by Glover, Nhys
It was also hard to remember that to these people World War Two was just one in a long line of wars that stretched right up into the Second Dark Age. Each one seemed more horrendous than the one before. He still couldn’t get over the images he had seen of the destruction caused by the Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The door to his apartment suddenly opened without a sound, and he looked away from the troublesome Tablet that was now displaying Faith’s gynaecological details.
‘Hi Honey, you’re home,’ he welcomed her as he turned the tablet off with his thoughts. She didn’t need to see where his mind had been before her arrival.
‘Hello Lukas. Yes, I am back from our Retrieval Meeting.’
He lowered his legs, so she could share the sofa with him. Opening his arms he drew her in close, and brushed his lips over her forehead.
‘Will they let me go?’
‘Actually, it was decided to postpone the Belzac Mission until there is more infrastructure in place at this end to handle the emotional condition of the Targets.’
‘That must be frustrating for you.’ He squeezed her thin shoulders in comfort.
‘A bit. But it is a vital mission, and worth the extra time to get it right. But everyone agreed to your plan. They were extremely impressed.’
‘Well, that’s something then. So, what am I supposed to do while they put this infrastructure in place? I have my martial arts training, and meditation practise, but that still leaves a lot of empty hours when I can’t be with you.’ He nuzzled her neck, and was heartened to feel her melt against him. Each time he touched her, he wondered if she would turn cool on him. It wasn’t as if she made a habit of keeping men around for any length of time. At any moment, her clone body might lose interest in him, and he’d be left high and dry.
But, not in this moment. In this moment, she was still attracted to him. And he was itching to make the most of it.
‘They are going to have you consult on a couple of the large scale missions we have coming up. It was felt that your expertise would be a useful reference. They may use you on a Jump, too. Some of these new ones are quite dangerous.’
Luke tried not to feel excited at the idea of the danger. Even with the mental focus he was disciplining himself with, the need for action was making him antsy. If he didn’t get something to occupy his time soon, he’d go off the rails. And Faith didn’t deserve any more of that.
‘Sounds great. When can I start?’
‘They want you to go through the basic training for Jumpers. It’ll take you a couple of months. It’s mostly about cultural awareness, Protocols and technical details. You can probably start looking over the prospective missions during that time, to see what you think.’
He nodded and nuzzled in again, smelling the sweet lavender scent of her hair.
‘The one that interests me is a small craft overloaded with orphans that disappeared on the Black Sea in 1950. It was believed to have been sunk by pirates.’
‘So, if it was sunk by pirates, aren’t we interfering with the time-line you guys are so keen to avoid?’
‘Yes and no. What we have discovered during Retrieval of Missing Children is that, if we undertake a mission, then we were always meant to undertake it. If our computers throw up a missing child, it is likely that we have already targeted that child, we just do not know it yet.’
‘I can’t keep this stuff straight in my head…’
‘Take Jane as an example.’ Faith stroked his arm as she tried to explain. ‘Julio had basic facts about her, when he went back to 1968, such as her name and that she was a shop assistant in The Rocks area of Sydney. She was a peripheral. Someone involved in the scenario, but not central to it. He went to investigate her a little, as a Peripheral, and became fascinated by her. He gave her a waterproof locket, and suggested she do something special for her birthday, mentioning that she could surf wearing the locket.
‘Jane swears she would never have gone to the beach that day, if not for Julio. If she had not gone to the beach, she would not have been on the ferry, and seen that young boy go overboard. She would not have jumped in, as history recorded. So we were always supposed to Retrieve Jane, we just didn’t know it.’
‘Or you changed the past, which changed now,’ he said slowly, starting to understand the dilemma a little better.
‘Yes, that is what people like Jac are afraid of. He thinks that the past may, in fact, have been changed, but because we would be changed along with it, we would never know the difference. Up until now, we seem to be as we always were, but who knows for sure?’
‘So you work on the premise that what will happen has already happened, and hope for the best?’
‘Pretty much. Jac sees it as playing Russian roulette with our world; the more risks we take, the more chance there is that we will wipe ourselves out. But then, we wouldn’t know it would we?’
‘What if you went back and killed Hitler before he got control of Germany?’ Luke was suddenly excited by the possibility.
‘Even if it were possible to kill Hitler, and the Novikov Self-Consistency Principle was a fallacy, who knows what the world would be like then? What if an even worse maniac took control of Germany? It was in a bad way after World War One. Any seed could have been sown.’
‘But without Hitler, the Jews would have been safe.’
‘Maybe. But USSR was growing stronger. And they might have taken Germany and the rest of Europe, and persecuted anyone who wasn’t for the Party. You do not know it yet, but horrendous things were done in the name of Communism.’
‘It’s starting to feel as if horrendous things were done in the name of everyone, including my own country.’
‘It is a noble thought to want to change the world for the better, but none of us can be sure the change, if it was possible, would lead to something better.’
‘So you skim off the surface of history, believing you are simply fulfilling history?’
‘Yes, and pray that we are doing the right thing.’
