Chapter 22
Jack fell in behind the German party staying low and out of sight. He was close enough now to see Sophie clearly. He saw her leaning heavily on a German soldier, her father’s tweed jacket wrapped around her shoulders. A sense of urgency washed over Jack. Seeing her like this made his heart sink. Jack was in a considerable amount of pain and he felt ill. He had been shot, dropped out of an airplane, hit in the head and stabbed in the ass, and he was pretty sure his ass was infected.
The image of Sophie at the hotel in Planaltina had been his source of strength. Whenever he started feeling that he could not go on he would imagine her beautiful eyes in the dim light and how she had leaned into his kiss. Seeing her now, obviously ill or injured, made him angry at himself for allowing her to come in the first place. How could he have been so stupid, so selfish? He had put her in harm’s way and now something had happened to her.
Jack focused his anger on those who had created this situation in the first place. He knew that it would have been impossible to leave her behind in Rio, that if he had not agreed to bring her along, she would have found her own way. But Jack had agreed and had promised to keep her safe. Jack did not break his promises.
Moving quietly he followed as the Germans approached the tall stone wall surrounding the city. He took up a position about fifty yards behind them hiding behind a small boulder. The black road they followed passed through wide, open gate made of the same material. The wall however was different.
Made of stone blocks hewn from the walls of the cavern it stood forty feet high. Each block was of a different shape and size the smallest of which must have weighed hundreds of tons. The edges of the stones had been cut in straight lines but at odd angles and some stones had multiple edges where they were set against their adjoining mates. Despite this fact every joint fit perfectly and every stone mated exactly to the others around it.
The small man in the black suit approached the wall, running his hands over it as if he was appraising a horse. After several minutes, they cautiously walked through the open gate. Jack left his hiding place and moving to the wall, pressed his back against the cool stone. He marveled at the craftsmanship of the joint work. Absolutely no gaps or space could be seen between any block. Each was set so precisely that he doubted if even air would pass through.
Peering around the corner of the gate he could see them moving slowly down the street. Once they had moved a hundred yards into the city, soldiers were dispatched into three of the houses lining the street. At the nearest house a soldier poked out his head and motioned for the others to come join him and all disappeared inside. Jack slipped inside the gate and ran behind the closest building. Moving behind it he moved in the direction of the Germans. He stopped when he heard voices through an opening in the wall.
“What happened to them?” Someone with a German accent asked.
“It appears these three died, were dressed and laid out here, and then the last died sitting near them.” A different voice volunteered.
“Dr. DeWulf, can you determine how they died?” The first German accent asked.
“There appears to be no trauma, perhaps a disease, a virus or bacterial infection.” Hearing Sophie speak caused Jacks heart to ache. She sounded so weak and exhausted. He longed to rush to her side but knew this would only get them all killed.
The guards that had been dispatched to the other houses returned and informed the group that they had found similar scenes in all of the buildings on this street. Bodies dressed in all their finery, adorned with jewelry and lavish possessions, while nearby were one or two corpses left in the positions in which they had died, as if there were no one left to pose and array them as the others.
“I have seen this before.” Sophie spoke again. “An isolated tribe, exposed to western disease, for which they as a people have no inherited immunity. It could have killed them all in a matter of weeks.”
“Forster!” Grissop said with sudden comprehension, Jack recognized his voice instantly.
“Let us leave them in peace. There is nothing for us here.” The German accent again.
“We should gather their gold… and jewelry, for our return to Germany, to present to the Fuhrer, yes?” There was no mistaking that voice. It was Schmidt, but he sounded scared, as if he were unsure or fishing for some kind of response.
“They will not be molested.” The German accent again, but now low, sinister, and threatening.
The voices stopped so Jack continued to the end of the row of buildings just in time to see the group walking toward the cities center. It was difficult but he was able to keep up with them and stay out of sight. They were heading toward the pyramid. If he could get ahead of them perhaps he could set up an ambush somewhere. Jack hurried ahead in an attempt to flank them. He failed to see Quaid Grissop slip away from the main party.
Arriving at the great courtyard around the Grand Pyramid he was disappointed at the lack of cover. He would have to come up with a different plan. He had just found a hiding place when he heard voices approaching. The group approached and stopped only feet in front of him. He could see them as well as hear them speaking now.
