yesterdays war

by gerald hall

  Nuclear energy will even be vital for mankind to travel to other worlds to settle. But we need time for humanity to mature before it has access to these terrible weapons of mass destruction.”

  “I understand,HerrCavill. But what about the scientists in Nazi Germany who may already be working on such weapons technology? Surely we cannot allow that madman Adolf Hitler to have sole access to these terrible weapons.”

  “Obviously, I already know who the key German scientists are for the Nazi fission bomb device as well as the locations of the necessary industrial facilities. I will be working with the British to convince these scientists that they need to end their work in Germany. They will be given the opportunity to leave Germany and continue their research, only focused now on the peaceful use of nuclear power.”

  “What if they choose to continue to work on the program for the Nazis,HerrCavill? I probably know at least some of these men.”

  “One way or another, they cannot and will not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. I am certain that the British will do whatever is necessary to stop such a dangerous program from continuing in Nazi Germany once the war begins.” Harold grimly replied, knowing that it could mean the deaths of some of the German scientists that Einstein personally knew.

  “You are absolutely certain that there will be war between Germany and England?” A worried Einstein asked.

  Harold paused for a few moments. Just how much could he afford to reveal to Albert Einstein about events of the Second World War? Harold had to be very cautious because even the mention of more future events could change them for the worse.

  “Yes, there will be war once again in Europe. The path to war is clearly being followed as before. But the rest of the future is uncertain at this point, Professor. I hope that perhaps I can do something that will save as many innocent lives as possible though.”

  “Herr Cavill, I will do whatever I can to help you in your quest. It is very important to me that humanity is saved as well. Is there anything else that you can tell me about the future?”

  “There is so much that I know of the future. But, I must not tell you any more of it. The future is a very delicate thing. Even the smallest change or revelation can have far-reaching effects in ways that perhaps we cannot predict. It is better that you not know any more than this, Professor. I will say that your scientific research will shape so very much of our understanding of the universe. Please, do not let anything get in the way of your work.

  I must ask you one other favor, Professor.”

  “What do you need,HerrCavill?”

  “You must never tell anyone else of this meeting and especially about what I have revealed to you. As far as your assistant is concerned, I was just another admirer who wanted to express his appreciation for your work.”

  “Of course,HerrCavill. I understand completely. Thank you for what you are doing. My prayers are with you. Peace is what all reasonable human beings should be seeking, not death and destruction.”

  Harold silently nodded as he stood up and turned to leave. Einstein’s assistant stared at Harold as he quietly left the office and headed out of the building.

  The taxi was still waiting on Harold when he left the building. Harold got in and told the driver to drive to where Dorothy and the children would be waiting. The taxi trip took over an hour before Harold finally arrived.

  Dorothy and the children were there, delighted to see Harold. After the kids told their father about the fun they had, they all piled into the taxi and rode to their hotel room.

  The children were all in one room while Harold and Dorothy sat down on the bed in the next room.

  “How did your meeting go with Professor Einstein, Sweetheart?” Dorothy quietly asked.

  “Much better than the earlier ones that I had with Von Braun and my attempt to meet Hermann Oberth, I have to admit. I am convinced that Einstein is now not going to endorse that letter to President Roosevelt calling for the American development of an atomic bomb.”

  “That’s good news, I hope.”

  “I hope so too. But I worry constantly about how this will change the world in other ways that I cannot anticipate.”

  Dorothy came up and put her arms around Harold while facing him.

  “You know, Sweetheart. You might also have just set the world on a course for a far better fate than merely avoiding humanity blowing itself to kingdom come. Let’s look at that possibility as well.”

  “I can only pray that is true. But I must take action in any case. That door to the past was not opened for me just to sit complacently back and wait for history to pass. That much is absolutely certain.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine: Billy Hughes’ Office

  North Sydney, New South Wales September 4, 1939

  Harold had flown via Cavalier towards New South Wales on the southeast coast of Australia before catching a train to North Sydney. Then he quickly hired an automobile to take him to Billy Hughes’ office. The trip was the result of a telephone call from former Prime Minister Hughes a few days earlier.

  “Good afternoon, Mister Cavill. I trust that your flight here went well. We don’t often get to see those huge Cavalier flying boats here on this side of Australia.” Billy said after shaking hands with Harold.

  “Yes, it did. The planning was a bit hasty. I had to reschedule my spare Cavalier flying boat to fly me here under the guise of being a trip to showcase the Cavalier to the rest of Australia. You had indicated in your phone call that you had an urgent matter to discuss that you didn’t want to explain on the telephone.”

  “Actually, there are now multiple things to discuss. Australia, as part of the Commonwealth, is now in a state of war with Germany and the other Axis powers. This is the result of Nazi Germany invading Poland a couple of days ago. I’ve also been asked by Prime Minister Menzies to be part of his special War Cabinet.” Billy told Harold.

  “I can’t say that I am surprised that we are once again at war. We will have to do everything possible to prepare Australia for what is to come.” Harold replied.

