by Alex Scarrow
Maddy moved a cursor across the screen. ‘Yeah.’ She clicked a button on an infotab.
[HISTORY/GESCHICHTE]
The screen paused and flickered before presenting them with a surprisingly limited menu.
‘Not a lot of info listed here,’ sneered Maddy derisively.
Foster studied the meagre list of menu items. ‘There, click on Timeline… Zeitlinie.’
She did so and a moment later they were presented with the graphic of a time bar with thesignificant events of the last fifty years laid out along it.
‘My God… look,’ she said, pointing at the screen, ‘1997: end of warwith China. 1989: the Fuhrer’s hundredth birthday. 1979: the first man inspace…’
‘But look at the beginning of the timeline,’ said Foster.
Maddy frowned. ‘It starts in 1956. Why nothing before?’
‘I don’t know.’
She clicked on a button beside the beginning year and was answered with a red warningdialogue box:
Fruhgeschichtenfrugen erfordern Korrekte Ermachtigung.
Access To Earlier History Requires Authorization.
Maddy shook her head. ‘It seems history before that date isout of bounds for everyone. It all starts with 1956.’ She checked the historical markerfor that particular year. ‘1956: America celebrates joining the GreaterReich.’
Maddy clicked on the tab and a small article appeared. A grainy black and white photo showedsome city street lined with cheering people and a motorcade of vehicles proceeding down it.She read the words aloud.
‘September, 1956: Vice-president Truman reluctantly concedes defeat and signs the termsfor an unconditional surrender in the presence of the Fuhrer’s highest rankingfield officer, Reichsmarschall Haas. The American nation is now a part of the Greater Reich.The Fuhrer is greeted on the streets of Washington by hundreds of thousands ofenthusiastic supporters heartened by his promise to rescue their nation from years of povertyand hardship.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe that! I can’tbelieve the American people would roll over and welcome AdolfHitler in as their ruler. That’s just crazy!’
Foster nodded. ‘Well, I agree it’s odd. But whether they did or theydidn’t, history has gone off track… wildly off track.’
He turned to Liam. ‘I’m sorry, lad. I feel like I’m throwing you in at thedeep end. We need to send someone back to check things out.’
‘Uh… all right,’ replied Liam unhappily.
‘This time, though,’ said Foster, ‘I’m afraid, this time, Ican’t go.’
Liam swallowed anxiously. ‘I’m… I’m going back alone?’
‘No, Bob will go along with you.’
‘I… er, I’m not sure I — ’
‘I’m sorry, lad, but there are no choices here. You have to go back and find outwhat’s going on.’
‘But why aren’t you coming?’
Foster’s eyes met Maddy’s briefly. ‘It’s too farback in time for me.’
‘But, but did you not go back to 1912 to get me?’
‘Yes… yes, I did, but this time… I’m sorry, I’m going to haveto sit this one out.’
‘Oh.’
‘We haven’t another moment to lose.’ He turned to Sal. ‘Revive Bobfrom his birthing tube.’
She nodded and headed off to the back room.
‘Madelaine?’
‘Yes?’
‘We need to prepare a data download for Bob. He needs all of this alternative historydownloaded into his brain. Also, he needs to have a complete understanding of the Germanlanguage and I’d download, from our on-site files, everything we have on Hitler, theNazi high command, the Second World War. I guess that should do it for now.’
‘What about me?’ asked Liam.
Foster shrugged. ‘Sorry, Liam… It’s come sooner than I expected. I’dhoped to take you through a couple more training trips, but it looks like we’ve run outof time.’
‘Oh boy,’ whispered Liam.
Foster pointed towards the cylinder. ‘You’d better start filling up the tube withwater.’
CHAPTER 34
2001, New York
Liam clung desperately to the side of the perspex tube with both hands, unhappilykicking at the warm liquid beneath him. Bob floated beside him, calmly treading water.
‘OK, Liam, you’re going to be there for two hours exactly. We’ve set theco-ordinates for the first of September 1956. We’re sending you to the grounds of theWhite House — the president’s Washington office. All you and Bob are going to dois observe, OK? Just observe. Do you understand?’
