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Page 2
A Scramble In Time
Chapter 2: The Plot Room - Hut 3
By Feldmarshall Edwin Rommel
Early the next morning, Rommel is awakened by some weird music playing over huge speakers dotted around the Sonder funkgerat eprobungs gruppe (Sfeg) compound. He wipes the frozen condensation from the bottom windowpane of his bedroom and peers outside through the frosted glass.In front of hut three, something really weird is happening- all the scientists are dressed in boxer shorts and vests, and they are doing some sort of very lively callisthenics to the beat of a catchy tune. They are all chanting- Rommel opens the window and just manages to catch the words sung:
"Dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegria y cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena Hey, Macarena"
It sounds Spanish- probably something they picked up during the civil war-
Unseen by all- Rommel starts following the gyrations of the scientists in the square outside- finishing off with a wild swing of his hips which upends his beside table- the loud crash brings him back to reality.
He struggles into his clothes, and bursts outside -
"All right ZHAT IS ENOUGH- Back to vork- Right now!- Herr Doktor Hanz Kugelblitz- Mein Office right now!"
A few minutes later, Kugelblitz is in Rommel's office- sweat streaming from his flushed face, and little specks of blood oozing from the numerous cuts on his face.
"Kugelblitz- and vhot vas ze meaning of zhat show outside- zhis ist ein Military operation, not ein dancing school- EXPLAIN!"
"Ach Herr General Rommel- it woz just somevhot zhat we picked from ze radio waves und it woz zo catching and ve worked out ze moves und decided to use it for ze morning exercise rather zhan ze Brandenburg concerto……."
"ZHAT vill schtop immediately- bring all ze records to mein office right now- und prepare yourself for ein inspection of your plotting facility right after breakfast- DISMISS"
As Kugelblitz leaves, Rommel catches himself moving his hands is a planned rhythm, ending slapping himself on the bottom with the phrase "Hey Macarena" ringing in his ears.
"Scheiss"
After a breakfast of ersatz eggs on stale bread followed by ersatz coffee- Rommel sets off to inspect Hut 3 to learn more about the activities of Sfeg.
Inside Hut 3, most of the floor-space is taken up by a plotting table- looking at the diagram on the table, Rommel realises that it is an huge almanac starting from 1930 and running up to 2005- Various marks and pencilled notes are made next to dates. Outside the hut two men are taking measurements with a tape measure between the pegs being planted by Hanz Kugelblitz. Hanz is out there- doing his usual light bulb in the mouth routine.
The rest of the room is taken up by a stack of boxes lined with soft straw, and row upon row of lightbulbs- empty crates of similar configuration are stacked outside the building. In a corner a man with extremely thick glasses and long unkempt hair is busy tapping away at an adding machine, pulling the lever on the side from time to time and then rushing over to the plot table to make a note at a predetermined spot on the almanac.
Rommel strolls over. "Vho are you und vhot are you doing?"
The man slowly focuses on Rommel through the tick glasses, as if coming back from a long journey- " Ach- Bitte- Zorry Herr General- Ich bin Klaus Numberkruncherz- and I am doing the event calculation plotting"
"Ja- Guten Tag- Vhot is zhis event calculation plotting"
"Ach- quite elementary really- If you take ze square root of the natural logarithm of the Avagrado constant times the speed of light in ze vacuum and divide zhat mit ze probability curve of a normal distribution of points according to the Berrilini pr…."
"Himmel Numberkruncherz - enough- Schtop- tell me in plain Germlish- vhot are you doing…"
"Ach … let's see- uhmmm… Ja- Good- .. uhmm- Vell it is like zhis- Zhis place in ze Hartz mountains are one of three places in ze world that a time discontinium fracture"
"NUMBERKRUNCHERZ !"
"Himmel- hmmmm- Ja- zhis place time stands still for somewhere in ze future?- And time then signals the future event to zhis spot on earth in the form of a radio message and a high energy field- This energy field can be detected by a few rare people- like Doktor Kugelblitz for instance. By measuring the position of the highest energy field relating it's position relative to previously identified events, it ist possible to determine when such an event will take place…"
"NUMBERKRUNCHERZ !"
" Ach Himmel- Herr General- follow me- "
The pair go outside, and Rommel follows Numberkruncherz to a small cluster of pegs marked with a label "3 September 1939"- a couple of centimeters away to the north is another cluster of pegs marked "17 December 1939"- some way off is another cluster- this time marked "? 1945" Several metres away single pegs marks specific dates- some slightly south or north or east or west of the main line.
"Herr General- these larger clusters of pegs show high activity and because of the messages linked to the activity, we have been able to deduct that the dates for the start of WW2 and the date of the sinking of the Graf Spee are correct. By measuring the distance and direction to other pegs we can calculate when and where the event mentioned in the accompanying radio message will take place, and where the message originated."
"Himmel- und zhis is accurate"
"As long as we have no electrical or magnetic interference at the moment of the event- Ja- it ve have ein von in ten chance of being right. The problem is that the force field zhat comes to earth here does not trap all messages, and sometimes the messages gets mixed up- but of some of ze messages is very clear und easy to trace- have you heard of ze Macarena?"
" NUMBERKRUNCHERZ …. Don't you schtart mit zhat- Vhere is ze messages heard und schtored?"
"Zhat vould be in Hut 2 Herr General- If you vould excuse me- ze measurements are falling behind"
"Ja- good- Hut 2 hmmmm….."
With a funny somewhat bouncy step and involuntary hand movements, Rommel heads for hut 2- If you listened closely you would have heard him hum, ending the hum in something sounding like "heymakarena" every time.
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Go to: Chapter 3: Sorting Through The Future
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