Smoke and Mirrors
Tom and Brian strolled along Amsterdam's Huidenstraat on a warm autumnal day. Barges chugged lazily along canals lined with thin trees waving in the breeze.
“Wow, look at this place!” Tom said walking up to an old shop which had a flaking red facia with Smoke and Mirrors in gold lettering.
World War Two paraphernalia lay beside magic boxes and wands on a red velvet covered display in the window.
“You're not going to get all historical and magical on me are you?” Brian said as he followed and gazed into the window. “I want to see the Red Light District before we need to go back to the conference.”
“Pervert! We're not due back till four. Anyway, we know all about the new software they're going to cover. Come on, I'm going in mate.”
A bell rang as Tom opened the door and held it for Brian. A man in his sixties with a tartan waistcoat appeared from behind a velvet curtain to the rear of the shop.
“Good day gentlemen.”
“Hello,” replied Tom
“Anything I can help you with?”
“Just browsing, thankyou.”
“Okay... my names Peabody.”
The pair gazed at Nazi uniforms, SS flags and various helmets. A large magician's box stood in the corner with the door open.
“This stuff looks so real and fresh.” Tom said picking up a newspaper. “Great detail for a replica. Where do you get it from?”
Peabody turned round from tending a display. “Oh, I have my sources.”
Tom walked toward the curtain at the back.
“Sorry, that's off limits... I'm afraid,” said Peabody walking toward him.
Brian donned a Nazi helmet and, putting an index finger on his top lip, he goose-stepped toward Tom. “You vill do exactly as I say Britisher: Ve are going for a pint,” he said in a German accent.
“You're nuts,” said Tom laughing.
That evening in a pub on Leidseplein Tom and Brian were sitting in front of a big screen TV watching football. Two pints of ale sat in front of them. Tom leaned toward Brian. “There's something weird about that guy and the shop.”
“Will you give it a rest Tom? All I've heard about since this afternoon is that shop!”
A blond-haired girl walked by wearing a low-cut blouse and shorts as Phil Lynott singed 'Parisienne Walkways' over the bar's sound system.
“Now there's something to be interested in,” said Brian gazing at the girl.
“You've got a one track mind. And the Red Light District was crap!”
“Yeah... okay!”
“How about coming back to that shop tomorrow? I want to see what's behind the curtain.”
The two lads drained their pints.
“Want another?” Brian asked.
“Sure.”
At the bar Brian raised his eyebrows as the blond girl walked past with drinks. He was rewarded with a smile. He strode back to the table with a broad grin painted on his face.
“See that... eh! I'm in there.”
Tom looked at him with a sorry grimace. “Yeah... right! So, are you coming with me tomorrow or what?”
The next day was bright, small puffy clouds were being blown around the azure sky by the keen wind. Tom and Brian stood across the road from Smoke and Mirrors.
“Right lets go,” said Tom walking over the road dodging bicycles. He pulled out a bank card as he grabbed the door handle. He pushed it through the space between the frame and the door at the top to prevent the bell ringing.
Inside, Tom moved to the rear and pulled back the curtain. Brian grabbed him by the shoulder. “What are you doing?” he whispered.
Ignoring him, Tom crept through waving for Brian to follow.
“Look Tom...”
Tom pulled Brian behind a large cupboard at the sound of footsteps on the stair at the rear of the room. They watched as Peabody walked by carrying a jacket and a newspaper and disappeared through the curtain.
“Come on,” whispered Tom.
They crept up the stairs; Brian looking anxiously back at the curtain through where Peabody disappeared. At the top they entered a room with an old-style sewing machine in the centre and dummies arranged in various poses around the walls.
“So, he makes the stuff himself! Okay let's go,” said Brian.
“How could he make helmets and print newspapers?”
“Come on, I'm going.”
“Okay... okay!”
They descended into the back-room of the shop now filled with people in old-fashioned clothes.
“What the...?” Brian uttered.
A dark-haired girl with startling blue eyes looked up at them. “Are you with Mr Peabody?”
“Em... yes! Where is he?” Tom replied.
“Why... he's upstairs,” said the girl.
“Oh yes, how silly of me!”
