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

CHAPTER 15 – DOUBLE-CROSS

09:52 (GMT)

Tuesday, June 26, 3386 ‘B’

Basement detention and interrogation block

Headquarters building, Ministry of Security

London, Imperium

Group Captain Peter Townsend was still unconscious when he and a terrified Princess Margaret were brought in a large room with padded walls furnished with an assortment of sinister tools. Waiting for them and their four escorts there were General Veck himself and three experienced interrogators. Despite his loyalty towards his superior, Major Kossov didn’t like the way things were going. Veck, in full uniform, looked down coldly at the two British prisoners before concentrating his attention on Kossov.

“Report, Major!”

Kossov handed Princess Margaret to one of his guards, then came to attention.

“We have succeeded in capturing those two prisoners and delivering our ultimatum, sir. The girl is Princess Margaret Windsor, heir to the throne of England, while the man is the equerry to King George the Sixth. We were however attacked by at least five ships, which launched some sort of combat robots against us. Those ships hailed our ships and told them to leave immediately, then opened fire when we refused to do so. They belonged to something called the Time Patrol. Both of our destroyers were shot down and I lost six of my ground troopers during the fight inside the palace. Those robots were extremely dangerous and were equipped with shields and lasers, among other weapons.”

Veck was silent for a moment, digesting the bad news and trying to figure out what to do next.

“So, our Doctor Tolkonen did succeed in finding someone to protect her, then mounted an ambush against us. Did you see any of your human attackers, Major?”

“Our ship’s pilot saw the video transmission from the enemy ships, sir: an Ancestor spoke to us. Also, I heard on my radio one of my troopers before he was shot,

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saying that he had just recognized this Nancy Laplante as the human leading the combat robots. While being Ancestors, our enemies however operated with a

technology at least as advanced as ours, sir.”

“Damn, we need to know more about this Time Patrol and Nancy Laplante.” said Veck angrily before looking at the prisoners, then at the chief interrogator.

“Wake that man up and prepare both prisoners for interrogation.” Kossov, suddenly uneasy, tried to change Veck’s mind as both the man and the girl were roughly stripped of their clothes. Torturing a young teenage girl was not what he considered an act worthy of a soldier.

“Sir, if I may. The historical consequences of harming the princess could be severe, maybe enough to rewrite history.”

“I know what I am doing, Major. You and your men are dismissed. I want your full mission report on my desk in four hours.”

“Yes sir!” replied Kossov, hiding his displeasure. He saluted and left with his three remaining guards. Veck then approached Princess Margaret, who was crying from the humiliation of being stripped in public.

“If you think that this is bad, young girl, prepare yourself for much worse, unless you cooperate with us.”

Veck watched on as the chief interrogator made Group Captain Townsend smell a small bottle of strong salts. The British officer soon woke up and looked around him in confusion as he had both of his hands solidly attached to chains hanging from pulleys fixed to the ceiling.

“What…what is all this? What are you doing?”

Townsend then saw Princess Margaret, naked and held by an interrogator, and stared angrily at Veck.

“How dare you humiliate the Princess like this? Who the hell are you?”

“I am General Alan Veck, Minister of Security of the Imperium. You are now in the London of the year 3386, so you can forget about getting any help here. Now, I will need you to answer a few questions.”

Townsend briefly looked around him, eyeing the various torture instruments visible in the room, then looked back at Veck, hiding his fear behind a mask of defiance.

“Like hell I will!”

“I thought so.” said calmly Veck before turning towards the interrogator holding Princess Margaret. “Suspend her facing this man.’’

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Like Townsend, the princess was soon pulled off the ground, naked and spread-eagled by four chains. A female interrogator then grabbed a steel-tipped rod connected by a wire to an electrical control box and stood at the ready near the two prisoners. Veck approached Townsend, who was now sweating and appeared much less sure of himself.

“Here is the deal, mister: you answer my questions fully and you and the girl won’t suffer. If you refuse to answer or try to lie, then both of you will pay for it. If you really care about your princess, then you will answer me. First, though, here is a small taste of the things to come.”

On his signal, the female interrogator applied the tip of her electric rod on the equerry’s genitals, making him scream horribly for a few seconds. Veck let Townsend recover from the shock before speaking again.

“So, are you ready to answer me, mister?”

“What the hell do you want anyway?” answered Townsend, unable to stand the idea of the young Margaret being tortured because of him.

“First, I want to know if you heard anything about a giant woman called Farah Tolkonen who could have shown up in your London.”

Townsend swallowed hard before answering: he had read with the King the Prime Minister’s report about the M.I.5 illegal arrest of a giant from the future. Since that giant was now gone, presumably to the future with Nancy Laplante, there could be little harm in revealing that, especially if it could save the princess from being tortured.

“I am not sure about the name, but I know that last summer a giant, bald woman, was arrested by our counter-intelligence service and briefly held. Brigadier Laplante reportedly freed that giant and left with her, presumably for the future.” Anger flared in Veck’s face at those words.

“A giant? Describe her to me.”

“Please, the report didn’t say much about her, except that she was bald and had six fingers per hands. She appeared near London by using a portable device.”

“Damn! Tolkonen probably built that device secretly.” said Veck to himself. He then looked back at Townsend.

“When was that woman arrested, then freed by Laplante?”

“I don’t remember the exact dates, I swear. The report was dated from mid-July of 1941.”

Veck made another signal to the female interrogator, who used her rod for a second time. However, she did it on little Margaret, touching her genitals with her rod and making the

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girl scream horribly for a second before pulling back her rod, letting the girl crying with pain. Veck then stared at Townsend with cold, cruel eyes.

“Refresh your memory quickly, or the princess will have another taste of it.”

“I don’t know! The report didn’t say.”

“As you wish.”

Veck was going to signal to the female interrogator to give a second shock to the young girl when the door of the room opened, letting in King Stan the Sixth and ten of his royal guardsmen. Veck looked angrily at him as the King approached at a fast walk but didn’t dare chase him away. The King may have held little real power but, individually, he was still a formidable opponent. Even with forty security guards lining up in the back of his royal guardsmen, Stan the Sixth looked at both prisoners before eyeing angrily Veck.

“I just heard about your latest stupidity, Veck. Did you ever consider the possible consequences of this mission in the past? Do you really want to change history so badly that we end up erased from it?”

“Your Majesty, Doctor Tolkonen left us little choice but to chase after her. If left alone in the past, she is liable to change history herself and get rid of us that way.” King Stan frowned at those words: Veck had just given the only justification that would force him to back his actions. Still, he didn’t like the idea of having to support that megalomaniac.

“Who are these two ancestors, Veck, and why are they here?”

“We took them to oblige the British in 1942 to cooperate with us in finding and giving back Doctor Tolkonen. We just found from this man that Tolkonen was actually picked up in 1941 London by Nancy Laplante, the first recorded time traveler in history. That same Laplante intervened again when we raided Buckingham Palace, with her ships shooting down two of our destroyers over London in 1942.” King Stan was about to ask again for the identity of the prisoners when the young girl pleaded with him, tears in her eyes.

“Please sir, if you are their King, save…”

The female interrogator then decided on her own to give a jolt to the Princess, making the girl scream horribly with pain for a second time. King Stan then drew his pistol in a flash and shot once the interrogator in the head, splattering her brains around. The forty security guards raised their weapons at once, pointing them at the King, while the royal guardsmen raised their own rifles and pointed them all at Veck, their indexes on their rifles’ triggers. Veck paled and broke in a nervous sweat as ten rifle muzzles were

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aiming at his head. Even if his own guards reacted speedily, Veck realized that at least one of the royal guards still would have time to shoot him. And that didn’t count King Stan, whose pistol was now pointed at him.

“Let’s be sensible here. Lower your weapons, all of you.” he said in a shaky voice.

The security guards slowly obeyed him, followed only then by the royal guardsmen. King Stan then went to the sobbing girl and gently caressed her hair.

“I am King Stan the Sixth. What is your name, child?”

“Margaret…Princess Margaret of Windsor, daughter of King George the Sixth. My friend over there is Group Captain Peter Townsend, Equerry to King George. Please help us.”

Cold rage filled Stan as he swung around to face Veck. The fact that the idiot had kidnapped such a historically important person was only part of the reason for his anger, which was very real.

“YOU KIDNAPPED THE ONLY BRITISH ROYAL HEIR LEFT ALIVE IN 1942? DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE IMPERIUM ERASED FROM HISTORY BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPIDITY? I WANT CUSTODY OF THOSE TWO, IMMEDIATELY!”

“But that’s impossible. We need answers badly about Tolkonen and the ones who helped her in the past and this man knows a lot. I am however ready to release the girl in your care, as long as she is prevented from escaping.” Stan knew that, despite his own bluff and bravado, his power was very limited compared to that of Veck. He thus nodded his head once, even if he didn’t like that bargain one bit.

“Alright, you can have the man, but go easy on him: we will need him alive for any deal we do with the British government of 1942.”

Veck then looked at his two remaining interrogators.

“Take the girl down and dress her up.”

The two men obeyed promptly, watching nervously King Stan’s pistol while freeing and dressing Margaret. Stan then took the small girl, who was the size of an Imperium girl half her age, in his powerful arms and whispered in her ear, using 20th Century English.

“Be quiet now, Princess: my powers are limited here and I can’t afford you to make more fuss about your friend. I am sorry but I will have to leave him here.”

“But he’s my friend and my father’s equerry. We can’t let him be tortured like this.” pleaded Margaret, in tears.

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“We have no other choice, Margaret. Come, I will bring you to my palace, where you will be safe.”

Surrounded by his royal guardsmen, King Stan then hurried out of the interrogation room, covering Margaret’s mouth with one hand to muffle her protests. After a last bitter look at the departing King, Veck turned to face again Townsend.

“Now, about those dates…”

10:36 (GMT)

King’s apartments, Royal Palace

London, Imperium

Miri Goshenk, advised by King Stan via radio, had two young maids and the palace doctor ready when the king’s party arrived at the palace with Princess Margaret. Celebrated as one of the most beautiful women in the Imperium, Miri was also First Mistress to the king and in charge of the palace household. She felt instant pity for the tiny girl Stan held in his arms when he entered the royal apartments with her.

“Come, little Margaret, let us take care of you. Doctor Voonlar will first examine you.”

The girl, her eyes red from crying, didn’t protest as Miri took her in her arms and gently kissed her on her forehead, then brought her to a guest bedroom where Voonlar was waiting. The old physician took ten minutes to examine Margaret, noting the electrical burns on her groin, before looking at Miri.

“She is mostly alright, Milady. Those electrical burns will be painful for a while but are not severe. I will treat them right away.”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

Miri then smiled in encouragement at Margaret and spoke to her in Neo-English.

“Do you understand me, Margaret?”

When the girl shook her head in confusion, Miri switched to English, which was still a widely studied old language in Imperium schools.

“Is that better, Margaret?”

“Yes.” answered timidly the girl. “Who are you, miss?”

“My name is Miri Goshenk, First Mistress to King Stan the Sixth. I will be taking care of you during your stay.”

“First Mistress? Your king has more than one wife?”

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“The king has no wives per say, but he has actually six official mistresses. I am the current favorite in the lot. Enough about me. Once the doctor is finished with you, we will find clothes more appropriate for a royal princess like you.” As soon as Voonlar was finished treating Margaret, Miri put her two maids in charge of dressing the little girl and went to see the king, who was working on his computer in his nearby study. Stan looked up at Miri when she hugged his back and caressed his face.

“I’m sorry if I don’t feel like returning your attention, Miri: I fear that Veck put all of us in very big trouble this time. One of our scientists fled to the past and supposedly enlisted the help of an advanced organization, with which Veck’s ships clashed in 1942 London. Two of our three ships were lost and there is now a real threat of having the Imperium erased from history by either our renegade scientist or by this mysterious organization. From my hidden sources in the Ministry of Security, I know that Doctor Tolkonen, our renegade, was trying to find a Nancy Laplante, a woman reputed to be the first ever recorded time traveler. Ah, here is the entry file on her.” Both Stan and Miri looked at the picture of Nancy, taken during an investiture ceremony, and read the one-page text on her. Stan couldn’t help smile in appreciation as he read.

“She won the Victoria Cross three times? If I am not mistaken, this is a feat unequaled in history. If she is really the one behind that mysterious time traveling organization, then we will be facing quite a foe. A beautiful woman, though.”

“Is she your type?” asked Miri softly.

“She certainly has all the qualities to attract me: beautiful, intelligent, strong-willed and athletic. The important question about her however is if she is our foe or only Veck’s foe?”

“Probably the latter, but she could become the former if the Imperium is not careful about its next moves, my dear. This entry on her is a short one, but she seems to have a strong sense of honor. Maybe she should be made aware of the different factions in the Imperium: she could then think twice before deciding to erase the lot of us.”

“A good point, Miri, but if she really met our Doctor Tolkonen, then she probably knows already about my power struggle with Veck. Talking of Tolkonen, I have extracted her personnel file. Read it and tell me what you think.” The file that Stan called up on his screen was much more substantial than the entry on Laplante and it took Miri a good ten minutes to read it carefully. As a doctor in

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psychology, Miri was then able to form a fair idea about the personality of Farah Tolkonen.

“She doesn’t strike me as a revolutionary type at all, Stan. She seems totally apolitical and is no sociopath, so I would say that Veck was the one responsible for pushing her into voluntary exile. You know how cruel and power hungry that man is.”

“Do I ever. So, we have a top scientist who was our sole expert on time travel technology and who has been pushed into exiling herself in the past by Veck’s excesses. We also have a soldier from the past who is also the first recorded time traveler and who may head a time traveling organization with a technology at least equal to ours. The crucial question now is what will that Laplante do next? I doubt that she will let Tolkonen erase us as long as we hold Princess Margaret here, though.”

“But, Stan, we can’t hold this poor girl here indefinitely. Apart from being a cruel move, her prolonged absence or even disappearance could be enough to seriously disturb history and erase the Imperium. Don’t forget that Margaret is the sole direct heir left to King George the Sixth and that she is supposed to be the Empress of the British Empire when the nuclear war of 1986 struck. She must be returned to her time as soon as possible. If not, we would be erasing ourselves anyway.” Stan looked up tenderly at Miri and caressed her cheek.

“You are right, as always. What would I do without your advice?”

“Oh, you would muddle through, by sheer brute force if need be, my dear Stan.”

“Then, what do you think we should do about the other British prisoner, King George’s equerry?”

“What is his name again? Do a historical search on him, please.” Stan soon found a few entries on Peter Townsend and, opening the one from Encyclopedia Britannica, read it avidly with Miri. What they saw made Stan swear violently.

“HOLY SHIT! He is supposed to marry Princess Margaret and then become the first Prince Consort of the modern British Empire. He will also father with her a line of descendants to the throne. If Veck kills him or maims him permanently, we’re as good as erased.”

