by Geoff Wolak
Two days later, and a body was found, the face having been badly disfigured, articles found on the body linking it to the previously missing Marine. The search was scaled down, the body kept under wraps for now. We returned to normal activities, and I was allowed to return to the Seethan world, but just me.
When I arrived back at the embassy, I explained all that had occurred back on 1938-world, the staff shocked. Many a long night’s chat was spent trying to figure out what the intruder was up to there, and for all those years in Antarctica. Supplies now had to come from other worlds, on condition that they were one way only – to us; the various governments still feared the alien traveller. Chocolate and tinned fish arrived before riots broke out amongst Seethan cinema audiences; those cinema audiences growing every week, town by town. And, in and oddly pleasing move, the nightly newscast now had a few pictures of us, and of our good work. It had only taken six months of chocolate bribes. Progress.
There had been a few small border skirmishes whilst I had been away, but both I and the ambassador were now starting to feel like these probes were more for the TV cameras than for any practical gain. The two presidents were maintaining a tight grip through fear, and through patriotism at a time of threat. Somehow, it seemed familiar. Unfortunately, we both figured it would take years to unwind a Cold War mentality here, as well as a shit load of hot chocolate.
Oil was flowing from the north, so much so that the Seether had abandoned less productive tar fields in the south, the Preether attacking empty mines, and claiming that they had taken the area. I shook my head a great deal as I watched their newscasts. Stalin came to mind.
Still, it was progress, of a sort, and I sanctioned extra oilfields, fresh wells dug with equipment brought in from Baldy’s world. I paid a flying visit to the oilfields in our helicopter, and we refuelled by pinching gas from a few cars. On the way back, the next day, I dropped into the Tucker farm, landing away from the animals so as not to scare them. The family, now twenty six of them, soon got a steak on for me. Before the meal was ready, William Tucker IX showed me three new barns, each with accommodation in the rafters, Seethan workers now in residence.
‘We’re teaching them to ride,’ he informed me as he stood gripping a wooden paddock fence. ‘They’re nervous to start with, but they get there. Us humans, we bribe the horses with an apple or a carrot, stroke them and talk to them, but the Seether just want to whip them. They find it odd - being told to be nice to the horses.’
I nodded. ‘They’re good at raising animals, and not bad at building work.’
‘They know pigs,’ Tucker agreed. ‘And they’ve already dug a vegetable patch out the back, right big patch as well, fence and scarecrow. We’ll set aside a few acres for vegetables, and we have pens for rabbits, chickens, a few sheep as well now, imported from your old patch – Wales.’
‘I’m English,’ I said with a smile. ‘Jimmy was Welsh. So, I can get some good Welsh lamb when I visit next. Got any mint sauce?’
He smiled. ‘I’ll have some brought in. Don’t know if it’ll grow in this soil.’
‘How many acres did they sanction you?’
‘The old family spread, plus more on top. Close to fifteen miles in any direction.’
‘Big old spread.’
‘Back in the day they were bigger, and no fences! If I could, I’d go back to 1825 and farm.’
‘And shoot Indians and take their land,’ I quipped.
‘Can’t have it all ways, and progress is progress. Indians were aboriginal, moving around with the seasons.’
‘Yet here, the Indians are getting some assistance, and we’re the outsiders.’ I left my gaze on him.
‘Times change, but I understand Jimmy’s thinking. Us humans, we screwed it up many a time. Maybe this lot will produce a good society; no nuclear wars.’
‘They deserve that chance,’ I commented. ‘Out there are a thousand worlds, all like this, and a thousand nuclear wars were fought.’
‘Yeah,’ he sighed. ‘A real waste. Still, Jimmy said that on each trip through Montana, on each post-apocalyptic world, there were bison roaming free. Jimmy hopes - we hope - that a hundred years from now there’ll be spreads like this right across this world.’
‘Best set a good standard then; you’ll be copied and followed.’ He gave me an odd look before leading me inside, and to a steak bigger than the damned plate.
