Schwinzog pushed back his hood and eyed them with satisfaction. "It is good that you are accounted for—though I was not much worried about you, and I understand you do not know the principle of the Zeitfahrer. And you have brought me two more specimens of the invisibility device, which will be useful for study to the German scientists of four years ago—before they were invented in America." He chuckled at the thought. "You realize, the debacle of Germany, the frightful catastrophe engineered by American cunning—will—never take place. I will see to that—that this now shall be only the illusion of might have been.... As to what will become of you, that is an almost metaphysical problem—I think I will set the Herr Doktor Kahl to work on it, when more pressing affairs have been seen to."
"You will do what?" broke in a weakly querulous voice.
In the entrance of the time traveler had appeared the hunched figure of Kahl. He blinked at the light; his goatee was tattered and his face twitched. Behind him the massive shoulders of Wolfgang blocked the doorway; he wore a twenty-first century German uniform and an air of contentment that showed him, at least, to have found his niche in the world of the future.
Schwinzog half turned. "What I will do is my own business," he said curtly. "And you—will refrain from asking unnecessary questions. The Zeitfahrer is ready?"
"It is ready for a displacement of four years, which you told me was to be only a test—before we return, as you promised, to the twentieth century, and use this era's knowledge to prevent Germany from conquering the world—"
"Of course," said Schwinzog smoothingly. "That is what we shall do."
"You are lying!" Kahl glared at him, his fists clenching. "I heard what you told the Americans."
Schwinzog shrugged. "All right, I am lying." He looked contemptuously down at the little physicist. "Do not bring on yourself again the consequences of stubbornness. You have earned the gratitude of the Reich, and I will see that you are rewarded if you are sensible—"
The other had begun to tremble. "I want only one reward. That is to see Germany saved from the curse of world empire! From the hatred of the whole Earth, which almost destroyed our country in my time and has destroyed it in this! Better even that we Germans should be the oppressed, rather than reap the oppressor's harvest of hate...."
Schwinzog's lips curled. "The Herr Doktor has lost his mind. I will have to operate the Zeitfahrer myself—Muller!"