Magestic 2, p.122
Magestic 2, page 122
‘We advanced the technological clock forwards by twenty years,’ I said as we boarded the Huey, headsets fixed.
Lifting off, Chase peered down at the sprawling tented city as we pulled away into the dark night, three Hueys in a line. At the hotel in Trophy, a tired Chase needed his bed and was shown to a room.
‘Hardon Chase?’ I queried in the diner, Cookie fixing us an early breakfast as the sun threatened to rise.
‘He’s not quite the same person as on your world, but ... you never know,’ Jimmy said with a glint in his eye.
‘You’ll groom him?’ Susan asked.
‘You might think that, I couldn’t possibly comment,’ Jimmy quipped. ‘So, how’re things here?’
We grabbed a table, teas soon placed down.
‘War is over,’ I let out, sounding relived at my own revelation. ‘First regular US soldiers landed in Japan today, or last night I guess. And Germany ... Germany is a mess, no leadership to talk to, so we’re dealing with the individual town mayors.’
‘They rounded up many of Hitler’s team,’ Susan noted. ‘But there’s not much of an appetite for a War Crimes trial.’
‘It was over quickly,’ Jimmy responded. ‘Any word on how they treated those Jews left in the country?’
‘Very little information is surfacing,’ I said. ‘I think we got most of them out in time.’
‘Different circumstances this time around,’ Jimmy said with a sigh. ‘Maybe a faster rebuild as well. What do you know about the casualty rates from our bombing?’
I carefully studied Jimmy. ‘Not as high as I figured, around seven hundred and fifty thousand tallied dead.’
Jimmy slowly nodded to himself. ‘If The Brotherhood hadn’t opened the portal...’
‘We had to end it, and quickly,’ I pointed out. ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it. If the war had dragged on...’ I shrugged. ‘You know the stats.’
‘And the public’s view of time travel?’ Jimmy asked.
‘They think it’s cool,’ I said.
‘They think it won the war,’ Susan added. ‘Some think that they might have lost without us.’
‘They might have,’ Jimmy conceded. ‘You should visit 1984, it’s a living enactment of what could have been, what this place might have turned out like: Cold War, opposing camps, all the usual suspects lined up. Mankind is consistent when it comes to factionalised bad guys.’
‘I heard you took their President on a trip,’ I mentioned.
Jimmy nodded. ‘Took him and his team to 2047 on Baldy’s world; didn’t want him anywhere near Gilchrist on your world. Kennedy went there to try and petition those who controlled me after I unilaterally imposed a defensive shield of drones.’
‘Why would that upset him?’ Susan puzzled.
‘It took away their ability to make a pre-emptive strike, and that was a distinct possibility, the Germans and Japs both suffering economically. On that world, the American economy won out over the Japanese Empire in the long run, and the Europeans lack of international trade kept them poor. When The Brotherhood attacked Europe, America was left as top dog.’
‘So a pre-emptive strike was a real possibility,’ Susan realised.
‘German nukes falling into the hands of The Brotherhood was also a distinct possibility,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘I’m sure that 1984-world would have fought a nuclear war within a year or two.’
‘Which was probably why you were nudged to that world,’ I suggested.
‘Why?’ Jimmy bluntly countered. ‘There are probably hundreds of worlds just like it. Why that one?’
‘We haven’t found your offspring,’ Susan stated. ‘And we have adverts in the newspapers, not that they’re operating in Germany at the moment.’
‘If he was in Germany during the bombing...’ I broached.
Jimmy took a moment. ‘He’s not stupid, he knew what weapons we had. And he must have studied both timelines before travelling back. And he’s something of a risk-taker. He created a false identify, lived and worked for years in Berlin, then somehow infiltrated their time machine programme, a remarkable feat – even for a traveller. I figure he did that to make sure that it worked, and to influence the timing of when it opened. But from what I know he was simply a junior technician, not in a position to influence the portal’s development.’
I shook my head, mockingly. ‘The son of Silo a risk-taker; who would have believed it?’
Jimmy shot me a look. ‘I was methodical, not a risk-taker.’
Susan and I made faces and gave mocking head-shakes.
