CHAPTER SEVEN
Carmichael having lost his wife and having relegated his son to the care of his sister in order to enter the project, wondered why the Major called him to his estate rather than come to the complex.
He drove up, accompanied by Major Southam's aide, Lieutenant Coverton and felt a feeling of déjà vu much as what happened when he met the notorious and now deceased Fraulein Helga. However, the young lady that stood at the background, while Southam's butler opened the door, was certainly not like that Nazi female. Her gray blue eyes sparkled and her white blonde hair lent a soft glow to her almost alabaster complexion. As was the custom of the times, she had on red orange lipstick, not the best, but this was in the 1940s.
"Alfred Carmichael," said Major Southam, "I'd like you to meet Miss Susan Berne from Stockholm University. She's had a bit of a misfortune but not comparable to yours. A broken engagement, chap's a Nazi sympathizer. Bad blood all around."
Miss Berne did not seem too shaken off by her misfortune and her English was impeccable. "Mr. Carmichael, I am honored to meet you. The Major has been so kind to let me stay at his house."
They went into the living room, sat on the large floral chesterfield, had tea, and biscuits, and talked about their childhood, finding that both had much in common. She and her fiancé had volunteered for the Hercules Project, but he balked when he learned the conditions.
"Eric has always believed in the legends of Siegfried and the Ring. He used to read the stories to me as well as the ones about the Trolls. So when the Nazis started to come to our village, and talk about them, he was a willing pupil."
"And do you believe them?"
"The tale of Siegfried was based on fact. However, he belonged to the nobility and they would chose who married who very carefully. Many Germans and Swedes believe that the Nazi policy of discriminating against those who do not have blue or gray eyes is wrong. The Aryan policy would have wiped out those, being ultra selective."
Alfred continued to question her beliefs. Yes ancient man was stronger and yes she believe that they should have a moral code, and yes, if it were not for Cain, mankind would be physically stronger and no retarded or crippled child would be born.
"Why do you say so, Miss Berne?" asked Southam
That'll put her on the spot, thought Alfred, but she had a good answer.
"Because most of the genetic pool was wiped out in the Deluge and you have to go with what you have. If I want to marry a man who has blonde hair and blue eyes, tall, six feet tall, athletic, and also a man who loves playing the violin, makes fifty thousand pounds a year, is proficient in Japanese, and I find three men who have part of those qualities, what can I do? Had the Flood not come, I would have six or seven different men all with these qualities."
"Have you found a man like that?" asked Alfred.
"No. I lied about the Japanese. Finnish would be more like it. However I would settle for someone who played the clarinet."
Alfred could not resist a smile. This Susan had a sense of humor, something he appreciated and he felt comfortable with her. It was as if they knew each other all their lives. Thank you Miss Berne."
They dated, took walks to the park, and around the grounds. In a week, they knew enough to take the other for their life's partner and were married. In peace, they would have waited later, but who knows if one would die tomorrow?
As soon as the doctors determined Susan's rhythm, they gave the couple a flat in the complex and started them on the program, using the suggestion of Dr. Forsythe.
"Five days prior and two days after that. We will then see the results."
And they were successful as was the others, but then success turned to sorrow as the babies died or were born dead. Forsythe said that their hearts kept beating slower and slower until they stopped.
On the grounds was an old cottage barely enough to hold a family of eight. MI-5 had gotten carpenters and stonemasons to change it into a chapel. The local Roman Catholic priest and the Protestant reverend had blessed it. In the early morning, they had Mass and at eleven o'clock, the Protestant service. In evening, both services were an hour apart and it was a rush as one denomination left and the other enter. The stain-glassed windows were mismatched, borrowed from other churches now in ruins. Adam and Eve in the garden stood next to Ezekiel and the Wheel, both done by different artists.
