Magestic 2, p.102
Magestic 2, page 102
‘Fortunately, The Brotherhood – and those operating the portal – have no idea about parallel worlds, and the frequency of this world was deliberately given to them by a time traveller from the future – along with a manual on how to get the portal working, and my name.’
They were stunned. ‘Your name?’ the Vice President queried.
‘Yes, for what reason ... we don’t know yet. Our best guess ... is that someone from the future wanted me to go to that world, more so than this world.’
‘What’ll you do?’ the VP asked.
‘We’re being nudged towards that world for a reason,’ Jimmy explained, ‘by someone with a good working knowledge of my travels. That person, from the future, may mean well, since killing me would be easy enough. They want me - they want us, to help that world.’
‘Problem is,’ I began, ‘it’s a Cold War world, and any sudden appearance of us might cause a nuclear war.’
‘That ... is a real possibility, especially if we were seen to be taking sides,’ Jimmy agreed.
‘Why not go back to 1920 on that world?’ the Vice President asked.
‘First, it would cause a paradox on this world, one with consequences I’m not sure about. That portal is open, it has been open, and is linked to this world, and now linked to future worlds. I just don’t know what’ll happen if it had never existed. Besides, I think whoever sent us this nudge to get involved knows that. I think we’re supposed to get involved in 1984 their end. Also, I have no desire to re-do the past twenty years.’
‘Another team could go,’ the VP suggested.
‘I seriously doubt that you would get the various governments on your world to agree a team - and an agenda,’ Jimmy firmly pointed out. ‘You have agreements and laws in place, which I break and get away with. You wouldn’t.’
‘What about this world?’ a Marine officer asked. ‘We’re in the middle of a war.’
‘Yes, and that war will need to be finished, the post-war political map organised,’ Jimmy agreed. ‘That’s why I called for help; I can’t be in two places at once.’
‘We could blow the portal at their end,’ another officer suggested.
‘We could, but somewhere on that world there are a great many people who know about time travel and the portal, so they’ll be experimenting with it in the future, and if they get it to work they may just arrive back on your world in the past – completely fucking up your history and creating a paradox.’
‘Genie is out the bottle,’ I put in. ‘That world needs fixing, and then managing.’
‘Managing?’ the VP repeated. ‘A nuclear-armed Japan and Germany?’
‘Both in fear of The Brotherhood,’ Jimmy pointed out as he studied the map. ‘The enemy of my enemy...’
‘What’ll you do?’ the VP asked.
Jimmy pointed at a Marines officer. ‘Send word back. I want the German team I asked about, German Rescue Force, standing by to go – for a little hearts and minds.’
An officer approached with a data-pad. ‘That’s the frequency of the other world, sir.’
‘Let’s call it 1984-World, shall we,’ I told the man. ‘Save any confusion.’
‘Right,’ Jimmy called. ‘I want this frequency sent to Mawlini on our world, and I want the Rifles to invade, and to start to take back Africa in 1984, an act which none of the leaders on that world could argue with.’ An officer took the pad and stepped out.
‘How’ll you make contact with them?’ the VP asked.
‘There’s only one effective way to ever make contact with anyone, and that’s face to face.’
An hour later, the arrival of the Canadian Government was announced by their liaisons to us, those liaisons looking a little bewildered. We led them upstairs to the diner since the main restaurant was crammed – and very loud.
The Canadian Prime Minister himself had come to see us, flying all the way across to us in the aircraft we had kindly supplied his government with. He also looked bewildered as he sat, drinks arranged. ‘Thanks for seeing us at ... such short notice.’
‘It’s your country,’ Jimmy reminded him. ‘And we’re just guests.’
The Prime Minster glanced at his assistants. ‘Well, we ... we’ve had a communiqué from the British Government about you, and obviously heard the speech by the American President, but ... obviously we’re still a little confused by the situation. Perhaps ... you could explain ... the situation.’
