by gerald hall
James did not even consider America and Great Britain to be the cause of the war. Chinese and Russian aggression in the South China Sea and the former Soviet Republics respectively were only the lit fuse that started the fighting. After Russia and China began to launch their large nuclear arsenal of nuclear weapons, the West had little choice but to retaliate in kind. There was more than enough warheads used to cause the catastrophic nuclear winter as a result. The nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan that began left than an hour after the Russians and Chinese launched was little more than a footnote for the worldwide devastation that ensued.
There was the other key element of James’ history that led to the future destruction of humanity as well to consider. For all of the good that nuclear energy had provided to the West in the form of electricity generated by nuclear reactors, the destructive possibilities of the technology ended up in the hands of evil. The development of nuclear weapons and the amassing of tens of thousands of such weapons of mass destruction had led to the worst fears of Albert Einstein, Alan Oppenheimer and some of the other developers of the atomic bomb finally being realized. This was especially true with the focus on uranium-fueled reactors that had the secondary function of generating plutonium for nuclear weapons.
“Perhaps something could be done to prevent, or at least inhibit, the development of nuclear weapons.” James thought to himself. He wasn’t quite sure how he could accomplish this. Perhaps he could find a way to remove the primary motivation behind building nuclear weapons?
As he considered the possibilities, James’ thoughts went to his late wife Judith. She had told him about how so many members of her extended family had been killed in Europe during the Holocaust. There had been so many wasted lives as a result of that tragedy. The Nazi persecution of the Jews had also led to Albert Einstein’s immigration from Germany to the United States. Einstein’s letter to President Roosevelt had been one of the elements leading to the start of the Manhattan Project. Could Harold find a way to save all of those lives as well?
There had been much speculative fiction in the decades after the end of the Second World War about what history might have been like if Adolf Hitler had been assassinated before his rise to power. James considered that possibility as well. The Nazis were only one of the threats to peace that James would have to consider ways to deal with. There were still the Italians, the Japanese and the Bolsheviks to contend with as well as dozens of potential lesser players on the world stage. “Maybe I can save all of Judith’s family members who had died in the Holocaust if I can somehow prevent Adolf Hitler from coming to power.” James silently said to himself as he pulled out a few items from the cargo pallet on the back of the robot.
But before he could do anything like saving the lives of millions of people, James had to find his way to a town and back to civilization. Then he could begin the careful process of building up a new business empire to finance his aspirations. For now, this meant getting on the move while he still could.
James picked up the controller for the robot and directed it towards the east. It was easy enough to follow along at a comfortable walking pace. But this was only as fast as the robot’s tracks could take it without quickly draining its battery. It would take an entire day for James to recharge the robot’s batteries with the folding solar panels that he brought. He just didn’t have time for that however.
Even so, the robot had enough of a charge to travel over three more miles. That was just far enough to reach a readily identifiable boulder. James stopped there, pulled out a shovel from the cargo pallet and started to dig a hole to bury everything out of sight.
While James was in the midst of digging, he sensed something and looked up right at a middleaged aborigine man standing there just off to the side.
“‘G’Day, Mate. What are you doing way out here so far away from town?” the aborigine man said in English but with a bit of a native tribal accent that wasn’t all that far from that used by Jonathan Adams back in James’ original timeline.
James thought for a moment before answering. He obviously couldn’t tell the aborigine who he was or how he got there.
“I’m just out here doing a bit of prospecting, friend.” James answered.
“Bonza. That is a very peculiar-looking buggy that you have there.”
“It’s more of a cart for carrying things actually. It just has its own motor to help move it around, just as an animal has a heart.” A quick-thinking James explained.
“I have never seen anything like it. It is almost like a living creature in the way that it moves by itself. How much is it worth?”
“Not very much, I am afraid. It will not operate for much longer.” James answered while still trying to remember the tribal language lessons that James had taught him many years earlier.
“Is that why you are digging a hole for it?”
“Yes. I must bury it after all the life is gone from it.” James replied in the aborigine’s own language. James had finally figured out the words that he wanted to say.
“You know our language?” The aborigine asked, the surprise evident in his expression.
“A little. Obviously, I am much more comfortable speaking English though.” James said. In reality, he could not only speak the primary language of the Aborigines, James was also fluent in Japanese and German. He also had a working knowledge of a few other languages as well as a result of his worldwide travels.
“I understand. There are not many white men around here that can speak more than a few words of our language.”
“What is your name, Cobber?”
“People around here call me Johnny.”
James reached out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Johnny. Can you tell me where the nearest station is?” Many of the small settlements in the Australian Outback were referred to as ‘stations’ rather than towns.
“I can show you to it, mate. It’s about a day’s walk from here.”
