The three small ships, which looked quite mean in general appearance, each measured about 35 meters in length. Something then happened that shook the old admiral: as the four ships were touching down, lining themselves up along the apron: another ship appeared over them in a flash of white light. The newcomer, which was of a different design from the others, then landed besides the big ship. All five ships were painted low visibility gray and sported an emblem made up of a hourglass drawn over the planet Earth. The ships’ names, painted in bold black letters near the noses of the ships, were also plainly visible.
“The HERMES, BABYLON, WALKÜREN, WHITE ROSE OF STALINGRAD and
COSSACK’S DREAM.” Read aloud Charles Bailey. “Some strange names for ships, Admiral.”
“Well, let’s see how strange their crews are, gentlemen.”
Going back in the staff cars, they then drove up to the nose of the biggest ship. Seeing a tense Marine arm his machine gun, Nimitz shouted at his escort as he stepped out of his staff car.
“NOBODY IS TO SHOOT UNLESS I GIVE THE EXPRESS ORDER TO DO SO.
STAND DOWN YOUR MACHINE GUNS!”
Somewhat reluctantly, the Marines obeyed and stood besides their jeeps as a sort of large tube started coming down from under the forward belly of the ship named BABYLON. Nimitz cautiously approached it, recognizing it as some sort of elevator cage. Effectively, a door soon slid open at the base of the tube, which now rested on the ground, and a man and a woman walked out of the tube. Both wore dark gray uniforms, helmets and molded body armor. They approached calmly Nimitz and his staff officers, stopping in front of the admiral and saluting him.
Nimitz returned their salute before presenting his hand to the woman.
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“Brigadier Laplante, it is a pleasure to see that you are alive and well. Welcome to Hawaii.”
Nancy shook his hand and showed him the tall man besides her.
“Thank you, Admiral. May I present you Mister Michael Stone, Captain of the research ship BABYLON?”
Nimitz shook hands with Stone before returning his attention to Nancy.
“Did you say that this is a research ship, not a warship?”
“I did, sir. However, the BABYLON has some self-defense armament and its extensive sensors suite makes it a perfect flying command post and long-range reconnaissance ship. The HERMES, to your left, is a heavy cargo shuttle, which is currently carrying our combat supplies and our maintenance crews and equipment. Our main strike elements in the Pacific will be our scoutships, of which three are here. Two more scoutships will join our task force here once they are done with their work in Warsaw. We however have a lot to discuss about, Admiral, so how about coming inside the BABYLON, you and your officers. I can assure you that our crew lounge is not dry, contrary to the American Navy.”
Nimitz glanced at his officers, who appeared as eager as him to see the inside of the spaceship.
“Well, if you have a nice bottle of scotch hanging around, I may take you on your invitation.”
“We do have some 24 year-old Glen Grant malt scotch left in our bar, Admiral, along with some very old rum.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Said Nimitz with good humor. He followed Laplante and Stone back to the elevator tube, taking place with them and his staff officers in a large round cabin. The door of the cabin closed and Nimitz felt only a slight sensation of movement before the doors opened again, showing the inside of a long metallic passageway. The walls were painted a relaxing pastel blue-green and a sort of soft, rubbery non-skid mat covered the floor.
“Please follow me, Admiral.” Said politely Nancy before walking out of the elevator and following the passageway towards the aft parts of the ship. Walking besides the tall Canadian, Nimitz noticed that there were no doors visible along this passageway. Once at the end of it, Nancy put her hand on a black pad fixed to the wall besides the door closing the passageway. The door, a thick steel affair, slid open silently, letting them walk in a rotunda lined with seven doors and with a large vertical 675
shaft at its center. Nancy turned left and opened the first door they encountered, inviting her visitors inside. Nimitz and his officers then found themselves in a luxurious lounge with wall-to-wall carpeting and brass and silver fixtures and decorations. A bar stood in one corner, while what looked like a cinema projection screen covered half a wall. There were also numerous ancient artifacts, weapons and pieces of armor lining the walls.
“The V.I.P. lounge.” Said Nancy before pointing at a group of comfortable sofas surrounding a polished rare wood low table. “Please have a seat, gentlemen. What would you like to drink?”
“A scotch on the rocks, miss.” Answered Nimitz, echoed by Rear Admiral Draemel and Lieutenant Commander Bailey. Captain McMorris, on his part, went for a rum punch. As Nancy got busy behind the bar, Charles Bailey, who was an avid hunter, couldn’t help go examine the stuffed head of what looked like a huge lion, but with two long canine teeth going down past its chin.
