Leviathan Chapter 5 Summary

  • Alek comes around in the belly of the walker, where one of the men is keeping an eye on him.
  • The man introduces himself as Corporal Bauer, and when Alek demands to be let go, Bauer calls for Volger. We guess being a prince will only get you so far.
  • While Klopp pilots the walker, Volger tells Alek that he and Alek's father made a plan in case anything happened to the archduke.
  • Volger tells Alek how his parents were assassinated, a story that differs a bit from the real-life historic assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie.
  • Alek is still trying to believe that Volger and Klopp have kidnapped him and his parents are still alive—in other words, he's in denial.
  • All of a sudden, Volger yells at Klopp to stop the engines.
  • Then they feel that most ominous of ominous feelings (ask anyone in a Jurassic Park movie): the sound of something heavy moving over the ground toward them.
  • Volger goes through the hatch to look out and calls to Alek to join him—a German land dreadnaught (read: superwalker) is coming after them.
  • Volger says that these are Alek's enemies, but Alek clings to hope that it's a rescue mission.
  • That hope is quickly dashed, however, when the dreadnaught starts coming after them—in the sense that it starts shooting at them.
  • Alek realizes that Klopp and Volger have been telling the truth as Volger tells him this proves the Germans believe he has a claim to the throne of Austria-Hungary. So there's good news and bad news.