Author's Note: After a long break I'm back with my first big story :) It's a SDMI prequel inspired by Disk Mania by RockSunner. However, its timeline is quite different. May content spoilers to SDMI.
Disclaimer: This story contains Nazi and Communist themes. I strongly condemn these totalitarian ideologies, which have killed millions of innocent people. If you are sensitive about this kind of stuff, better don't read. Also, some characters belong to WB.
Disk Wars
CHAPTER 1. BERLIN, August 1, 1936
The opening day of the Olympic Games was exceptional in the capital of the Third Reich. There was a tremendous atmosphere of solemnity and pride on every street and square, in parks and gardens. It was caused not only by the festive attire of the Berliners, but even more by the festive décor of the streets, with their reds, whites and aggressive looking black swastikas. The beer gardens and cafes of this incredibly vivid city were filled with people holding lively discussions about who would win medals and why they would be Germans, as well as speculating what the Fuehrer would say during the opening ceremony. Crowds of residents of Berlin, tourists from around the world and military in gala uniforms were going towards the Olympic stadium, wishing to see the struggles of athletes, Hindenburg's flight over the stadium, the first ever flame of the Olympic torch brought straight from Greece and, above all of that, the Fuehrer himself, whose show of praise this ceremony supposed to be.
Not everyone was heading in the same direction. The glances of people going to the stadium were caught by a speeding motorcycle with a sidecar with... a parrot sitting on. Many people turned their heads towards the direction it flashed, trying to look at both the driver and a bird but they disappeared too quickly to make it possible, delving into dense network of city streets. Slaloming dangerously in traffic, among buses and trams, they passed the Tiergarten, the Victory Column with the gilded statue of Victoria on its top, passed the Reichstag and driving through the colonnade of the Brandenburg Gate, they got on the Unter den Linden Boulevard and finally stopped in front of the main gate of Friedrich Wilhelm's university.
When the bike was at a standstill, passers-by could look at the man who drove it. Or more precisely - the woman. She was really beautiful, although being a 70-year-old lady with long, thick, light gray hair. Her face did not show her real age, it could even be said that it looked very young. Her smooth cheeks and slightly upturned nose were covered with slightly faded freckles and delicate wrinkles, but they were still giving a girlish impression, like they did 50 years before. Her clothes were probably from the same period - a burgundy coat with white inserts and sleeves that became unfashionable at least 20 years earlier, a white shirt with burgundy stripes and a maroon ankle long skirt that was somehow clean, despite many kilometers driven on a motorcycle. She wore a big, white ring with a sizeable ruby on her neck. Of course, she also had necessary motorcycle accessories, like goggles that covered her glasses with round lenses in a thick, round, white frame. Taking off her burgundy helmet, she unveiled a bun, which was just as thick as the rest of her gray hair. Looking like this, she stood out from an average Berliner of her age, stealing everyone's glances. The machine was also impressive - it was the 1935 BMW R12 - the strongest and the fastest bike in Germany.
The woman dismounted from the motorcycle and looked at her companion, who after a moment took off from the perch at the sidecar and sat on her shoulder. It was a male parrot with powder gray feathers and green eyes. It had an exceptionally large head compared to other specimens of its species and its neck was wrapped with a scarf of dark purple material.
"You will certainly lose me, driving so fast...!" it said in pure German.
"But you're always holding tight, my dear Pericles!" laughed the woman with a melodic voice and added: "Let's go, we have a business to do here."
The woman went to the university door with the parrot still sitting on her shoulder. She was escorted by the glances of speechless bystanders. Berliners, usually blasé and indifferent, are difficult to impress. She managed to do it.