“Uh, could I ask you what kind of beast this is, Brigadier Laplante?”
Nancy answered from behind the bar, raising her voice so Bailey could hear from across the lounge.
“That is the head of a saber-tooth tiger, Mister Bailey. It was killed during one of our survival training sessions in 41,000 B.C.E. Canada.”
Bailey’s eyes opened wide at that. He kept looking at the various artifacts and trophies for a while, then joined the others around the low table when Nancy brought a serving tray with their drinks on it. She raised a glass of bubbling white wine once the others were served and seated.
“To
peace,
gentlemen.”
“To peace!” Repeated Nimitz and the others before taking a sip from their drinks.
The admiral savored his scotch for a moment, then smiled at Nancy.
“Brigadier, I have to say that seeing you alive was a nice surprise for us. The sight of your ships was an even bigger one. Unfortunately, what I got from Washington concerning your intentions was vague, to say the least. Is it true that you want to stop this war quickly?”
“It is, Admiral. I know that you must have a million questions to ask me, so I will give you a quick update on what happened since I was reportedly killed a year ago.”
Nancy’s expression turned somber as she assembled mentally her words.
“First of, I was effectively tortured nearly to death by the Gestapo at the end of June, 1941. However, the Abwehr delivered me just in time, along with a very brave 676
scientist from the future who risked her life to save me but was captured and tortured as well. We both were brought to a hospital in Berlin, from which I was sent to Colditz Castle to be interned for the rest of the war, while my friend, Doctor Farah Tolkonen, stayed in Berlin. This is where it gets tricky, however. While Farah managed to escape to England by using a portable time travel device, the British decided that they couldn’t risk that I gave any secrets to the Germans while in captivity and bombed Colditz Castle and the surrounding town to rubble in an effort to kill me. Fortunately for me, the Germans had brought me the same day back to the hospital in Berlin I was in before, which saved my life. That night, I escaped from the hospital and stole a plane at the nearby Tempelhof airfield, to arrive safely in England in the early morning. You will understand that, by then, I was less than convinced about the honesty of the British concerning me, so I returned incognito to London. There, I learned that my friend Farah was being held and brutalized by the British, who wanted to learn how to use her time machine. Mad as hell, I raided the M.I.5 headquarters and delivered my friend, roughing up a few British in the process, then escaped to the future. Once in the 34th century, I was restored to full health and created with Farah an organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of history from illegal or irresponsible time travel and manipulations. That organization is called the Time Patrol and employs both people from the 34th century and people from various centuries and nationalities.”
“Uh, if your task is to protect history, then why are you changing the course of this war? Aren’t you breaking your own rules?” Asked Charles Bailey. Nancy nodded.
“A logical question, Mister Bailey. However, you must understand one basic thing about the world you, the admiral and all of you live in: it was involuntarily created by my actions in September of 1940, when I was marooned in the past against my will.
This world is what I call Timeline ‘B’. Where I come from is Timeline ‘A’, the original historical line. Farah comes from the future of timeline ‘A’, not from timeline ‘B’. You are all mere modified copies of the persons found in timeline ‘A’.”
The Americans were speechless for a moment while they assimilated that shocking information. Nancy used that chance to go on.
“Normally, the integrity of timeline ‘B’ would be considered by the Time Patrol as important as that of timeline ‘A’. However, the timeline twin of Farah Tolkonen, herself an expert on the theory of time travel, recently fled from a future civilization called the Imperium, where she was being abused and threatened by the head of the Imperium security forces. She searched for a refuge in 1941 ‘B’ London, where we found her and 677
brought her to our base in the 34th century. Unfortunately for everybody, the Imperium badly overreacted to her escape and raided Buckingham Palace on May 20 of this year, searching for Farah ‘B’. Not finding her, the Imperium kidnapped Princess Margaret and the king’s equerry, bringing them as hostages to their future London in order to force the British into turning over Farah ‘B’. My Time Patrol intervened and we were able to win the release of the princess and of the king’s equerry, but the Imperium laid a trap for us, which we were able to spring in advance. The Imperium has since vowed to find where we operate from and to eradicate the civilization that supported us, which is named the Global Council and is a totally pacifist society. The only way left to us to avoid the destruction of the Global Council by the Imperium is to change drastically the history of timeline ‘B’ and in this way prevent the creation of the Imperium in the future. We decided that the best way to do that would be to finish quickly this war and to ensure that the world that will emerge from it will be a balanced and peaceful one.”