Tom nodded for Brian to follow him. They walked out through the front-shop which had changed into a draper.
“What the hells this?” Brian hissed.
“Beats me,” answered Tom pulling the front-door open.
Out on Huidenstraat there was great excitement in the air as people ran along the street.
“What's happening?” Tom asked a girl
“He's in Museumplein!”
Brian gazed at an old-style Citroen as it cruised along the road. “This is crazy! I mean look at the place: it's like a movie set. And who's he?”
“Yeah, there's something way wrong here. Well, let's go see who he is then Brian.”
The pair followed people into Museumplein as Nazi soldiers in a convoy of armoured cars entered the area ahead of a column of marching soldiers. The crowd cheered as a black Mercedes pulled up beside a raised platform and Adolf Hitler along with other high-ranking Nazis stepped out.
“Jesus Christ!” Tom uttered.
“No... not quite,” said Brian.
Hitler addressed the swastika-waving crowd in German.
“Brian, mate, it seems we've somehow stepped back in time, but... I can't remember reading of Hitler speaking in Amsterdam.
“How are we going to get back?”
“I don't know, let's get back to the shop.”
As they left the square a fair-haired man in a grey jacket and brown cords peeled off from the crowd and followed.
“There you go. We're back in 1940! See the date on that newspaper.” Tom said pointing at a newspaper stand.
“Yeah and look at the headline!”
“Dutch troops surrender. Yeah, well that ties in with the history I remember from school.”
They entered the shop to find Peabody waiting on them.
“Ah gentlemen, you're back. Will you accompany me upstairs please?”
Tom and Brian climbed the stairs after Peabody who entered the room with the sewing machine.
“Why are you here, gentlemen?” asked Peabody as he closed the door.
“Curiosity,” answered Tom.
“Well, I'll overlook that you entered my shop illegally. Now, tell me what do you know of Cosmology?”
Brian grimaced. “Not a lot!”
“You've heard of a parallel universe... yes?”
“A universe similar to ours that can't be entered,” answered Tom.
“Very good. Well, you have just been in another universe-not parallel but a bubble universe.
Tom looked at Brian and shrugged his shoulders. “What's the difference?”
“In a bubble universe things can be the same or different. Sometimes the difference is small other times there's a radical difference.”
“What do you mean just been in?”
“If you go downstairs, you'll find you're back in my shop-in your world.”
“Right, let's go,” Brian said walking toward the door, but he hesitated and looked back at his friend. “Come on, Tom.”
“You go if you like. I'm going to stay and learn more.”
“Ah... shit!” Brian said turning back.
Tom directed his gaze to Peabody. “How did you discover this door to the other world?”
“I'm a retired Maths teacher with an interest in magic from Exeter. I came over here and bought this shop after my wife died. The place had been lying empty for some time.”
“And you found out about its secret?”
“Yes like you, I found when I returned downstairs from this room I was in the past.”
“So, you sold stuff from 1940?” Brian asked.
“Well... yes.”
“So, time is not the only difference between the two worlds?”
“No, there're many subtle differences.”
“Can we go back through sometime?”
“Yes, but I would ask that you tell no-one, because the consequences could be dire if this is made common knowledge. I'm trying to close the door so to speak, but short of demolishing the place there seems to be no way.”
Back in their room in the Marriot Hotel Brian appeared from the en-suite with wet hair and a white towel wrapped round his middle. Tom who was lying on his bed rolled over on to his side and stared at Brian. “The old guy in the shop meant it: we tell no-one.”
“Yeah, yeah I get the picture. Come on, I'm going out as it's our last night in Amsterdam.”
“I'm not going home tomorrow. I phoned Roger at the office and put in for some leave-starting tomorrow.”
“What? You're mad! You're going back through that door aren't you? Well to hell with it, I'm coming too. I'll phone up and say I'm sick or something.”
“Tell'm you've got a dose!” Tom said laughing.
Brian picked up his pillow and threw it at Tom and marched into the en-suite.
At the draper's shop in 1940 the front-door opened and the man who followed Tom and Brian from Museumplein entered. The dark-haired girl appeared from the back-shop.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes, I'm looking for two British colleagues of mine. They were in here earlier.”
