The 34th Degree

127

Von Berg was with Aphrodite in his compartment when he sensed the Nausicaa ’s engines had stopped. Suddenly, the Klaxon sounded, and Myers’s voice came over the public-address system.

“All hands, abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship.”

Von Berg frowned and went to his intercom. “Myers, what’s happened? What’s going on?”

The voice of Chris Andros came through loud and clear. “It’s over, von Berg.”

Von Berg stood in shock. Andros alive? he thought. But how? No human could have survived the cell blocks. But the fact was, either Andros was alive, or the voices of madness finally had defeated him.

Aphrodite, who had also heard Andros’s voice, was unable to conceal her joy and pride. “You see, Ludwig, I told you,” she said with newfound defiance. “He’s come back for me and you. What are you going to do now?”

He glared at her. “I’ll be back shortly,” he said, and stepped out of the compartment.

The Klaxon was blaring and emergency lights flashing as he crossed the fore-and-aft passageway to the radio room. The radio technician, Voigt, was gone. Von Berg grabbed the microphone and adjusted the frequency selector. He started the distress call procedures. Then he turned to the radio room’s phonograph and put the needle on a record. The music of Wagner’s “Death March” flooded all the compartments.

Back in the captain’s quarters, the sound of that macabre music crept up Aphrodite’s flesh as she struggled in her bunk. “What are you doing?” she demanded when von Berg returned.

There was a wild look in his eyes, and he whipped out a Luger and put it to her head. She was sure she was about to die. Instead, he untied her and pulled her out into the fore-and-aft passageway, the Luger’s cold barrel at her temple.

“Don’t worry, Aphrodite,” he told her as he pushed her through the galley and toward the forward torpedo room. “I won’t let him hurt you. I won’t let anybody hurt you.”

He dragged her into the officers’ quarters, the compartment just before the forward torpedo room. She squirmed within his arms, but like steel cords, they tightened around her. She tried to scream, but von Berg clapped his hand over her mouth.

“Come and get me now, Andros,” he said softly. “I’m waiting.”