“Sergeant, find a place to confine the prisoners and post a guard. Corporal, set up camp just below the pyramid. Grissop… Where is Grissop?” The big, black shirted Colonel was not happy. Neither was Jack. Where was Quaid Grissop?
The big Waffen-SS Sergeant along with two other green shirted soldiers hustled Sophie and the professor off toward a row of low buildings at the edge of the courtyard. Jack could not move without revealing his location and so he watched them disappear. The light in the chamber was fading fast. The three fissures in the ceiling allowed very little light in during the day and so the night in here was sure to be pitch-black.
Jack waited until he felt it was safe and then moved off in the direction they had taken Sophie and her father. He had just come to the small group of buildings when the big brown shirted sergeant appeared out of a nearby doorway, surprising him. He dove for cover behind an ornate sculpture.
As the hulking German disappeared into the darkness Jack moved up toward the door he had exited. As he came closer he could hear two voices speaking in German. He could see the glow of firelight dancing on the ground just outside the door. He quickly formulated a plan.
Jack unsheathed his hunting knife and, stepping around the corner of the building gently rapped on the wall. The German voices went silent. After a brief, but anxious, discussion between the two men Jack heard footsteps approaching.
“Wer geht dort?” A nervous and hesitant voice called out. Jack stood motionless in the shadows, knife poised to strike. He could not see the man but he knew to listen for his breathing. Fear always made them breathe heavily.
Jack struck like a scorpion, one hand twisting the man’s rifle so that his finger did not reflexively pull the trigger, the other deftly burying the knife in the man’s trachea so that he did not cry out.
“Peter?” A frightened voice called from within the room.
Jack slipped around behind the building coming around the back and approaching from the opposite side now. By the time he made it around to the front the second guard was outside moving in the direction his friend had gone thus putting his back to Jack. Slowly and silently Jack moved in for the kill.
A sharp pain exploded at the back of Jack’s neck. A loud, sickening crack reverberated through his skull. He felt his body hit the hard earth just as consciousness disconnected from his body.
The terrified German soldier spun around firing his rifle blindly at the sound behind him. Quaid Grissop threw himself to the ground dodging bullets.
“Stop! Stop! Halt goddamn it!” Grissop shouted as he squirmed and wriggled avoiding the bullets zipping past.
“Scheise.” The young private swore as he lowered the smoking barrel.
Seconds later the Waffen-SS Sergeant and three soldiers came running out of the darkness responding to the gunfire. Grissop got to his fee
t and brushed himself off.
“What is this? What is happening?” The Sergeant demanded.
“That’s Jack Cage, he killed one of your men and would have killed this idiot as well.” Quaid said gesturing toward the sheepish looking private.
“Take him inside with the others. You two, stay with this fool and see that he tries to shoot no one else!” The barking Sergeant moved around the corner to examine the dead private then, giving Grissop a suspicious look, motioned him to follow as he moved off with the others toward the pyramid.
Xavier Venoma, Colonel Wolfgang, Major Schmidt and the remaining Waffen-SS guard had climbed the stairs of the Grand Pyramid to the third tier where they found access to the interior. Carrying flashlights the men made their way down a short hallway of polished black granite. Inlaid gold hieroglyphs marked the walls at smaller doorways. Entering one of these the men discovered a large room lined with golden chairs and a raised dais in the center. Brilliantly colored stucco panels depicting aquatic life and ocean scenes covered the walls.
“This is not what we are looking for, move on.” Venoma said.
After fifteen minutes of exploring the men came to a chamber at the center of the pyramid. The room was eighty feet square with an open shaft a hundred feet high rising above. Moving their flashlights around the room they saw that at its center was a single gold chair shaped so that a man could recline comfortably upon it.
Above this chair hung a braided cable, also of gold, at the end of which dangled a headset not unlike a radio operators, but thinner and more sleek. Behind the chair was an eighteen foot tall obelisk made of an opaque, crystalline material. In the center of each of its four sides were round, spherical indentations.
Around the perimeter of the room were work stations with similar gold chairs and smaller crystal obelisk’s facing the larger obelisk at the room’s center. Each crystal pillar had a similar spherical indentation on the side facing its respective chair. Around these stations black granite bookshelves held large gold clad books.
