The Aeschylus by David Barclay

they?”
    “How long have you been here?” Dominik asked.
    “Since this morning. I spent all day yesterday in a car. I was blindfolded, so I can't even tell you where this is.”
    “We're in Kiel.”
    “Oh, well that certainly explains the weather, doesn't it? The Captain stopped in and introduced himself earlier this afternoon, and that's the only human contact I've had. I suppose I have to apologize. I've a bit of a weak stomach you see, and I've been in here for so long that it's gone all dodgy. I don't like being kept in here.”
    “You don't have to apologize. None of us likes being here.”
    “I'm hot, Papa,” Zofia said suddenly, pulling off her coat.
    Ari tried to smile. “I wish we had a window. I suppose we'd have to deal with sea water splashing in from time to time, but I'd take it.”
    Dominik helped Zofia and Lucja get comfortable, then pulled off his own coat and loosened his tie. It really was getting hot. It was a stark contrast to how freezing it had been above deck, but he supposed the proximity of the furnace and the confined space would do that. Zofia coughed once, gently, and he set her down on the straw.
    “I don't like that man,” Lucja said.
    Dominik nodded. “The army officer?”
    “The one I called a bastard. I'm sorry, Papa. I didn't mean to swear.”
    “He is a bastard.”
    “I miss Mama.”
    “I do too, but we can't do anything yet. We have to play his game for now.”
    “That's good advice,” Ari said. “I know these people. They have great plans. Great Plans with a capital 'G.' The army was so scattered after the Great War they'll do anything in the name of king and country, now. I feel bad for men like Dietrich, I really do. They don't realize their fathers were listening to the same propaganda twenty years ago.”
    “Did you fight?” Dominik asked.
    “No, I was married and teaching at the time. I wasn't conscripted, thank God. But I doubt it would have made any difference in where I am right now. I could have given all four limbs to Germany, and if The Führer thought I'd be best served by staying in this pantry, I'd be here.”
    “Do you really think he cares about the likes of us?”
    Ari thought for a moment. “I can't say. The secret police have been running a strange game these past few years. And to think, the Gestapo didn't exist when I was a boy.”
    “The cruelty of ordinary people is monstrous,” Dominik said. “My wife...” He couldn't finish.
    “I'm sorry,” Ari said, now looking at the floor.
    “I just don't know why it had to be us. I don't know why they put so much effort into our little family. We're nothing, aren't we?”
    “I've been trying to figure that out. The men in black coats showed up outside the doors to my lab yesterday, and I was foolish enough to think they were looking for someone else. Someone else! Imagine! Before I knew it, I had a bag over my head and was riding up the highway in the back of a car. I got here with the clothes on my back, and that's all. I'm still waiting for an explanation.”
    A sound like thunder reverberated through the walls, and Dominik jumped. He wondered if it had begun to storm outside when Zofia giggled, and he realized that Ari had farted.
    “Sorry about that,” Ari said, holding his stomach.
    “What is it that you do, Ari?” Dominik asked.
    “I'm a statistician. Well, a mathematical physicist,” he corrected. “Officially, I teach at Humboldt University, but since the party took over the school, it hasn't been the same. I've been traveling when I can get away with it. My most recent sabbatical was to Oslo to study linear particle accelerators. But that would probably bore you to death. What do you do? Do you teach? You look like a teacher, if you don't mind me saying.”
    “I'm a biochemist.” He continued to stare at Ari. This new bit of information was troubling. It could be a coincidence that the Gestapo happened to capture two analytical scientists within two days of one another, but he