“Wait a minute, Brigadier.” Said Bailey, thinking furiously. “The British and us would have probably won this war in the long run anyway. What makes you think that finishing it faster would prevent the creation of this Imperium?”
“For one thing, Mister Bailey, putting an end to the war our way will result in a fairer balance of power worldwide later on. Know that we have already explored the future of timeline ‘B’ up to the year 1986. What we saw was a world thoroughly dominated by a British Empire that gradually pushed aside both the United States and the Soviet Union, relegating them to the rank of secondary powers. Not content in winning the war thanks to the technology I gave to them in 1940, the British used that same technological edge after the war to compete economically with the United States, a contest you Americans lost badly over the decades following the war. While I was still working for the British in 1940-41, I had pushed for my technology to be shared equally between Great Britain and the United States; however it seems that the British kept the best for themselves. Tell me, Mister Bailey: how much transfer of technology did you see coming from the British during the last two years?”
“Uh, very little, actually. We do have plans for an improved carrier design, which I believe you passed on to us directly, along with notes on aircraft jet engines and some infantry weapons. I am not aware of anything else.”
That was when Admiral Nimitz jumped in the conversation.
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“So, what you are saying, miss, is that you want to stop this war in a way that will ensure a proper place for the United States and the Soviet Union in the post-war years, correct?”
“Not for the Soviet Union, Admiral. Stalin is a human monster and his communist party rule will create untold misery and suffering around Europe in the coming years if not kept in check. What I see after this war is a strong, pacified Europe that would include a mostly disarmed Germany and that could act as a buffer against any aggressive move by the Soviets. I also want to see a strong United States that would at least be the equal of the British Empire in terms of influence around the world. In exchange, I am hoping to see some much needed social changes in the United States, especially in terms of racial equality and justice. I don’t know about your own personal opinions on the subject, Admiral, but I find the fact that the United States still practices and enforces racial segregation truly abhorrent. I will not of course force such changes on your country but I will certainly encourage them. Please pardon me if all this sounds like interference in internal American affairs, but I want to be totally open about that.”
“May I say a word on that, Admiral?” Said Michael Stone, who had stayed silent up to now. “I was myself in the US Navy before I joined the Time Patrol in the year 2052. By then, segregation had been abolished in the United States for over eighty years and I had people from all races serving in harmony and mutual respect under me.
There are other 21st century Americans in the Time Patrol and I can tell you that they find the present state of social affairs in our country a disgrace. What we wish for is to be able to visit the United States in the next few years and not be ashamed by what we see in it.”
The reaction of the American Navy officers to that was decidedly mixed, with Rear Admiral Draemel appearing the most annoyed.
“Mister Stone, may I remind you that you are presently on an American military airfield. Don’t expect us to change our laws and regulations just because you showed up.”
Stone stared at Draemel with barely concealed anger.
“My point, Admiral, is that I have members of my crew that are either German, Japanese or African-American. I will not tolerate having them treated any differently than the rest of my crew by your people.”
“African-American? Is that how you call your niggers in the future?”
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Michael Stone would have jumped to his feet if not held down by Nancy’s strong grip on his shoulder. Nancy then drilled Draemel with her eyes.
“Rear Admiral Draemel, I personally find your choice of words extremely offensive. If this is the kind of attitude my crews will encounter here, then we will simply leave and do our things alone.”
“Please, Brigadier, I am sure that this will not be necessary.” Hurriedly said Nimitz, trying to defuse the verbal confrontation. “My chief of staff was simply underlining the fact that the rules and regulations applying to our facilities are decided in Washington and are valid country-wide. I can however assure you that all your personnel will be treated with the utmost respect. I would now like to discuss your plan of operation with you, if you don’t mind?”
Nancy kept fixing Draemel as she answered Nimitz.
“Alright, Admiral. We will discuss my plans but on the bridge, where our sensor stations are. Please follow me.”
As they all got up from their seats, Nimitz got close to Draemel and whispered angrily in his ear.
“For God’s sake, Bob, control your mouth for the rest of this visit.”
