Beyond the Shield

by Nachman Kataczinsky

  The Ambassador put aside the long message and turned to a summary of responses his secretary prepared for him. After he was instructed to admit individually approved citizens, Kirk had contacted all the Americans they could locate to ask them whether they would like to move to the U.S. Now he was looking at the results and was saddened.

  Of the eight thousand Americans who responded less than a thousand expressed any desire to move, and most of them were associated with the Mormon university or other missionary groups. Apparently the whole long discussion within the establishment back home had been unnecessary. The few who would, maybe, go back would do no damage but also bring very little with them.

  He went to his next assignment from home: buy and ship as many books as possible. The first on the list, by category, were history books, with engineering and science close behind. This was a large assignment but he had just the right person for it. Kirk picked up the phone, “Please ask the consul to come to my office.”

  The former consul was one of the few who expressed a possible desire to go back to the U.S. He was still on the staff and being paid a salary by the U.S.

  ***

  “Gentlemen, do I understand you correctly? Are you rejecting our conditions for a peace agreement?” Ambassador Mizrahi sounded incredible.

  General Wilson, Ambassador Maisky and Ambassador Moulin sat next to him opposite the German delegation. This time Goerdeler brought with him two military officers: General Rommel, the Defense Minister of the new German Republic, and Field Marshall von Kluge, the new Chief of the German High Command, replacing Alfred Jodl.

  “Not exactly.” Chancellor Goerdeler shook his head vigorously. “We are only disputing two conditions: the new border along the Oder-Neisse line and the requirement to stop our withdrawal at the old USSR border.

  “We feel that the instability caused by Premier Stalin’s sudden demise makes it more likely that our forces will come under attack, so we would prefer them withdrawn directly to our border.”

  The Soviet Ambassador bristled. “Are you saying that you don’t trust the Soviet Union to honor the agreements it signs?”

  The two generals started nodding but Goerdeler quickly responded, “Not at all, but you will agree with me that there is no certainty about what is going on in Moscow. We know there is fighting between the Red Army and NKVD troops. We also know that there are uprisings in the Caucuses. We definitely don’t want to be involved in a brewing civil war.”

  General Wilson looked at his partners and seeing them nod said, “We all assure you that Germany will not be blamed for events it didn’t cause. The allies, all of the allies, will guarantee the agreement. This is not negotiable.

  “As to your second objection, the Polish border will be moved and Poland will have unhindered access to the Baltic Sea.”

  “But this is unfair,” Rommel objected. “Germany is going to lose a large chunk of land which has always been German. Why should we agree to this?”

  The French Ambassador smiled an unpleasant smile. “General Rommel, you may have forgotten but you lost a war that you initiated. Losing a war has a price and, in my opinion, Germany is getting off very lightly.”

  Rommel was indignant. “But it was a different Germany that started the war.”

  Wilson shrugged. “I fear that my memory misleads me. Aren’t the Germans the same people who voted for Hitler and supported him in this war? The people are responsible for the actions of their government. You are a good example of this: Didn’t you fight for the Third Reich under Hitler? Aren’t you now the Defense Minister of the new Germany? I grant that you will not be able to participate in the upcoming elections, but explain to me how Germany isn’t responsible for what was done under the Nazi regime? Would you prefer we demand an unconditional surrender, occupy Germany, and do as we wish?”

  Rommel looked slightly embarrassed.

  The Soviet Ambassador shrugged. “I agree with my British colleague. If Germany objects to losing a bit of land as the cost of an unprovoked attack on its neighbors, maybe you need a much tougher lesson.”

  Goerdeler intervened. “We accept both conditions. If a paragraph is added guaranteeing the integrity of our borders in case one of the allies reneges on the terms.”

  The four allied representatives looked at each other and nodded agreement.

  Chapter 15

  March 1943

  Wolf Frumin knocked on the door and entered the office. The regiment’s liaison officer nodded to him. “Congratulations on graduating from the NCO school. Have you made a decision about officers’ school?”

  “I still have a couple of questions. I’m not clear on my obligations if I graduate from officers’ school. How long do I have to stay in the service beyond my regular conscription term?”

  The young lieutenant brought up his record on her computer. “You have eighteen months left to serve. The officers’ school is six months long. Those six months will not count towards your regular service so you will be free to return home twenty-four months from now instead eighteen.”

  “Will being an officer make a difference to the length of my yearly reserve service?”

  “Everyone is worried about that, at least in the beginning. The answer is maybe. In times of tensions or war, like now, you will likely be called to serve two months. Some of it will be field service and some will be training and taking care of unit business. As a first sergeant you can expect about six weeks of service per year.”

  “I think I would like to try the officer training option, assuming I don’t need to make a commitment to future professional service.”

  The lieutenant pulled a stack of forms from her desk. “Please read this, fill out the necessary information and sign.”

