“It's not different at all.” McHenry gestured toward the planet below them on the view screen. “The war is still going on, isn't it?”
“I'm sorry, Sam,” Dale said. “This is old history for us. And it's over for you, too. It ended for you the moment your plane sank into the sea. You must accept this. Be glad you're still alive! You've lived to see that America will recover from its defeat, and the American racism you and your ancestors have suffered through will be defeated as well.”
“I'm a soldier,” he reminded her. “I swore an oath.”
But it was even more than that. Much more. Black troops were often relegated to non-combat positions in this war. The men in his own squadron had to prove themselves time and time again. The right to fight was something that he, his friends, and those before them had all worked hard for. He couldn't let them down. Then there were the squadron commander, and even a few of the white officers who had supported their training. He couldn't let any of them down. He just wouldn't.
“You fought to the best of your ability,” Dale responded. “History remembers you that way. And even if you returned, what could you do to change the outcome? Germany will still win the war, and the United States will still accept peace. The Great Depression will resume. Did you ever realize how deeply mired in debt your President Roosevelt has put the country to fight his immoral war? Believe me, you don't need to go back to that. You'd be just another unemployed black man in an America where hypocrisy and unfairness are commonplace.”
“Don't tell me Nazis outlawed unfairness,” he scoffed.
“Who else could?”
“You mean, it takes a dictator.”
“No, it takes a reordering of society. Just as war is a cause that can discipline a society, military values can advance society in peaceful ways. We take the direction of a society out of the hands of the oligarchs of wealth, and channel it into more productive purposes for the whole nation.”
She paused, but only for a moment before continuing. “I will concede that the National Socialist Party of this time, that which is down there now,” she gestured toward the image of the Earth outside, “regards its own form of nationalism as confined to the German-speaking race. But they have always been reaching out to new allies, not just the Italians and other Europeans, but South America, the Arabs, and of course, Japan. The Reich broadcasts radio news around the world in twelve languages. Surely, you must know that, right now, there are SS troops forming from countries all over Europe, not just Germany. And that's just a start, today, in the national socialism of 1944.”
“Wait a second,” said McHenry, pondering her idealistic lecture. “How can a world state call itself nationalist?”
“It was an evolution. You call yourself an American but the first several generations of Americans thought of themselves first as citizens of their separate states. They formed the nation only when they thought it necessary to close ranks. Today, in this twentieth-century, bonds are already forming among the foreign SS corps. Most of the Waffen-SS is currently non-German even here, now, in 1944. They have many French and Scandinavian SS troops, as well as Bosnian Muslims. After the war, they will serve their own nations, following the customs learned from the SS.”
“And black Nazis?” he demanded.
“Sam,” she sighed. “If you're going to try to get along here, you should at least get one thing straight: We don't call ourselves ‘Nazis.’ The critics did. Some followers in other nations did, but the main party never did. We are national socialists.”
“Very well then, I'm sorry,” he said, barely concealing a smirk. “Then what about black national socialists? How long have they been around?”
She smiled again. “There is one in America right now, after a fashion.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Have you heard of Lawrence Dennis?”
The name sounded vaguely familiar — then he remembered reading it in the papers. “You mean the isolationist? That anti-war nut-case? He's not white?”
“He's a nationalist,” she corrected. “He's not a member of the Party, of course, being an American, but he is associated with the cause. He's been to Germany before the war and visited high party officials.
He stared.
“And yes,” she said. “In case you're wondering, his mother was black.”
“It doesn't count if he's been passing for white,” McHenry shrugged.
“That's only today. There will be more. A lot can happen in a thousand years, Sam.” She allowed that to sink in.
He knew that much was true. A lot can happen in a thousand years. But this was still 1944. He couldn't stop glancing down at the swastika on her arm. It was a long time before McHenry spoke. “Okay, then. What are SS officers doing here on this ship? I thought you people were state security and secret police.”
“The SS started that way, back in the 1920s, when it was a small unit that guarded the Party leaders. The name, ‘Schutzstaffel,’ means ‘defense corps.’ But they quickly expanded after Adolf Hitler came to power, and then expanded further still when the war started. But we've always been, primarily, the hand of the Führer. As such, the SS works in many scientific fields. That's why we're here. This is a scientific expedition.”
“I believe everything up to where you said this is about science.”
“Nothing new about that, Sam. Even in your time, the SS has doctors expanding the frontiers of medical research.”
“Yeah, I'll bet.”
“We are all beneficiaries of that science — including you, in your resuscitation.”
“Apparently so,” he slowly acknowledged, but really wanting only to change the subject. “Well then, how soon does Germany take over the United States?”
“It's not Germany by itself. It's the Reich that grows and attracts people of like minds. It becomes much more than just Germany during the next century. The United States doesn't join for over a hundred years, and then, initially, as a pact member. When it happens, it will do so willingly.
