Chapter 87:
February 18, 1940
Berlin, Northern Germany, Government Building The scientist I had brought with me, Wernher von Braun, was in the middle of a passionate speech in front of my father.
“So, Your Excellency! This rocket technology can provide mankind with the opportunity to reach space! Just think of it! Mankind, which has always only gazed at the cosmos from afar, can now reach out and touch it!”
But my father, Hjalmar Schacht, just looked at him with a ‘so what?’ expression.
It made me feel awkward as well.
“You may not feel it now, but this is truly a great advancement in science and a dream and hope for all mankind! We have already seen the possibility-”
Finally, my father raised his hand, silencing Braun.
“So, what is the reason our government, which is in the middle of a war and short on budget, should invest funds into a field that sounds like science fiction?”
The merciless evaluation of ‘science fiction’ made Braun’s shoulders slump, and I had to flinch under my father's icy glare.