Ziegler beckoned Elsa forward, then like a stage magician he pulled the flag away and pointed to a single colonist within the nebulous liquid. Elsa drew closer and smeared her hand across the fogged glass. The hibernating colonist was strangely familiar to her. In fact, the female was an exact copy of Blomberg’s wife. She was no longer a bloody apparition conjured up by Stahl, a gory sprite to tempt Blomberg, but a real, breathing person. And in addition, this doppelganger’s belly was beautifully swollen with an unborn child.
‘This, once again, demonstrates the power of our new Führer,’ Ziegler proudly said. ‘You may have surrendered your body to him, but you now need to surrender your spirit too.’
Elsa listened, but didn’t react. She remained at the glass, fascinated.
‘If you did this and joined us, perhaps the Führer would confer a similar gift upon you, Elsa,’ Ziegler continued. ‘Maybe he could create a more loyal, less troublesome version of Konrad for you.’
Elsa considered Zeigler’s offer as a chime echoed around the chamber.
‘My Führer,’ Blomberg announced. ‘It’s time.’
A devilish smile cracked across Stahl’s face as the spire’s unseen machinery abruptly became silent and still. All that sounded in the silence that followed was the hibernation tank’s systems as its pumps and switches clicked open and shut. A message appeared upon its display: ACTHUNG! HIBERNATION TERMINATED. The instruction prompted Blomberg to turn a large dial. A series of valves then snapped open around the base of the tank to release the glutinous fluid within. As the fluid drained away, the colonists started to sink. Limbs twitched or shook as the bodies slowly emerged from the long slumber that had shrouded them for so long.
Stahl’s lips trembled as he watched this artificial birth. ‘Soon I will be complete.’
Elsa heard Stahl’s comment, and despite the knife at her throat, she questioned the Nazi. ‘What’s that supposed to mean, my Führer?’ she asked sarcastically. ‘I thought all you had to do was click your fingers, and you could have anything you wished.’
Ziegler pressed the knife deeper and actually drew blood, but Stahl simply raised a single finger, and the knife was withdrawn.
‘Are you really that blind, Elsa?’ Stahl replied. ‘It is true that I am a god, perhaps more than a god. Nevertheless, it remains a fact that a god is nothing without someone to worship him. These colonists and their descendents will serve that purpose. They will venerate and worship me. But my ambitions know no bounds. Eventually I want the entire universe to grovel at my feet.
‘I’ve played god before; those creatures within my menagerie were my first attempts to create a congregation. As a result I was exiled. But this time I will succeed. I will not make the same mistake twice.’
Blomberg and Ziegler also watched the birth proudly. Blomberg, understandably, remained focussed upon his wife’s duplicate, his gift from his new master. His eyes lowered in time with her body as it drifted towards the bottom of the tank, and as she sank, her hands appeared to move and maternally cover the unborn child that slumbered within her. In contrast, Ziegler’s motivation was less paternal than Blomberg’s, but at the same time he too felt like an expectant father, obviously not in a biological sense, but purely in a political sense. He felt like he was a father to a new political order, and as he stood watching, Ziegler knew this single moment would be the defining moment of this new Reich. For the first time he sensed that Stahl’s enticing words, his grand vision of a Reich encompassing the entire universe, would become a reality. He knew this rebirth would pass into the history that he would write, and then ultimately into legend.
But Elsa, the reluctant witness to this highly political, and in some ways unholy birth, cast her gaze away such was her disgust at the grotesque sight. As she did so, she caught sight of something moving in the surrounding darkness. She tried not to move too much lest it alerted Ziegler, but she peered deeper into the gloom. Her heart lifted when she realized that the shadowy shape which slithered around her was Konrad.
Slowly, and inch by inch, Konrad had wearily clambered down the pit and into the hibernation chamber. He remembered the last time he had stood in this mighty space; then Konrad had his nemesis Stahl in his arms as helpless and defenceless as a child, but compassion, his own compassion, had allowed Stahl to survive then. What would have happened if Konrad had ironically listened to Ziegler and abandoned the Nazi bastard at the bottom of the pit? How things had changed since that decisive and pivotal moment in the darkness. Konrad was now alone, destined to face a resurrected Stahl who now appeared to be empowered beyond comprehension.
Konrad saw Elsa, smiled then raised a finger to his lips. Elsa did as she was instructed, and remained silent, but she struggled to contain her excitement. All she wanted to do was cast off the dreaded knife at her throat and join Konrad. However, she managed to keep her composure. Konrad winked at her before he moved on around the angled walls. Then, with a determined and stoic face, he unclipped a single stick-grenade from his belt. A dial set at the bottom of the handle was turned until 20 seconds shone brightly from the grenade’s small display. He then gently pulled out the fuse-pin and released the explosive device.
The grenade rattled down the steps, rolled across the floor and clattered into the base of the tank, where it spun for a few seconds in the gushing fluid that continued to flow from the tank. The grenade remained hidden at the rear of the hibernation tank, safely out of sight of the gathered Nazis – that is, all expect one.
Blomberg had heard the quiet jangle of the explosive device. Curious, he left the podium and walked around to the rear of the tank. At first, he saw nothing in the darkness; perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him. But then he saw a shape at his feet. He crouched down, and immediately a look of horror crossed his face. He had found the weapon! His eyes darted between the grenade and his resurrected wife inside the tank…
‘Heidi!’ he cried. His grief and pain were painfully evident. But there was no escape. Not for him, and not for his wife.
The explosion reverberated around the hibernation chamber. Chunks of flesh belonging to both Blomberg and the colonists mixed with the exploding flames. This foul mixture showered the floor and the walls, decorating the chamber with its hellish spray. The tank, now shattered and cast to the four winds, vomited the remaining colonists across the floor, their bodies spattering wildly in the fluid like fish.
Konrad swiftly climbed down into the wrecked chamber. His face was set with a look of stoic determination as he prepared the next step in his attack. But before he moved forward he quickly glanced in the direction of Elsa and Ziegler, and saw that they had been stunned by the explosion and evidently knocked unconscious. He then pulled the machine-gun from off his shoulder and stepped amongst the twitching bodies, then without hesitation, he aimed and fired. More blood and flesh exploded into the air as he waved the gun back and forth. The gore splattered Konrad, staining his face and clothes, and despite the obvious revulsion he felt, he continued to pump bullet after bullet into the colonists. But one face drove Konrad on. One face that he needed to annihilate before the task was truly complete – Stahl’s. A thunderous bellow sounded to indicate his presence to Konrad.
Stahl knelt over the mangled bodies of his beloved colonists. He cradled a young man in his arms whose bullet-ridden body bled copious amounts of blood over the Nazi. The young colonist somehow clung to life as he drew in a number of breaths, but his torment was soon ended by a single, brutal blast from Konrad’s gun.
‘Perhaps I underestimated your will to survive,’ Stahl said as he gazed down upon the body. He then raised his gaze and zeroed in upon his nemesis. ‘A regrettable oversight on my part. But even a god can make a mistake.’