The Sixth Seal полностью

“It can’t be…” Henri muttered.

“What is it, sir?” Emil asked.

Luka glanced at him. “A bunker… beneath a hangar… beneath a bunker?”

Henri swallowed. He’d heard of what the Sixth Seal had called their ‘Holy Grail,’ but he’d never been told what exactly it was. The object had a name that resonated through the organizational hierarchy.

“The Reliquary. This is it.” He didn’t care who was around to hear what he had to say. Present company deserved the knowledge.

Two of the sharpshooters whispered to one another. This time, Henri didn’t berate them.

“The Reliquary?” Emil asked.

Henri hadn’t spoken the name aloud in nearly twenty years. “A few years after I joined, I began looking into the Nazis’ Antarctic expeditions. I was curious and wanted to know more about what really happened here. So, I asked some questions and was told of an object the founders had revered above all others. It was said that if Himmler and Krause could have, they would have gladly given up the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Spear of Destiny for the Reliquary in a trade if they’d been offered it.”

He stepped closer. “I said that, surely, two men of such esteem couldn’t be so foolish. Nothing could be worth what the other three are worth. The answer I was given changed my outlook on what we sought. It was quite simple, actually. I was told that worth was not the same as value. While the Jewish relics may be priceless to some, the Reliquary was infinitely more valuable in regard to the Sixth Seal. This is the pinnacle for us.”

“Do you know what it is?” Emil asked.

“Truthfully, no, I do not,” Henri replied, “though I have my suspicions.”

“Sir, if we may know,” Emil said. “Who told you this?”

Henri turned his head and stared into the eyes of his faithful lieutenant. “Ulrich Krause.”

“Herr Krause’s own son divulged such information willfully?” Luka asked. That was the first question he had asked since laying eyes on the fabled item of Himmler’s heart.

“He did. Truth be told, he never fully believed in his father’s secrecy. He said it made his people feel unwanted — like they didn’t matter — like they were merely tools. Though, there were some things that he did not tell even me. However, I suspect that it was for safety rather than secrecy.”

“We do it for the Sixth Seal, Commander,” Luka said. “That should be enough.”

Henri faced the idealistic boy. “Talk to me in twenty years, Master Chief. Time can whittle your resolve down to nothing. Sometimes, a soldier wants nothing more than to just understand.” He adjusted his gaze and burned holes into the Reliquary’s doorway. “I know I do.”

Without another word, Henri stomped across the bridge. He didn’t test it or give it a second look. He was on a mission, and nothing else mattered. Even his quest for the Mengele journal had been pushed to the back burner for the time being. All he cared about was getting down to the core of Tobias Krause’s secrecy.

Commander Henri Vogel simply wanted to understand.

As he approached the solid-black barrier, he noticed a metallic box had been installed just outside the bottom right corner of it. Henri tapped the side of the lid with his foot. It swung open to reveal a lone red button. He kicked it with the tip of his boot and stepped back when the door whooshed open.

He leveled his rifle at the corridor on the other side, then stepped through.

The cables ended in a vast, pitch-black room. It seemed that the designers of this spacecraft had preferred enormous spaces.

Maybe they were claustrophobic?

Zahra’s mind was whirling with questions and hypotheses. Most of the inquiries didn’t make any sense, and the theories were so outlandish that it made standing in a spaceship feel downright normal.

“Should I press it?”

She blinked and saw that Yana was standing in front of another wall-mounted red button. The Sixth Seal hadn’t seemed to mind defiling this place despite what it meant to them.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Zahra replied. “They haven’t failed us yet.”

Yana shrugged, placed her palm on the button, and pushed. One after the other, levitating orbs blinked to life. Zahra moved underneath one and tried to figure it out, but she couldn’t. It just sat there, hovering in the middle of nothing, and did what lights do. It blinked, throbbed, pulsated, as if powered by magic.

Another one came to life.

Then another.

As the domed room came into view, Zahra noticed that the cables ran to a central console and stopped.

“Looks like we found our power supply.”

“And that,” Yana said. “What the hell is that?”

Zahra didn’t know. To her, it looked like a motorcycle simulation game, but instead of having a customary handlebar, it possessed dual flight control sticks.

Okay, that’s rad.