Jumping on his videophone, Stan formed the confidential number of General Veck and waited impatiently for him to answer. Veck did so after the third ring, his face impassive on the videophone screen.

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“What now, Your Majesty? Since you took away the girl, my sole prisoner has become much less cooperative.”

As if to underline his words, a horrific scream was heard from the background, making Miri flinch. As for Stan, he looked at Veck with murder in his eyes.

“Stop that interrogation at once, Veck! If that man dies or is maimed permanently, it will change history enough to erase us all.”

“How could you believe that?” replied Veck, clearly skeptical. “He is only an equerry, no more.”

“Can’t you do your homework correctly for once, Veck? Go check the entry on Group Captain Peter Townsend in the Encyclopedia Britannica, and tell your goons to hold on in the meantime.”

Now looking unsure, Veck hesitated for a moment, then turned around to shout a brief order before returning his attention to his wrist videophone.

“I will check this, but it better be worth it, Your Majesty.”

Veck then terminated the connection, leaving Stan furious and frustrated.

“How could the Imperium Royal Council trust so much power in the hands of such a fool? I will never understand it.”

“I do!” said Miri, her voice bitter. “It is a combination of greed, fear and the hidden interests of the biggest crime cartels in the Imperium. Veck has quite a few nasty vices, vices which some of the Imperium crime syndicates were quick enough to exploit to their profit. As long as he lets them a free hand and protects them from our corrupt justice system, they will back him up, even by terrorizing other members of the Royal Council if need be.”

Stan looked at his First Mistress with renewed respect.

“You should run my secret intelligence service, my dear Miri. What kind of vices did you allude to?”

“Well, for starters, Veck has a taste for some very special kind of sex, the type which involves young girls and lots of pain. The man is the perfect psychological example of a sadistic psychopath, Stan, apart from being a megalomaniac.” Stan grimaced in disgust.

“The bastard! I should have killed him a long time ago.”

They were silent for a long moment, thinking about their way out of the present situation. The king’s videophone then rang. Stan activated it, to face Veck, who now looked much less arrogant.

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“Your Majesty, I did as you suggested. Group Captain Townsend will be sent shortly to the royal palace by ambulance. What do we do next, Your Majesty?”

“What do we do next?” said Stan, exploding in renewed anger. “You put us in that shit pit and you ask ME what to do next? I will call an emergency session of the Royal Council for three O’clock this afternoon. Be there and be ready to explain yourself, General.”

Stan then switched off the line and looked up at Miri.

“You better tell Doctor Voonlar that he will soon get a patient in a severe state.”

“I’m on it, Stan.”

Once Miri was gone from his study, Stan then did a few more calls to arrange the impromptu session of the Royal Council in the afternoon. He was soon done with that and slumped in his seat, trying to relax for a moment. Then his videophone buzzed again.

“What now?” He said with annoyance while switching his videophone on. To his utter surprise, the face of an Ancestor apparently sitting in a shuttlecraft appeared on the screen. The man was handsome, sported a thin moustache and was dressed in an old-fashioned dark blue suit with a white shirt and a dark blue tie.

“Good morning, Your Majesty.” said the man in a heavily accented Neo-English. “My name is Anthony Eden, Foreign Minister of Great Britain in 1942. I am now in a craft heading towards your palace and request access to your airspace under a flag of diplomatic truce.”

Controlling his excitement as best he could, Stan quickly activated a link to the Imperium Navy headquarters on his secure command videophone while facing the ancestor.

“Minister Eden, this is truly a surprise. Where is your craft now?”

“One moment, please: I will pass you to my pilot. I’m afraid that I am a bit new at this Space travel business.”

The face of a middle-aged woman with curly blond hair and wearing a dark gray uniform then appeared besides that of Eden.

“We have just appeared mid-way to the Moon, Your Majesty, and are heading directly towards Earth at a speed of fifteen kilometers per second. We request safe passage through your orbital defense systems.”

An alarm rang in Stan’s head at those words.

“What would you know about our defense systems, miss?”

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“My name is Amelia Earhart, Your Majesty. We know enough about them. Could we expect safe passage, sir?”

“One moment, please.” said Stan before putting that line on hold and facing the screen where the duty officer at the Navy headquarters appeared.

“Commander, I have on my private line a shuttlecraft transporting a diplomatic party from the past. They claim to be now halfway from the Moon, heading towards Earth. Do you have them on your sensors?”

“We just detected them, Your Majesty. Should we fire on them?”

“No! Send two destroyers to escort them to London but nobody is to shoot at it unless I say so or it becomes an obvious threat.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Stan then switched back to the line with the shuttlecraft.

“Minister Eden, do you have someone else apart from your pilot onboard your craft?”

“As a matter of fact, I do, Your Majesty. I also have a junior secretary, Misses Jennifer Collins, with me, plus someone who is most interested to meet you.” Another ancestor, a woman, then stepped in the field of view of the videophone. She wore a dark gray uniform similar to that of the pilot and sported neck-length black hair and had green eyes. Stan’s eyes widened at her sight.

“Nancy Laplante! I will indeed be interested to speak with you.”

“First things first, Your Majesty: are Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend alive and well?”

“Alive, yes. The princess is well enough but your Townsend has been badly tortured by the Ministry of Security before I could win his release. I expect him to arrive by ambulance at the palace soon. As for the princess, she is already here and being cared for by my First Mistress.”

The faces of both Eden and Laplante hardened at the news on Townsend. Eden was the one to speak next.

“Your Majesty, we are here to prevent more such unpleasantness between ourselves. My government is holding prisoner 43 of your people, taken during your raid on Buckingham Palace. We also have on board our craft the bodies of seven of your people killed during the same raid. More of your people were blown up with their ship over London but their bodies could not be recovered. Be assured that my government has no wish to continue with these hostilities and is ready to forget this regrettable

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incident and return your people in exchange for the return of our two people and the signing of a mutual treaty of non-aggression.”

“I commend the position of your government, Minister Eden, but what about the forces controlled by Miss Laplante? They are the ones who represent a real threat to us.”

“The position of the Time Patrol is the same as that of the British government, Your Majesty.” answered Nancy Laplante. “We are ready to sign a mutual treaty of non-aggression as long as Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend are returned safely and that the Imperium refrain from further incursions into the past. Know that the Time Patrol has the mandate to regulate time travel in order to protect history from irresponsible manipulations. Your ships were warned to jump back to the future but they answered us by firing at our ships, so we had no choice but to engage them.”

“What about a certain Doctor Farah Tolkonen, Miss Laplante? Do you hold her?”

“Holding is not the correct word, Your Majesty. She actually asked for my protection, which she got. She is intent on living peacefully with us and wants nothing further to do with the Imperium. Consider her as having retired to greener pastures.”

“Alright! I have already called for an emergency session of the Imperium Royal Council this afternoon, at three. You will be able to present your respective positions then. I will expect you on the roof landing pad of the royal palace.” Cutting the communication, Stan then called Colonel Xitak, the commander of the palace guards, to order that an honor guard be prepared for the impending arrival of a diplomatic delegation. Stan next left his study and went in search of Miri, to be told by a servant that she was at the palace infirmary with Princess Margaret. Stan took an elevator to the second floor, where the infirmary was situated, and found the two of them inside the infirmary, besides a regenerative tank where Peter Townsend floated up to his chin, an inflated cushion holding his head over the level of the amber regenerative solution. His naked body showed a number of burns and wounds. Miri was actually holding Margaret in her arms, so that the small girl could reach and caress the man’s head. Stan looked on for a few seconds, then touched Miri’s shoulder to attract her attention.

“Miri, could I speak with you for a second?”

“Sure! Just let me put Margaret down first.”

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Letting Margaret alone beside the tank, the royal couple walked to a far corner, where Stan told Miri in a low voice about the arriving delegation. After a first reaction of surprise, Miri made a tentative smile.

“Then, we could have a peaceful way out of this mess? That’s great!”

“We can’t gloat yet, Miri: while I find the demands of both the British and of the Time Patrol reasonable, the Royal Council may think otherwise. Also, there is always the danger that Laplante would renege on her word and change history to erase us after she is safely out of here with the princess. I myself am loath to run that risk, however infinitesimal it could be. The very existence of our Imperium is at stake, after all.”

“You would be ready to lie to them and set a trap for a diplomatic delegation? Stan, I can’t believe that you could think about doing this.”

“Sometimes, reasons of state security can force you to act like a bastard, Miri.”

“I see!” replied Miri, frostily. “If you will excuse me, I will go try comforting a little girl, Your Majesty.”

“But…Miri…”

Miri ignored him and went to Margaret, crouching besides her. The girl actually had tears in her eyes while looking at Townsend’s battered body. Miri gently touched her shoulder to make the girl look at her.

“Margaret, I have good news for you and your friend. A diplomatic delegation from Great Britain is about to arrive here soon to negotiate your release. Nancy Laplante is with that delegation.”

That name alone seemed to act like a stimulant for the girl, who jumped up and down with joy.

“Yeah! Brigadier Laplante is alive! We are saved!”

That reaction surprised Miri to no small degree.

“Uh, why do you think that she can save you by herself?”

“Because she’s the best!” exclaimed joyfully Margaret. “Wait until you meet her.”

“Well, we are effectively about to meet her soon, Margaret. Do you want to come with me for her arrival?”

“Yes, please! I would love that.”

Miri escorted Margaret back to the guestroom of the royal apartments, where she helped the girl put on a nice gown, even lending her a pearl necklace for the occasion. Miri then changed herself into a ceremonial gown and a set of expensive diamond and emerald jewels. By the time they were both ready a servant came to announce that the

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delegation’s shuttlecraft was on final approach. Hurrying to the rooftop landing pad, they arrived there to find King Stan waiting with a number of dignitaries and an honor guard of forty royal guardsmen. A dozen medical specialists were also waiting on the sides, ready to collect the bodies of the dead Imperium members reportedly on the shuttlecraft. Miri went to stand beside the king, still holding Margaret’s hand.

“You’re just in time, my dear. Here is the shuttlecraft and its escort ships.” whispered Stan to Miri. Miri didn’t reply, still miffed at him. The two escort destroyers were actually visible earlier than the much smaller shuttlecraft. The latter turned 180 degrees at the last moment, presenting its rear access ramp to the dignitaries before touching down smoothly. Princess Margaret was nearly jumping with anticipation as the ramp went down. The first to come down the ramp was Anthony Eden, followed by Jennifer Collins and Nancy Laplante. The latter was pushing an anti-gravity cart loaded with suitcases. The trio stood at attention at the foot of the ramp as the music of the old British national anthem played out of loudspeakers. The Imperium’s anthem followed, which Nancy saluted as well. They then walked to the King, to whom they bowed.

“Your Majesty, let me present myself: Sir Anthony Eden, Foreign Minister of Great-Britain. This is my secretary, Misses Jennifer Collins.”

“Welcome to the Imperium. I am King Stan the Sixth and this is my First Mistress, Dame Miri Goshenk. As you can see, Princess Margaret is well and under my protection.”

Little Margaret then broke free from Miri and ran to Eden, hugging him tightly. Moved, the politician hugged her as well.

“Don’t worry anymore, Your Highness, you will be soon home, I promise.” Eden then returned his attention to King Stan.

“Your Majesty, I would now like to present to you Miss Nancy Laplante, representing the Time Patrol.”

Stan smiled as Nancy advanced and stopped in front of him, saluting him.

“Miss Laplante, I have heard a lot about you lately, but there are still many things unclear concerning you. I hope that we will be able to talk about this together at lunch.”

“I would be pleased to, Your Majesty, to a point. If you would concur, I would like to hand over the bodies of seven Imperium members killed in combat.” King Stan, now grim, nodded and gave a sign to the waiting medical personnel. The twelve specialists approached the shuttlecraft with anti-gravity gurneys and were invited inside by Amelia Earhart. Stan saw Nancy tense up as the specialists disappeared

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inside, but she relaxed as soon as the medics got out with seven body bags on their gurneys. A solemn hymn played out while the specialists left the landing pad with the bodies. Ordering a servant to follow with the luggage cart, Stan then invited the delegation inside the roof access building, to take an elevator down to the level of the royal apartments. He didn’t miss the fact that Princess Margaret was now in the arms of Nancy Laplante and looking much more reassured than before. As the cabin was going down, Stan glanced at Nancy Laplante, who looked perfectly calm despite the obvious risks to herself.

“I noticed that your pilot stayed inside the shuttlecraft, Miss Laplante. Isn’t she going to stay at the palace overnight?”

“No, Your Majesty. She has to stay in the shuttlecraft to ensure its safety. By the way, how long do you expect it to be before we could get a preliminary response from your Royal Council?”

“Well, this afternoon session will be used to present the situation to the members and for your delegation to make its case, then there will be a closed discussion reserved to Imperium members to take a decision. If your delegation agrees with that decision, then a formal treaty will be prepared by our legal department, ready for you to bring back to the British government for ratification tomorrow morning. If, at the worse, we cannot arrive at an agreement today, a second round of discussion will take place tomorrow morning.”

“Then I will advise my pilot to take off and to jump back in time, to then reappear at nine O’clock tomorrow morning. No sense in making Amelia spend a night in such a small craft.”

“Hmm, decidedly this time travel business has its advantages.”

“And it has also its risks, which is why it has to be regulated and controlled, Your Majesty. Can you imagine having totally unregulated time travel, where for example time traveling tourists would show up on the sidelines at the battle of Waterloo to enjoy the spectacle?”

The metaphor made Stan smile in amusement as they left the elevator and walked down a richly decorated hallway.

“You will have to meet my son Len, Miss Laplante: he is only sixteen but he is already a history nut and has a true passion for the subject.”

“Is he?” replied Nancy, also smiling. She then took a standard data cube in its protective plastic container out of one pocket and handed it to the king. “Then he may

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want to view this with you tonight. It is a historical documentary the Time Patrol produced about a famous person of the first century C.E.”

“Can I see it too, Nancy?” immediately asked Princess Margaret, taking Nancy unprepared for that: she had meant the documentary to be seen only by Imperium members, not by 20th century British persons. It would be hard however to refuse the girl’s request now, especially after what she had gone through. Resigning herself to the consequences, she smiled to the princess in her arms.

“Of course you can, Your Highness. You showed yourself to be a brave girl and deserves a break in return.”

King Stan, who had noticed Nancy’s initial reluctance about Margaret’s request, gave her an inquisitive look.

“Is there something controversial about this documentary, Miss Laplante?”

“For people with strong religious beliefs, yes, Your Majesty. In 20th century England, this documentary would probably start a religious storm.”

“Hell, Nancy,” said Jennifer Collins, who had been working at the Hourglass Section under Nancy until the latter’s disappearance, “what is this documentary about?”

“The life and death of Jesus Christ.” replied quickly Nancy before changing the subject and looking at Stan. “Would it be possible to see Group Captain Townsend soon, Your Majesty?”

