by Geoff Wolak
‘Oh.’ Helen took a moment. ‘You and Susan are worried about him.’
‘He’s just spent twenty years on a project, now this. Might be nice if we saw some of his life. And, if he goes, is he going to get himself killed by doing something heroic and stupid. He … kind of feels responsible for that world, because it was his idea. He wants to fix it.’
‘He sounds like Jimmy in the early days.’
I took a moment. ‘Yes, I suppose. Jimmy kept going, but he didn’t always know why.’
Jimmy dropped in two days later, finding me in my office; a table by the pool, data-pad and cold beer. ‘Working hard?’ he quipped as he sat.
‘Some think, some do,’ I retorted.
‘Some think, then do,’ he countered with. ‘So, what are you thinking about – that you’re obviously not doing?’
‘Toby.’
‘He’s being distant at the moment. Have you and Susan asked him not to go?’
‘Something like that. It’s … just that we want him to go for the right reasons, as someone pointed out.’
‘He probably feels responsible, and wants to fix it, which is only natural. He feels … as I felt after the first few trips; that you want to go back and fix your mistake.’
‘Did you go back for the right reasons?’ I asked.
‘Can’t honestly say that I knew why I went back, other than it was in my personality to see things fixed and working. Not quite sure that’s in Toby’s personality. Army will leave in a few days, so … best you have a chat to Toby. He’s here.’
‘He’s here?’ I repeated as I eased up.
‘Yes, at the orbital-craft test centre.’
‘Susan will be pleased at the lack of contact.’
Later that day I popped around to the test centre, passing huge white factories and warehouses. I checked with the senior manager and located Toby, making a surprise visit. I found him just leaving a simulator.
‘Dad?’
‘Son.’ I waited.
‘I … would have called…’
‘But?’
‘I’m forty six, not sixteen, and I don’t need a leash.’
‘Are we still allowed to care?’ I testily asked, putting my hands in my pockets. ‘Does your daughter have the right to care, to expect you to at least try and not kill yourself?’
Toby looked away. After a moment, he said, ‘She has asked that I not go.’
‘And…?’ I nudged.
‘As Jimmy might say – the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.’
My brow pleated. ‘Didn’t Spock say that on Star Trek?’
‘Same difference. That world has six billion people, I’m one person.’
‘That argument might hold up if you … were the only one person available to help them.’
He shrugged. ‘Are you going to block my application to go?’
‘Depends on why you’re going.’ I waited.
‘I’m going … because I’m a great pilot, and because if we don’t stop them over there they’ll soon be over here, and my daughter will be in the front line.’
I looked away. After a moment, I said, ‘Jimmy once said that we could fight The Brotherhood in the Middle East, or in London. I choose the Middle East over London. No, I won’t block your application, so go talk with Jimmy and see what he says.’
Back at the mansion, I let Susan and Helen know my decision, and my reasoning. Susan was quiet and moody, but every mother was like that about her son, no matter how old he was. When I was forty and flying Hueys into danger, my mother was still checking if I had clean underwear on.
We enjoyed a week in New Kinshasa, at least we tried to make the most of it, but it was all about the kids – parks and trips, and the time went quickly. Seven days after I had arrived in Africa, I stood watching the Rifles line up ready to depart, wishing them well, chatting about families and homes.
Second time around
The RAF police were startled when a portal crackled into life at their base north of Astor Mansions, lines of soldiers appearing from thin air. They got on the radio, sirens soon wailing. Senior officers appeared – not quite sure what to do, soldiers running around, the Prime Minister notified. Jimmy stepped out flanked by Marines, and informed the senior officer that he would require tents for men, tents for the press, and tents for the VIPS that would visit. And could the officer kindly call the Prime Minister – right now.
With the British Prime Minister on the phone, Jimmy demanded to see various world leaders the day after tomorrow. He wished to address the Americans, Russians, Chinese, French and Germans. In the meantime, he asked the senior RAF officer where Sandra and Jesus were, finding that the pair had set-up a happy home not far away.