‘Thank you. I will need to get a few supplies from my cart and finish burying it. Would you like some food?”
“Sure. You brought food from one of the big cities like Sydney?”
“Something like that.”
“Bonza. That would be great, mate.”
“Could you tell me today’s date? I’ve been out here so long by myself that I have lost track of the days, I’m afraid.”
“Fair Dinkum. A man can certainly lose track of time if they spend too much time here in the Outback. According to how you white men account for time, this is the fourth day of April.”
“Thank you. Could you also tell me the year, just to humor a confused white man like myself?”
“Sure, mate. It is the year, 1918.”
“Thank you very much.” James said, trying hard not to reveal his astonishment at what he had just experienced. He also realized that the scientists at the complex were surprisingly accurate as to where and, most importantly, when the temporal portal had led.
“What thatthingoon your wrist, mate?” Johnny asked, pointing towards James’ left wrist.
James was embarrassed to see that he was still wearing his digital watch which also doubled as a personal video cell phone and Internet interface. He had forgotten to remove the device after he had stepped through the time portal. Now, James had to scurry to come up with an explanation for something that would not exist for more than one hundred years.
“Oh, that’s just a special bracelet that I got somewhere. It looked very unique when I saw it in the store so I bought it.”
“Fair Dinkum.I have just never seen anything like it. So, what were you prospecting for, mate?” Johnny asked.
“I was hoping to find some gold around here.” James lied.
“We haven’t ever had a real gold strike around here like they did down south.”
“Maybe I should travel down south if I want to find anything worthwhile. But first, let’s walk to the station. I need to do some tasks and arrange for transportation.”
“Sure
thing, mate. I’d hate for a fossicker like you to run afoul of a bushranger and lose all of your things to him. You seem to be a nice enough bloke to me anyway.” Johnny said.
James and Johnny then began to walk towards the station after the former had filled up a knapsack full of supplies before burying the robot and marking the spot with a large stone.
The two men walked for a few hours, rested during the hottest part of the day, ate some food and then continued towards the station.
The following morning, they arrived at the station. It was little more than a handful of small buildings along with several fenced-in enclosures for sheep. James quickly noticed the wheels of a vehicle protruding from behind one of the buildings.
“Let’s go over there and see if there is anyone around to talk to.” James said, pointing towards the building with the vehicle.
A slender blonde-haired man ambled out from one of the buildings as James and Johnny continued towards the vehicle. The man’s rugged face looked like it had been out in the outdoors sun and wind for many years already.
“Hello, Gents. My name is Albert, but everyone around he just calls me Al. Is there anything that I can do for you?” The man politely asked.
“I found this fellow here who needed directions to the nearest station. He seems to have found something that has caught his fancy.” Johnny remarked while James silently continued to walk closer to where the vehicle was parked.
“That’s my old truck. Wait a moment while I take the cover off of it.” Al said as he quickened his pace to catch up with James.
The old Ford Model T stakebed was covered with a dusty tarp that Alt pulled off to show the vehicle to James.
“I bought this truck a few years ago, but it stopped working a few months ago. I never figured out what was wrong with it. I don’t know anything about fixing trucks, I’m afraid.”
“No worries, Mate. Mind if I take a look at it? I really could use a truck for some prospecting work that I want to do.” James finally said.
“Sure, Mate. Are you interested in buying that truck of mine? Right now, it’s not worth a Zack to me anymore.”
“Maybe I will after I give it aburl.” James replied as he lifted up the Model T’s bonnet and looked down at the engine. He spent a few minutes getting his hands greasy checking wires, hose connections and other parts of the truck. James had played around with rebuilding old automobiles when he was a teenager. So he knew his way around under the hood.
After about twenty minutes, James spotted a loose pair of wires that were certainly the reason for the truck not running. But before he reconnected them, he poked his head out from under the bonnet and asked.
“How muchmoolahwould you want for this old truck of yours? I’d like to take it off your hands if you don’t mind, mate.”
The two spent about ten minutes dickering about the price before finally settling on a few of James’ precious gold coins for the truck and about five gallons of petrol. Then James went back under the truck’s bonnet, reconnected the loose wires, used a Leatherman multi-tool to tighten up some fittings and make other adjustments then closed everything back up. After about five minutes, he set the throttle choke, walked around to the front of the truck and gave the crank starter a couple of hard spins. The Model T’s engine sputtered to life to the amazement of the aborigine standing next to James.
“You must be very good with machinery, Mate.”
“I’m fairly good with it. Fortunately, the problem here wasn’t too difficult to figure out. Now, I need to go back and pick up my property back where you found me. Would you like a ride back, Johnny?”
“I would like that very much, Mate. I have never ridden in a motor carriage before.”
The two men got into the Model T and began the trip back towards when James had buried the robot. A day long trek on foot only took a couple of hours to make while driving.