Xavier Venoma reached inside his coat pocket and gripped the blue orb. As his hand folded around the smooth globe the room became brightly illuminated. Venoma quickly withdrew his hand and darkness again filled the room leaving only the beams of three flashlights as a source of light.
Colonel Wolfgang and the Waffen-SS guard moved back toward the hallway, ready to make a quick exit. Venoma though took two steps forward and again placed his hand in his pocket. Again the room was brightly illuminated. As he withdrew the orb from his pocket a distant humming originating from somewhere below them reverberated through the chamber. The men could feel a gentle vibration ripple through the floor as the large obelisk to Venomas right started pulsating with a blue light from within keeping time with the sound.
Near the pulsating, throbbing obelisk, the black floor seemed to liquefy and a thin cylindrical pedestal rose three feet in the air. Approaching this Venoma held the orb out toward it and its flat top formed a bowl shape just large enough to hold the blue orb. Venoma placed it gently on the pedestal moving his hand away slowly. Nothing happened. The lights remained on, the obelisk throbbed away its lonely song and the liquid pedestal remained aloft.
“Go, bring me the professor, now!” The Colonel and the guard turned and rushed out of the chamber. Schmidt found a corner, sat down on the floor and tried to stop shaking.
Outside Colonel Wolfgang discovered the camp in a commotion. Approaching the soldiers he asked for a report.
“Herr Grissop captured the man Jack Cage sir. And Private Baumann is dead.” The Waffen-SS guard said concisely.
“Show me.” Colonel Wolfgang was seething.
Jack felt something warm and soft stroking his forehead. He opened his eyes and found himself looking up into Sophie’s warm eyes.
“I thought that I had lost you forever.” She said as a single tear traced a path down her dirty cheek.
“There were a few times I thought you had too.” Jack shifted his weight eliciting a groan from Sophie. Jack saw the bloody rag wrapped around her wrist.
“Sophie, what have they done to you?” His voice faltered and his own eyes filled with tears.
Just then Colonel Wolfgang entered. Barking in his harsh German tone he ordered two of the men to take the professor to the foot of the pyramid and wait for him there. He then ordered the two Waffen-SS guards to lift Jack up.
“So, you are the man that owns this crippled slut.” He jeered.
Jack spat in his face. The Colonel drew back his fist and hit him in the mouth. Jack felt his knees go weak but the two guards held him up. Wolfgang drew back again and hit him in the ribs. A loud crack reverberated through the small room causing Sophie to scream.
“Stay here. Watch them.” Wolfgang exited the room and the two brutes dropped Jack to the ground. Sophie pulled him into her lap.
“I wish people would stop hitting me in the head!” Jack moaned, coughed, and then moaned again.
When Colonel Wolfgang returned to the Grand Pyramid Quaid Grissop was awaiting him.
“Where have you been?” The Colonel demanded.
“Exploring, that is why we came here isn’t it? Follow me I have something you need to see.”
“Later, the Marquis is waiting. Follow me for I have something that you need to see as well.”
Wolfgang led the way followed by Grissop and the two soldiers dragging the professor along behind. Entering the chamber they found Venoma with several of the gold books spread out across a black table that had risen from the floor.
“Arrogance, vanity, impudence, these are the true enemies of the intellect. Not religion, not mythology, nor even superstition.” Venoma began speaking at the sound of the group approaching but did not turn around. “The modern intellectual, not unlike yourself Professor, chooses to dismiss these ideologies as tools of the ignorant, a way for the fool to quantify the science he can never hope to comprehend.” Turning now he walked slowly toward the men.
“The intellectual has the audacity to deem himself as divine, rejecting as inane even the concept that a higher power exists. Why professor? Because to accept or even consider the tenet of fools would force him to admit that the possibility of an intellect greater than his did indeed exist.”
“He defiantly points his fist at the heavens declaring “Man is God! There is nothing supreme if it is not man!” Remove the shades from your eyes and see, here are possibilities that your great intellect could never hope to grasp. Humble yourself professor, unstop your ears, break open the seal upon your mind.” Venoma approached the professor and spoke in that low, hissing, sinister, voice.
“Gaze upon supremacy professor and deny it no more.”
Venoma signaled for the soldiers to bring the professor to the black table upon which the gold codex lay open. The books were made of wood overlaid with gold leaf and the pages were thin sheets of velum. Each page contained several mathematical equations. The professor was astonished at the complexity of the algorithms and the subtlety with which they were presented.