Liam nodded. ‘Y-yes.’
Foster patted his hand. ‘Relax, Liam. You’ll do just fine.’ He looked atthe support unit treading water. ‘And you must trust Bob. In that silicon brain of hisis everything you’ll need for this quick trip. He’s going to be your walkingencyclopedia… aren’t you, Bob?’
‘Ja. Ich habe alle benotigten Daten, HerrFoster.’
‘English for now please, Bob.’
Bob nodded sternly. ‘I have all the required data, Mr Foster.’
‘Good.’
Liam looked up at the old man. ‘I… I’ve got to admit I’m a littlescared.’
‘I know,’ he replied softly. ‘First time alone is always a bitdaunting.’ He smiled. ‘I’ve been there before myself. You’ll befine.’
With a little effort Liam managed a cavalier grin.
‘Just go there, lad, look around, see what you can see… and come back to the samespot a couple of hours later.’
‘What if we’re late?’
‘If you miss that window, we’ll open the window again exactly an hour later, forjust a few minutes. If you miss that, then we open it exactly twenty-four hours later.That’s the standard missed-rendezvous procedure. Don’t worry, Bob knows all aboutthat and will keep you on schedule.’
‘But if we miss all the windows?’
‘Just make sure you don’t.’
Liam swallowed anxiously. ‘But… but if we do miss every one of themwindows… is there not a way to arrange another one?’
‘If it comes to that, there is a way for us to talk to you, but it’s one-wayonly. You’ll not be able to talk to us.’ He patted Liam on the arm. ‘Justmake sure you stick to the schedule.’
‘I… I’ll try me best, Mr Foster, so I will.’
‘I know you will, lad.’
Foster got to his feet and took the steps down the side of the cylinder on to the concretefloor of the arch. ‘OK, Madelaine, begin the launch procedure.’
‘Launching in one minute.’
The displacement machinery attached to the water tube began to hum deeply.
Sal stepped forward, staring at their foggy outlines inside the tube. ‘Good luck,Liam!’ she called out. ‘Be careful!’
He let go of the side with one hand and quickly waved. ‘I’ll be all right there,Sal. Don’t you worry about me now.’
The lights in the arch dimmed and flickered as power diverted to the tube.
‘Forty seconds to go until launch!’ announced Maddy.
‘Remember, Liam,’ shouted Foster as the hum grew more intense,‘you’re just going for a look … Don’t getinvolved in anything.’
‘Right you are!’ cried Liam, his voice rattling nervously.
‘Thirty seconds, fellas!’
Liam’s legs kicked in the water, sending cascades of bubbles up the tube. The hum ofthe generator increased in volume and pitch.
‘Twenty seconds!’ Maddy called out, her voice almost lost in the deafening whirof charging-up machinery.
‘OK, Liam,’ shouted Foster, ‘time to let go and go under!’
Liam nodded, sucking in one deep breath after another.
‘Fifteen seconds!’
‘Come on, lad… you’ve got to let go!’
Liam nodded, still sucking and blowing air, hyperventilating, his legs thrashing in the waterbeneath him.
‘Ten seconds!’
‘Come on, Liam, you’ve got to let go no
w!’
Taking one last gasp of air, he did so, quickly sinking under the water. Through the scuffedand foggy plastic, Foster, Maddy and Sal watched him flail in panic as he sank slowly to thebottom. Bob ducked down effortlessly beside him… and touchingly — so Sal thought- reached out and held Liam’s hand.
It seemed to calm him, just a little.
‘Three… two… one…’
With a pop the water and both occupants vanished.
CHAPTER 35
1956, Washington DC
They landed amid a small copse of mature cedar trees with a heavy, wet splash.
‘Arghh!’ yelped Liam. ‘I hate that goldfish-bowl thing!’
‘Information: the device is called a displacement cylinder,’ said Bob, crouchingbeside him, already alert and assessing their surroundings.
Liam picked himself up and squatted beside the support unit amid the foliage. Beyond thelow-hanging branches, out on the well-trimmed acre of lawn in front of the White House, hecould see soldiers gathering.
