I remembered a good old friend of mine and Jack's, Bennie Weinberg, a detective and psychiatrist with the NYPD. “Don't accept bullshit and don't give bullshit,” Bennie would say. I decided to heed his advice.
“To steal a stock phrase from the movies,” I said, “ ‘I suppose you've all been wondering why I've gathered you here today.’ ”
They laughed, the response I hoped for.
“People who know me understand that I’m straight forward and sometimes blunt,” I continued, “and I'm not about to change my personality this morning. To get right to the heart of the issue, and the core of your questions, gentlemen, here it is. Lt. Thurber and I encountered a time portal, also known as a wormhole, in the sky somewhere off the coast of New Jersey. We were on a public relations mission, ordered by the Public Affairs Office of the Department of Defense, which is known in this day as the Department of War. I had just been promoted to admiral, and the PR folks thought it would be a good idea for me to fly a plane from a carrier to LaGuardia Airport. We were also assigned two escort planes to fly with us. An expensive waste of taxpayer money, if you ask me, but it wasn't my call. At 0933 this morning we hit the wormhole. I have no idea where my escorts are.”
“Admiral Patterson, if I may,” said Edison, “could you please explain the significance of the thing you call a ‘wormhole?’ ”
“Certainly,” I said. “A wormhole is a location on the earth that enables a human being or, in this case an airplane, to slip through to a different dimension, a different time. At 0932, moments before we hit the wormhole, we were in the year 2016, the second decade of the 21st Century, the New Millennium. That's 76 years from now. But here we are in the 20th Century, in 1940.”
I've been in this situation before, and so has Jack. In that crazy Gray Ship incident in 2013, I was the captain of the USS California, a nuclear guided missile cruiser. I had to explain to Gideon Wells, the Secretary of the Navy in 1861, as well as to Abraham Lincoln, how we came through a wormhole and went back 152 years into the past. Is it any wonder why time travelers are in demand at cocktail parties?
Edison, Tanner, and Johnston just sat and stared. Jack and I are used to this.
“Admiral Patterson,” said Secretary Edison, “Do you actually expect us to believe this?”
The standard question. Maybe Jack and I should have a reality TV show.
“No, I don't, Mr. Secretary,” I said. “I don't expect that you can believe such a crazy story about time travel. All I ask is that you take a look at this.”
I walked over to the plane and patted it on the wing. Prominently on the fuselage was the stenciled inscription, “Rear Admiral Ashley Patterson, USN.”
“What I'm about to tell you would, in other circumstances, be considered Top Secret, but I take into consideration that this is 1940. Besides, as officers of the United States Navy, you, sir, are our boss.”
“This plane is a jet aircraft,” I continued, “as you can tell from the lack of propellers. The first American jet, to my recollection, was built in September, 1941, over a year from now. This plane is a Boeing F/A-18 F Super Hornet, a two-seat version of the F/A-18 E, often just called an F-18. This particular aircraft was built at a cost of about $60 million dollars. It can fly at what we call Mach 1.8 or 1,190 miles per hour, almost twice the speed of sound. She carries air to air, air to surface, and anti-ship missiles, although it’s not armed at this time.”
The men stared at me, as if I just introduced them to my pet unicorn.
“And about how many of these planes are in service – I mean will be in service, admiral?” said Edison.
“About 500, sir,” I said, “roughly 30 billion dollars’ worth.”
It was chilly for October 20, and the hangar was not heated. But I noticed that Edison, Tanner, and Johnston were all sweating.
“So don't believe me, don't believe Lieutenant Thurber. Just look at our transportation here. Anybody wanna go for a ride?”
“I would love to, Admiral Patterson,” said Tanner, “but I believe we need to sort out your communication difficulties first.”
I think Admiral Tanner was just plain scared of my plane.
As we walked back to the car, I leaned over to Jack.
“Jack, how much money do you have?”
“About $500. I hit the ATM before we left.”
“I did the same,” I said. “A thousand bucks should last us for a while in 1940.”
“Oh yeah,” said Jack. “How do you think people will react to 21st Century currency?”
“Oh my God,” I said. “We’re lost and broke.”
Chapter 10
“Admiral Patterson, I'm almost speechless as you can see,” said Edison. “I have to report this to Secretary of War Henry Stimson, who will report to the White House, I'm sure. Do you recognize Secretary Stimson's name?”
“Yes, sir” I said. “There was a submarine named after him in the mid-1960s.” I didn't mention that it was a nuclear submarine. No sense blowing their minds any more than necessary.
Secretary Edison shook our hands and left to catch a flight to Washington.
“I'll arrange housing for you and Lt. Thurber at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Admiral Patterson,” said Tanner. “I just went over lodging status with my assistant yesterday and I know we have a few houses and apartments. I'll arrange for an apartment for you and one for Lt. Thurber.”
“Just one apartment will be fine, admiral. Thank you for taking care of this.”
“But don't you need two?”
“No. Lieutenant Thurber and I are married.”
Tanner was speechless again.
“I feel embarrassed, terribly embarrassed to say this, Admiral Patterson, but 1940 is a different time from 2016. At least I think it is. You and Lt. Thurber sharing an apartment would cause quite a stir I'm afraid.”