“As you said, we started as, and in some sense still are, a nationalist movement. You know that Italy was an ally; Japan still is; and Spain is a friend. These are nationalist countries, each distinct peoples with similar national ideologies. After the war, more will become like that. Nationalist movements will bloom all over the world, holding down the capitalists and kicking out the Bolsheviks. People in South America and the Middle East are preparing to do that now.
“The United States will follow behind them, but not right away. Your economic depression will resume first. The country wasted so much money on this immoral war. Unfortunately, America will lose its will to succeed, and with that, the technological edge it had in recent decades. It will become weak economically and militarily. That can only last for so long before the people react, just as they did in Germany. Eventually, Americans will look to the Reich for hope and inspiration, and they will find it. Once the entire world is working the same way, it is only natural that we start working together.”
McHenry didn't buy her story. It was apparent to him that the country was out of the Depression. He didn't think it was going to reverse the process but he wasn't going to argue any of it yet.
“And the war?” he asked.
Her voice became tender. “For Japan, which Americans should have considered the real war, that war goes on for another year. The war in Europe ends this year. Roosevelt will die of a stroke.”
McHenry shook his head, first shocked at the loss of the President, and then startled by his own reaction. He loved President Roosevelt. His whole squadron did. But the war must come first, he resolved silently. “No,” he said. “We would never give up that fast or that easily.”
“They will,” said Dale firmly. “Don't argue with me, Sam. Look where you are. You're on a Luftwaffe starship. I assure you, the United States gives up on the war.”
“I wasn't arguing that,” he said, trying to hold off the regret in his voice.
The tenderness in her voice r
esumed. “Sam, your own effort in the war was profound. Don't ever forget that. But that was only one part of it. There is so much more to this war than the Italian campaign. The invasion of France ends on the beaches. That will be the major catastrophe that turns the war. Thousands are killed with nothing to show for it.”
“We've lost battles before,” he said, thinking of the initial setback in Cassino.
“Not like this. Not with such obvious incompetence. They should have known this was going to happen. There will be a practice invasion next month on a small British island. The defenses for the exercise are inadequate. A thousand men will be killed when German ships come upon them. Your politicians keep those deaths a secret until after the war.
“Then more horrors in the days leading up to the invasion. English and American forces are already conducting massive bombings on the French coast right now. Tens of thousands of innocent French civilians will be killed — including women and children. And when the actual invasion begins, more bombs miss their targets. Parachute troops land in the wrong place. Thousands die on the beaches. The very first wave of soldiers is wiped out almost entirely — nearly every man dead. But the generals continue sending in more men, even when the weather worsens.
“All this is for what? England only started this war to prop up Poland's government when it refused to let German-speaking lands become part of Germany — which is what the people in that region wanted. Even if you thought it was important to deny them self-determination, you can't tell me it's that important.
“Anyway, your President Roosevelt has his stroke the next day. Vice President Henry Wallace becomes the new President while your Congress calls for hearings into the fiasco. You know they're still pointing fingers over the Pearl Harbor attack. Hitler, once again, offers to negotiate. You didn't know about the earlier peace offer last year; they kept that from you. It will be leaked to the press, but too late, and relegated to the back pages.
“President Wallace makes a show of refusing the new peace offer. But a few days later, just one week after the failed invasion, London is showered with unmanned flying bombs called the V-1. The English people will then regret what that warmonger Churchill led them into. In America, the ice breaks when mothers of soldiers meet with President Wallace. Adolf Hitler, again, offers an honorable peace, and that will be the end of the alliance against the Germans.”
McHenry fell silent again, brooding over her words. It wasn't just the mistakes in battle. That was normal throughout the war. But he detested her detached attitude. Your President Roosevelt, she had said. The words hurt, grating on his sense of patriotism. He couldn't help but think that he should have been her President Roosevelt, too. Her voice sounded so much like an American, particularly since he had resisted looking at her SS uniform. Staring at the wide view screen, he could see Europe, Great Britain and the east coast of the United States. The world looked so much smaller from here, and the United States so vulnerable.
He turned his thoughts to the expected invasion. It was a subject he had been well aware of. Newspapers were often talking about it. His squadron was to play no direct part in it, as they'd have their hands full in Italy. Yet, he felt a pang of regret that his squadron would not be covering the men on the ground in France. He wanted to be there himself, all the more if it was going to fail when one more set of wings might make the difference. But Dale would have none of it.
“The European Civil War was over in weeks,” she said. “The people had tired of it. Even before the invasion attempt, four out of ten Americans admitted in a poll that they didn't have a clear idea what the war was really about. Unlike the thousand soldiers killed in the practice run, the politicians will not be able to cover up this failure. Adolf Hitler will propose a way out, and the people will finally listen. Its resolution saved hundreds of thousands — maybe even millions — who might have been killed if the war continued. Hitler's peace overture was a humanitarian gesture appreciated by the entire world.”
