Untoten Kreuzung: Aftermath
Chapter 2
Richtofen waited inside an observation room looking down at Rune who was at the moment unconscious. After arriving here she became hysterical and had to be sedated. The sound of the door to the room opening and closing brought his attention to the man who'd just entered.
"Zhis better be gut, Edward." Maxis proclaimed.
Richtofen looked back at Rune in the room she was kept in and Maxis turned his attention as well.
"Who is she?" Maxis asked.
"Ze solution to ze super soldier project." He replied.
"Solution?! Are you insane, Edward? I vill not vaste precious funds on a project zhat's already failed." Maxis warned.
"Ze project has not failed. Ve have another chance, she is our other chance." Richtofen insisted.
"Vhat makes you think zhat she is any different than ze other hundreds of test subjects who've died in ze hopes zhat zhey would yield a super human?" Maxis interrogated.
"I have proof, zhat she vill succeed." He ensured pulling out several pieces of paper.
"Zhese are DNA statistics from her. Look at zhem, she's viable for ze Aügener Projekt." Richtofen informed. Maxis' eyes grew wide at the mention of the Aügener project.
"No, Edward! Not zhat project! Never again!" he yelled.
"She's ze one Maxis. She can give us vhat ve've tried so hard to do for years." Richtofen urged.
"No!" Maxis shouted smacking the papers off the desk and sending them to the floor.
"Ve have lost too many of our own trying to get ze Aügener Projekt to work! She'll just end up like ze other ten did." Maxis reminded.
"No she vill not, look at ze facts Maxis, her genes are perfectly matched to ze Aügener gene code." Richtofen insisted.
"Nein! Listen to me Edward! You vill not go through vith ze Aügener Projekt! If you do I vill personally execute you myself!" Maxis ended.
With that final statement Maxis stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Richtofen spent some time looking at the door and then picked up the papers that Maxis had swiped to the ground. He rubbed his forehead and put the papers back into a folder then looked into the room where Rune was now stirring from her sedation. He quickly put the folder down onto the desk and went down into the room.
Still thoroughly drowsy she managed to pull herself up and take a look at her surroundings, which wasn't much. Once Richtofen came in she had many questions to ask and most of them she wanted answers to.
"Ed, where are we?" she started, rubbing her eyes.
"You'll be happy to know zhat ve made it back. Ve are in Group 935's Siberian facility und today is August 10th, 1939." He answered.
Rune perked her head up and smiled at the news.
"So, when are we going home?" she continued. Richtofen was silent for a while trying to come up with an answer for her.
"Vhenever ve can get your vaccinations done, und I get my leave from Maxis, ve'll go home." He convinced.
She nodded and got up from the plain bed and continued to look around her. Richtofen cleared his throat and clasped his hands together.
"Do you need anything?" he asked.
"No, but if anything comes up I'll let you know." She replied.
Maxis' voice came over the loudspeakers and startled the two.
"Edward, I vant you in my office now." He commanded. Rune looked over at him and saw nervousness in his eyes.
"I'll be back, don't vorry about it. He's always like this." Richtofen assured heading back through the door.
Rune instinctively pulled out her cell phone and looked at the screen, but then remembered that it was dead. She sighed and noticed that there was a small desk to her left and on it was a familiar piece of technology. It was her phone charger, but there was a note next to it. In a familiar handwriting it said 'I was able to adapt it to the outlets for this period of time, just make sure Maxis doesn't see you with it.'
She smiled again and looked at the walls for an outlet to charge her phone at. Luckily there was one, and she quickly plugged it in and turned it back on. Rune arranged everything correctly and even went so far as to change the phone language to German in order to get herself acquainted with the language she would soon be taking as her primary one. After messing around with it for a while she let it be and started thinking about how life would be like now.
Richtofen opened the door to Maxis' temporary office gradually, unsure of what to expect from his superior.
"Sit down Richtofen. I've got business to discuss vith you." Maxis ordered calmly as soon as Richtofen closed the door. He took a chair and sat down waiting for Maxis' message. Maxis let a long and heavy sigh and gave Richtofen a stern look.
"I need details Edward. Everything you learned from ze future I need to know." He insisted.
"I'm not sure I'm ze one you should be talking to about ze future." Richtofen replied. Maxis glared at him viciously, but didn't say anything.
"Rune is your best chance for getting ze information you vant. I vas too busy fighting off zombies to investigate ze technology, history, or anything else for zhat matter, but she is a native to zhat time. She'll know more und have better explanations zhen I have." Richtofen informed.
"Is zhat so, vell zhen vhy is it zhat you vere carrying a piece of zheir technology vith you?" Maxis questioned pulling out of his desk the cell phone that he'd found while in 2012.
"It vas for communication between her and I, as vell as ze other three zhat came vith me." He answered.
"Communication, zhis thing?" Maxis wondered holding the phone and examining it.
"Yes, Doctor Maxis, it's a cellular phone."
"A cellular phone, you mean zhat it can call people? How, it doesn't have any vires to ground lines?"
Richtofen chuckled and got another cold stare from Maxis.
"Like I said before Doctor Maxis, Rune is ze best vay to get vhat you vant to know." He reiterated. Maxis let out another sigh, and got up from his desk.
"Fine, I vill talk to ze girl, but I vill have no further involvement vith her." He stated. Richtofen nodded and followed him back to Rune's holding cell.
She was sitting on the bed again staring blankly into the wall daydreaming about her new life. As soon as the door opened she snapped out of it and looked over to see that Richtofen had come back and with Maxis this time. Rune had never seen Maxis before and always wondered what he looked like, now she could see him in person. He stepped a little bit in front of Richtofen and cleared his throat.
Rune observed him and took note of his details, of course the first thing that struck her was the jet black hair that was ruffled, as though he hadn't combed it this morning. He wore rectangular reading glasses that emphasized his blue eyes which seemed to echo with some long forgotten trauma. It was also painfully obvious that he hadn't shaved in a while and it looked as though he was actually trying to let his facial hair grow out. Other than that she picked up the fact that his facial expression was always in a disapproving state, no matter how much he tried to hide it.
"Edward has convinced me zhat you are ze one I should talk to about ze future." He started slowly. Rune raised an eyebrow in a playful way and grinned.
"Oh really, well then he's right. What is it that you need to know and I'll answer to the best of my ability." She offered straightforward. Maxis seemed to jump at her sudden enthusiasm and willingness; after all she was with Richtofen for a long while.
"Vell, I vas thinking of asking about zhese things." He said pulling out the cell phone that Richtofen had.
"Oh, so you want to know about the cell phones first. Hmm, well I'm not certain of how they work, I know that they go off of cell towers and some satellites, which you guys haven't made yet, but if you'd like to reverse engineer it be my guest. Hell, you guys might even reach the computer revolution before the appointed time back where I'm from." She answered.
Maxis was quiet, unsure of what to say until Richtofen cleared his throat and brought him back into focus.
"I told you Maxis, I'm sure that technology isn't all you want to ask about her. Trust me she knows more than you think." He chuckled.