It stood in the middle, surrounded by a small flower garden and a tree that was barely more than a stick in the ground. Now a steady line of couples came from each of their flats, walking slowly towards it to get a small bit of comfort from God. , Carmichael came upon Reichart who was in the chapel, lighting a candle to his dead son. There were other Roman Catholics lighting candles, Protestants reading their Bibles and praying, Greek Orthodox crossing themselves, and all there having that sense of loss from losing their promised hope. The sound of weeping and groans and "why us?" saturated the room. Even the lilies brought there by the locals did nothing to diminish their grief; so many babies dead, so many lives broken.
"It's the will of God," Alfred said as he crossed himself. "Alfred, do you think we will succeed?"
Alfred nodded. "We have to, don't we, Jarold," he said to another man who with his wife was also lighting a candle.
The tall man spoke his words with care.. "Ja, ve were just married when we joined because of Hitler," he said as he comforted his wife. "There now Emilie, it will be all right." He was a tall man with dark brown eyes and hair the color of charcoal.
But Emilie kept on sobbing.
Carmichael saw more instances of grief. Some like Jarold gave up flying to volunteer. He should have been back in the Netherlands, defending his country. And there was his wife, Emilie, giving up her operatic career. Who knows how those two came together: Jarold with his low gruff voice and Emilie with a voice like an angel. Others like the Lynches, it was more to bolster their pride and Morgan showed it in his anger that this had to happen after selling his cottage to his brother-in-law. Then there was Edward who kept mumbling, "Where did we go wrong?"
"Do you think we should have abandoned this? Perhaps join the invasion?" asked Reichart. "When I think of how much more we could have accomplished."
"I saw those Hitler youths and so did you. We know what they would do."
"But did we wait too late?" asked the sergeant. For the first time since the project started, he doubted its success and it appeared that most of them here did.
Even Carmichael felt the chances slim to none, but he did not want to voice that opinion. He had not been stuck in a prison camp because he was part of a pre abortive strike against the Nazis before the War like Reichart. No he had gone as a peaceful visitor, and saw the evidences there, the swastika on every building, heard the jackboots, saw the way the population looked when the Gestapo hauled someone to jail. "Well they had the ups on us, except for one thing. Hitler won't have as many as he wished. They take too many chances."
.
Carmichael having lost his wife and having relegated his son to the care of his sister in order to enter the project, wondered why the Major called him to his estate rather than come to the complex.
He drove up, accompanied by Major Southam's aide, Lieutenant Coverton and felt a feeling of déjà vu much as what happened when he met the notorious and now deceased Fraulein Helga. However, the young lady that stood at the background, while Southam's butler opened the door, was certainly not like that Nazi female. Her gray blue eyes sparkled and her white blonde hair lent a soft glow to her almost alabaster complexion. As was the custom of the times, she had on red orange lipstick, not the best, but this was in the 1940s.
"Alfred Carmichael," said Major Southam, "I'd like you to meet Miss Susan Berne from Stockholm University. She's had a bit of a misfortune but not comparable to yours. A broken engagement, chap's a Nazi sympathizer. Bad blood all around."
Miss Berne did not seem too shaken off by her misfortune and her English was impeccable. "Mr. Carmichael, I am honored to meet you. The Major has been so kind to let me stay at his house."
They went into the living room, sat on the large floral chesterfield, had tea, and biscuits, and talked about their childhood, finding that both had much in common. She and her fiancé had volunteered for the Hercules Project, but he balked when he learned the conditions.
"Eric has always believed in the legends of Siegfried and the Ring. He used to read the stories to me as well as the ones about the Trolls. So when the Nazis started to come to our village, and talk about them, he was a willing pupil."
"And do you believe them?"
"The tale of Siegfried was based on fact. However, he belonged to the nobility and they would chose who married who very carefully. Many Germans and Swedes believe that the Nazi policy of discriminating against those who do not have blue or gray eyes is wrong. The Aryan policy would have wiped out those, being ultra selective."
Alfred continued to question her beliefs. Yes ancient man was stronger and yes she believe that they should have a moral code, and yes, if it were not for Cain, mankind would be physically stronger and no retarded or crippled child would be born.
"Why do you say so, Miss Berne?" asked Southam
That'll put her on the spot, thought Alfred, but she had a good answer.
