ADVENTURES THROUGH TIME (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 12 – INFANTICIDE

16:25 (North America Central Time)

Wednesday, September 21, 3385 ‘A’

Time Patrol headquarters, New Lake City University campus American Great Lakes area, Global Council

Fred Noonan thanked Mona Zirel for the ride and, stepping off the time scooter with his shopping bags, walked out of the scooter hall. Taking a hallway, he soon entered the operations readiness room, where all the personnel leaving or returning from missions had to report. Nancy Laplante was there, along with a few apprentices and a duty clerk. Fred waved at the others briefly, who waved back, before going to the duty clerk to register his return. He also handed the giant young man his receipts for the books and magazines he had just bought in 1946 ‘B’ New York, along with the American cash left in his wallet. That cash would be carefully stored away for future trips to that time period, while the receipts would help account for the gold he had exchanged in New York.

Once he was done with the duty clerk, Fred went to Nancy and the others, who were going through books recently bought in the past by other apprentices. A total of twelve teams had been scheduled today to systematically document parts of the period from 1941 to 2000 of Timeline ‘B’, mostly by buying books and magazines. Fred had been the only one to go by himself, partly because the New York of 1946 would be still quite familiar to him, and partly because of his loner style of personality. Nancy smiled to him and looked at the shopping bags Fred held.

“How did it go, Fred?”

“Very well, Nancy. It was a real piece of cake. I did find quite a few books of interest on the war. Here, have a look.”

The first book he presented to Nancy was a big, well-illustrated TIME-LIFE pictorial review of World War II.

“As you requested, I bought two copies of each book or magazine I selected: one for our common library and one for our history analysts.”

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The seven apprentices present in the room immediately congregated behind Nancy to look over her shoulders at the Time-Life pictorial. Excitement rose as soon as Nancy opened the big book at the table of content.

“They have a chapter dedicated to you, Nancy.” exclaimed young Johanna Fink ’B’. Nancy hid a smile and calmly started going through the book page by page.

“We will get there in good time, Johanna. Let’s see first what others did in the war.”

The first part of the book was a chronological review of the war, with short captions accompanying a multitude of mostly black and white pictures. Some of them concerned actions where Nancy had been involved, with a picture showing her receiving the bar to her Victoria Cross at Buckingham Palace after the conclusion of Operation BACKSTABBER. Another, showing her supposedly dead from Gestapo tortures, drew a frown from Otto Skorzeny.

“Damn Gestapo sadists! They had no honor.”

William Anderson gave him a quick glance but said nothing. The next picture to attract a comment, this time from Amelia Earhart, showed a burning American battleship in Pearl Harbor.

“I can’t believe this! You forewarned Washington about the Japanese plan to attack Pearl Harbor, yet they still managed to get caught by surprise.”

“Look at the date of the attack, Amelia: the original attack came on December 7, 1941. In timeline ‘B’, the Japanese advanced their raid and attacked on October 19 of 1941. The American Pacific fleet was still expecting the attack to come on the original date, despite my warnings to prepare for an earlier raid. Still, I agree that a lot of senior commanders failed in their duties then.”

The group was then silent until one of the last pictures of the first part, showing a British supersonic jet bomber. The picture besides it showed what was left of Berlin after a British nuclear bomb had obliterated it.

“So, the British had the atomic bomb in early 1945 and used it to kill Adolf Hitler and the rest of the Nazi leadership.” said Michael Stone.

“Thanks to my information.” replied Nancy, sounding bitter. “I was responsible for the first military use ever of nuclear weapons. I will never forgive myself for that.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Nancy.” said softly Johanna Fink. “You tried your best to shorten that war.”

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“But at what cost? Over forty million people still died in the war and I accelerated the development of nuclear weapons, at least for the British. Well, it’s too late for regrets now. Let’s see the rest of this book.”

There were actually four more parts to the book: one was on Nancy and on her influence on British equipment and operations; two were concentrating respectively on atrocities committed by the Germans and the Japanese, while the last part showed the state of the world at the end of the war. Nancy then slowly closed the book and put it aside.

“A very informative book, Fred. What else do you have?”

“I bought these annual reviews of world events, covering the years 1941 to 1945 inclusively. The 1946 edition was still not available at the time. I also have another TIME-LIFE pictorial book, titled ‘Women in World War II’…” That last book was nearly thorn from Fred’s hands by the five female apprentices present, who had to be called to order by a smiling Nancy.

“Please calm down, ladies. We will have ample time to review this book at leisure. Is that it, Fred?”

“Not quite. I have also this political science book analyzing the state of post-war Europe and its relationship with the United States. Then, last but not least, I have an interesting essay written by a British reporter from the DAILY TELEGRAPH, titled ‘Nancy Laplante: the true story behind the mystery’. I understand that his book was banned from being published in England and he had to go to the United States to publish his story.”

It was Nancy’s turn to grab the book out of Fred’s hands, to scan the outer covers of the small book with avid interest. Fred grinned and produced an extra copy of the book.

“I thought that you would be interested in it, so I bought a copy just for you. It was a top bestseller and the sales clerk told me they had a hard time keeping up with the demand for it.”

“No kidding! Thanks, Fred.”

Nancy was still absorbed in the book written by Peter O’Neal when Samuel Goldman and Lilya Litvyak showed up with their travel suitcases, prompting a joyous greeting from Amelia Earhart.

“Hi, Lilya! How was Paris in 1966 ‘B’?”

The petite Russian aviator sighed with both content and regret.

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“It was wonderful. We could have stayed another week there. It was a true vacation.”

Ingrid Weiss ‘B’ and Tom Allen ‘B’, looking the part of teenage backpackers, then entered the readiness room. Contrary to Samuel ‘B’ and Lilya ‘A’, they appeared glum and sad, which alarmed Nancy and the others.

“What happened in 1982 ‘B’ Montreal, Ingrid?”

“A monstrosity! Read this.”

She then threw a newspaper on the low table in front of Nancy. It was a copy of the MONTREAL GAZETTE, dated June 14 of 1982, with a big, bold-letter title on the front page. Nancy’s heart sank at the sight of the front-page picture, which showed a scene of carnage in a hospital nursery.

“Baby Nancy Laplante and her parents murdered by CIA assassins in Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital.”

Nancy’s voice choked as she read the title. She could barely finish before she started crying, her head bowed and her hands shaking. Ingrid ‘B’ gently held her, trying to console her. She finally convinced Nancy to go to her suite to rest, accompanying her on the way. The apprentices kept an embarrassed silence until the two women were out of the room. Amelia Earhart then picked up the newspaper and, hesitantly at first, read aloud the article on the assassination.