Luke picked up a strand of Faith’s hair, running it through his fingers contemplatively. ‘That’s what it always comes down to, isn’t it? Trying to do the right thing.’
Faith looked at him with troubled eyes. ‘Yes, Lukas, that is what it always comes down to.’
Chapter Seventeen
Spring 2333, New Atlantis GAIAN CONFEDERACY
Jane squeezed Julio’s hand and smiled up at him nervously. This was it, her first major Jump. She would never have thought she would end up here. There had seemed so many other possibilities for her future. But the more time she spent with Julio and the Jumpers, the more engrossed in their tasks she had become. It had been a natural progression to become part of their team.
They had enlisted her originally for the Belzac Mission because of the size and complexity of the Jump. When it had been put on hold for almost a year, she had gone back to her studies. But as the Jumps became more complex and more compelling, Jane had volunteered to go through training and act as a reserve. Then, after a few recon Jumps with Julio, she had found herself signing up full time. Being in-situ with Julio was certainly an incentive, but it had become more about the challenge of blending in to other times that had got her. Now she was a permanent member of the team, and this was her first D Day.
She and Millie had spent a few hours a week, during the last year, practising their downloaded sniper skills. Now she could use regular weapons, and the specially modified dart guns, they would use on this Jump. They were both pleased with their results.
Who would have thought that a school dropout shop assistant from 1968 would, in a few short years – or nearly four hundred, depending on your take – become a sniper who would time travel back to infiltrate German occupied Europe, with the goal of taking out Nazi machine gunners on a Death Train? It hadn’t come up on her Vocation Guidance list of possible career choices, strangely enough
She snigger to herself and Julio frowned. ‘What?’
‘I was just ima
gining my Vocational Guidance Report. “Jane would make a perfect Time Travelling Sniper.” It has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?’ Her grin was matched by Juilo’s, his white teeth not so startling against his present pale complexion. The makeup he wore had turned his normally dark olive skin anaemic, and his jet black hair was now bleached white blonde, with the long forelock greased back with sweet smelling pomade. The only feature of him that remained Latino was his eyes, and they still sparked chocolate fire at her when he caught her staring at him.
She didn’t like this new look, especially with the uniform. But he would hardly have passed as Gestapo if his dark good looks had not been changed. It wouldn’t be for long. Soon the mission they’d been planning for nearly two years would be completed, and they could go back to normal. Whatever normal was for Time Travelling Retrievers.
‘Only you would be thinking such nonsense at a time like this.’ Julio indicated, with a grin, the line of tense Jumpers awaiting their turn to enter the Portal. They were an oddity; dressed in dingy 1940s summer clothing, in this brightly lit cavern filled with white clothed techs. How fast those tunics had become the norm for her. She felt completely at home in them, just as felt completely at home in this world. It was where she belonged, in a way she had never belonged back in 1968 and in her old body.
It had been a busy year for all of them. The Child Retrieval Program had brought over fifty children into their time, many of them on complex, high risk multiples. They had slowly built up their infrastructure of housing, counselling and medical aid to meet the needs of these Targets. Some of these children had a parent with them, and the task of orientation became more complex because of it. But for all the problems created by the new Targets, the payoff had been worth it.
The first group of children had already been moved on to one of the other communities. They, along with their new parents, were settling in well to their new environment, and their friendships were maintained through continued schooling together. Reported feedback from the community was all positive.
Currently there were twenty children left at their school, cared for by New Atlanteans and their parents. The new life, after the initial overwhelm, seemed to agree with them. Then again, anything would be better than what most had experienced in their old lives.
They were all expecting the contrast to be even more extreme for the Targets from this mission. They would have one hundred and fifty women and children who had been living the horror of starvation and persecution in a Jewish Ghetto, never knowing when it would be their turn to be ‘relocated’.
That was phenomenal. No wonder Faith looked so anxious. She had waited so long for this day. And she had so much riding on its outcome.
The loud buzz of the open Portal suddenly filled the cavern and her eyes were drawn to the shower of lights falling down the massive stone lintelled doorway. The ancient Atlantean symbols carved into the stone seemed mystical in the sparkling light. She wondered what one of the original inhabitants would think of their spiritual centre now? Would they see this work they did as sanctioned by the gods?
There was no chronological order required for the Jumpers at this end. The last through might actually be the first on the scene. Each set of Jumpers had a specific time and destination calibrated to perfectly sync with the rest of the mission. All in all, there were now ten Jumpers taking part.
She and Millie were the snipers. Julio, dressed as a Gestapo Officer, would come through with them as backup to ensure neither was compromised before or after they took out the gunners. They were scheduled to return before the others left, so they could confirm their success.
Next to Jump would be Jac and Luke, who would appear shortly after the train arrived in the station, and be positioned ready to run after the last carriage and climb up onto it. Luke would continue over the roof and then down, to the coupling at the end of the car, while Jac found a suitable gap in the carriage walls, through which he could talk to the children inside. They would return through the Extraction Portal.
