The Trinity Paradox by Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Kevin J. Anderson [Anderson, Kevin J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1614751099
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 1991-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

13

Peenemunde Experimental Rocket Station December 1943

“We have developed this weapon. We can service it and put it to tactical use. It was not our task to assess its psychological effect, its usefulness in present conditions, or its strategic importance in the general picture.”

—General Walter Dornberger, head of Peenemunde

“Europe and the world will be too small from now on to contain a war. With such weapons, humanity will be unable to endure it.”

—Adolf Hitler

The white cuffs of the Peenemunde estuary reminded Esau of the chalk cliffs of Dover. Graham Fox had taken him there one humid day when they were students at Cambridge. They had made a picnic on the grass, listening to the distant crashing surf, arguing esoteric points about the nature of the universe....

The cold wind of winter removed the charm from the Baltic coast, made Peenemunde look harsh and hellish—a perfect place to be building a secret weapon of destruction. Esau imagined that the waters of the bay here would also be quiet in the summertime; the brown and broken reeds he saw now would be green, a place for ducks to gather. Above the low hills on the mainland side of the Peene River, he could see the red-brick tower of the Wolgast Cathedral and rooftops of the nearby village.

Across the Peenemunde experimental site Esau located dozens of craters; some from failed rocket launches that had fallen back and exploded near the test stands; others from the Allied bombing raid of the previous August.

Esau had not slept well on the long train ride to the northern coast. He never could relax in the crowded closeness of other passengers, the rattling movement of the train, the drafts whistling through the windows. People were not meant to sleep while war-torn scenery rushed by during the day, while villages came and went, some lighted and some dark, all through the night.

His mouth still carried an onion-and-sausage aftertaste from the meal he had eaten during a long stop at Leipzig. When the train pulled into the Berliner station at midnight, Esau longed to disembark and go home, change clothes, clean himself, and get a good rest. He could take another train the following morning.

But Speer would find out. The Reichminister had given him very clear orders. So Esau remained on the train, staring out the window with sleepy eyes at the echoing, uncrowded station, knowing he had to arrive in Peenemunde as soon as possible. He asked the conductor for another blanket, but it failed to warm him from the winter chill.

Somewhere out there, people were trying to ignore the war and get ready for Christmas. Esau had no wife or children to bother about such things, and all those whom he might call his friends were merely colleagues, and colleagues did not treat each other for holidays. Especially not in times like these.

He drank several cups of tea the next morning and ate a croissant. The train arrived at Stettin just after sunrise, and Esau transferred to a different train. They reached Wolgast an hour later.

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