“Are you associated with Mr Peabody also?”
“Yes.”
“You'll find him upstairs,” she said as she turned to head back, “if you would follow me.”
He followed her into the rear passing the other shop assistants before climbing the steps. At the top of the stairs he entered the room with the sewing machine and the dummies.
After finding no-one in the room he descended the stairs into an empty back-shop. He pushed the curtain aside to find Peabody tending to a display.
“Where are the girls? This is not the draper's shop!”
Peabody swung round in surprise. “Oh dear, did you come from upstairs?”
“What is this?”
“You must go back upstairs, at once.”
“Now, why would I want to do that?” growled the man pulling a pistol from inside his jacket.
Peabody stared in horror at the gun. “You're NSB!”
The man grabbed Peabody and hit him over the head with the handle end of the gun.
Maarten De Vries gazed in awe at the traffic and the people outside Smoke and Mirrors. He walked along the street and entered a newsagent.
“My God,” he said to himself as he saw the date on a newspaper.
Later in a bookshop he found a book on World War Two where he was shocked to find that the Russians and the Western Allies defeated the Nazi's.
De Vries re-entered Smoke and Mirrors and hearing a moan he walked through to the rear where he found a semi-conscious Peabody. He grabbed the man by the shoulders and pulled up the top half of his body.. “How am I in the future?”
“You're in another world!” Peabody hissed through clenched teeth.
De Vries gazed upward in thought. “How do I get back?”
“Upstairs... you must go upstairs!”
De Vries pulled out the pistol and shot Peabody, then fled upstairs.
At length Tom and Brian entered the shop.
“Hello... Peabody!” Tom cried.
“Where is he?” Brian asked as they moved through to the back-shop.
“Whoa!” Tom shouted as he pulled back the curtain revealing the body.
Brian crouched by Peabody. “Who could've done this to an old man?”
Tom shrugged his shoulders. “We'd better call the police.” He looked upstairs, “you don't think...?”
“What, that someone came through from the other side and shot Peabody.”
“Lock the front-door Brian we're going upstairs!”
Tom and Brian descended the stairs into the back of the draper's. The dark-haired girl was busy with some clothing.
“Hello, em... what's your name?”
She looked up with a startled expression. “Gisela... my name's Gisela.”
“My name's Tom and this is Brian. Gisela, has there been anyone here looking for either Mr Peabody or us?”
“Yes, there was a man in looking for you. He said he was a colleague, and he worked with Mr Peabody.
“Did you send him upstairs?” Brian asked stepping off the stairs.
“Yes, he was up there for about an hour and a half, then he left without saying a word. Is something wrong?”
“Do you know anything of Mr Peabody's… em, other business?”
“No, we're not allowed up there.”
“I'm not sure what to tell you, perhaps you should contact the police about the man who was up the stairs.” Tom said nodding for Brian to climb the stairs.
“Wait a minute!”Gisela shouted, but they had disappeared into the room at the top of the stairs.
Back in Smoke and Mirrors Tom and Brian descended the stairs.
“Where's the body!” Tom cried.
Brian ran through the front of the shop and looked out of the window-both ways. “We should tell the police!”
“And tell them what? Somebody from another world shot Peabody and, oh yeah, we can't find the body!”
“We'll have to do something!”
“Here's what we're going to do: we're going to put a notice in the window saying closed until further notice. Then, we're going to shut up the shop and get on with our lives.”
“What of his relatives?”
“I don't think there're any here. Look around; this man lived alone.”
At Amsterdam Centraal Railway Station in 1940 Maarten De Vries was marched along a platform by a German Sergeant and four armed guards. A train composed of eight carriages, one armed with a cannon, and two locomotives sat at the platform: the Fuhrersonderzug was ready to leave for Berlin.
“Wait here,” ordered the Sergeant outside one carriage. He opened the door and went in for a moment before reappearing. “Follow me,” he said.
Inside the train they passed compartments with soldiers in until a woman in a grey suit met them. “Okay, Sergeant wait here. Mr De Vries please follow me,” she said.
