In Berlin the clandestine societies that represented the Allied Forces, even various operatives and celebrities from the United Kingdom and the United States gathered their resources to create a dragnet for the Vril Society’s leaders. Masquerading as interested parties versed in the occult, psychics and mediums from all over Germany sought out the two women who led the Vril Society.
Purdue knew that he had to find a way to get back to Lyon, 2015 at all costs. With the French Resistance at his side, he managed to spread the word about the Vril’s plans to reinforce the Reich’s weapons with Tesla’s work and use their power to topple the Nazi’s. Hitler was furious.
In Berlin the Nazi High Command had ordered the arrest of all the members of the Vril Society and the Black Sun. This was, however, not what was written in history books, the reason for which would also explain the discrepancies between historical facts and what Purdue found to be happening first hand. But he was not to realize this just yet.
What baffled him was the fact that he ran into doppelgangers almost everywhere he went. Several people he met along the way were the spitting image of people he knew in his place and time. Famous people from history turned out to look quite different from those he had learned of in his history text books and so even the dates of certain events differed slightly. He wrote it off to inaccurate accounts or the manipulation of information.
Purdue made the rest of his journey on foot to avoid being detected by German forces in France. Outside one of the small villages he hiked up through the woods. Just before his twelve hours had run out, he slipped into a low hanging cliff that formed a cave structure, and he got ready one last time to return home.
Chapter 32
Lydia was no longer the target of the greedy professor. Now he had Nina sitting right in front of him, threatening Sam with her life if he did not carry out his order.
“You know, Sam, if he shoots me he is still not going to get what he wants,” Nina said defiantly.
“Would you like to call that bluff, madam?” Westdijk asked, sitting back on the chair opposite the table from Nina.
“Don’t rock the boat, Nina,” Lydia said softly. She was at the control desk, ready to heat up the Voyager III for Sam’s unfortunate departure to join Purdue at the same so-called coordinates. “He is a psycho of the highest order who would do anything for a bit of money.”
Sam was busy getting dressed in the same kind of protective gear Purdue was wearing when he successfully went through the ether. He procrastinated, hoping that Purdue would make contact one more time. Surely the event would distract Westdijk long enough for Sam to overwhelm him, but Purdue was a no-show, as they feared.
“You do know that this is a ludicrous attempt, right?” Lydia told Westdijk. “The machine moves like a line of cars in a one way street. We sent someone down and we cannot send another down until the other has come back up… not without resetting everything.”
“Then reset it,” he sneered at her.
Nina was livid. She hated feeling so helpless. Here they were being bullied by one person, when there were two of them who could attack him if he could only be distracted long enough. She was disappointed that the weapons she and Lydia had at their disposal before were now mere ornaments cast aside on the wall desk.
The only solace was the running video camera. It was Nina’s biggest flaw, in her own opinion, that she could never accept when she was in a corner. While so many ideas for possible solutions went fleeting through her mind, Lydia was devising a plan of her own.
“Come on, my boy! Not even a woman takes that long to get dressed!” Prof. Westdijk shouted to Sam.
Nina’s eyes wandered toward the weapons on the desk, but Lydia’s expression suggested she abandon the notion for now. On the screen Nina saw Lydia punch in a code that was not there before, one to short circuit the machine. Westdijk would not know the difference, never having seen this kind of chamber before. Sam still ran the risk of being electrocuted, even without being caught in the middle of the unified fields and that is what Lydia was most concerned about.
“Will Purdue never come back again?” Nina asked out of the blue to procrastinate.
“I don’t think so. Not anymore,” Lydia replied. “We would need considerable sound amplification to be carried along the electrical current at the same time that he attempts to come back and we lost that with the power failure.”
From the far side of the hallway something stirred. It caught Nina’s eye, but she did not pay attention to it. She did not want Prof. Westdijk to see that something was going on behind him. Suddenly the lights dipped and the screens flickered.
“What is that?” Westdijk shouted in suspicion.
“I don’t know, probably the weather,” Lydia replied, studying the lights against the ceiling. “We would have to keep the current strong if we want Sam to make it to the other side.”
Through the speakers the strange electronic voice phenomenon sounded, starting Prof. Westdijk as it spoke next to him through the auxiliary monitors.
‘—ia, charge now — home,’ was all that came through. Westdijk jumped up to shoot Lydia. He looked completely ashen.
“Don’t you dare switch it off!” he warned, but before he could pull the trigger Healy came at him from behind, striking him down.
“Dave! We don’t have enough current to bring your back yet! Wait!” Lydia screamed back into the void. “He will be caught in the middle if we don’t have enough sound to carry with the electricity, Nina!” she shouted in vain. Sam had no idea what to do, and neither did Nina. While Healy subdued Prof. Westdijk, Foster came stumbling from where he was shot. He looked at Lydia with determination in his eyes.
“Diamonds conduct sound, don’t they?” he groaned.
Sam grabbed one of the guns and pointed to shoot.
“No!” Nina shouted. “Sam, don’t shoot!”
Foster had his hand in his shirt. He ripped his diamond crucifix from his neck and flung it to Nina.
“Lydia, go to the soundproof room!” Nina yelled out as she positioned the diamond pendant to the power slot. She gave Lydia enough time to lock the door behind her so that the sonic clap would not kill her and then she shoved the diamond object into the hole like a wall plug, hoping that it would work.
Purdue was on his way back through the BAT’s generator and from this side the diamond necklace increased the sound and thermal current of the machine to almost 1000 degrees Celsius, pulsing though the ether at a stronger rate than it had before. With a rush of lightning darting past them the chamber lit up with electricity, rapidly heating the atmosphere and roaring like thunder around them all. They cowered and took cover where they could as the pulse throbbed several times, threatening to bend the steel on the windows. Professor Westdijk looked up and rushed for a gun while the others were scattering. Purdue would not have a moment to collect himself before the professor would hold the gun on him to take Tesla’s diagrams from him.
But as Purdue burst through the tapestry in the chamber a bolt of lightning radiated from the exterior of the chamber like the rays of the Black Sun. Westdijk was the only conductor standing up to receive the current. The blue cracks of electricity connected with him, attracted by the water in his cells and within a few seconds his body was charred beyond form under the onslaught of Tesla’s famous coil.
Within moments of the mayhem all fell silent. Here and there a clap of a spark could be heard throughout the house. The majority of the electrical current was conducted by the steel plating along the walls of the house, lighting up all the lights in the entire manor and activating all the appliances at once. Healy was lying on his back, looking stunned. Lydia emerged from her soundproof room and helped Sam up. Under his body was Nina, safely shielded from any harm thanks to the journalist.