Black Sun Reich by Trey Garrison

Author:Trey Garrison
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-10-31T13:00:00+00:00

The deliberations were short but heated. The Freehold’s commitment to neutrality was constantly tested by threats that advocates of security said required preemptive action. But such action would undermine the very fiber of the Freehold, others argued.

“Even acting independent of Austin, our every action contrary to neutrality taints the very core of our souls,” Fan said. “Everytime we make an exception, it becomes easier to make an exception.”

“We aren’t the government,” Don Ricardo said. “Our bylaws, in fact, forbid members of the committee from ever holding office, and prevent those who have held office from becoming committee members. We do what we do precisely because we don’t want a government doing these things.”

“Yes,” Manitou said, “but every time we act, I wonder if we don’t wear away at that wall of separation. It’s so easy to look into the abyss and become the monster we behold. To become what we hold in contempt. I will vote for action, but I do so with the gravest of reservations. It’s one thing when we act against external, individual threats. Acting against a sovereign nation is a dangerous precedent to set.”

“Any step toward the path of war is a step in the wrong direction,” said von Mises, a Great War veteran who had served in the Austrian army before defecting. “But we can’t be so cautious that we invite the very aggression we want to deter.”

The committee voted for action, with two votes in dissent.

Libby Rae Melvin, who headed the committee—mein Gott, the fate of the world in the hands of a woman who served coffee and sausages? Deitel thought—said the committee was backing Lysander Benjamin’s move.

“But what is your plan?” she asked, demanding detail.

Lysander slid on his glasses and pulled out several of the napkins in his pockets to go over his notes.

“Ah, yes. We’ve engaged the university’s Difference Engine to run the probabilities on the genetic architecture that Himmler’s scientists have been working from. The contamination in the Damned Lands, you know. We, er, already have some knowledge, including the sample of nachtmann tissue that our agent Alissa Rosenbaum brought back from Russia,” Lysander explained. “The catalyst, though—the unknown driver here—was what the Ahnenerbe team found in Rome and Sardinia and wherever else they’ve been of late. We, er, believe it’s connected to the Lance of Longinus. This has been confirmed by our man inside the Black Sun, Robin.”

“The Lance of what?” Fan asked.

“Also called the Spear of Destiny, the Holy Lance, or the Spear of Christ,” Lysander said. “It was, um, the spear used by a certain Roman soldier to pierce the heart of a rabbi who was crucified by Pontius Pilate. The legend holds that it was sanctified in the blood of the living Christ, and that whoever wields it will be invincible. Naturally, the legend doesn’t say how. Oh no, that would be too useful.”

He pulled more notes from his pockets. Deitel noticed they were all written in some kind of cipher—meaningless scratches and scribbles to anyone but Lysander.

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