  “I know. I want to thank you for your efforts so far, Mister Cavill. I don’t think that you have to worry about your critics in Canberra now that we are at war. But this is not the original reason why I asked you to come here. I have heard some very disquieting things over the past few weeks from my friends in Canberra.

  You have obviously made some very powerful enemies inside and outside of Australia, I’m afraid. We have recently learned that there are people out there who appear to be planning to assassinate you.”

  “Do you have any idea who these people are?” Harold quickly asked, a chill running down his spine.

  “I don’t know for certain who is targeting you. It could be one of those damned anarchists who sees you only as an arms merchant, profiting on death and devastation. They may have also been part of that mob of hooligans that attacked you last year. But I personally think that the people who want you dead are probably associated with the Bolsheviks. I have had some experience with them in the course of the various political parties that I have been a member of. You have also been very vocal in your opposition to the Soviets and their allies, even the Socialists here in Australia. That will have certainly drawn their notice of you, I’m sure.

  Stalin and his people have not been shy about killing their opponents, even those outside of the Soviet Union. You need to make sure that you and your family are protected just in case the rumors prove to be true.”

  “I will do that. Thank you for informing me of this threat. Have the Federal Police been looking for these possible assassins?” Harold replied.

  “Yes, but I do not know how their investigation had progressed. I suggest that you hire some people to protect you and your family. I know that for many men in the Outback, they prefer to provide their own protection. But that might not be enough.”

  Harold already travelled while carrying either the Luger that Dorothy had given him or a Browning Hi-Power semi-automatic pistol. But now,
he knew that he would have to ask the aborigines if they could help as well. But he needed to focus on other matters for the moment.

  “Minister Hughes, I hope that you will continue in your efforts to keep certain government officials from interfering with my work as well. It is even more vital than ever before in view of the threats that we all face. I am sure that the War Cabinet will soon be contacting me to help provide materiel to our soldiers, sailors and airmen. I will, of course, provide all that I can at the most fair price possible. I have no desire to gouge the Australian people at such a time of crisis.”

  “I would hope not, Mister Cavill. But I would also like to talk with you on another matter if you don’t mind.”

  “What is it that you wish to talk about, Minister Hughes?” A curious Harold asked.

  “I understand that you have been working with Winston Churchill quite a bit over the past few years.”

  “That is true. Mister Churchill and I have accomplished quite a bit, both for England and for Australia.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I am certain that the arrangement that you had with Mister Churchill didn’t hurt your purse either, Mister Cavill. But in any event, I give you this word of warning. Be very careful of the commitments that you make with Winston Churchill. He has quite the history of turning upon his friends and abandoning them at their time of greatest need. There are more than a few Australians who still harbor ill feelings towards him as a result of the operation at Gallipoli during the Great War for example. I would not have Mister Churchill see you or Australia as merely assets to be expended at whatever opportunity is convenient to him.”

  Harold was already aware of many of Winston Churchill’s more controversial decisions and the groups that were often hurt by Churchill’s decisions. But Harold also knew the Churchill was the focal point of many of the Second World War’s most critical moments. Working with Churchill certainly was a gamble in certain ways, but one that Harold felt that he needed to make.

  “Thank you, Minister Hughes, for your words of caution, both concerning the possible threat to my family and I as well as your views of Mister Churchill. I will certainly bear them all in mind. The possibility that England would not be able to provide us with all of the help that we might need against the Japanese is something that I fear as well. This is the principle reason why I have been working so hard to develop the industries necessary for our own self-sufficiency.”

  Harold tried to redirect the subject from Churchill himself to the idea that England may not be able to spare the resources to help Australia. But with the right mix of forces and technology, Australia and the other allies in the area could fend off the Japanese, Harold strongly felt. Japan had a strong but brittle military that was focused on a quick victorious war. A long, drawn-out campaign would be much more difficult for the Japanese, as would also be the case for the Nazis.

  But even though Australia was a vast nation that was rich with natural resources, it lacked one resource that was vitally important in war. Australia simply did not have enough people to raise the vast armies that so many other nations already had. So it was far more sensitive to casualties than the Japanese or even the English were.

  “What do you think that the government in Canberra will want from me first, Minister Hughes?” Harold asked.

  “I would imagine that those armored ‘tractors’ of yours will be very badly needed by our troops on the front lines. Right now, our troops have little more than a handful of elderly Mark II light tanks that are armed only with machine guns. They won’t be of any use against any real tanks that the Nazis might have, I’m afraid.”

  “I should be able to outfit whatever our military requires within a reasonable amount of time. I won’t be able to give this materiel away, but I will not significantly profit from this situation either.”

  “I greatly appreciate that. We certainly need you and the products that your factories can produce. I do not want anything to happen to you, Mister Cavill.”

  “I will not wrap myself up in a cocoon and hide though. I have many things to do. Please do what you can to stop these people. But I will continue to travel both here in Australia and elsewhere in the world conducting necessary business and personal meetings. In fact, I just returned from a trip to America recently. It may be necessary for me to return there in the near future as well.”

