The two men relaxed but continued to watch the man through their sights.
“Proceed Sir.”
Jakob Sporrenberg approached the two guards who immediately stood to attention when they recognized the face in the eerie green glow of their weapons sights. Sporrenberg reached the huge ironclad door that barred his way. He knocked on the door and waited patiently for a response. A small piece of the door slid across and a bright brilliant purple light burst through, causing Sporrenberg to shield his eyes. A beady eye from inside the door studied him carefully before the metal slid across sharply, cutting out the only source of light. Seconds later the door swung open.
Die Glocke
The room was brightly lit and Sporrenberg had to shield his eyes before he was given a welding mask and could finally adjust his vision to view the room. The door was sealed and triple bolted behind him.
The room was a small rectangle eight meters wide by six meters long but the far wall was filled with computers, radio transmitters and a large control panel on the far left that controlled the power supply. In the center of all of this a large reinforced transparent screen shielded the scientists from the immense electrical storm that was swirling inside the test chamber.
The chamber itself was a huge box dug deep into the mountain and reinforced with layer upon layer of concrete. The Nazi high command was especially proud of this achievement as official plans suggested this room never existed but it definitely did. The room was filled with rows of electrical transformers with cables flowing and snaking their way to the very center of the room. There stood a large object elevated on a steel podium with hundreds of cables spread across its superstructure. The object was bell-shaped and stood an impressive 4.6 meters tall and was 2.7 meters wide, the device was housed in a steel casing with ceramic tile cladding. The object gave out a cold, dark and dangerous aura.
“Status report Walther?” Sporrenberg asked.
“Shh, this is a key part of the process.” Professor Walther Gerlach responded. Then he asked his assistant to increase the electrical charge even further.
Sporrenberg did not appreciate the fifty-five-year-old scientist’s tone but he let it slide, for now.
The younger assistant pulled a lever then turned a large dial on the control panel to increase the flow of power to the device even further. The room flashed and sparked in wonderful tones of blue and yellow as the manmade storm fired up.
Two counter-rotating transparent cylindrical tubes that were wrapped around the middle of the bell started to spin with ever increasing speed. They filled with a red and purple colored liquid. The air crackled and sizzled, the device began to glow a dull blue as it absorbed the abundant power. The cylindrical tubes full of the magenta colored liquid span ever faster causing the electrically charged air to form a vortex around the object.
The device began to vibrate violently causing the whole room to shake.
“This is it.” Professor Walter Gerlach shouted.
Sporrenberg hoped it was. They did not have many more to chances to succeed.
Red lightning sparks zapped and pulsed across the bell, the ceramic tiles started to crack, the rubble rising upwards trapped in the vortex.
Without warning, the power levels fluctuated violently, the dials and readouts on the console zigzagged and vibrated aggressively. Power started to drain from the room and the atmosphere began to cool.
“No no no no no!” Gerlach shouted, “Get over there and pull the emergency stop lever Joseph, now!”
The young assistant jumped on the console and pulled the lever down to cut the power to the room. Gerlach tapped buttons furiously as he tried to calm the supercharged device down, if he could not salvage the situation they were finished, there just would not be enough time for lengthy repairs and he knew it, he wiped sweat away from his wrinkled brow.
Several of the transformers blew with bright sparks rising into the smoke-filled room. The power slowly disappeared. The device slowed and eventually the vibration stopped, the liquid filled cylinders gradually stopped rotating and the vortex dissipated. The center console leaked smoke copiously from several displays.
With the power from the experiment free to supplement the rest of the base the lights flickered several times before they gradually came back on. Sporrenberg removed his welding mask then ran his hand through his hair, using the sweat from his forehead to slick his black hair back into position. He locked his beady black eyes onto the older mans.
“I can explain Gruppenführer, we are so close…”
“Shut up old man. You listen here, I want you to clear the tubes of the Xerum 525 and store it for our future use. I then want you to check the damage done to Die Glocke and decide if we have time for one last experiment, I must report to the Führer so I will give you half an hour to report to me.”
The older scientist looked worried, “Sir the last technician that went to collect the Xerum died, even with the lead casing. And well we are so close I can see another vision coming…”
Jakob Sporrenberg took a forceful step forward. “Do you find my demands unreasonable Walther? Because if you do I will kill you both now!” The SS man pulled out his Walter PP pistol and in one smooth motion cocked it ready.
“No… n… No Sir.” The scientist stammered.
“Very well, do as you are told; I will not ask again. And as for your visions, the Führer may believe in them and who am I to disagree with him but I don’t want to fucking hear another word about them until this mess is fixed.”
“Yes, Sir.” Walter and his assistant chimed in unison.
“Good. You have thirty minutes to report to me.” With that Sporrenberg holstered the sidearm then turned for the door.
After the door was unbolted and opened for him the Gruppenführer waited for it to close then turned to the two men guarding the door.
“Keep an eye on them. If they try anything funny, you have my permission to kill them. Under no circumstances must they fall into Russian hands.”
The two men did not say a word but just nodded and grinned.
“Good.”
Sporrenberg began the long ascent back to the surface. He needed to contact Hitler but he knew it may already be too late.
Walther Gerlach waited until Sporrenberg had disappeared from view before he and his assistant bolted the door and then barricaded it with any spare items in the room.
“Good work Joseph.” He placed his hand on the young man’s shoulders. “Fuck Sporrenberg, I won’t let you waste your life retrieving the Xerum 525. Instead, let’s check all the equipment and try again.”
“Thanks, Walther, I’ll suit up and get working on the transformers that were damaged.”
Walther nodded at the young man, “We don’t have much time if the base gets overrun that bastard Sporrenberg will be back to kill us both and destroy all of our hard work. We can’t let that happen.”
Führer Directive 525
Hitler flew into one of his trademark furious rants. He swiped a tower of papers off of his desk then slammed his fists down onto the large wooden table. Sporrenberg sat with his feet crossed on his own desk and let the Führer vent, he knew it was not wise to interrupt him.
“Yes Führer, I understand, it’s just they have not made any further progress and have failed to report in with a damage assessment after the last experiment… with the Russians on top of us, I thought it was best…”
Hitler screamed down the radio at him.
“Yes mien Führer, it is true I haven’t witnessed any visions from the device myself but I am aware that it has helped Wernher von Braun with his rocket research and has also delivered secrets that have been used in designs on some of our other weapons.”