‘I still can’t figure out what was special about that world,’ Jimmy said with a sigh. ‘Or why I was supposed to go there, other than the fact that they may have cracked time travel at some point. But many post-apocalyptic worlds were looking at time travel. Why that one?’
‘All he did here was to give the Germans and Poles coal-oil technology,’ Susan noted.
‘Poles?’ Jimmy queried.
‘Baldy said that it was a joint venture, German and Polish coal-oil development,’ Susan explained. ‘We think it was one of the reasons that Germany didn’t invade Poland.’
‘They could have invaded and taken the coal,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘Besides, Germany has plenty of coal in this time, why involve the Poles?’
‘Sweden was involved as well, and Belgium apparently,’ I added.
‘Belgium has coal,’ Jimmy thought out loud. ‘So why focus on that, why coal-oil? There’ll be no shortage of oil for a long time, a very long time if we open up African oil.’ He stared out of focus.
‘What effect would it have on a post-war Europe?’ I floated.
Jimmy raised a finger. ‘Post-war Europe.’ He faced me. ‘Maybe, he was thinking of post-war Europe. Coal-oil would have little effect till ... the 1970’s, and then ... then it would boost Europe’s economy, less reliant on imported oil.’
‘Less reliant on Russian oil after 2010,’ I put in.
‘Since we’re here, we’d have gone that route anyway,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘So what difference would it make now?’ He faced me. ‘Do you know what coal-oil process they have in Poland?’
‘Two-part chemical process, very advanced,’ I reported.
‘That could give Europe a post-war boost; it would be cheaper than importing it.’ He smiled. ‘Ah.’
‘What?’
‘Where does European oil come from at the moment?’ he asked with a grin.
‘America in part,’ I said. ‘Some from Eastern Europe.’
‘How would very cheap oil affect Europe’s relationship with America in the 1940s and 1950s?’ Jimmy posed.
‘They’d be less dependent, and would compete more,’ I answered.
‘Maybe that’s it,’ Jimmy said. ‘Maybe that’s what was needed here, an early split from American oil.’
‘He didn’t need to go to 1984 and jump across to achieve that!’ Susan pointed out.
‘No,’ Jimmy agreed, deflated. ‘He didn’t. Seems like an after-thought almost.’
‘Never mind, it’s all a learning experience,’ I quipped.
Jimmy stared at me for a moment. ‘What?’
‘I said: it’s all a learning experience.’
Jimmy stared at the carpet, Susan and I exchanging looks. When he lifted his head, he said, ‘Maybe that was it. What I learnt in 1984.’
‘What did you learn in 1984?’ I asked.
‘No idea,’ he came back with. ‘That world is far from unique; it’s a living cliché of human politics.’
‘Maybe there’s a warning in there somewhere,’ Susan suggested as breakfast was placed down. ‘Not to repeat history.’
‘This world is nothing like that one, apart from the obvious,’ Jimmy said as he cut-up his breakfast. ‘From here on it’s easy enough on this world, like a blank sheet of paper.’
Toby came out, dressed already. I checked my watch. ‘He does get up early these days,’ I noted, none too concerned.
Toby stopped next to Jimmy, eyeing the breakfast. ‘Where’ve you been, Uncle Jimmy?’
‘I went on a trip to Washington. You know where Washington is?’
‘America, it’s the capital.’
‘Good lad.’
I nudged my son away. ‘Toby, go ask Cookie for breakfast. Go on.’ He went and sat on a stool. We heard “Come on, Cookie, get the lead out” followed by a slap, and a complaint from Toby, Jimmy now grinning.
‘He doesn’t take after his mother,’ Jimmy noted.
‘Don’t blame me, I don’t talk like that,’ I complained, getting a look from Susan.
‘What’s Churchill been up to?’ Jimmy asked as he tackled a sausage.
‘I nudged him towards a parade - or ten, for the troops, all of the nations and units involved. That parade was three days ago now, before we flew back, long procession through London, a hundred thousand spectators at least. Same in Paris, we held a parade there the day before, even had US Marines from 2047 marching along. Well, more like ambling along, but they flew the flag. Had the American Brigade there, Canadians, the British and French Brigades.’
