Now free of the restraint, Konrad proceeded to negotiate the final steps of the causeway. He could see the curved wall that he had first seen in the distance was, in fact, a forest of rectangular slabs which stretched into an unseen chamber beyond the machine room. He stepped off the causeway and started to weave his way between the metre-wide monoliths like a Nordic hero creeping through an enchanted forest. As he delved deeper Konrad was taken aback as each slab appeared to disappear from sight as he stood side on to it. Amazingly, each slab was only a few molecules or even a few atoms thick, but they felt as solid as a sheet of steel as he ran his enclosed fingers across a number of the hanging monoliths. They swayed back and forth silently as if they welcomed the tactile communication and yearned to be caressed again. But that was not all. He saw that the surface of each of these slabs was decorated with a myriad assortment of distinct alien symbols and pictograms of all shapes and sizes. Konrad looked at the shapes and speculated that the culture that created them must have been savage and brutal. There were few curves amongst the symbols, only strong jagged lines like the slash wounds of some grotesque blade. He wondered if he would meet the authors of these strange decorations.
Konrad delved deeper, passing more of the slabs and more of the symbols, all unfamiliar, all alien, until eventually he emerged from the artificial forest. He stopped dead in his tracks and wondered if he was correct to continue his adventure. It appeared that he had stepped into the depths of Hell itself.
He stood deathly still, fearful that any movement from him would bring about his doom. All around Konrad were dozens, if not, hundreds of glass-like vessels, myriad in size and shape. Some were scattered across the deck, while others were slung from the chamber’s dark walls and ceiling. The torch-beam quivered in Konrad’s grasp as the light revealed the contents and the reasons for his abject terror.
In each vessel was a creature, an animal, a specimen, an abomination.
Of course, none were human in shape or form. They ranged from squid-like creatures straight from some Lovecraftian abyss to twisted insect-like shapes whose innumerable limbs were contorted like barb-wire. A giant container, the size of a Zeppelin airship, emerged from the shadows above Konrad as he pressed deeper into the hellish menagerie, but unlike the smaller containers, whose glutinous contents were discoloured with age, a huge crack snaked around its walls. Exposed for millennia, the creature within, like an ancient titan, had fossilised, while the liquid had leaked out and crystallised into spectacular stalagmites which shimmered in the torch-beam.
Steeling himself, Konrad approached a nearby vessel. He ran his gloved hand across the glassy surface and disturbed a thin layer of dust. Within was yet another specimen. Its scale, unlike the monstrous titan, made it easier for him to relate to. Its skin was a sickly white and a set of dead eyes, their colour shifting as Konrad moved his lamp, stared back at him. As he lingered, another shape emerged from the slime. It shared similar characteristics to the original creature, but faintly feminine features were prominent. Konrad swept more dust away and his suspicions were confirmed as he saw a large grotesque vulva-like opening dominating the second figure’s body. Looking closer, he saw that the first figure was emerging from its companion’s deformed sexual-lips. He pondered the strange set of creatures, disturbed by the apparent perpetual interplay of the pitiful corpses; one giving birth to its lover. The savage faces were contorted and stretched in pain, their wide mouths agape and twisted. The creatures eyes seemed to be pleading to be spared the terrible torments that they obviously experienced during their final moments. However, there was something artificial about the bodies. No doubt, somewhere in the universe, this perverted union was perfectly natural, but this display was not a creation from nature. In Konrad’s mind, it was the result of some diabolical experiment and this suspicion was reinforced even more as he looked further into the menagerie and saw even more conjoined specimens. Whoever, or to be more exact, whatever had created them was evidently obsessed with duality. And it was at this point that Konrad wondered about the mentality of the creator of the poor creatures he had found. In his eyes, the unseen hand was gifted, but nevertheless, it was still mad. Only madness could have driven these experiments, these wanton acts of desecration against nature.
Konrad lowered the torch-beam and caught sight of something else in the gloom. It was something familiar. Standing intact before the bewildered astronaut, and obviously still operational, was the missing hibernation tank containing the colonists.
CHAPTER TWENTY
‘I told you that destiny was pointing the way for us!’ Stahl exclaimed when he was reunited with the colonists’ container.
After receiving the radio-message from Konrad about his discovery, the SS officer had wasted very little time before he too entered the spire. Within the cavernous interior, Stahl had driven his colleagues on, setting an exhausting pace as he scrambled down the earthen tunnel and along the imposing corridor and across the machine room beyond. An almost super-human drive possessed the Sturmbannführer, and such was Stahl’s myopic determination to probe deeper and deeper, that he and the troops, including the forlorn figure of Ziegler at the rear, failed to appreciate the sheer scale and magnificence of their surroundings. It was as if they had been taken into the beauty of the Sistine chapel and simply averted their gaze to the floor and admired the workmanship of the tiling. It was a typical Nazi reaction to anything outside their narrow-minded view of culture.
The Nazis encircled the container, their torch beams projecting a circle of light upon the colonists like a nest of searchlights with an enemy warplane in their sights.
‘How the hell did the colonists get down here?’ Haas asked.
‘Who cares?’ Stahl replied. ‘All that matters is that we’ve found them again.’
‘Found them again? That would suppose that they were lost in the first place.’
‘And…’
‘With all due respect, I think most of us assumed that the colonists were destroyed in the crash,’ Haas said as he gestured to the glowing container.
‘Evidently not, by the look of it,’ Stahl said. ‘But like I’ve already said to all of you, destiny has guided our path inside here. Perhaps recovering the colonists is what destiny always intended for us.’
‘Perhaps you’re confusing coincidence with destiny, Herr Sturmbannführer.’
This show of insubordination was too much for Stahl. He swung his gun into Haas’ belly. Despite the protection of the thick pressure-suit, the blow still winded him.
‘And I think you’re confusing sarcasm with disobedience.’ Stahl left his displeasure at that.
Konrad and Zeigler watched silently. They were still under the guard of Wolff, while Busch had disappeared into the darkness to reconnoitre the chamber further.
‘What do you make of this chamber we’ve stumbled upon?’ Zeigler asked.
‘It looks like some-sort of zoo or menagerie to me,’ Konrad said as his light played across the strange life forms that surrounded them.