by Geoff Wolak
NATO was still at Def Con 1, but no one was shooting at anyone else. Civilians had set sail in boats, water and tinned food stacked below decks, others had headed into the hills – to join those already camped out there, and thousands of people committed suicide ahead of what they considered was World War Three and the end of the world. Clayton made a speech on the fourth day.
‘My fellow Americans, we have seen this past few days a great deal of tension with the Russian aggressors, but we have prevailed. Right was on our side, and we stood firm to defend our way of life, to defend freedom and democracy.
‘What I can reveal to you now … is that our scientists and our Air Force have been working on advanced weapons in recent years, and those weapons were employed when we saw the Russians making ready to attack us – and our way of life. When the Russians launched their missiles, those missiles were shot down, all of them, and we then attacked their aircraft and ground installations using our new stealth aircraft and advanced satellite systems.
‘My fellow Americans, I can assure each and every one of you that no missile fired by a communist aggressor will reach American soil, and that you are all safe at home. We have prevailed through our advanced technology, our will and determination, and by being on the side of right, freedom and democracy. God … was with us.
‘As I address you now we are mopping up, and making sure that the Soviet land armies are not a threat to us or our allies. You can return to your homes, return to work, and go about your business – the threat has passed. We have destroyed the Soviet missiles, we have shot down their aircraft, but we have not fired in anger towards Russia. We … are the peacemakers, not the aggressors, and we will now invite the Russians to sit down and talk peace, but we will remain ever vigilant. God bless America.’
America’s NATO partners soon realised that the satellite technology and stealth aircraft story was just horse shit, and started asking questions – and demanding answers; they had been led into World War Three without any consultation beforehand, and were a bit miffed. A delegation of USAF officers then flew to each NATO country in turn over a two day period, and gave the national leaders a brief briefing on the portal, and on the Zim. Understandably, the various leaders were horrified, and expressed that concern very loudly through their ambassadors. First, they had to get around the idea that America could alter the planet’s history, but was also now in contact with aliens – alien stealth ships flying around unseen.
The French, Germans and Spanish had a chat, and then chatted to several other European NATO members. They went public, and denounced President Clayton, revealing to the world that America was in possession of a time machine, that USAF staff had visited parallel worlds - and were now working hand in hand with aliens. The Russians now knew how they had been attacked, but could hardly believe it.
The American press started asking silly questions, a great many silly questions, and President Clayton was on the spot. Most of the countries of the world, apart from America, were now attacking him openly. Even Israeli politicians expressed doubts about what he was doing, and roundly condemned any attempt to travel through time. Across America’s Bible Belt, opinions were loudly expressed, especially when a journalist suggested that someone could go back to the time of Christ and “check him out”.
Clayton made another speech. ‘My fellow Americans, some of you have expressed concerns and doubts about recent events, and recent revelations, but there is nothing to worry about. This is a new age, and a fantastic age, a time of great discovery and exploration. For many decades, NASA has been looking at time travel, and we have succeeded in opening a time portal, not to our own past, but to a parallel world, a parallel version of Earth.
‘The scientists tell me that there are many such parallel versions of this Earth, all very similar, all sitting in separate and distinct time lines. We sent a scientific team to one such world, where they discovered a branch of mankind, a people a little different to ourselves, but none the less people. Those people are a space-faring race, and landed on that world after they left their own world because of … over-crowding.
‘To the right of me, you will see the leader of that group, a man just like us, and there is nothing to fear from them. These new friends have provided us with advanced technology, and that technology helped to defend us this past week from Soviet aggression, otherwise we might all be living in a nuclear wasteland right now.
‘Be thankful, my fellow Americans, be very thankful – and grateful – that we have these new friends, that we have this new technology, which will help to protect and preserve our way of life, our love of life, our love of freedom and democracy. I will reveal more to you when this crisis passes, just be thankful of the assistance we have received, very thankful.’
The world’s press went crazy, but most countries were horrified, and rightly so. America had the advanced technology, and the ability to alter time, but did the other nations - and the smaller nations - have a say in the matter?
It was true that America had led the way in the defence against communism since the Second World War, and had spent a great deal of money on assisting NATO countries bolster their defences, but this was something different.
Those NATO countries - who had lived under the protective umbrella of America since the war - were neither happy nor grateful, but their citizens were quietly thankful. Had their citizens known the full truth they would have been horrified.
The various NATO leaders started to piece together the attack on the Russians, and they soon knew the truth, horrified that America would act alone – and without consultation. They were also furious about time travel, since it could wind back time with an American advantage, a massive advantage.
It could also throw up unpredictable events, such as an atom bomb being developed in 1900. Most people were smart enough to realise that playing about with time lines was a bad idea, a very bad idea, and it took away the rights of the various national leaders to govern. It handed the control of human history to America in general, and to President Clayton in particular.
A week passed, and NATO stepped back from the edge of war, the Russians in no position to threaten anyone - the Chinese now terrified, and people returned to their homes – those few who had set fire to their homes now feeling a little silly.