“It is time to prove your worth professor. You will begin with these formulas. I will expect an explanation of their value within the hour.”
“I need more time, there is too much information here,” he waved his hand at the shelves full of books. “It could take weeks or months to sort through so many variables.” Professor DeWulf decried.
“Then I hope your daughter can write with her teeth.” The Marquis said coolly.
“Leave the two privates here to watch him.” Venoma said to the Colonel as he walked out of the room.
Wolfgang and the two Waffen-SS guards followed the pale ghost out of the chamber. Schmidt skulked along behind like a cur. As they walked the Colonel gave a report to Venoma who paused when he heard that Jack had followed them here.
“Kill him! At once!”
“With pleasure sir.” Wolfgang grinned.
“Herr Venoma, I have found something that you and the Colonel need to see.” Quaid
interjected insistently.
“Very well.” Venoma agreed.
The Colonel gave orders to the two Waffen-SS guards to carry out the execution of the prisoner and then he, with Fritz following close behind, fell in with the others.
Grissop led them around the right side of the Grand Pyramid and then followed a broad sidewalk leading away from it. When they arrived at a point directly between two of the four tall black structures they came upon a descending stairway.
Grissop disappeared into the depths holding his lantern before him to light the way. The stairwell turned back on itself once so that the group came to the bottom facing back in the direction of the pyramid.
Grissop, Venoma, Wolfgang, Schmidt and Fritz were awestruck. They had entered a vast hangar housing dozens of sleek, golden airplanes. Each plane sat atop three stone pillars seven feet above the ground. Each machine sat with cockpits open and a set of retractable gold stairs for boarding extended below them.
“I was in here snooping around when the lights came on all of a sudden. Come on, there’s more.”
He led them across the floor and under several planes. Fritz and the Colonel each took the opportunity to climb a ladder and peek inside. The controls were similar to a modern airplane with a stick and a throttle but the controls for rudders and flaps were strangely absent and no instrumentation appeared anywhere that they could see.
They eventually came to a large room filled with what had to be flight suits. These were very complex with helmets and gloves that sealed to the main suit. Each suit was an intricate work of art, with no two alike. They all had similar form but each appeared to be tailor made for an individual.
“This is unbelievable!” Fritz words came unbidden and he instantly regretted it as everyone turned to stare at him.
“And yet Corporal, here it is before you.” Venoma disputed in a condescending tone.
The group returned to the camp where Venoma ordered them each to investigate the interior of one tier of the Grand Pyramid and report back in one hour.
“If anything of significance is discovered do not attempt to move or even touch it. Simply note its location and report back to me.”
“Corporal, you will accompany me.” Schmidt demanded.
“You have your orders you gutless recreant and the Corporal has his. Move out!” Wolfgang barked while looming over the petrified Major.
Each man took a flashlight or lantern in case he found an area that was not illuminated. Climbing the stairs they moved off one by one. Venoma headed for the top while Wolfgang started at the lower section. The other three chose randomly and began their search.
Schmidt moved up the Grand Pyramid in order to find a smaller level to investigate. Finding an entrance he hesitated before entering. The interior appeared well lit and so, deciding that the danger of entering the unknown was far less than that of running in to the Colonel outside, he moved cautiously inside.
The entry was the same as the level below just a bit narrower. Up ahead he could hear and feel the same pulsating rhythm he had encountered in the main chamber. Here though the interior room was laid out completely different.
Low black granite tables protruded from the walls at several locations around the room, in front of each was a more traditional chair that was clearly designed for a small child. This room felt less imposing than the larger room below. Schmidt saw portraits on the walls of winsome scenes, young animals, mothers and fathers at play with their children. It was all designed to be inviting and pleasant.
Schmidt decided that he would stay here for a little while and attempt to collect himself. Moving toward one of the tables he sat down in one of the small chairs. As he lowered himself into the seat the surface of the granite table in front of him liquefied and rose toward his face. From the ceiling above a gold helmet attached to a long gold braided cable descended toward his head.
He cautiously placed the helmet on his head. An unclear image appeared on the circular panel before him. Suddenly the morphing black liquid completely encircled his head and shoulders plunging him into utter blackness.
Schmidt screamed and struggled to get free. His ears popped as he felt the air pressure change around him. The dark interior in which he was trapped began to glow softly, specs of light formed on the interior black surface and gradually took form.
