“This is the declaration I want you to read aloud. This microphone is linked by radio to my ships overflying Tokyo and the rest of Japan now. Your declaration will be heard all over the country.”
Thoroughly depressed now, Hirohito read silently the short declaration once and then looked up at Nancy, who gave him a warning look.
“You either read it or I will. If I have to do it, the conditions will become harsher.
Push the ‘on’ button up before speaking.”
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Now resigned to his fate, Hirohito played the puppet one last time. He switched on the microphone and read aloud the declaration.
“People of Japan, this is your Emperor speaking! I am now in the custody of the Time Patrol, which just took control of Tokyo. Our Navy, Air Force and Army are no more and none of our soldiers will come home, as they are all dead. Further resistance would be both futile and wasteful, thus I, as your Emperor, order you to accept defeat and to refrain from further fighting. Japan is to surrender immediately without conditions to the Time Patrol. The present government will step down at once and I will ask the Jushin22 to step in and to govern temporarily the country. All war production and manufacturing of weapons and ammunitions will cease immediately and emphasis will from now on be put on the production of food and consumer products. If there are any prisoners of war or forced laborers from other countries still in Japan, they are to be treated decently until they can be repatriated to their respective countries. Any act of revenge against them will be severely punished. The armed forces of Japan are to be disbanded as of today and its surviving personnel to be retired. The Time Patrol will enforce our surrender and will supervise our new government until true democratic elections can be organized. It will also protect Japan from any attempt to invade it by foreign powers while it lies defenseless. Lastly, I, your Emperor, declare solemnly the following: I, like all my predecessors, am a simple mortal man and am not of divine origin. Those who plunged Japan in this disastrous war used the myth of imperial divinity to make you follow their ambitions and to consolidate their personal power. That myth has cost too many lives and is to be put to rest now, permanently. I, your Emperor, have spoken. For the sake of Japan’s future, I exhort you to obey my commands.”
All the while he was speaking, Hirohito could hear his speech echo around Tokyo, amplified and retransmitted from above. When he was finished, he switched off the microphone and gave it back to Nancy, along with the text of the speech.
“Now, you can do whatever you want with me, Brigadier.”
Nancy stared down at him, her face softening a bit now. While he had a lot to answer for, Hirohito was basically a decent man who had only been too weak to stand up for himself. Harming him further would be both cruel and unnecessary. She was about to say something to him when the Empress and her six children burst in the pavilion, fear and anxiety on their faces. Nancy looked at them, then holstered her pistol, while 22 Jushin: National council of elders formed from previous government Prime Ministers 894
Elizabeth, following her lead, sheeted both her sword and her throwing knife. Seeing this, the Empress ran to Hirohito and knelt before him, imitated by her four daughters and two sons. The eldest son, who was nine years old, looked fiercely at Nancy.
“You have no right to do this! My father is the Emperor!”
“He still is, Prince Akihito, but from now on he will rule as a human being, not as a living god. There is only one true superior being and he is called ‘The One’. With him, there are no such things as a ‘Chosen People’ or a ‘Divine Race’, only Humanity as a whole.”
“How could you be sure of that?” Replied the boy despite signs from his mother to keep quiet. Nancy stared at him and answered telepathically.
“Because I saw and touched The One, twice. I also spoke with him on other occasions.”
The whole imperial family heard her thoughts and stared at her with awe and disbelief.
Nancy went on, looking now at Hirohito.
“You may stay as emperor if you wish so and if your people still want you. You can also pursue a career in marine biology if you prefer to do so. As for your government, a Time Patrol team led by Elizabeth Windsor will supervise its work and provide guidance as needed. Contact both the members of the Jushin and of the now deposed government and tell them to meet you tomorrow at nine in the morning, in your imperial library. Elizabeth will be there to brief them on what is expected exactly of Japan.”
Hirohito couldn’t help look doubtfully at Elizabeth.
“I mean no disrespect towards Princess Elizabeth, but isn’t she a bit too young and inexperienced for that role?”
“Your Majesty,” replied calmly Elizabeth, “I may be still shy of my seventeenth birthday, but I benefit from the experiences of my past incarnations, which span over 11,000 years. I lived a total of five lives as a Japanese, including one as the 12th century Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo. I also received some training from my father on state affairs. I will actually enjoy my role as Overseer of Japan, Your Majesty.”