She knocked on a door before entering a spacious compartment. Adolf Hitler and two other Nazis were sitting in large leather seats.
“Mein Fuhrer this is Mr De Vries,” the woman announced.
“Thank you Karla. So Mr De Vries, you have three minutes before the train leaves.”
“Mein Fuhrer what I'm about to tell you is bizarre but true. It's about the invasion of Russia-Operation Barbarossa!”
“Karla, delay the train for ten minutes.” Hitler ordered.
After the woman left Hitler rose and stared out of the window. “How could you know of Barbarossa?”
“Mein Fuhrer, I have glimpsed a future where the Third Reich are defeated by the Russians and the Western Allies. What you must not do is under-estimate the resilience of the Soviets. You must prepare the glorious armies for the onset of the cruel northern winter.”
Hitler turned and stared De Vries in the eye. “Tell me Mr De Vries if you were me would you believe someone like yourself coming and telling such a preposterous story?”
“Mein Fuhrer I am in earnest. Why would I risk my life coming if it were not true and so very important to the Third Reich!”
“Okay Mr De Vries, I will consider what you have told me.”
“You must also consider the fact that you must send greater fuel and food supplies to front-line troops in Russia.”
Tom and Brian sat at their desks, facing one another, in Wardell IT Solutions in Aberdeen.
“We got to go back to Amsterdam, mate,” said Tom.
“Why, jeez we've only been back a week?”
“We need to find out what happened to the body and find out if that Gisela is okay.”
“Yeah, she was a bit of all right, wasn't she?”
Tom blushed, so he turned and faced out of the window. “She might be in trouble if someone is going between the two worlds.”
“How are we going to swing it?”
Tom turned back. “I'll get that guy Rudi in the Amsterdam office to put in a request for us to go over and check out some hardware problem; he's due me a favour.”
A few days later the pair are walking along Huidenstraat on a dull day.
“I don't know if I want to go in Tom maybe it was a mistake coming back,” said Brian.
“Well, we're here now, and you were keen enough in the pub last night!”
“What if the cops are waiting on somebody coming back?”
“I wouldn't think so. Come on, I want to see what's happening in the other world.”
Tom strode up to the door and pulled out the key which he conveniently took from the back-shop on the last visit. He stuck the key in the lock, but the door was unlocked.
“Jeez,” he said over his shoulder as he pushed the door open slightly and stuck his head in.
“Someone's been through here recently; the mail's been pushed to one side.”
He pushed the door open wider, they both entered and walked through the front-shop. They pushed the curtain aside and entered the back-shop.
“Will we head upstairs?” Tom asked as they both heard the front door open.
“Quick, behind the cupboard-again!” whispered Brian.
The pair watched a fair-haired man in jacket and cords pass and climb the stairs. He suddenly stopped and turned to stare at the cupboard.
“Okay, you can come out now,” he said.
Tom and Brian appeared from behind the cupboard as De Vries pulled his pistol from inside his jacket.
“Well, well, what have we here? The two British have returned.”
“You killed Peabody!” growled Tom.
“That old fool would never have approved of what I'm doing.”
“Which is?” Brian asked.
“Information to aid the National Socialists against the Americans and the Russians... the world!”
De Vries released the safety catch. “Now farewell, gentlemen.”
A shot rang out and De Vries fell from the stairs on to the shop floor.
“Gisela!” Tom shouted looking up the stairs to where she stood with both hands gripping a gun.
“Great timing,” said a relieved Brian. “But, I thought you weren't allowed upstairs?”
Gisela lowered the gun and descended the stairs. “When Mr Peabody didn't come downstairs and the NSB had gone upstairs again, I became suspicious. I went upstairs and looked behind the door at the top then descended into this... new world!”
“Where did you learn to use a gun?” Tom asked.
Gisela checked the body for a pulse. "I'm in the Dutch Resistance. I asked for information on you, but it came back unknown. The information on him, however, was that he's NSB: a Dutch Nazi.”
She checked the pockets of his jacket and found papers. “Now we must return to the drapers or I must. They will miss him,” she said toeing the body. She held up the papers. “The German war effort is now relying on these papers on Uranium Refining.”
