The Haigerloch Project

Dirk looked at Himmelmann. “What about it, Professor?” he asked.

“You turn to the right,” Himmelmann said tonelessly. “At the T. A small side tunnel on your left leads to the reactor cave and the control room. This tunnel can be sealed off with a heavy steel door set into the rock. Much like an oversized submarine hatch. The main laboratories are opposite, on your right.”

“Beyond the steel door?” Dirk asked. “What's the layout?”

“The pile is in the large cave on the left. The instrumentation control room on the right. The pile itself is set in a deep, concrete-lined pit in the cave floor. This pit has an inside diameter of three meters — about ten feet.”

“Okay,” Dirk said. He looked at the scientist. “Your job will be to see to it that the steel hatch is left open We'll do the rest.” He looked at Sig. “You will handle the communications center,” he said. “Make the announcement on the PA system, right?”

“Right.”

Himmelmann pulled the corners of his mouth down. “That,” he said sourly, “would be extremely foolish.”

Dirk looked up sharply.

“Why?”

Himmelmann shrugged. “Simply because you would create suspicion at once,” he said. “All communications in the area, including the public-address system, are operated by the Wehrmacht Nachrichtentruppen—the Army Signal Corps troops. They use Nachrichtenhelferinnen—female Signal Corps personnel. Women! To hear a man's voice over the public-address system would be highly unusual.”

“Shit!” Dirk exclaimed in disgust. “Now you tell us!”

Gisela suddenly spoke up. “I can do it,” she said. “I can make the announcement.”

Dirk frowned. “No,” he said.

The girl looked at him. “You cannot say no,” she said earnestly. “There is no other way. I am quite able to do this thing.”

“I don't want to involve you,” Dirk said.

She looked at him, eyes big and grave. “You already have,” she said quietly. “I am part of — everything. As Otto would have wanted it.”

Dirk gazed at the girl for a brief moment. “Okay,” he said reluctantly “You will go with Sig.” He frowned. “Sig can use his pass,” he said. He looked at Oskar and Himmelmann. “He may not be able to take even an unauthorized toothpick into the place because of the checkpoint body-search. But at least he'll get in. How the hell do we get Gisela into the area?”

“In uniform,” Gisela said. “As a Wehrmachthelferin. Anna can make me a uniform. It will be easy.”

Dirk looked dubious. “I don't know,” he said. “We'll have to work something out.” He looked around the room. “That's it, then,” he said. “Sig — using his Red Pass — and Gisela take care of the communications center. Gisela makes the announcement Himmelmann leaves the steel hatch open to the inner sanctum — and Oskar and I'll do as much damage as we can with the dynamite and the Panzerfaust warheads.” He looked at Himmelmann. “What do you say, Professor? Will it work?”

“Yes. It will work,” Himmelmann answered. The corners of his mouth pulled down. “But it most certainly will not accomplish your purpose!”

Dirk stared at him.

“What do you mean,” he demanded tightly. “We'll wreck the damned pile!”

Himmelmann nodded. “You will damage it. Yes. And in the process you will convince Professor Reichardt and the others that they are indeed on the right track! I know their way of thinking. It would be the only conclusion they could reach to justify the foolish risks you will be taking.”

“So what?” Dirk said defiantly. “As long as they are out of the running.”

“Ah — but are they?” Himmelmann asked pointedly. They all stared at him. “The damage you can cause may be great. But not so great it cannot be repaired. You are limited. And I know the capacities at our disposal. The crucial test will be performed Here — or at the Alpenfestung, where facilities even now are being completed. There is sufficient critical material available to duplicate the reactor set-up — and succeed. And if you convince them that they are close to the final solution — they will stop at nothing to reach it! You will have accomplished nothing with your sabotage. Merely a delay of a couple of days at most.”

Dirk felt the color drain from his face. Dammit — the Kraut was right. They would fail — even if they did succeed….

Himmelmann continued. He seemed to take a certain enjoyment in making the situation as bleak, as impossible as he could.

“There is only one way you can put a stop to the entire project for a sufficiently long time to make a finite difference,” he said. “And that is if you can convince them that they are on the wrong track! If they are allowed to perform the test. Without interference. And it fails”

Dirk stared at the scientist with bitter resentment. He was being damned unscientific. He was suggesting the impossible.

How the hell was he going to send the Kraut scientists back to the drawing boards?

A depressed silence hung in the stuffy little room.