Draemel didn’t answer, instead tightening his jaws in repressed anger. Their group left the V.I.P. lounge and used one of the elevators housed in the central shaft of the rotunda. From there they followed a passageway lined with numerous doors that led to a second, smaller rotunda. Nancy led them in yet another elevator that went up three levels before stopping. When he got out of that elevator, Nimitz had to stop dead, stunned by the spectacle offered to him. He was now standing on a wide circular platform with workstations facing outwardly along its periphery. Two more platforms, each smaller in diameter and higher than the other, supported yet more workstations and command seats. The whole arrangement of successive platforms was in turn contained in the center of a large sphere. The internal surface of that sphere was however one big holographic projection screen, where the panorama outside of the ship was shown as realistically as if the platforms would have stood in the open air.
Superimposed on the panorama were numerous color symbols and markers of unknown function. Charles Bailey’s mouth opened wide with awe.
“My God! Look at that technology.”
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“We call this multi-sensor fusion.” Said Michael Stone. “Those workstations around us in turn can isolate a certain sector visible on the sphere and analyze it in greater detail.”
Captain McMorris then noticed the huge size and bald heads of most of the operators visible on the platforms.
“Brigadier, these people are real giants. How come?”
“They are from the 34th century, Captain.” Replied politely Nancy. “Everybody then is over two meter-tall, is bald and has six fingers per hand, all the result of selective genetic manipulations intended to ensure the survival of humanity after a devastating war that poisoned the air and ground of the whole planet. The people of the Global Council, while pacifists, are also socially and technically extremely advanced. Let’s go up to the command platform now.”
Nancy led the Americans to the topmost platform, which had roughly a diameter of ten meters. Only three padded seats with swiveling control panels stood higher than that platform. Stone pointed at them in turn.
“These two topmost, side-by-side seats are for the pilot and copilot/navigator, while the one just under and in front of them is my captain’s chair.”
Nimitz was however not listening to Stone, instead staring with disbelief at the woman in the pilot’s seat.
“Miss Earhart, is that you?”
He then went up quickly to her, hugging her joyfully.
“Thank God: you are alive! We searched for you for so long back in 1937.
Nancy Laplante went back to save you, I suppose.”
Amelia Earhart returned his hug, moved by the admiral’s concern for her.
“She did, Admiral. She also saved from death many other members of the Time Patrol.”
“I must have you come to have supper with my wife tonight, Miss Earhart. It would be a true honor for us if you could come.”
“That will depend on Nancy, Admiral: we have plans to execute tonight.”
“That will be alright with me, Amelia.” Said Nancy with a smile. “We won’t start flying operations before late tonight. Just make sure that you are back and sober by nine O’clock.”
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“I will have a staff car drop her back by then, Brigadier.” Promised Nimitz, happy, before looking back at Amelia. “A car will pick you up at five this afternoon. See you for supper, Miss Earhart.”
Nimitz then went back down to join Nancy and the others.
“Sorry for the interruption, miss.”
“You are more than excused, Admiral. Actually, our plan of action is quite simple. Since my crews have been in action for nearly fourteen straight hours now, I was going to let them rest until eleven tonight, when the task force will take off and head for Japanese-held waters. The first phase of our operation against Japan has already been completed when we raided a few spots around Tokyo earlier on today. The second phase will target both the carrier-borne and the land-based Japanese air power.
The third phase will then target all the Japanese warships left and their commercial shipping. This way, the Japanese island garrisons will be cut off from each other and from their supply lines. The fourth phase will involve the systematic destruction of the Japanese fuel reserves and electric power grids in and around Japan. Japan will then be isolated, defenseless and out of supplies and will be forced to either surrender or starve in the dark. We will leave the island garrisons alone until they surrender out of starvation: my history has shown that, even when cut off, they will fight to the death if attacked and will cause an unacceptable number of casualties to any American force that would land.”
“But that could take months of waiting!” Objected Draemel. Nancy looked at him coldly.
“If you want, I could show you a number of documentaries made in my timeline about the results of assaulting such places as Saipan, Tarawa and Okinawa, sir. Why sacrifice tens of thousands of your men just to appear to be doing something? Besides, there will be a more important job to do in the meantime: save the hundreds of thousands of allied prisoners now held in horrible conditions by the Japanese all over the Pacific. That is when I will need your full support to care and treat those prisoners once we free them, Admiral Nimitz. Half of the Time Patrol fleet is actually busy taking on Germany and will soon free the inmates of the Nazi concentration camps in occupied Europe. We actually attach as much importance to humanitarian relief operations than to purely military operations in our plans, Admiral.”
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“I can’t fault you for that, miss, especially if you can really pull this all off.
However, don’t expect the Japanese to take all this lying down. They will react, one way or the other.”