‘Who are they?’
Bob’s eyes slowly panned across the scene in front of them. ‘The insignia anduniforms indicate that they are a mixture of American marines, rangers and airborne,’ hereplied. ‘Recommendation: we must have clothes.’
‘Yes, clothes would be really nice.’
Bob stood up and announced, ‘I shall acquire clothes,’ before disappearingthrough the trees and foliage.
Liam continued watching the soldiers. They looked like they had already seen some fighting;many were wounded, some being dragged by their colleagues. All of them looked exhausted andbattle-shocked; their grimy faces had defeat written across them.
He noticed a large olive-green vehicle with tracks instead of wheels, and aturret with what appeared to be a long, slender barrel protruding from it. It lurched acrossthe grass amid a plume of dark smoke. It looked dented and scorched as if it too had seen someaction. The vehicle reversed across the lawn, kicking up divots of soil and leaving deeptracks in its wake, backing up against a large white building — the White House.
To his untrained eye this looked very much like the ragged assemblage of some kind of a laststand around the building — perhaps it was all that was left of the United Statesarmy.
‘Blimey,’ he muttered.
He heard a deep rumble coming from above and glanced up through the leafy branches. The skywas overcast, thick with grey low-hanging clouds that promised an imminent downpour. Therumbling was deep, so powerful he could feel it vibrate against his chest. It was coming fromsomewhere above the clouds.
The American soldiers, like him, were watching the sky anxiously — all eyes trainedupwards, waiting for something to appear.
Liam craned his neck to get a better view.
What’s up there?
Behind him he heard a heavy footfall and turned to see Bob holding out clothes and boots.‘The owner of these clothes is dead,’ he explained without any trace of emotion.‘He will not be needing them.’
Liam took them and looked at the damp stains of blood. ‘You didn’t kill someoneto get these clothes for me, did you?’
Bob shook his head. ‘No killing was required.’
Liam grimaced at the thought of stepping into another man’s clothes. On the other hand,standing undressed in the middle of a war zone struck him as the worse alternative. He pulledthem on as quickly as he could.
‘It looks like those soldiers are setting themselves up for alast-ditch defence.’
‘Correct,’ said Bob, his eyes smoothly scanning across the lawn.
‘And I guess whatever’s coming — ’ Liam looked up again at thedarkening sky from where that deep rumble was issuing — ‘is coming from right upthere.’
‘Possibly an airborne weapon system.’ Bob’s eyes flickered shut. ‘Ihave data files on the advanced aeroplane prototypes that were being developed by the Germansat the end of the Second World War.’
‘They actually used aeroplanes during the… the SecondWorld War?’
‘Affirmative.’
The rumbling grew even louder and Liam found himself having to shout to be heard. ‘Bigones?’
‘Jet propulsion, delta-wing designs, VTOL systems,’ replied Bob, raising hisflat-toned voice to compete with the deafening drone from above.
‘Well, that means nothing to me,’ shouted Liam. ‘What the hell arethose?’
Bob cocked his head for a moment. ‘I am able to provide detailed schematic blueprintsif I can locate a drawing implement — ’
Suddenly, the tumbling dark clouds above them momentarily spread thin enough for Liam to seewhat was approaching.
‘Bob! You see that?’
Above them, descending through the clouds, was a giant dull-grey disc-shaped vessel, easily aquarter of a mile in diameter. It almost seemed to fill the sky above the White House as itslowly pushed its way down through the billowing clouds. He could now make out dozens ofspinning rotors slung beneath the craft, giant propeller blades whisking theair beneath the belly of the enormous disc, projecting a powerful downdraught that set thecedar trees around them rustling and swaying.
Liam noticed the emblem he’d seen earlier on Maddy’s screens, stencilled across ahundred feet of the vehicle’s immense hull.
‘What the hell is that thing?’ he yelled.
‘Information: it appears to be a circular dirigible,’ replied Bob. He seemed torecognize the bemused and panicked shrug returned by Liam as an indication that hehadn’t a clue what one of those was. ‘It is a disc-shaped airship — areinforced aluminium hull containing many large cells filled with buoyancy gas.’