“At about four in the afternoon yesterday, six armed men burst inside the nursery room of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital. After a short battle with three undercover police officers present, the six assassins killed one-day-old Nancy Laplante and her parents, Pierre and Suzanne Laplante. Also killed in the crossfire were the three police officers, a nurse and two babies, while two more nurses and a mother were wounded. One of the attackers, wounded while retreating with his accomplices, was arrested and taken into custody. At ten O’clock last night, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman declared in a public statement that the captured gunman was an American CIA agent sent to eliminate the historically famous Nancy Laplante before she could grow up and travel to the past, where her knowledge helped to keep the British Empire as the top world power. The United States, which had aspired to become the dominant world power, has in fact been smarting for years under British military and economic dominance. Washington has denied any responsibility in yesterday’s incident, while the British government has expressed its outrage over this incident.”

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“The bastards! To kill a baby…,” said William Anderson. “We should go back in time to prevent this.”

“No!” replied Amelia. “This is now established history, whether we like it or not. I suspect that Nancy will agree with me on this. Still, to lose both of your parents twice. What a shock for poor Nancy.”

09:02 (North America Central Time)

Monday, September 26, 3385 ‘A’

Main conference room, Time Patrol headquarters

Farah Tolkonen banged her gavel three times, bringing silence to the crowded conference room. Apart from the department heads of the Time Patrol, all the apprentices and aircrews were present for the conference called by Farah.

“May I have your attention, please? We have now had five days to analyze the data collected on the historical period from 1941 to 1985 of timeline ‘B’. While we are still doing some in-depth analysis, we can now draw some conclusions. Firstly, post-war Timeline ‘B’ is vastly different from post-war Timeline ‘A’. The global balance of power, instead of shifting towards the United States, stayed firmly in the hands of the British, while the Soviet Union was deterred from taking over Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the advanced technology given to the British by Nancy in 1940 has allowed Great Britain to follow its military victory with an aggressive economic post-war recovery and development campaign. This was helped by the fact that the British Empire stayed mostly intact and even tightened the links between its member states. India, while gaining officially independence, stayed under the British influence, while Pakistan does not exist in timeline ‘B’. By 1982 ‘B’, Great Britain was the biggest nuclear power in the world, with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles based in the British Isles, Canada, Australia and India and with more missiles based on nuclear ships and submarines. Because of the tensions between the United States and Great Britain, Canada has become heavily militarized along its southern border. The incident about baby Nancy’s murder is bound to further strain already tense American-Canadian relations. Are there any questions so far?”

Indira Saduranidrasekar’s hand shot up immediately.

“Farah, about baby Nancy, it strikes me as statistically impossible that she could have existed in such a changed world. The chances of both her parents meeting and

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marrying were already microscopic, but to be born on the same date as Nancy ‘A’ is downright mind boggling.”

“Normally, you would be right, Indira. However, this is further proof of the ‘split trunk’ theory of the timelines. When timeline ‘B’ was created out of timeline ‘A’, it didn’t simply grow out of the original timeline. Rather, the whole of timeline ‘A’ split in two like a tree log hit by an axe, with the base of the split in 1940. All the persons living in timeline ‘A’ onward from 1940 were duplicated and subsequently modified as historical changes directly affecting them swept through their respective time periods. I myself saw my own counterpart when the timelines split. She in turn saw me, proving that, for a moment, both timelines were interlinked along their whole length. This said, it would in fact have been surprising not to have a Nancy Laplante born on June 13 of 1982 ‘B’.

“This is all fine and dandy,” interjected Peter Stilwell, “but what do we do about baby Nancy’s death?”

“Nothing.” replied Farah gravely. “We will not tamper with timeline ‘B’ unless something drastic forces us to do it. We will however continue to explore cautiously timeline ‘B’. Nancy will thus depart for 1986 ‘B’ Montreal this afternoon. If nobody else has questions or comments, we will adjourn this conference until we have more data on the future of timeline ‘B’. We will however refrain from exploring it beyond the mid-21st century, for obvious reasons. We do not want to send our people in the aftermath of a nuclear war.”

13:14 (North America Central Time)

Scooter hall, Time Patrol headquarters

“All systems are nominal. I am ready to lift off, Nancy.”

“I am ready as well, Mona. Let’s see what 1986 ‘B’ Montreal looks like.” said Nancy, sitting behind Mona Zirel inside the time scooter. Mona then closed the sliding Armorglass hood and lifted her machine from the hall’s concrete floor.

“I am now set to jump to Boucherville on December 19 of 1986 ‘B’, a Friday. We will appear at two O’clock in the morning, at an altitude of 200 meters. Jumping now!”

They reappeared in total darkness, with no stars or moon visible through the overcast night sky. Suddenly alarmed, Nancy was about to comment on the total absence of electrical lights on the ground when a high pitch alarm sounded.

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“RADIATION WARNING!” shouted Mona, tensing up. “The readings show a rate of 9,000 milli grays per hour, enough for a semi-lethal dose in less than forty minutes. Let’s get out of here!”

“Wait, don’t jump yet! Climb to 3,000 meters instead. We need to see if there are any artificial lights visible in the region.”

“As you wish, Nancy, but we won’t be able to stay here for very long.” Mona made her machine climb quickly, but they still saw no lights. Nancy then took a quick decision.

“Mona, jump ahead by ten hours. I need to confirm visually what I think happened here.”

“Alright. Here we go.”

To the dismay of both women, the jump to the afternoon brought little extra light. It was however clear enough for them to see that the whole of the Greater Montreal area was devastated. A huge flooded crater straddled the St-Lawrence River where the canal locks of the St-Lawrence Maritime Seaway, a strategic maritime communication link, had been.

“Nuclear winter.” said Nancy softly, her voice nearly choking with emotion. “That overcast sky is full of radioactive dust blocking the sun rays. Mona, I know that we must hurry, but I need you to jump in succession to Washington, Paris, Moscow, Beijing and, last, London. Make it 30 seconds over each city.”

“You’re the boss.” said Mona resignedly. Their next four jumps showed the same dark desolation. Their last jump, to London, was however a different thing. The sky was still dark in the middle of the afternoon but numerous lights were visible on the ground. While their number was meager in comparison to what one would expect over a big city like London, their pattern was clearly artificial. Also, the city seemed intact. Nancy’s heart accelerated.

“How are the radiation readings here, Mona?”

“Only 340 milli grays per hour. It seems… wait! A radar just scanned us.”

“Thank God! Humanity is not totally destroyed…yet.”

“Should I head towards a specific point?”

“Try the airfield in Northolt. As a military installation, it would be better equipped to survive a nuclear attack.”

“Got it!”

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Instead of jumping spacetime, Mona started flying southeast towards Northolt. Less than a minute later, a clear radio message in English was heard on the scooter’s dash speaker.

“Unknown aircraft flying southeast over London, this is Northolt control. Identify yourself immediately or you will be shot down.”

“Don’t answer them, Mona. Let’s get out now: this is a job for one of our scoutships.”

“With pleasure.”