He found himself looking out across a clear blue sky, the green Amazon jungle rushing away below him as if he were soaring above it. He felt the wind rushing across his face and he smelled the scents of the jungle rising up to meet him. A flock of bright red and blue parrots crossed in front of him. One of these flew so close that he reflexively moved his head to avoid striking it feeling a soft feather brush his face as he did so.
He felt a light pinch at several points on his head under the gold helmet and suddenly he felt calm. The fear and anxiety left him as he was inundated with feeling of joyful harmony.
Then it came, like a wave washing over him. He saw the sleek gold airplane, not on the walls of the sphere but in his mind. The airplanes fuselage melted away exposing its skeleton, engine and mechanics. Each individual piece of the craft was broken down to its basest form and then reformed. As it did so he recognized that he now understood how it was to be assembled. As the engine approached completion he found himself calculating thrust vectors and aerodynamic control surfaces, fuel air mixture ratios and turbine speeds. As the plane approached complete reconstruction he realized that the images inside the black bubble were fading and the pressure holding him was waning. In another moment he found himself free of the device.
Schmidt felt incredibly relaxed. He stood up and moved to a second station. The entire process began again. As he felt the slight pinches tugging at his skull he saw what he now comprehended as a single plutonium atom floating in space. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a single neutron speeding toward the atom on a collision course.
A sudden flash of understanding washed over him. His heart raced and his mind reeled at the revelation of the violent and creative power he was witnessing. His awe and reverence soon faded to be replaced by fear and anxiety as he began to appreciate the terrible magnitude of knowledge he now possessed.
Unaware of Schmidt’s revelation below Venoma stood in front of the monolithic yellow triangular block resting atop the Grand Pyramid. Reaching out he laid his palms against the warm soft metal, he could feel the entire pyramid pulsating through this one point. He imagined the beings that had built this tower and this city. Who were they? From where had they come?
The Marquis Xavier de Venoma had learned at an early age that weakness led to vulnerability, vulnerability to stupidity and stupidity to helplessness. He abhorred the weak, designating them as parasites feeding on the blood of those naturally endowed with superior strength and intelligence, parasites slowly, inexorably leeching them of their strength until eventually both the weak and the strong perished.
Xavier Venoma would not tolerate such weakness. The earth needed to be rid of this scourge, this disease. He had recruited Hitler, Gerbils and Mengele, setting them on the path of liberation and reclamation. He had put his three Generals upon the road to eradicating this pestilence but soon discovered that they lacked the vision to accomplish this goal on a global scale.
Then, along came Major Schmidt with the artifact, the orb and Walter Ramsell’s diary describing an advanced race of men living here in South America. Venoma recruited Europe’s top scientist to unlock the orbs secrets. Professor DeWulf had brief success after combining the orb and the artifact but soon discovered that this process only revealed a minute fraction of the secrets it obstinately guarded.
“The object and its contents cannot be fully appreciated without discovering their source.” The professor had concluded. “A device much more sophisticated than the disc must exist. Only by linking the orb with that device could you ever hope to understand the full extent of its power.”
Following the professors advice he quickly planned
the expedition to Brazil. Colonel Wolfgang and his Waffen-SS assassins eliminated the scientists, who had failed so miserably in their attempts with the orb, and all others that had even cursory knowledge of its existence or of his plans to journey to the source of its power.
And now, that power was within his grasp. With it under his control he would cleanse the earth of all those infected with the disease of weakness, wiping them out so that they could not continue to pass on their genetic malformations. He could then begin to repopulate the earth with a race of men born in perfection thus creating a society as pure as the block of gold he now caressed with his white palms.
As he pondered the beings responsible for this gift a new thought flashed in his mind. What if he could make contact with them? Would a comingling of the races be possible? He imagined the offspring of such a union, genetic perfection, divine, with the ability to dwell not only upon a perfect earth but also to inhabit an unknown world existing on a celestial realm.
“Soon my brothers, I will find you soon.” He said aloud as he stared heavenward.
Venoma returned to the tier housing the main chamber. Entering he walked past the room depicting the aquatic scenes. Just before entering the main chamber, the hallway he was following split off at right angles to his left and his right, he turned left and followed it.