Jimmy took a moment as drinks were placed down. ‘Myself and my team, we’re time travellers and from another world. Don’t worry, we are human, we work and we pay taxes where we come from. In order to understand that, you need only consider that there exist many worlds in the universe that are almost identical to this one, and that they exist in parallel dimension – side by side. As time goes on, so a world splits and forms a carbon copy, but don’t get bogged down in the science; that’s something that you can pick-up as time goes on.
‘All you need understand ... is that there are thousands of worlds just like this one, and that we have a way to jump back and forth between them. In the future, it’s something that you may have figured out for yourself. Now, I came from a world where there had been a nuclear war -’
‘Nuclear?’ the Prime Minister queried.
‘Atom bombs,’ Jimmy explained. ‘I came from a world where many countries had developed atom bombs by the year 2010, and used them in a war, killing half the people on the planet.’
‘My god.’
‘So it was a waste ground. As a desperate measure, the American Army built a time machine, in Manson, just across the Rockies from here.’
‘That’s where these strange soldiers are appearing,’ they stated.
Jimmy nodded. ‘Those strange soldiers are our soldiers, from the future – the year 2047 – and are equipped with advanced weapons.’
‘And why are they coming here?’
‘I’m coming to that,’ Jimmy said, encouraging the Canadian Government to stop interrupting. ‘After the atomic war on my world, an army rose up in the Middle East - in Arabia as you know it, and they took over that world. But the Arab army was very brutal, especially to people with white skin.’
‘Us lot,’ I put in.
Jimmy continued, ‘I travelled to the world that Paul is from, to the year 1982, and I ... altered the history on his world so that there would be no atomic war, and that this barbaric Arab army would not rise up. That world, Paul’s world, is perfectly peaceful and prosperous. As I helped them, so I came here to help this world.’
‘To stop the war,’ the Canadians realised.
‘Yes, to stop the war, but also to encourage advanced technologies, to defeat the Japanese and the Germans, and to steer this world towards peace and prosperity, but doing so in secret.’
‘But it’s not secret,’ they puzzled.
‘No, because we hit a snag,’ Jimmy explained. He glanced at me, then at the expectant faces. ‘Another group of people, on another world, have built a time machine, located in Berlin.’
‘The Germans! They have a time machine?’ The Canadians were horrified.
‘Not the Germans on this world, no. In Berlin, on this world, is the gateway, the time machine – known as a portal – is on another world, a world that’s been partly overrun by an Arab army.’ They stared back confused. ‘In Germany, over the past week or so, members of this Arab army have been invading this world.’
Now they looked horrified, shocked, terrified, and confused. ‘Invading this world?’ the Prime Minister asked in a horse whisper.
‘That was … until we got involved,’ I put in. ‘We contacted our home world, and they sent super-soldiers from the future, both here – in Manson – and in Africa. We’ve dropped a parachute force onto the portal in Germany, and stopped them coming through. Right now, our lads are killing those that came through. Actually, they’re US Marines, but we’ve also sent people though the portal to the other world, to stop them from ever coming here.’
‘You can do that?’
‘Yes,’ Jimmy said with a firm smile. ‘We can ... and we will, so don’t worry.’
‘Worry? We have a population asking all sorts of odd questions, and I don’t have any answers for them.’
Jimmy offered a flat palm. ‘I’ll be making speeches, reassuring the people. Besides, now that it’s known ... we can help the people in the open and they’ll be ... very happy about it.’
‘We have drugs that will cure every disease,’ I put in.
‘Every ... disease?’
‘Yes,’ I said with an affirmative nod. ‘Tell me, how old do you think Jimmy is?’
‘Well, I’d say ... late thirties?’
‘Closer to three hundred years old,’ I said, enjoying their looks. ‘Drugs in the future allow people to live longer. When people can see the benefits of us being here, they’ll be off your case ... and on ours.’
‘My god,’ the Prime Minister let out. ‘Cures for diseases.’
‘And clever aircraft, and cars, and televisions and radios,’ I listed off. ‘The future is a nice place, and ... you could visit if you like.’