Both women sighed with relief when they reappeared over New Lake City. Instead of flying towards the Time Patrol headquarters, though, Mona dived towards the waters of Lake Michigan, slowing down to a near hover before splashing the scooter in the lake. She turned her head around and smiled to Nancy while wading her machine just under the surface.

“Just a quick cleaning job to get rid of the worst of the radioactive dust.”

“Good thinking, Mona. Let’s hope that we haven’t absorbed too much of that shit.”

“That makes the two of us. We will still have to go to the ship decontamination facility in New Lake City Astroport for a full check.”

“I know.” replied glumly Nancy. Radiation contamination was not something one could treat lightly. The Global Council Space Directorate had thorough and severe protocols in place concerning decontamination, something she had seen during the Io incident. Mona pulled their scooter out of the water and activated her radio.

“New Lake City Astroport, this is Time Patrol scooter 036. We were exposed to severe radiations and will need full decontamination procedures. I assess our total hull exposure at about 800 milli grays or more.”

“Time Patrol scooter 036, this is astroport control. What was the source of the contamination, over?”

“A nuclear war in the past of Timeline ‘B’, over.”

There was a pause before the air controller’s voice came back.

“Astroport control understood. The decontamination team will be waiting for you, Time Patrol scooter 036. Out!”

Mona next called the Time Patrol headquarters to warn Farah Tolkonen of what they had found in 1986 ‘B’. Those news understandably rattled the scientist.

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“Are you alright? How much radiations did you absorb?”

“The scooter’s outer surface may have taken about 800 milli grays. Me and Nancy never left the scooter and were on recycled air, so our body exposure must be much smaller, maybe around 100 milli grays.”

“That is still quite unhealthy. I will meet you at the astroport decontamination station. Out!”

Mona and Nancy were then silent until their arrival at the astroport’s decontamination facility. It was actually a huge hangar able to accommodate a large ship. Inside, in a corner, sat a small decontamination station meant for light vehicles. Their scooter was directed inside the smaller station, then the entrance door shut tight and a set of tractor beams kept the scooter suspended in midair. Two specialized robots flew slowly around the scooter, taking radiation readings of their outer hull. A technician watching the process from an armored control cabin soon contacted Mona by radio.

“Your machine absorbed 863 milli grays. It will be usable again after

decontamination and a month of quarantine. We will take care of you once your scooter will be cleaned up.”

“Thanks!”

The two robots then started spraying a special solution over the scooter, followed by a clean water rinsing. The process was repeated twice, with readings taken after each cycle, before the scooted was declared safe to exit. Mona then landed it and slid open the canopy. Two technicians in bulky protective suits met Mona and Nancy as they stepped out. One of them, a woman, passed a detector over them, getting positive readings.

“You’re both hot, but not by much. Take off all your clothes now: they will be destroyed right away.”

Both women complied readily, anxious about the final results. The technician passed her detector again over their naked bodies.

“I read a total exposure of 65 milli grays for you, Miss Zirel. As for you, Miss Laplante, you absorbed 72 milli grays. It must be because of your hair. These are however low dosages, with no biological or medical effects, either immediate or long-term. We will now show you to the decontamination shower.” The said shower was close by and was big enough to handle four to six persons at a time. Stepping inside, Mona and Nancy were warned to close their mouths and eyes

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just before a foul-smelling solution was sprayed on them from all sides, including from underneath their feet. The solution was followed by warm water, then warm air jets which dried their bodies.

“You may step out of the shower now.”

The two women, still naked, were met by the female technician, who offered to each of them a glass of milky liquid.

“Please drink this: it is a radiation-absorbing solution which will remove any radioactive particle from the inside of your bowels.”

Taking the glass offered to her, Nancy drank the liquid in one shot and made an awful grimace.

“God, what a vile taste.”

“That is the price to pay to stay healthy, miss.” said the technician, dead serious. “I have brought spare clothes for both of you, so that you can dress.”

“Thank you, miss.”

Putting on quickly the baggy jumpsuits and sandals provided by the technician, Mona and Nancy had time to dress before Farah Tolkonen, followed by an anxious Mike Crawford, showed up. Letting Nancy and Mike share a warm embrace; Farah went to Mona and had her tell in detail what they had encountered in 1986 ‘B’. That information made her grimace.

“A nuclear war so early? It doesn’t sound good, especially if a single world power survived it.”

“What do you mean? We should be grateful to have at least one country being left functioning.”

“What I meant is that it shows how quickly technology had advanced then, while social progress had obviously not followed at the same pace. Also, that single surviving government then had a golden opportunity to gain world dominance for the centuries to come. Knowing how ruthless at times the British Empire has been in its pursuit of power and territory, this makes much more possible the future appearance in timeline ‘B’ of a militaristic world empire with a high degree of technology: the perfect recipe for a future clash with us over time travel. In view of what you saw, that future militaristic empire may well be a direct descendant of the British Empire. As much as I hate to say this, Mona, we may have to keep war close in our minds in the months and years to come.”

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09:04 (Central Europe Time)

Monday, October 10, 3385 ‘A’

High Council Chamber, Global Council government headquarters Zurich, Central Europe, Global Council

“Order, please! This session of the High Council is now declared open.” As the 24 members of the High Council grew quiet around their large oval conference table, Farah Tolkonen shifted nervously in her seat, situated along the ring of seats surrounding the table and reserved for assistants of Council members and visitors. This meeting could prove crucial to the future of the Time Patrol, for many reasons.

With Boran Kern leading the session, the first hour or so was spent expediting current business and follow-ups to problems presented at the previous monthly session. After a short recess, the Council reconvened and started looking at the new items on the agenda. Third on that part of the agenda was a strange entry titled ‘Religious disturbances’, which had been entered by the Global Chief of Security, Golen Bartok. Everybody looked curious as Bartok’s turn to speak came. Farah personally didn’t like him, finding him both arrogant and self-serving. He was however the sole member of the Council who was aggressive enough by 34th century standards to be able to take on the job of Chief of Security. Bartok spoke in a strong but calm voice in his microphone while looking around the table.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Council, I have been receiving in the past few months a growing number of reports from all continents and outposts about what I call ‘religious disturbances’. Those reports concern people who show weird behavior in public, claim supernatural powers and in general cause public disorder and disturbances. One case concerned a man in Brazil who pretended he could fly and threw himself down from a bridge. That man died, unfortunately. These incidents, after inquiring about them, all seem connected to Nancy Laplante, the Chief of Operations of the Time Patrol. While all the persons involved mentioned God or pretended to follow his guidance, many also spoke of Miss Laplante as a sort of messiah. Some also speak of a baby boy living with his mother at the Time Patrol headquarters as being the quote Second Christ unquote. After investigating this last point, I found out that this baby boy, named simply

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David, is the son of a young woman brought from the first century C.E. a year ago by Miss Laplante. Miss Laplante was in fact suspended temporarily for that act, until cleared of wrongdoing by the Chief Administrator. However, the really significant factor here is that the father of this David was Yeshua of Nazareth, a religious prophet of tremendous historical significance who inspired in the distant past the creation of the Christian religion. He was commonly called by his followers Jesus Christ and our present calendar system is based on his alleged birth date, which Miss Laplante proved to be off by two years, by the way. To resume my presentation, I contend that Miss Laplante has caused the emergence of these groups of religious fanatics by her words and behavior and has further inflamed those fanatics, who call themselves New Christians, by bringing from the past the companion of a famous religious prophet, whose son is now being acclaimed as a new Christ. I thus recommend that Miss Laplante be censured and dismissed from the Time Patrol for creating social instability and for disturbing the peace.”