‘Africans?’ Jimmy teased.
‘Well ... no, Churchill and the others asked if they could be flown back to Africa. But they had a parade in Nairobi and at Forward Base.’
‘Casualties amongst our people?’ Jimmy asked.
‘I have the exact figures around here somewhere. Canadian Rifles lost about a quarter of their men in Belgium; they saw the brunt of the action. They now occupy a former German Army base south of Hamburg, shared with a British armoured unit. They’ll remain there for a while, none left in Belgium. Right now they’re mostly doing R&R in France.
‘The American Brigade came back here, Churchill kind of insisted on it. We paid them, but then gave them all three months leave. Some have quit, couple of hundred actually. The Canadian Rifles pilots from Britain are back, some staying on with training contracts, a few have quit. We lost forty pilots killed.
‘The French Brigade has been adopted by the provisional French government, its men absolved of previous crimes, and Churchill has sent the British Brigade back to Kenya; he doesn’t want them in Britain. We paid them all off, and sacked most of them. They can re-apply in three months if they want to.’
‘And the African Rifles?’ Jimmy asked.
‘Not too many killed, considering, plenty wounded though. And none wanted to quit. They’re all back in training in either Kenya or the Congo, and we’re still recruiting.’
‘Good,’ Jimmy commended as he ate. ‘And how’s Rudd’s empire building?’
‘I hear it’s gone on at a pace around the Congo, but a quarter of the western miners left during the war, some drifting back. More black miners working now.’
‘Money from the Congo?’
‘It’s still rising, but I’ve allocated more money to Rudd to use, because we just don’t need it here. Brits and Americans have paid for the hardware, and they’re still buying everything we can produce; war procurement hasn’t slowed up at all. There’s a bunch of officers downstairs, already thinking of next year’s weapons.’
‘Hal and Hacker?’ Jimmy asked.
‘Training RAF chaps how to fly F15s and the jet bombers. They’re due back here in a month because the RAF will train in San Diego with the Americans in the winter. Oh, I agreed an F15 and a jet bomber to attend an air show a week back.’
‘And?’ Jimmy nudged.
‘Star attractions, pictures of them all over the newspapers,’ I said with a smile. ‘When the bomber took off, everyone had their hands over ears; reminded me off my own youth. President wanted a show in Washington, so we flew the jets down to buzz the capital.’
‘Those jets are better than the aircraft operated by the USAF on 1984 world!’ Jimmy suddenly paused. ‘Have we given them too much too soon?’
‘We had to win the war quickly,’ I said with a shrug. ‘And deliver the nukes if necessary.’
‘But if America has all these weapons now, will it make them over-confident?’ Jimmy posed. ‘Is there a danger here? Is this why a son of mine came back?’
‘What the hell would jets here have to do with the world you just visited?’ I countered with. ‘If he wanted to slow us up, then he would have influenced us here, not in pigging 1984!’
‘That’s true,’ Susan agreed.
Jimmy nodded. ‘Right now I’d like to kick his arse. I just can’t figure why he did it, why he’s trying to help me.’
‘To impress you somehow?’ Susan floated.
‘I would like to think ... that if I have children ... that they would not be raised to feel like that.’
‘There are no guarantees with kids,’ I said. ‘Besides, you may be off-world when the mother raises them. A son of Silo might feel ... inadequate.’
Jimmy loudly placed down his knife and fork. ‘Of course they would,’ he realised. ‘How the hell could they follow in my shoes.’
‘By doing something equally as dangerous, yet saving a world,’ I posed.
Jimmy stared back. ‘This could be more about him, than about me altering things. God dammit. He could be running around out there just to prove something to me.’
‘There’s one flaw in that argument,’ Susan put in. ‘How did he get access to a portal? No one would ever allow a private trip. You and Paul they’d let through, but someone else? Someone with something to prove? Never.’
‘He may have ... somehow convinced them of the merits,’ Jimmy suggested. ‘Especially if it was to save me, or to help me.’
‘Oh,’ I said, raising my knife. ‘That mysterious book - the one that was handed to the Germans - maybe that wasn’t his doing. Maybe ... he went after whoever did it, or somehow to try and counter it.’