XXX
In a one of university's offices, an unpretentious, thin, old man sat by a large mahogany desk loaded with old books. He was dressed in old-fashioned, not to say quite wretched way. His faded jacket has seen much better days. His head was covered with gray slicked-back hair and he wore a pair of glasses with thick, round lenses on his nose. It was Gustav Hoff, the professor of archeology and a world-renowned specialist in Latin American civilizations, in particular the Maya and Aztecs. He conducted many expeditions in Central America, bringing to Germany lots of artifacts from the local extinct cultures and gaining respect among his colleagues and students at his university. He was, however, a very humble man. He even resigned from presiding over the archeology department, claiming that it is necessary to give the younger generation of scientists a chance. He didn't care about the prestige, he put pragmatism first, conducting in-depth research in historical sources, in search of another good opportunities. He did it with almost heavenly peace, making most of overworked university staff jealous. However, on that day, the Professor felt a certain nervousness, which was unusual for him. He couldn't sit calm on his chair, looking at the clock hanging near the door from time to time. He was bending over the desk and shifting sheets of paper lying in front of him, always leaving one of them on top. There was a name on it: Nicolas de Acuñia.
The professor was not alone in the office. He was accompanied by his closest associate - Doctor. Hermann Weisskopf. He was an elegant man, more fitting to the modern realities than his supervisor. His face was very masculine - rectangular, with a hooked nose and a marked mandible. His green eyes, though small, were sharp and penetrating. He was Hoff's favorite and he undoubtedly contributed to several of their recent successes. An efficient organizer, with unique intuition, where to look, to find as much as possible. Ambitious, wanting to break through his mentor who knew about it and only supported him in this intention. However, unlike the Professor, he was a quick-tempered, angry man who has been given a nationalist paranoia by the Nazis. He backed them with the honest disapproval of Hoff, who claimed it as unworthy of a professional scientist. That was especially because the Nazis expelled many specialists highly valued by the professor from the university, just because they were Jews.
Now, however, the gentlemen didn't think about the Nazis, nor Hitler and the Olympics. They were clearly waiting for something in silence, more and more nervously looking at the clock that began to strike noon.
Then, someone opened the door. An elderly woman walked into the office, followed by a parrot, to the surprise of gentlemen.
"Heil Hitler!" said the woman loudly, raising her hand in Nazi salute.
"Heil!" Weisskopf saluted, unable to take his eyes off the parrot, which finally landed on the woman's shoulder.
"Hello, Abigail." Hoff said calmly, waiting for the clock to stop ringing and looking his guest up and down.
"Incredible..." he thought. "She is in the same age as me and looks the same as when I saw her for the last time. Unlike me, unfortunately..."
He felt a slight embarrassment over his old, wrinkled person.
"It's been a while, Gustav!" Abigail said with an ironic smirk.
"About 15 years, if not more ..." the professor replied and turned to Weisskopf. "Doctor, may I present Miss Abigail Gluck, my former business partner from America. We met in 1889 at an archeological conference in New York and..."
"Mistress, not Miss, Hoff!" Abigail interrupted him, making the old professor blush.
"Hermann Weisskopf." the doctor introduced himself, kissing her hand.
"I'd like to introduce you my companion, Pericles - the wisest parrot in the world. We've been working together for six years." Abigail said pointing at the parrot sitting on her shoulder. Pericles bowed politely to the scientists.
Mrs. Gluck sat in a chair on the other side of the professor's desk, while Weisskopf took a seat on the side.
"What reminded you of me, Abigail?" the professor asked dryly.
"You know what, Hoff." said the woman. "What are you looking for all your life...?"
"I want you to understand that this case is closed." the professor interrupted her. "It will be three years, as our documentation has been lost. That cat stole everything. I've written it in my letters."
"I got it back, Gustav." the woman replied. "Those who have usurped it are no longer alive."
The professor turned pale.
"Good heavens, Abigail! This is..." he gasped, but Abigail interrupted him with a laugh:
"No, Gustav, I had nothing to do with it!" and she got serious: "The whole Darrows family died at the end of October last year. Their mansion was swallowed up by an earthquake and no one has seen them since then..."
Abigail opened a leather briefcase and pulled out a file of yellowed papers and old maps.
"Here's what's left of them." the woman said, throwing them at the professor's desk. "I have more at my place in Munich."
Professor Hoff took them in his wrinkled hands and began to browse.
"Yes... These are indeed them." he said and after a moment of thought he added quietly: "I don't know if there is any sense in this... I'm too old, Abigail..."