Boran Kern was about to reply to this when he saw on the computer screen showing the seating arrangement of the High Council the spot of Sten Vargas, the Global Justice Administrator, turn yellow, signifying that he was requesting permission to speak.

“The floor is now open to the Honorable Justice Administrator.”

“Thank you, Chief Administrator.”

The 215-year-old man, renowned for his patience and wisdom, took the time to gather his thoughts before speaking in a slow, deliberate tone while looking around at the other members of the Council.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Council, I disagree profoundly with the opinion of the Honorable Chief of Security and I will tell you why. First, there is a thing in our society called freedom of expression. That freedom allows anyone to express his or her ideas, opinions or beliefs, as long as they are not direct encouragement to violence, hatred, discrimination or criminal acts. Now, I have also received reports about those so-called acts of religious disturbances and have studied them carefully, since they show something quite new in our society. Apart from what a common citizen may find to be bizarre behavior or beliefs, these acts didn’t lead to violence or death, except in the single case mentioned by the Chief of Security. These religious activists have thus committed no criminal or illegal act and were in fact not prosecuted for them. This however raises the question of the concept of religion in our society, which was thoroughly atheist until now.”

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“Was?” Interrupted Golen Bartok, surprised.

“Yes, was. You see, Miss Laplante is a living proof that there is something out there, some kind of superior, immaterial being who may affect us all. Her powers, especially that of mental healing, are well proven now and are unexplainable through simple science. We also have recordings of mental messages directed to her by what she calls ‘The One’, the supreme being she believes into. You must have all seen the various media interviews of Miss Laplante where she was questioned on this One. Again, what Miss Laplante said in those interviews was perfectly legal and never was an incitement towards violence or crime. In fact, she repeatedly stressed that The One promoted tolerance, kindness and compassion. Those words I can certainly live with as Global Justice Administrator. Since I was personally intrigued by her beliefs, I invited a few times Miss Laplante to my house or met her in New Lake City, to discuss the subject with her. While I acknowledge her to be a woman capable of violence when necessary and one who has killed countless times, she is also a most decent person who would risk her life without question to save others, as she proved in the Io shuttle incident. Punishing her for her beliefs would not only be profoundly unwise: it would also be unjust and plainly illegal. As for these ‘New Christians’ who disturb Mister Bartok so much, they represent the normal cross section of society that would be attracted to a religion or philosophy. Most are law-abiding citizens, while some who have already seeds of anti-social behavior or who are somewhat dimwitted will do the more extreme acts. A healthy, respectful public discussion on this subject would in my opinion be much more productive than simply trying to repress this new religious trend.”

“But don’t you see what this Laplante is up to?” replied Bartok, raising his voice and looking exasperated. “She is an ambitious and cunning woman ready to commit violence to attain her goals. What tells us that she will not try one day to seize power from this council through violence? She and her agents are after all the only people in the Solar System to possess lethal weapons, weapons they flaunt around freely. How would we resist her then?”

Farah Tolkonen shot up from her seat in an instant, raising her hand high to ask the right to speak as animated whispers went around the Council table. Boran Kern saw her and banged his gavel twice.

“Doctor Tolkonen, Chief Administrator of the Time Patrol, has the floor.”

“Thank you, Chief Administrator. I must first protest vigorously the insinuations and accusations from Mister Bartok. Nancy Laplante has repeatedly risked her life and

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sustained grave injuries in the past in order to protect or save citizens of the Global Council, apart from risking her life further in the accomplishment of missions assigned to her by me on request from this council. Her integrity and devotion to duty are already legendary and the fact that she is doing what we may call our dirty work should not be held against her. As for leading a mutiny against the Council and taking power by force, she could have done that a long time ago, by herself and unarmed. She is that powerful, ladies and gentlemen, yet she never even threatened violence on any lawful citizen of the Global Council. Nancy Laplante is perfectly content where she is, enforcing the rules on time travel and protecting our society. In fact, a later item on today’s agenda will cover a concern of hers about the safety of our civilization. I will let you judge her motives then.”

“I still don’t trust her or her associates, Doctor! I…”

The banging of Kern’s gavel then cut Bartok off.

“Chief Bartok, we will discuss further this whole subject in private after this session is over. We will now go to the next item on the agenda. The honorable Rina Kappel, Global Industries Administrator, has the floor.”

Bartok, visibly containing his anger, sat back and kept quiet while Rina Kappel presented her review of industrial points of interest. Dana Rox, the Earth Rehabilitation

Administrator, was next. Rox’s job was one of immense scope and an endless one: to rehabilitate the parts of Earth still contaminated and left lifeless by the nuclear holocaust of 2052. Her position was one which had heavy repercussions on the future of the Global Council and was thus considered a senior position in the High Council. A map of North America with a zone highlighted in green appeared on the giant viewing screen on a wall of the High Council chamber.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Council, this zone centered around Lake Winnipeg, in what had been Canada, was declared decontaminated five years ago. Since then, rehabilitation teams have been busy seeding the ground with long grass and other plants suitable for that area, along with planting trees and seeding the lakes and rivers with fish. This zone is now ready to accept animal life, but on a small scale, in order not to risk the balance of this new, still fragile ecosystem. We however had a dilemma in that we knew little about the precise nature of the ecosystem which had previously occupied that area. Our problems were solved a year ago by the Time Patrol, which was able to film and study the original ecosystem as it existed 2,000 years ago, when only nomadic hunter-gatherers lived there. The fact that one of Miss Laplante’s earlier incarnations was as

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one of those primitive men helped us a lot, with her providing a unique hindsight of the plant and animal life of the time. With the Council’s approval, I would like now to put in practice a suggestion from Miss Laplante: to repopulate the zone around Lake Winnipeg with specimens of animals who lived there in the past. I wanted us at first to import only vegetarian specimens which would not represent a danger to humans but Miss Laplante strongly disagreed, pointing out that the lack of animal predators would eventually result in a cycle of uncontrolled population explosions and mass famines. We thus have selected for importation from the past specimens of buffalos, dears, moose, black and brown bears, wolves, foxes, hares, ducks, Canadian geese, pheasants and of seven other types of indigenous birds. I have to say that most of these species do not exist anymore at present on Earth and that only insects and fish now inhabit this zone.” As Dana Rox enumerated the animal species, a picture of each animal appeared along the periphery of the screen, attracting a concert of interested whispers. After a short group discussion, Rox’s motion was accepted by the Council, with Global Science Administrator Daran Mien, who was overseeing the mandate of the Time Patrol, directed to enlist the help of the Time Patrol for the project. Dana Rox was not finished, though.

