Alice Through The Multiverse
Page 25
Jane thought about Paul. That was the only point of regret she could feel, that Paul didn’t exist in her new stream of memory. She wanted to thank him. Hell—she wanted to fuck him. Oh, well. Other than that, she’d never trade this life for her old one.
She remembered everything about the life of that other Jane Benedict, orphaned pariah and eccentric yet gifted student of history, all the way to her kidnapping and the dramatic train of events that had followed. Her body, mind and persona were the same as in that other life, minus the trauma of loss. And she remembered everything about her amended life, in which her parents and brothers had somehow survived with her that freak car accident in the Alps. With her family intact, she had not been alienated and made to feel like a misfit. Universally beloved and approved, she had sailed from accomplishment to accomplishment. One thing remained the same; her interest in history was as keen as in her other life. Strangely, though, she had become fixated not on Alice’s world, Early Modern England, but on the brief political experiment of the United States of America and the War of 1812 that had ended it. On reflection, she realized why.
The initiative and heroism of a young British captain in the battle of Queenston Heights had enabled Great Britain to win the War of 1812. His name was De Fries, Alexander Hartford De Fries. After his commanding officer Major General Brock was killed by a sniper, Captain De Fries had rallied the troops and led a charge that punched a hole in a vulnerable section of the American line. Fighting alongside De Fries were Mohawk and Delaware warriors loyal to the British, and forty freed slaves from the Canadian Company of Colored men. The ferocity of this attack enabled De Fries to flank the American forces, capturing large numbers and driving the rest from Queenston Heights in disorder.
Jane now recognized that Alexander De Fries was a descendant of Alice and James. That was why on this track of her existence she had been drawn to this conflict; for whatever reason, she and Alice and James were connected through time and space. And it was her, Jane’s, intervention that had turned the conflict by saving their lives, with immense repercussions.
Captain Alexander de Fries’ skilled command and personal valor had attracted unforeseen numbers of fresh recruits to swell the Canadian, British, and First Nations army. The victories at Detroit and now Queenston inspired the British coalition to go on an immediate offensive, attacking Washington and capturing President Madison, along with many members of Congress, before they could escape. Vanquished, the United States of America was formally dissolved by treaty and replaced by the vastly expanded United States of Canada, loyal to the British Crown. The Bill of Rights of the former Constitution of the United States and elements of its representative democracy were incorporated by negotiation into the charter of the newly-amalgamated nation.
Jane’s mind reeled as she examined the twin tracks of her consciousness and their respective histories. Forget the Butterfly Effect—she had released the beating wings of a thousand eagles into the space/time continuum! Rather than perishing in battle, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh had survived the War of 1812, and the grateful Canadians had granted the First Nations peoples a permanent homeland centered on the Great Lakes. For its part, Great Britain had learned from bitter experience not to apply too heavy a hand on the American people, and an easy relationship between this enlarged New World colony and the Crown developed. In due course the United States of Canada, like Australia, became a sovereign state with full legislative independence within the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Due to its acquisition of a nation already vastly enlarged by the Louisiana Purchase, the United States of Canada was satisfied by its immediate North/South expansion, and did not seek to augment its boundaries any further West. The ethos of Manifest Destiny did not take root; consequently the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Southwest went largely undisturbed. The Oregon Territory of the Pacific Northwest coalesced into an amalgam of tribal peoples and British and Russian settlers. Mexico, after gaining independence, was not challenged in war by the United States of Canada, and dealt with its North American holdings from a relatively benign distance. In the South, slavery, already abolished by Great Britain, was phased out over a ten-year period and its agrarian economy gave way to the industrial model, helping the United States of Canada become a global economic powerhouse.
This New World example of peaceable coexistence inspired people worldwide, with the result that racist, colonialist, and nationalist ideologies relaxed their grip on people’s minds and two world wars and countless smaller conflicts were averted. In the Pax Canadiana, the driver of technological change was not warfare but the amelioration of human conditions. In fact the United States of Canada drew inspiration from intact Amerindian cultures in their reverence for the natural world. Industrialization evolved rapidly toward elegant sustainability, and species extinctions and disastrous climate change were averted. Exploration of the solar system and beyond was rapidly advancing...Was the world amended by Alice and James’ posterity? Or were there terrible consequences of which she was unaware? Her mind blown with simultaneous wonder and anxiety and relief, Jane’s head was spinning.
The monorail glided imperceptibly to a halt at Grand Central. In her distraction as she emerged from the carriage, Jane lost her grip on the folder containing the notes for her latest paper. She turned backwards to see a man with black hair retrieving them.
“Oh, thanks!” she said to the top of his head, bent over her papers.
He lifted his face toward hers. She gasped.
There they were. Those green eyes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
If this book plays like a movie in your head, it’s probably because Brian Trenchard-Smith has directed 42 films for cinema, video, and television. His cult favorites, Turkey Shoot, BMX Bandits, Dead End Drive In, The Siege of Firebase Gloria, The Man From Hong Kong have earned praise from Quentin Tarantino, and continue to be re-released on Blu Ray. He has presented over 50 cinema lectures for Trailers From Hell.com. This is his first novel. He lives in Oregon with his wife Dr. Margaret Trenchard-Smith, a Byzantine historian.