“Certainly, Miss Laplante. Once you are assigned your rooms and had time to unpack, I will lead you to the palace infirmary.”

“Could I stay with you tonight, Nancy?” asked timidly Margaret. “I would feel safer with you.”

Nancy smiled and kissed her.

“I would be honored, Your Highness.”

Their group then turned into a secondary hallway guarded by two royal guardsmen. Stan designated the doors on the left side of the hallway.

“These are the guest rooms. Miri will take care of assigning a room to each of you. She will also transfer Princess Margaret’s new wardrobe to Miss Laplante’s room. She will then guide you to the infirmary. You are of course invited to have lunch with my family and me afterwards. In the meantime, I have a few urgent things to attend to.” Miri Goshenk immediately took over as King Stan walked away, showing Nancy, Anthony Eden and Jennifer Collins their respective rooms and dropping their luggage in

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their proper place. Once everybody was installed properly, she led them towards the infirmary, where Doctor Voonlar met them. The old doctor bowed to Margaret, then spoke to Anthony Eden.

“I have good news about Group Captain Townsend, sir: while it will take a few more days of regenerative bath to fully heal him, he has sustained no permanent damage.”

“A few days? But we are due to leave tomorrow. How essential is this… regenerative bath?”

“Very! Without it, the group captain will be left with some nasty scars. Uh, I suppose that you don’t have regenerative baths in 1942, no?”

“The Time Patrol does, Doctor.” cut in Nancy, making the others look at her. “We will take care of Group Captain Townsend’s treatment after his release and will return him to 1942 London once he is fully healed. Was Princess Margaret subjected to any mistreatment during her captivity?”

“She received some electric shocks early on, I was told, but I examined and treated her and she is now fine, miss.”

Eden’s face reddened with anger at those words but was able to control himself.

“Just show us Mister Townsend, Doctor.”

Voonlar nodded once and, turning around, led them to a large Plexiglas tub filled with an amber liquid in which Peter Townsend floated. Jennifer Collins gasped at seeing that the man was naked in the tub.

“Oh my!” she said before looking away. Nancy touched her shoulder.

“Interrogators rarely care about the modesty of their prisoners, Jennifer. Don’t be afraid to look at the reality of things.”

“But the princess shouldn’t look. She’s too young for this.”

“She probably was stripped naked like Townsend by her interrogators, Jennifer. Look at her: she only cares about comforting Mister Townsend now.” Jennifer saw effectively that Margaret, still in Nancy’s arms, had bent forward to caress Townsend’s forehead. The R.A.F. officer was apparently in a deep sleep and didn’t react to her touch. Fighting her prudishness, Jennifer contemplated the man, noting the various wounds on his body.

“I nearly went mad with grief when they published the picture of you, when you supposedly died from the Gestapo’s tortures. How could anybody be so cruel?”

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“Cruelty has been a constant in humanity’s history, Jennifer. You will see it in the documentary tonight.”

Miri, who had been listening carefully to all this, looked hesitantly at Nancy.

“You were tortured yourself once, miss?”

“Yes, in 1941, by the German secret police. They worked on me for two days, trying everything, but I managed to resist them, barely. It is not an episode I want to think about.”

“By the way,” said Eden, “your courage under torture earned you a posthumous second bar to your Victoria Cross, Brigadier. I don’t know if anybody had told you that yet.”

Nancy gave him a dubious look, a flash of anger surging through her. She did stay calm, though.

“Was that for the benefit of the British public’s morale or was it really meant as a reward, Sir Anthony? I believe that your dodos at M.I.5 still consider me as a traitor.”

“It was meant as a reward, Brigadier.” answered Eden, embarrassed. “General Ismay reviewed the films taken by the Germans during your interrogations and demanded that you be considered for a second bar to your VC. The King also reviewed those films before signing the award act. Some in the cabinet objected to this but the king berated them personally at a special cabinet session I am not about to forget. As for the M.I.5, I will make sure on my return to 1942 to knock a few heads together. I would urge you again to reconsider your refusal to take back your medals, my friend: you earned them with your blood and pain.”

“Please, take them back, Nancy.” urged little Princess Margaret. “You are my heroine.”

Miri saw a tear roll on Nancy’s cheek as she bowed her head and looked away.

“I…I can’t! I have men and women working for me in the Time Patrol who are as deserving of recognition as me, yet the British government would never honor them, since many of them are German. I will accept back my medals when all of my people will be accepted for what they are: people of honor and courage who are risking their lives to help you, even though they had fought you before.”

“And what convinced these Germans to fight for us for a change?” asked Eden, skeptical. He and the others then saw a strange expression appear on Nancy’s face.

“Because they, like me and all the other members of the Time Patrol, are now changed people. Something happened to me in 1941, something that opened my mind

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to the souvenirs of my past incarnations. I since developed a technique to open the souvenirs of my people as well. I myself remember 9,000 years of history, lived as both man and woman, warrior and peasant, noble and merchant, German and English, Japanese and French. My people and me are timeless and have no ties except with Humanity as a whole. We are nomads wandering through time, with our ships being our homes. Those are the people helping you now to preserve the integrity of history, Sir Anthony.”

The others were silent for a moment, Miri in particular being hit hard by Nancy’s words: if true, then her Time Patrol would be that much more difficult to deal with. She definitely had to report this to Stan.

“Uh, I believe that lunch is about to be served. If you will follow me to the King’s private dining room.”

Nobody spoke on the way to the dining room, with many glancing from time to time at Nancy. The King’s so-called private dining room was actually a large hall richly decorated and with paintings, works of arts and ancient weapons and armors lining the walls. Five women and eleven children ranging in age from preteens to late teenagers were already sitting around the long table, with eight servants busy preparing a hot buffet in a corner of the hall. The persons around the table rose from their chairs when Miri entered with her guests.

“Princess Margaret, Minister Eden, Miss Laplante, may I present you the five other mistresses of the king and eleven of his fourteen children.” An exchange of greetings and polite words followed for the next minute, then everybody took place at the table. Nancy sat next to Prince Len, at sixteen the eldest son of the king and a handsome boy of high intelligence and pleasant personality. Nancy took an instant liking to the young history buff and both were engaged in an animated conversation about the history of the Second World War when the King entered the dining hall. Everybody again rose, making Stan smile.

“Perfect! Now that you are up, we can all raid the buffet table together: I’m famished.”

Everybody formed a line behind King Stan, the Imperium royals mixing freely with the members of the delegation. Prince Len clung to Nancy’s side as they filled their plates, continuing to talk with her about history. While they were going down the buffet table, Nancy saw Miri Goshenk whisper at length with King Stan, with the latter glancing briefly

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at Nancy. They were soon all sitting at the table, eating and drinking while chatting. Nancy took a moment to caress the hair of young Margaret, who was sitting to the left of her. The girl was eating quietly, looking both tired and tense.

“Relax, Your Highness: nobody will hurt you now. You should take a good nap after lunch. After all, you kind of skipped your night’s sleep yesterday.”

“What about Mister Townsend, Nancy? They were so cruel with him. Will he be alright?”

“Physically, he will recover soon. It is always longer with the psyche, though.”

“I was told that the Germans were even more cruel with you, yet you look fine now.”

“I got some help from above, Your Highness.” said Nancy in a low voice. Margaret’s eyes widened.

“From God?”

“Something close to that, Your Highness.”

Prince Len, who had been listening discreetly, then touched Nancy’s arm.

“Miss Laplante, while I have read much about the part played by religion in history, I have some problems understanding how people could act so violently and illogically when under its influence. Isn’t religion supposed to be mostly about peace and love?”

“That’s true, in theory, of monotheist religions, Your Highness. However, polytheist religions often thrived on war and blood, with the followers of the various gods often disputing or even fighting about which god was more worthy. Also, many religions which were well meaning at first had their teachings distorted to fit the views and ambitions of a few who manipulated them in order to gain power or money, or both. The Christian religion is a good case in point.”

Len looked frustrated as he tried to remember his historical notions about Christianity.

“It is an interesting subject indeed, miss, but the background information about it is so vague…”

“Not anymore, Your Highness. I gave your father a copy of a video documentary on the life and death of Jesus Christ, produced by the Time Patrol. Viewing is scheduled for after supper.”

“You did?” replied the overjoyed teenager. “How was it produced? Is it based on reconstruction of old evidence?”

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“Not at all, Your Highness. All the scenes were recorded live in Palestine during the life of Jesus, whose proper name by the way was Yeshua. I spent a total of four years in ancient Palestine to record those scenes.”

“So, you saw Jesus Christ?”

“You will see for yourself tonight, Your Highness.” said Nancy, chiding him a bit. Jennifer Collins, sitting opposite and to the right of Nancy, looked at her with envy.

“To be able to meet Jesus Christ. You lucky you! He must have been a fascinating man.”

“He was.” agreed softly Nancy before looking at King Stan. “Your Majesty, how are we going to proceed with this afternoon session of the Royal Council?” Stan took the time to wipe his mouth and hands before answering.

“The session will start at three, with only Imperium members present. That part will be used by me to put the members of the council abreast of the latest events. Your delegation will then be allowed in, to present its case and discuss any possible way to settle this crisis. Your delegation will leave the room after that, so that the council can debate and vote on the options proposed. I will personally inform you of the outcome afterwards.”

“Will a certain General Veck be present at the session, Your Majesty?” asked Eden.

“He will, since he unfortunately is a high-ranking member of the council. Why?”

“Then, I would rather have Princess Margaret stay away from that man, Your Majesty.”

“A very sensible and understandable position, Sir Anthony.” agreed Stan readily. “Now, let’s finish this nice meal without repeating that general’s name: it tends to make my stomach turn acid.”

Twenty minutes later, the king declared himself full and left the table, giving the signal that the meal was at an end. Excusing herself with Prince Len, who would have discussed more history with her, Nancy escorted Margaret to their room and put her into the huge bed. She was about to leave when the young girl looked at her imploringly.

“Please don’t leave me alone, Nancy. I’m scared of these giants.”

“But many of them are nice people, like Prince Len and Dame Goshenk.”

“I’m still scared, Nancy.”

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Hesitating only briefly, Nancy then smiled to the princess and undressed before getting into bed herself and passing a protective arm around the girl.

“Is that better, Your Highness?”

“It would be even better if you called me simply Margaret, Nancy.”

“Then Margaret it is. Sweet dreams, my pretty little princess.”

In a special surveillance room two levels above Nancy’s room, a psychologist sitting in front of a bank of video monitors and recorders nodded her head and took a few notes on an electronic pad before turning to look at King Stan.

“A very interesting character so far, this Nancy Laplante, Your Majesty. The princess is also obviously infatuated with her as a sort of heroine.”

“You might as well take a break and get a temporary relief while Laplante sleeps, Lieutenant. I want you to be in top shape to watch and analyze a documentary which will be viewed in my apartments tonight. It was produced by Laplante’s organization.”

“I will certainly watch it with interest, Your Majesty.”

15: 46 (GMT)

Antechamber of the Royal Council Chamber

Royal Palace

London, Imperium

“Ah, at last!” said Anthony Eden in a low voice when the master of ceremony had the twin doors of the Royal Council Chamber opened by the four guards standing in front of them. The distinguished old man then approached Eden and bowed to him.

“Your delegation is now welcome to enter the chamber, Sir Anthony.”

“Thank you, Lord Carnavon.”

With Nancy Laplante to his right and Jennifer Collins two paces behind, Eden walked calmly in the chamber, a large room with walls painted royal blue and with a huge conference table in the middle. Four wide video screens adorned the corners of the chamber, while each of the positions at the table had a computer and a viewing screen. A total of 29 persons, including King Stan, sat around the table. Lord Carnavon showed to Eden three unoccupied seats at the table’s end opposite the king. The seats sported booster cushions, to let the smaller than usual visitors sit at an appropriate height.

“Please take place, Sir Anthony.”

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Thanking him again, Eden sat down and looked at the faces around the table. One face in particular, that of a thin man with cold eyes and wearing a green uniform, caught his eyes.

“So, there is that General Veck.” he whispered to Nancy, who nodded her head.

“I have him already covered, Minister Eden.”

King Stan then spoke up in his table microphone.

“Welcome to this session of the Royal Council, Sir Anthony. You may present your delegation now.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Ladies and gentlemen of the council, I am Sir Anthony Eden, Foreign Minister of Great Britain in 1942 and Special Envoy of King George the Sixth of England. To my left is Misses Jennifer Collins, my travel secretary, and to my right is Miss Nancy Laplante, Chief of Operations of the Time Patrol.” All eyes stared at once at Nancy, many of them frankly hostile, as Eden went on.

“We have come here with two main goals in mind: first, to win the safe release of Princess Margaret of Windsor and of Group Captain Peter Townsend, Equerry to King George the Sixth, who were kidnapped without provocation in Buckingham Palace on the night of May 20th of 1942; and to try to prevent further hostilities between us. We hope that, in exchange with the return of our two people, we could return to you the 42 members of the Imperium presently held in London in 1942 and sign a treaty of non-aggression between Great-Britain and the Imperium. This whole business had no reason to happen and the consequences of further hostilities are too grave to consider, especially for the Imperium.”

A man in a dark blue uniform with gold braid seemed to take exception to Eden’s last words.

“What do you mean by this, Sir Anthony? That you can win over the Imperium in a fight? My navy could walk over the Great Britain of 1942 in an hour.”

“Your victory would be a Pyrrhic one indeed, sir.” replied coldly Eden. “You would then return to the year 3386 to find the Imperium erased from history and replaced by something probably entirely different. I will however let Miss Laplante, who is an expert on this subject, explain the logic behind this.”

“Thank you, Sir Anthony. Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen of the Royal Council, history could be described in this case as a high rise building with fragile foundations. You kick these foundations away and the whole building will collapse and will have to be rebuilt from scratch. Attacking and devastating Great Britain in 1942

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would irremediably change history and start something nobody could even guess how it would end looking like. The British would not even need to resist you to destroy you, since you would essentially destroy yourselves. Believe me when I say that history cannot be tampered with lightly. On the other hand, if you refuse to hand over Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend, the result would be about the same. With its sole remaining direct heir gone, the House of Windsor would eventually fade away in a constitutional crisis, the history of Great Britain would be heavily affected and changed and the resulting historical distortion shockwave would either erase or heavily modify the Imperium you know. Another option would be that Great Britain fights back, not militarily per say, but by actively steering its long-term policies in a way that would result in the ultimate disappearance from history of the Imperium. This may justly sound alarming to you, but things don’t need to happen that way. In fact, this crisis is entirely the creation of a single man: General Alan Veck, your Minister of Security.” Veck banged his fist on the table, his eyes shooting bolts at Nancy.

“How dare you accuse me here, Miss Laplante? You are the one who took away our scientist and who shot down our two ships over London. As far as I’m concerned, you are the enemy, not the British.”