“Thank you for your confidence, ladies and gentlemen. I now have a further suggestion to present, one that would concern directly a few of you. As you know well, our citizens generally know little about past animal species, due to mass extinctions and the destruction of most archives in 2052. There is however a sharp revival of interest for such matters following the creation of the Time Patrol one and a half years ago. If we decide to, we have the means to build zoos and reserves where past species could be brought in to live, for the benefit of our citizens’ education and entertainment. Such species would be carefully selected and then kept in a strictly controlled environment, both for their comfort and for avoiding cross-contamination with other areas and species. I would thus like to know your opinion on this.”

The council members looked at each other, unsure what to think. The first question came from Xen Shon Wa, the Chief Administrator for Asia.

“From what time period would these animals be taken, Administrator Rox?”

“From any time period we wished, sir. We could even import dinosaurs from as far as 200 million years in the past. Nothing stops us from actually creating a number of zoos, each dedicated to a certain fauna. What would the citizens of Asia think about being able to see live specimens of Siberian tigers, Panda bears and Indian elephants, for example?”

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“They would love it. Hell, I would love it! This would be a fantastic educational opportunity for our citizens, especially our children. Count me in on this, Miss Rox.” The discussion quickly degenerated into an animated, excited exchange of comments and suggestions, prompting a smiling Boran Kern to call the Council to order with his gavel.

“My, I haven’t seen you so excited about a project for a long time, ladies and gentlemen. I thus take it that you approve of it. Science and Education Administrator Mien, you and Administrator Rox will coordinate the creation of this project, with Miss Rox in overall charge. I will ask you to canvass the suggestions and wishes of the Regional Administrators before establishing the list of zoos to be created and of the types of fauna to be imported. The next item on the agenda was requested by Doctor Tolkonen, of the Time Patrol. Doctor, if you may please join us at the table.” Leaving her seat, Farah went to one of the three empty chairs at one end of the oval table which were reserved for witnesses and visiting dignitaries. She then inserted a data chip in the computer facing her seat and made a diagram appear on the giant viewing screen of the chamber.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the High Council, what you see now is a diagram of the Time Patrol’s organization and establishment. It counts at the present a total of 386 members, 64 of whom are Ancestors. That total includes the field agents, the aircrews, ground crews, technicians and the support staff. Out of that total, only 62 are or will be field agents, each due to carry special implants, with 61 of them still in training. These field agents are the ones designated to go into combat or on ground missions in the past when needed. The Time Patrol also counts a total of 270 family members, some of whom hold non-combat support positions. We also have three young teenagers who are officially classified as Time Patrol cadets. As ships goes, the Time Patrol possesses one converted cruiser, the KRONOS; nine armed scoutships; one research ship, the BABYLON, and one heavy shuttle, the HERMES. This flotilla is supplemented by five unarmed time shuttles and forty time scooters. We are going to be supplemented in about two months with one heavy time transport ship, the GILGAMESH, and one extra scoutship. We also possess at this time a grand total of 800 combat robots and 40 point defense robots as a supplementary ground combat force. While this may sound more than enough for the missions assigned to the Time Patrol, there is a big caveat to this: in case of a major military threat followed by an invasion, we will not be able to offer more than a furious but short-lived resistance.”

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“Why so?” asked Rina Kappel, the Industries Administrator.

“Because, after maybe a few hours of combat, we will have been overwhelmed and killed, Miss Kappel. As it is, we would be hard pressed to even defend adequately our headquarters in New Lake City against a ground attack, as we have only a grand total of twelve ground assault specialists in our ranks.”

Golen Bartok spoke up as exclamations and comments went around the table.

“Isn’t this a rather hypothetical question, since there is no one to attack us here in the 34th century?”

“That is where you may be mistaken, Mister Bartok. This council already knows about the existence of another time-traveling civilization of unknown origin which was responsible for the birth of Yeshua of Nazareth in the first century. The fact that we never detected them proves that they possess some kind of cloaking device that makes them impervious to our detectors. They may also possess mental powers broadly similar to those of Nancy Laplante, albeit at a weaker level. That civilization could be from the future of this timeline or from timeline ‘B’, but we have no way to know for sure at this time. Also, our recent discovery of a nuclear war in timeline ‘B’ as early as 1986 reinforces the possibility of the emergence of a militaristic, highly technical society sometimes in the future of timeline ‘B’. My own vision of an armed counterpart of myself standing in a time laboratory as our timeline split in two tends to support that possibility. This hypothesis is in fact considered now a strong probability by the Time Patrol. In view of all this, we consider it likely that, in the months and years to come, we will meet with that civilization, probably during a mission or a reconnaissance into the past. Depending on the mindset of that civilization, such an encounter could degenerate into war.” Everybody around Farah stared at her with horror, everybody except Bartok that is, who showed a skeptical smirk.

“And I suppose that, based on that hypothetical threat, you are going to ask for more armed Ancestors around us.”

“Not exactly, Mister Bartok.” replied Farah in an icy tone. “What I am requesting from this Council is the production of 10,000 additional combat robots, plus 500 additional point defense robots, or PDRs, which will be used to reinforce the defenses of the Global Council. More may be ordered later if the threat becomes proven.” Bartok shot out of his chair as many of the Council members started protesting loudly.

“And who will control all these robots? Your precious Nancy Laplante, I presume?”

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“She will have tactical command over them once activated, but their activation will be decided by this Council and not her, like we do now for our existing combat robots. Imbedded command protocols are already contained inside these robots, protocols which prevent them from harming any unarmed Global Council citizen. Using them for a so-called mutiny will thus be impossible and these robots will in fact be able to stop a military coup if properly programmed. We plan to keep the combat robots and PDRs assigned to the static defense of the Global Council in storage until an invasion or attack justifies their activation. As for the combat robots and PDRs already in service, they will be used to defend our new secret base in the past, which is close to completion, or will be embarked on our patrol ships during missions.”

That considerably calmed the spirits of the Council members. Bartok himself hesitated, then looked at Boran Kern.

“If those restrictions are abided to, then I withdraw my objections to this project, Chief Administrator.”

Boran Kern nodded in acknowledgement, secretly relieved that this argument was over. It could have turned into a major split of opinion in the High Council and could have forced the use of a public referendum on the question.

“Alright, Doctor Tolkonen, how much is this going to cost?”

