The Odin Mission

Chapter 19

'Ere, Sarge,' said Sykes, after Chevannes had told them they would be remaining at the seter for the time being. 'What's going on?'

'You and I are going out on a recce tonight.' He walked away from the hut and crouched on a rock beside the stream.

'Both of us?'

Tanner nodded. 'I need you with me.'

'But what about keeping an eye on the Norwegians?'

'Don't worry about that.' He winked.

Sykes looked at him suspiciously. 'What you up to, Sarge?'

'All in good time, Stan. All in good time.' He took off his pack and gas-mask case and put them on the ground. 'Right,' he said. 'What explosives have we got left? I've got two packets of Nobel's and four sticks of Polar, plus three Mills bombs.'

Sykes delved into his own pack. 'Two packets of

Nobel's and two sticks of Polar. You got some fuse left, Sarge?'

'Yes - I've got the tin here.' He took it from his pack and held it up, then put everything back and rubbed his hands together thoughtfully.

'We can still do some damage with this lot,' said Sykes.

Sandvold was walking towards them.

'Good to see you up and about, Professor,' Tanner said. 'How are you feeling?'

'An honest answer? Not so good, but better than I was.' He cleared his throat. 'I must apologize to you both, holding you up like that. I feel we have done more to stop ourselves reaching the Allies than the Germans have. I am as anxious to get north as you are, but not sorry to have this opportunity to build up my strength a little.'

'My old mum used to get migraines,' said Sykes. 'Couldn't do nothing while they were going on. Terrible they were.'

'Yes - well, hopefully the Allies are not yet out of reach.' He shuffled his feet, then said, 'I wonder, Corporal, would you mind if I had a word with Sergeant Tanner alone?'

'Not at all, sir.' He picked up his pack and stood up. 'I'll be in the seter, Sarge.'

When the corporal had gone inside, Tanner said, 'What is it, sir?'

The professor glanced around him. 'Perhaps we could wander a little further away.'

'Of course,' said Tanner, and picked up his pack with his rifle.

Sandvold walked along the stream until they were almost out of sight of the seter. 'Sergeant, I've been thinking,' he said at length. 'You and your men - Chevannes and the Chasseurs too, for that matter - have sacrificed much to help me get away. A lot has been expected of you but you have kept your promise to Colonel Gulbrand without complaint and without once thinking to save yourselves first. I am very grateful.'

'I hope it proves worthwhile.'

'Yet you have no idea what it is all about.'

'One day I'll get to the bottom of it.'

'Actually, Sergeant, I would like to tell you now.'

Tanner was surprised. 'You don't have to, you know. Perhaps it's better you don't.'

'No,' said Sandvold. 'It's better I do. In any case, you have earned my trust, Sergeant. It is only fair that you know why you have put your lives at risk on my behalf.' Sandvold glanced around him again. 'Do you know what modern armed forces need most to fight a war?'

Tanner shrugged. 'Men. Weapons. Machinery. I don't know - tanks, trucks, aircraft. Lots of aircraft.'

'In a way, yes. But what is it that enables those machines to work? What do they run on?'

'Fuel?'

'Exactly. And what is fuel?'

'Petrol.'

'Which is?' 'Oil?'

The professor smiled. 'Yes! Black gold, it is sometimes called, and so it is to anyone wanting to wage war. Now, I do not expect you to know much about the natural resources of Greater Germany, but please trust me when I say that the country lacks its own oil. And without it Hitler will be unable to continue the war. Think of all the aircraft we have been so impressed by. How will they fly without it? How will his tanks run? How will factories work? How will even a machine-gun fire without that most precious liquid? They can't. That is the simple truth.' He continued, 'It is true that I am a scientist, Sergeant Tanner, but my field is geology. So far, man has tapped only a fraction of the world's oil resources, but the difficulty is that most of it lies underground and, more specifically, under the sea. The problem is how to find it and how then to get to it. My career so far has been dedicated to solving these problems.'

'And you've been successful?'

'More so than I could possibly have hoped. I shall not bore you with the details of how I reached my conclusions but, suffice to say, study led me to believe there are large oil fields waiting to be mined on the Norwegian continental shelf.' Sandvold smiled. 'You look confused. The point, Sergeant, is that on the continental shelf, the sea is shallow - at least, shallow compared to the ocean. And in the North Sea off the coast of Norway it is only around a hundred metres deep, sometimes less.' He clapped his hands. 'So. The question is, how to get the oil up and out across the sea?'

'How?'

'Ha!' said Sandvold, wagging a finger. 'It is not an easy matter, but I have worked out a way to do it. The answer is by making a drilling platform. The principle is the same as a land-based oil-drilling station. You make a platform and its accompanying legs on land, tow them out to sea and embed them in the sea floor. Then you begin drilling.'

'But surely, Professor, you would then need legs for this platform of more than a hundred yards?'

'Yes, but that is not so very long. There are ships longer than that.'

'And you think this is possible? What about the oil? What happens to it once it is drilled?'

'Siphoned into waiting tankers. And, yes, I do certainly believe it is possible.'

'And you are the only person who knows how to do it?'

Sandvold nodded. 'Exactly, but only because no one else has thought to do it. There are better engineers than me in the world. But there is no one else who knows where this oil is. Last year I applied for a royal grant, which was awarded.'

'Which is why the King has taken such a personal interest.'

'Yes. He realized the implications. Norway could become a very rich country. But he also appreciated, as did I, that war was coming to Europe and that these discoveries, these inventions, could be a cause of potential trouble for Norway should Germany - and, I might add, Britain - find out about them.'

'How did they?'

'That I cannot say.'

'You can't or you won't?'

'I do not know. I work mostly alone. Only I have the blue papers. But the King knows, and presumably so do some of his advisers and ministers. When the war is over and we are left in peace once more, Norway will become rich, very rich indeed. But now ... That is why the Germans want me. They want my knowledge.'

'And your plans.'

'Yes, so I can help them produce the oil they will so badly need if this war goes on for any great length of time.'

'Why don't you just burn the blue papers?'

Sandvold laughed. 'Do you have any idea how much work has gone into them? It is not something I simply