An emergency meeting of the United Nations was called, delegates flying over. A two-day debate took place, and just about everyone voted that America should not be in sole charge of time travel technology, and that alien technology should come under a UN oversight committee. Every NATO country voted against America, despite threats made and bribes offered behind the scenes.
It was a predictable outcome, since someone stepping back through time meant the end of the political make-up of the planet, and possibly the religious make-up of the planet. The Israelis, and the Jewish lobby worldwide, were coming around to the idea that time travel was a bad idea. One reporter suggested that it might be fun to go back and meet Solomon or King David, that reporter shot dead a day later.
A radio host, who suggested that people could go fetch Jesus and bring him here – to help bring peace and order - was also shot dead. The Vatican, obviously, condemned both time travel and aliens, and appealed to all Catholics worldwide to put pressure on the Americans.
President Clayton now listed few friends, few abroad at least. Inside America, people were just not in the mood for sharing, and right wing media outlets told the world where to go – and that America was the only country that could be trusted with this technology. Clayton found support on the right wing, but lost some support from right wing religious conservatives - whose support base and voters wanted a ban on going back to meet Jesus. Clayton made a speech, and assured everyone that the USAF would not go back in time on this world, and that they would just visit parallel worlds – and then of a similar date in history.
Fact was, Clayton had no intention of unwinding time. He was less than a year into his first term, and aimed to serve two terms, stat
ues erected to him as the great saviour of the western way of life, of freedom and democracy. That democracy did not extend to the UN vote, which Clayton ignored. Since his Republican Party had the majority in both Congress and The Senate, the new Time Travel Oversight Committee would have a bias.
As the months progressed, and the world adjusted to this new reality, NATO members grew more and more dissatisfied. A few got used to the idea, but Holland and Italy decided to drop out of NATO – and socialist Italy had only been in NATO for ten years, a few other nations making rumblings. Italian socialists started to give the US servicemen in the country a hard time, and bombs started to go off near US naval bases.
When the Zim started to launch spy satellites for the Americans, many people grew concerned, and the arrival at Boeing of Zim scientists pissed off Airbus in Europe; Boeing would receive an advantage. The designs for a new type of jet fighter were leaked, and the concern around the world grew, talk of new high-power computers to be used in America.
American ambassadors to NATO countries did the rounds and made offers: you can be part of it, or left outside. And being part of it meant that those countries cooperating toed the line, especially over time travel. The ambassadors made little headway, the various national leaders still wanting to know just who the hell the Zim were, what their intentions were, was this an alien trick of some sort, and how could the time machine be policed.
A side note here, from The Resistance, suggested that several members of the Zim had expressed doubts about policy, and had left America to return to the post-apocalyptic world. That fact never made it to the press. There were also concerns amongst senior staff in Clayton’s administration and amongst his generals, several of them “retired-off”. Even the CIA had reservations about what the Zim were after, really after, and very suspicious of the fact that the Zim had adopted human form.
Six months after the end of the war that never was a war, US citizens were seeing new technologies arrive, to the benefit of America and no one else. They were happy enough, Clayton’s core support solid enough. Boeing was moving in new directions, such as composites, and NASA landed a man back on the Moon - but in a Zim craft.
But the US economy was still hurting, and it was the greatest threat to America at the time. The Zim knew of alternate fuels, of advanced solar panels, but such a release of oil-independent energy would have tipped America over the edge thanks to the petrol-dollar.
The Middle East had largely condemned the US, both over time travel and alien contact in equal measure, the Mullahs all making threats. And there lay an opportunity for Clayton.
Bombs had always gone off around the Middle East, and now a few extra bombs were going off, targeting US interests. Clayton had a word with the CIA and the Israelis, as well as the Zim, and more bombs went off around US interests, the folks back home concerned – and naturally asking if advanced technology could help out?
Iraq and Iran were still, technically, failed states, although they both displayed basic democratic governments, and were slowly rebuilding. Fortunately for the US, the religious leaders in both countries outwardly condemned the US, as did many of the national political leaders. The folks back home saw bombs going off, oil prices rising at the pumps, and were sick of the Middle East in general.
So one fine October day at dawn the vast American military machine based in Saudi Arabia shook off the sand and moved north, little resistance met. The American armour took Basra in a day and pushed further north, units taking the Iranian coastal areas.
Within five days, American units had quelled all of Iraq save the Kurdish area – who wished to cooperate, and US forces had also quelled the southern half of Iran. Behind that army of dusty soldiers trailed an army of dusty engineers, and bombed-out or damaged oil wells were soon being repaired. Within a month oil was flowing, and America suddenly controlled around seventy-five percent of the world’s oil. With the help of the Zim, West African and Zanzibar oil fields were located, wells sunk, and now America controlled or influenced ninety percent of the world’s oil.
Europe had a problem, and a year after the attack on Russia, America had them by the balls; no cooperation, no oil. Europe decided to cooperate, at least their governments did, street opposition still very loud.
