Necrocide (2 page)

Hans closed his eyes and imagined himself somewhere far away, somewhere warm where the winds were but a cooling breeze and gulls shrieked above in a dark blue sky. The reality was that Hans was utterly bored. Whilst his team of engineers toiled outside, he felt rather surplus to requirements. His presence on the expedition was merely bureaucratic. He felt almost guilty that he had little to offer his team other than a reassuring arm around the shoulder and a chilling reminder that the Fatherland's hopes lay in their hands. Nothing could be farther from the truth of course. As the weeks had passed, he had become more detached both geographically and emotionally to the ongoing fight. Instilling patriotic fervour into tired and demotivated engineers was not so easy when the belief had long since waned in himself.

Hans Bauer had, from the very start lobbied to avoid this role when it appeared to become a reality. Far from wanting to run from the intensifying conflict, he had been prodded and cajoled into taking the responsibility of the mission by a long standing comrade and respected senior, General Klaus Dietrich. Not only did Dietrich respect his junior with whom he had taken under his wing since the early war years, but he also felt compelled to do right by him since the cataclysmic event which had changed Bauer's life forever; the death of his wife and child.

Hans rubbed his face and particularly his eyes which were heavy. The large corrugated panels flexing gave off a noise that could not be dulled. It was like the sound like thunder or the explosion of a bomb in the distance, sudden and booming. It was one of the sounds of war that Hans had heard many times before but now it had taken a greater significance in his complex psyche. It had become the sound he associated with the loss of his loved ones, the sound of falling munitions across a darkened city.

Hans' thoughts were thankfully disturbed by the rattle of the outer door and instinctively he whipped his feet off his desk as someone approached. Not that it mattered, Bauer was the commander of this complement of thirty three men and a little envy from his subordinates would hurt no one.

A gentle, timid knock was heard at the office door and Hans coughed and spluttered a nonsensical beckon to enter as he shuffled a few papers around his rather empty desk. A sharp drop in temperature accompanied a stocky figure clad in dark padding and a ubiquitous fur lined hood.

“Sounds windy out there.” Hans muttered as he thought he recognised Claudio by his diminutive stature.

“It is!” Cortese replied as he pulled back his hood to reveal a cropped jet black hairstyle and a set of thick dark eyebrows. Cortese, being Italian seemed to have a far more relaxed demeanour around his commanding officer although he would not demonstrate it before others in the team. Hans enjoyed Cortese's relaxed attitude and honesty.

“We have encountered a problem.” Claudio spoke cautiously, his eyebrows dancing about significantly.

“Problem?” Hans replied. “A problem that you have to come to me for? Can I assume it is nothing technological then?”

Hans' status amongst the team of engineers and scientists was clear. He was not there to add anything to the mission except his mandate to lead. He was to be the glue that held the mission together and keep a sense of urgency for the war effort.

“Something unexpected has transpired.” Cortese added as he pulled his gloves from his hands with a fumbling inaccuracy.

“Well, that sounds rather exciting in my book. There is very little of that around here. Do tell me we are under attack by a savage pack of Polar Bear, at least I could offer my sharp shooting skills.”

Cortese laughed at Bauer's ignorance.

“You would have to be an exceptional shot to bag a Polar Bear from here. No, it is actually far more exciting than that Colonel.”

Hans turned the corners of his mouth down and rose to his feet, hoisting himself up by the creaking arms of his chair.

“Oh? Don't keep me in suspense man.” Hans urged Cortese to reveal all.

“Well, it would seem that we have encountered a significant resistance to the drill.”

Hans was no engineer but he was aware that this was far too early.

“How far down are we?” The Colonel asked with his brow furrowed.

“Fifty metres give or take one or two metres.” The Italian's face contorted into a little moue, it was almost as if he was trying to contain his excitement but was also a trifle nervous.

“That is too soon is it not? I suppose we should be rejoicing. I expected this torment to last month's not weeks.” Hans did little to hide his contempt for his mission.

“Sir, please do not get ahead of things. We do not believe we have reached beneath the glacier, it is way too soon for that.” Cortese had become frustratingly cryptic.

“So what have we hit?” Hans remembered Cortese telling him they had met some 'resistance'. The plot was thickening.

“We cannot say for sure except that on first inspection and on drill retraction, it is something very hard as it has destroyed our primary bit.”

“But we have more don't we?” Hans immediately began to worry about the implications of losing their ability to drill and thus ending the mission. Failure meant standing before the Fuhrer and explaining his shortcomings. The thought of that clouded his immediate fascination for what might be a revelation.

“Of course we have a number of packages but to continue drilling in the same place would be fruitless.”

Hans shuddered.

“Really? Then the past month has been wasted? Must we relocate?”

Cortese shook his head, his commander had not realised the significance of the find.

“Sir, you fail to understand. There should not be any resistance of this magnitude until we hit the sub-glacial terrain. Even so, the damage to the drill bit is so significant; we can only surmise that there is something unnaturally resistant down there...something that we could not possibly have anticipated. This problem may not itself be a hindrance to our progress but a find in itself, a find of great importance.”

Hans enjoyed listening to Cortese and in particular the way each and every word ended in a musical note of sorts.

“Speculate. What is it down there?” Hans barked as his intrigue grew. Cortese paced around in a small circle.

“Something metallic, unnaturally occurring geologically. Something hard enough to blunt our drill like a soft pencil on sandpaper.”

Hans immediately thought in military terms, he was undeniably short sighted when it came to opening his mind to new ideas.

“How can this be, we were assured that this zone was secure?”

