PARADOX - Chapter 44

Chapter 44

May 8, 2012 – Near Mount Fitz Roy – Argentina



Shortly after noon a helicopter landed on the manicured lawn of the villa. Daria and Señor d’Amador were enjoying a quiet lunch on the patio overlooking extensive flower gardens and a large water fountain. Hans and Wilhelm dismounted from the helicopter and casually walked towards them. The pilot cut the engine power and allowed the helicopter to cycle down to a low whine. Señor d’Amador stood as they approached.

Hans, dressed in a perfectly tailored business suit, looked refreshed. Wilhelm, on the other hand, was dirty and appeared completely exhausted. His camouflage uniform was smeared with mud and what appeared to be dried blood.

“Where is Colonel Dorbec?” Daria asked, afraid to hear the answer. “You’ve killed him, haven’t you?”

“I can assure you that the good Colonel is very much alive,” Hans chuckled. “He accomplished his mission and we no longer need his services. I assume he is on his way back to Europe as we speak.”

Daria felt disappointed. She had somehow come to like the crazy French mercenary. He was a gentleman and had a well-balanced sense of humor. She also felt comfortable around him, as if he was her protector and not her abductor. Her instincts told her that he was not like these men standing before her.

Hans turned to Señor d’Amador. “Have you packed Fraulein Wolff’s travel bags as instructed?” Juan nodded. “We will be leaving the villa within the hour fraulein. If there is anything special you need to take with you, I suggest you make arrangements with Señor d’Amador.”

“Where are you taking me?” Daria demanded.

“Where you will be safe and happy.” He did not wait for her reply but nodded to Wilhelm and both strode briskly towards the main house.

Daria looked imploringly at Juan. “You will not be joining us?”

“I have my duties here, fraulein. But, I do believe we will meet again, soon perhaps. Come now, we must prepare for your journey.” He offered her his arm and motioned towards the house.

The helicopter was larger than the one that brought her to the villa. She knew little or nothing about helicopters, but this one appeared to be a military version. There were no cushioned seats, no decorative interior, and the noise was an assault on her ears. The walls were plain metal painted an austere gray. Skeletal cables and wire harnesses ran between the framework. Several racks in the rear cabin held what appeared to be assault rifles and boxes of ammunition.

Hans had changed into a uniform similar in pattern to the clean one that Wilhelm had donned. There was something about the camouflage pattern of the cloth that made Daria’s eyes feel odd. The more she looked at the material the harder it was for her eyes to focus. The material was attempting to change its pattern to adjust to its surroundings. It was an incredible material, acting like a natural chameleon. She had no doubt that the material was a technological breakthrough in camouflage.

They were flying less than a hundred feet above the trees following the contour of the land. She knew this technique was used when a pilot wanted to avoid being painted on radar, at least that’s what the thriller writers described in their action novels. Based on the location of the sun to their left, Daria assumed they were heading in a south/south west direction.

Several hours later the helicopter landed in a small isolated clearing surrounded by tall rocky hills. The pilot turned and said something to Hans that she could not hear over the harsh whine of the rotors. Hans smiled and motioned for her to disembark from the helicopter. As soon as they were a comfortable distance from the helicopter, the engine revved up and the helicopter quickly took off. Within minutes she could no longer hear the engines. The sudden quiet felt strange and out of place.

For several minutes nothing happened. Hans and Wilhelm surveyed the terrain in the little valley but did not say a word or make a comment. She was about to ask them what was to happen next when a strange subdued noise charged the air surrounding her.

Daria turned in a slow circle in an attempt to locate the source of the odd noise and vibrations. Her eyes expanded when a large disc shaped object flew into the valley and hovered several inches above the ground. It was a vehicle shaped like two saucers facing each other, approximately fifty or sixty feet in diameter and perhaps twelve feet thick at the center. The aircraft emitted a strange bluish color and it was difficult for her eyes to adjust because the pattern kept changing like the camouflage uniforms that Hans and Wilhelm wore.

“Please follow me.” Hans pointed to a recess opening in the side of the vehicle. A short ramp slid down from the recess and stopped about an inch above the ground. Daria was amazed by the sudden appearance of the craft but more amazed at the thoughts running through her head. Striding in a trance like state, she followed Hans up the ramp and into the interior of the craft. As soon as Wilhelm cleared the top of the short ramp, the opening to the outside quickly sealed itself.

Daria found herself in a small circular corridor, which evidently ran the full circumference of the small craft. Small rooms were arranged like hotel rooms and the ones she saw open was occupied by men and women in strange tailored uniforms. As she progressed down the corridor, Wilhelm suddenly broke off and headed down a small parallel corridor. She could see that it was short and ended in what appeared to be a fairly large control room, which held scores of computer monitoring screens depicting various scenes and technical data.

Hans led her to a small comfortable room with several low chairs and a small round table. A monitor screen mounted on the wall to her front depicted several men loading her baggage onto the craft. As soon as they completed their task, the small loading ramp sealed itself once again.

“I must go to the control room,” Hans finally stated. “You will be safe here and we will be at our destination in no time at all.” Her puzzled expression and creased forehead brought a smile to his face. “The answer to your question is yes,” He chuckled. “This is a UFO, but I can assure you, it does not belong to little green men. You are on a scout ship and we call it a Fliegenkämpfer, or Flying Fighter. It is one of many in the new Deutsche Reich Luftwaffe.

