Uwe Tellkamp - The Tower

then the engine stopped. The bilge pump gurgled on for a while then that fell silent too. The light made a rasping noise but stayed on. Christian could just make out the outlines of the others. The lashing bar of the gun had an unnatural white gleam. The water was rising more slowly, a dark mass that looked as if it had crackling cellophane stretched over it; it calmly started to swallow a fragmentation shell.

‘Jan?’ He didn’t answer. ‘Jan!’ Christian bellowed. The gun pointer shook his head. ‘Can’t see him.’

‘Restart!’

No one answered. The characteristic rumbling start of the engine after the explosion of the compressed-air ignition didn’t come. ‘Switch on recovery frequency.’ Nothing there either. It was quiet, the warmth was pleasant now. If they had to get out then it must be the way they’d practised in the diving bell, enclosed in a flooded steel chamber. Swimming goggles and life-saving equipment on, breathing, the others panicking but not him, Christian Hoffmann, the son of a metalworker and trauma surgeon. Under water the sounds came with a delay, echoed sleepily, taps with a wrench were used for communication. Unlock hatch, calmly climb up into the water-filled cylinder — don’t panic, that was the most important thing. Panic destroyed everything, made an ordered sequence of actions impossible. An algorithm, Baumann, the apple-cheeked mathematician from Waldbrunn, would have said. Why did that occur to him now, of all times? What was the matter with Burre? Why wasn’t he replying? Christian signalled to the gun pointer to go and check. He pointed to the rising water. But then the light did finally go out.

‘RG-UD on.’ The instruments gradually took on a phosphorescent glow: infrared sighting mechanism, radio dial and the stupid thermometer the gun pointer had brought that wasn’t part of standard equipment. Sixty-eight degrees in the tank. They had to get out. He thumped the turret walls, perhaps someone from the rescue boat would hear, perhaps the tug commander was experienced enough to realize what had happened. White buoy at the front, red buoy at the rear. Put the hawsers on the downstream side, otherwise they’ll be pressed against the turret and could twist. It was dark but he could breathe. At this moment a verse by Goethe occurred to him. ‘White as lilies, candle-pure, / Starlike, bowing modestly, / From their centre, from their hearts, / The fire of love is glowing brightly.’ The Chinese — German Book of Seasons and Hours . He murmured to himself. He heard the boat, someone was tapping the UD tube. Christian tapped a response; wait. ‘The water roared, the water rose, / A fisher sat beside it.’ If Burre had tried to climb out of the exit hatch at the bottom of the hull, the tank might crush him when the tractor pulled the recovery hawser.

‘Dear Reina, Thank you for your letter. Perhaps we can see each other. There’s been an accident. My driver was injured during an exercise and died in hospital. I did something stupid, I attacked my company commander. Now I’m back in the barracks with no idea what they’re going to do with me. It’s possible I might get a pass since almost the whole of the regiment is still out on the exercise; officially I’m confined to barracks but I know the company clerk who’s in charge of the passes that have been signed but aren’t filled in very well. Please don’t say anything to my parents. Best wishes, Christian.’

‘There’s no salt.’

‘My weak side. Here. Sorry. I’m always forgetting it. I’ve made three cups of coffee for you. You can leave them, if you like. I’m on the afternoon shift.’

‘Do you need the car? It’d be nice if I could have it. When I’ve finished I could go to the plumber’s, they’ve finally got some instantaneous water heaters in stock again.’

‘If you’d finally got your Süza working you could go in that.’

‘Suiza.’

‘It seems a bit fishy to me what the pair of you are doing out there. Are we ever going to get to see the car?’

‘Why don’t you come out there. Bring Robert with you, he’s interested in it.’

‘He’s to concentrate on his work for the school-leaving exam. — And Stahl’s helping you just for the sake of it, with nothing in it for him? Because, as an engineer, he loves the Süza?’

‘Are you suspicious?’

‘There’s just one thing I ask: don’t get involved in anything. Think of the children.’

‘Morning, Reglinde.’

‘Morning. Can I use the bathroom?’

‘I just need to wash my hands, then you can. Would you take the rubbish when you go? Do you need anything from the chemist’s? I’m going shopping when I’ve finished.’

‘Just some toothpaste, Anne. I’m starting a bit later today, I can give you a hand, if you like.’

‘My God, who can that be at the door at this time in the morning?’

‘I’ll get it. — Morning, Niklas. Something urgent?’

‘Morning, Richard. Switch on West German radio. Our radio’s on the blink.’

‘The one from Japan? The one you brought back when you were abroad with the State Orchestra?’

‘Morning, Anne. Yeah, the Sharp. And who’s going to repair it for me now? Just listen. — It’s a disgrace. And they don’t tell us, the devious swine. Think we won’t cotton on. They’ll end up blowing us all sky high. A nice breakfast there. I wouldn’t say no to a cup of coffee.’

‘Do sit down.’

‘Morning, Lindy.’

‘Morning, Schmoops.’

‘And what have your monkeys to say about that?’

‘They’re radiant.’

‘They’ll poison us, I tell you. Sell us down the river, down the toxic river. Bastards. — What have you on today, Richard?’

‘As per schedule.’

‘Aha, routine, eh. For me too. There’s a bit of flu about again. Meno’s going to drop in later on, the poor soul’s got a bit of a cough. Well, I’ll be on my way again. Thanks for the coffee. But it’s a funny business with Teerwagen, don’t you think? Was supposed to have secret papers on him. Rockets or something of the kind. A U-boat the like of which has never been seen before. Oh God, when I go back I’ll have all the stoves to do … It’s nice and warm in here. Well, Ezzo has to do the stove in the children’s room himself. But the living room, the music room … The one in the living room’s on its last legs. Fibrosis of the lungs, the final stage, I’d say. When I think I’ll have to let a stove fitter loose on it, oh horror! The dirt, the noise!’

‘Do sit down, Niklas, you’re getting on my nerves going up and down like that.’

‘Thanks, Richard, but I’m off. Though if you have another cup of coffee there … One has to keep awake. Any news from Christian?’

‘His regiment was on an exercise, night alert and so on.’

‘Now then, Anne, don’t take on. The lad’ll get through. Takes after Richard as far as his constitution’s concerned — I’d like to know how you can stand it all, mate, operating for hours on end, then writing reports and your outpatients. By the way, I’ve got some more great records. Great records, I tell you. We must listen to some again. State Orchestra, Rudi Kempe, Strauss. Terrific. Simply terrific.’

‘Won’t you have something to eat?’

‘Well, if you insist. I wouldn’t say no to that piece of cherry cake. It’s a real miracle is your cherry cake. — Tell me, Richard: Müller, he’s retired now, isn’t he?’

‘Officially from the first of May but he’s already had his leaving party.’

‘And you’re the boss now?’

‘Whatever gave you that idea! Trautson’s the temporary head of the clinic until the appointment procedure’s completed. I haven’t applied.’