  “Are you going back to Derby now?”

  “Yes. I’m flying back in a couple of days. I have a great deal to do with several of my new business ventures as well as some of my research and development projects.”

  “Then I wish you Godspeed then, Mister Cavill.”

  It was the middle of the morning on the Sixth of September when Harold arrived at the dock where the Cavalier was waiting. He was just about to board the flying board when a car came racing up to the dock. Harold turned around to see Billy Hughes quickly jump out of the car and run towards him.

  “Mister Cavill, I’ve just received some very important news from England. The Soviet Union has attacked Poland from the east in addition to the invasion of the Germans from the west.”

  “This event makes it even more important that I get back home to Derby quickly. Thank you for the news, Minister Hughes.” Harold said as he remembered that the invasion of Poland had historically been preceded only days earlier by the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Pact was a neutrality agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that both Hitler and Stalin fully intended to break at the first opportunity. Of course, Hitler beat Stalin to the punch with Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union.

  Billy continued to watch as Harold turned and quickly entered the waiting flying boat. Within a few minutes, the flying boat’s six powerful Twin-Wasp radial engines were roaring to life. The huge Cavalier was soon racing over the water and up into the sky back towards Derby.

  The world was at war, just as it had been in Harold’s earlier timeline. But he had already set into motion some critical changes. The end result of those changes was yet to be determined, for better or for worse.

  Harold also knew that he would have to continue to actively intervene when necessary to change events as they develop. He fervently prayed that the changes would make things better, not worse, in the long run though.

  Cast of Characters: James Stevenson/Harold Cavill: A 21stCentury Australian industrialist who traveled back in time to 1918 to attempt to prevent the nuclear war in 2040. He assumed the identity of a dead prospector after his arrival in 1918.

  Andrea Townsend: Engineer on the Particle Accelerator Project in 2040

  Jonathan Adams: James Stevenson’s executive assistant in 2040

  Judith Stevenson: James Stevenson’s first wife. She was Jewish, a dedicated supporter of the State of Israel and had died in 2038 as the result of a Palestinian terrorist attack.

  Clarence Whittaker: Chief Communications Officer for the Stevenson Corporation.

  Samuel Upton: Senior Project Manager for the particle accelerator project

  Johnny: The first aborigine that James Stevenson meets after passing through the temporal portal. Eventually, he ends up coming to Derby and working for Harold at the shipyard there.

  Albert: The man who sold James Stevenson a used Ford Model T stakebed truck shortly after James arrived in 1918.

  Harold Cavill*: A deceased prospector whose body James Stevenson finds and whose identity that James assumes shortly after arriving in the year 1918.

  William Akuna: An elder in the Anagu tribe of aborigines that Harold Cavill met near Perth.

  Eric Hanford: hired by Harold and originally from Bristol, England.

  Billy McGuire: A construction worker who was fired by Harold after causing racial problems at a Derby worksite.

  Simon Collins: A construction worker at one of Harold’s Derby worksite.

  Melvin Hunter: Australian Conservative Party political official

  Nigel Toland: Australian Conservative Party political official


  Ezekiel: A Jewish man that Harold met at a local kosher shop in Sydney

  Thomas: Harold’s aborigine assistant

  Allen Summersby: Austrialian Government official who came to visit Harold concerning his unconventional treatment of the aborigines who worked for Harold.

  Freddie: One of Harold’s aborigine workers at the King Sound shipyard construction site.

  Alexander Portman: He is an American mechanical engineer and naval architect that Harold hired to design ships for him.

  Winston Churchill: Former First Lord of the Royal Navy, member of Parliament and future Prime Minister of Great Britain.

  Dorothy Wilson: She had been the receptionist for the London stockbroker Darren Bentley before meeting and eventually marrying Harold Cavill.

  Judith Marie Cavill: daughter born on October 1, 1931

  Sarah Elizabeth Cavill: daughter born on December 4, 1932

  Beatrice Caroline Cavill: daughter born on December 4, 1932 James Stevenson Cavill: son born on November 12, 1935 Darren Bentley: Harold’s former London stockbroker. Harold severed business dealings with Darren after learning of Darren’s interest in sharing Harold’s purchasing suggestions with others of Darren’s clients.

  George Cartwright: Manager of Cavill Propulsion Systems. George is another one of Harold’s American imports.

  Richard Barnard: Richard is a lawyer representing a group of businessmen who want to invest in Harold’s various enterprises in the hope of benefitting from Harold’s success.

  Richard Tindale: Harold’s manager for Cavill Ordnance Works.

  Keith Murdock: Journalist

  Terrence Walters: Terrence is the manager for Harold’s steel and aluminum refining and manufacturing facilities.

  Joanna Starke: Harold’s secretary in 1935

  Alan Sykes: Harold’s corporate accountant in 1935

  Frederick Miles: One of the heads of Miles Aircraft Limited.

  Blossom Miles: Frederick Miles’ wife