Tom moved toward her. “Hold on, we're coming too.”
The threesome climbed the stairs and entered the room at the top, then descended into the draper's shop where the other assistants were waiting.
“It's time I introduced my friends: Johan, Velda and Frederic,” she said pointing to each. “All Resistance.”
Gisela put the science papers into the coal fire which heated the shop. She turned to her colleagues. "I have killed the NSB traitor. We must prepare; I don't know if the enemy are aware of this place, but we must assume that they are."
Taking Tom and Brian aside, Gisela said: “We must destroy the door between the two worlds.”
“How do we do that?” Brian asked.
“I don't know, but it's imperative we find a way. The only reason that the shop hasn't been raided by the Nazis is that a deal must have been struck. But now the NSB man is dead they will come and the consequences are dire!”
“What do you mean exactly?” Tom asked.
“Well the temptation for someone like Hitler to enter your world, and in some way correct where his equivalent went wrong must surely be great.”
Brian pursed his lips and looked at Tom. “How about blowing-up the place!”
“Drastic, but I agree,” said Gisela.
“But what will happen to the shop in our world?” Tom queried.
“I think as it's in another world nothing will happen. As a precaution, when you return, you could warn people somehow.”
“Yes, we could set off the fire alarm.”
“Okay, let's do it. I'll contact the Resistance and request explosives. If you would go back; I will contact you before the explosion.”
Tom and Brian returned to Smoke and Mirrors.
“So what now?” Brian asked.
“We wait!”
Two hours later the door at the top of the stairs flew open and armed German soldiers stomped down. Tom and Brian ran out of the shop and along Huidenstraat.
After they stopped running they both bent over panting. Brian put a hand on Tom's shoulder. “Shit! Gisela must've been rumbled before she could set the explosives.”
“Yeah that buggers-up the whole thing-dosen't it?”
“We gotta tell somebody now, Tom!”
“Can I be of some assistance gentlemen?” asked a voice.
The pair turned to see Peabody step out of the shadows.
“What...? You're supposed to be dead!” Tom uttered.
“I see I have some explaining to do.”
Brian stared at him with wild eyes. “No time for that now, there's a squad of Nazi soldiers in the shop!”
“Well there is, and there isn't,” said Peabody quite calmly.
“What do you mean?” Tom asked.
Peabody walked. “Let's go to the shop, and I'll explain.”
“Are you mad? We can't go there,” said Brian as he and Tom reluctantly followed.
“Yes we can; you see I've changed the space/time matrix.” Peabody said over his shoulder.
The three men entered the shop and Brian and Tom looked on in amazement as the soldiers appeared not to notice them.
“It's okay they can't see or hear you,” said Peabody.
“I don't understand,” said Brian.
Tom re-directed his gaze from the soldiers to Peabody. “Who are you... really?”
Peabody smiled and looked up at the ceiling. “I'm an adjuster of time and space; the Guardian of the Gate-an immortal! No, I'm just a magician.”
“A magician that deals in World War Two paraphernalia,” said Brian, sarcastically.
“I have to eat. The magic business doesn't pay as well as it used too; what... with video games and the like! Now, we must save Gisela.”
They climbed the stairs and passed through the doorway. Then, as Peabody re-opened the door, he said: “the same applies down here.”
In the back of the drapers Gisela and her associates were being held by an SS officer in a black uniform and several armed soldiers.
At the bottom of the stairs Tom said: “We got to save her!”
“Okay, when I say-now-grab her!” Ordered Peabody. “I'm going to reset the matrix briefly.”
After a moment Peabody turned to Brian and Tom. “Now!”
The pair grabbed a shocked Gisela and watched as the Germans searched the room and the front-shop.
“Where did you come from? How did you...? Gisela asked looking at the three men.
“Don't ask,” said Tom, smiling.
“Mr Peabody... you're alive!”
“Yes my dear, but we have a problem.”
They looked toward the SS officer, who was stomping around the room shouting.
“I fear he wants us to return, or he's going to shoot your friends.”
“Oh, you must save them as well,” pleaded Gisela.