With soldiers pouring through the portal, equipment being pushed through on trolleys, Jimmy commandeered an RAF electric bus, and boarded with eight Marines, accompanied by nervous local police. As the bus moved off – quietly and smoothly, Jimmy asked the driver about the bus and its capabilities, lush green Hertfordshire countryside glimpsed out of the windows. Jimmy noted many of what he considered were electric cars and buses – no exhaust pipes visible, many of the cars appearing similar to those of 2026 on my original world.
At the home of Sandra and Jesus - a fine Georgian brick mansion in its own large grounds, Jimmy stepped down, admiring the dated building. It was 10am here; Jesus at home, Sandra visiting a weapons factory.
‘Looking after the kids?’ Jimmy asked a startled Jesus as they shook hands on the front door steps.
‘Uh … yes. Please, come in, Mister Silo.’
Jimmy found eight adult offspring at home, a mix of males and females, greeting them all in turn. They knew him from pictures and films, and were pleased to meet him, many questions fired, some quite odd. Jesus arranged drinks as a dozen Seethan kids ran around shouting, Jimmy sitting with some of Sandra’s elder children and answering their overlapping questions.
‘Do you all work on technical projects?’ Jimmy asked them.
‘Most of us are in college, or finishing PhDs, but the subjects are often related to mother’s research,’ a female answered. ‘The elders work at the labs or factories.’
‘How’s it all going?’ Jimmy asked.
The female glanced at her siblings. ‘Mister Silo, sir, if you are here … then there must be a problem. I believe that you were not due to make contact for decades.’
‘You’re as smart as your mother,’ Jimmy commended. ‘Yes, there’s a problem; we had a peek at your future.’
‘And…?’ the female cheekily nudged after a moment, her big black eyes blinking.
‘You don’t have a future,’ Jimmy solemnly stated.
‘The Zim will increase their attacks?’
‘All out war,’ Jimmy told them. ‘But keep that quiet for now.’
‘Then the mission here fails.’
‘The mission here had two parts: to save mankind from itself, and to fight off the Zim. Only the second part fails, and that’s not your fault. What you’ll be up against would have been hard for anyone to resist – a paradox.’
Sandra arrived twenty minutes later, firmly telling her offspring to leave the room. She warmly greeted Jimmy, but was obviously concerned. She sat next to Jesus, a look exchanged, their big black eyes blinking. ‘There is a problem,’ she stated.
‘Yes,’ Jimmy began. ‘The Zim will increment their attacks exponentially. All out war.’
‘We have basic orbital craft, and we believe they will be a match for the Zim in time. Our missiles and scanners are also very effective, and we have the original drones, plus new and upgraded drones.’ She waited a response.
‘As you do better, so they’ll send more ships. And … six years from now they’ll trigger a solar flare that ends all live on this planet. You two … we saw die when we took a look at your future.’
Sandra and Jesus exchanged looks. Sandra said, ‘Then we will fail in our mission, and let you down.’
‘I failed the f
irst five attempts, so don’t worry about it. And, there’s no point in having portal technology without using it. So, as we speak, there are Rifles and Marines arriving, new missiles, scanners, and our orbital craft. Toby Holton will be staying here with those craft, and we know when and how the bad guys will cause the solar flare. After that … they’ll try even harder.’
‘If I may,’ Sandra began. ‘Are you using this world as a crucible?’
‘Is there another world that would be better suited?’ Jimmy countered with.
‘Then you have handed us an important task,’ Sandra stated, nodding to herself, a look exchanged with Jesus. ‘And a very difficult task, since the Zim will – as you say – increment. Will you maintain contact with us?’
‘No, but we’ll dial in to see how you’re doing in a few years. This is still your show and – for what it’s worth – you did a good job up until the end, a good job with human politics.’
‘But we did not anticipate the final piece of the puzzle,’ Jesus noted. ‘We did not … think outside the box.’
‘I wouldn’t have considered a solar flare either,’ Jimmy offered them. ‘So don’t beat yourself up about it. Just start thinking outside the box.’