16:14 (Paris Time)
Tuesday, June 9, 1942 ‘B’
Council Room, Paris Town hall
France
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The assembly fell silent as Nancy Laplante, resplendent in her Time Patrol parade uniform, took control of the microphone on the elevated bench of the Council Room. The peace conference was now in its final stage, with all the political discussions concluded and the formal treaties being prepared for ratification tomorrow. The going had been rough at times and more than a few tempers had exploded but a lot had been accomplished, thanks mostly to the firm, some would say dictatorial, manner Nancy had chaired the conference.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the final results of our hard work are now close at hand, with the signing tomorrow by the heads of states involved of the various treaties we agreed on. We now have peace in Europe, hopefully a durable one. I can now also announce that we have peace as well in the Pacific. This morning, the new provisional government of Japan officially signed a declaration of surrender to the Time Patrol and also signed a twelve-point plan to put a demilitarized Japan on the road to true democracy. All the territories occupied by Japan, including in China and Korea, are now free. Japan will now, for the time being, be supervised by the Time Patrol, which has named Field Agent Elizabeth Windsor as Overseer of Japan on a temporary basis.”
Most delegates and all the reporters present applauded and cheered at those news, with British Foreign Minister Eden being particularly happy, no doubt mostly because of the role played in this by Princess Elizabeth. The American delegation, while happy to see the end of the war in the Pacific, was obviously not thrilled by the fact that the United States had been sidelined on the subject of post-war Japan. Nancy went on as soon as silence had mostly returned.
“Despite all the progress we made here, however, I have a solemn warning to give to all of you. If there is anything that this costly, cruel conflict should have taught you, it is that the age of imperialism is well past and should go, forever! The ideas and attitudes that went with that imperialism, like the smug and racist belief that it was the white man’s burden to civilize the rest of the world, have been discredited by the way so-called subhuman specimens, as the commander-in-chief of the Singapore garrison described Japanese prisoners he saw in China, outfought European troops during this war. Europe has treated up to now the people of Africa, Asia and the Middle East with a mixture of racism, snobbery and overconfidence that has profoundly alienated the populations of these areas. Well, these populations now want to govern themselves and to be able to form their own countries. They don’t want anymore to be ruled from afar 896
while Europeans living the easy life in their country treat them as if they are their personal slaves. The people of Indochina, of India, of Algeria and of the Dutch East Indies, to name only a few, now want true independence and they will fight to get that.
You can either start to cut your imperialistic ties to those countries now or you can spend more blood and money trying to retain your empires. Either way, you will eventually lose control of those countries, I assure you. Some of you may dismiss this warning as the ranting of an idealist, but I am dead serious about this. Let your empires go now or be ready to pay an awful price in blood for nothing. On this word of caution, I will now let you enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen.”
Edward Murrow, sitting in the visitors’ gallery, thought that the applauds were decidedly lukewarm this time as Nancy Laplante walked out of the council room. Edward, who favored frank and open talk and who was a true humanist, had actually enjoyed her stinging speech. So had Gandhi, from India, who was applauding about as loudly as the rest of the delegates put together.
Murrow, like the rest of the reporters, left the council room and went to the Salon des Arcades, where the communication booths were. He however changed his mind and, after giving his notes to be transmitted to an assistant, followed Nancy Laplante, who was disappearing inside the Salon Bertrand. It turned out that she was actually headed for the Salle des Fêtes, the largest room of the town hall. Murrow suddenly realized that something was up: assembled in the long, splendidly decorated room was more members of the Time Patrol than he had ever seen together in one spot, all wearing parade uniforms. He could now also see on the tribune at the end of the room a number of dignitaries, including General De Gaulle, the Polish Prime Minister Sikorski, King George the Sixth and the Global Chief Administrator, Tomi Kern. Standing near the tribune was that beautiful giant reporter from the future, Lori Kano. Seeing that Nancy had stopped just outside the door to the room and was pinning a row of medals on her uniform, Murrow hurried to her. Nancy smiled to him when he stopped near her and pointed at her medals.
“Aah, Mister Murrow, just in time to help me. I am having problems putting my medals on so that they are level. Could you adjust them for me, please?”
“With pleasure, miss.”
Murrow quickly repositioned the medals so that they would be both centered on her left breast and level, but couldn’t help notice that her British medals were absent.
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“Here you are, miss. I don’t see your Victoria Cross, or your Distinguished Service Order. Did you lose them, miss?”
His question seemed to embarrass her a bit.
“Uh, no. I am just not wearing my British medals anymore.”