“And you emphasized that point by kidnapping the heir to the British throne, General? You didn’t even know that the Time Patrol existed when you launched your attack on Buckingham Palace. As for taking away Doctor Tolkonen, I would rather call it offering protection to a desperate woman who was pushed into an impossible situation by your own thirst for power.”

“WATCH YOUR MOUTH, MISS, OR…”

“ENOUGH!” Shouted King Stan. “General Veck, you will let Miss Laplante complete her presentation. Miss, I would appreciate if you could proceed with a bit less spunk.”

“Please excuse me, Your Majesty: I was never good at turning around the pot. I would now like to present as evidence a recorded statement made by Doctor Farah Tolkonen. That statement should be self-explanatory.”

Veck reddened with anger, while the King hesitated for a moment. Stan finally nodded his head.

“You may play that recording, miss.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

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Taking a data chip from one pocket, Nancy inserted it in the reader unit of the computer facing her and selected a file for viewing.

“The statement you will see and hear was made by Doctor Tolkonen in the room we provided to her onboard one of our ships.”

The King and the members of the council grew silent as Farah Tolkonen ‘B’, wearing her Imperium scientist uniform, appeared on the wall viewing screens, sitting behind a desk inside a large ship’s cabin. Farah looked straight at the camera as she spoke.

“Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen of the Royal Council, I am Senior Scientist First Class Farah Tolkonen, employed until recently at the Greenwich scientific complex under the authority of General Veck, Minister of Security. Four years ago, I started working on a project concerning the feasibility of time travel. As I progressed and proved theoretically that time travel was possible, the project was taken over by the Ministry of Security and I was made to answer directly to General Veck. I say that I was made to answer to him because, two years ago, I was briefly detained and tortured on orders from General Veck. There were no charges to justify those acts. Rather, General Veck told me himself as I was being tortured that he wanted to show me what would happen to me if I refused to do whatever he asked. He then told me that he needed a working time machine so that he could have the capability to go back in time and eliminate in advance any enemy or political opponent he deemed too dangerous to his goals and ambitions. I then continued working with my two young assistants on the time ship project, but I was starting to ask myself where all this would stop. My two assistants were moved to other projects by General Veck shortly after the first test of my prototype time ship proved successful a month ago. My prototype ship was then requisitioned by Veck, along with all the data and plans pertaining to it. That was when I resolved myself to flee to the past before I ended up dead in some unfortunate but convenient accident, along with my assistants. I put my plan to execution and escaped to the past on June 18, 3386, going back in time to the London of 1941 with my two assistants. There, we were able to find Miss Laplante, who was then kind enough to provide political asylum to us.”

Whispers and exclamations went around the room when a young couple walked in the field of view of the camera and stood behind Farah. Nancy smiled discreetly to herself: the two young giants who had just appeared on the screen were not Mona Zirel ‘B’ and Maran Tolvek ‘B’, the two assistants of Farah ‘B’. Rather, they were Mona ‘A’ and Maran ‘A’, the assistants of Farah ‘A’. The real assistants of Farah ‘B’ had actually been

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evacuated discreetly only two days ago via transit probes controlled by the scoutship WALKUREN, operating under cloak over the Imperium. The shuttlecraft that had brought Nancy, Eden and Jennifer Collins had not actually come alone, far from it. The message on the screens was not finished, however.

“Your Majesty, me and my assistants wish no harm to the Imperium. We would have been content to keep working for it if not for the megalomaniac ambitions of one man who is ready to rip apart the historical fabric of the Imperium solely for his own personal profit. We are deeply sorry that our escape resulted in heavy losses of life, but General Veck left us little choice but to flee. I would like to end this statement by solemnly swearing that I would never do anything to hurt the good people of the Imperium, among which I had many good friends. I am also ready to say that Nancy Laplante is a person of honor whose word can be trusted. She knows the true value of history and has no reason to hurt the Imperium, as long as the Imperium does not engage in acts which would endanger the integrity of history. We now say goodbye to you all.”

The heavy silence that followed was broken by Nancy’s voice.

“Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen, I could not have said it better. There are no reasons to continue with this unnecessary crisis, which would bring only doom to the Imperium and suffering to the people of the Great Britain of 1942. In exchange for the release of Princess Margaret and of Group Captain Townsend and for a pledge of non-aggression, the Time Patrol and the government of Sir Anthony Eden will return to you all the Imperium members currently held as prisoners in 1942 and would sign a treaty of non-aggression and non-interference with the Imperium. I believe that those demands are most reasonable. The choice is now yours.”

Many members of the council, including the King, were now throwing black looks at General Veck as Nancy sat back. The chief of the Imperium Navy however appeared still defiant, probably stung by Eden’s previous challenge. Veck lost no time to fight back, though. Rising from his seat, he pointed an accusing finger.

“Members of the council, what you have heard are a few easy promises from a woman we know next to nothing about and outrageous accusations from a traitor that couldn’t offer a single proof about what she said. Let’s look at Miss Laplante’s Time Patrol first. What do we know about it apart from the fact that it killed Imperium members? Who gave them the mandate to regulate time travel? Did anyone actually give them such a mandate or are they nothing more than a band of mercenaries

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plundering history for their own profit and interests? What tells us that Miss Laplante will not simply disappear somewhere in time after giving us an empty promise or, even worse, modify history in order to eliminate a potential competitor to her Time Patrol? I say that the Time Patrol is a mortal threat to the Imperium and must be run down and destroyed, along with whoever supports it. Yes, there probably is someone who is providing support to the Time Patrol. How could they get their ships otherwise? Since that someone can’t obviously be in our past, it must be somewhere in a distant future, or even in a parallel timeline of which we know nothing about. As for the British, I agree that we will have to return the two prisoners we hold in order to preserve our place in history. I recognize that tactical errors were made, but our raid did succeed in flushing out this Time Patrol and our renegades, Doctor Tolkonen and her assistants. I thus recommend that we free Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend and sign a non-aggression treaty with the Great Britain of 1942, while at the same time arresting Miss Laplante for acts of war against the Imperium, so that we could get the information needed to find and destroy her Time Patrol.”

Eden was about to jump out of his seat with indignation when Nancy held him down and whispered to him.

“Let it be, sir. I was kind of expecting something like this. The question now is whether the other members will follow his recommendations. That is not a given yet.” Another member of the council, a mature woman with a sharp, inquisitive look, then asked and got permission to speak from the king.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as the Minister of Science and Technology, something General Veck said is in my mind of crucial importance, even if it was only mentioned quickly. I am talking about the possibility that one or more parallel timelines exist in this universe. In fact, I believe that Doctor Tolkonen was reportedly researching that theory when she disappeared in the past. If it were a valid theory, then it would explain many things. Let’s not forget that Miss Laplante, as the first recorded time traveler, appeared in Great Britain in 1940 and supposedly came from the year 2012. We all know that by 2012 the world was little more than a radioactive desert. Yet, from the belongings she brought with her, including a ground vehicle, it appears that her world was far from being a wasteland. Also, a civilization comparable technologically to ours could exist in parallel to us and be the source of support to the Time Patrol. Remember the strange phenomenons we experienced three years ago, including widespread hallucinations.

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These could have been manifestations of such a parallel timeline. Am I right on this, Miss Laplante?”

Nancy silently swore to herself: the minister’s logic was flawless. Acknowledging the truth would blow away all the disinformation work she had done so far, while refusing to comment on this would be as good as confessing the truth. Keeping a straight face and a calm voice, she rose from her seat and faced the minister.

“Minister, while the theory of parallel timelines is interesting, it is still only a theory. In my history in 2012, before I was kidnapped by scientists from the far future, to be used as a guinea pig, there had been no nuclear war in the 20th century. My actions in 1940, when I was not yet aware how and why I had ended up there, probably rewrote history and set the stage for the nuclear war of 1986. When Farah Tolkonen showed up with her two assistants, searching for me, she unknowingly closed what I would call a time causality loop: she was the one who provided me the means to go back to the future and settle accounts with the civilization from which my kidnappers came from. That civilization then helped me create the Time Patrol. However, the Time Patrol is no longer fixed to a single location or time. We wander up and down time on our ships, which render us nearly invulnerable to surprises attacks. That is all I can tell you at this time.”

Nancy then sat back, satisfied that she had provided a plausible enough story to the council. She however didn’t realize that she had just made a big mistake: she had underestimated the level of treachery and plotting to which the Imperium was accustomed. Unknown to her or Eden, the visitors’ positions at the conference table were equipped with sensors which could remotely scan and analyze various body parameters in the same way an old polygraph test machine would, enabling King Stan, who was monitoring discreetly the data from the sensors, to know when Nancy lied or told the truth. Stan kept a straight face during her presentation, rising from his seat when she sat down and addressing the council.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that we can now go to the third phase of this meeting, to discuss our options and take a vote. Sir Anthony, if I may ask your delegation to go wait in the antechamber for our decision.”

“We will leave now, Your Majesty.”

Followed by Jennifer and Nancy, Eden left the council chamber and went to a comfortable sofa in a corner of the antechamber. Nancy sat next to him, so they could

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speak without being heard. They waited until a waiter had served them cups of Champagne and had walked away to speak in near whispers.

“What do you think they will decide, Miss Laplante?”

“I am not sure yet, Sir Anthony. That minister of science made me worried for a moment. If you don’t mind, I will ask you to let me concentrate, so that I could listen to the council’s discussion.”

“Listen? But we can’t hear a thing from here. That room is heavily sound-proofed.”

“Sir Anthony, here is a confidence to be kept strictly to yourself: I am a telepath.”

“A telepath? Dear God, this could actually be handy right now.”

“Indeed! Please excuse me if I don’t speak to you for a while.”

In the palace surveillance center, the specialist watching Nancy’s every moves tensed up in his chair: while he couldn’t hear what she and Eden said, he could read on their lips, a talent which was a prerequisite for a surveillance specialist.

“I am a telepath…” repeated the specialist to himself, feeling a chill go down his spine. He then grabbed his videophone and, without even bothering going through his shift supervisor, called the King. In the council chamber, Stan was watching the others argue animatedly between themselves when his wrist videophone buzzed. Activating it, he looked with annoyance at the junior specialist visible on the small screen.

“This better be good, mister.”

“Your Majesty, I intercepted something that Nancy Laplante just said to Foreign Minister Eden. First, though, I must warn you to empty your mind and to control your thoughts: Laplante is a telepath.”

A sense of dread and betrayal fell on the King at those words. In the 29th century, a scientist had created through genetic manipulations a number of persons with supernatural mental powers. Telepathy had been one of those powers. The general reaction to those mutants had been violent, with mutants, also called ‘psyonics’, mercilessly hunted down and killed. Even to this day, being a psyonic in the Imperium was a sure ticket to a quick execution. Forcing himself to keep his mind empty, Stan answered the specialist instinctively, without thinking his words.

“Thank you, Specialist, and good job. Keep her under tight watch.” Stan then switched off his wrist videophone and got up from his seat.

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“Ladies and gentlemen, there is obviously a lot of controversy on the present subject. I thus propose that we adjourn this meeting until eight O’clock tomorrow morning, to let you time to think this problem overnight. I will however ask the ministers of security and science and the head of the navy to stay behind for a moment. Thank you for your time. By the way, I will ask you not to speak with the British delegation on your way out.”

Then moving quickly, Stan preceded the council members out of the chamber and went to Nancy and Eden, who got up from their sofa.

“That was a short debate, Your Majesty.” remarked Eden, making Stan smile.

“That’s because the debate is not closed yet, Sir Anthony. In view of the level of feelings involved, I have decided to postpone the vote until tomorrow morning, to let heads cool down.”

“An understandable delay indeed, Your Majesty.”

“Isn’t it? I am afraid that I now have a few things to attend to. May I ask you to return to my private lounge in the meantime? A servant will show you the way.”

“That won’t be necessary, Your Majesty: I remember where it is.”

“Excellent! Then I will see you in less than one hour.”

Making sure that the delegation left the antechamber first, Stan then returned to Veck and the two other members of the council waiting inside the chamber.

“What is happening, Your Majesty?” asked an intrigued Admiral Vortak as the King led him and the others out of the chamber via a hidden door.

“Don’t ask and don’t think about it, Admiral! Trust me on this.” They followed a narrow hallway devoid of doors for a good fifty paces before encountering a steel security door. Stan put his hand on a fingerprint recognition pad and made the door slide open, revealing a small hangar housing three aircars. He then motioned to the duty driver sitting at a desk and reading an electronic book.

“Ben, we are going out for a ride. We will head East towards the sea at top speed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” answered the duty driver, jumping on his feet and running towards a big black aircar and opening its doors. Stan and the three others piled in the rear section and barely had time to buckle their seat belts before the aircar flew out of its second level hangar and climbed into the sky. After one minute of flying at top speed, Stan sighed with relief and looked gravely at the others.

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“I am sorry about this little mystery but I was just informed that Laplante is a telepath: her words were intercepted as she confided to Eden in the antechamber.”

“A psyonic!” spat out Veck with revulsion. “Then she came here to spy on us under the cover of a diplomatic mission.”

“Probably. We will now have to be extremely cautious with her. Minister Daewo, if I remember well, they had developed a technique in the 29th century to neutralize the special mental powers of the psyonics, no?”

“They did, Your Majesty. It was a sort of emitter which produced a specific wavelength that interfered with the special brain activity of the psyonics. It also gave them headaches as a side effect.”

“Then we need such an emitter. How long would it take to manufacture one?” The minister of science and technology thought for a moment.

“We may not need to manufacture one, Your Majesty. If I remember well, there is still a working model exposed in the London Museum of Science.” Stan immediately turned his head to look at the driver.

“Ben, head to the London Museum of Science now.”

He then looked back at the three members of the council, a mean smile on his face.

“Once we will have something to counter Miss Laplante’s powers, we will turn the tables on her. Here is what I propose we do…”

18:57 (GMT)

The King’s private dining room

Royal Palace

“Now, that was an excellent lamb roast, wasn’t it, Miss Laplante?” said merrily Stan while wiping his mouth and hands. Nancy, not feeling well and with a constant buzz inside her head, smiled weakly.

“It was, Your Majesty, but I seem to have developed a persistent headache. Would you mind if I skipped the dessert?”

“It’s your loss. We could review your historical documentary once we are all finished eating.”

“Yes! I would love that.” exclaimed Princess Margaret.

“Then we will do so.” pronounced Stan. “No point in making our dear Margaret wait much longer.”

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“I have to say that I am myself quite interested in it, Your Majesty.” said Anthony Eden. “I may add that your son Len is positively jumping with impatience in his chair.”

“Surprise, surprise.” replied Stan, amused. “Then let’s devour the chocolate cake quickly.”