Some of the marines on the lawn, frozen into a motionless stupor by the sight, raised theirfirearms and began to shoot pointlessly at it.
A black square slowly appeared in the dark underbelly of the craft, then another, andanother.
‘Er… now that’s not good, is it?’ cried Liam.
Bob nodded in agreement. ‘Is not good.’
Liam saw something dark emerging from the squares, dots that quickly grew in size as a showerof somethings rapidly appeared to be descending towards them.
A canister the size of a Thermos flask thudded into the grass thirty yards from them among agroup of haggard-looking marines. The marines backed away from it as it started to spew out ayellow smoke. Several more canisters landed heavily and started billowing smoke across thelawn.
‘Tactical smokescreen,’ offered Bob.
The air was soon thick with a mustard-coloured mist. Through it Liam could just about makeout the nearby silhouettes of the American soldiers on the lawn, drawing fearfully back acrossthe clipped grass towards the steps and the grand portico at the front of the White House.
Now he could see more dark shapes descending through the mist from above- dozens, perhaps hundreds, of them. Bigger than the canisters this time.
They heard something crash heavily through the cedar trees behind them, accompanied by ashrill hissing sound. They spun round to see a man tangled awkwardly amid thick branches; hewore a loose black rubber boiler suit that reminded Liam of the bin bags that seemed to lineevery backstreet in New York. Covering his face was a dark rubber mask with two glass plateswhere the eyes should be. His head was kinked at an impossible angle and Liam realized theneck had been snapped on the way down through the tree’s branches.
Twin cylinders strapped to his back continued to discharge high-velocity geysers of gasnoisily, which lasted only half a dozen seconds more before finally fizzing to a silence.
‘Aerosol-based fast-descent system,’ announced Bob calmly.
Above them Liam could hear that same hiss multiplied through the air as other men in rubbersuits began to land nearby.
‘Sod this! We can’t stay here!’
The support unit nodded. ‘Recommendation: it will be tactically correct to go insidethe building known as the White House.’
‘Yeah… OK,’ Liam said, stepping out from the cover of the small copse andon to the open lawn.
>
‘Please wait!’ barked Bob. He stepped across to the body dangling from thebranches and, with a hard tug, pulled it to the ground. He effortlessly flipped the body overand withdrew a weapon from the man’s backpack. His calm eyes appraised its effectivenessand how to use it within seconds. He shouldered the weapon and nodded approvingly.
‘Rapid-fire pulse carbine.’ His grey eyes locked on Liam’s. ‘Weapontechnology from the middle of the twenty-first century.’
‘Well, that’s interesting… but can we go now?’
‘Affirmative. Please follow me, Liam O’Connor.’
Liam nodded. ‘Uh… sure, all right, you go first.’
Bob pushed out through the foliage beneath the trees and into the open, striding forward withthe carbine held at his hip.
The yellow murky air was now filled with the sound of hissing canisters and the thud of bootsmaking a heavy landing on the lawn. Liam could see the smudged outlines of men all aroundthem; mask-muffled voices barked orders in German.
Oh, I’m so-o-o very going to die.
One of the moving outlines took a step too many towards them and suddenly called out a sharpchallenge.
Bob was frighteningly fast — lashing out with the edge of his free hand and chopping atthe man’s throat. Liam heard a dull crack above all the other noise.
‘Follow,’ said Bob.
CHAPTER 36
1956, Washington DC
They moved quickly across the lawn until Liam realized they were now among theretreating marines backing up the alabaster steps and firing sporadically out into the mist infront of them.
Rapid bursts of fire lanced back at them out of the smoke, exploding showers of dust andplaster from the steps and the columns of the palisade. A marine standing beside Liampin-wheeled from the impact of a shot and collapsed to the ground, a gaping hole blown out ofhis torso.
‘Follow,’ said Bob again, leading Liam through the marines returning fire towardsa glass-panelled double door. A wounded soldier slouched by the doorway halted theirprogress.
‘Hey! Where the hell you two goin’? We’re holdin’ the line righthere, goddammit!’