“Why, miss?” Asked Murrow, genuinely shocked. “I have been following your exploits since 1940: you earned these medals through your courage, suffering and sacrifices.”
“Mister Murrow, let’s say that I have political reasons for not wearing them.”
“Are you talking about the attempt by the British to kill you in Colditz Castle, miss?”
“That and other things, Mister Murrow. If you will now excuse me, I have an official function to attend.”
“May I watch, miss?”
Nancy hesitated only for an instant before pointing at Lori Kano.
“You can stand next to Lori over there, but please keep quiet during the ceremony. I will speak to you later.”
“Thank you, Miss Laplante.”
As Murrow entered with Nancy, two French soldiers closed the doors behind them: this was obviously going to be a strictly private ceremony. Walking along the left side line of decorated arches, Murrow finally took position to the right of Lori Kano, who smiled down to him.
“I see that you got lucky, Mister Murrow. Good for you!”
“Please, miss, just call me Ed.”
“And you may call me Lori, Ed.”
Murrow took out his notepad and a pen as Nancy went to the dignitaries and started speaking with them in a low voice. He had to strain his hearing to be able to make out what she said.
On the tribune, Nancy saluted first the dignitaries before going to General De Gaulle and speaking to him in a low voice, so that the other members of the Time Patrol could not hear her.
“General, you told me that you had medals for my troops but you didn’t tell me that other dignitaries would be present as well.”
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De Gaulle smiled with malice, as if he was a kid who had pulled a swift one on a classmate.
“I’m sorry for that, Miss Laplante. They approached me at the start of the conference and expressed their desire to award your men and women for their bravery and dedication, so I decided to tag their presentations to mine and keep discreet about it.”
“Hum, I see!” Said Nancy, a slight smile appearing on her face. She then went to King George the Sixth, who was accompanied by Sir Anthony Eden, Group Captain Peter Townsend and Princess Margaret. Nancy glanced briefly at her British medals, resting on a red cushion that lay on a nearby table, along with numerous other medals.
“Your Majesty, you know that I can’t accept back my medals: it would be pure hypocrisy, especially since many of my men and women are German and won’t get anything from you.”
King George nodded his head gravely but replied in a soft voice.
“I know that Great Britain did you wrong twice, Miss Laplante. There are a few things you should know first, though. This is the text of a public apology from Prime Minister Churchill that was read in the House of Commons yesterday and will be published in tomorrow’s London newspapers.”
Taking the sheet of paper from the King, Nancy then read it carefully. It was actually a sincere apology that exposed all the facts concerning the Colditz Castle affair and the detention and brutalizing of Farah by the M.I.5. There was no hidden truth this time and it was certain to cost Churchill politically at the next British general elections. Farah, who was part of the pack of dignitaries, stepped forward and gently touched Nancy’s arm.
“Please accept them back, Nancy. I have spoken with Prime Minister Churchill and he truly regrets what happened. I have forgiven him and so should you.”
“But what about my German members? Are they going to be ignored?”
“No!” Replied King George. “Everyone will be honored today, without exception.”
“In that case I will accept my medals back, Your Majesty.” Said Nancy reluctantly.
“Then, if you don’t mind, we will leave you last in the distribution, miss. General De Gaulle, as the host you should go first, I believe.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
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Signaling three officers who were bearing boxes full of medals and another one who held a list to follow him, De Gaulle went to the members of the Time Patrol lined up in two ranks and separated into two groups, Nancy by his right side. The ground assault specialists and the combat aircrews formed the first rank of the first group, while the new apprentices and the non-combat aircrews formed the second rank. The second, much larger group, consisted of the ground support specialists and of the administrative and scientific staff. Taking his cues from the officer holding the nominal list, De Gaulle then distributed French War Crosses and War Crosses with Leaves to the members of the Time Patrol, with the field agents receiving the medal of Knight of the Legion of Honor on top of their War Cross with Leaves. Even the German field agents got their medals, something Nancy was most grateful for to De Gaulle. Three small tables had been set to the left of the second group of members, bearing pictures of the three field agents killed in action. De Gaulle put medals as well on the red cushions lying in front of the pictures, gazing for a moment at the picture of young Martha Pfalz.
“Too many young people died in this war. Let’s hope that it will be the last we see in Europe, or in the rest of the World.”
“I am afraid that this would be asking too much from human nature, General.”
Replied softly Nancy, getting a nod from De Gaulle.