‘By getting a job at the German time machine,’ Susan put in. ‘Be there when it opened -’
‘And jump through to see where it leads,’ I finished off.
‘So why not make contact?’ Jimmy complained. ‘Besides, we could have handled The Brotherhood with the Rifles, and taken the portal at their end. And he would have known that I could call for backup.’
I heaved a big breath. ‘Yeah, I suppose. But, I’d like to think that he infiltrated the German time machine to try and find out about the book of instructions.’
‘So why push coal-oil here?’ Jimmy asked.
‘To nudge us towards something,’ Susan suggested. ‘As you said: less of a dependency on American oil.’
‘So why not make contact?’ Jimmy said, staring out of focus past me. ‘Unless ... unless he doesn’t want the growth of Europe to be seen to be us – our doing.’
‘A rift with Washington?’ I wondered. ‘They have all the toys they could want!’
‘But on our worlds, after the war, they wanted a tight control of Europe, and the break-up of the British Empire,’ Jimmy illustrated for us. ‘France refused to join NATO, expelled American forces, and was instrumental in creating the European Union, which the Americans never liked.’
‘So how do we join the dots on that theory,’ I complained.
‘The book is handed to the Germans on that world,’ Jimmy began. ‘No other nation, just them, and specifically before they’re overrun by The Brotherhood -’
‘Knowing that The Brotherhood would love to have a time machine, and would send fighters,’ I finished off.
‘Through a pre-set portal, set for the summer of 1938,’ Jimmy added. ‘A key date. Those fighters attack Germans here, weakening them, so ... the war would be won quicker.’ His brow pleated. ‘How would that help the Americans? If anything, it would strengthen Britain’s hand.’
‘What if ... Britain defeated Germany by itself,’ Susan began. ‘Would that alter post-war European politics?’
‘Yes,’ Jimmy agreed, ‘because France would be diminished in its influence.’
‘And Britain refused to join all of Europe’s institutions, and its common currency,’ I said.
‘Meaning that the likelihood of a European Union was lessened,’ Jimmy added. ‘But there’s one fault with all that. We’re here, and we’d nudge Churchill towards a union. Besides, someone from 2047 or beyond would have no interest in a few percentage points taken off US trade in this decade.’
‘Maybe they’re not from 2047 or beyond,’ I suggested. ‘Maybe they’re from somewhere where America is at odds with Europe.’
Jimmy smiled widely for a moment, and shook his head. ‘I figured this was about our time lines. But maybe my son travelled from a world where it’s 2025, where the oil dollar is about to implode, or has done already.’
‘That can’t be this world, can it?’ I puzzled.
‘It could have been -’
‘Before we came here,’ I finished off. ‘Has son of Silo done his homework?’
‘He may not have had the chance,’ Jimmy suggested. ‘And to go back into his own past he needed to jump across to another world first, then back.’ Jimmy eased back in his seat. ‘He must know I’m here, he would have seen it in the papers.’
‘But maybe ... he’d rather kick your arse than give you a big hug,’ I suggested. ‘Any clues as to who the mother may have been?’
‘There were a few,’ Jimmy admitted. ‘One daughter that I knew of. But they were all on worlds that suffered disasters.’ He raised a finger. ‘Including one world where the petrol-dollar was the key. In fact two, maybe three.’
‘I think you have your answer,’ I said. ‘He sees coal-oil as the key. But the brave kid jumped through to a Nazi Germany - and did superbly!’
‘There was a German doctor in Rescue Force,’ Jimmy remembered. ‘She could have been his mother.’
‘And raised him to speak German like a native,’ Susan noted.
I glanced at Susan, before turning back to Jimmy. ‘If he hasn’t made contact, then he’s ... either dead, or ... he hates you.’
Jimmy sipped his tea, staring past me. ‘In some ways that’s good, because it means that a great disaster is not about to happen here or in 1984.’ Jimmy raised his phone and dialled. ‘It’s me. Listen, send word to Doctor Singh that we need to revisit each of the worlds he sent me to. On one of them, we believe that they’ve developed a working portal. Top priority, and target the dates that are at least ten years after I left. Thanks.’