The woman laughed again and said firmly:
"The fact that you are old doesn't mean that you should let it go. I think it means the opposite. Finding it would be the culmination of your career. It will bring glory to you and the Reich for all time!"
"Excuse me for interfering, but what are you talking about?" Dr. Weisskopf interrupted and asked the professor: "What is that thing you are looking for all your life, professor?"
Hoff looked at Abigail, but she shrugged:
"Explain it to him, Gustav. He's your assistant, don't keep such secrets from him."
The professor sighed. He hesitated for a moment, cleaning his glasses with a handkerchief. Finally, he cleared his throat and said:
"It's the Planispheric Disk and the treasure of Crystal Cove, my dear Hermann."
It didn't mean anything to Weisskopf. The professor noticed that and continued:
"The treasure of Crystal Cove is a legendary stockpile of valuables - gold, silver, Maya jewels, and above all, a crystal sarcophagus full of black pearls, hidden by conquistadores four hundred years ago somewhere near the town of Crystal Cove in California. Its location can only be indicated by the Planispheric Disk - an old nautical navigation device, which was divided into six pieces shortly after the treasure's concealment and scattered around the world to make sure that no one will find it. This is what these old writings say... You know Spanish, don't you?"
Weisskopf took the yellowed scrolls and began to read them. There were treasure's descriptions and drawings. The largest of them was an elaborately decorated, pizza-like circle, divided into six equal parts. After a minute of further reading, he paused and said with hesitation:
"El tesoro maldito... That means "the cursed treasure"."
"Yes, there are legends about a curse over the treasure." the professor said calmly. "But admit, Weisskopf, how many times have we discovered supposedly "cursed" artifacts and we can still walk and breathe?"
"It's a nonsense and it doesn't make sense to discuss it, gentlemen." Abigail said. "Let's take a look at the facts. And the facts are that I discovered the exact or approximate locations of the individual pieces of the Planispheric Disk.
The woman looked enthusiastically at the professor, who was staring at an unspecified point far ahead.
"Go on, Abigail." Hoff said slowly.
"The first piece is kept in an abbey in Mexico. The second is certainly somewhere in the sinkhole, where the Darrows' mansion stood. The third and the fourth are hidden under the Crystal Cove. The fifth is hidden somewhere in a cabinet of curiosities in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the sixth..."
She paused for a moment.
"That's the piece I want to focus on today." the woman said mysteriously.
"I'm all ears, Abigail." the professor whispered.
"Nicolas de Acuñia was connected with it, as I wrote you in the letter." Abigail said and once again took out some old documents from her briefcase.
"He was a Dominican friar-missionary who sailed with Fernando El Aguirre and his men in order to colonize and convert Central America. After several years of travelling along the Pacific coast and finding and concealing the treasure, he's got one of the pieces of the Planispheric Disk. He took it back to Spain, where he died and was buried. The new archives collected by Darrows state that Nicolas de Acuñia never got rid of his part of the Disk. What's more - he was buried with it in an unknown place..."
The professor finally came out of a lethargy, looked into her eyes and said:
"You probably want to tell us that you already know where he rests?"
"Exactly." Abigail replied. "He lies in the crypt of the Catedral del Salvador in Zaragoza, where he was a canon during the last two years of his life."
"How did you know about this?" the professor asked.
"The Darrows' documents brought me to the archive in Brussels, from which, with an invaluable help of Professor Pericles, I was able to "borrow" the key clues."
Gentlemen looked at the parrot who bowed to them again and said:
"Our cooperation in this area was extremely fruitful."
"It... Talks..." Hoff gasped.
"Actually, it's quite common for parrots to speak." Pericles said indifferently.
Abigail laughed:
"Ah, Gustav! Don't you know that I've never been in the company of ordinary animals? Do you remember Mr. Peaches, our orangutan?"
"It was hard not to remember, Abigail."
"He has been dead for almost 20 years, but only he and I have been the only ones in our pathetic Benevolent Lodge of Mystery who have not stopped searching for the treasure of Crystal Cove. These fools tried to stop us, but they never could. It's time to finally make the final steps to stop it being just a legend!"