Last through would be Faith, Cara, Chen, Elish, Max and Becca, all of whom, except for Chen and Max, were part of the Child Retrieval team. They were Jumping to the Extraction Point where they would await the carriage and then assist Luke and Jac to get their precious cargo unloaded and through the Portal, as quickly as possible.
They would leave the Portal open, walking back and forwards through it, once the first of the Targets was ready to go through. Each time they walked through they would cause degeneration to their cells. But as they had limitless lives available to them now, no one cared too much about a shorter lifespan with their current clone.
Each person at the Extraction Point was carrying a small, high frequency speaker that would transmit soothing messages to the brains of all those within its range. They had used these low range transmitters on several of the larger Jumps, over the last year, with good results. What could have been panic inducing situations; had been lulled into calmed order, because of these transmitters.
Jane wished they had them turned on now. She felt sick with nerves. What if she was spotted climbing up onto the roof of the station? Julio could be there watching, as first she, and then Millie, took their places. But what if he couldn’t deflect unwanted interest? What if one of the gunners spotted them when the train pulled in? They would be at eye level with these men. If one glanced their way, before they were tranqed, the gunner could pepper them with bullets.
Even though they knew that their mission would be a success: historically, that carriage of children had disappeared on this night; no one knew what small historic details they had missed that meant disaster to one or more of them.
‘Breathe, Querida, it helps you to focus and calm the nerves.’ Julio’s arm came around her shoulder. Despite the abhorrent uniform he wore, and his unfamiliar appearance, she relaxed into the comfort of him. She never tired of the joy his presence gave her, even in tense moments like these. Especially in tense moments like these.
They walked up the stone stairs to the dais and, after exchanging a nervous smile with Millie, the three of them stepped through the showering lights of the Portal…
August 11 1942, Jozefow POLAND
… into the dark and drizzling twilight of 1942, just as the bright light behind them winked out.
The rain was unexpected. No one had mentioned it the day after D Day. Possibly it was considered such a regular part of life that it didn’t warrant mentioning. But what if they got the day wrong? Maybe this wasn’t August 11. Someone might have made a data error, and this might be a different day or month... or even year. It would take so little to disrupt their plans.
Knowing it was panic feeding her these thoughts, she did as Julio recommended, and focused on her breathing. It was a technique she knew well from her martial arts regime. Drawing in a deep, cleansing breath, she looked across at Millie and Julio, who were both doing the same thing.
Their outlandish costumes didn’t look so out of place now. With the light rain falling on their scarfed and capped heads, their clothing seemed quite normal. Jane hoped Julio’s makeup was waterproof. The last thing they needed was tell-tale streaks down his cheeks from the raindrops.
Wordlessly, they stepped out of the dark alley they’d previously chosen as their entry point for this night. It was a suitably isolated location, where they could expect few eyes to be watching. In the chilly drizzle, it felt even more abandoned than expected.
With hurried steps, they began to make their way to the station several streets away. The small town seemed strangely deserted in the gloomy night. Few people were braving the streets because of the rain. This wasn’t good. It would mean they were more likely to attract attention. At least having a Gestapo agent with them would turn most gazes away from them quite quickly. Maybe it would be enough to keep them undetected.
Jane snuggled in closer to Julio’s side, as she chatted in Polish to Millie on her other side. They were supposed to be a couple of local girls who were cosyin
g up to the enemy. It wouldn’t make them popular with the locals, but it would get them past any enemy inspection.
As they reached the back of the station, they wandered along to the darkest end, away from weak lights that lit the way to the platform. While Julio and Millie smoked and chatted in a mixture of German and Polish as a distraction , Jane removed a light weight grappling hook and rope from around her waist. With the expertise of many hours practise, she threw the hook up onto the roof, and climbed the attached rope to the slate tiles above.
The Old Jane would never have been capable of such athleticism. It was incredible what a new body, downloaded mental programs, and lots of practise could achieve. For all the seriousness of the moment, she couldn’t help chuckling.
The temptation to look down at Julio, once she was safely up on the roof, was huge. But she fought it. The more time she was out in the open on the skyline, the more she risked discovery. Slowly, she eased her way along the slate rooftop, until she reached the gabled peak extension at the top of the slope. Easing herself down into a prone position on her belly, she looked over the edge.
Cast in shadow, she had a perfect, undetectable vantage point to see the whole platform. Because of the length of the train, some twenty carriages, she needed to be positioned as far to the end of the building as possible. The shots would be long ones, for their small dart guns. But the high-powered projectile weapons Jane and Millie had trained to fire over the necessary distance would do the job.
What if the train didn’t pull in far enough? What if their range fell short? Julio had a spare gun disguised to look like a regular issue pistol, for just such a scenario. He would move down off the platform, as if checking for runaways, and then try to draw the gunner’s attention to an imaginary runaway. His shot would not be heard, the gunner would feel only an insect sting, from which Julio would distract him by calling wolf on the illusory escapee. By the time the gunner had fired off a round, he’d be ready to drop, and Julio would be back in the shadows.
