262 | John W. Warner IV polished-clean stainless steel interior just catching the strong midday sun. Schafer poured bubbly into Alices cup while Bea scanned the table. Stocky, he was as ruggedly handsome as the day Bea had met him years ago in Austria, his brown beard the longest of all. Tunic collar frayed, he tugged at the cuffs of his non standard pink silk shirt, his air one of confidence and informality. Since the time of the great Aryan archeologist Gustav Kossinna, we Germans have been the masters of the great profession. My specialty is Ornithology, Miss Drummond, but I dabble in many disciplines. Occultism is the overarching doctrine of the SS and the Thule Society, and sitting here you have some of our best mindsminds that can easily mix raw science, metaphysics, philosophy, and hidden knowledge into a multifaceted tool for refining the near impossible, theoretical, and barely provable. A cutting-edge, mountaineering think tank of heretofore unknown levels of intelligence, hundreds of years of experience and wisdom. And now you three kindred spirits have kindly joined us. In Germany, I have gathered together an exotic seed bank, an herbarium,from my Tibet expeditions in Graz, Austria, for the Reichsfuhrers plan to increase crop yields in captured Russian landsseven hundred varieties of oats! Our compatriot Jankuhn is now in the Caucasus doing just that. Perhaps you may be familiar with one of my famous books entitled: Mountains, Buddhas, and Bears. Bea translated for her. Alice crossed her arms in irritation. No, Im most certainly not fam Ha! Bears,blurted Edmund Geer, Schafers close friend and expedition leader since the early expeditions in India and Tibet. How ironic. Everyone laughed. Schafer slapped his hand on the table and grabbed Beas arm. As my former student here knows well, Im keen on hidden ancient history, subjects that have greatly expanded our knowledge of who we are, where we came from, and what is our rightful place in the cosmos. How we miss the simple and noble Bon people and their animistic ways, gentlemen, yes? Those Tibetan traditions are now incorporated into the Thule Society and the SS for the spiritual benefit of all. Pro#. Bea swilled her first glass, the bubbles intoxicating. Gods n sods, saved by the Ahnenerbe and its desert cellars. An uncommonly fine table this is. Dionysus would be flushed with pride. As for history I