“Maybe, Admiral, but they will be leaderless: our raid on Tokyo had as a goal the capture of the main Japanese military and political leaders. Please look at this screen over here.”
Nimitz turned towards the wide screen fixed to a swiveling base near the captain’s chair and saw on it a sort of storage room. There was no equipment or supplies in that room, but it contained a number of men in various military uniforms angrily pacing around the room.
“General Tojo? I can also see Admiral Nagano, Admiral Shimada and General Anami, plus others I can’t recognize. That’s incredible! Were you able to get Admiral Yamamoto or Emperor Hirohito, miss?”
“We did capture Admiral Yamamoto, but I accepted his wish to be able to commit ritual suicide. As for the emperor, we left him in his palace: he is part of the solution, not of the problem.”
“I’m afraid that I don’t understand you, miss.”
“What I meant to say is that Emperor Hirohito may be our best chance to put an end to the war in the Pacific while avoiding a horrible bloodbath, Admiral. Hirohito, like King George VI, has little real power and is mostly obliged to go along with the wishes of his government, but is highly respected by his people. With many of the hardliners in the Japanese government in our hands, the moderates may, with the emperor’s support, be able to convince the army and the navy to stop fighting, especially if they have no hardware left to fight with.”
“Hmm, not a bad idea actually. Maybe you should try that on the Germans, miss.”
Nancy smiled enigmatically and had the view on the screen change to that of the inside of another storeroom. That one too contained a number of men in uniforms, plus two in civilian suits. Nimitz’s jaw dropped to the floor at their sight.
“Sweet Jesus! I see Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Goebbels and a few others of whom I can’t remember their names. Miss, you are incredible.”
“It was actually fairly easy, Admiral, if you consider the level of our technology and our access to historical archives from the future. The hard part has still to be done, 683
hopefully with as little blood spilled as possible. Now, could I ask for a few little favors from you, Admiral?”
“After what you already accomplished? Ask and you will get!”
“Oh, I will not ask for much, Admiral. First, would you mind taking custody of my Japanese and German prisoners? We actually have no proper detention facilities on our ships.”
“We will be more than happy to help you in that matter, miss.” Said Nimitz before turning towards Rear Admiral Draemel. “As soon as we are off this ship, I want you to get a company of military policemen to take charge of those prisoners. Advise Washington and see to the prisoners’ transfer to the continent as soon as possible.”
“Yes,
Admiral!”
Nimitz then faced back Nancy.
“What
else,
miss?”
“Could I ask for the loan of a few of your intelligence specialists for a few days, Admiral? While my aircrews are highly qualified, they are not familiar with Japanese forces and equipment. We would especially like five good observers current with Japanese equipment and a few linguists accustomed to listen to Japanese morse radio traffic.”
“No problem! Lieutenant Commander Bailey will take care of that. Next?”
“Finally, would it be a big burden on you if my personnel would use your messing facilities in Pearl Harbor? We have a small stockpile of rations of our own but, since we don’t know how long this campaign will take, I would rather save them for real emergencies.”
“Is that really it, miss? You are not asking for much. How many people do you need to feed?”
“About eighty when my two other scoutships will join us from Warsaw. These are mostly aircrews, with a few ground crews and support personnel mixed in the lot. Since we do not have a formal rank system in the Time Patrol, I would be hard pressed to separate them into officers and non-officers, especially in the case of our scientists.”
“Only eighty people? Then we will keep this simple: the Navy officers’ cafeteria and mess at the naval base nearby will be opened to all your personnel. Do you need some of our Marines to stand guard around your ships, miss?”
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“Thanks but that won’t be necessary, Admiral: we have brought our own watchdogs with us. Now that we are in agreement, I will guide you and your officers back to your staff cars. I am sure that you have as much to do as me.”
“You are too right on that, miss. Still, it is mighty nice to get some unexpected help like this. Feel free to use the two hangars behind your ships as you please.”
“I certainly will, Admiral. If you may follow me.”
Five minutes later, Nimitz and his staff officers were back at their waiting staff cars. Draemel immediately called by radio the base security officer to call some MPs in while Nimitz looked at McMorris and Bailey.
“So, what do you think, gentlemen?”
McMorris weighed his words carefully before answering the admiral.
“Their political outlook may be quite different from ours, but I believe that this Time Patrol can deliver the goods. My opinion is to support them as much as we can.
Just by capturing all these Japanese and German leaders, they have already dealt a heavy b