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

CHAPTER 17 – TASK FORCE BABYLON

13: 07 (Hawaii Time)

Sunday, May 24, 1942 ‘B’

U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet headquarters

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, put down slowly the receiver of his telephone, still shaken by what President Roosevelt had just told him. Getting up from behind his desk, he walked out of his office and went down to the fleet operations center, situated in the basement of the headquarters building. Returning absent-mindedly the salutes from the personnel of the center, Nimitz went to Navy Captain Charles McMorris, the Operations Officer of the Pacific Fleet, who was reading a message by the side of the center’s big chart table. McMorris came to attention when he saw the admiral close to him.

“Is everything alright, sir? You look quite disturbed.”

“Actually, I should be happy but I still can’t believe our luck, Captain. The President just called me to pass on some pretty incredible information he in turn received from our embassy in London. You remember Nancy Laplante, the Canadian time traveler who supposedly died a year ago in Germany?”

“Supposedly? Is she alive, sir?”

“Yes, but that’s not the truly incredible part, though. She is back, along with a fleet of spaceships from the 34th century, and is bent on putting a quick end to this war.”

“But that’s great news, sir!” said McMorris, genuinely pleased. Nimitz smiled weakly at that, not sure what to think personally.

“The President didn’t sound too enthusiastic about that, Captain. It seems that Brigadier Laplante and her force, which is called the ‘Time Patrol’, are doing things strictly their own way and that the British are somewhat miffed at her for that. Laplante has supposedly told the President that she has long term plans to shape the post-war world in specific ways, reportedly to avoid future conflicts. That means that the Germans and Japanese are going to be somewhat treated with kids gloves once they will surrender, if I understood the President correctly.”

“And how do we fit into that picture, sir?” asked McMorris after a short hesitation.

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“Well, I was told to expect the arrival in Hawaii of at least part of Brigadier Laplante’s fleet, from where it will operate against the Japanese. The President has asked me to accommodate Laplante but also to try to find out as much as possible what exactly her plans for the future are. According to our embassy in London, the British have learned something about Laplante and her people that they are not telling us.”

“Great! Intrigues between allies during times of war. Isn’t having to fight the enemy enough without having to lie to each other?”

“I agree fully with you, Captain, but we are the ones stuck with the hot potato. In the meantime, warn our units and air defense gunners that some friendly forces may be arriving soon by air and have space and facilities reserved for them at Hickam Field.”

“Uh, how are we going to recognize this Time Patrol when it shows up, sir?”

“Easy, Captain: look for some very big flying ships.”

Once the admiral was gone, McMorris had a warning passed to all the forces in and around Hawaii to watch for the Time Patrol, then advised the commander of Hickam Field to clear as much hangar space as he could for a number of big aircraft. He had reverted to his routine work for less than fifteen minutes when his intelligence officer, Lieutenant-Commander Charles Bailey, stuck his head in his office after quickly knocking on the doorframe.

“Sir, something weird just happened: the Japanese Navy and Army headquarters in Tokyo have just fallen abruptly silent at the same time.”

“What? How could that be? Couldn’t they just have gone into radio silence?”

“I don’t believe so, sir. Both were in the middle of some radio transmissions when they were literally cut off in mid-sentence.”

McMorris was about to say something when a Naval Intelligence petty officer came in and saluted both officers.

“Sirs, Radio Tokyo is also off the air.”

McMorris looked at Bailey and smiled.

“Laplante! The Time Patrol! It must be them screwing up the Japanese.”

“You mean that these people from the future may have destroyed Tokyo, sir?”

“Maybe not destroy Tokyo, but something serious anyway. Have the airwaves monitored closely and advise me if and when those headquarters are back on the air.”

“Yes, sir!”

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Bailey actually showed back in McMorris’ office a bit over one hour later, a message in his hands.

“Sir, the Japanese Navy has resumed transmitting, but from a new location, probably Yokosuka. It is warning the whole Japanese fleet that a fleet of big flying ships has attacked Tokyo and has caused serious damage to a number of military facilities in the city. The message didn’t say more.”

Just then, McMorris’ telephone rang. The Fleet Operations Officer grabbed the receiver and answered, listening for a few seconds.

“…Alright! Advise Hickam Field to be ready for friendly visitors and make sure that all the air defense gunners are told not to shoot at anything unless I say otherwise.” McMorris then looked at Bailey while putting down his receiver.

“Grab your hat, Mister Bailey: we are going to Hickam Field as soon as I can warn the admiral that the Time Patrol has called in and is about to arrive.”

14:58 (Honolulu Time)

Hickam Field

The two staff cars, solidly escorted by four jeeps armed with machine guns, screeched to a halt in front of the airfield’s control tower. Admiral Nimitz, his chief of staff, Rear Admiral Draemel, Captain McMorris and Lieutenant Commander Bailey stepped out of the staff cars and were about to enter the control tower when one of the Marines manning the jeeps’ machineguns shouted and pointed towards the western horizon.

“SIRS, SOMETHING HUGE IS APPROACHING!”

Turning around, Nimitz and his staff officers saw a saucer-like shape emerge from the underside of the clouds on the horizon. The fleet commander was an old, experienced navy man who was accustomed to judge the distance to far objects up to the horizon. Nimitz took a step back when he realized just how huge the approaching ship was.

“Dear God! How could such a thing fly?”