McHenry wanted to scoff at that but Dale continued: “I might even say that Hitler and Wallace had saved my own life. More of my ancestors would have been drafted, and possibly killed, if President Wallace hadn't ended this immoral war when he did. I wouldn't have been born.”
“What about the Russians?,” McHenry asked. “I can't see them giving up.”
“They didn't want to be alone fighting Germany. It was only Roosevelt's promises of this invasion that had kept Stalin from making a separate peace. He had been waiting for the invasion since 1942. It was supposed to force Germany to face a true second front. Your Africa and Italy campaigns were a poor substitute.”
After a long interval, McHenry looked up again. “And the Jews?”
“What do you mean?” she asked blankly.
“The Jews. What happens to them? Aren't they being killed off?”
She shook her head. “That was English and Bolshevik propaganda, Sam. It's true that a great many died from disease. There was a serious problem with typhus. But most were resettled as part of the peace deal. It was just as Hitler had always planned.”
He was going to sneer but she cut him off. “You will see.”
She didn't let him brood. “We've been sitting here too long,” she said, releasing herself from the seat. She sprang up to the rail above them and grabbed on with one hand, floating in midair. “Let's go to the watch rooms. I'll show you some of the work we're doing.”
He nodded and she led him back through the tube toward one of the upper decks where he would stand under gravity again.
Once he straightened up, it was obvious that she was almost a foot taller. “Why is everybody so damned tall!” he blurted out.
“Oh, you have so much to learn,” she giggled. “Everyone can be tall, strong, healthy, and intelligent. There is no disease in the Reich. You will never be sick again. And we have no pockets of poverty amidst great wealth as you had in the America of your day. There is real equality here. After you get by all your old prejudices, you will love national socialism.”
*
Chapter 9
INVASION CASUALTIES ESTIMATED 150,000
The first month of the invasion of Europe will cost the U.S. forces a maximum of 150,000 casualties, about three times the losses announced incurred in current operations, says Chairman Andrew May (Dem., Ky) of the House of Representatives Military Committee.... He scoffed at publicly expressed fears of casualties as high as 500,000 when the Allies plunge into Europe. In Mr. May's opinion, there probably will not be more than 75,000 killed in that first 30 days.
— Edmonton Journal, (April 10, 1944)
Just as the view from Kontrolle had been exhilarating, the main watch room was mystifying. Much larger than Kontrolle, McHenry guessed it to be almost as large as a football field. On its great dome was a projection of charts and symbols. All of it was simply beyond McHenry's understanding. He dropped his eyes from the expanse above him to survey the occupants of the area. Once again he felt like a dwarf.
About fifty men and women had staffed his end of the huge chamber, and there must have been hundreds more in the distance. Most that he could see were sitting at consoles, and all wore SS uniforms. A few men and women, not focused on the activity they monitored, turned to watch Dale and McHenry enter.
Stern stepped off the center platform and barked a command in German to one of the men beside him.
“Entering with permission,” said Dale.
Stern appropriated a smile. “And so you are,” he said curtly. “It is good to see you here, Herr McHenry.”
“Very impressive. What is this?” The meaning behind the charts and symbols wasn't intuitively obvious.
“This is our main watch room,” said Stern, raising an arm. “There are also several smaller ones, each specializing in a particular aspect of the main task.”
“And what, exactly, is that task?” asked McHenry.
“We are historians. We have sensors collecting and recording images of the events unfolding below. Some
are on this ship, looking downward, and others are on probes positioned in orbit around the Earth. They monitor every detail so that we may have a full recording of history as it actually transpired.”
“You mean, you're looking down on people?”
“Yes, we are looking at everything and everybody. Or rather, the sensors peer down, collect and interpret the information, and our rechners compile it into these quantified streams of events.”
He stepped to the left and pointed up to a heavy patch of lines and symbols on one side of the dome.
“Do you see the thicker lines?” he asked.
“Yes,” McHenry said, looking up to a region where many of the lines had converged, mostly green and blue with some red and white.
“Those main lines, C25, C26 and P25, are our designators for your coming invasion of France.”
The topic took McHenry by surprise. His heart leapt but he tried to appear cool. “That doesn't look like the coast of France,” he said.
“This is not a map,” said Stern. “Or rather, it is not a geographical map. You may think of it as a map of time — of events in history.” Stern's arm moved back down along one axis, “The blue and green section represents the events that have already transpired as the forces prepare the way. Some of these other lines have still not happened yet, in current time, and most of that is marked in green. But our machines have already acquired sufficient data to fill in the events we do not yet have. You see, we are making projections as to what will happen as we analyze the course of history.”
“Hold just a second,” said McHenry. “What do you mean, making projections? You mean, as in predictions? If you guys are from the future, don't you already know what's going to happen?”
“Not in such detail. In a battle, for example, we know which men are sent out on a particular mission, but not necessarily who shoots whom. Some of the work we are doing now will become clearer when we have all the reports.”
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