‘’According to early estimates, these additional robots and PDRs should cost approximately 800 million solars. These robots use standardized parts already in mass production for other models of robots, except for the weapons on them. Since those weapons will be taken for free from abandoned military depots in the 21st century, save for the lasers, that will help keep the costs down. I thus request an initial budget of 800 million solars for this project.’’

All eyes then turned towards Pedro Salmash, the Global Finance Administrator, who shrugged.

“An appropriation of 800 million solars is actually no problem with me. The finances of the Global Council are healthy and could accommodate much bigger expenditures if need be.”

“Then, if there are no other questions or comments, we will now vote on this proposition.” declared Boran Kern. With Farah, who didn’t have voting powers at the High Council, looking on anxiously, the members entered their votes electronically. She held her breath when the vote came to a tie. As Chairman of the High Council, Boran Kern now could vote to break the tie, which he promptly did in favor of Farah’s request.

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“The proposition for the acquisition of 10,000 armed robots and 500 PDRs for the Time Patrol is thus approved, on the condition that the command protocol limitations discussed today are incorporated in the design of these robots. Further production of additional robots will be subject to prior approval by me. Thank you for your time, Doctor Tolkonen.”

08:52 (North America Central Time)

Time Patrol headquarters

New Lake City University campus

Farah, just back from Zurich via a time scooter, caught Nancy as the latter was heading towards a classroom to teach a period on military history. Nancy watched her approach with an anxious look.

“How did it go in Zurich, Farah?”

“Can’t you read it in my mind, Nancy?” replied Farah, getting a hurt look from her friend.

“You know that I refrain from reading the minds of my friends unless they want to, Farah. Since you don’t look all pissed off, I will take it that you won the argument.”

“Correct, Nancy. The first batch of additional robots meant to defend the Global Council should be delivered within two months, minus the 21st century weapons to be fitted to them.”

“Then I will schedule a large pickup detail for next Saturday, to get enough weapons and ammunition for our robots in 2054 ‘A’.”

“Which depots will you pick this time?”

“The ones in the San Francisco area. There are three army depots, two army ammunition plants and two army bases there. There were as well a number of big defense equipment manufacturing plants in the area, along with storage warehouses and defense maintenance facilities and workshops. They will contain all that we need, and more.”

Farah couldn’t help shake her head in wonderment.

“I still have a problem believing the volume of weapons and war equipment stored on Earth in 2052. It seems…obscene, especially when looking at the famine and privations endured by so many people then.

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“I know and I agree with you, Farah. It is only ironic that those stocks now will help us keep the peace.”

“Indeed! Have a good day, Nancy.”

“You too, Farah.”

14:03 (North America Central Time)

Tuesday, December 6, 3385 ‘A’

Time Patrol headquarters

Elizabeth Windsor was on her way to a tutorial class on advanced mathematics when she encountered Ingrid Weiss ‘B’ in the hallways of the headquarters building. The German teenager, who was now eighteen years old biologically, was watching something through one of the large windows of the second level. Intrigued, Elizabeth looked outside as well and saw a sight that truly impressed her: rolling on their tracks along the road coming from the nearby landing pad were 400 combat robots in two parallel columns. The machines moved as one, perfectly aligned, in a way that would have made British royal guardsmen envious. The few university students and visitors to the Time Patrol museum present outside watched the machines go by, fascinated, with some taking pictures of them. The robots then turned a corner, heading towards the vehicles garage and maintenance complex and going out of sight of Elizabeth and Ingrid. Elizabeth smiled to the German.

“Impressive machines, aren’t they?”

“They are, effectively. Wait until they are fitted with their weapons and receive their camouflage paint scheme, though.”

“Are you heading towards a class?”

Ingrid shook her head slowly, thoughtful.

“No! I was heading towards the university’s medical center: I am due to receive my implants this afternoon, along with Tom. We will also get our longevity treatment at the same time.”

“Lucky you! I am not due for my implants for another two weeks. Uh, how is Tom doing, by the way?”

Ingrid couldn’t help smile at Elizabeth’s thinly veiled interest in her relationship with Tom Allen. The handsome seventeen-year-old boy had been going out steadily with Ingrid for a month now, sparking widespread rumors of a solid romance between them. The fact

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was that the rumors were right: both teenagers were truly in love with each other. That relationship was helped in no small part by the fact that they constituted the regular crew of the scoutship TEEN TEAM, an aptly chosen ship’s name in this case.

“Tom is just fine, Elizabeth. How about you? Any boys interested in you yet?” Elizabeth hesitated before answering: any commoner who would have asked her that kind of question two years ago would have been expelled from Buckingham Palace for rudeness, but she was not a royalty anymore and she now felt on a par with the others around her. She still missed terribly her family but the close comradeship in the Time Patrol had drastically changed her outlook on social classes and personal relationships. Now sixteen and still a virgin, she was starting to become envious of the other young women of the Time Patrol, who were having a good time after work hours. A few of them had even married already, like Susanna Berghof, who had tied the knot with Sven Larsen, the hulking blond Norwegian ex-fighter pilot. Many people from both sexes had sighed in envy at the marriage of those two. Even Bobo MacDonald, Elizabeth’s ex-dressing lady, was going out at night now, dating Peter Stilwell.

“Uh, I’m not sure: I’m still quite shy with boys, I’m afraid.”

“It will come one day, Elizabeth. Have a good day.”

“You too, Ingrid.”

Walking at a quick pace, Ingrid left the headquarters building after putting a coat on and went to the medical center, 400 meters away. Going to the reception lounge first, where she notified a clerk of her arrival for a scheduled operation, she was then directed to the third floor, where Tom Allen was already waiting in a small patients’ lounge. The British teenager, wearing only a patient’s gown, grinned at her arrival in the lounge.

“Ready for your big day, Ingrid?”

“I am, Tom. When are you going into the operation room?”

“Any time now. I can’t help feel nervous, though.”

“You should be. We are about to become full-fledged field agents, after all.”

“Minus the special training. Nancy did tell us that it would take a good month to become fully proficient with our implants.”

“Still, it is a special day indeed.”

Tom nodded, then looked up from his chair as two medics came in with a gurney. One of the medics patted the gurney’s mattress while looking at Tom.

“Time for your ride, Mister Allen. Hop in!”

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Tom did so, then waved at Ingrid as he was rolled out.

“See you later, Ingrid.”

A nurse entered the lounge as soon as the gurney was out of the way. Going to Ingrid, she presented her with a folded patient’s gown and a pair of paper slippers.

“Miss Ingrid Weiss? I would ask you to change into this now. There is a changing room with storage lockers next door, to the left. You will be picked up here in about ten minutes.”

“Thank you, miss.”