Once they arrived, James got out a folding shovel and began to dig the robot and other supplies out. About an hour after he started digging, James saw a lone dingo walking towards him. James stopped and watched as the native canine continued to close the distance, apparently not afraid of James or Johnny who was also still standing nearby.
“Well, I’ll be gobsmacked. Dingos around here are usually afraid of white men. This one is coming right at you.” Johnny said with surprise.
“I do have a way with animals.” James answered in an offhanded way as he stopped digging and stood there watching the approaching animal.
The dingo walked right up to James, sniffed at him and then sat down, watching him. James didn’t know if he still had an odor of the people and animals that he had contact with before he stepped through the portal. If so, it had to be something that appealed to the dingo who continued to sit and stare at James.
“Fair Dinkum, you are not like other white men that I have seen around here, Mate.”
“Thank you, Johnny. Could you do me a big favor? Please don’t tell anyone about me or what you have seen here. I really want to keep all of this private.”
“No worries. Anyway, you never did say what your name was, Mate.”
Johnny was still amazed that the dingo would be so friendly towards the stranger. Johnny hadn’t even bothered to ask the man’s name before.
“I know, Johnny. I wanted to keep my name to myself for a while longer.”
“Are you an outlaw like Ned Kelly? He was very famous a few years ago.”
James laughed for a moment before responding.
“No, I’m not an outlaw. But I am a very private fellow, especially since I’m new to this place. I might make a few mistakes on occasion and don’t want them to follow me along like this dingo here.”
“Many of my people would say that you have been touched by God from what I have already seen here.”
“Well, I hope that God does help me with what I need to do.” James replied while remembering the remnants of the world that he left behind.
“I need to go now, Johnny. I have a lot to do now. Perhaps we will see each other again sometime.”
“I hope that we will, Mate. I can already tell that you are a good bloke.” Johnny answered with a wave as James resumed digging up the robot and supplies. The aborigine then began to walk back in the same direction that James first saw him coming from.
After he finished digging up his equipment, James took a closer look at the little Ford Model T that he had bought. The vehicle’s data plate showed that had originally been built at the Ford factory in Geelong, Australia as a runabout. Obviously, it had later been converted into a stakebed cargo truck.
James finally loaded up all of the equipment onto the back of the truck and covered it with a tarp. Then with the aid of a map and compass, He began to drive towards the first gold mine on his data base.
According to the information on James’ portable computer, this mine had one of the richest veins of gold ore to be found in Western Australia during the late twentieth century. James chose this site for two reasons. First, it was relatively close it was to where he had arrived after travelling back in time. The other reason was because his historical records showed that the mother lode for that strike was close enough to the southern coast for easy travel. This mine would also be relatively easy to reach the mother lode without specialized equipment.
Along the way, James stopped by several stations or small settlements to pick up additional supplies like food, water and fuel. But he carefully preserved as much of his portable wealth as possible, hiding from everyone what he had brought with him from the future. First, James needed it for financing his plans for the future. Secondly, he did not wish to tempt anyone to attempt to rob him of the precious stones and coins that he still possessed.
James was able to navigate south to the first location with little difficulty using the map on his portable computer, a lensatic compass and the stars in the night sky. This was necessary because there were no GPS navigation satellites available like what had been the case in James’ or
iginal future. But James had done this many times during his earlier walkabouts. Eventually after days of driving on desolate dirt roads, he arrived at an area of rolling hills near what appeared to be an old river bed that hadn’t flowed in over a century.
James was driving up an old trail when he spotted the remains of a makeshift cabin at the site of the gold deposit. He stopped the Model T a couple of hundred meters short of the cabin and got out of the truck. James picked up his shotgun and ensured that his Webley revolver was still securely in its holster on his hip before beginning to carefully walk out towards the tiny cabin.
“Is anyone home?” James called out.
Hearing no answer, James slowly pushed open the rickety door of the cabin. Inside, he found a stack of shovels, pick axes and other hand tools. There were also a pile of maps and other documents in another corner of the room. Scattered around the dirt floor were dozens of empty cans of food as well.
James cautiously walked out the door and around to the back side of the cabin. There he found a man’s skeleton sitting with its back against the cabin wall. The sun had already bleached the bones that had been picked clean by ants and other scavengers. But the body hadn’t been there too long because numerous strands of red hair were still lying on the ground below the man’s skull.
He had obviously been in a fight because he still held an old Winchester lever action rifle in his hands. But his left leg had been shattered by a bullet. James reasoned that somewhere off in the distance, there was another pile of bones as well. Obviously, the dead prospector had managed to kill his attacker since his cabin had not been plundered by the person who had inflicted the ultimately lethal wound to him.