“I think you are misunderstanding, Colonel. This cannot be modern. This ice is hundreds of years if not thousands of years in age. This could be an archaeological discovery greater than the tomb of Tutankhamen, the temple of Artemis...this, my friend is historical!” Cortese was becoming agitated as he bounced up and down upon the spot. It was compelling viewing.

“Why it conjures up visions of the mysteries of ancient worlds, Atlantis even!”

Hans laughed out loud at Cortese's dreamlike anticipation.

“Do not get ahead of yourself my friend. Could it not just be a rock formation, metal rich...?” Bauer was drawing at straws, unlikely to find the right answer with wild stabs in the dark.

“No, Sir. I do not believe it to be so. We must now begin to dig. Dig with great earnest!” Cortese was adamant.

“What? And abandon the mission detail? Do you know how much expense and trust the high command have put into this mission? Can we be side tracked by an anomaly?” Hans was pessimistic.

“An anomaly? Yes, it is! That is why we must dig. Surely the mission was to research and discover new possibilities to aid the war effort. If we find something so historic, so ancient...well, I am sure your propaganda minister will enjoy putting an Aryan spin on whatever we find, eh?”

Hans was beginning to see Cortese's way of thinking. If this was truly a significant find, it would be foolish to leave any stone unturned.

“What measures would need to be put into place to begin the dig?” Hans asked as he planted his rear upon the flimsy metal desk.

“It would be difficult and a lengthy process. It would take thirty men weeks, maybe months to manually excavate a hole that deep. We have drills and explosives but we would have to exercise great caution. We have no idea how large this anomaly is or how sensitive it would be to that kind of treatment. The risk to our team would also increase significantly. I suppose you could contact your superiors and request more manpower and specialised equipment?”

“No, Claudio. Let us first get a better idea of what we are dealing with here. Surely there are tests that can be performed?” Hans was not enamoured with the idea of causing a stir with his superiors. The last thing he needed was more prying eyes and the SS brigade to be snooping around the site picking holes in his command abilities.

“Yes, I have Sebastien Faust examining micro fragments from the drill tip; we have already concluded that the object is magnetic. Perhaps in a few hours, he can tell us what kind of material we are talking about.”

Cortese began to pull his thick gloves back on as the enthusiasm to get on with his work was palpable.

“Collect your team and prepare for a meeting at 14:00. Tell them to bring their ideas to the table and prepare themselves to get their hands blistered.” Hans instructed imperiously as Cortese smiled and hastened his way out of the office.

Hans slumped down upon his chair. Maybe the coming weeks might hold a little more interest than he had first thought.

CHAPTER 3

A billowing and fleeting cloud of fine white particles burst into the fine summer sunshine and then fell gently as a wave of sonic energy dispersed in all directions. Hans Bauer stood with Franz Hertzog at a distance, their arms crossed, their stances those of a couple of men who tired of waiting. Another seismic rumble and another day of blasting away mercilessly at a dense desert of ice which seemed more impervious to destruction every day.

“Better if it had been rock. Fault lines and structural weaknesses to be exploited. This ice seems to be fighting us.” Hertzog stated as he felt the impatience of his commander.

“It is. I am beginning to wonder what wondrous secrets it is guarding so valiantly.” Hans replied waving in response to a tiny figure on the horizon who was quite animated.

“Looks like a breakthrough!” Hertzog announced seeing his colleagues in the distance scurrying around like ants upon a sheet of glass.

“Don't count on it.” Hans said pessimistically. The excavation had been painfully slow and three weeks had passed. Three tortuous weeks where poor weather had hampered them and communications with command had been minimal. Isolated, Hans Bauer and his team felt as if they had been transported to some alien landscape and left to toil in a never ending trial of patience.

Hertzog, a medical officer from the Black Forest trotted off in trepidation, unable to wait for his commander to give him the order to advance to the excavation site. His impatience rubbed off on Hans who joined him in a light jog which grew steadily faster as the nearer they got where the more animated the dig team appeared to be.

Hans stood at the edge of the large irregular shaped crater as his feet sank deeper into the soft powder that had built up around the circumference. He could see several of his team sliding down the embankment and with the aid of rope and crampons, a few had dared the steeper decent into a darkened crevice which at first might have been an area which was deprived of light due to the high sides of the man made hole. Hans pondered over this sight though and concluded that it was not a shadow but perhaps something showing through the translucence of the ice.

“Hoi, you there! What do you see?” Bauer bellowed, his voice echoing around the crater. A distance reply was forthcoming although he could not tell from whom it originated.

“Something large, dark. It is smooth...metallic.”

Hans' heart sped a little as Hertzog looked up to him with a mischievous smile.

“Speculate. What is it?” Hans hollered. He hoped for a profound response. It would have been too much to bear if the findings of this period of toil were underwhelming or ordinary.

“Like...the hull of a ship.”

Hans grimaced; he had visions in his mind of finding some old wreck, a previous expedition or perhaps even an old trawler. The word 'ship' did not fill him with joy. As Hans mulled over the cryptic nature of the day, Cortese clambered his way up over the lip of the crater. He was puffed out and clearly tired from scaling the slippery sides of this mammoth impression in the terrain.

“Whatever it is, it is not a ship. How could it be, the ice down there is too old. Ships of that period would have been made of wood or at best, iron clad punctuated by giant rivets...” Cortese managed to gasp his way through the account whilst getting to his feet and saluting his commanding officer.

“The material is smooth, as smooth as glass. It has an unusual lustre, a coating of some form. There is no sign of rust or decay. It's...quite incredible.”

Cortese was clearly shell-shocked by his discovery and the enormity of the find was not lost on Hans who extended his hand to his Italian comrade.

“Well done, well done to all of you. This appears to be quite a find. I want to know what it is how large it is and if we can bring it up. Before I call this in, I want to be sure of what we have found here.”