“You are too right, miss. I have still more medals to give, but I will leave you and Doctor Tolkonen for the end of this ceremony.”
He then distributed War Crosses to the support members of the Time Patrol. Returning together to the tribune, De Gaulle handed Nancy over to King George, who first pinned her old British medals back on Nancy’s chest while smiling.
“Do you realize that you are the first person ever to win the Victoria Cross three times, miss?”
“Does that mean that I’m crazier than most, Your Majesty?”
“Something like that. You will not need back your C.B.E., as it is going to be replaced by a higher class of the Order of the British Empire. Let’s go honor your members now.”
Peter Townsend, Princess Margaret and two British officers followed the King and Nancy to the ranks of waiting men and women. Distributing medals of the Order of the British Empire in either the Member Class or the Officer Class, he soon came to his daughter Elizabeth, who stood proudly in the first rank.
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“My dear Lilibet, you can’t know how proud I am of you. I was sorely tempted to award you the K.B.E. but your sister pointed out that it would have been rank favoritism and I had to agree with her.”
Margaret, who was holding only one medal in her hands, then passed it to her father while smiling to her big sister.
“Sorry, Elizabeth, you get only the O.B.E. this time.”
“That’s alright with me, Margaret.” Replied a grinning Elizabeth as her father pinned the O.B.E. besides her two French medals. She then exchanged an emotional hug with him and with Margaret. The King then continued down the ranks. He and his officers were frankly shocked when they faced the four young cadets lined up with the adult apprentices. Lakshmi Saduranidrasekar, Roger Stone and Carolyn Anderson stood beside a much taller but equally young Baran Mishtar. The King read himself their names and ranks on the list held by Peter Townsend.
“Cadets Lakshmi Saduranidrasekar, Roger Stone, Carolyn Anderson and Baran Mishtar… How old are you actually? Did you see action?”
“Me and Baran are both thirteen, Your Majesty, while Lakshmi and Roger are fifteen.” Answered timidly Carolyn. “We didn’t have to shoot once but we were armed and helped our team in the Warsaw Ghetto and during the evacuation of the various German and Japanese internment camps.”
The King looked at the four teenagers, who were wearing gun belts like the other members of the first group, then took M.B.E. medals and pinned them besides the French War Crosses the teenagers were already wearing. The three last persons of the first group drew another confused look from the King, who looked at the letter ‘B’
following their names on their uniform nametags.
“First, Germans, then teenagers. Now, Imperium people. You do recruit from everywhere, do you, Miss Laplante?”
“I grab the best where I can find them, Your Majesty, and I am not done yet.”
“Hell, at this rate I will soon be giving away medals to Martians.” Mumbled the King, proceeding to the second group. As he was stopping in front of a ground crew technician and was about to pin a M.B.E. on his chest, Nancy smiled maliciously and spoke softly.
“Technician First Class Ron Buran was born on Mars, Your Majesty.”
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King George the Sixth froze at those words, while Princess Margaret burst out in laughter. Peter Townsend and the two other British officers had to keep their own laughter in as the King looked crossly at Nancy.
“You do love to spring surprises on others, Miss Laplante. Well, I did ask for that one. Anything else I should know?”
“Nothing more, Your Majesty: we don’t have natives from the moons of Jupiter or Saturn in our ranks, yet.”
The King let it at that and completed his distribution, then returned to the tribune.
The Polish Prime Minister was next to distribute medals, rewarding Nancy and the members of the Warsaw Ghetto team. Lastly, General De Gaulle called in front of the tribune Nancy, Farah Tolkonen ‘A’ and Lori Kano. Lori, while surprised, did walk to the left of Farah. She was the first to be visited, but by King George, who pinned the M.B.E., Civilian Division, on her chest. The King smiled in embarrassment as he put the medal in place, having to touch the very wide opening of her cleavage.
“Miss Kano, you may not have fought in this war, but for a pacifist you showed a lot of courage under fire, apart of volunteering for some very difficult assignments. Your sterling support to the cause of the Time Patrol indirectly helped Great Britain, while your positive influence on the public of the Global Council secured crucial support for the fight to end this war. I thus award you the medal of Member of the Order of the British Empire. Congratulation, Miss Kano.”
When the King stepped in front of Farah Tolkonen ‘A’, General De Gaulle joined him there. Together, they put around her neck the long ribbons of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and of Commander of the French Legion of Honor. Both men then kissed Farah before moving to Nancy. De Gaulle stared in mock despair at her left chest, already covered with medals.