‘Visit?’
‘You could go over to Manson, step through, and spend a few days on our world before coming back,’ I explained. ‘Meet your counter-parts from our time, see how Vancouver has altered. In the meantime, pick someone – and send them for a look around.’
With the Canadian Government gone, two men volunteering for a look around the Canada of our era, Jimmy and I settled down for a late night bite to eat with Baldy.
‘This is so much easier than sneaking around,’ I commented.
‘Much,’ Baldy agreed.
‘I had considered tackling The Brotherhood ourselves, with the Rifles from here,’ Jimmy said. ‘Well, for a moment, but I realised that The Brotherhood could destroy other worlds, and I couldn’t take the chance. It would have taken us weeks to fight our way in, and a parachute drop may have been only partially successful without night sights and knock-out gas. I don’t think history would have remembered me well if I let the opportunity to seal the portal slip through my fingers.’
I faced Baldy. ‘Sykes says that the Russians have mobilised.’
He took a moment. ‘They can’t be thinking of attacking, although they may think that Germany is defeated.’ He shrugged. ‘They know what you did to the German cities, so they can’t be thinking of attacking you, so ... I think Stalin’s worried.’
‘Worried?’ I asked.
‘Worried that you’ll defeat Germany, but then keep going.’
‘That’s possible,’ Jimmy agreed. ‘He is paranoid. And he has many people in China, so he’s heard about the defeat of the Japanese army and navy already.’
‘So ... right now he knows that The West has advanced weapons,’ I thought out loud.
‘And the American President’s speech must have reached him via his ambassador’s here,’ Baldy added. ‘So he’s crapping himself. I found him hard work; he’s a sociopath, paranoid, and delusional to boot.’
‘If this was 1965 or later,’ Jimmy began, ‘I’d fear a nuclear war as a direct result of our presence. Now, well ... it’s kind of perfect timing. They’ve just gotten used to atom bombs, there’s a great deal of patriotism around in the States, and the post-war political scene is about to be set. It’s an ideal time. And I was going to reveal who we are after the war anyway, to the American Government. This is just a few weeks early.’
A Marines officer came up to us, and waited. We lifted our faces to the man. ‘Sir, we’ve secured the portal near Berlin, we have a three mile zone operating, five miles to the south. Not finding many more of The Brotherhood in the last hour, but we’ve encountered German units.’
Jimmy said, ‘There’ll be members of The Brotherhood sneaking outwards, but I think the Germans may get them all, it’s just a matter of time. Tell your men not to move on central Berlin, but to kill any German soldiers they encounter, and to creep around the outskirts. Let the people in Berlin think they’re surrounded. Who’s running the show in Germany?’
‘Von Runstead, sir.’
‘Intercept his radio communications, ask him if he wants to talk about a negotiated surrender.’
‘Sir.’ The officer moved off.
Jimmy place down his knife and fork, and lifted a data-pad. ‘Computer, patch me through to Sykes.’ We waited.
‘Jimmy?’ came Sykes face and voice.
‘Did I wake you?’
‘Just got up.’
‘Go see Churchill, tell him that we’ve secured the portal, killed those of The Brotherhood we could find, and that we’re trying to negotiate a surrender with Von Runstead.’
‘You think he’ll make a deal?’ Sykes asked.
‘We’re just about to surround Berlin with US Marines,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘He’ll believe it’s all over by tomorrow.’
‘German military radio has ten cities still ablaze, casualties in the millions,’ Sykes unhappily reported.
We all exchanged looks. Jimmy said, ‘I hope history forgives us for that, but we had to end it quickly.’
‘And Japan?’ Sykes asked.
‘I’m going to level a few cities tomorrow, a unilateral move, then start talking to them,’ Jimmy explained. ‘Let Churchill and Timkins know.’
‘The jet bombers are here, and the nukes,’ Sykes reminded us. ‘Not needed now?’
‘I hope not,’ Jimmy replied. ‘But it’s still early.’
