The Golden Age

Chapter 24: Arrival

The Friedrich Nietzsche continued on its journey southwards. Cramped in their cages Alice , Jean, Sally and Hermione were hardly aware of the time passing. They could feel the temperature rising as the airship headed across the Mediterranean , towards Africa . The girls could sense dawn by the light filtering down through the airship's envelop. The daytime temperature climbed dramatically, the gas bags of the envelope swelled as the hydrogen inside them expanded, pressing against the girls' cages and cutting out almost all the light that filtered had down from panels in the top of the airship's envelope. Every so often either Jennings or Elspeth would come to clean out their cages and give them water, letting them drink in silence before refastening their gags.

Gabriella remained imprisoned in her cabin. Roped and gagged almost all the time, the only relief for her was when Elspeth came to her each morning and evening to let her use the small aluminium commode that was stowed under her bunk. At first she had been embarrassed beyond belief to use the toilet in the other woman's presence but in the end necessity had taken over from modesty. Elspeth had seen that she had water, prising the repair tape away from Gabriella's face and pulling out the wadding gag so Gabriella could drink. There had been hardly any food, just a few pieces of fruit

Alice, Jean, Sally and Hermione had overheard the calls of the ground crew at Rome and surmised they were somewhere in Italy . But the guttural shouts at their next stop, Tripoli , left them confused about their whereabouts and their probable destination. After Tripoli the airship headed westwards.

The girl's routine changed. Both Jennings and Elspeth appeared. After giving the girls their drinks and putting their gags back in place, each girl had straps attached to her wrists and ankles. They accepted this passively, conditioned as they were by Insing's procedures. Once the straps were in place each girl was stood up and chains run from each strap to rings on the frame of the globe. The chains were shortened dragging wrists and ankles out toward the edge of the globe until each girl was secured, spread out, starfish-like, in her own globe. Jennings and Elspeth left the girls swinging; secure, silenced and helpless in their globes.

Within their globe cages, the four girls were aware that the ship seemed to be coming to another mooring. They heard the shouts of the crew drifting up from far below them in the belly of the airship. They could see crew men scuttling along the walkway below them. Then all was quiet as the sound of the engines died for the first time in days.

Jean felt her globe start to move. The cable above her began to creak and the globe began to descend. Looking up she could see that the others were on the move as well. The globe lowered past the gas bags and the walkway, down towards the base of the airship. She looked down as the globe approached level of the cabins. Suddenly a door fell open immediately below her and she realised to her terror that the globe was still fifty feet above the ground. The girls' globes cleared the bottom of the airship through two large doors in its belly. Jean looked up at the receding hull of the airship and the globes of her companions as her own globe was lowered slowly to the ground. She looked around. A rocky shore and a lagoon were all she could see. It was as hot outside of the airship as it had been inside.

Soon all four globes were on the ground in the shadow of the airship. The Friedrich Nietzsche was moored to a tall metal mast. Jean could see crew members scuttling up and down the metal stairways of the mast. In the lounge, Schneer announced to the others that all was ready for disembarkation. Far beneath him, still strapped in their globes, the girls were drenched in sweat from the heat.

Jennings volunteered to look after Gabriella. “I assume you'll be wanting her to join us, Mr. Clegg?” he asked.

When Clegg concurred, Jennings proposed that he should bring her down to the base of the mooring mast. “Yes,, thank you Jennings ,” said Clegg.

When Jennings appeared in Gabriella's cabin she was sufficiently aware of what was happening to be fearful of what was to come for her. Jennings loosened the ropes that held her tied to her bunk. “I do hope you've enjoyed this trip, Miss,” he smiled. “It's been so nice having you along. You've really helped to – ah – cheer up the scenery, if you don't mind me saying so.” As he reached around her, he took the opportunity to stroke and squeeze her breasts. “Yes, definitely an improvement to the scenery, Miss.”

Gabriella, tried to struggle against his attentions, attempting unsuccessfully to kick out with her bound legs. Jennings smiled. “Now don't be difficult, young lady,” Jennings said, pushing her robe up towards her waist, exposing her legs. “If you dress like that you must accept the consequent attention, I am afraid.” Gabriella squealed and wriggled all the more as Jennings ran his hand across her naked belly and towards her sex but her protests did no more than to arouse Jennings enthusiasm still further.

He was interrupted by a knock at the door. “You need to be disembarking the young lady, Herr Jennings,” the voice of the cabin steward called.

Jennings turned to Gabriella with a disappointed air. “Oh my. Never mind, we will continue this later, I am sure. It seems that it's time to go.” He stood up and reached for the girl tossing her over his shoulder with the same ease that he had hefted his ditty bag in his naval career. Gabriella, the wind knocked out of her by the sudden movement, struggled but Jennings simply grabbed hold of her, patted her backside affectionately and said. “Let's go.”

A party of crew men assembled beside the globes. Jean watched as Elspeth appeared to give them directions, pointing down a track towards the lagoon. Two men went to each globe and began to bowl the globes slowly down the track. Chained as they were to the frames of the globes, the girls tumbled over and over as the globes were rolled, spinning giddily as the globes were pushed forward.

Completely disoriented by the experience of being rolled down the track the girls were only just aware that, when the globes came to a standstill, they were onboard a flat bottomed boat, ready for the next stage of their journey.