“This is impossible!”

“I can assure you this is real, fraulein. It is a dream that we have been working towards for seventy years. A dream that my father and your grandfather started from the ashes of a destroyed Germany. We will finally witness the emergence of a new German Empire. I must stress that we are not a belligerent people. We do not seek to take what is not ours. We hold no animosity against the Allied governments who caused the downfall of the Third Reich. But, we will take our rightful place among the free nations of the world.”

“Germany already has a government,” Daria returned with a defiant look on her face. “We have a central federal government and sixteen federal states, the Bundesrat and Bundestag, and we are a sovereign nation beholding to no other.”

“I am aware of the political composition of modern Germany.” Hans shook his head and walked from the room, the small sliding door opening and closing behind him.

Daria leaned back in the comfortable seat and prepared herself for the acceleration she knew must be coming when the craft took flight. A quick glance at the monitor on her wall told her the craft had already taken to the skies. If the picture scrolling across the screen was accurate, or even true, they were already several kilometers high and traveling at an incredible speed. She felt no sense of motion. There was no lift, no drag, and no sign that they were moving at all. The technology it took to produce this aircraft was well beyond anything she had ever read about.

She was frightened, but in the same frame of mind, curious. Was it possible that remnants of the Third Reich had escaped and produced a startling new technology? Were they the fiendish Nazi’s portrayed in the cinema and the history books? These questions would have seemed ridiculous and absurd a few short weeks ago. But, after all she had uncovered and been subjected too over the past week, her mind was more susceptible to unusual and unorthodox thoughts.

Events had been moving so fast she could barely guess where Monday was and what he was doing. That he was searching for her, she had no doubt. The sudden disappearance of Colonel Dorbec also bothered her, especially in view of the dark stains on Wilhelm’s uniform that looked like dried blood. She could only hope that Hans was honest about him returning to Europe. That thought brought with it another sudden fear. If the blood was not Dorbec’s or his men, did it belong to Monday or his men

A uniformed woman startled her out of her reverie. “Would you care for a cup of tea, coffee or other beverage?” Daria had not even seen or heard the woman enter the room. The woman was young, early twenties and very attractive, even in her uniform. She had light brunette hair with blond highlights, hazel eyes leaning towards blue, and a tan that Daria would love to have. Her innocent childish face beamed a broad smile and Daria could sense that it was genuine and not forced. Her German was flawless but spoken with a strange accent.

Daria accepted a cup of coffee the woman had on a small serving tray and pointed at the other seat in the room. “Are you allowed to sit?”

“Thank you.” The woman sat down straight in the chair as if she were at a military dining table, the tray on her lap, her back ramrod straight.

Daria motioned for her to place the tray on the small round table. “Please join me…?” She turned the request into a question seeking the woman’s name.

“Computertechniker-erste Klasse Marta Buchmacher,” the woman reached for a cup of tea sitting on the tray. She was very nervous but continued smiling.

“Well, Computer Technician First Class Marta Buchmacher, your accent is strange, what part of Germany do you come from?”

“The New Germany, FuhrerEnkelin.” She whispered so low that Daria could barely hear her. The use of the title, Leader’s Granddaughter, was given a tone of deep respect and wonder. It made Daria feel that she had somehow been promoted to princess or at least to duchess. She did not like the connotations the title brought with it.

“Do you know where we are going, Marta?

“To main base, FuhrerEnkelin.”

“Daria. It’s Daria, not Leader’s Granddaughter. I am not royalty and I have no knowledge of a New Germany.”

“Yes Fuhr…Fraulein Daria. We are heading for our main base. We should arrive in approximately twelve minutes. Clearance and docking will take another ten minutes.”

“You have more than one base if we are going to the main base?”

“We have many bases. All will be made clear to you once we arrive, Fraulein Daria.”

Daria could see that the young woman was still very nervous. She had probably been ordered to keep her company while they were in transit to the base. For what reason Daria could not fathom. She had no desire to explore a strange aircraft, especially one in flight.

“Where is the main base located?”

“I cannot give this information to you other than to say it is about five thousand kilometers from where we took flight.”

Daria did the calculations in her head. “You mean we are traveling over five thousand kilometers in less than half an hour?” She was awed by the speed of the little aircraft.

“We are traveling at a moderate speed,” Marta shrugged.

Daria noticed the lapel pin on her uniform jacket. Her uniform was not camouflaged like the ones worn by Hans and Wilhelm. It was more utilitarian, but attractive in cut and design. It had a very modern, even futuristic look about it.

“You are wearing a swastika emblem on you lapel,” Daria noted. “Is that the symbol of, New Germany?”

“Only one of many, Fraulein Daria. “This pin signifies that I am a proud member of the Socialist Directory, the one started by the Fuhrer.” The woman suddenly stood and placed her teacup on the table. “I ask permission to leave now?” She stated. “I have duties to perform as soon as the ship lands. And, would you honor my family by autographing your napkin. I promised Pa Pa I would ask?”

Daria was puzzled by her request but signed the napkin with a pen offered by Marta. “I hope we meet again Marta.” A glance at the wall showed that the viewing monitor had been turned off. Evidently she was not allowed to view their landing area. Perhaps it would provide too many clues to their location.

A few minutes later her door slid open again. Standing there with a wide grin on his face was Hans.

“Welcome home!” he said.