"It's time to go to Zaragoza, gentlemen!" Pericles said.
The Professor thought again, then said doubtfully:
"But it won't be easy. There's a civil war in Spain... It will be difficult to get there safely and carry out archaeological work."
"That's why I came to you today. Neither I, nor you can get there alone." Abigail said. "Therefore, we have a plan on how to organize this expedition together."
"I'm curious about your plans for excavations in the midst of a battlefield." Weisskopf said skeptically.
"Spare us your annotations, Mr. Weisskopf!" Professor scolded him.
"It won't be very complicated." Abigail continued. "Zaragoza is now a strong bastion of General Franco's fascists and there are no fights going on. As you know, Franco is a friend of the Reich and the Reich supports him militarily. Fortunately, I work for the BayernMetall armaments company, which produces weapons for Spaniards who are financially ruined. We can make them pay with treasures found in the tomb, because according to my sources, Nicolas de Acuñia took many more valuables beside the piece of the Planispheric Disk to the grave.
"What will be our part in this?" the professor asked her.
"I'm not officially an archaeologist, but you are. You will be able to get to this crypt. You or Doctor can lead this expedition on behalf of the university."
"Excuse me." Weisskopf interjected. "I may be mistaken, but I don't believe that BayernMetall is going to let the Spaniards pay for weapons in valuables from the crypt, instead of money. It's ridiculous!"
"The Party will support us. My Party." Abigail responded quickly, showing them the membership card of the Nazi Party. "The Reich will sell these treasures for more than it bought them and I'll make sure that we can keep a part of the Planispheric Disk, officially for scientific purposes. There is only one condition: you also have to sign up for the party."
Professor Hoff sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Do not make me do this, Abigail..." he protested.
"It will only be a formality that will drag the great Fuehrer to our side." the woman replied.
"I did not expect such a wise and tolerant person like you to support someone like Hitler and his men..." sighed the professor.
"I have changed, just as times have changed over the last 15 years, as we were apart, Hoff." Abigail said firmly. "Germany's problems needed radical solutions. And the Fuehrer knows them."
"But you're American, Gluck! Why do you even care about our problems?" the professor asked.
"No, Hoff! I'm still a German and I owe much to my old country." Abigail said. "Especially after all the Benevolent Lodge of Mystery did. If not for neglect and evil done by some of us, especially Oswald Burlington, who's knew about the plot against Archduke Ferdinand, but didn't tell the Austrians about it, the Great War would not have started in 1914 and Germany would not be betrayed and oppressed. That's why I'll devote myself to lift my homeland from its knees by finding the greatest treasure of humanity and giving it to the Thousand Year Reich... The time of the revenge on our oppressors is coming! Tomorrow belongs to us!" Abigail ended with Nazi salute. Then she took a deep breath and looked at Hoff. He stared at her with anxiety, like she was a maniac.
"I fully support Frau Gluck." Weisskopf said then. "I would do it anyway. I will be happy to join the Fuhrer's party."
The professor shook his head. He stepped away from the desk, turned his back to them and went to the window, staring at a distant point.
"Keep in mind that this opportunity will not happen again in your life. You don't have too much time . Think about it, Hoff." Frau Gluck said and also got up from her chair, getting ready to leave. When she was leaving, she said to Weisskopf: "When he finally decides what to do, you can find me at the Adlon Hotel."
Abigail Gluck left Professor Hoff's office and quickly walked along the university corridors toward the exit. Pericles flew beyond her, fluttering its wings.
"From my observations of professor's body language, I came to the conclusion that his resistance will subside. The vision of finding the treasure will never let him rest..." the parrot said.
"That's sure, Pericles." Abigail said. "People change, but the obsession of finding the treasure of Crystal Cove is impossible to forget, even for Hoff." And then she added quietly: "To his doom..."
Soundtrack: The Badenweiler Marsch YT: watch?v=AAyzGCnSyY0
Berlin 1936: YT: watch?v=ilQmhAUEPbk