Lifting off, Chase peered down at the sprawling tented city as we pulled away into the dark night, three Hueys in a line. At the hotel in Trophy, a tired Chase needed his bed and was shown to a room.
‘Hardon Chase?’ I queried in the diner, Cookie fixing us an early breakfast as the sun threatened to rise.
‘He’s not quite the same person as on your world, but ... you never know,’ Jimmy said with a glint in his eye.
‘You’ll groom him?’ Susan asked.
‘You might think that, I couldn’t possibly comment,’ Jimmy quipped. ‘So, how’re things here?’
We grabbed a table, teas soon placed down.
‘War is over,’ I let out, sounding relived at my own revelation. ‘First regular US soldiers landed in Japan today, or last night I guess. And Germany ... Germany is a mess, no leadership to talk to, so we’re dealing with the individual town mayors.’
‘They rounded up many of Hitler’s team,’ Susan noted. ‘But there’s not much of an appetite for a War Crimes trial.’
‘It was over quickly,’ Jimmy responded. ‘Any word on how they treated those Jews left in the country?’
‘Very little information is surfacing,’ I said. ‘I think we got most of them out in time.’
‘Different circumstances this time around,’ Jimmy said with a sigh. ‘Maybe a faster rebuild as well. What do you know about the casualty rates from our bombing?’
I carefully studied Jimmy. ‘Not as high as I figured, around seven hundred and fifty thousand tallied dead.’
Jimmy slowly nodded to himself. ‘If The Brotherhood hadn’t opened the portal...’
‘We had to end it, and quickly,’ I pointed out. ‘Don’t beat yourself up about it. If the war had dragged on...’ I shrugged. ‘You know the stats.’
‘And the public’s view of time travel?’ Jimmy asked.
‘They think it’s cool,’ I said.
‘They think it won the war,’ Susan added. ‘Some think that they might have lost without us.’
‘They might have,’ Jimmy conceded. ‘You should visit 1984, it’s a living enactment of what could have been, what this place might have turned out like: Cold War, opposing camps, all the usual suspects lined up. Mankind is consistent when it comes to factionalised bad guys.’
‘I heard you took their President on a trip,’ I mentioned.
Jimmy nodded. ‘Took him and his team to 2047 on Baldy’s world; didn’t want him anywhere near Gilchrist on your world. Kennedy went there to try and petition those who controlled me after I unilaterally imposed a defensive shield of drones.’
‘Why would that upset him?’ Susan puzzled.
‘It took away their ability to make a pre-emptive strike, and that was a distinct possibility, the Germans and Japs both suffering economically. On that world, the American economy won out over the Japanese Empire in the long run, and the Europeans lack of international trade kept them poor. When The Brotherhood attacked Europe, America was left as top dog.’
‘So a pre-emptive strike was a real possibility,’ Susan realised.
‘German nukes falling into the hands of The Brotherhood was also a distinct possibility,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘I’m sure that 1984-world would have fought a nuclear war within a year or two.’
‘Which was probably why you were nudged to that world,’ I suggested.
‘Why?’ Jimmy bluntly countered. ‘There are probably hundreds of worlds just like it. Why that one?’
‘We haven’t found your offspring,’ Susan stated. ‘And we have adverts in the newspapers, not that they’re operating in Germany at the moment.’
‘If he was in Germany during the bombing...’ I broached.
Jimmy took a moment. ‘He’s not stupid, he knew what weapons we had. And he must have studied both timelines before travelling back. And he’s something of a risk-taker. He created a false identify, lived and worked for years in Berlin, then somehow infiltrated their time machine programme, a remarkable feat – even for a traveller. I figure he did that to make sure that it worked, and to influence the timing of when it opened. But from what I know he was simply a junior technician, not in a position to influence the portal’s development.’
I shook my head, mockingly. ‘The son of Silo a risk-taker; who would have believed it?’
Jimmy shot me a look. ‘I was methodical, not a risk-taker.’
Susan and I made faces and gave mocking head-shakes.