"Because most of the genetic pool was wiped out in the Deluge and you have to go with what you have. If I want to marry a man who has blonde hair and blue eyes, tall, six feet tall, athletic, and also a man who loves playing the violin, makes fifty thousand pounds a year, is proficient in Japanese, and I find three men who have part of those qualities, what can I do? Had the Flood not come, I would have six or seven different men all with these qualities."
"Have you found a man like that?" asked Alfred.
"No. I lied about the Japanese. Finnish would be more like it. However I would settle for someone who played the clarinet."
Alfred could not resist a smile. This Susan had a sense of humor, something he appreciated and he felt comfortable with her. It was as if they knew each other all their lives. Thank you Miss Berne."
They dated, took walks to the park, and around the grounds. In a week, they knew enough to take the other for their life's partner and were married. In peace, they would have waited later, but who knows if one would die tomorrow?
As soon as the doctors determined Susan's rhythm, they gave the couple a flat in the complex and started them on the program, using the suggestion of Dr. Forsythe.
"Five days prior and two days after that. We will then see the results."
And they were successful as was the others, but then success turned to sorrow as the babies died or were born dead. Forsythe said that their hearts kept beating slower and slower until they stopped.
On the grounds was an old cottage barely enough to hold a family of eight. MI-5 had gotten carpenters and stonemasons to change it into a chapel. The local Roman Catholic priest and the Protestant reverend had blessed it. In the early morning, they had Mass and at eleven o'clock, the Protestant service. In evening, both services were an hour apart and it was a rush as one denomination left and the other enter. The stain-glassed windows were mismatched, borrowed from other churches now in ruins. Adam and Eve in the garden stood next to Ezekiel and the Wheel, both done by different artists.
It stood in the middle, surrounded by a small flower garden and a tree that was barely more than a stick in the ground. Now a steady line of couples came from each of their flats, walking slowly towards it to get a small bit of comfort from God. , Carmichael came upon Reichart who was in the chapel, lighting a candle to his dead son. There were other Roman Catholics lighting candles, Protestants reading their Bibles and praying, Greek Orthodox crossing themselves, and all there having that sense of loss from losing their promised hope. The sound of weeping and groans and "why us?" saturated the room. Even the lilies brought there by the locals did nothing to diminish their grief; so many babies dead, so many lives broken.
"It's the will of God," Alfred said as he crossed himself. "Alfred, do you think we will succeed?"
Alfred nodded. "We have to, don't we, Jarold," he said to another man who with his wife was also lighting a candle.
The tall man spoke his words with care.. "Ja, ve were just married when we joined because of Hitler," he said as he comforted his wife. "There now Emilie, it will be all right." He was a tall man with dark brown eyes and hair the color of charcoal.
But Emilie kept on sobbing.
Carmichael saw more instances of grief. Some like Jarold gave up flying to volunteer. He should have been back in the Netherlands, defending his country. And there was his wife, Emilie, giving up her operatic career. Who knows how those two came together: Jarold with his low gruff voice and Emilie with a voice like an angel. Others like the Lynches, it was more to bolster their pride and Morgan showed it in his anger that this had to happen after selling his cottage to his brother-in-law. Then there was Edward who kept mumbling, "Where did we go wrong?"
"Do you think we should have abandoned this? Perhaps join the invasion?" asked Reichart. "When I think of how much more we could have accomplished."
"I saw those Hitler youths and so did you. We know what they would do."
"But did we wait too late?" asked the sergeant. For the first time since the project started, he doubted its success and it appeared that most of them here did.
Even Carmichael felt the chances slim to none, but he did not want to voice that opinion. He had not been stuck in a prison camp because he was part of a pre abortive strike against the Nazis before the War like Reichart. No he had gone as a peaceful visitor, and saw the evidences there, the swastika on every building, heard the jackboots, saw the way the population looked when the Gestapo hauled someone to jail. "Well they had the ups on us, except for one thing. Hitler won't have as many as he wished. They take too many chances."
.