“My God, we will soon have to find another place to pin medals on her. Actually, a young officer had a suggestion about an appropriate spot on her.”
“Don’t say it, General.” Said the King, laughing. “I can guess what he was thinking. Let’s keep to her chest, though.”
De Gaulle was the first on Nancy, pinning on a War Cross with Leaves, then putting over her right shoulder the wide red ribbon sash of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor and pinning on her lower left chest the large silver star of the order. He finally kissed her on both cheeks.
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“I could not in good conscience award anything less to a national heroine. For me, Joan of Arc and Nancy Laplante will always be synonymous.”
“You are too kind, General. However, I doubt that the British would want to honor Joan of Arc.”
“But we will certainly honor Nancy Laplante.” Said King George. He then put in place the rose-pink ribbon with pearl-gray central stripe sash of Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, followed by the large gold star that went with it. As if this was not enough, Tomi Kern then stepped forward to join the two men in front of Nancy.
“Don’t move yet, Nancy!” She said before adding the medal of the Purple Shield with three rubies, which denoted the fact that she had been wounded three times while on duty with the Time Patrol. She also pinned on her right chest two new golden campaign stars, adding to the three golden and two silver stars already pinned there.
“Here you are, Nancy. I believe that you are well fixed now. You may now distribute the Time Patrol awards to the others.”
“Thank you, Chief Administrator Kern! Hell, I’m going to walk bent to the left with all this hardware on my chest.”
“Oh, the heavy price of success.” Quipped Tomi Kern. Both Tomi and Nancy thanked the dignitaries and waited for them to leave before continuing. Nancy elected to go to each member instead of calling them forward, distributing campaign stars to them and to Lori Kano and pinning Purple Shields on Tatiana Korbut, Klaus Manheim, Tom Allen and Ingrid Weiss. Nancy next pinned the Time Star medal for bravery on Lori Kano, kissing gently the reporter afterwards.
“Lori, you are one admirable woman. You can be proud of yourself.”
“Thank you, Nancy. Could I ask you one favor later?”
“Sure! What is it?”
“I would like to explore my past incarnations with you, when you will be available of course.”
“I will be most happy to assist you with this, Lori. I will visit you in the next few days.”
“Thanks,
Nancy!”
That left only two things to do for Nancy. The first was to pin Stars of Courage on the cushions in front of the pictures of Sandra Billings and Keith Strong. After a moment of respectful silence, she moved to Ingrid Weiss and Tom Allen, looking at them somberly and letting Tomi Kern speaking to them.
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“What you did while attacking the ROYAL SOVEREIGN was brave to the point of recklessness. However, by risking point blank shots down the throat of its plasma cannon, you prevented it from doing much more damage and deaths on the ground. For your incredible act of courage under fire, which very nearly cost you your lives, I both award you our highest medal: the Valor Cluster.”
Tomi Kern took in succession the two medals and put their blood-red ribbons around the teenagers’ necks, then kissed them on both cheeks.
“Well done, you two! You are going to have truly distinguished careers in the Time Patrol.”
Nancy then saluted the teenagers and returned with Tomi Kern to the microphone on the tribune.
“Men and women of the Time Patrol, what we accomplished in the last two weeks was crucial for the future of both this timeline and that of the Global Council. Our job is however far from finished. In fact, it is barely beginning. We do need however to blow off steam and relax if we are not to burn ourselves out. God knows we have been through tough times lately. I have thus decided to put our operations on minimum manning level and to give away as much vacation time as possible. I will work out a duty and vacation roster tomorrow and publish it as soon as it is ready. For this evening though, I want you all to go out and profit from the pleasures and sights of Paris. The only thing I will ask you is to be armed and vigilant: we don’t have only friends around and I don’t want to lose anyone after this war is over. Miss Lian Karosh will be at the door to provide you with local funds for your outing. Have a good evening and have fun!”
The members cheered as one and nearly assaulted Lian Karosh, who however had prepared herself in advance, anticipating such a rush. She and her assistant clerks had already rolls of pre-counted French Francs ready to hand out, with only a thumbprint needed to acknowledge receipt of the money. In less than ten minutes, the close to 340
members had departed with their money, leaving Nancy alone with Mike Crawford, Farah ‘A’, Tomi Kern and her husband Boran. Mike passed an arm around Nancy and Farah’s shoulder, looking and smiling at both alternatively.
“What do you say to go have a nice drink at a P