That evening, the British Prime Minister arrived at Sandra’s house, which he apparently visited often. He sat with his aides and squared up to Jimmy. ‘An unexpected honour,’ he said. ‘And … you’ve brought an army with you, a well-armed army … so I hear.’
Jimmy took a moment. ‘We took a sneak peek at your future, and you’ll suffer a war with the Zim in the years ahead, and … we can’t just sit back and do nothing.’
‘I see. And … this war will be bad for us presumably?’
‘You can judge that … by the size of the army now arriving. But I don’t wish to give you a private briefing, the other world leaders might be pissed off at that. So, day after tomorrow I’ll address them all, and tomorrow … tomorrow I’ll address the whole world at the same time.’
The Prime Minister stiffened.
Jimmy continued, ‘Noon, at the airfield, so please arrange for the press to be there, and … kindly arrange suitable facilities; it might rain.’
‘And this … speech to the press?’ the Prime Minister nudged.
‘Would you like to censor it?’ Jimmy toyed.
‘Of course not, it’s just …’
‘That you’d … like to censor it.’
The PM straightened his suit jacket. ‘I’m the elected Prime Minister of Britain, and you’re on my turf, so some small acknowledgement of that fact might be nice.’
Jimmy stared at the PM for a moment. ‘I wish I had the time, and the energy, to play nicely - but I don’t. And you … you have a very large armada of alien vessels approaching the planet.’
The visitors all sat up. ‘Armada?’ the PM repeated.
‘Yes, and that armada will attack many countries besides this one, so … I’m taking a broad view and walking over some of your authority. If you survive this next year, you can send me a letter of reprimand.’
Jimmy’s data-pad bleeped. ‘Excuse me,’ he said towards the visitors. He tapped the data-pad. ‘Yes, Dark Star?’
‘The situation is as expected, sir.’
‘Understood.’ Jimmy lowered the data-pad. ‘Sorry, what were we saying?’
‘Tell us what you’ll need,’ the PM said in a resigned tone, a look exchanged with his staff.
‘We’ll need transport for the soldiers, since they’ll disperse. Some to Africa, some to Russia and China, US Marines spread far and wide. So, can you request that those nations send passenger aircraft, lots of them, and soon.’
The PM stood. ‘I’ll get on it. But this will leak before tomorrow, and … it’ll be hell.’
Jimmy had stood, and they now shook hands. ‘That’s why they pay you the big bucks.’
Looking peeved, the PM left after his short meeting. Sandra and Jesus spoke briefly to the PM on the front steps, before joining Jimmy.
‘He is a good leader,’ Sandra stated as she sat, a toddler eluding the guards and the elder children, and darting across the room.
‘You’d know that better than I would,’ Jimmy admitted. ‘What’s the current US President like?’
‘President Kennedy is a democrat -’ Sandra began.
‘Of course,’ Jimmy cut in with.
‘- and we get on well. He calls often.’
‘Randy has visited several times,’ Jesus added.
‘Randy?’ Jimmy repeated, cocking an eyebrow.
‘Randolf Kennedy, known as Randy,’ Jesus explained.
‘Another Kennedy was also known as randy,’ Jimmy quipped. ‘But that was for being randy, not called Randy.’ Sandra blushed a little. ‘So, how’s the brood?’
‘We have produced many fine children,’ Jesus proudly stated. ‘And their education standards are very high.’
‘And attacks from xenophobes?’ Jimmy nudged.
Jesus and Sandra exchanged looks. ‘We have lost four sons, a few others attacked and injured,’ Sandra admitted.
‘And your offspring pilot your orbital craft?’
Sandra began, ‘Since the craft are not yet used for deep space missions there are a mix of pilots. But we have conducted long distance missions with my offspring under hibernation conditions. Many of our children are in the space programme.’
‘Good. And let me reiterate what I said earlier: you’ve not failed, and I handed you a poison pill, since I had wondered about the Zim desire to attack this world, this particular world more so than others.’
‘We shall greatly increase our efforts,’ Jesus faithfully promised.
