core.