'Yes,' Wilson said, feeling impatient, 'I already know that. But are you exploiting the Lebensborns for our purposes?'

'Yes,' Ernst said, sounding weary. 'For the past eighteen months, when not actually at k.u.mmersdorf, I've been organizing the kidnapping of thousands of racially valuable children from all over Europe, as well as the Soviet Union, and shipping them to the many Lebensborns now spread throughout the Reich, where they undergo special training to Germanize them. The past records of such children are erased and their parents, if not exterminated, are not told where they are. Within weeks of arriving at the Lebensborns, the children can remember little of their past, have been given new names which also helps them to lose their former ident.i.ty and have been taught that they haven't descended from the ape, but from the SS. Given their political indoctrination and total devotion to the Reich, these children, when they become of age, will voluntarily take part in our human stock breeding and go on to create the racially perfect, totally loyal, new breed of man, to be controlled by our n.a.z.i elite in our SS colonies under the ice. You should be proud of me, Wilson.'

It was a slight attempt at levity, so Wilson smiled at him, then glanced up at the bombers heading for England. 'How are things going in Neuschwabenland?'

'Progress is slow and painful, but at least it's being made. Many workers have already been shipped out from the camps and are digging out their underground accommodations in terrible circ.u.mstances. The death rate is high from cold, exhaustion, and often hunger but the first underground area will soon be cleared. More men and materials will then be shipped in, and by the end of next year, we should be able to start shipping in the scientists, as well as the first children from the Lebensborns. It is your side of the work, Herr Wilson, that is now moving slowly.'

'Time is of the essence, I know, but this thing can't be hurried.'

'You must understand,' Ernst said, 'that since the defeat in Russia, our beloved Reichsfhrer is becoming even more concerned that we perfect your flying saucer which he views as the ultimate weapon and also ensure that the underground s.p.a.ce in Neuschwabenland is completed and fully manned before the present war comes to an end.'

'The present war?'

'As you know,' Ernst replied rather stiffly, almost offended, 'this war is merely the prelude to a thousand-year war the one that will turn the German soldier into the Superman.'

'Ah, yes,' Wilson said, amused by Stoll's pa.s.sionate sincerity, 'that war.'

'Yes,' Ernst echoed him, 'that war. And ever since Stalingrad, which marked the beginning of the end of this war, the Reichfhrer has become almost desperate to ensure that everything is prepared for our escape to Antarctica.'

'But everything is being prepared, as you've just so vividly demonstrated.'

'Not fast enough,' Ernst said. 'That's why he wants another test flight of the flying saucer. He views it as the most vital part of our operation an undefeatable weapon, as well as a means of flying in and out of there with impunity and he's growing worried that it will not be completed in time.'

'I'm sure it will be,' Wilson said, 'though nothing under the sun is guaranteed.'

'It has to be,' Ernst replied, 'so let's hope that this test flight is successful. Otherwise there'll be trouble.'

'From Himmler?'

'Yes.'

Wilson had to force himself not to grin. The car had reached k.u.mmersdorf, and as the driver slowed down on the approach road to the research centre, where high barbed-wire fences surrounded flat, windblown fields, he tried to imagine the expression on Rudolph Schriever's face when the flying saucer, which he was claiming as his own, failed to fly. Wilson knew it wouldn't fly. He had ensured that it would not, because its failure would give him what he needed to get rid of Schriever and place Stoll on his side.

He had it all worked out.

When their papers had been checked at the heavily guarded gate, they were waved through and proceeded along the road, past the old firing range, now overgrown, to the research centre's collection of ugly, corrugated-iron and concrete hangars, which also were protected by heavily armed SS troops.

On Stoll's instructions, the driver took them between two of the hangars and parked at the far end. There, in an open s.p.a.ce between the firing range and an overgrown hillock, the latest version of the socalled 'Schriever' saucer was sitting on its lowered steel platform, prepared for takeoff. The gas turbine rotors that had been housed in the previous model's four hollow legs had been replaced with a series of variable jet nozzles arranged all around the outer rim, just below the saucer's centre of gravity. Combined with the machine's lack of rudders, ailerons, or other protruding surfaces, this gave it a more graceful, seamless appearance.

Looking eerily beautiful in the fading mist of late morning, the saucer appeared to tower over the men who were either working around it or simply observing it from behind the concrete bunkers and heat shields placed across the hangar's open doors. Even as Wilson and Stoll clambered out of the car, Himmler was being escorted from of the hangar, his pince-nez reflecting the sunlight. He was accompanied by his usual bodyguards. Schriever, again in his flying suit, walked proudly beside him. Himmler stopped advancing when he saw Wilson and Stoll coming toward him.

'Ah!' he said softly. 'Captain Stoll and our American genius! I thought we had lost you.'

'No, Reichsfhrer,' Ernst replied, stopping with Wilson in front of him. 'We were checking the progress of the medical and surgical experiments at one of the Ahnenerbe hospitals.'

'Impressive, are they not?'

'Yes, sir.'

'And many of them were suggested by Herr Wilson, here, who is nothing if not fecund in many fields.'

'Thank you, Reichsfhrer,' Wilson said, then nodded coolly at Flugkapitn Rudolph Schriever, whose darkly handsome, saturnine features were illuminated with the glow of his newly found arrogance. 'Are you looking forward to the test flight, Flugkapitn?'

'Yes, Herr Wilson, I am. I have the confidence that the saucer will fly this time.'

Wilson smiled. 'I hope so.'

'I am always a little confused,' Himmler said in his quietly probing, slightly sardonic manner, 'as to who is responsible for what regarding this saucer. According to certain sources, including yourself, Flugkapitn Schriever here is mostly responsible for the machine; according to others, the credit should go to you. Who, then, do I praise or blame should this machine fly or crash?'

'I am willing to take the blame if it crashes,' Schriever said too quickly, thus demonstrating an unexpected slyness at taking the credit for the machine. However, while Wilson had previously let him take most of the credit, in the hope that he would not attempt to bite the hand that fed him by badmouthing him to Himmler, he now had good reason for taking the blame for what was about to happen.

'No, Reichsfhrer,' he said. 'I cannot let Schriever do that. I must confess that I'm responsible for the latest innovations in this model particularly the multidirectional jet-propulsion system and if anything goes wrong, and I pray it won't, the blame is all mine.'

Convinced that the machine would work and that Wilson was trying to steal his credit, Schriever turned red and was just about to retort when Stoll, after giving Wilson a puzzled glance, said diplomatically, 'I think we better begin the test, gentlemen, while conditions are excellent.'

'Of course,' Himmler said.