Eventually the men reached the top of the mound and found an excited Stahl waiting for them. More importantly, and much to their astonishment, they saw behind the Nazi a large angular shape emerging from the amorphous hill.
Peering at the obstacle, Konrad could see that the distinct sharp outline was a wide terrace, its flat surface reflecting the faint sunlight. Looking either side of him, he then gazed agog at the towering walls which stretched endlessly in either direction. Great vortexes spun and rolled against the black ramparts as the storm crashed into the massive, immobile barrier.
Stahl beckoned the party forward onto the terrace. Konrad craned his head up to survey its height. Like the walls, the structure stretched far above the prisoner, its peak lost in the low clouds and dust, but its shape, dull and faded, could still be made out. It was a tower. A spire! Suddenly the image from his dreams sprung into his mind, and much to his horror he realised that both were the same.
‘Amazing!’ Konrad quietly said. ‘It’s real. It really exists.’
Being so close to the monstrosity from his dreams brought a terrible sense of helplessness upon him. He felt naked and isolated before the tower, the feeling reminiscent to his nightmarish confrontations with the structure. Averting his gaze, Konrad looked back and followed the line of lights trailing off back into the gloom. At the end of the line he could see the hazy glare of the module’s open airlock. The open doorway represented the only safe haven on this harsh, unrelenting world. He also knew that the lights were the only pathway back to Elsa. She had remained in the module with Doctor Blomberg, helping him in the sickbay and tending to the many wounded crewmen.
The explorers stood still and silent like statues at the foot of an ancient temple. The wind had dropped and on the far side of the terrace an imposing triangular opening in the wall had exposed itself. The dark aperture dwarfed the human explorers as did the large pile of dirt that had blown in and filled the lower half of the apparent entrance.
Tentatively at first, the astronauts then clambered up this second hurdle. At its crest, they stood and stared into the gaping maw. Their helmet-mounted torches, tiny against the black expanse, barely penetrated the gloom.
Stahl pointed into the entrance. ‘Haas, use you data-stick and let’s see what’s down there. I don’t want to experience any nasty surprises before we go inside there.’
‘We’re going inside?!’ Konrad exclaimed.
Stahl looked into the opening. ‘There’s nothing to be afraid of,’ he said. ‘It’s just a building of some-kind.’ He ignored the fact that the prisoner has raised his voice to him and he let the shocking lapse in discipline go unpunished.
‘Anything could be inside there, Herr Sturmbannführer,’ Konrad persisted.
‘I’m sure my comrade is only thinking of your safety,’ Ziegler helpfully added.
‘I’m touched by your concern,’ Stahl smiled as he turned to face the men. ‘But do you really think this building holds any fears for me? Besides, we can’t ignore such a discovery? Can you imagine what treasures could be within these walls? This tower is inviting us to enter its confines. Destiny is pointing the way!’
‘I’m not disputing that, but can’t it wait until we can get more help from your officers and men back in the module?’ Konrad said. His confidence to speak out was growing at the same rate that his fear of what lay within the walls grew.
‘No,’ Stahl said. ‘Now, that’s enough talk from you! Silence!’
Konrad obeyed. But Zeigler was almost incandescent with rage with his comrade. ‘What are you doing? Trying to get us shot? You know as well as I do that you never, never, question a SS man. Do you have a death wish?’
‘I need to warn someone – anyone.’
‘Why?’
‘Entering that spire is a bad idea,’ Konrad said. ‘Believe me.’
‘Well, in future, keep any doubts like that to yourself!’ Zeigler hissed. ‘I don’t want to be found guilty by association after another one of your ill-advised rants.’
‘Loud and clear,‘ Konrad replied.
As the prisoners spoke, Haas unclipped the boxy data-stick from his belt. He then pointed the device down the gaping tunnel. At that moment the data-stick abruptly blanked out and died. He fiddled with the clunky hand-held device, turning its dials and pressing its reset button. He turned away from the entrance as yet another abrasive gust swooped by, and as he did so he pointed the stick away from the tunnel. This act stirred the data-stick back into life.
‘What the hell?!’ a mystified Haas said. He quickly ran a diagnostic check and its visual checklist displayed numerous positive ticks. The data-stick was in perfect working order. And so, with its apparent moment of madness behind it, the device was pointed back down the tunnel. But once again, it spluttered and died.
‘Perhaps it’s all this dust in the air,’ Wolff stated. ‘I’d imagine it’s blown into the circuits just like it has with everything else on this damn planet.’
‘Maybe Haas just doesn’t know how to use it,’ Busch, the third soldier, sarcastically said.
Stahl snatched the data-stick from the soldier and crudely examined it. ‘No,’ Stahl said as he aimed the malfunctioning machine away from the spire. ‘It’s not the dust. See, its works fine when you point it away from the structure. It’s this building.’
This response triggered Konrad to speak again. ‘There’s a reason why we’re being prevented from seeing inside,’ Konrad said as he gazed over the Nazis’ shoulders. ‘I suppose you’ve heard of the curses that protected ancient Egyptian tombs. “Death will follow thee on swift wings all those who disturb thy tomb!” Perhaps there is a similar curse upon this tower.’
The SS officer spun to face the defiant prisoner. Konrad and, indeed, Zeigler expected the worse, but the Nazi simply narrowed his eyes with interest. ‘That’s a little melodramatic,’ Stahl said. ‘But, there may be a grain of truth in what you say.’ He handed the useless device back to Haas. ‘However, it won’t be us who incurs this tower’s wrath.’ He looked straight at Konrad. ‘It will be you.’
Konrad froze when he heard the rasping voice reverberate shrilly around his helmet. For a few seconds he thought the spire had singled him out for a special greeting, a carbon-copy of his dreams back at Neu Magdeburg.
Stahl wolfishly smiled as he stepped closer. ‘You and I know that this structure looks familiar to you. I don’t know how, but you’ve seen it before.’
‘That’s impossible, Sturmbannführer!’ Konrad spluttered.
‘You don’t have to be coy now. This tower looks just like the etching you made in your bunk back at Neu Magdeburg. Both are exactly the same.’
Konrad gazed up at the walls above him and remained silent.
‘Am I correct or not?’
‘Yes, you are correct, Sturmbannführer,’ Konrad relented.
‘Now you can serve your master, and at the same time, you can answer your own questions about this building. It’s time that curiosity of yours was put to good use,’ Stahl said. ‘You can have the honour of entering the tower first.’
Konrad looked up at the intimidating gateway.
‘That’s unless you know what’s inside there already. Do you bare that secret too, my slave?’
‘No, I don’t,’ Konrad replied.
‘Good! It’s settled then,’ Stahl exclaimed. ‘You’ll be our brave pioneer.’