To Bates's side on the platform stepped Obergruppenführer Kegel with that lean, evil smile of his. Kegel looked back at an Oberschütze (private first class) watching from the door of the Water Control Room (Wasserkontrollzimmer), only ten feet away at the rear of the platform. In the Water Control Room, most of the meters and other gadgetry were unimportant, being only for show. (The intended impression was of being in a German U-2 boat, though minus the periscope.) One of the gadgets that was important was a large lever near the door, where the Oberschütze stood waiting. This gadget was the Grosser Wichtiger Hebel, or Large Important Lever. At Kegel's signal, the Oberschütze stepped over and pulled the thing down.

Bates and Kegel then watched as an underwater tunnel from an adjoining water tank opened in the side of the pool, and a large school of piranhas--small ravenous fish with razor-sharp teeth--began streaming into the pool.

On Kegel's signal, one of the Schützes who had bound Bates's ankles threw a piece of raw meat into the pool. The piranhas hungrily attacked it with clattering teeth.

Kegel's smile broadened as Bates's eyes widened at the sight. The other Schütze handed Kegel a wired microphone. "Piranhas," Kegel said into the mike. "Such fascinating little creatures. They can devour a man in seconds, leaving nothing but blood and bones. How is my English?" Kegel was brushing up on English in his spare time, which he had plenty of. He held the mike to Bates's mouth.

"What?" said the distracted Bates. "Oh. Real good." Bates suddenly saw a slim chance to live. "But it could be much better. Can I be your tutor?"

In the Water Control Room, the Oberschütze pressed a button, and bursting over the pool was the sound of people laughing. Bates, startled, looked up and around in confusion. "Who is that laughing?"

"It's a laugh track," Kegel said. Lowering the mike, Kegel put his mouth to Bates's ear. "These guys are so dumb," Kegel whispered, "they have to be told when to laugh." Kegel spoke into the mike again: "We call this our conversion pool. Unserer Umwandlungpfuhl."

"I'm converted," Bates said assuringly, the mike again held to his mouth. "Really I am. I believe in the Reich and all that."

There was more canned laughter. Kegel looked at Bates with disdain. "I don't mean converting the mind, you fool," Kegel sneered melodramatically. "We convert your body, into blood. What do you think we live on out here?" Kegel smiled evilly again as he studied Bates's desperate expression.

Though Kegel didn't mention it to Bates, piranhas were even lethal to vampires. That startling discovery had been made when the late Schütze Vogel, while binding a captive on the platform, accidentally fell into the pool. The piranhas made short work of him. As far as anyone knew, Schütze Vogel had never come back. It was sad, for young Vogel was intelligent and would have risen quickly through the SS ranks. It had been Vogel's innovative idea to have a laugh track at these Gebäude Vier performances. Intrigued by the idea, Kegel had taken a tape recorder into the Gebäude Zwei drink hall during the evening meal and ordered all the SS men there to laugh hysterically. It was ironic that Kegel used this recording for the first time when Vogel fell into the pool.

As Bates watched the piranhas swim around, Kegel enjoyed going into detail on conversion. It was a good chance to practice his English with a native speaker. "First the piranhas do their work. Then we drain the pool, separating, through a special osmotic process, the impure fluid--"

"Impure fluid?" Bates interrupted, not taking his eyes off the fish.

"The water. Leaving nothing but blood."

"Why so much trouble? Why not just draw out some blood when you need it? I got plenty!"

"Oh, we do," Kegel smiled. "With some people. But others--special ones--go into our pool."

"Why be choosy?" The captive was trying to be as helpful as possible. "Why not just extract? It's easier."

"Easier, yes. But no fun!"

Chuckling at his own humor, Kegel slapped the bound man chummily on the back. Screaming, Bates toppled into the water.

The piranhas wasted no time. As the feeding frenzy commenced, the SS men leaned forward in their seats, to watch Bates being converted into blood and bones. The SS men watched rather impassively, as this act was becoming old hat. Still, for these guys--most of them in the jungle going on seven years, with little to look forward to but the nightly blood rations in their Gebäude Zwei drink hall--almost anything passed for entertainment.