Chapter 279: The Golden Apple
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Rundi
April 13, 1945, rain.
It was raining in Berlin.
The expression on everyone’s face was gloomy, just like the clouds above the Berlin sky.There was tragic news from afar. After a few days of intense battle on the streets, Vienna had finally fallen to the hands of the Soviets. At the same time, Koenigsberg had also fallen, those polar bears have finally achieved the dream they didn’t manage to accomplish for a few centuries – claim the capital of East Prussia.
There has been no good news from the east line for a long time. The same was happening to the west line.
Anyone knew it was the end of the Reich.
As a soldier, excuse me for making too many comments on the fate of the Reich, but from a husband, a father perspective, I would rather the UA citizens arrive in Berlin first.
God, what am I even saying?
–
April 14, fog.It was foggy. Perhaps it is going to turn sunny soon.
There was good news. Whether the east line or the west line, they didn’t send back any worse news.
There was no better news than this. But everyone knew, this was the quietness before the storm.
In the morning, I received an order for a position change.
Should I say the moment finally came? Even though I took on an office role, this is the moment I have to carry a rifle and shed my last blood for the Reich?
Things didn’t go as I had planned, you would never guess who I saw.
In the Berlin presidential building’s basement, I saw the glorious leader!
I could not describe the excitement in my heart. I haven’t heard his inspiring speech for a long time. A lot of people said that he ran away with his mistress, but at that moment, all the rumors were wrong. He was still in Berlin! He still stood with us.
Although his face looked wrier compared to the last time he appeared in public, his voice still remained inspiring.
He chatted with me for half an hour and asked me a lot of things. It was hard to believe a nobody like me deserved a meeting with him. I sat face to face with the magnificent him and talked about the history of Berlin.
When the topic came to an end, he asked me about my loyalty.
I said, “If you need me, I can carry my gun to fight for you to the death now. Whether it is the east side or the west side.”
He said, “Rather than death, I have a more important mission to give you.”
Hard to believe, the great leader personally granted me the iron cross emblem.
I was anxious. I didn’t achieve anything in the army, and I am not even a soldier in the frontline. What do I have in me to receive such an honor?
But his words eliminated all of my concerns.
“If you can complete the mission I am about to give you, your contribution to the Third Reich will be deserving of this emblem.”
I took the locked briefcase he gave to me.
Then, I was taken out of the basement.
I didn’t even get to see my wife and daughter for the last time. I got on the Me262B booster jet and flew to Norway.
To be honest, I didn’t want to see them for the last time. Because I already have the feeling that this might be a one-way trip.
…
April 15, sunny.
Perhaps, this will be my last time recording the weather in this diary, at least in the upcoming few months.
We headed out from the depth of the sea along with the U-234 in different directions while aiming for the same destination – far east, Japan.
The moment when I boarded the submarine, I realized the critical nature of the circumstance.
There were 14 people including me. All of them were important people, with the lowest level being a Sargent. If it was not for the iron cross emblem, I don’t even know if they would even look at me as a person. But funny enough, no one paid attention to the emblem in front of me, but instead seemed to be more interested in the briefcase in my hand.
Based on etiquette, everyone introduced themselves. Air force commander, land force colonel, vessel cannon specialist… I was just a communication soldier.
God, they are the elites of the Reich, why would they be here? Sitting with a nobody like me, taking the U boat to execute a mission to send a “message”?
…
April 20.
Based on what the captain said, we are navigating in the north Atlantic ocean heading to the south Atlantic ocean.
Because we were in the sea, someone finally stood up to describe the mission details.
This submarine contained the peek of the Third Reich military technology, such as the diagrams and parts of the V2 rockets, “Junke ” jet engine, Tiger tank drawings, Me-262 fighter’s all parts and design prints.
These military technologies and weapon samples will be taken to Tokyo.
As to the ten barrels, the captain didn’t really know either. He just categorized them as a raw material used for some kind of weapon.
