Stahl was the culmination of decades of genetic engineering. For decades the Nazis, in particular the SS, had dreamed of creating the ultimate master race. This racially pure Aryan breed would be the warriors, administrators, scholars and leaders of the Third Reich and they would appear to be like gods to the servile populations they would eventually rule over. To achieve this goal, the Nazis first turned to the science of eugenics, the selective breeding of suitable subjects. During the pre-war years, the Lebensborn branch of the SS set up racial stud farms all over the country and populated them with specially selected women, all of whom outwardly portrayed the necessary physical attributes required, namely being blonde, blue-eyed and loyal to the Party. These women would then be impregnated by various visiting SS officers, and their offspring, in theory at least, would be perfect little Nazis. The boys taken under the wing of the SS, the girls trained to be like their mothers. However, eugenics is a long and clumsy process; its achievements years in the making, and even then, the desired results were never guaranteed because the sins of previous generations would still effect the present. In the years that followed seemingly perfect Aryan children were produced, but some children exhibited physical and mental disabilities, while others displayed Slavic characteristics or Mediterranean features, even of all horrors, Jewish features. The so-called racially pure volunteers of the Lebensborn program were nothing of the sort because hidden away in their genes were these unwanted racial legacies. And it was the women who took part in the program who were blamed. How could SS officers, who had to prove their Germanic lineages before joining the elite unit, possibly be the source of these “deformities”? So when the new science of genetic engineering was developed in the post-war years it presented the Nazis with the tool to finally achieve their goal, and as a bonus, it further belittled the role of women in their male-dominated society. This perfectly engineered master-race would not be bred or issue forth from the polluted bodies of women and they would be free of the unwanted bodily and mental fragilities that had plagued the previous generations. The “impure blood” would be removed at the source and the genes of so-called inferior sub-human races be forever eliminated just like the peoples who had once exhibited them and who had long been consumed by the regime’s gas-chambers and crematorium.
This Nazi genetic engineering not only enhanced the physical characteristics of their elite offspring, but it also enhanced the sinister aspects of their personalities that in any other culture would have been discouraged and suppressed. Hatred, cruelty, malice and ruthlessness were all magnified in these new generations, these attributes being seen as virtues by the Nazis and not the evils that they were.
Behind Stahl a door hissed open and a yeoman entered. The yeoman coughed hesitantly as if he was unsure whether to raise his voice in the hallowed chamber.
‘Sturmbannführer Stahl.’
There was no reply from the SS officer. He was still entranced by the colonists.
‘Herr Sturmbannführer.’ This time the yeoman’s voice was a little louder, a little more firmer.
This time Stahl turned to face the young man.
‘You wanted to be told when we were on our final approach to the camp,’ the yeoman said nervously. He had probably never addressed a SS officer in person before in his life because even amongst the German population members of the SS were treated with god-like awe.
Stahl nodded in response.
His errand apparently complete, the yeoman raised his arm in a Nazi salute, then he quickly exited, visibly relived at completing his task. But Stahl lingered in the chamber. He chose to gaze one final time at the glowing sphere and the peaceful colonists. It pleased him to know that he would one day watch over them all, his knowledge guiding them, his will directing them, his strength protecting them. That was for the future, now he had other tasks. Eventually he pulled himself away and followed the yeoman out.
CHAPTER THREE
A ruddy glow illuminated the clouds of steam and noxious smoke that filled the rocky factory. The noise within the vaulted chamber was terrific as the dragon-like furnaces’ roar mixed with the constant rumble of overhead cranes as they lifted and transported giant vats of molten metal here and there. Within this hellish grotto gangs of prisoners directed the molten pots and manoeuvred the vats over various moulds that sat waiting. But amongst the swinging vats and cranes was a constant reminder to the prisoners of the fate that awaited them if they stepped out of line. A large swastika banner hung across the cave, below which was suspended a metal girder from which dangled several dead prisoners. A placard was slung from each of their stretched and twisted necks. It read: THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO SABOTEURS!
With a series of mighty clangs the vats tipped over and poured out the molten metal. The glowing stream was directed around the compacted sand moulds, then, once cooled, the metal was drawn away into the jaws of the presses which battered the sheets into their final shapes. The factory, the very camp itself, was here for the sole purpose of building something. Building a space-ship. For years the prisoners had toiled within the vast gallery first making the craft’s engines with its endless pipes and tanks, then the craft’s support-beams and flooring were created, and finally its outer-plating. Stories abounded throughout the camp over the years as to what the ship was like and what its final purpose was to be. Sleek rocket designs like those conjured up by science-fiction adventures tended to dominate the discussions, while the reasons for its construction ranged from the astute such as the further colonisation of the solar system to the fanciful notion that it was an elaborate escape vehicle for leading Nazis who knew their imminent overthrow by the barbarian hordes from the East was upon them. Whatever the true reason for the construction of the spaceship, its purpose and shape would always remain hidden from them. For all they knew the equipment they built was just simply dumped into space while they were forever trapped inside the hellish factory to endlessly toil away like Sisyphus.
Konrad stood at his work-station and operated his welding machine. He manned a large array of levers and joysticks, their rubber sheathes worn down to the bare metal after years of use. They controlled the spider-like machine which worked upon the plating, fixing various girders and supports onto the thick metal. Konrad completed his task and flipped a toggle. Another insect-like robot lowered and grabbed the completed sheeting from the station before it rattled away through a set of doors at the far end of the chamber. From there, Konrad presumed, it would trundle out into the void outside and to the newborn ship. He then waited for his next piece of work to glide down the rollers toward him. As he waited he took the opportunity to remove his goggles and rub his tired eyes. Most of his face was stained by the ever present smoke, but his eyes were highlighted by the rings of clean skin. He cast his gaze up and happened to see the dangling corpses. In the flickering light cast by the welding sparks and the furnaces, the corpses’ faces switched between darkness and light. They appeared to watch Konrad enviously. In Konrad’s mind they were envious of him because he had survived the selections that had condemned them and so, perhaps with a tinge of guilt, he quickly averted his gaze and lowered his goggles back into place, their smoked glass once again shining bright in the blue glare of his equipment.