The Sixth Seal полностью

Not capsules. Zahra decided. They’re stasis pods.

“It’s true,” Hammet said, holding his head with both hands. “They actually found it. The rumors are true.”

Zahra needed confirmation. “Are those—”

“Yes,” Hammet swiftly replied, “This isn’t some ultra-modern laboratory, Zahra.” He looked at her. “It’s a spacecraft.” He pointed at the mass of pods. “They’re aliens.”

Zahra didn’t know what to think. She could only say, “Aliens?”

Hammet nodded. “Ever since Alfred Ritscher was sent to Antarctica, there have been rumors that the Nazis had been in search of UFOs or other objects of extraterrestrial origin.”

“But as we now know,” Yana added, “the Nazis were here much earlier than that — that’s why the rumors started. When do you think they discovered all this?”

Hammet shrugged. “Impossible to know.”

“Huh, cheeky bastards,” Zahra said, lost in a thought. Yana and Hammet faced Zahra. She explained. “A reliquary is constructed to hold holy relics, right? Well, Hitler and Himmler were obsessed with religious artifacts, specifically those pertaining to Jesus Christ, God in the Flesh. It was right here the entire time.” She swept her hand out of the field of stasis pods. “Himmler and Dietrich Krause believed these beings were their gods. Hitler would have, too, but it’s pretty clear that he wasn’t involved.”

Yana closed her eyes and rubbed them. “Leave it to the Nazis to discover alien life and decide to build a murderous cult around them.”

Zahra grinned. “Yeah, real shocker, right?” She took a deep breath and shook out her shivering hands. “Project Fleshgod was a program that sought to adapt alien DNA to human beings. Or to… borrow that DNA in other ways.” She glanced at Hammet. “Would you like to tell the class why, Herr Braun?”

He sighed and looked down at his feet. “A supersoldier program,” he returned his gaze to the pods, “based on extraterrestrial genetic material found inside a spaceship. A spaceship that’s been stuck in the ice in Antarctica for God knows how long.”

Yana chuckled. “Never thought I’d hear that in my lifetime. Or see it!”

“Same,” Zahra said. “This is…”

“Ridiculous?” Yana finished.

Zahra smiled. “That’s the perfect word, actually.”

“The Nazis tried something similar before,” Hammet added, “minus the alien DNA, of course. They experimented on POWs with a performance-enhancing drug called D-IX. The idea was to, quote, ‘redefine the limits of human endurance’ by granting their soldiers the ability to last longer and fight harder.”

“Wow,” Yana said, “they really did try the whole Steve Rogers thing, didn’t they?”

“They tried…”

They stood in the eerie space in silence and took in the pods again. Zahra was surprised by how simple they looked, but she had to admit there was a certain elegance to that simplicity. From what she could see, they were just a base with a domed lid. Then again, she couldn’t see the inner workings of the base. She also didn’t know if the lid was more than just a lid or performed some other crucial duty as well.

No chance these are just lids. Has to be some sort of built-in life support system. She thought back to the computer components back in the walls, floor, and ceiling of the corridor behind her. Nothing was what it seemed here.

“How many are there, do you think?” Hammet asked.

“One hundred and fifty-five,” Yana replied. She shrugged. “I started counting as soon as we walked in.”

Two sets of stairs gave them access to the sea of stasis pods. One flight went left, and the other went right. The steps were taller and deeper than they should have been. It made sense since they weren’t designed for people.

They were designed for aliens.

She shook her head and took the left-hand stairs, carefully descending them with Yana and Hammet in tow. Zahra should have been more cautious, but she couldn’t help it.

She headed straight for the nearest stasis pod. Inside was a nude, humanoid body floating in shimmering golden ooze. Its body rippled with muscle, and its face… its face was remarkably human. Long hair billowed around it. He was handsome, too. Zahra knew it was a him because of the being’s impressive manhood.

But these aren’t men, Zahra reminded herself. Still, the resemblance was uncanny.

She recalled several books and movies about human beings from the future traveling back in time to start over. Is that who these “people” were? Zahra didn’t know what to believe. For now, she was sticking with their original belief that they were beings from across the cosmos.

They were aliens.

“Oh, hello,” Yana said, leaning close to the lid. “And what’s your name? Let me guess: Dix E. Normous?”

“Look at this one.” They turned and found Hammet standing in front of an open pod. The domed lid was flipped back, and the body was gone. “Doesn’t look forced open.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Yana said, kneeling to inspect the lid.