The gown and slippers in her hands, Ingrid followed the nurse out of the lounge and went to the changing room, which had individual cabins. Changing rapidly, she then folded carefully her uniform and put it with her boots and coat in one of the lockers. The lockers were equipped with fingerprint recognition pads activated in turn by each successive user, thus ensuring that nobody would steal her clothes while she was in the operation room. Ingrid returned in the lounge and sat after selecting a magazine from a wall rack. She had to wait only five minutes before two medics showed up with a gurney.

“Miss Ingrid Weiss?”

“That’s me!”

Jumping deftly on the gurney with the agility of a cat, Ingrid let herself be wheeled to an operation block. Farah Tolkonen, Rebecca Milner and Patricia Wilson were waiting for her there, along with two hospital nurses. Farah smiled through her surgeon’s mask as Ingrid was transferred to the operating table.

“This is going to be relatively short, Ingrid. You will be conscious all the time and will wear a pain inhibitor. Nancy will heal you at the end of the operation, so that you and Tom could be in full shape tonight.”

Ingrid smiled as the other woman laughed.

“You’re all jealous.”

“No, we’re only happy that you are happy. Now, turn on your belly, please.” Once Ingrid was on her belly, one of the nurses undid the girl’s gown and draped sterile sheets around the area of her back to be operated on. Patricia Wilson then applied a disinfectant solution on the exposed skin area. A nurse put a pain inhibitor headband on Ingrid’s head before Farah showed a small rectangular object with wires leading out of it to the German.

“This is your time distorter and computer module that I will put in you. It will rest against the inner surface of your lower dorsal spine and will be held in place by

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composite pins and brackets. The module is nearly undetectable by normal X-Ray scans and works out of your bio energy, so you won’t have to worry about the power source. Since you already have a radio module implanted inside your cranium, this will leave only your hand stun circuits and ear directional microphone to put in place afterwards. Do you have any questions?”

“Uh, yes: when will you do the longevity treatment?”

“It will run concurrently with the operation. If you want to go to sleep, that is fine with me.”

“I may just do that, so that I could have lots of energy tonight.” They again laughed together before Farah moved into position besides Ingrid. She waited until the nurses had plugged an intravenous needle and put in place various sensors and an oxygen mask, then initiated the operation.

“Activate the pain inhibitor. Scalpel, please.”

Carefully locating the correct vertebra first, Farah quickly cut the skin and tissues covering it in order to open a passage besides the vertebra to slip in the distorter module. It took her 25 minutes to put the module in place, fix it solidly to the inner face of the vertebra and extend and tie down the energy gathering wires. The job of installing the two hand stun circuits took longer, as it meant grafting long wires and two small boxes inside Ingrid’s hands. Installing the ear directional microphone was in comparison easy. By the time Farah was doing that last task, Nancy showed up in surgical garb. Her hands were however bare of gloves. Going to Ingrid’s head, Nancy bent and smiled to her.

“Hello my sweet adopted daughter. I am pleased to tell you that Tom’s operation is finished. I healed his surgical cuts and he is well, resting for an hour in a room.”

“Thank you, Nancy.”

Nancy caressed her hair before taking position over her back. Nancy’s hands glowed faintly for half a minute, then she moved to Ingrid’s hands, healing them as well. As soon as Farah was finished grafting the microphone, Nancy healed the cuts in the hearing canal. Farah looked at her hands with envy.

“I would give a lot to have your healing powers, Nancy. They make medical treatment so much easier.”

“You will have to ask the big guy upstairs for that, Farah. Sorry.”

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Ten minutes later, Ingrid was wheeled out of the operation room and brought to the same room as Tom, who waited until the medics were gone and the door of the room closed before going to Ingrid’s bed and slipping besides her under the bed sheet. They kissed each other passionately and exchanged caresses for a minute before Ingrid whispered something in Tom’s ear. Tom grinned and kissed her before answering her.

“You have a deal.”

19:11 (North America Central Time)

‘Lynda’s Hair Salon’

Time Patrol residential tower

New Lake City University campus

Elizabeth Windsor was sitting under a hair dryer in the sole hair salon which existed in the 34th century when Ingrid Weiss ‘B’ entered the establishment and went to Lynda Crawford, the owner of the salon.

“High, Lynda! Could you accommodate me tonight? I need a shampoo and a new haircut.”

“No problem: it’s a slow evening. Miriam can give you your shampoo while I finish here with James.”

“Thanks!”

Going towards the back of the salon, Ingrid found Miriam of Magdala and Elizabeth Windsor there.

“High, Elizabeth! Hello, Miriam! Could I have a shampoo, medium hair?”

“Sure! Sit in this chair here.”

As Ingrid sat down, she noticed the baby park a few meters away, behind a glass partition, with little David apparently asleep in it.

“Oh, you have David here. I find him so cute.”

Miriam smiled with pride as she put a towel around Ingrid’s neck.

“He is an angel, truly. Everybody is spoiling him, though.”

“You can never spoil enough a baby like this. So, how do you like your life here, Miriam?”

“I couldn’t possibly ask for better, Ingrid. Compared to my Palestine, I feel so free, so respected as a woman here. I also love this job. Lynda is a really nice woman and is teaching me modern hair care on her spare time. She says that I will soon be

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able to replace her from time to time, when she will take vacations, but I’m not sure that I am really ready for that.”

“Miriam, Lynda is right. Don’t sell yourself short.”

Both women then kept silent as Miriam washed Ingrid’s hair. Once the shampoo was done, Miriam led Ingrid to the hair dryer next to Elizabeth, who was reading a thick book. Ingrid sat down and let Miriam adjust the hair dryer over her head, then looked at Elizabeth.

“How are the studies going, Elizabeth?”

The British teenager sighed softly and stopped reading for a few seconds.

“I won’t pretend that I find advanced mathematics easy, Ingrid. However, I am already miles ahead of where I was in term of education two years ago. My parents would have a hard time believing what I can do now.”

“Hey, Doug Wilson keeps telling me that you are a very good scoutship copilot. Coming from an ex-RAF fighter pilot with three confirmed victories during the Battle of Britain, I would take that as quite a compliment, Elizabeth.”

“I’m still no match for you, though. Hell, you nearly beat Lilya Litvyak in a simulated dogfight the other day.”

“Nearly is the key word, Elizabeth: there are no second-place winners in a dogfight. I promised myself to beat Lilya at least once before graduation day, though.”

“Talking of dogfights, did you hear about that twenty-minute encounter between Hanna Reitsch and Carmen Sanchez? The Chief Instructor Pilot, Voran Tess, was said to have become nearly airsick just by watching it. He said something about not taking bets ever again against Ancestor fighter pilots.”

“He did? Tell me more about that.”

Miriam shook her head in amusement as the two teenagers talked excitedly about dogfights, air combat and something they called ‘hot-dogging’, whatever that meant.

