In which Nate receives a history lesson and discovers that he has gone both backwards and forwards in time.
‘Ah Nate… Lolly, my dear. Come in.’ boomed DeBlanc. ‘We have been waiting for you.’
Through the windows behind the Commander and Winston Churchill I could see a jagged line of, mist covered, mountains that lay ahead of us. The floor trembled as the Uchronie’s mighty steam engines worked at full power to raise us above their snowy peaks.
‘We are currently flying over Germany.’ announced Commander DeBlanc. ‘We have already had to take action against Stuka bombers, to save the Uchronie but now, I believe, we must fight to prevent the end of the world as we know it.’
The crew applauded loudly.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, I shall be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few scientific rules… or took a few liberties with the laws of time travel to get where we are now.’ said DeBlanc, smiling down at Lolly. ‘WE DID! I admit it. And we have all suffered the consequences.’
DeBlanc paused and took a deep breath.
‘I can now reveal to you that our cycle of seven days has gone somewhat awry. We have missed out Sunday and our wild temporal manoeuvre has skipped us on to Monday.’
‘I thought that we went backwards in time to get away from them planes.’ said Wayne, scratching his head. ‘Don’ makes no sense.’
‘We are a day out in Germany.’ said Commander DeBlanc, pausing to reinforce his point. ‘And… and… Not only have we jumped forward a day in the seven day cycle, but also, the dates on our calendar have jumped back a week. It is Monday the third of May… again.’
‘We’re going to have to live through that whole week again are we?’ groaned Wayne. ‘I don’t Adam and Eve it.’
‘I can assure you that history will not repeat itself.’ continued the red faced Commander. ‘Not exactly… anyway… you cannot hold me responsible for the behaviour of the Uchronie. We all know she is a law unto herself. If you are looking for someone to blame, then you have to blame the Chronological Order who constructed her. And if the whole Chronological Order is guilty, then - I put it to you - you have to accuse the whole of Western civilisation!’
‘Gentlemen. We have been attacked.’ growled Winston Churchill, as the crimson faced DeBlanc paused to catch his breath. ‘We will be attacked again. Dark forces will try to prevent us carrying out our mission, but we will not just sit back and let that happen. We will prevail.’
The crew cheered loudly.
‘Now listen to me... LISTEN!’ shouted Commander DeBlanc. ‘The Allies are looking to the Uchronie to strike a blow against these Axis forces. And what will they see? A rag tag bunch of misfits aboard an out of date, defenceless, steamship? No! They will see a group of free men fighting for freedom! They will see the flash of the Uchronie’s S.O.L.E. cannon and they will know what we can do!’
The crew cheered loudly as Commander DeBlanc stepped back off the console again.
‘How’s your shoulder?’ asked Lolly, as Commander DeBlanc and Winston Churchill shook hands and congratulated each other. ‘Dr Mentor forgot to ask you.’
‘It’s actually fine now.’ I said, raising my arm in the air and moving it around. ‘It seems to have repaired itself.’
‘One of the benefits of going back in time.’ said Lolly.
‘Do you have a question Nate?’ asked Captain Wright who had appeared at the control desk between Commander DeBlanc and Winston Churchill.
‘Um…no.’ I said, pulling my hand down quickly. ‘Uh… I mean… Yes…If it is now Monday, can I ask when I am getting my Wave gun? I want to be ready for this fight.’
‘That’s all being dealt with in the armory.’ said Captain Wright. ‘I’ll see you later about it. In the meantime I have some more important information that will affect everybody.’
The crew stopped chattering and now turned their attention to Captain Wright.
‘Close the shutters and dim the lights.’ ordered Commander DeBlanc.
As the shutters on the windows closed and the lights dimmed, a picture of a fat man with a huge beard and a handlebar moustache appeared on the large tachyscreen. He was standing in front of an airship that looked like the Hindenburg.
‘Who’s the bearded bloke?’ shouted Wayne. ‘Father Time?!’
Everyone laughed.
‘This is the best photograph that Ginger, our chrononaut, could bring back.’ said Captain Wright. ‘Study it carefully. It nearly cost Ginger his life.’
‘Who is he?’ demanded Corporal Price, looking disapprovingly at the picture on screen.
‘We’ll come back to him in a moment.’ said Captain Wright. ‘As the Commander has just explained, and you are all now aware, we have experienced a T.I.M.E.O.U.T. … a Temporarily Inverted Motion Event of Unusual Transfer.’
‘What can we do about it?’ shouted Wayne.
‘Well, for a start… Do not be overly concerned.’ said Captain Wright. ‘Keep calm and carry on. We simply need to apply A.C.T. Anti Chaos Theory. We should look on it as an opportunity. We have been given the chance to go over these few days again and that should allow us to get all the distorted time lines back on track. We may even be able to find out what happened during the Hindenburg’s flight that prevented it exploding in Lakehurst.’
‘Why is that so important?’ asked Wayne.
‘We have information that Hitler is trying to destroy the Hindenburg in a public spectacle.’ said Captain Wright. ‘And this trip has been very widely publicised in Europe and America.’
‘But why?’ asked Wayne.
‘Well the simple explanation is… revenge.’ said Captain Wright. ‘In February 1932 Hitler stood against Count von Hindenburg in the Presidential election. Hindenburg was re-elected and Hitler was denied the opportunity to take power. He took it well in public but, in private, he swore revenge on Hindenburg.’
‘And the complicated explanation?’ I asked.
‘Airships are a technological dead end.’ said Corporal Price. ’We all know that. They have no real place in modern warfare. This world needs to progress. We need the new technology that the Axis countries are developing in their secret underground facilities.’