  ***

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s start. The first and only item on our agenda is the demand by the Americans regarding technology.” The Foreign Minister paused and looked around the conference table. “Our legal counsel will elaborate on the document in front of you.”

  The legal expert from the Foreign Ministry stood up and drew a diagram on the whiteboard. “The document we received from the U.S. embassy refers to three sources of technology: technology that belongs to the U.S. government and is part of the weapon systems that have been sold to Israel by the future U.S., technology that belongs to companies that now exist in the U.S., and technology that belongs to companies that do not yet exist but might exist in the future.

  “The first category of technology transferred as part of weapon systems is more or less clear, although there are complications with items the U.S. government bought from private companies. The second category includes Israeli subsidiaries of American companies like IBM and others that exist now. The third is subsidiaries of American companies that do not exist now, like Microsoft, Intel, AMD.

  “The U.S. government claims ownership of all three categories.”

  The legal expert from the Ministry of Industry was the first to respond. “Do they justify their claim? After all, the current U.S. government has given us nothing. Neither have IBM or Ford.”

  “Their position is simple: the U.S. government gave us weapons, therefore all the science and technology in those weapons belongs to the U.S. government, and since the current United States. is the only one around it is the legal heir to the rights of the other, future U.S.,” responded the Foreign Ministry lawyer. “The same reasoning applies to currently existing subsidiaries of U.S. companies. They claim that the U.S. government represents the interests of future shareholders of companies that do not yet exist.”

  A Justice Ministry representative responded, “There are, obviously, no precedents for any of this under law. Time travel has never happened before so nothing has dealt with it legally yet. But there is a simple approach that might resolve the problem with the property of private companies. Shortly after the time travel event, the Knesset, at the request of the Justice Minister, passed a law that only people currently living in Israel or Israeli corporations ca
n own shares in Israeli companies. If IBM sues it will have no grounds since it owns no shares in any company here.

  “All the subsidiaries of foreign companies in Israel are registered in Israel as publicly held entities. To take over such an entity, the potential new owner has to negotiate with the company and its shareholders. It is each company’s decision whether to agree to sell themselves or give themselves away. The government of Israel has nothing to do with it. Of course the valuation of IBM Israel would currently exceed the valuation of IBM U.S. or IBM International by several hundreds of times. If I was on the board of IBM Israel I would suggest that we offer to buy all of IBM, U.S. and international.”

  The Ministry of Defense representative was next. “Regarding the U.S. government ownership of technology and science in the weapon systems we now own, the matter is not as simple as they claim. Here’s an example: The F16 we are using is designated F16IL. It uses almost exclusively our home-made avionics and lots of other modifications we made, like missiles and radar. In addition, most of the original technology was developed for the U.S. by private companies, some in Israel. It’s a tangle. Disclosing any of the details to a foreign government is against our law so in practice their claim is moot.

  “There are items, such as our missile defense systems, that we developed with some U.S. funding. That wouldn’t entitle them to full access even in the old timeline let alone now. My recommendation would be to deny this part of the request flat-out.

  “As the Justice Ministry said, there is no precedent in law and we need to set one now and do so firmly. The current U.S. government owns no part of what a future U.S. government might pay for. The reason is simple. Obviously history will not repeat and the present U.S. will not pay a dime for all the science and technology they want from us for free.

  “The Ministry of Defense would not object to selling them some weapon systems with prior approval of the Ministry.”

  The Foreign Ministry lawyer had a remark. “My colleagues haven’t dealt with one issue: that of subsidiaries of companies that do not yet exist, like Intel. This is actually a simple issue and we can follow the advice of my colleague from the Justice Ministry. If the U.S. government proposes to buy the shares of these companies in the name of future American shareholders it needs to negotiate with the Israeli companies. Personally I think that they wouldn’t be able to afford the price of even one company.

  “It would probably be more convenient for everyone to resort to a free trade regime. That way they would have access to modern products without paying for the basic technology. It may also be worthwhile pointing out to the Americans a couple of facts they may not be aware of.

  “First, a great number of patents on this ‘modern’ stuff are held by Israeli companies. This includes everything from cell phones to software to advanced materials. Then there is the question of how useful the technology would be to them. What could the U.S. do with an advanced computer chip? It will take about thirty years to get to the stage where they understand how it works and how to start making them. By that time their knowledge will be outdated and completely useless for industrial competition.”

  The Foreign Minister summarized. “Thank you. We will draft a response and let each one of you comment on it.”

  ***

  Ze’ev Hirshson wasn’t used to waiting for anybody and was getting impatient. He had been sitting for slightly over fifteen minutes, enough time to examine the mediocre artwork on the walls as well as drink a cup of coffee. He was about to open the door and ask the secretary how much longer he would have to wait when another door opened and the Prime Minister entered the room.

  The two shook hands and Amos Nir smiled apologetically. “Sorry for the long wait. We have some problems that needed an immediate response. How can I help you?”