Tanner was actually blushing.
“Then how about a house with two floors? My ‘aide’ can stay on one floor and I can stay on the other.”
“Unless we want to have sex,” Jack interjected.
“Of course, honey, good point,” I said.
Jack and I were having fun with Tanner's head.
“I will make sure you get a house,” said Tanner, chuckling. “There's one with a nice view of a garden. It's quite romantic, actually.”
Tanner seemed like a good guy. He wasn’t used to seeing two married naval officers arrive in the same airplane. Come to think of it, that’s kind of rare in 2016. But hey, this trip was the Pentagon’s idea, not mine. And the friggin’ wormhole wasn’t my idea either.
Chapter 11
We rode with Admiral Tanner to his office at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. After a couple of phone calls, Tanner told his driver to take us to our new abode. He was right. The house and the surrounding area were beautiful, and the view of the garden was great. I'm not sure if it was “romantic” as Tanner described, but it was quite pleasant.
“The Brooklyn Navy Yard was a major operation in 1940 and throughout World War II,” said Jack. “I wrote an article about it for The New York Times a few years ago (years from now?). I remember that the USS North Carolina was built here in 1937, the USS Iowa in 1942 and USS Missouri in 1944. Quite a history. It's fascinating to think that the Missouri, the ship where the Japanese surrendered, was built right here. What a history this place has. The USS Monitor, the world's first ironclad ship, was built here during the Civil War.”
“Is there anything that you haven't written about, Jack?”
“I'm thinking of a book about what we're going through right now.”
“Let's hope it’ll be a short book,” I said.
We inspected our new home and were happy to see that it was a beautiful structure. It had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a well-equipped kitchen, a living room, a den/library, and a dining room. Everything looked dated to us, of course, but it wasn't at all shabby or worn, because in 1940 it just wasn't old.
We picked out what would be our master bedroom. It was on the se
cond floor and had a view of the harbor. The house even had an extensive library collection, with a new set of Encyclopedia Britannica.
“I'll make us some coffee, Jack. Let's stake ourselves out in the library for a while. I want to know more about the time we're in. I especially want to know about World War II. Remember the Gray Ship incident, where we left 2013 and arrived in 1861, but found that when we returned to 2013, history had changed. I want to know what version of reality we're in. Will there be a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor just over a year from now? We need to know that, but of course we won’t find it in the encyclopedia because it hasn’t happened yet. All we can do is piece together the history up until now.”
By the time I got back to the library with our coffee, Jack had already filled up a few pages of notes. It had taken me a lot longer to make coffee because it had to be brewed in a pot on top of the stove. No Keurig or electric coffee maker was available. The freshly-delivered milk was in a charming glass bottle. My coffee making chore gave Jack a lot of time to research.
“Any big discoveries so far, hon?”
“Yes,” said Jack. “I've been looking at everything I could about the Civil War. No mention of The Gray Ship, no mention of the USS California. We find ourselves in a universe where our trip to 1861 never happened. We didn't change history, as we thought we did. Instead of a short war of a few months, the Civil War unfolded just how we knew it did before we went through that wormhole off South Carolina. Four long years and 620,000 lives lost. Remember when we came back to 2013, not only the Civil War but the rest of history had changed as well. There was no Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Japanese never even fought against us. But now, that's been changed, history has been reset. According to what I'm reading, and this is a brand new version of Encyclopedia Britannica, Neville Chamberlain did sign the Munich Accord almost two years ago, setting the stage for Hitler's march across Europe. And there are entries about the Japanese conquests in Asia. I read in that copy of Time Magazine over there on the table that the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy, and Japan, was signed last month.”
Jack looked at me and then put his face in his hands.
“It looks like World War II is going to happen. Actually, it's already started. The United States will be at war in about 14 months from now. Of course that's not in the book, but that's what you and I know. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese will attack Pearl Harbor.”
“And you and I are in a position to warn the government,” I said. “We can stop it.”
“I knew you were going to say that”
“Do we have a moral choice, Jack?”
“No, I guess we don't. Here we go again.”
Chapter 12
Ashley and I have been in strange circumstances before. Sometimes it seems weird when things are normal and we just have our day-to-day lives to get on with. Time travel has a way of toying with your mind.
I'm married to a great woman, a lady with a deep moral character and a devotion to duty that inspires me. At a young age, not yet 40, Ashley is an admiral in the United States Navy. Her promotion ceremony was one of the proudest moments of my life. Ashley's a rising star in the Navy and I'm her biggest fan. But with all of her accolades, she carries herself with an easy grace and a sense of humor. She's also gorgeous. And she’s my wife.
Ashley was captain of the USS California in 2013, when the ship encountered a wormhole – that's right, an entire ship hit a time portal. I was a crewman on the ship at the time. The year was 2013, when suddenly we found ourselves in 1861. We were gone for four months in 1861, but after we returned to 2013 we found out that we'd been missing for only seven hours. While living in 1861 we actually participated in the Civil War and changed history. The disappearance of the California became known as The Gray Ship incident. But that's a long story, a long strange story. Time travel is the oddest phenomenon that I know of, and I should know. I seem to have a talent for finding and slipping through wormholes. That's why Ashley calls me her Time Magnet.