The chocolate cake was eaten with nearly indecent haste, then the royal family and the British joined Nancy on the sofas facing the big viewing screen of the king’s private lounge. Stan noticed that young Margaret sat beside Nancy, gluing herself to her in search of a feeling of security. Despite knowing that Nancy was a psyonic, Stan still could not get himself to hate or despise her: she had shown too much decency and care as a person for that. Grabbing the remote control of the viewing unit, Stan started the documentary, which started with a choice of sound and video features.

“Hmm, do we listen to this in the original ancient languages, with subtitles in English, or do you guys prefer English only?”

“Go with the ancient languages, Dad.” said Prince Len. “It will put us in the proper context and will feel more authentic.”

“You’re right, Son, as always.”

They then sat mostly in silence through the long documentary. Stan, while truly fascinated by it, was surprised to see how deeply it struck the three British present, especially young Margaret. The young princess burst into tears on a number of occasions but was always comforted by Laplante, even as the latter still suffered from headaches. Near the end, when Yeshua was shown dying on his cross while a number of female disciples, including Nancy, were looking on and crying, all the British burst in tears, along with Nancy. Stan himself had a lump in his throat while watching that scene and Yeshua’s subsequent burial. His sadness turned to amazement when Yeshua was resurrected and appeared to Miriam of Magdala and others. The final scene showed Nancy and Miriam, astride Pegasus, flying off and away. Stan’s interest went up again as the credits appeared on the screen. There were however obvious blanks and missing information in the credits, showing that the documentary had been carefully edited to take out any indication of where and when it had been produced. Stan’s attention returned to Nancy, who was holding an awed Margaret while Eden and Jennifer Collins were staring at her.

“Saint Mary Magdalene is living with the Time Patrol, Nancy?” asked Jennifer Collins in a weak voice nearly choked by sobs. Nancy nodded slowly her head.

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“She is. How could I refuse Yeshua’s last request?”

“That Miriam of Magdala, she seemed pregnant to me at the end, wasn’t she?” remarked one of Stan’s mistresses. While Nancy gave her an annoyed look, Jennifer’s mouth opened wide as she realized the implications of this.

“She…she’s not carrying a child from Jesus Christ, Nancy?” Seeing that it was pointless to deny that, Nancy bowed her head and sighed in resignation.

“Yes, she was. That was one of the reasons I gave her my protection. Her son would have become the target of Yeshua’s enemies. Besides, history had no place for him. His presence, if publicly known, would have hopelessly wrecked History by creating controversy and religious conflicts. Just look at what kind of heated disputes or even violence the mere allusion of a possible offspring of Yeshua did create. Hell, even saying that Yeshua was married to Miriam has been enough to start shouting matches among Christians.’’”

“The son of Jesus Christ…” said weakly Anthony Eden. Jennifer knelt in front of Nancy, taking hold of her hands. She had tears in her eyes as she looked up at her friend.

“What is his name, Nancy?”

“David. Look, you, Sir Anthony and Princess Margaret must promise not to tell others back in England about what you saw in this documentary or learned from me tonight.”

“You can count on my discretion.” said Jennifer.

“On mine too, Miss Laplante, or should I say Nava, disciple of Jesus.” said Eden.

“Just Nancy will do, Sir Anthony. What about you, Margaret?”

“Can’t I tell at least my parents?” asked timidly the girl, attracting a smile from Nancy.

“Alright, you can tell the King and the Queen, but nobody else. You promise?”

“I promise!”

“Uh, Miss Laplante,” cut in Prince Len, “how do you explain Yeshua’s resurrection? I see no scientific explanation to this.”

“That’s because there are none, Your Highness. Yeshua was resurrected by The One, an immaterial being of infinite power but also of great kindness and compassion.”

“The One?”

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“Yes! Others may call him ‘God’, even though that would be a misrepresentation. The One helped and transformed me while I was held in Colditz Castle.”

“Transformed you?” said Stan, suddenly tense. Nancy nodded, her expression grave.

“He healed my wounds and made me a better person. Since then, I have vowed to promote compassion, kindness and tolerance and to protect the innocents. Recalling my past lives was something I got from The One. In turn, The One resurrected Yeshua and transformed him into an angel. Now, if you will excuse me, I think that I will go to bed early: my migraines are still hunting me.”

“Could I sleep besides you, Nancy?” asked Margaret. “Maybe you could tell me more about Jesus.”

“You have a deal, Your Highness.”

Stan waited until Nancy and Margaret had left the lounge, then looked at Eden.

“How important is this Jesus Christ for the people of Great Britain, Sir Anthony?”

“Very important, Your Majesty, and not only in Great Britain. The King of England also happens to be the secular head of the Church of England and has to be a good Christian. I never would have called Miss Laplante a saint, but her being a disciple of Jesus…”

Stan went to bed himself relatively early, joined there by Miri. She quickly noticed how tense he was and inquired why. Stan caressed her cheek while looking in her yellow eyes.

“Miri, tomorrow I will be forced to do something I will not be proud of. We found out today that Laplante is a psyonic and was spying on the debates of the council. We can’t trust her anymore, which means that we will have to find and destroy her Time Patrol in order to ensure the survival of the Imperium.”

“A psyonic? But those were mutants with deranged minds. Laplante is not that kind of person.”

“I know, but can we risk the Imperium just on her word? No! We will also have to find and destroy the people who support the Time Patrol.”

“But that could mean having to kill millions, maybe even billions of people.” said Miri, horror on her face. “These people have done no harm to us.”

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“Not yet, Miri, but we can’t afford to wait until they decide to modify history and erase us that way. I know that it sounds despicable but it is a question of sheer survival for us.”

Throwing the bed sheets away, Miri got out of bed and pointed an accusing finger at him.

“If you are going to do this, then you will do it without me, Stan. I will not be an accomplice to genocide.”

“Wait!” shouted Stan, jumping out of bed and catching her by an arm. “What are you going to do?”

“I am leaving the palace, that’s what I am going to do. There are still lots of jobs as psychologists available in London and you still have your five other mistresses. Goodbye!”

“But…I love you!” pleaded Stan as she started to leave. Miri turned around to look at him with bitterness.

“If you really do, then you will trust Laplante’s word and abandon this monstrosity of a plan for a genocide. If not, I’m out of here.”

Something crumbled inside Stan as Miri stormed out of the royal bedroom. Going back to the bed and sitting on it, he started crying in frustration and grief.

 

07:52 (GMT)

Wednesday, June 27, 3386 ‘B’

Antechamber to the Royal Council Chamber

Royal Palace, London, Imperium

“You look like hell if I may say so, Your Majesty.” said softly Nancy to Stan as the King was about to enter the council chamber. The King looked haggard and his eyes were red. He smiled weakly at Nancy, who didn’t look too fresh herself.

“You look like hell too, Miss Laplante. Your headaches?”

“Still having them. I barely slept last night. By the way, have you seen Dame Goshenk this morning?”

A hurt look came across the king’s face at that question.

“She…she is away from the palace today. If you will excuse me now, I have a meeting to direct.”

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To his surprise, Nancy quickly but gently took hold of his left hand while looking directly in his eyes.

“Please, Your Majesty, think about the fate of all the people who are in the balance today. Peace is so much better than war.”

The warmth of her touch and her concerned look, added to his own remorse, nearly bent him. Angry at himself for being weak at such a time, he withdrew his hand and stared down hard at Nancy.

“What do I have apart from your word to sway my decision, Miss Laplante?”

“Just my solemn word, Your Majesty. I was hoping that it would be enough.”

“Not when the survival of the Imperium is at stake. Hope that the rest of the council is ready to believe you.”

Stan then walked away, leaving Nancy alone with Anthony Eden and Jennifer Collins, who had been watching the exchange from a few meters away. Now deeply concerned, Nancy returned to the two British, facing Eden.

“Sir Anthony, I have a bad feeling about this. Whatever happens next, I want you to grab your chance to leave with Jennifer, the princess and Group Captain Townsend, even if it means leaving me behind. Please promise me that you will do that, Sir Anthony.”

“But we can’t abandon you, Miss Laplante.”

“Yes, you can! You must safeguard Princess Margaret at all cost.” Eden bowed his head, not liking this one bit.

“Maybe they will decide to sign for peace, miss. Can you sense what they are saying now?”

Nancy concentrated in order to detect the thoughts inside the council chamber but immediately felt intense pain inside her head and had to stop her efforts.

“I…I can’t! My headaches only get stronger.”

The truth then struck her squarely in the face, chilling her.

“Oh my God! They must know that I am a telepath and have found a way to counter it.”

A nasty suspicion on her mind, she then discreetly tried to move a nearby glass by telekinesis. The headaches redoubled immediately.

“Damn! It is worse than I thought: all my special mental functions are affected.” Nancy then started to be worried: if this turned out to be a trap, then she would be nearly powerless to help the British who were with her, especially since she was unarmed on

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this diplomatic mission. Resigned to the worst, she sat down and waited nervously for the council to take its decision.

Half an hour later, the master of ceremony invited them in the chamber. Walking inside, Nancy and the two British faced the members of the council, who were all standing and looking at her. King Stan, appearing stern, addressed them in a strong voice.

“Sir Anthony, Miss Laplante, the Imperium Royal Council has taken its decision. Princess Margaret of Windsor and Group Captain Townsend will be allowed to return to Great Britain and we will pursue a treaty of non-aggression and non-intervention with the British government of 1942. In exchange, we expect the prompt return of all members of the Imperium presently held prisoner in Great Britain. Until they are returned, Miss Laplante will have to stay here as a guarantee in case your government or the Time Patrol reneges on this deal. We also want the return of Doctor Tolkonen and of her two assistants, Mona Zirel and Maran Tolvek, who are presently with the Time Patrol.” Jennifer Collins stopped taking notes and nervously searched for Nancy’s hand, pressing it as Eden replied to the King.

“Your Majesty, I thank you for allowing Princess Margaret and Group Captain Townsend to go free, but I must protest your demand for Miss Laplante to stay here. She came unarmed under a diplomatic truce agreed to by you and by all conventions must enjoy the protection of such a diplomatic status.”

“We appreciate her status, Sir Anthony, but she is the only guarantee we have of seeing our captive members again.”

Eden was about to fire back another objection but Nancy cut him short.

“Your Majesty, since our word of honor doesn’t seem to be enough for you and this council, I will willingly stay here until all the Imperium personnel held in Great Britain are safely back in the Imperium. As for your demand for the return of Doctor Tolkonen and of her two assistants I, as Chief of Operations of the Time Patrol, must refuse. These three persons requested and obtained political asylum and will not be put back at the mercy of the same man who started this whole crisis.” King Stan looked in exasperation at her.

“Then, you will force us to keep you until our three renegades are returned to us.”

“Such a move, Your Majesty, would be interpreted by the Time Patrol as a declaration of war by the Imperium. Think again about the consequences of your

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demands, Your Majesty. Is the persecution of three innocent people worth risking the existence of your Imperium?”

From the various reactions of the council members and of the King, Nancy knew that her last argument had struck hard. After a short hesitation, the King looked back at Nancy.

“That last point could be discussed while we await the return of our personnel. In the meantime, you may go collect Group Captain Townsend at the infirmary.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Be advised that our shuttlecraft due to pick up our delegation will be bringing back five of your Ministry of Security troopers captured in Buckingham Palace, as a gesture of good faith.”

“That gesture is appreciated, Miss Laplante. Colonel Xitak, commander of the palace guards, will escort you now to the infirmary.”

As the delegation turned around and left the council chamber behind a big Royal Guards senior officer, Jennifer pleaded with Nancy.

“You can’t seriously stay here, Nancy. God knows what they could do to you.”

“I must stay, Jennifer. Do you prefer that they hold on to all of us, including the Princess? Where is the Princess anyway?”

“With the royal family in the King’s private lounge.”

“Then go get her and bring her to the infirmary right now. We must stay together from now on until your departure.”

Jennifer nodded and was about to peel away from the group when one of the four soldiers following close behind cut her path off and pushed her back towards Nancy.

“Hey! What…”

Nancy reacted immediately out of sheer frustration. She pushed the soldier back hard with one arm, sending the 130-kilogram man slamming loudly against a wall as if he was a small puppet.

“Stop pushing us around! We are still supposed to be treated like a diplomatic delegation, or don’t you know what this means?”

The three other soldiers pointed nervously their rifles at Nancy as their comrade, half knocked out, slid down to the floor while grimacing with pain. Colonel Xitak then intervened, barking an order at the soldiers.

“Lower your rifles! Private Koresh, pick up Private Jerkins and help him to the infirmary.”

Xitak then faced Nancy and looked at her hard.

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“I don’t know how you managed to push Jerkins so hard, but I would appreciate if you would not use violence on my men, miss.”

“And I would appreciate that our diplomatic status be respected, Colonel. Misses Collins was simply going to fetch Princess Margaret. We are not prisoners yet, I believe.”

After a short hesitation, Xitak looked at his two remaining soldiers.

“You may return to your duties. Dismissed!”

With the soldiers walking away, Jennifer finally could break off and head towards the King’s private lounge while Nancy, Eden and Xitak continued towards the infirmary, arriving there just behind Koresh and Jerkins. Doctor Voonlar, who was waiting besides a gurney on which Peter Townsend lay, looked with surprise as the wounded soldier was laid on a bed by a medic.

“What happened to that man?”

“I’m in my period of the month and he pissed me off, Doc.” answered Nancy, attracting a giggle from Eden. “How is Mister Townsend?”

“Uh, he is stable and conscious. I made a copy of his medical treatment file and put it in an envelope under his pillow. You can wheel him out when you wish so, miss.”

“Doctor,” called the medic examining the wounded soldier, “could you come here? I think that this soldier has a dislocated shoulder and two broken ribs.”

“What the hell?” said Xitak, looking with wonderment at Nancy before joining the doctor besides the wounded soldier. Ignoring Eden’s own questioning look, Nancy went to Townsend, who was half covered with bandages and was half sitting on the gurney, which had its head and back part raised.

“How do you feel, Mister Townsend?”

“I have felt better before, Brigadier. Thanks for helping us…again.”

“It was a pleasure. Princess Margaret is safe and well and will join us here shortly. Then we will collect our luggage and go take our air ride out of here, minus myself: they won’t let me go until their people held prisoner in London are returned here.”

Townsend put a bandaged hand on her arm while looking at her with concern.

“Don’t stay here, Brigadier. These people can’t be trusted. That Veck in particular is a sadist of the worst kind. He would torture you just for the fun of it.”

“I know: I’ve met his type before. He will pay soon for his crimes, this I swear. You are ready to leave this pit of jackals, mister?”

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“The faster the better, Brigadier.”

Nancy went behind the head of the gurney and started pushing it towards the door of the infirmary, followed by Anthony Eden. She was nearly at the door when Jennifer Collins and Princess Margaret showed up, having obviously run. Margaret immediately went to Townsend and kissed him repeatedly on the cheeks.

“Thank God, we are leaving at last, Mister Townsend.”