‘I still can’t figure out what was special about that world,’ Jimmy said with a sigh. ‘Or why I was supposed to go there, other than the fact that they may have cracked time travel at some point. But many post-apocalyptic worlds were looking at time travel. Why that one?’
‘All he did here was to give the Germans and Poles coal-oil technology,’ Susan noted.
‘Poles?’ Jimmy queried.
‘Baldy said that it was a joint venture, German and Polish coal-oil development,’ Susan explained. ‘We think it was one of the reasons that Germany didn’t invade Poland.’
‘They could have invaded and taken the coal,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘Besides, Germany has plenty of coal in this time, why involve the Poles?’
‘Sweden was involved as well, and Belgium apparently,’ I added.
‘Belgium has coal,’ Jimmy thought out loud. ‘So why focus on that, why coal-oil? There’ll be no shortage of oil for a long time, a very long time if we open up African oil.’ He stared out of focus.
‘What effect would it have on a post-war Europe?’ I floated.
Jimmy raised a finger. ‘Post-war Europe.’ He faced me. ‘Maybe, he was thinking of post-war Europe. Coal-oil would have little effect till ... the 1970’s, and then ... then it would boost Europe’s economy, less reliant on imported oil.’
‘Less reliant on Russian oil after 2010,’ I put in.
‘Since we’re here, we’d have gone that route anyway,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘So what difference would it make now?’ He faced me. ‘Do you know what coal-oil process they have in Poland?’
‘Two-part chemical process, very advanced,’ I reported.
‘That could give Europe a post-war boost; it would be cheaper than importing it.’ He smiled. ‘Ah.’
‘What?’
‘Where does European oil come from at the moment?’ he asked with a grin.
‘America in part,’ I said. ‘Some from Eastern Europe.’
‘How would very cheap oil affect Europe’s relationship with America in the 1940s and 1950s?’ Jimmy posed.
‘They’d be less dependent, and would compete more,’ I answered.
‘Maybe that’s it,’ Jimmy said. ‘Maybe that’s what was needed here, an early split from American oil.’
‘He didn’t need to go to 1984 and jump across to achieve that!’ Susan pointed out.
‘No,’ Jimmy agreed, deflated. ‘He didn’t. Seems like an after-thought almost.’
‘Never mind, it’s all a learning experience,’ I quipped.
Jimmy stared at me for a moment. ‘What?’
‘I said: it’s all a learning experience.’
Jimmy stared at the carpet, Susan and I exchanging looks. When he lifted his head, he said, ‘Maybe that was it. What I learnt in 1984.’
‘What did you learn in 1984?’ I asked.
‘No idea,’ he came back with. ‘That world is far from unique; it’s a living cliché of human politics.’
‘Maybe there’s a warning in there somewhere,’ Susan suggested as breakfast was placed down. ‘Not to repeat history.’
‘This world is nothing like that one, apart from the obvious,’ Jimmy said as he cut-up his breakfast. ‘From here on it’s easy enough on this world, like a blank sheet of paper.’
Toby came out, dressed already. I checked my watch. ‘He does get up early these days,’ I noted, none too concerned.
Toby stopped next to Jimmy, eyeing the breakfast. ‘Where’ve you been, Uncle Jimmy?’
‘I went on a trip to Washington. You know where Washington is?’
‘America, it’s the capital.’
‘Good lad.’
I nudged my son away. ‘Toby, go ask Cookie for breakfast. Go on.’ He went and sat on a stool. We heard “Come on, Cookie, get the lead out” followed by a slap, and a complaint from Toby, Jimmy now grinning.
‘He doesn’t take after his mother,’ Jimmy noted.
‘Don’t blame me, I don’t talk like that,’ I complained, getting a look from Susan.
‘What’s Churchill been up to?’ Jimmy asked as he tackled a sausage.
‘I nudged him towards a parade - or ten, for the troops, all of the nations and units involved. That parade was three days ago now, before we flew back, long procession through London, a hundred thousand spectators at least. Same in Paris, we held a parade there the day before, even had US Marines from 2047 marching along. Well, more like ambling along, but they flew the flag. Had the American Brigade there, Canadians, the British and French Brigades.’
‘Africans?’ Jimmy teased.