He discovered a second doorway marked with hieroglyphs similar to the ones near the aquatic room. This one however was blocked by a solid gold door. As Xavier passed his hands over the yellow door it suddenly, and quickly, receded into the wall. Inside the lights came on as he stepped over the threshold.
Inside was another room laid out exactly like the first with rows of chairs and a raised dais at its center. The paintings and murals here depicted agricultural scenes. Venoma’s eye was drawn to the center of the raised black dais. There, resting atop a familiar narrow black pedestal was a second orb. Rushing across the room he dropped to his knees in front of the small sphere.
It was exactly the same size as the first orb except this one was a dusky reddish brown color. Gazing at it deeply he found that he experienced the same feelings of vertigo as he did when he gazed into the blue stone. His mind was racing as he contemplated this discovery. Tearing himself away from the orb he quickly investigated the room, moving quickly as if he were looking for something specific.
“There you are.” He said softly.
Resting on a small shelf cradled in a granite display was a gold disc with a hole in its center exactly like the artifact from Ramsell’s satchel. Picking it up, he turned it over in his hands. On the one side were the now familiar hieroglyphs and on the other a two dimensional representation of the earth.
Returning to the dais he retrieved the red orb and rushed out of the room. As he exited the lights dimmed but the door remained open. Continuing down the hall it turned another corner and half way down he found a third doorway. Sliding his hands over its surface caused it to open and the lights to come up in the room beyond. Inside he found the same layout as the first two rooms. There on the dais resting in its cupped pedestal a third stone beckoned him. This third orb was a brilliant green and the disc that accompanied it bore an image representing wind.
Excited he left this room and continued around the next corner, entered a fourth and final room and found a bright orange and yellow orb, its accompanying artifact depicting fire. Earth, wind and fire! The blue orb retrieved by Walter Ramsell must have come from the first room they had discovered earlier and represented the fourth basic element of Water. Venoma slipped the orbs into his jacket pockets. With the remaining orbs in his possession he walked calmly back to the center of the pyramid and found Professor DeWulf pouring over a stack of gilded codecies near one of the small obelisk in the corner of the chamber.
“What have you to show me professor?” Professor DeWulf started at the sound of the Marquis voice.
“It is incredible! It is like nothing I have ever imagined. Like nothing anyone has ever imagined! It is so incredibly complex and yet so deceivingly simple. It matters little where one starts calculating, once you have solved an equation the next equation pairs with it perfectly, or you can open a different text, to any page, and find that the equations there are a continuation of the problem you just completed. It is beyond brilliant, beyond genius!”
As the professor was speaking, Fritz, after completing his search of the levels above, entered the grand chamber behind Venoma.
“These small crystal obelisks are electrochemical storage units.” Professor DeWulf continued. “The operator inserts the orb in this indentation, takes his place in the seat, places the headset upon his head and is then connected to the information stored within. An attendant would then control the flow of information from a panel next to the station. Knowledge is then literally downloaded into the recipients mind.”
“And the large obelisk?” Venoma walked to the tall crystal obelisk in the center of the room and rested his palm upon its surface.
“I don’t know. It is obviously a similar device but I have yet to determine why there are four separate receivers for the orb.”
“Perhaps these will solve the enigma.” Venoma removed the three orbs from his pockets.
“My God! Where did you find those?” The professor spoke excitedly forgetting that he was in a chamber of horrors surrounded by monsters. “Each orb must contain its own catalog of information. Perhaps when placed in the central crystal their separate content is somehow enhanced.”
“Show me.” Venoma said.
Professor DeWulf hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“No, it is too dangerous.” The professor warned. “I have no way of knowing the rate at which to download the information. I need more time to investigate and experiment with the small obelisk.”
“I am not asking you professor”. Venoma hissed.
Colonel Wolfgang and Grissop entered the room behind Fritz.
“But you don’t understand! The device literally creates new synaptic pathway’s, it floods the brain with neuro-transmitting chemicals, if the transfer is done too quickly the student could experience cerebral hemorrhaging leading to permanent brain damage or even death.”
“Then professor, it seems that we need a test subject.” Looking behind him he eyed Fritz greedily.
“The Corporal will volunteer.” He offered to the professor.