She then stayed close besides the gurney as it rolled, her right hand on Townsend’s left arm. With Xitak following them closely, Nancy pushed the gurney towards the visitors’ suites. Once there, she parked the gurney in the hallway and looked at Jennifer and Sir Anthony.

“Sir Anthony, you stay here with the Princess and Mister Townsend. I will collect the luggage cart. Jennifer, you help me load our luggage on the cart. Let’s go!” Less than five minutes later they were on their way to the rooftop landing pad, with Nancy pushing the anti-gravity cart while Eden pushed the gurney. When they emerged in the open on the roof, they found Amelia’s shuttlecraft already on the pad, but with its ramp still closed. Fifty royal guardsmen, a few dignitaries and the King were standing around the pad. Nancy also noticed General Veck, with ten security guards, waiting near the King. Ignoring him, Nancy led her group towards the shuttlecraft, whose rear ramp was now opening. Nancy stopped her group twenty meters from the craft, not wanting to make the Imperium soldiers trigger-happy by making them think that she would try to leave without respecting her end of the bargain. She was happy to see Otto Skorzeny, in full body armor and armed with a TERMINATOR assault rifle, walk down the ramp and survey calmly the people around the landing pad. With all the Imperium troopers around pointing their rifles at Otto, the big German walked to Nancy and came to attention, clicking his heels together before speaking loudly in German, spooking the four British near Nancy.

“The five Imperium prisoners are ready to disembark, Nancy. What are your orders?”

“You can let them out now, Otto. Before that, though, listen carefully: our conversation is probably being monitored. There is something that is blocking my mental powers here and I suspect that it is some kind of device activated since yesterday. We have won the release of Princess Margaret and of Group Captain Townsend, but they won’t let me go back with you and the others until the rest of the

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Imperium prisoners are returned. Don’t say that it is a trap: I already suspect so much but I have no other choice. The Princess must be evacuated to safety at all cost.”

“But they will probably torture you for information, then execute you.” protested Skorzeny. Nancy nodded her head gravely.

“They may just do that. I still want to give this deal a chance, though: the price of war would be too horrific to contemplate. They also wanted the return of Doctor Tolkonen and of her two assistants but I told them that was a non-starter. Tell Mike that any attempt to grab those three back should be considered as an act of war on the part of the Imperium.”

“Himmel, Nancy, I still don’t like this deal. You should come back with us and forget those bastards.”

“Otto, if you looked closely at this pad, you will notice that there are at least two tractor beam generators and four laser batteries hidden around it. This shuttlecraft would stand no chance if it tried to leave with me now. Just make sure to come back for me when you will bring back the rest of the prisoners.”

Otto saw her blink one eye as she spoke and understood her silent message.

“I will be back, Nancy. When do they want to conduct the second exchange?”

“I will have to ask the King. Escort the prisoners out in the meantime, Otto.” As Skorzeny returned to the shuttlecraft, Anthony Eden got closer to Nancy and spoke to her in a low voice.

“Where did you get that big bruiser of a German, Miss Laplante?” Nancy couldn’t help smile at the irony of the situation.

“That is SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Otto Skorzeny, of the Waffen SS division ‘Reich’. I collected him in Norway will he was fighting to the death with a major of the British Royal Commandos. That commando major is also a member of the Time Patrol now.”

“A SS officer?” said Townsend, shocked, from his gurney. “And you trust him?”

“With my life. He is about the best soldier I have ever met in my 9,000 years of life experiences. Don’t worry about him: he was an English woman in one of his previous lives.”

“Anybody we would have heard about?” asked Jennifer.

“You could say that. Otto’s spirit was once that of Queen Mary Tudor, better known as ‘Bloody Mary’.”

“Yuck! That man definitely has a past drenched in blood.”

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“Maybe, but you want him on your side, especially now. If you will excuse me, I will go speak with the King.”

As she left the British, she heard Otto shout in Neo-English to the prisoners inside the shuttlecraft.

“ALRIGHT, YOU LOAFERS! GET OFF YOUR BUNS AND MOVE YOUR ASSES OUT!”

Giggling to herself, she walked to King Stan and came to attention in front of him. The King was actually looking at Skorzeny with irritation.

“Where did you get that man, Miss Laplante? He could at least show some respect to our people here.”

“Excuse him, Your Majesty, but they don’t teach much good manners in the German Waffen SS. He is a hell of a soldier, though. This said, when do you want to conduct the second exchange of prisoners?”

“You mean the return of our remaining personnel?”

Nancy shook her head emphatically.

“No, Your Majesty. I meant the exchange of your people against me.” King Stan’s eyes narrowed as he stared down at her.

“What about Doctor Tolkonen and her assistants?”

“You won’t get back those three, Your Majesty. That point is not open to discussion. So, when do we do the second exchange?”

To General Veck’s fury, King Stan then nodded his head resignedly.

“Have it your way, Miss Laplante. Tell your shuttlecraft to be back with our remaining people in three days, at eleven in the morning. That will give us sufficient time to prepare all the documents pertaining to a pact of non-aggression and non-interference, which Sir Anthony could then sign.”

A chill then went down Nancy’s spine: three days was going to be a long wait for her, especially if they used that time to torture her. She however had no choice if she really wanted to give peace a chance.

“Three days it will be, Your Majesty.”

She then pivoted on her heels and walked towards Skorzeny, who was waiting near Townsend’s Gurney. Veck approached King Stan and whispered in his ear.

“That little idiot seems to have fallen for our trap, after all.” Stan then gave him a look of utter contempt.

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“Veck, she perfectly knows what is awaiting her. I saw it on her face. She simply is ready to sacrifice herself in order to ensure the safety of Princess Margaret. However, I don’t expect you to be able to understand people of her caliber.” The five Imperium troopers just released by Skorzeny then came to attention in front of the king and saluted him.

“Corporal Makinen and four subalterns reporting back for duty, Your Majesty.”

“Welcome back, all of you.” replied Stan, returning the salutes. “Were you well treated in captivity?”

“The conditions were primitive but within acceptable limits, Your Majesty. We were questioned verbally by the British but no brutality was involved.”

“Good! Is there anything that you noticed which could be of interest, especially concerning the Time Patrol?”

A female trooper stepped forward immediately.

“Private Rina Tonen, Your Majesty. While fighting inside Buckingham Palace, I encountered Nancy Laplante, who was leading the Time Patrol robots. I was at the time seriously wounded by four laser hits and was out of action. Laplante put her hands on me and concentrated. Her hands started glowing and my wounds healed by themselves in about a minute. She also possesses a monstrous strength: she picked me up and lifted me off the floor with one arm without apparent effort. When I asked her how she could do that, she answered that it was a gift from above. I know it doesn’t make sense, Your Majesty, but that’s what she said.”

“I actually understand quite well, Private.” said Stan gravely, remembering the documentary he had seen yesterday. The conclusions he was arriving at now were hair-raising. He then looked at Corporal Makinen.

“Corporal, report back with your troopers to the Ministry of Security for detailed mission debriefings. You are dismissed.”

The five troopers saluted again and, pivoting to their right, walked away in cadence. Stan then returned his attention to Laplante and the British. Anthony Eden was right now pushing Townsend’s gurney inside the shuttlecraft, with Princess Margaret and Jennifer Collins close on his heels. With Nancy Laplante standing thirty meters away, Otto Skorzeny, standing at the top of the ramp, saluted Nancy before closing the ramp. The shuttlecraft soon lifted off the pad and rose quickly in the sky, disappearing in a flash of white light a few seconds later. Stan watched Nancy intensely as she calmly walked back towards him. He had to give her credit for her courage and sense of self-

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sacrifice, but he could not let his feelings towards her affect his plans. Veck, still standing beside him and with ten Ministry of Security soldiers at his back, was nearly gloating as Nancy stopped in front of Stan.

“I am now at your mercy for three days, Your Majesty. Do you intend to keep our bargain or do you want to go back on your word and cause a war?” Stan examined in silence the woman facing him, trying to read her state of mind. It was clear to him that she felt fear right now, something he could hardly blame her for. She was however controlling that fear and was defying him. Her beautiful green eyes didn’t flinch as she stared back at him and there was quiet resolve on her smooth face. Stan hated himself for what he was going to do next.

“I’m sorry, miss, but I have to ensure the survival of the Imperium. There will be war. Guards, seize her!”

Two huge troopers, each twice as big as her, stepped forward and grabbed her arms solidly. That was when Veck stepped forward too, intent on showing off.

“You are going to give us the secrets of the Time Patrol, miss, or I will make you regret the day you were born.”

She looked up with contempt at him, fear replaced by hatred.

“Once a jackal, always a jackal.”

Then, in one swift motion, she violently pushed away the two guards holding her, making them fly off their feet as if they were simple rag dolls, then threw a single punch at Veck. Her fist connected with his plexus with a noise of crushed bones, smashing through the breastbone and exploding Veck’s heart into pulp. His eyes bulging out and blood pouring out of his mouth and nose, the Imperium Minister of Security fell back without a word or scream, dead before he hit the ground. Before the stunned onlookers could react, Nancy then rushed furiously into the pack of dignitaries and officers standing behind Veck, bowling over a number of them and clearing a path through the now panicked crowd. The guards around the King didn’t dare fire for fear of hitting some of the dignitaries, something she took full advantage of. Ripping a pistol out of an old officer’s gun belt, she then simply vanished into thin air, to the stupor of everybody around. Left speechless at first by all this, Stan then yelled at his guards.

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? FIND HER!”

Utter pandemonium followed, with guards running in all directions while panicky dignitaries were stampeding towards the roof exits. Stan was soon left alone with four bodyguards, Colonel Xitak, who was shouting orders in his wrist videophone, and Veck’s

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body. His own pistol drawn out, Stan approached the dead man and looked down at it with utter contempt.

“You got what was coming to you, Veck. I should thank Laplante for this before killing her.”

Closely surrounded by his bodyguards, Stan then returned inside the palace. He was thinking furiously as the elevator went down towards the level of the palace command center, situated deep underground. Veck’s death actually made things much easier for Stan: he could now gain back true control of the Imperium in this time of crisis, as crisis this definitely was. If he didn’t find and neutralize quickly Laplante, he would end up facing the Time Patrol in three days without having a clue how to find and destroy that organization or its sponsors. The Time Patrol was then certainly going to erase the Imperium by manipulating past history. He thus had to ensure that at least part of the Imperium forces and command structure survived such manipulations by withdrawing to the past, in order to be able to fight another day. He was still planning inside his head when he entered the palace command center, a heavily protected underground bunker which was the nerve center of the palace’s security and defense systems. Going to the enclosed office reserved for his use, Stan activated the secure videophone on the desk, calling the head of the Imperium Navy, Admiral Vortak. Vortak, sitting in an aircar and appearing agitated, answered him after the second buzz.

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Admiral Vortak, do we have any ships left equipped for time travel?”

“Uh, we have of course the original prototype time ship, a small affair actually. Veck had however initiated a crash refit program for select ships of our navy, Your Majesty. Our fleet flagship, the super battleship ROYAL SOVEREIGN, was just finished being adapted for time travel yesterday. Fourteen heavy cruisers are presently being refitted at the Bristol shipyards and should be ready in one to two weeks. We will eventually retrofit the whole fleet with time distorters, of course.”

“What business had Veck ordering this program?” fired back Stan angrily. “You are supposed to be the head of the navy, not him! Veck’s initiative may have been a correct one, but I will expect some real leadership on your part from now on. You work for me, not for Veck’s dirty little circle of friends. Is that understood, Admiral?”

“Uh, yes, Your Majesty. Have we found Laplante yet?”

“Not a trace of her since she killed Veck. I want you to make sure that the ROYAL SOVEREIGN is ready for departure on a moment’s notice and that it can

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accommodate a large command staff. If we are not able to counter the Time Patrol within three days, then we will have to send a force in the past, to avoid the complete eradication of the Imperium. In the meantime, push the retrofit program as hard as you can.”

Stan then cut that link and called Veck’s Chief of Staff.

“Brigadier Corona, I gather that you got the news about General Veck.”

“I just did, Your Majesty.” said Corona, a man Stan knew to have few professional qualities but who had landed his position mostly through blind obedience to Veck. “I was planning to declare an Imperium-wide alert concerning this Nancy Laplante, with your permission of course, Your Majesty.”

“Go ahead! Have also all the public video channels pass hourly warning notices about her until further notice. She is to be considered as an extremely dangerous terrorist to be shot on sight.”

“Your Majesty, shouldn’t we try to catch her alive, so that we could interrogate her?”

“If you can catch her alive, great, but don’t take any chances with her: she really is extremely dangerous. I don’t even know yet how she managed to disappear the way she did. On the other hand, certain indications tend to make me believe that she has a number of special powers which could be of supernatural origin.”

“Supernatural origin? Are you serious, Your Majesty?”

“Very! We are talking about a woman who has 9,000 years of life experience to draw on and can do things like healing wounds by the power of her mind alone. She also possesses the strength of ten men.”

Corona started visibly sweating on the video screen.

“Uh, I will pass the word, Your Majesty.”

Stan cut again the video link and thought about his next move. Unfortunately, his choice of actions was severely limited right now.

11:39 (GMT)

Friday, May 22, 1942 ‘B’

Inner courtyard, Buckingham Palace

London, England

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Margaret barely waited until the access ramp of the shuttlecraft was fully down before running out and climbing the wide steps of the palace’s Grand Entrance. The King and Queen, who were arriving at a run from their apartments, where they had been advised of the shuttlecraft’s arrival, shouted in joy and relief at her sight. The King was first to catch his daughter and hug her frantically.

“Margaret, thank God you’re safe! Are you alright?”

“Yes, father! Those giants hurt Mister Townsend bad, though.”

“Where is he?”

“In the plane, father.”

Letting Margaret in the arms of the Queen, King George the Sixth walked down the steps and towards the shuttlecraft, the rear ramp of which faced him. Anthony Eden and Jennifer Collins were emerging from the craft at that time and bowed to him in respect.

“Please, this is no time for formalities. How is Group Captain Townsend?”

“He was partly treated while in the Imperium but the Time Patrol will have to continue the treatment for a few days to finish healing his torture wounds, Your Majesty.” answered Eden while pointing at Townsend on his gurney. The King went to his equerry and looked down with concern at the bandages covering him.

“God, what have they done to you, my poor friend?”

“I would rather not give you the details, Your Majesty. They were ready to torture the Princess as well but the King of the Imperium intervened in extremis and took her under his protection. I am afraid though that Brigadier Laplante may be enduring now what I went through.”

Only then did the King realize that Nancy was not aboard the shuttlecraft.

“She stayed behind? Why?”

It was Otto Skorzeny who answered him in a glum voice.

“It was the only way to ensure the safe departure of Princess Margaret and of Group Captain Townsend, Your Majesty. The Imperium is officially holding on to her until we return all the other Imperium prisoners we have. Personally, I believe that they will renege on their word and will try to get vital information out of Nancy, apart from probably preparing an ambush for the return of our shuttlecraft.”

