Hi set down the box and, after Kegel cleared a central spot by shifting stacks of paper, set the healthiest-looking seedling on the table. Hitler, taking note of Hi, decided to break from his writing. He had been explaining the German defeat in Russia. It had only been a ruse, he tortuously argued, to make the Allies overconfident.

"Good evening, mein Führer," Hi said as Hitler stepped to his side at the table, Kegel centering the Dracaena just right.

"How goes the reading?" Hitler asked. In addition to tending his seedlings, Hi had spent part of each evening, over the last thirty nights, poring over the reams of pure garbage in Gebäude Drei.

"To tell you the truth," Hi said, "I didn't think anyone could top Mein Kampf. But so far you've done it."

"That good?"

"We just have to whittle it down. You do tend to go on."

Hi had made Hitler's night. "There's plenty of time for your editing. We can't publish, after all, till I'm pretty well ruling the world."

"Will that be soon, sir?" Kegel asked delicately. Hitler looked at him. "I mean, you don't have to finish the writing first, do you?"

"I'll be finished before you can say 'Götterdämmerung,'" Hitler said brusquely. He then regarded the seedling. "It doesn't look like much of a plant."

"It's only a seedling," Hi said. "Give it time. In another, oh, ninety days, you're going to see some kind of change."

Hitler smiled at Hi. Though Hi had stood by the Führer before, being this close to him still gave Hi the creeps. "You are a confident fellow," Hitler said. "You see a plant, you know what you want to get out of it."

"I certainly do."

"I like that, Hickenlooper. You are being promoted." Kegel rolled his eyes.

"Already?" Hi exclaimed.

"From Schütze to Oberschütze." Hitler gave Hi a slap on the shoulder. "Keep up the good work." He headed back to his desk.

"Thank you, mein Führer."

"Get your box," Kegel snarled.

Kegel didn't say another word till he and Hi were outside of the building. In the moonlight they saw Dorsch walking toward Gebäude Vier.

"Obergruppenführer!" Kegel called. Dorsch walked over to meet them between the buildings. "Take this . . . Oberschütze--"

Dorsch looked incredulous. "Oberschütze?"

"In another month," Kegel said bitterly, "we'll be calling him Obergruppenführer." Hi, standing there with his seedlings, just smiled. "Take him by the Weinberg and Munitions, will you, to set up his plants."

Dorsch motioned to Hi, who started walking ahead toward Gebäude Vier. Dorsch shook his head as he watched him, then started to follow.

"Dorsch," Kegel said. Dorsch turned to him as Kegel walked over. Kegel moved close to him to speak confidentially. "I spoke to the Führer."

Dorsch was impressed, his eyes widened. "What did he say?"

Kegel swelled for a moment, keeping Dorsch hanging. "He asked me to please be patient. And to please ask you to be patient too. He said, 'Kegel, believe me, I'll be through with my memoirs before you can say 'Götterdämmerung.' "

Kegel let Dorsch absorb that, then added, "It was touching. There were tears in the Führer's eyes."

Dorsch marveled. Without a word, he turned to head toward Hi, who stood waiting outside of Gebäude Vier.

Kegel turned toward Gebäude Ein, then thought of something else. "Dorsch!" he called. Dorsch stopped and turned again.

"At Munitions, pick us up some more marbles."