But this event is really strange, strange and frightening. The only good thing about our encounter with the wormhole in the sky is that we were together when it happened.
Ashley was right. We were in a position to warn our government about the upcoming war, World War II. It was our ethical obligation to do something. But, unlike The Gray Ship incident, where a guided missile cruiser joined the fight against the Confederacy, we had no such capability. The F-18 Hornet is an amazing modern weapon, but that one plane wouldn’t make a difference in a war. Our job was to warn, and then get the hell out of here and go back to where we came from, back to 2016.
I know Ashley agreed with me, another reason why I love her.
Chapter 13
Jack and I were still sitting in the library. I had just brought in the coffee pot to refill our cups. I had to reheat it on the stove because I couldn’t just pop the cups into a microwave. Under other circumstances it would have been a perfect afternoon, sitting and chatting with the man I love over a pot of excellent brewed coffee. But these weren't normal circumstances.
“Jack, I think we should take your investigative skills and my military thinking and come up with a mission, an operation.”
“I agree. I think the mission has two components, Ashley, warn and go home. Correct me if I'm missing something but here's what we need to do. First, we need to talk to people as high up in the government as possible and convince them that we’re for real, and that we did travel here from another dimension. Hell, you were persuasive doing just that when we met Abraham Lincoln. We need to warn the government that all hell is going to break loose in a few months. So that's what I call the warn part of the mission, just warn them – and try to convince them. I don’t see us having any operational part in the war.”
“God no, Jack, how could we?”
“I agree completely, hon, I just wanted to hear you say it. So, we're on the same page; this is not our fight.”
“The second part of the mission,” Jack continued, “is the tough part, the really tough part. That part I think we should simply call, ‘go home.’ It has a simple name, but how the hell do we do that?”
“I like the way you characterize it as the tough part, Jack. I see it as beyond tough. You know that I'm a positive thinker. I almost like having a problem, because that gives me something to solve. But this situation has me stumped. Number one, to find the wormhole we obviously need an accurate navigational fix. We don't have one. We jotted down some coordinates from my memory when we were in the air, but they're worthless. I looked at a wide area nautical chart hanging in the kitchen while I was making coffee. The latitude and longitude that I recalled wasn't even close. It put us about 300 miles east of Bermuda, and we know that we were off the New Jersey coast when we hit the wormhole. In The Gray Ship incident we had an approximate fix, but it took us two weeks of turning circles in the ocean before we found the portal to take us back home.”
“Yup,” said Jack. “No fix, no wormhole.”
“So our biggest problem is the Flight Data Recorder, the Black Box. You can’t just turn a key and read or listen to what's in it. It needs an interface, a computer, and a way to hook it up to a computer. Some of the new ones in 2016 use remote technology, even MP3 players, but we don't have those things here in 1940. Also, our F-18 has plenty of fuel, but not enough to go on a guessing flight to try to hit the wormhole spot. And speaking of fuel, what's in the plane now is all the fuel it will ever see. I'm sure they can’t refine the high octane jet fuel that we need in 1940. Hell, they don't even have jets, much less jet fuel. Maybe it’s possible for the F-18 to fly on the fuel that exists now, but I won’t risk the plane or my life to find out.”
“So how would you summarize our problem?” asked Jack.
“It's simple, and it's scary. We don't know where we're going and we don't know how to get there.”
Chapter 14
Dwight Tanner here.
I'd just met the most amazing couple. A beautifu
l young woman, who calls herself Ashley Patterson, said that she’s a rear admiral, the same rank as me, in the United States Navy. Her aide, a Lieutenant Jack Thurber, is also her husband. They flew into LaGuardia Airport on an aircraft that looks like something out of a Jules Verne novel. They claimed that they were on a public relations flight, ordered by an agency called the Pentagon, to publicize Ashley Patterson's promotion to flag rank.
But then they told me and Navy Secretary Edison that they came here from another time, that they had slipped through some kind of time portal – I think they called it a wormhole – and that they are from the future, from the year 2016, 76 years from now.
It seemed insane, but Admiral Patterson kept pointing to their amazing aircraft as proof of what they said. I think of myself as a logical man. After I graduated from Annapolis I received a degree in mechanical engineering. I'm a man who looks at facts and evaluates reality based on facts. But I can't come up with any logical explanation to disprove their time travel claims, certainly not when I look at the aircraft, a Hornet jet I believe she said.
But aside from my shock and disbelief, one thing is clear. I like these two. They're charming, pleasant, and humorous. They even joked about their desire to have sex in the house I found for them on the base. Come to think of it, maybe they weren't joking. After a few hours together, I felt like we’d been friends for years. I think I’ll invite them to have dinner with Margie and me. Margie, my brilliant professor and author wife, can help me figure out this time travel stuff.
Chapter 15
The day was October 21, 1940 (or 2016, depending on one's perspective). After shocking the shit out of everybody at LaGuardia Airport the day before, Jack and I were settling down to normalcy. Normalcy?
Box Set - The Time Magnet Series Page 58