Back at the embassy, the next day, I scanned reports, looked at stockpiled goodies, and decided to take a trip to the police college - because I was bored. I found that some thirty officers were being put through their paces, all looking fit and strong. I observed them on the range, and they could now actually hit the damn target. They practised drawing weapons quickly and firing whilst knelt. Stood there, I beckoned a US Marine. Like everyone else, he avoided military uniform, and wore a tracksuit and trainers. I pointed at holes in the columns holding up the side of range’s rain shelter.
He gave me a peeved look. ‘Sometimes,’ he began in a west coast American accent, ‘they draw quickly, shoot themselves in the arm, or hit the wall.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘We now have blank rounds, so they practise first, a penalty if they get it wrong.’
I smiled, leaving him to it, and spent a while observing the Seethan police recruits on the assault course. At several points they were required to stop and assist each other. I queried that with the Marine in charge.
‘It’s to teach good teamwork. One man can’t make that wall, they have to help each other.’
‘Ah,’ I let out. ‘Good. And the films?’
He grinned. ‘Many have a moral tale, and police officers depicted often tend to take bullets for their comrades.’
‘They’re keeping the President alive. Not completely sure that’s a good thing, but at least the training is working.’
‘He a pain in the ass?’
‘He … is a politician.’
‘No need to swear, boss,’ the Marine said with a grin. ‘And these border skirmishes?’
‘Staged, for the most part, to keep the population scared and … voting the asshole back into office.’
He shook his head. ‘A battalion of my guys would disarm this lot in a week.’
‘The thought had occurred to me, once or twice. Maybe three times. Still, if you can sell Jimmy on the idea … I’ll go with it.’ I held my gaze on him.
‘Reckon he has a plan of some sort.’
‘He always … has a plan of some sort,’ I said before I left the man.
And it turned out that down-time for these Marines was a trip up to the Tucker farm, where they rode horses, mended fences, or played with pigs in shit.
Slumber
A week had passed on 1938-world, Jimmy remaining in Manson with Susan and the babies, hoping that our alien intruder was in a big hurry to get somewhere. By chance, Jimmy was reviewing the portal security when a manager approached, a nod given. Jimmy following the man inside, a secret nod exchanged with his private bodyguards. Men were soon on their way to the apartment of a technician known as “Slumber”, Jimmy following the portal operators inside whilst chatting innocuously.
Slumber was sat at his station, his back to them, eating crisps and drinking from a soda can – which was typical behaviour. He stood and turned, wiping his hands down his white lab coat. To Jimmy, he appeared to be in his thirties, overweight, thinning hair, but with a pleasant round face. ‘Sorry, boss,’ he offered.
‘Relax,’ Jimmy told him with an encouraging smile. ‘Please, sit, do … whatever it is that you technical experts do.’
Slumber sat, and returned to his console. Jimmy sat. After thirty seconds, Slumber wondered why the room was suddenly so quiet. Turning, he found the room empty except for himself and Jimmy, who now sat staring back. Slumber glanced around the room. ‘Er … where’d they all go, boss?’
‘It’s just you and me, my friend,’ Jimmy said. ‘What … do I call you? Perhaps: fellow traveller?’
Slumber stared back for ten seconds,
and then glanced at the door.
‘The doors are sealed, and … only the right password will open them,’ Jimmy calmly explained. ‘So, what do I call you?’
Slumber stared back for another ten seconds. ‘I’ve been studying you for the past few days, what information I could get. Three hundred years old, yes?’
‘Is that … old or young compared to you?’
‘Young,’ Slumber finally admitted.
Jimmy slowly nodded. ‘And you’re not human. But, I would have hoped that what you’ve seen of my work here would have led you to … make a call.’
‘There’s a great deal at stake.’
‘There always is, but – as we humans say – you do have to stop and smell the flowers now and then, or you lose focus on the mission.’