‘Well ... no, Churchill and the others asked if they could be flown back to Africa. But they had a parade in Nairobi and at Forward Base.’
‘Casualties amongst our people?’ Jimmy asked.
‘I have the exact figures around here somewhere. Canadian Rifles lost about a quarter of their men in Belgium; they saw the brunt of the action. They now occupy a former German Army base south of Hamburg, shared with a British armoured unit. They’ll remain there for a while, none left in Belgium. Right now they’re mostly doing R&R in France.
‘The American Brigade came back here, Churchill kind of insisted on it. We paid them, but then gave them all three months leave. Some have quit, couple of hundred actually. The Canadian Rifles pilots from Britain are back, some staying on with training contracts, a few have quit. We lost forty pilots killed.
‘The French Brigade has been adopted by the provisional French government, its men absolved of previous crimes, and Churchill has sent the British Brigade back to Kenya; he doesn’t want them in Britain. We paid them all off, and sacked most of them. They can re-apply in three months if they want to.’
‘And the African Rifles?’ Jimmy asked.
‘Not too many killed, considering, plenty wounded though. And none wanted to quit. They’re all back in training in either Kenya or the Congo, and we’re still recruiting.’
‘Good,’ Jimmy commended as he ate. ‘And how’s Rudd’s empire building?’
‘I hear it’s gone on at a pace around the Congo, but a quarter of the western miners left during the war, some drifting back. More black miners working now.’
‘Money from the Congo?’
‘It’s still rising, but I’ve allocated more money to Rudd to use, because we just don’t need it here. Brits and Americans have paid for the hardware, and they’re still buying everything we can produce; war procurement hasn’t slowed up at all. There’s a bunch of officers downstairs, already thinking of next year’s weapons.’
‘Hal and Hacker?’ Jimmy asked.
‘Training RAF chaps how to fly F15s and the jet bombers. They’re due back here in a month because the RAF will train in San Diego with the Americans in the winter. Oh, I agreed an F15 and a jet bomber to attend an air show a week back.’
‘And?’ Jimmy nudged.
‘Star attractions, pictures of them all over the newspapers,’ I said with a smile. ‘When the bomber took off, everyone had their hands over ears; reminded me off my own youth. President wanted a show in Washington, so we flew the jets down to buzz the capital.’
‘Those jets are better than the aircraft operated by the USAF on 1984 world!’ Jimmy suddenly paused. ‘Have we given them too much too soon?’
‘We had to win the war quickly,’ I said with a shrug. ‘And deliver the nukes if necessary.’
‘But if America has all these weapons now, will it make them over-confident?’ Jimmy posed. ‘Is there a danger here? Is this why a son of mine came back?’
‘What the hell would jets here have to do with the world you just visited?’ I countered with. ‘If he wanted to slow us up, then he would have influenced us here, not in pigging 1984!’
‘That’s true,’ Susan agreed.
Jimmy nodded. ‘Right now I’d like to kick his arse. I just can’t figure why he did it, why he’s trying to help me.’
‘To impress you somehow?’ Susan floated.
‘I would like to think ... that if I have children ... that they would not be raised to feel like that.’
‘There are no guarantees with kids,’ I said. ‘Besides, you may be off-world when the mother raises them. A son of Silo might feel ... inadequate.’
Jimmy loudly placed down his knife and fork. ‘Of course they would,’ he realised. ‘How the hell could they follow in my shoes.’
‘By doing something equally as dangerous, yet saving a world,’ I posed.
Jimmy stared back. ‘This could be more about him, than about me altering things. God dammit. He could be running around out there just to prove something to me.’
‘There’s one flaw in that argument,’ Susan put in. ‘How did he get access to a portal? No one would ever allow a private trip. You and Paul they’d let through, but someone else? Someone with something to prove? Never.’
‘He may have ... somehow convinced them of the merits,’ Jimmy suggested. ‘Especially if it was to save me, or to help me.’
‘Oh,’ I said, raising my knife. ‘That mysterious book - the one that was handed to the Germans - maybe that wasn’t his doing. Maybe ... he went after whoever did it, or somehow to try and counter it.’