10:33 (North America Central Time)

Friday, February 17, 3386 ‘A’

Main gymnasium, Time Patrol sports complex

New Lake City University campus

Nancy cleared her throat, then spoke calmly in the lectern’s microphone as she faced the 61 apprentices lined up in two ranks for their graduation parade. Behind her,

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seated on portable stands, were most of the other members of the Time Patrol and their families, plus many university students who had been admitted as visitors. A few reporters, including a crew from GNN, moved around the periphery of the gymnasium, filming and taking pictures. Behind Nancy sat the Time Patrol’s heads and a few dignitaries, including Global Chief Administrator Kern and his wife.

“Chief Administrator Kern, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this graduation ceremony for field agent apprentices of the Time Patrol. I will keep this speech short, as our new agents are undoubtedly anxious to leave on a well-earned vacation after all those months of hard work, discomfort and stress. I only wish to say this: I am truly proud of our new agents. I will now ask Chief Administrator Kern to walk through the ranks of our new agents with me to pin on their uniforms their field agent insignias and hand them their service badges.”

On cue, Boran Kern got up from his chair and approached Nancy, while thirteen-year-old cadets Carolyn Anderson and Baran Mishtar lined up behind him, carrying cushions bearing silver insignias and badges. Like the rest of the Time Patrol members, the two young cadets wore light gray parade uniforms with gold trimmings. Those who had received military medals and decorations in the past also wore them with their uniforms. Nancy, having returned her British medals in protest to Prime Minister Churchill in 1941, wore her Canadian Forces medals and her Afghan valor medal, plus the Valor Cluster from the Global Council.

The four of them walked at a solemn pace to the front rank of new agents and stopped in front of the first one in line, Mona Zirel. Boran Kern shook hands with her while smiling warmly to the young giant.

“Congratulation, Agent Mona Zirel. I am proud to see that Global Council citizens were able to complete such a grueling training.”

“Thank you, Chief Administrator.”

Kern then picked up one of the gold insignias of field agent from the cushion held by Carolyn Anderson and pinned them to Mona’s collar. He next picked up a large silvery badge in its black leather holder from the cushion held by young Baran Mishtar and presented it to the engineer, again shaking her hand.

“Be proud and do honor to this badge, Agent Zirel. I’m sure you will.” Kern, followed by Nancy and the two cadets, then went to the next graduate, repeating the whole process. It took a good fifty minutes to review all 61 graduates, after which

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Boran and Nancy returned to the lectern, behind which Boran took place. Opening a folder, the Chief Administrator then smiled at the graduates, still lined up and standing at ease.

“This is now the time to honor those graduates who distinguished themselves in particular fields of their training as field agents. Since your talents will be put to the test mostly in the distant past, some of those specialties may not mean much to an average citizen of the Global Council. After personally watching some of the training of this fine group of men and women, I can assure the visitors present that what the graduates I am about to call forward accomplished took long months of training and much dedication and effort to achieve. I will start with the graduate who achieved the top score as air combat pilot: Agent Carmen Sanchez!”

As the crowd and graduates applauded while Sanchez walked to the podium, Boran Kern added a few words in the microphone.

“I was told that this particular honor was quite ferociously contested during training. I would thus wish to publicly commend Agents Lilya Litvyak, Hanna Reitsch and Katya Budanova, who came respectively close second, third and fourth for that title.” Stepping in front of the podium, Kern then shook hands with Carmen Sanchez and handed her an engraved silver trophy cup with wings. The pretty Puerto Rican then turned around and walked back to the group of graduates as Kern spoke again in his microphone.

“The next prize is for the top score as air gunner and goes to Agent Tom Allen, who shot a perfect score on his final practical test, despite the belief held by his instructors that such a performance was impossible to achieve.” More applause rang while the British teenager proudly walked to the podium. His prize was a plaque with a golden crosshair.

“Next, ladies and gentlemen, I will now call forward the top shipboard sensors operator, Agent Bertha Reinholdt.”

The next one to be called afterwards was Otto Skorzeny, as the top sniper of the class. Jack Crawford followed behind him.

“Agent Jack Crawford has the distinction of topping his class in two specialties: unarmed combat and nature survival techniques.”

As Jack Crawford swaggered back into the ranks, Kern cleared his throat again.

“The next candidate to be called forward is a very special case indeed. Formerly a royal heir in 1941 ‘B’ and with practically no formal schooling, she managed through

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very hard work to overcome her academic handicap and achieved good grades in all her subject studies. Further to that, she managed to top the class in three specialties: blade weapons fighting; archery and, finally, horse riding. Ladies and gentlemen, please applaud ex-Princess Elizabeth of England, now Agent Elizabeth Windsor.” Nearly intimidated, Elizabeth slowly got out of the ranks, patted on the back and encouraged by the other graduates. Once she was stopped in front of Boran Kern, the giant shook her hand warmly and spoke in a low voice to her.

“I understand that you have quite an interesting past in term of incarnations, miss. Still, it doesn’t diminish in any way your achievements on this course.” Kern then gave her in succession a beautifully crafted Japanese Katana sword, a silver plaque and a small silver horse statue, all with her name and class number engraved on them. Nancy bent forward and whispered to the teenager.

“By the way, do you know the nickname the others now use for you, in your back of course?”

“Uh, no. What is it?”

“Cutthroat Lilibet!”

“What? Oooh, the buggers!” said Elizabeth before smiling after a few seconds. “Hey, it does have a ring to it, though. Thanks, Nancy.”

Giving back her trophies to a waiting Carolyn Anderson, she then returned to the group of graduates as Ingrid Weiss was called forward as top gymnast of the class.

The ceremony concluded five minutes later with the departure of Boran Kern and the dismissal of the graduates for their vacation. Ingrid Weiss ‘B’ and Tom Allen ‘B’ ran to Farah Tolkonen as she was about to leave with Nancy, catching both near the exit.

“Farah, we would need a service from you before we leave this afternoon.”

“Anything you want, Ingrid. What is it?”

Ingrid glanced at Tom, then swallowed hard.

“Me and Tom want to get married. Could you perform a civil marriage ceremony for us?”

Both Farah and Nancy were speechless for an instant, then exploded with enthusiasm.

“Of course, I will marry you two! That’s great news! We could do it right away in my office, if it is convenient for you.”

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“That would be perfect, Farah.” said Ingrid, overjoyed. She then gave an apologetic smile to Nancy, who was grinning from hear to hear. “Uh, sorry for keeping this a secret even from you, Nancy. I hope that you will approve of this.”

“Approve? Hell, I’ll pay for your honeymoon, Ingrid.”

“Uh, no need for that, actually: we chose to spend our vacation on the Polynesian island of Bora Bora…in 10,000 B.C.E. Nobody will bother us and we will be as free as the wind. We will go well equipped, though.”

Nancy then kissed both teenagers on the cheek, tears starting to roll on her face.

“I am so happy for you two. You deserve the best in life.”