‘The people here, they can’t be allowed take me alive,’ Slumber stated. ‘My knowledge of the future, and of my people, would be abused.’
‘The people here … are better than you realise. Give them a little more credit than those idiots from Antarctica.’ Jimmy lifted his head. ‘Computer, command override, cut all cameras and computers.’
‘Voice pattern accepted,’ came a pleasant voice. Several machines turned themselves off.
‘Now, it’s just you and me, and anything you tell me … stays with me. And, I have the access codes to make this portal work and to send you on your merry way.’ He waited.
‘You take many risks, given who you are.’
‘As do you. Would you like to get your convictions out and measure them against mine?’
Slumber smiled. ‘Maybe I have lost focus.’
‘Did you partake of drugs and games in Antarctica?’ Jimmy nudged.
Slumber reluctantly nodded. ‘I had no choice, I had to maintain a good cover story.’
‘And the crashed alien ship?’
‘I got there with the first party, and when they were not looking I disabled a few things. Two of the crew were already dead, which shocked me, and the rest in stasis. I locked the stasis crew in, and disabled the ship’s lasers.’
‘Lasers?’
‘They could be used against meteors.’
‘Ah,’ Jimmy said, nodding. ‘And the ship’s original damage?’
‘Hit by a weapon of an unknown type as it came in to land, the reason for my mission.’
‘Why would your species have an interest in the Seether?’
‘We found that world by accident, stepping portal frequencies – as you did. We didn’t visit, but monitored EM bands for some … eighty years. We considered your species … primitive.’
‘They are,’ Jimmy agreed. ‘But they do have some good qualities, which you should have learnt about by now.’
Slumber slowly nodded his head. ‘Maybe.’
‘So you detected the Seethan ship from the future..?’
‘We did, and expanded our monitoring operations, since it was very advanced technology, but in the wrong place. Then the ship was hit with a weapon, and we had no idea who fired on the Seether, certainly not the humans.’
Jimmy lowered his head. Lifting it, he said, ‘Perhaps other Seether, from a later date.’
‘To fulfil a paradox, or to alter the time line?’ Slumber posed. ‘We discounted that idea.’
‘So you went back in time, adopting human form?’
‘I was treated with human DNA for several years, and practised looking like you. My ancestors were … morphic sea creatures, and in later generations we enhanced that latent ability through science.’
‘Because it would allow you to spy on other species?’
Slumber shrugged.
‘And what is your world’s policy … on getting involved?’ Jimmy pressed.
‘It’s forbidden, unless state sanctioned, and even then it would be unlikely.’
‘My policy … is to save lives, of any species.’ He waited.
‘We don’t share that view.’
‘And yet, you spent just a few short days adopting the appearance and personality of a human, quite … quite a feat?’
‘I had a great many years of practice.’
‘And … passwords and the like?’ Jimmy pressed.
‘Your worker is not harmed, just drugged. I injected him with a drug developed in Antarctica, part of the game, a kind of truth serum; your worker told me what I needed to know, and I knew what I needed to learn.’
Jimmy made a face and slowly nodded to himself. ‘Did you have a hand in the Seethan DNA?’
Slumber nodded.
‘On your world, how many years in prison would that get you?’
‘A great many.’
‘And yet … your policy…?’
‘I could see the flu virus being developed, and I knew that it would kill everyone, and … this was thirty years or so before the ship was due to appear.’
‘And when it did appear?’
‘I recorded the signature of the high energy weapon that hit the Seethan ship.’
‘And…’
‘I … now know who the attackers were.’
‘Did you not have a way to get back?’ Jimmy pressed.
‘Given who the attackers were, I decided to wait and see if there was further interference.’
‘Oh … I so do not like the sound of that,’ Jimmy let out with a sigh. ‘But you may not know that this timeline has already undergone a paradox.’
‘What?’
‘Yes, this is the second time around – at least, steps having been made to avoid future Seethan wars.’
‘Who … took those steps?’ Slumber puzzled.