‘By getting a job at the German time machine,’ Susan put in. ‘Be there when it opened -’
‘And jump through to see where it leads,’ I finished off.
‘So why not make contact?’ Jimmy complained. ‘Besides, we could have handled The Brotherhood with the Rifles, and taken the portal at their end. And he would have known that I could call for backup.’
I heaved a big breath. ‘Yeah, I suppose. But, I’d like to think that he infiltrated the German time machine to try and find out about the book of instructions.’
‘So why push coal-oil here?’ Jimmy asked.
‘To nudge us towards something,’ Susan suggested. ‘As you said: less of a dependency on American oil.’
‘So why not make contact?’ Jimmy said, staring out of focus past me. ‘Unless ... unless he doesn’t want the growth of Europe to be seen to be us – our doing.’
‘A rift with Washington?’ I wondered. ‘They have all the toys they could want!’
‘But on our worlds, after the war, they wanted a tight control of Europe, and the break-up of the British Empire,’ Jimmy illustrated for us. ‘France refused to join NATO, expelled American forces, and was instrumental in creating the European Union, which the Americans never liked.’
‘So how do we join the dots on that theory,’ I complained.
‘The book is handed to the Germans on that world,’ Jimmy began. ‘No other nation, just them, and specifically before they’re overrun by The Brotherhood -’
‘Knowing that The Brotherhood would love to have a time machine, and would send fighters,’ I finished off.
‘Through a pre-set portal, set for the summer of 1938,’ Jimmy added. ‘A key date. Those fighters attack Germans here, weakening them, so ... the war would be won quicker.’ His brow pleated. ‘How would that help the Americans? If anything, it would strengthen Britain’s hand.’
‘What if ... Britain defeated Germany by itself,’ Susan began. ‘Would that alter post-war European politics?’
‘Yes,’ Jimmy agreed, ‘because France would be diminished in its influence.’
‘And Britain refused to join all of Europe’s institutions, and its common currency,’ I said.
‘Meaning that the likelihood of a European Union was lessened,’ Jimmy added. ‘But there’s one fault with all that. We’re here, and we’d nudge Churchill towards a union. Besides, someone from 2047 or beyond would have no interest in a few percentage points taken off US trade in this decade.’
‘Maybe they’re not from 2047 or beyond,’ I suggested. ‘Maybe they’re from somewhere where America is at odds with Europe.’
Jimmy smiled widely for a moment, and shook his head. ‘I figured this was about our time lines. But maybe my son travelled from a world where it’s 2025, where the oil dollar is about to implode, or has done already.’
‘That can’t be this world, can it?’ I puzzled.
‘It could have been -’
‘Before we came here,’ I finished off. ‘Has son of Silo done his homework?’
‘He may not have had the chance,’ Jimmy suggested. ‘And to go back into his own past he needed to jump across to another world first, then back.’ Jimmy eased back in his seat. ‘He must know I’m here, he would have seen it in the papers.’
‘But maybe ... he’d rather kick your arse than give you a big hug,’ I suggested. ‘Any clues as to who the mother may have been?’
‘There were a few,’ Jimmy admitted. ‘One daughter that I knew of. But they were all on worlds that suffered disasters.’ He raised a finger. ‘Including one world where the petrol-dollar was the key. In fact two, maybe three.’
‘I think you have your answer,’ I said. ‘He sees coal-oil as the key. But the brave kid jumped through to a Nazi Germany - and did superbly!’
‘There was a German doctor in Rescue Force,’ Jimmy remembered. ‘She could have been his mother.’
‘And raised him to speak German like a native,’ Susan noted.
I glanced at Susan, before turning back to Jimmy. ‘If he hasn’t made contact, then he’s ... either dead, or ... he hates you.’
Jimmy sipped his tea, staring past me. ‘In some ways that’s good, because it means that a great disaster is not about to happen here or in 1984.’ Jimmy raised his phone and dialled. ‘It’s me. Listen, send word to Doctor Singh that we need to revisit each of the worlds he sent me to. On one of them, we believe that they’ve developed a working portal. Top priority, and target the dates that are at least ten years after I left. Thanks.’