‘If you do that, then there’ll be less for me to do,’ Jimmy stated. ‘You two can’t have all the glory, now can you. I need to prove myself once in a while, or the title of Great Prophet may seem overdone. Anyway, what’s the food like in this house?’
Sandra stood. ‘I shall begin a meal.’
At dawn, Jimmy peered out of his bedroom window at a clear blue sky. It would be a fine day. Touching a large screen on the wall, the news appeared, Jimmy selecting the BBC. Images soon appeared of soldiers boarding aircraft, equipment being loaded, soldiers disembarking at various points. The Russian contingent, or at least part of it, had already landed in Moscow and were seen to be taking up positions.
After breakfast, Jimmy oddly quiet throughout, he said, ‘OK, where’s the nearest hardened shelter?’
‘Shelter?’ Jesus queried.
‘We’ll have visitors for noon,’ Jimmy enigmatically stated. ‘Hopefully … not before.’
‘An attack?’ Sandra asked.
Jimmy nodded. ‘So, hardened facility? Other than the airfield?’
‘There is hardened facility at our research labs’ near Potters Bar,’ Sandra offered. ‘We could go there.’
‘Good. Get yourself and your family to that shelter, and do so without arousing suspicion. That … is an order.’
‘Where will you be?’ Jesus asked.
‘Stood tempting fate,’ Jimmy said with an encouraging smile. ‘Don’t worry.’
Sandra and Jesus, now looking worried, rounded up their extended family, soon on a bus with tinted glass.
Back at the airfield, Jimmy’s own bus eased through heavy traffic, eventually getting inside, and he found his way to the pilots’ briefing lounge. There he found senior RAF officers from the base - all in blue and grey, and his team from the future, the senior officers of the Rifles and Marines. Everyone stood as he entered.
‘So, all here?’ Jimmy lightly asked as he took in the faces.
‘Ready to stand … and to stare death in the face,’ a Rifles officer stated, the local RAF officers puzzling that odd statement.
Jimmy faced the curious RAF staff. ‘Gentlemen, and ladies I see, we shall be attacked shortly. And no, you can’t sound the alarm. This is a trap, and … a test of certain things. So we’re going to try a little brinkmanship.’
‘We’ll be attacked
here?’ an RAF officer asked.
‘We will, because across time and space … the timing of my arrival here and my press conference … is probably known as an historical event. So, if you were an angry alien sat on a distant rock, a big telescope spying on Earth, a good strategy might be to kill me. That would, obviously, be a flawed strategy, because without me things would just go along anyway, if not a heck of a lot better. And, since my death may anger some people in dark corners of some worlds, it’s not a wise strategy.’
‘They’ll target the press conference?’ an RAF officer queried.
‘They will,’ Jimmy confirmed, ‘since historical records will show the date and time of that press conference. A nice big target.’
‘We’ll need to report this, sir.’
‘You may do so, provided that you can do so without creating any odd movement on the ground, or anything transmitted by EM signal that may tip-off the bad guys. They … are watching closely, and when they see my happy smiling face over the airwaves they’ll attack. So, you’ll do nothing but wait - or get my foot up your arse.’
‘Sir, should we not at least ready defences?’ they protested.
‘Do you think that I made this plan and … over-looked some detail?’ Jimmy held his stare on the man.
‘You … have people ready, sir?’
‘Yes, I have people ready. And, I took the liberty of having Dark Star joined by a few of his colleagues. But, they don’t want any of the bad guys to get away, so … they’ll wait till the last moment to act. And, when the attack begins, you can all act as you should … and run around panicking.’
Jimmy’s data-pad bleeped. Lifting it, all eyes now on him, he touched the screen. ‘Yes, Dark Star? How is it up there?’
‘I believe that it would be appropriate for me to question your sanity, sir, but I have utmost faith.’
‘And I have the utmost faith in you and your colleagues,’ Jimmy told Dark Star. ‘Will it be a close call?’
‘It will be, sir. If you have a tin helmet, then might I suggest that you wear it.’
‘Tin helmets were used in the First World War. I’d like to think we’ve advanced some since then, if in technology and not human politics. We’ll talk again soon.’