‘A human, someone I know – or will know. I’ve been to the Seethan future, a hundred years from now, and it’s peaceful.’
‘You’ve … been to their future?’
‘Yes, and in a while we’ll open relations with them at that date.’
‘Oh.’
‘Were you hoping to get to the Seethan population centres … and prevent those wars?’
Slumber reluctantly nodded. ‘You beat me to it. I had not considered the paradox.’
‘Why would you, you were there, and in the timeline that was altered.’
‘Still, my … people should have seen the change and pulled me out.’
‘Do you have a way of contacting them?’
‘I could have built a transmitter, but I would have been noticed. It would take years. I had started one in Antarctica, but parts were not available.’
‘They are here,’ Jimmy offered. ‘And … there’s little point in you going to the Seethan world now.’
Slumber took a moment. ‘There’s a human world that my people use as a staging area, I could go there; they would detect me straight away.’
‘What’s on that world?’
‘Humans, but … what you would call eighteenth century technology.’
‘And … your interaction with those particular humans?’ Jimmy nudged.
‘We study them, look like them from time to time for practice, but don’t get involved.’
‘Where, exactly, on that world … would be a good place for us to open a portal?’ Jimmy offered.
‘Here is good, which is why I came. There’s a monitoring station just sixty miles south, and they’ll detect the portal straight away.’
‘Do you have the frequency?’ Jimmy asked as he stood.
Slumber took a moment, then followed Jimmy up. ‘How did you know I took this particular form?’
‘I’m a three hundred year old traveller,’ Jimmy proudly stated. ‘And not bad at what I do.’
‘I can write down the frequency.’
‘Computer, identify Jimmy Silo. Password is … abra-cadabra.’
‘Abra-cadabra?’ Slumber repeated.
‘Would you have guessed it?’
The door opened, and the staff returned.
‘Got that frequency?’ the lead scientist asked.
Slumber faced Jimmy. ‘I thought you cut the cameras?’
‘I’m a sneaky shit, if truth be
told,’ Jimmy said with a grin.
With the frequency programmed, a micro portal was opened.
‘No EM bands,’ came a voice.
‘Widen the portal, and launch a micro stealth drone,’ Jimmy ordered.
The toy-sized plane was thrown through, telemetry soon coming back in. It flew south, images keenly watched by everyone. At the right coordinates, it displayed images of a destroyed town, the buildings burnt out, numerous skeletons visible on the ground.
‘Zoom in,’ Slumber requested. ‘Lower left quadrant.’ The images grew in size. ‘Magnify again, central portion.’ The image grew. ‘Again.’
There lay a body, but not a human.
‘That’s … one of my people,’ Slumber admitted, seemingly shocked. ‘They would … never just leave someone there like that, they’d … rewind and extract them.’
‘How long before someone should have detected our micro-portal?’ Jimmy asked.
‘Before now,’ Slumber admitted. ‘Send the drone southeast, fifty miles, and climb to three thousand feet.’
‘Do it,’ Jimmy insisted. ‘And ready another few drones, larger models, faster models. Use the jet variant.’
An hour later, everyone observed a burnt out town, several large craters visible.
‘Do the locals have cannons?’ Jimmy puzzled.
‘No,’ Slumber insisted.
The jet drone had been launched, and now screamed across the territory towards what would have been Denver on our world. There it scanned a large town that had been completely destroyed, bridges destroyed – dated stone bridges, more craters visible.’
‘They were hit from the air,’ Slumber admitted, everyone now focused on him.
‘Do you have an idea … who did this?’ Jimmy asked in a forced whisper, his face close.
Slumber nodded. ‘A branch of my species.’
‘And would I be right in assuming that this branch … does not see eye to eye with your government?’
Slumber reluctantly nodded.
Jimmy said, ‘It’s a good thing that you didn’t jump to that world, you’d be a bit … isolated, sat around the campfire by yourself of an evening.’