As the years rolled on the American economy gradually fared better – with plentiful cheap oil, and now that America controlled much of the oil and its sale - it received the benefits. The UN complained about US sales of oil from Gulf States and Iraq/Iran, but the US pointed towards the fact that Iraq/Iran had been failed states, and that America had found the oil wells destroyed. Besides, Clayton paid little attention to world opinion.
The voters now had cheaper oil - and a promise that NASA would not go visit Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount, and so Clayton’s popularity soared. People got used to the idea of aliens, other worlds, but especially the idea of cheaper oil – because it affected their daily lives. The end of communism, at least the effective end of a nuclear-armed communist threat, was a benefit that even Clayton’s staunchest critics agreed was a good thing, and all was well and good with the world for a while.
The Resistance, meanwhile, were hoping to contact an advanced version of Earth and appeal for help in slowing up Clayton, whilst Clayton had originally hoped for an advanced version of America to assist him. Now he wanted the opposite; no help. He did, however, have ideas on fixing other worlds that had suffered a war with the Russians, and the Zim would help. Plans were made to fly Zim ships back in time to other worlds, Zim agents trained in Earth customs by a specialised unit, and the CIA had a hand in training Zim agents to infiltrate various human facilities ahead of Word War Three - on various other worlds.
But some four years after the war that never was, and with Clayton starting his second term, the NASA team controlling the portal dialled an advanced world and opened a micro-portal to have a sneak peak. They found the advanced Seethan world, and – after panicking - puzzled why the aliens spoke English. Scientists suggested that the people of that world might have changed genetically following a nuclear war. Facts were needed.
A micro-portal was opened to an earlier date, around a hundred years earlier, and a normal human world was found, but a world that had just fought a nuclear war and was largely EM quiet - except for the Antarctic colony.
Months of research revealed the creation of the Seether, and NASA gained knowledge of the flu virus. At this point, Clayton halted portal use for a while, concerned that a door swings two ways. Dr Singh himself advised that as soon as an alien race knew of the right frequency, they could arrive back in 1800 and enslave the human population. Those whispering in Clayton’s ear urged great caution, and steps would need to be taken, just to be sure.
The Zim had previously described their ability to sleep in stasis, and so Clayton’s Joint Chiefs hatched a plan with the help of Zim scientists. A portal would be made portable, flown out to an asteroid in the nearest star system by Zim craft, and used as a double-back. The larger US portal, in Nevada, dialled the post apocalyptic world at a date that was twelve years earlier, and Zim craft flew across, eight of them, each carrying bits of kit strapped on. They climbed out of the gravity well, set course for Promixa Centauri, and entered stasis.
At Promixa, Zim crewmen in EV suits assembled the components of the portal on an asteroid. When ready, a craft fired a low intensity beam at a capacitor coil till the required power setting was achieved, and Slumber flew through, using the frequency for the Seethan world. I had to hand it to them, it wasn’t a bad idea. A second ship followed Slumber, but turned right around and came back a minute after leaving, proving that the portal worked OK.
Slumber was sent back many decades to learn about both the flu virus and the creation of the Seether, to interfere if possible, and to report back. He would be gone decades, but would return to report to President Clayton a week after leaving. A week later, and no contact could be established with Slumber across space and time.
What I knew,
but what The Resistance didn’t know, was that Slumber reported seeing a ship fire on the future Seethan vessel. I now suspected that it was Slumber that had fired on the Seethan vessel. That may have drained his own ship, which was low on power when we found it, but still operable. He could have returned at that juncture, but didn’t for some reason.
Slumber had chosen to remain with the Antarctic colony, and we knew from the Antarctic survivors that he had “accidentally” found the Seethan ship, which he got to explore, and to work on.
He could have assisted Keets and got the ship into shape earlier, but he seems to have had his own agenda, which might have been to wait and see who else turned up. After all, he could have spent a hundred years on the Seethan world and returned a week after he left - to report in. I also suspected that he might have wanted that Seethan ship for the Zim, and not for his human political masters.
When Clayton’s people dialled into that world again, they again found the advanced Seether. Slumber had failed to alter the course of that time line. Dialling in again, at an earlier date, they found the TV and early radio signals of the Seether – as we had, and decided to infiltrate them – to alter their history. After many weeks of studying the TV shows, shows from a time after human assistance had ended, Zim ships were dispatched, three of them – The Resistance reporting that look-a-likes had been created, facsimiles of embassy staff.
At this point in the story I stopped to puzzle that, since at least one of the Zim looked like Pleb. So where the hell did the Zim get his DNA from? Or was it plastic surgery. Such plastic surgery could not have created Seethan teeth, DNA would have needed to be altered, and that would have taken time. According to The Resistance, three ‘human’ facsimiles left for Seether. I had to wonder if the Zim had been working to their own agenda here, Clayton being played.
There was also the fact that Clayton’s people and the Zim must have known of us, from watching the Seethan TV broadcasts. After all, they decided to infiltrate our embassy, so they must have known who we were. The Resistance made no mention here that they knew of us at this juncture, a puzzle. I wondered if the Zim knew of us, but kept the detail from Clayton.