The boat slid across the lagoon, taking almost as much effort to cut though the stifling air as through the water. They were approaching an island; that much Jean Alardyce could see. … She heard the note of the engine drop as the throttle was eased back. As the boat swung around a headland she suddenly could see a small settlement of crude corrugated tin shacks and sheds, a small jetty and then, as the boat turned further, most astonishing, a gigantic, pure white flying boat.

It was colossal. Far larger than any other heavier than air machine that Jean had seen before. She could remember that she had been invited – by who – oh, yes - Pan American - to what – oh, yes – to fly one of the big Boeing Clippers due to be delivered next year. This must be almost twice as big. As their boat came alongside the jetty the hull of the seaplane towered above them like the chalk cliffs at Dover . She caught sight of Hermione and imagined that she was as astonished as herself, though her blank expression gave no clue. Clegg got up from his seat at the rear of the boat and made his way forward. Jean heard him call out to Bertie. “Well, what do you think?”

“It's astonishing,” Bertie said. “What an absolute whopper. Seeing the plans didn't really prepare me for how big the thing is. Will it actually fly?”

“Oh, yes, this will fly all right. I know a thing or two about engines that those Yanks haven't figured out yet and there's a few other ideas I've picked up that make all the difference. Barnes Wallis, up at Vickers, has some good ideas on light-weight wood frame construction. He's using them to build some high speed bomber but for me it meant that I could put together a really strong but light hull. We'll have a look around if you like.”

Puffed with pride, Freddie led the party down the dock towards the great, white, aircraft. He stopped beside a short ramp that led to a door in the cliff-like side of the flying boat's hull, pulled off his hat and fanned himself against the heat.

The group assembled around him, sheltering from the scorching sun under the shadow of the plane's wing.

“Well,” Freddie declared, “I hope you're impressed. This is the biggest fixed wing aircraft in the world today. It will revolutionise our little business – and others too no doubt. Dirigible technology is just too unreliable, too risky. You only have to watch our friends Luftwehr and Schneer - permanently worried. This sort of machine is the way forward, mark my words. No need for runways, land it anywhere there's enough water. Even inland, just you see. Creating an artificial lake for seaplanes will be cheaper than building long take-off tracks for large landplanes. You'd need to cover enormous areas with concrete to cope with land planes of this capacity. People just won't put up with it.”

Bertie pointed across to where the crew of the Freidrich Nietzsche were huddled in a concerned group by the airship mooring. “Well, they're certainly looking worried now, and Schneer is coming over here.”

They watched as a small motor boat sped across the lake and an ashen faced Schneer strode up the dock to the group. He gave the most perfunctory Nazi salute that Clegg could remember seeing. “Many apologies, Herr Clegg, we have just received a cable. We must return to Friedrichshafen at once. At once.”

“Quite all right, you've done your job but whatever's the matter, man, you're as pale as death.”

“Death, Herr Clegg, is the word. It is our sister ship. LZ129, An accident arriving at Lakehurst . Completely destroyed. We do not know who has survived – if any of them. We have to return.”

“I say,” said Bertie, “dreadful luck.”

“Perhaps,” said Schneer, “but there are many who are jealous of the successes of the Reich. There is a fear that it may have been sabotage. Who knows.” Schneer clicked his heels and turned away. Clegg's group watched as he returned to the crew of the Nietzsche. They saw Kapitan Luftwehr acknowledge them with an equally half hearted sieg-heil. Clegg waved back and shouted, “Good luck,” as the crew clambered up the ladders back into the Nietzsche's gondola.

With a shower of ballast the ship began to ease away from its shore-side mooring. Clegg and the others watched its progress, swinging slowly around and then heading north. Where once the pace of the airship had seemed majestic now it seemed more to echo the slow march of pall bearers.

Elspeth gripped Clegg's arm as they watched the airship slip away. “You could be forgiven for saying ‘I told you so',” she said.

“Hmmph,” Clegg grunted. “There's no pleasure in being proved right at the expense of other men's lives.”

“How many do you think?” said Elspeth.

“Who knows? There'd be 20 crew or so – much the same as we had. She carries up to 50 passengers. If the hydrogen went up before they moored they could all be dead. You can imagine what it would have been like – horrific.”

“Well, I'm dammed glad we don't have to go back on that thing,” Bertie piped up. “That Schneer might have been an unpleasant type but you can't doubt the bravery getting back into that when they don't know what went wrong. Now perhaps, Freddie, you can get on with this guided tour.” He waved back towards the great, white, flying boat. “I, for one, am impressed.”

Clegg regained his composure. “Well, thank you Bertie,” he said, we like to make an impact. Elspeth – you're good with the numbers, why don't you start us off.”

“Let's see – wingspan 190 feet, length 128 feet, 35 feet from the dock to the tip of the fin, six radial engines each with 16 cylinders double banked giving us about 210 – 220 knots, range over 6000 miles - enough to cross the Atlantic non-stop, payload; well you'll see the accommodation in a minute.

“Excellent, Elspeth, thorough as ever. Now Jennings , if you will do the honours with that door there I will show you on board.”

“My pleasure, Mr Clegg, Sir, it's a most remarkable aircraft. A triumph, if you don't mind me saying so.”

“Not in the least, Jennings , not in the least,” said Clegg as he led the way proudly up the ramp.

As he was about to go through into the belly of the flying boat, Elspeth called out. “The girls, Freddie, what about the girls? They'll cook out here on the dock. Do you want me to see to them?”

“Thank you Elspeth, thank you. Most important that we don't forget about them after all the trouble we had getting them here.”