  “As a matter of fact I am here to present an opportunity. An opportunity for the government and the State of Israel.

  “As you know, Consolidated has been working on improving its trans-universe travel technology. We can now open a stable portal to another universe and transport both people and materiel back and forth. We even experimented, successfully, with power transmission.”

  The Prime Minister discreetly glanced at his watch. Ze’ev noticed and responded, “I will not take up much of your time and will get right to the reason I’m here.

  “We are exploring an alternative Earth where, so far, we found no intelligent life and roughly the same natural resources we have here. Consolidated is negotiating with several companies to partner in the exploration and exploitation of these resources.”

  Amos Nir smiled. “I’m happy that you’re doing something and that there are enough forward looking businesses in Israel to join with you but I see no role for the government in the venture.”

  “Neither did I at first. During the last several months I became convinced that we won’t be welcome here for much longer. Jews have been hated for thousands of years. In the history we left behind Israel was being denied its right to exist. It seems that the guilt of the Holocaust turned easily into hatred and, as usually happened to us in the past, we were being blamed for our hater’s behavior.”

  Amos shrugged. “True, but here we are one of the most powerful countries. We’re also contributing and will continue to contribute to a more peaceful and equitable world.”

  Ze’ev smiled a sad smile. “Yes, we are building a better world, but isn’t that what we were doing back in the time we came from? Our contributions to science, medicine and technology were hugely out of proportion to the size of our population. We were the only democracy in the Middle East and tried for many years to achieve peace with our neighbors. The result was hate. Not just from the Muslims but also from the Europeans. By the time we left, the hate infected South America and the U.S. as well.

  “We found ourselves here because of a nuclear attack by Iran, a country that by all objective measures had an ideology as similar to the Nazis as to make no difference. Don’t forget that they could have acquired their bomb only with the acquiescence of the West, and the West knew what their first target would be and, as usual, didn’t care.”

  “That may have been true then but we will not let it happen now. Not as long as I’m the Prime Minister.”

  “I have no doubt of that, but how long do you expect to be in the driver’s seat?”

  The two sat in silence for a while. Finally the Prime Minister asked, “So what do you propose?”

  Ze’ev leaned back in his chair. “I propose we create an escape hatch, a refuge, where we can go if the situation requires it. The last time we inadvertently moved, the experience was somewhat disturbing and it was a close thing. I am proposing that we prepare a place where the whole country can move and where no one else can follow. To accomplish this we need much more than an industrial consortium. We need government support.”

  “You’ve convinced me, although by now I know that you have your own ideas of what to do and how to do it and will argue every step of the way. I will need the agreement of the full government, as well as a serious budget, which will take some time to achieve.”

  “We don’t need money yet, but it would be helpful to have some expert advice and specialized equipment. For example, we could finish our survey for intelligent life much faster if we had several long-range military planes with the right equipment.”

  The Prime minister thought for a couple of minutes and finally said, “I have an idea how to fast track the whole thing through the government and maybe even the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security committee. We don’t want this to become public knowledge yet.

  “In the meantime I want to see how this portal works, and I want you to show it to the Defense Minster and to the Chief of General Staff. I will bring the cabinet for a visit.”

  ***

  “This is the office building where my company is located, on the fifth floor.” Jacob pointed the building out to Esther and led her to the entrance.

  This was her first visit to Ref
idim since her arrival in Israel. Jacob was proudly showing her around. They started with lunch at the house he purchased for his mother, himself, and his sister. There his mother served a substantial lunch in the East European tradition. Esther asked for her goulash recipe and Sara was very pleased. So pleased, in fact, that she became genuinely friendly, surprising Jacob. He had been trying to think of a way to make his mother treat his girlfriend, and hopefully future wife, as nicely as possible and could find no way. His appreciation for Esther grew. She was not only beautiful and smart but had people skills that overcame his mother’s natural wariness of a woman about to take away her boy.

  They took the elevator to the fifth floor. The Hirshson Surveying and Design Company leased half the floor. After greeting the receptionist Jacob knocked on the door to one of the offices. Chaim Hirshson, Jacob’s uncle, got up from behind his desk to greet them.

  “Pleased to see you again,” he said shaking Esther’s hand. “Jacob warned me that you were coming to inspect our operations and instructed me to have everything ship-shape. I can’t ignore his polite requests. If I get him too mad he might fire me.” Chaim’s smile got wider.

  Ester returned the smile. “I doubt he’d fire you. From what I hear he thinks you are irreplaceable.”

  “I don’t know about being irreplaceable, but Jacob definitely doesn’t want me involved in the Hirshson Computer Corporation.”

  “Uncle, you’re being unfair. You are doing an excellent job running the surveying business. It’s growing like crazy. You are needed here. We have close to forty employees and without a full-time manager the company would fail.”