“The bloody bastards!” said the King in an atypical public outburst of rage. “We must get her back safely. Do you feel that your Time Patrol can snatch her back?”

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“We will get her back, Your Majesty.” replied firmly Otto. “I will now go back to our base to brief my superior on this. We will also bring Herr Townsend with us to complete his medical treatment. You should have him back in top shape in a few days.” The King then looked at Eden, who nodded his head.

“I agree with the assessment of Agent Skorzeny, Your Majesty. Miss Laplante suspected as well that she was falling into a trap but felt that this was the only way to get the Princess out safely.”

“Dear God!” said the King, discouraged. “She sacrifices herself for us…again. When I think that some members of the cabinet still think of her as a traitor. Will there ever be justice done to her name?”

“Your Majesty,” said Eden softly, “after this, nobody will be able to call her a traitor. That is if we can get her out of the Imperium alive.”

“Nancy is not dead yet. She has more than one trick in her hat, Your Majesty.” said Skorzeny with conviction. “We will find her and get her back.” On that, Otto had the British stand clear of the shuttlecraft, then closed the access ramp. The King was watching the craft fly off when Eden spoke softly to him.

“Your Majesty, there is something you should know about Miss Laplante.” Eden then told him about the documentary on Yeshua they had viewed in the Imperium royal palace. The King was staring at Eden in disbelief when Margaret, who had approached them with the Queen in tow, added on to the story with juvenile enthusiasm.

“That’s right, Father, and Saint Mary Magdalene is now living with the Time Patrol, along with her son from Jesus.”

13:09 (Central Europe Time)

Wednesday, June 27, 3386 ‘A’

Global government headquarters

Zurich, Central Europe

The secretary nodded his head to signify to Boran Kern that the videoconference was set up and all the links had been established. Kern looked briefly around at the 24 live screens on the bank of monitors facing him, then spoke in a clear, strong voice.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the High Council, please excuse the haste with which I called this videoconference but some urgent developments concerning the Time Patrol

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are necessitating the taking of some important decisions. I will now let Doctor Farah Tolkonen brief us all on the latest news.”

“Thank you, Chief Administrator.” said politely Farah from her own video link. She then spent a good ten minutes exposing the situation concerning the Imperium, finishing with a request for the authorization of the High Council to launch a rescue mission to save Nancy Laplante. She had personally thought that the need for such a mission was self-evident, thus she was quite shocked at the storm of protestations and negative reactions she got from the council members. The most vehement one was Golen Bartok, Global Chief of Security.

“Doctor Tolkonen, you are telling us that Miss Laplante was ready to go to war to protect those three Imperium scientists. Now you want to launch an operation that would be surely considered an act of war by the Imperium? Are you crazy? You are asking us to risk the security, even the sheer survival of our whole society just to protect three persons and save another one.”

“But, isn’t it obvious to you? The Imperium is intent on attacking us anyway as soon as they will know how to find us. Nancy Laplante may be in the process of being tortured right now by the Imperium to extract from her that information. Besides, how many lives are you ready to throw away to appease the Imperium, Mister Bartok? What will the Imperium ask for next time as a price for not attacking us?”

“I warned the council before about not approaching this Imperium for any reason. Now, look at the mess your Laplante has put us in.”

Farah became livid with anger.

“We were simply filling our mandate given by this council, which is to protect history from illegal tampering. The Imperium raid on 1942 ‘B’ London was just such an illegal tampering, and of the first magnitude to say the least. We used the minimum force possible to thwart that raid and Nancy risked her life on a diplomatic mission to try resolving peacefully this crisis. Now you would be ready to dump her in order not to take risks yourself? You disgust me, Mister Bartok.”

“Please, let’s keep this debate civil.” Interjected Boran Kern. “Mister Bartok, I agree with Doctor Tolkonen that the Time Patrol filled its mission strictly according to the mandate we gave it.”

“Then let’s change that mandate right now.” replied Bartok. “The Time Patrol should from now on be confined strictly to the direct defense of the Global Council and

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should be barred from returning into Imperium space. The chances are that the Imperium will then either ignore us or will not be able to find us.” To Farah’s anger, disgust and disbelief, the majority of the council members voiced their agreement with Bartok’s suggestion. Boran Kern and a mere handful of members tried to sway the others towards supporting the Time Patrol, but were overruled in a snap vote called on the question by Bartok. Boran Kern tried a last plea to change the mind of the council.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have created the Time Patrol to protect us from the effects of illegal manipulations of history. It has done its job superbly up to now, taking risks and facing dangers none of us would be either ready or able to face. Since its creation I have carefully studied the history of humanity and if there is one major lesson that can be arrived at from it, it is that cowering away from a potential aggressor only brings more grief later on. I know that we are a pacifist society but I would urge you to let the professionals of the Time Patrol handle this crisis the best way they see fit.”

“Chief Administrator,” replied Bartok, now feeling more audacious with the support of most of the council members, “you authorized the creation of the Time Patrol! You supported Miss Laplante even when she made grave errors of judgment. Now you want to risk the survival of the Global Council for her. I suggest that your judgment is greatly clouded when it comes to matters concerning Miss Laplante and the Time Patrol and that you should step down as Global Chief Administrator as a result of your poor judgment.”

“I second the motion for a vote of non-confidence concerning Chief Administrator Kern.” Said Daran Mien, the Global Science and Education Administrator and direct superior of Farah Tolkonen. His heart heavy, Kern had no choice but to conduct the vote called for by Bartok and Mien. His shoulders sagged when he lost the vote by a margin of 16 to 7. According to Global Council constitutional rules, he now had to transfer power in the hands of the Global Vice-Chief Administrator, Tran Ming, until a Global Council-wide election could be conducted. Unfortunately, Tran Ming was one of the council members who had voted for barring the Time Patrol from returning to Imperium space.

“Mister Tran Ming, you are now officially the interim Global Chief Administrator until such time that a public election could be held for the post. The formal exchange of duties will take place tomorrow morning in my Zurich office.”

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“Thank you, Mister Kern.” replied Tran, obviously satisfied with himself. He then addressed Farah. “Doctor Tolkonen, I now order you to bar your ships and your members from Imperium space and to organize defensive patrols around the Solar System. Your combat robots are to be put under the direct command of Chief of Security Bartok, who will deploy them as protection around key government and public facilities.”

“What if I refuse to do so?” Replied Farah bitterly.

“Then I will direct our security services to impound the ships of the Time Patrol and to disarm your members. Don’t force me to use our robots to do so, Doctor.” Tears of rage and disappointment rolling on her cheeks, Farah stared at her video camera.

“Mister Tran, you are ordering me to abandon my best friend, who may be tortured to death right now. That person once saved my life, plus the lives of many other citizens of the Global Council. On top of that, you are taking away some of our best defensive assets, to put them under the control of an incompetent who couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag and who never risked his life to defend anybody else. The decisions of the High Council today will doom the Global Council to an eventual invasion and takeover by the Imperium. I cannot possibly obey such foolish and unjust orders.” As Tran Ming was left speechless for a moment by Farah’s defiance, Boran Kern activated his computer and opened a secure program protected by a codeword only known by him. That codeword, along with others, was due to be passed on to Tran next morning at the official exchange of authority. Kern had never thought that he would be pushed into doing what he intended to do now, but the stupidity and cowardice of Bartok and of other members of the council left him no choice. Selecting an option in the secure program, he typed in the codeword that would enable it, then pushed the ‘enter’ button after a short hesitation. The command signal took only a second to reach its intended targets, modifying the programming of the command protocols controlling the Time Patrol combat robots. The option he had just enabled had been intended to prevent an invader who would have gained access to Global government command facilities from gaining control of the combat robots. Those robots were now going to obey only members of the Time Patrol. Boran Kern completed his work by entering another codeword and erasing the whole secure program from the government databanks. Tran Ming was ranting and raving at Tolkonen when Boran returned his attention to the video screens.

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“Doctor Tolkonen… Doctor Tolkonen!”

“Uh, what, Mister Kern?”

“Would you accept me in your Time Patrol?”

His question, asked in a calm voice, surprised Farah.

“Now? We could be about to be shut down by our own robots, Mister Kern. What would be the point of joining us?”

“That won’t happen, Doctor: I just turned full control of all our combat robots to the Time Patrol. I made that a permanent arrangement. When are we going to get Miss Laplante?”

Joy appeared on Farah’s face, while disbelief showed on the faces of Ming, Bartok and many others.

“Mister Kern, I could kiss your four cheeks. Do you need quick transportation to New Lake City?”

“Yes, but give me an hour to pack and say goodbye to my wife first. I will be at my Zurich home.”

“Mister Kern, what do you think that you are doing?” shouted Tran Ming, furious. Kern looked with disdain at the screen showing Ming.

“I’m doing what I hope many citizens of the Global Council will do: show some backbone at last. In all my years of political life, I had not realized how low we had sunk in terms of moral fiber and courage. Gentlemen, in earlier centuries, your cowardice would have earned you a sentence of death by firing squad. Now, I will join the people of the Time Patrol to try to protect all of the Global Council from your own stupidity. If I die, then I will at least have done my part. Goodbye, Mister Ming.” Ignoring Ming’s protests, Kern got up from his seat, then switched off the monitors before looking at his technical secretary.

“Please pass the word around, Mister Ganter: those who want to join the Time Patrol in the defense of our society are welcome to go to New Lake City. Technicians and engineers will be especially needed, along with qualified pilots.”

“It will be done, sir.” said the young man. “Good luck, sir!”

“Thank you, Mister Ganter.”

Kern was about to leave the videoconference room when two men of the security services, the same ones who provided protection to him until now, burst in, stun pistols at the ready.

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“Mister Kern, I am sorry about this but we have to arrest you for being accomplice to an act of mutiny against the High Council.”

“Correction, gentlemen: you are the ones who are about to be stopped.” The two men were confused for a second, until a voice came from behind them.

“Drop the pistols, gentlemen, slowly and gently.”

The two security men looked behind them and saw an Ancestor in full body armor pointing a stun pistol at them. Two combat robots stood at the ready besides him, their weapons turrets pointed at them. The security men immediately dropped their pistols, which Kern picked up and slid inside his belt. Bypassing the two men, Kern went to the ancestor, a young German man named Michel Hofmann.

“I must commend your timing, young man. Did you come in a time scooter?”

“I did, sir. I will get you to your home and secure it, so that you can pack up quietly, then will bring you to our base.”

Without warning, Hofmann shot in quick succession both security agents, who fell unconscious on the floor. Kern was a bit shocked by that.

“Why did you do this?”

“So that they couldn’t hear what I wanted to tell you and thus alert the High Council about our plans. We are pulling out of this century entirely with all our ships and equipment.”

08:27 (North America Central Time)

Wednesday, June 27, 3386 ‘A’

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

Boran Kern found Farah Tolkonen ‘A’ in her office, surrounded by a whirlwind of activity. Everybody seemed to be either running around with things, passing or receiving directives or dismantling equipment and packing it prior to moving out. Filling most of the view out of the windows of Farah’s office was the gigantic mass of the heavy time transport ship GILGAMESH, resting on its landing legs on the lawn adjacent to the headquarters building and with its cargo ramps deployed. Anti-gravity platforms and forklifts loaded with pallets of equipment and supplies kept going to and from the big ship. On seeing Kern, Farah got up with a big grin and went to him to shake his hand.

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“It is a true honor to have you with us, sir. I still can’t thank you enough for releasing the command authority over our combat robots to us.”

“I figured that you would need all the help you could get to face the Imperium, Doctor. Besides, Bartok wouldn’t have a clue on how to use them properly. It would have been a waste of 10,000 perfectly good robots.”

“Quite true. We are loading most of them now on the GILGAMESH, apart from 200 robots who will secure our facilities here until we are ready to depart.” Looking out through the bay windows of Farah’s office, Boran saw something that sent a rush of blood to his brain: advancing in four perfectly lined up columns towards the transport ship were thousands of combat robots, emerging from the hangar where they had been stored. The university students watching from a distance the camouflage-painted war machines had their mouths gaping in awe at the spectacle.

“Now, that is what I call military power.” said Boran. Farah nodded, somber.

“Let’s hope that we won’t have to use them much: they represent a lot of destructive power, especially the point defense robots.”

“Point defense robots? What are those?”

“Four hundred very mean machines, sir. They were part of the last batch of robots we ordered and you may not have been aware of them. They are much bigger and heavier than our standard combat robots and are meant to protect fixed installations against attacks from warships. You can see some of them now emerging from their hangar.”

Boran Kern had no difficulty spotting them at the end of the columns of robots: they nearly were the size of a heavy truck and sported armored turrets with very long gun barrels.

“The point defense robots, or PDRs in short, weigh 38 tons and move on twelve large wheels but can fly and jump spacetime, like our other robots. Their main armament is a four-barreled hypervelocity rail gun which shoots 20mm high-density shells at muzzle velocities of five kilometers per second. With that kind of kinetic energy, the shells will rip clean through any ship. Added to their rail gun is a missile launcher with eight ready-to-fire missiles, plus four small close-in defense turrets with machine guns and grenade launchers. There is also a 150-megawatt pulsed laser and protective shields. We will keep twenty PDRs deployed around our installations until our departure, in case the Imperium shows up.”

“Damn! All this weaponry scares me.”

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“Welcome to war, sir. By the way, isn’t your wife Tomi coming with you?” Boran shook his head sadly.

“No! She decided to stay here and try to repair the political mess created by the High Council. She is hoping to eventually reverse the decision of the High Council, maybe through public opinion. I will miss her, though.”

Boran quickly went over his bout of nostalgia and looked back at Farah.

“What do we do next? Can I help in any way?”

“Once packed up and ready to go, we will leave for our new secret base in the distant past, while a small expedition will precede us and go to 1982 ‘B’ Montreal. As for helping, you could help support the morale of our members’ families, who are finding themselves about to be exiled in time. If you could help them organize for departure and do things like escorting them into town, so that they could withdraw funds from their bank accounts and do some ultimate shopping for essential personal items of hygiene, it would be appreciated, especially since you are so well armed.” Boran looked down at the two stun pistols still slipped inside his belt and smiled.

“I guess that I was asking for that. Uh, why are you sending people to 1982 ‘B’ Montreal?”

“We have a baby to save.” said Farah, dead serious.

08:13 (Montreal Time)

Monday, June 14, 1982 ‘B’

Maternity wing, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Montreal, Province of Quebec

Canada

Constable Edouard Bertrand, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, didn’t pay much attention to the young nurse who entered the nursery he was watching discreetly from a chair in a corner of the hallway. The coming and going of nurses and doctors was constant around here and he was looking more for any suspicious-looking visitor to the nursery, especially fit men between the ages of twenty and forty. He was one of four undercover federal policemen keeping watch over a day-old baby that may or may not one day change history in a big way in 1940. Few people actually realized who little Nancy Laplante was, but the British government had been worried enough about her to ask the Canadian government to provide discreet protection to the infant and its parents.