‘What’s happening at the portal?’ Sykes asked.
Jimmy took a moment. ‘The modern era Rifles have secured it at the far end, even got a technician out and I spoke to him, a German technician.’
‘German?’
‘The Germans from that world won the Second World War.’
‘Bloody hell. I won’t be mentioning that to Churchill!’
‘Let me do that,’ Jimmy suggested.
‘So how come The Brotherhood are using that portal?’ Sykes asked.
‘They overran the Middle East on that world, captured Germany – and the portal. On that world there’s a Cold War between what they call Greater Germany in Europe, America and Japan, all nuclear armed.’
‘Was it post-apocalyptic?’ Sykes puzzled.
‘No, but as we speak they’re all tooled up ready to fight a nuclear war, yet haven’t for some reason. Cold War stand-off.’
‘What a scenario,’ Sykes noted. ‘Americans over there must be rubbing their hands as The Brotherhood take Europe.’
‘If only they think they’re not next,’ I said towards the data-pad.
‘Quite,’ Sykes agreed.
‘Get Churchill to call in six hours, using your data-pad,’ Jimmy requested. ‘But how’re the public there taking it, the news about us?’
‘Bloody delighted, because they all think you ended the war,’ Sykes reported.
‘Do me a favour: ask Churchill to chat to the Russian Ambassador, find out what’s on their minds.’
‘Will do.’
Jimmy touched the screen and ended the call. ‘At least we’re popular there.’
‘Probably be a similar reaction here,’ I noted. ‘We did end the war quickly.’
I checked in on the kids before bed, and snuggled up to Susan.
‘How’s it going?’ she asked.
‘We’ve taken the portal, and it doesn’t look like The Brotherhood have been anywhere else.’
‘Oh, good. But ... will we ... stay here now?’
‘I don’t see why not; I’m not planning on rushing back to my era. But I think Jimmy is interested in going to the world where The Brotherhood came from.’
‘Why?’ Susan puzzled.
‘They have a time machine, and we can’t un-invent it. He’s worried about them, what they may do in the future.’
‘Could go back to 1920 on that world...’
‘Jimmy’s not sure if that’ll create a paradox here; that world has affected this one. Fact is ... we just don’t know what would happen. Not a bloody clue. Anyway, not trying to get rid of me, are you?’
‘No, don’t be silly. But ... things will be different now.’
‘We’re popular in Britain, so maybe we’ll live there a while. If we can teach Toby to pee and actually hit the bowl, they may let us stay.’
London, 1984
Chancellor Schmidt, sat now in his grey military uniform, waved forwards a junior officer as he ate his breakfast. ‘Yes?’ he said as he ran a hand over his shortly cropped grey hair.
‘A strange report, Chancellor. A ... very strange report, from Berlin.’
The Chancellor paused. ‘Yes?’
‘We had a call on a radio, from a technician that was captured, the man claiming to have worked on the time machine.’
The Chancellor stiffened. ‘He escaped from captivity?’
‘He was released, along with the others, by black soldiers, African soldiers. He ... was working the machine recently, sir.’
‘Working the machine?’ the Chancellor repeated in a whisper. Louder, he said, ‘It was ordered destroyed, at any cost!’
‘It would appear that those orders were ... disobeyed, sir,’ the officer timidly suggested.
‘It is a good job that General Hest is already dead,’ the Chancellor stated with venom. ‘Or I would hang him slowly myself. That fool lost the Fatherland to a group of rag-bag peasant farmers!’
The junior officer waited, his head lowered.
‘What else?’ the Chancellor barked.
‘The technician reports that ... that the African soldiers, they are ... from the future, sir.’
The Chancellor was on his feet. ‘What?’
‘The African soldiers, they ... they’re killing the Arab fighters using strange weapons. They are silent when fired, and afterwards the Arabs appear burnt.’
The Chancellor sat, deep in though. ‘Send an aircraft, try and verify what is happening around the machine. Take pictures.’