The atmosphere in the submarine was silent. People whispered amongst each other, or rather spend the time sleeping to decrease the time awake. The only person willing to speak to me was a nuclear physicist named Fabian. Although I didn’t understand what nuclear physics exactly is, it didn’t interfere with our friendship.
He said, in this environment, only when people chat with people could they maintain a healthy mind. I agree with his perspective. When I am not writing in the diary, we will talk about other things.
…
April 22.
Today we talked about nuclear physics, although I have absolutely no idea what it is.
U-235. Based on what Fabian said, it is an ominous set of letter and numbers. It was the code for this U boat, as well as the shortened form of Uranium 235.
I didn’t know what Uranium 235 stood for, and I only heard him say it. This thing can be used to create a powerful bomb. He told me mysteriously if we could bring this ten barrels of uranium to Japan, we can change history.
I scoffed at the comment, even without going on the battlefield, I knew that a few bombs would not change the victor of the battle. If it could, we already would have done it. We sent at least ten thousand rounds of shells to London.
“But this bomb is different compared to the other ones.”
“Is that so? What about the V2 rocket?”
Fabian laughed contemptuously.
“It is comparable to the combined total of all V1, and V2 rockets launched to London.”
Okay, I think he is a little insane now.
…
May 4.
The situation is becoming worse.
The Goliath signal station responsible for providing direction for us suddenly lost communication. Immediately, the main navy signal station in Berlin Nahn had also lost contact.
With the intermittent reception of telegrams, the most worrisome thing we feared still happened.
Germany already announced its surrendering, the Reich’s navy commander Dunnitz had ordered all U boats to immediately surface, put out the white flag and surrender to the Ally force.
Everyone was silent.
Someone suggested this may be a conspiracy set up by the allies’ intelligence department. But someone pointed out, it may be the cause, since the moment when they boarded the submarine, Berlin was already in a dire situation.
The co-captain suggested opening radio silence to confirm the validity of the information. But the captain didn’t accept his proposal as he ordered to continue.
U-235 is not part of the force as it directly listened to the order of the leader, there was no need to listen to Dunnitz. The destination is Tokyo.
Regardless, the submarine continued to cruise. But I could clearly sense, not everyone was pleased with the order, including the captain himself.
…
May 10.
We just sailed by Argentina as we entered the Pacific ocean from the most southern tip of South UA.
By now, we should finally escape the allies fleet chasing us.
But no one feels happy about this good news.
Germany already surrendered, but we are the soldiers of Germany, is there a point for us to continue fighting?
Perhaps we should surrender to the nearby ally force, as long as we are careful not to meet the British, the UA citizens should let us go home. Since we didn’t commit any crimes, the U boat since its departure didn’t even fire a single torpedo.
…
May 11.
Another unfortunate thing happened, but it was not from outside the submarine, it was from inside the submarine.
Someone died. It was Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand. He overdosed on sleeping pills. It was a suicide.
…
May 14.
When I was writing this diary, Fabian had gone insane. He was muttering something repeatedly
I didn’t understand his insane words. “This is not physics. We made a mistake since the start.” “It is not a particle, no, it is not even tangible.” “It is not that the current technology can’t detect it, it doesn’t exist in the first place.”
He found me and confessed to me that he is the owner of the key, he pleaded me to take out that briefcase.
I rejected him, the leader’s mission for me is to take it to Tokyo, before that, no one can open this briefcase.
Seeing my firm attitude, he didn’t insist.
…
June 1.
We should have arrived in Okinawa ten days ago, and then on route to Tokyo in safe territory
But an accident occurred.
When we arrived in South Pacific ocean, we opened radio silence, but what welcome us was not the Japanese navy, but rather the fault of the UA citizens.
The side of the submarine was hit, but fortunately, we escaped.
It looks like Japan lost to the UA in the Pacific war. Pessistimicly, Okinawa may have shifted hands already.
…
June 2.
The captain found Fabian.
“If we can send this 520 kilograms of Uranium to Tokyo, would it change the outcome of the war?”