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Another young nurse soon showed up, leading Pierre Laplante, Nancy’s father. Both entered the nursery, where the previous nurse was conversing with Suzan Laplante, who was breast-feeding her little Nancy. Bertrand then became suspicious when the conversation between the nurse and Nancy’s parents, while still kept in a low voice because of the babies sleeping in the nursery, became somewhat agitated. He was rising from his chair when three big men emerged from a nearby elevator, flower boxes in their arms. An alarm bell immediately rang in Bertrand’s mind: the men had hard expressions and their suits were clean and well pressed, contrary to the customarily shoddy looks of the mostly haggard and tired fathers who normally visited the nursery. Then things happened too quickly for Bertrand to think. As one, the three men opened their flower boxes and took out of them three pump-action shotguns. Bertrand was reaching for his holstered revolver when one of the men fired once at him, peppering his lower torso with pellets and projecting him backward against the wall. Dazed by pain and shock, Bertrand slid down to the floor as the three men repeatedly fired their shotguns at the other undercover policemen and at anybody who was in their way. With a supreme effort, he took out his revolver and fired once, hitting one of the attackers in the left leg. A second shotgun blast then hit Bertrand. He didn’t see the two nurses disappear with the Laplante in flashes of white light before he died.

09:08 (GMT)

Wednesday, June 27, 3386 ‘B’

Scoutship TEEN TEAM

London, Imperium

Ingrid Weiss made her scoutship emerge under cloak about half a kilometer from the Imperium royal palace, flying at low altitude. As soon as the palace was in sight, Tom Allen, sitting forward and down from Ingrid’s pilot seat in his gunner’s seat, directed a long-range camera towards the palace roof landing pad. The shuttlecraft with Princess Margaret on board had disappeared just one minute ago and Nancy should still be on the roof with King Stan. The TEEN TEAM had actually left New Lake City a good hour after the return of Amelia’s shuttlecraft but had jumped to this precise moment with the hope of picking up Nancy before anything bad could happen to her. Otto Skorzeny, Klaus Manheim, Jack Crawford and George Townsend, sitting in the four observer seats

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beside and behind the pilot’s seat, watched their video screens anxiously as the camera zoomed on the palace roof.

“There she is!” shouted Tom Allen, making Ingrid’s heart jump in her chest. “I knew it! Those Imperium bastards have just put her under arrest.”

“Are you recording all this, Tom?”

“Yes, Ingrid. I even have sound from the directional microphone coupled to our camera. I’m putting the audio on loudspeaker.”

They then listened and watched as General Veck taunted Nancy, only to be killed by her. A concert of cheers greeted that scene. What followed happened so quickly that they did not have the time to react before Nancy disappeared into thin air. Otto slammed his fist on his armrest in frustration.

“She went into phase shift. How the hell are we supposed to find or contact her now?”

“She will have to return to normal time soon enough, Otto.” replied Jack Crawford. ‘’I suggest in the meantime that we send a cloaked probe to follow King Stan inside the palace in the meantime. What he will say and do in the next few hours could be of crucial importance to us. I will set it to record for the next twenty hours and then send the data on a compressed, encrypted burst transmission after it jumps to a remote location.”

“Good idea, Jack.” said Ingrid approvingly. “Tom, send another cloaked probe on a programmed search for Nancy in and around the palace.”

“Consider it done, Ingrid.”

It took a minute or so for Tom to program his probe and send it on its way. By then King Stan was heading inside the palace with his bodyguards and his Guards commander. The two cloaked probes followed close to the king, gaining access to the inside of the palace and then splitting up, with one probe staying with King Stan and the other starting a methodical, floor-by-floor search for Nancy. It would complete and then repeat the search cycle for an hour before jumping back outside to report. The crew and passengers of the TEEN TEAM could now only wait nervously for either the results or a sign from Nancy. To their collective relief and joy, the voice of Nancy came in on the radio half an hour later, speaking in Hebrew.

“Any Time Patrol ship, this is the bitch! I will be at my first ever reemergence point for the next ten minutes. Do not acknowledge and proceed to pickup point, out!” After the first cheers, Otto looked questioningly at Ingrid.

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“What would be that so-called first ever reemergence point, Ingrid?” Ingrid only had to think for a few seconds before smiling to herself.

“That could only be the spot near Northolt where she was abandoned with her car in September 1940, after being kidnapped near her Manitou Lake cottage in 2012. I know those coordinates from memory.”

Punching in frantically the said coordinates on her control panel, Ingrid then grabbed her flight controls and put her index on the jump button incorporated to her joystick.

“Cross your fingers, guys.”

They emerged over a pasture field where a herd of cows was grazing. The cloaking generator kicked back in as soon as they had jumped, returning the scoutship to invisibility. Klaus Manheim, facing back in his rear observer seat, soon shouted out in excitement.

“I see her! She is standing between two cows to our five O’clock, maybe a hundred meters away.”

“Quick, get a transit probe on her!” ordered Ingrid. “Bring her directly to the crew sphere.”

Two minutes later, Nancy appeared in a flash of light on the Plexiglas platform of the crew sphere, a transit probe glued to her belly. All six agents left their seats to go hug and kiss her, overjoyed. Nancy returned the kisses with dividend.

“Am I ever happy to see you guys. I was already seeing myself being strapped to a torture rack in the basement of the Imperium Ministry of Security. What were your actions since your arrival in the Imperium?”

Ingrid answered her, telling her about the two probes still inside the royal palace. Nancy nodded her head in approval at that.

“We will keep King Stan under surveillance. The few minutes I was following him inside the palace were enough to learn quite a few interesting things. As for our probe on a search mission, we will let it complete its cycle, then recuperate it. We will stay as discreet as possible while in Imperium space. I hope that I didn’t scare you guys too much.”

“Scared is not the word, Nancy.” said Ingrid forcefully. “We were all having ulcers about you. Well, nearly all.”

“What do you mean?” asked Nancy, intrigued by Ingrid’s last words. The young German bowed her head, glum.

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“The Global Council was ready to dump you, Nancy, and had ordered that we refrain from sending any ship to the Imperium. We had to mutiny to send this rescue mission in.”

Ingrid then spent a few minutes explaining the situation in the Global Council, leaving Nancy understandably bitter.

“Those cowardly rats of the High Council! Why should we keep taking orders from these idiots?”

“Basically, we are not anymore.” said firmly Otto Skorzeny. “At least, Herr Kern was man enough to leave the High Council and join us into exile. Farah and Mike have agreed to a plan where we will move all our ships, equipment and stores, plus our personnel and their families, to our new secret base in the New Zealand of the year 3,000 B.C.E. Once reassembled there, we will go establish temporary bases of operation in 1942 ‘B’. From there, we will be in a better position to erase this damn Imperium into historical oblivion. After that, we will have to play it by ear.”

“Otto, I still would prefer not to erase the Imperium if we could avoid it. Making a whole civilization disappear is not something I am ready to do lightly. I want to first hear what our probe spying King Stan will pick up before deciding on our next move. Maybe he will understand how desperate his position is and sue for real peace.”

“Don’t count on that, Nancy. That man is not the kind to back off: he is too proud for that. He will risk war and do everything to win it rather than capitulate to us.”

“Otto, I sincerely hope that you are wrong. I however have a nasty feeling that your analysis is correct. Ingrid, we will now jump forward in time to recuperate our search probe, then do a second jump in order to intercept and record the spying data accumulated by our other probe. We will study that data and decide then what to do.”

07:14 (GMT)

Thursday, June 28, 3386 ‘B’

Scoutship TEEN TEAM

London, Imperium

Nancy felt total discouragement as she finished analyzing the data from the spying probe: the actions and intentions of King Stan and of his command staff left the Time Patrol no choice but to erase the Imperium if the Global Council’s survival was to be insured. According to the intercepted conversations and staff meetings, the Imperium

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was now gearing towards total mobilization of its forces and pushing for the emergency retrofitting of its ships with time distorters, with the ultimate goal of finding the Time Patrol and its supporters and eradicating both in a massive nuclear strike. Even the theory that another timeline could exist and harbor the Time Patrol was now being actively researched by the best scientists of the Imperium. These scientists had even announced to the King that they were close to a breakthrough on that matter. Nancy nearly had tears in her eyes when she looked at the others around her, who had also seen the data.

“How could they be so cold-blooded? There are still so many good and decent people down there who don’t deserve to be condemned to oblivion.”

“We know, Nancy.” said softly Ingrid, herself uneasy about what they had to do now. “But it is now a choice between either the Imperium or the Global Council. Both can’t coexist, it’s that simple.”

“I still would like to try one last thing before committing ourselves. Our probe is now doing its second round of surveillance on the king. What I propose is for me to pay a visit late tonight to King Stan and try to put back some sense in him. If that fails, then we will proceed with our plan of action.”

Otto Skorzeny frowned, clearly in disagreement with her.

“Nancy, that would alert the Imperium to our impending moves and may prompt them in sending a strike force earlier than expected. Don’t forget that they already have a battleship outfitted for time travel. That ship could by itself cause immense damage if left a chance to leave Imperium space.”

“I agree with Otto, Nancy.” said Jack Crawford. “The ROYAL SOVEREIGN is an 800-meter-long behemoth loaded full of weapons and carrying squadrons of attack craft. It could devastate half of the Global Council by itself if given a chance.”

“Jack, are you ready to have the lives of four billion people on your conscience?” That made the ex-Navy SEAL commando hesitate. Nancy then looked at the others. “Who is for giving a last chance to King Stan?”

After some hesitation, Ingrid, Tom and Klaus raised one hand. That left Nancy with the tie-breaking vote.

“Alright, I will then pay a nightly visit to King Stan. Jack, our probe will record my visit and the king’s answer, then we will pull it out before leaving ourselves. That way, we will be able to prove eventually to the Global Council that we tried everything humanly possible to avoid war. Ingrid, let’s jump forward to two O’clock next morning.”

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02:03 (GMT)

Friday, June 29, 3386 ‘B’

The King’s bedroom

Imperium Royal Palace

Stan abruptly woke up when a hand went down over his mouth. Opening his eyes, he saw in the darkness a small female shape with hair on its head sitting astride of him on the bed. A voice he knew well then spoke in a low voice.

“Don’t scream and don’t try to raise any alarm, or I will be obliged to crush your throat, Your Majesty. You know that I am perfectly capable of doing that.” The hand then went from his mouth to his throat. Stan swallowed hard and spoke in a near whisper.

“What do you want, Miss Laplante? You know what you are risking by coming here like this.”

“I am not the one playing with fate, Your Majesty: you are. What I want is peace between the Imperium and the Time Patrol, but not because I am afraid of losing. I am here to give you a last chance to reconsider your plans to attack us and to sue for real peace. Believe me when I tell you that I have no desire to erase your Imperium. There are still many people worth preserving in it, including your children. You should think about them before launching a war you cannot win.”

“Miss, I respect and trust your word, but you will not always be around to control the Time Patrol. What then will protect us from being erased on somebody’s whim?”

“Simple common decency, Your Majesty. Believe it or not, but not everybody is a heartless bastard like Veck was. You are now out of options and out of time. Will it be peace or will it be war?”

“Miss, you know that I cannot surrender the Imperium to you like this. As for us losing the war, don’t be so sure about that.”

Her grip on his throat relaxed, as she appeared discouraged by his answer.

“I was hoping so much for a better answer than this one, Your Majesty. I am truly sorry for what will happen next. Goodbye, Your Majesty.” Laplante then got off Stan and stood briefly besides his bed before disappearing in a flash of white light. Throwing away the bed sheets, Stan sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, thinking about the conversation he just had. He then switched on his bedside

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lamp and grabbed the videophone on it, punching in a number. A sleepy female voice answered him after four rings but the screen stayed dark, his interlocutor having chosen not to activate her own screen.

“Yes? Who is it?”

“Miri, it’s me, Stan. Please, don’t hang up on me: this is a question of life or death.”

“Stan? But, it’s only a bit past two in the morning. What the hell is happening?”

“Nancy Laplante just visited me in my bedroom to deliver a final ultimatum: sign a peace treaty or be erased. I had to turn her down. She is now gone and probably went to the past to initiate whatever plan she has to erase us. We have one ship, the ROYAL SOVEREIGN, ready for time travel. I am going to put our children on board of it, so that they could be safeguarded, but I also want you aboard, Miri. If not for me, then at least save yourself so that our children could have you.”

Stan waited anxiously for Miri’s answer. Despite the differences between themselves in the last days, he still loved her deeply. His children were also really missing Miri very much. She finally answered after a few seconds.

“Alright, I will come. Should I go directly to the ship or come to the palace?”

“Grab an air cab and come to the palace. Don’t waste time packing a bunch of suitcases: hours, maybe minutes may count.”

“I will be there shortly.”

“Thanks, Miri.”

Stan then closed that connection and did a few more calls, alerting a few select key people. He then ran out of the bedroom to wake up his mistresses and children.

23:51 (Central Europe Time)

Wednesday, June 27, 3386 ‘A’

The Kern’s residence

Zurich area, Central Europe

Tomi Kern’s heart jumped when Boran quietly entered their living room as she was watching the GNN all-news channel on the large holographic television. Getting up and running to him, she hugged tightly her husband of so many years in silence before looking into his eyes.

“You are about to leave for the past, is that it, Boran?”

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“I am leaving for war, along with the rest of the Time Patrol. I have one good news: Nancy Laplante was rescued, healthy, from the Imperium this morning. The Imperium is however still as bent as ever to wage war against the Time Patrol and us. The Time Patrol has thus no choice left but to change the history of timeline ‘B’ and erase the Imperium into oblivion. Nancy Laplante and her people were able to record the intentions of the Imperium concerning us. I have a copy of these recordings here. I would like you to contact Miss Kano at Global News Network while I will be gone and to show her these recordings. It will show the public what kind of threat is hanging over our head and the extent to which Nancy Laplante and her people went to protect us and prevent this war. Maybe it will sway the public opinion enough to shame the High Council in reversing its stupid policy concerning the Time Patrol.” Tomi took the data chip held by Boran and looked at it for a few seconds, then pocketed it.

“Will you come visiting me from time to time, Boran?” she said softly. That attracted tears to Boran’s eyes.

“I will, Tomi, I promise. Take care of yourself.”

“You too, Boran.”

They kissed for a last time before Boran left the house. Tomi saw him get in a time scooter piloted by a young Ancestor man, which then disappeared in a flash of light. Her sadness then turned into resolve when she patted the pocket containing the data chip. Going to her videophone, she placed a call to the GNN main offices on the Zeta Alpha orbital city, asking for Lori Kano.