“I'm afraid we've lost the element of surprise.”
“Gisela turned to Peabody with alarm in her eyes after watching the SS man point his gun toward Johan. Suddenly they could hear him shouting.
The Nazi turned toward them. “Ah, there you are, so nice of you to join the party. I thought a little coercion would work,” he said-every word dripping with caustic sarcasm. He waved his gun indicating for them to join the others. “Now, let's all go through to this new world, shall we?”
He pointed his gun up the stairs. “After you.” Then, turning to the soldiers he told them to stay in the drapers.
As the entourage descended into Smoke and Mirrors the soldiers there raised their guns, but they were told to lower them by the Sergeant when he spotted the Gestapo agent at the rear with a pistol.
When he reached the back-shop floor, the SS man pointed his gun at Tom and Gisela. “You will accompany me to get the information on Uranium refining which the Dutchman was to deliver to the Third Reich.”
The next day Tom and Gisela entered the huge modern building of Amsterdam Public Library followed by the SS officer, now in plain clothes. After a quick look at the information signs they headed into the Reference Department.
“Find me the book on Uranium refining. And remember, I have your friends at gun-point.” The Nazi whispered to Tom.
Tom looked up Nuclear Physics on the book locator.
“What are those things?” The German asked looking at a row of computers.
“More machines for locating books.”
“Don't treat me as a fool!”
“Okay, okay, we can gather information from them.”
“By simply typing in a few commands?”
Tom looked at Gisela and shrugged his shoulders. “Look, it won't tell you how to build an atomic bomb, I think.”
“All we require is to be pointed in the right direction, and our glorious engineers will do the rest.
Well, go on then; look up what I want and no tricks,” he said patting the bulge in his jacket.
Tom joined the Library and accessed the internet on a spare computer watched by an entranced Gisela. He printed off what they required under the supervision of the SS man.
Back in the shop Gisela and Tom entered followed by the grinning Nazi. He ordered the soldiers back upstairs, but first they were to line the prisoners up and shoot them.
“Stop!” Shouted a voice, suddenly. “I'm the only one who can change things-shoot me!”
Peabody appeared.
Screams filled the room as the SS officer shot Peabody. He turned toward the prisoners. “Okay, I'm going to show my compassionate side,” he turned toward the soldiers and ordered them to tie-up the prisoners. “We'll let them rot here!”
The soldiers tied and gagged the friends and followed the SS man upstairs and through the door. When they were gone Peabody stepped out of the shadows
“I have to stop them. I hope I'm not too late!”
Brian and Tom stared wide-eyed at Peabody and then where the body had been.
“How do you do that?” Brian asked as Peabody took off the gags and untied everyone.
“Smoke and mirrors my dear boy... smoke and mirrors. Now I must dash,” he said as he ran up the stairs, opened the door and disappeared.
Gisela looked at Tom, and they ran up the stairs. Then, descending into the drapers they found Peabody shaking his head as he looked among the puzzled Germans. He gazed up at them and then looked back.
“That blasted SS man has escaped!”
“What happened?” Tom asked.
“I trapped them in a time and space bubble, but I wasn't quick enough; the Nazi got out of the shop before I acted.”
Gisela grabbed a pistol from behind a desk. “Well, we need to get him.” She dashed out of the shop followed by Brian and Tom. Looking one way then the other she spotted her target and dashed after him.
“Gisela wait!” Tom shouted.
“There's no time for wait Tom,” she shouted over her shoulder.
Gisela walked through the busy street right up behind the Gestapo agent. He suddenly spun round, knocked the gun from her hand and pulled her along a side alley. He shot her and pushed the body into a doorway.
Tom grabbed Gisela's gun as he and Brian ran into the alleyway. He raised the gun and levelled it at the Nazi's head.
“Come on now, give me the gun,” said the German edging toward Tom with his own gun at his side. “A nancy-boy like you will never pull the trigger.”
They stood in silence for a moment before Tom's gun spewed out flame from the barrel and part of the man's head flew off as his body fell backward.
“Christ Tom... well done!” Brian said as he crouched beside the body to retrieve the printouts. He then rose and grabbed a shocked Tom.