'Yes indeed.’ sighed Commander DeBlanc. ‘The Uchronie is an anachronism. I wonder if any of you have ever woken up in the morning and felt that the whole world has moved on and left you behind. I certainly have. Technology progresses so fast that the world seems to change while I am asleep.’
‘Aboard the Uchronie we are not simply tourists.’ said Captain Wright. ‘We have an effect on the world around us. Sometimes I wonder if we are causing the chaos that the Time Streams are currently experiencing.’
‘I always imagine that History is like a rubber band.’ said Commander DeBlanc. ‘It may stretch for a while but it will eventually snap back into its original shape.’
‘The bigger the stretch - the nastier the snap back will be.’ said Corporal Price. ‘We need to get this anomaly sorted quickly.’
‘Come on.’ said Wayne. ‘We ain’t got time for these complimicated explanations. Let’s blow something up. Say goodbye to these Nazi nuts once and for all.’
‘Now I know that there are those among us who believe that we should simply kill Hitler.’ said Captain Wright.
Wayne and Dwayne looked at each other and nodded.
‘However let’s look at the possible outcomes.’ said Captain Wright. ‘If we do go back in time to kill Hitler and fail… then our assassination attempt will only increase his importance and we may, inadvertently, bring about his accelerated rise to power.’
‘If I get a shot at him, I won’t miss.’ said Wayne.
‘Well… There have been several attempts on Hitler’s life by trained marksmen already.’ said Captain Wright. ‘In November 1923, two thousand armed Nazis marched through Munich led by Hitler and, when they reached the War Ministry, they were greeted by a hail of bullets from the Munich police. When the dust settled… several were dead… but not Hitler. He was arrested and, in 1924, after less than a year in prison, he emerged as a man on a mission.’
‘That was year’s ago.’ said Wayne.
‘Yes but, after that date, the events that we see on the time viewer… Germany Wins World War … Nazis Land On The Moon etc…. all become real probabilities and I don’t think any of us want that.’
‘That’s because someone didn’t do there job properly.’ said Wayne. ‘I wouldn’t miss.’
‘Well… several attempts have failed.’ said Captain Wright. ‘Several gunmen have opened fire on him and he has emerged unscathed… although he was grazed during an attack on his car in Nuremberg. Of course, after he was elected Chancellor of Germany, his personal level of power increased and so did the number of plots against him. During the last few years he has been targeted at least sixteen times, including an unsuccessful plot to hand him a fountain pen that had been rigged to explode in his face.’
‘It is as if someone or something is protecting this man.’ sighed Commander DeBlanc.
‘Even if we do succeed and kill him.’ said Captain Wright ‘It is probable that a new, even more evil, dictator will take his place and attempt world domination. Our time lines all predict that something terrible happens in Europe between 1937 and 1947.’
‘Even if he is killed and no one replaces him.’ growled Winston Churchill. ’There would then be no major power to stop the Soviet domination of the whole of Europe, America and… possibly… the world.’
‘Changing the past is actually pretty difficult.’ said Captain Wright. ‘Usually we can create a stable time loop to deal with the person we are focused on. If the events of his life aren’t fully documented…and most lives aren’t… then we can adjust the history books without too much fuss.’
Commander DeBlanc nodded.
‘However, if we try to do that with Hitler, a true paradox will occur as a result of our meddling.’ said Captain Wright. ‘The war that is coming would not occur and we would have no reason to go back and change time… meaning that we wouldn't go back to change time, meaning that Hitler would not be erased from history, meaning that the war would occur, meaning that we would have to go back and remove Hitler… and so on and on in an endless loop. There is a real danger that we would break Time itself, bring about the end of the world and wipe out more lives than a billion Hitler’s ever could!’
No one said anything.
For once Wayne and Dwayne were silent.
‘So what can we do?’ asked Captain Wright, looking round the crew. ‘Is there anything we can do to prevent this dark cloud that is about to envelop Europe for the next ten years. Is everything predetermined or do we have any free will at all to carry out some damage limitation?’
Again no one said anything.
‘It’s a difficult question.’ said Captain Wright. ‘But I have one final surprise for you. During this briefing we have travelled over the Bavarian Alps to Frankfurt and there is something outside that you should all see. Open the shutters please.’
Slowly the shutters all around the control room opened with a gentle hiss of steam.
‘Look!’ said Captain Wright, pointing straight ahead. ‘Out that window you will observe the Hindenburg waiting to depart from Frankfurt aerodrome and take its final trip to America. A trip that Nate has already made as an observer.’
I looked out the window.
'Do you remember being aboard the Hindenburg?' asked Lolly.
'Yes, of course I do.' i said, studying the vast cigar shaped bulk of the Hindenburg that was directly in front of us. On the ground below a hundred crew, swarming like ants, loaded her with provisions.
‘We can observe them - but they can’t see us.’ said Captain Wright. ‘Our time slip provides us with a cloaking device.’
‘Is Nate on board the Hindenburg as well?’ gasped Lolly.
‘No.’ said Captain Wright. ‘No one can be in two places at the same time... not in this universe.’
‘So whoever has taken Nate’s place aboard the Hindenburg must be the one who causes it to explode.’ said Lolly.
‘Well that is very logical, my dear, but not necessarily so.’ said Commander DeBlanc. ‘The real question we have to ask ourselves is why The Uchronie has brought us back round to the Hindenburg again in some sort of a Groundhog Day loop. Perhaps The Hindenburg has to explode on May 6 to bring the age of airships to an end. Perhaps there are people on board that we have to save. Perhaps the man on the tachyscreen is one of them.'
Next episode: Parachute Training and Paradox.