Fritz took a step backward only to bump into Colonel Wolfgang. He turned to see the giant man looming over him. Wolfgang placed a massive hand on the Corporals shoulder guiding him toward the large obelisk in the center of the room. The Corporal looked pleadingly at Grissop who lowered his gaze shamefully avoiding the boy’s eyes.
Fritz, trembling, reclined upon the golden chair, the Colonels hand resting heavily upon his chest. The professor stood over him with the headset in hand. He removed a soiled handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped the perspiration from his brow.
“Try to relax my boy.” The professor said apologetically while lowering the headset upon his head.
“Place the orbs in the receptacles.” He then said to Venoma.
Behind the four men, unseen, Schmidt looked on from the shadows of the hallway
As the Marquis inserted the orbs the four smaller obelisks glowed brightly, the pyramids pulsating tempo increased, and the large obelisk, now brightly illuminated from within kept time. A black panel rose from a section of now liquefied floor and morphed into a panel similar to the one that had appeared near the smaller obelisk. The professor stepped up to operate the controls as they solidified.
“I will start at the lowest setting.” He announced nervously.
Fritz entire body jerked as Professor DeWulf manipulated the controls. Colonel Wolfgang maintained his hold on the Corporal. A low whine was added to the hum of the pulsating pyramid. Fritz body relaxed and his eyes began moving rapidly in their sockets.
“More.” Venoma spoke never removing his eyes from Fritz face.
DeWulf moved his han
ds over the panel. Instantly Fritz took in a sharp breath, the pulsating tempo increased and the whine intensified. This continued for a full minute before Venoma spoke again.
“More.”
Professor DeWulf placed his hand upon Fritz wrist feeling his racing pulse. He eyed Venoma critically but then increased the rate of the transfer. Fritz teeth snapped together, his eyes rolled back in his head and his body tensed. Blood formed at the corner of his mouth. The pulsating tempo throbbed loudly and rapidly like the beating of a frightened heart. The whine was now irritatingly loud. Colonel Wolfgang took a step back releasing his grip on the Corporal.
“This is madness!” Professor DeWulf exclaimed. “I am stopping this.”
Venoma removed a Luger pistol from inside his jacket and pointed it at Fritz temple. He eyed DeWulf knowingly.
“More!”
Professor DeWulf hesitantly complied, shame and remorse washing across his face. The pulsating tempo came so fast it seemed more like a clicking noise now. The whining became unbearably loud. Conduits of pulsating light appeared in the black floor flowing toward the large crystal obelisk. Loud thuds could be heard echoing from outside the Grand Pyramid. Two sickening pops were heard above the din, one immediately following the other, blood and clear spinal fluid burst from Fritz ear canals leaving trails of red droplets across the chair.
The young man’s eyelids opened as his eyes began bulging from the sockets. Schmidt turned and ran from the room. The big Colonel backed away, his mouth agape. Venoma lowered the weapon, transfixed by the display of power and technology.
“If he dies you will never know if the attempt was successful.” The professor shouted over the cacophony.
Venoma conceded and nodded his agreement. DeWulf quickly terminated the procedure. Fritz body relaxed and he exhaled and then inhaled deeply. The floor returned to solid black, the tempo returned to its slow steady drum and the piercing whine disappeared. After several moments his protruding eyes retreated back into the skull. Blood dripped from his ears and the corners of his mouth. Coughing, he spit out pieces of broken teeth. He then seized violently.
After ten minutes of relative silence fritz moaned and stirred. When his eyes opened they were swollen and stained purplish red with blood from ruptured vessels.
“Can you hear me my boy?” The professor asked in a kindly tone.
“It hurts.” Fritz reached up with one hand to feel his ear. Tears ran down his cheeks and his chin quivering from the intense pain.
“Tell me, what did you see?” Venoma demanded.
Fritz studied the man staring down at him, the one, freakish, blood red eye boring into his own. He understood what the Marquis wanted. He understood everything now.
“Tell me!” Venoma grasped Fritz chin between his thumb and fingers. Fritz began shaking violently caught in the grip of another violent seizure. Venoma turned and slowly walked away, Colonel Wolfgang following close behind.
Grissop moved to where the professor stood over Fritz. He could see that the young Corporal would not survive. The seizure lasted a full minute and after several more he opened his eyes. Reaching out he grabbed Grissop’s shirt, pulled him close, and spoke.
“You must stop him! The Xingu… are not… human!” He said in a weak, cracking voice.