Fabian didn’t answer directly.
“Even if the UA lost New York in a month, would that change the outcome of the war?”
The captain was silent. Anyone knew that by this point in the war, the conclusion could not be changed by a city.
“What about that briefcase?”
Fabian shook his head.
“It is too late.”
…
June 4.
To avoid the search of anti-submarine reconnaissance aircrafts, we had to change course to New Zealand.
Someone said there are ample amount of supplies on the boat. Perhaps we should find a small island to spend the rest of our lives.
But someone rebutted that point. Not everyone committed war crimes, a lot of people still have family desperately wanting to know about their safety.
Finally, the Allied forces made a decision for us.
At the Small Barrier Island, we were surrounded by three vessels.
Should we surrender or fight to the death?
Surprisingly, the captain asked for my opinion, he didn’t talk to me since I boarded the submarine.
To be honest, I have a beautiful wife and an adorable daughter. I don’t want to die, I felt ashamed to the iron cross emblem in front of me, but I chose to surrender.
When he heard my thoughts, the captain let out a breath of relief.
As if the heavy weight on his shoulders had finally been lifted, he even said thank you to me.
…
June 5.
An unsuspected rebellion.
The captain died, due to a gunshot.
Fabian died, he killed himself.
Only seven people remained on the boat. Other than me, all of them are war criminals. Someone suggested to execute me because I betrayed the will of the leader. But someone suggested, no need to execute me, I only needed to be locked up.
The people against the surrendering suggested driving the submarine into the Hauraki Bay, going the opposite way to escape the search.
Fortunately, we found a trench near the Jackson port. As long as we hide there, no one will find us.
The supplies are enough to hide until the end of the year, once the period of time has passed, we’ll land in Australia and spend the rest our life in anonymous.
…
That was the end of the diary.
On the last page, there was a sketch of the iron cross emblem drawn in pencil, the final note on the diary was neatly written in cursive, which was primarily used at the time. With the help of the translator, Jiang Chen read the final line of the journey.
<In honor of my past country – Elias>
The U-235 that contained the lost hope of the Third Reich ended up sinking in the trench for eternity, the diary didn’t record the reason why the submarine sank. But what Jiang Chen knew was, the person named Elias definitely opened the briefcase.
Or else this diary wouldn’t have appeared in this briefcase.
Based on the content of the diary, Jiang Chen could have guessed that perhaps he knew it was the end of him. Hitler put all the hope to the uncooperative ally in the far east. He threw the peak of German military technologies into the submarine and even the briefcase that could “communicate with aliens”.
But this U-235 didn’t manage to turn the wheel of history.
Two months later, the UA ended the war with two nuclear bombs.
“Do you know what this ball is?” Lin Lin let out a long breath as she finished analyzing the metallic ball inside the briefcase.
“What is it?” Jiang Chen could sense that this thing probably has something to do with the incredible technology the German has introduced.
And that “help,” probably was the plead for help to the people from the “future.”
“A Klein particle messenger.” Lin Lin pointed at the small words engraved on the ball, “Although it was crudely made, it could send out Klein particle waves, but it is doing futile work by broadcasting it into space.”
“What’s special about it?”
“Did you remember what I told you before? Every carbon-based creature possesses trace amount of Klein particle and it is usually stored in the back of its head.”
“Therefore?” Jiang Chen seemed to have realized something as his body began to feel cold.
Lin Lin inhaled..
“An entire metallic ball worth of brain extract, this is an artificially created crystal… using ten thousand people’s brains.”
Ten thousand people…
To only send out the “help” that will never be heard.
“This is insane.”
“And what shocked me the most is not the ten thousand lives.” Lin Lin paused. “The destination coordinate for the message is from the void.”
“What is the void?”
“To put it simply, it is a place behind the wormhole, where space, time, and all physic principles are non-existent.”
“Therefore?”
“Do you remember the story I told you about the six space colonization ships? Three of them headed into the wormhole.”
