“To prevent Purdue from coming through with the schematic. So that this piece of shit would not get his hands on it!” Lydia ranted. “He would build the teleforce weapon so that he could become the master of war, bringing the governments of the world to their knees with its undeniably destructive reach.”
“Why else, Lydia?” Westdijk asked. “Why else would you create something so brilliant and not use it to keep the world’s terrorists in check?”
“Because it would mean that you are just another terrorist, imposing your will on others by means of tyranny, you idiot!” she seethed. “But you don’t care. As long as you end up stinking rich and exempt, you don’t care where the weapon ends up.”
“Well, whatever you tried to do is down the drain now, pal,” Nina said. “The time window for Purdue to come back through has passed. You will never have the design now.”
Sam opened his eyes. With a motion of his head he directed her to the video camera he left on the desk from where he gathered up the battery powered lights. Nina smiled. No matter what happened next, there would be proof on camera of the professor’s involvement in the web of deceit surrounding the CERN fire incident.
“That remains to be seen, my dear girl,” he told Nina. “I can always call Penny Richards and tell her that Sam Cleave killed Christian Foster too.”
“Go ahead,” Sam said. “We’ll implicate her too. After all, Tägtgren was working for both you and her. I am sure she would love to know that her dear friend, the professor, was the one trying to sabotage all the experiments conducted by the Cornwall Institute all along.”
“Now it seems we have a problem,” Professor Westdijk said calmly. “I will not leave until you bring your associate back with my schematic. And it is no use you all getting killed for nothing, is it?”
“It is too late,” Lydia lamented. “His energy would have bonded to the point where he is now, so there is no way to come back anymore.”
“Oh my God, Lydia. For a genius you really possess a very restricted mind!” Professor Westdijk shrieked in exasperation. He paced around the chamber she had built, but kept the gun on her. “You are going to get this contraption up and running. And Sam Cleave will be your…” he smiled, “…voyager. Just because your other friend is a thing of the past, doesn’t mean we cannot follow up. Let him go get it for us, while I make sure we can bring him back safely, right?”
Sam and Nina looked at Lydia. She did not move for a long while, before finally letting out a deep sigh. “I suppose there is nothing else we can do,” she shrugged. “Purdue was an unfortunate casualty, but we did all we could do.”
“There is no fucking way I am getting in that oven of yours, Professor Jenner. You can shoot me first!” Sam protested.
“I’ll shoot your girlfriend,” Westdijk smiled, “if you don’t go, Sam. Easy as that.”
Chapter 31
Purdue was devastated that he could not make contact long enough with Lydia and Nina on the other side of his transmission. To make matters worse he could not discuss his predicament with anyone here. They would either think he was insane, as Diekmann did, or they would laugh it off as a joke. Hopeless, he sat on the bank of the small rivulet a few meters from Jean’s house. After the French Resistance sent out their scouts to stop the advancing convoys Purdue was welcome to spend some time relaxing at the little stream.
Jean had noticed how troubled the English stranger seemed, but he did not want to impose. Purdue wanted some solitude to think about a way to get in touch with Lydia and Nina even if it was too late for him to return. From his right pocket he pulled the BAT, now virtually worthless to him. He just shook his head, unable to formulate a way to get it to work again.
“What are you doing?” a voice asked behind him. It was Celeste. She had come with Henri and his family to find protection in the mountains.
“I’m just thinking,” he smiled sadly.
“What is that?” she asked.
“Just a little radio device I can’t use anymore,” Purdue explained, trying to stay positive and kind while his world was falling apart inside him.
“Why? Are the batteries flat?” she asked.
He looked up at her, surprised at the simple way in which children saw conundrums. He nodded and tossed it up a few times, catching it again.
“So why don’t you charge the batteries again?” she asked.
“How?” Purdue played along, not giving her solution a second thought.
“Jean and his brother use the water wheels here to generate electricity,” she mentioned casually. “You should ask them to help you charge the batteries for you.”
Purdue could not believe it. Her common observation was actually quite solid. Instantly his own heart felt recharged too. He jumped up and dusted off his clothes.
“Celeste, could you show me where they generate the electricity?” he asked.
“Of course,” she smiled. “Come, I’ll show you.”
She walked up past the water mill and pointed out a small stone building, no bigger than Purdue’s bathroom back home. Inside he could only marvel at what he found. There were a myriad of devices and dials connected to various conductors that ran along the walls. The water wheel acted as generator for the four small houses outside town, so that they could be independent of the rest of the commune. Purdue was elated.
“Dear Celeste, you have no idea how clever you are!” he cheered with a warm smile. The girl did not know what was so amazing about what she suggested, but she was happy for Purdue nonetheless. He went to see Jean to ask his permission to use his generator. Of course Jean wanted to know what he needed it for, and with a grown up the battery explanation would not be sufficient.
“I have to charge this device to a certain amount of volts, Jean. And unfortunately it is a matter of urgency. My time is running out to…” he gave it some thought, “…contact the people who sent me by using this radio. But the charge has run out and I need it to communicate.”
“Oh, that should be very easy,” the Frenchman replied. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
Purdue hoped that he could have the device charged to the required voltage to reach the right thermal point, otherwise his attempts would be futile. Jean leaned against the wall of the small shack, “So what do you use this device for?”
It was the question Purdue had dreaded. He had no idea how Jean would take it if he had to tell him the truth.
“I need it to be charged so high that it would be able to reach a certain temperature when I switch it on,” Purdue explained, trying to sound as serious as possible. But to his pleasant surprise his host did not care for much more than that.
“Oh, alright then. Connect it up and charge it as long as you think. I have to meet with some of the militia members in a few minutes. Would you excuse me?” he asked cordially.
“Absolutely,” Purdue smiled. “Don’t let me keep you.”
He would let the BAT charge for the next few hours and attempt contact soon after. It worried him that they claimed to have trouble on the other side. It made him feel helpless, but as soon as he had juiced up the BAT he would find out what was going on. Not only did he need to contact Lydia, but he had to get the word out to allies of the French Resistance.
Purdue did not want to imperil the people of the French countryside with his presence there, but he could not let them know that he was the reason the Nazi’s were scouring the small towns. With Helmut dead and the macabre keepsake in Purdue’s possession, it was time to leave them behind so that he could transmit to Lydia and hopefully return home this time. With the BAT in his pocket he hitched a ride with one of Jean’s men, making his way back up toward where he knew Diekmann’s division would be stationed for the next few days. He alerted the local militia and told them where to ambush the 2nd Panzer Division ‘Das Reich’ before the Allieds locked on to the Vril Society under the noses of the SS.