Divine (2/3) by Blair Ashworth

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Henry repeated the interpreter's final word; "Doppel" he said. Adolf Hitler, with his thin dry lips, softly repeated it too. "From the tiniest piece of body tissue," Henry continued, "we can grow an exact replica body and artificially age it. But because your body was cremated, we had no tissue and it was not possible to resurrect you. "Until recently, that is. A souvenir-collecting follower of yours passed away herself, and a back tooth was found in her jewellery case.

She had been a dental assistant in Berlin in her youth, so you must have crossed paths at some point." Henry's old knees were beginning to seize up due to his squatting position in front of the chair. He needed to support himself on the armrest of the chair as he rose to stand, and when their hands touched briefly, Hitler's gaze fell down to the leather straps that held his wrists to the chair. Hitler cleared his throat and spoke in a weak whisper, translated by the attending interpreter; "Untie me now."

"It's 2005," said Henry, ignoring the request. "Not too many of us around any more. Time is taking us away, as is God's will. But, you see, it wasn't God calling the shots when you and your Nazis were torturing and killing us in your death camps. I'm a Polish citizen and I'm here to tell you that you have not escaped from justice." Henry had worn the stiff and uncomfortable coat for long enough, and he was almost frantic in his efforts to unbutton it and cast it into the shadows.

He patted down his thin grey hair, composed himself for a moment, raised his hand and nodded at a technician in the gloomy darkness. Bright lights suddenly illuminated the whole room. If Henry and Hitler had been the cast of some grisly play, the audience were twelve elderly men and women seated in a semi-circle, all facing the oak chair. Reporters and cameramen crowded and jostled behind a crude barrier of rope. "Of course, there would be little point in serving justice on your body if it didn't have your soul." Henry laughed a little. "Soul? Not the proper word for the evil - evilness - that was in you when you lived!"

"As well as cloning you, Herr Hitler, we have found your 'soul', such as it is, and in a séance have brought it back to this body, time and place to receive the judgement you expected to escape. We are in Berlin, at the site of the dental surgery you visited when that tooth was extracted. We tried our methods at the place of your cowardly death, and at the place of your burial, and they failed. But this time we brought you back."

Hitler began to protest loudly, but quickly found his mouth gagged with grey tape. He tried to kick out but his ankles were already strapped to the legs of the oak chair. While Adolf Hitler screeched in his throat, Henry lapped up every second of the extraordinary pleasure he was feeling. "Enjoy this short film while we decide your punishment,", said Henry. "Watch some of the inventive tortures your henchmen had, while we pick out the best for you." Behind the chair, a large projection television screen flickered into life and assistants were handing out slips of paper and pens, while Henry addressed the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, survivors of the Auschwitz death camp," he said in a loud voice, "Please wait until the end of the sequence before making your decision."

Continued ....next page,

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