A second far object then emerged from the clouds, soon followed by a third one. While much smaller than the first one, the two last ships were quite big in their own right. Eight smaller dots followed the three large ships. Nimitz watched on, mesmerized, as the spaceships made a silent high-speed flyby over the airfield. The smaller of the large ships, along with three of the minor ships, then left the formation and flew down towards

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the two hangars and the parking apron which had been reserved for the expected visitors.

“Hell,” said McMorris, “aren’t they going to use the runway to land?”

“It doesn’t look that way, Captain.” replied Nimitz while watching the bigger ship in the lot starting a slow vertical descent while huge landing legs deployed out of its ovoid hull. He estimated its mass at no less than 6,000 tons, probably much more if it was built mostly of steel instead of aluminum, and was about eighty meters in length. The three small ships, which looked quite mean in general appearance, each measured about 35 meters in length. Something then happened that shook the old admiral: as the four ships were touching down, lining themselves up along the apron: another ship appeared over them in a flash of white light. The newcomer, which was of a different design from the others, then landed besides the big ship. All five ships were painted low visibility gray and sported an emblem made up of an hourglass drawn over the planet Earth. The ships’ names, painted in bold black letters near the noses of the ships, were also plainly visible.

“The HERMES, BABYLON, WALKÜREN, WHITE ROSE OF STALINGRAD and COSSACK’S DREAM.” read aloud Charles Bailey. “Some strange names for ships, Admiral.”

“Well, let’s see how strange their crews are, gentlemen.”

Going back in the staff cars, they then drove up to the nose of the biggest ship. Seeing a tense Marine arm his machine gun, Nimitz shouted at his escort as he stepped out of his staff car.

“NOBODY IS TO SHOOT UNLESS I GIVE THE EXPRESS ORDER TO DO SO. STAND DOWN YOUR MACHINE GUNS!”

Somewhat reluctantly, the Marines obeyed and stood beside their jeeps as a sort of large tube started coming down from under the forward belly of the ship named BABYLON. Nimitz cautiously approached it, recognizing it as some sort of elevator cage. Effectively, a door soon slid open at the base of the tube, which now rested on the ground, and a man and a woman walked out of the tube. Both wore dark gray uniforms, helmets and molded body armor. They approached calmly Nimitz and his staff officers, stopping in front of the admiral and saluting him.

Nimitz returned their salute before presenting his hand to the woman.

“Brigadier Laplante, it is a pleasure to see that you are alive and well. Welcome to Hawaii.”

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Nancy shook his hand and showed him the tall man besides her.

“Thank you, Admiral. May I present you Mister Michael Stone, Captain of the research ship BABYLON?”

Nimitz shook hands with Stone before returning his attention to Nancy.

“Did you say that this is a research ship, not a warship?”

“I did, sir. However, the BABYLON has some self-defense armament and its extensive sensors suite makes it a perfect flying command post and long-range reconnaissance ship. The HERMES, to your left, is a heavy cargo shuttle, which is currently carrying our combat supplies and our maintenance crews and equipment. Our main strike elements in the Pacific will be our scoutships, of which three are here. Two more scoutships will join our task force here once they are done with their work in Warsaw. We however have a lot to discuss about, Admiral, so how about coming inside the BABYLON, you and your officers. I can assure you that our crew lounge is not dry, contrary to the American Navy.”

Nimitz glanced at his officers, who appeared as eager as him to see the inside of the spaceship.

“Well, if you have a nice bottle of scotch hanging around, I may take you on your invitation.”

“We do have some 24-year-old Glen Grant malt scotch left in our bar, Admiral, along with some very old rum.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” said Nimitz with good humor. He followed Laplante and Stone back to the elevator tube, taking place with them and his staff officers in a large round cabin. The door of the cabin closed and Nimitz felt only a slight sensation of movement before the doors opened again, showing the inside of a long metallic passageway. The walls were painted a relaxing pastel blue-green and a sort of soft, rubbery non-skid mat covered the floor.

“Please follow me, Admiral.” said politely Nancy before walking out of the elevator and following the passageway towards the aft parts of the ship. Walking besides the tall Canadian, Nimitz noticed that there were no doors visible along this passageway. Once at the end of it, Nancy put her hand on a black pad fixed to the wall besides the door closing the passageway. The door, a thick steel affair, slid open silently, letting them walk into a rotunda lined with seven doors and with a large vertical shaft at its center. Nancy turned left and opened the first door they encountered, inviting her visitors inside. Nimitz and his officers then found themselves in a luxurious lounge

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with wall-to-wall carpeting and brass and silver fixtures and decorations. A bar stood in one corner, while what looked like a cinema projection screen covered half a wall. There were also numerous ancient artifacts, weapons and pieces of armor lining the walls.

“The V.I.P. lounge.” said Nancy before pointing at a group of comfortable sofas surrounding a polished rare wood low table. “Please have a seat, gentlemen. What would you like to drink?”

“A scotch on the rocks, miss.” answered Nimitz, echoed by Rear Admiral Draemel and Lieutenant Commander Bailey. Captain McMorris, on his part, went for a rum punch. As Nancy got busy behind the bar, Charles Bailey, who was an avid hunter, couldn’t help go examine the stuffed head of what looked like a huge lion, but with two long canine teeth going down past its chin.

“Uh, could I ask you what kind of beast this is, Brigadier Laplante?” Nancy answered from behind the bar, raising her voice so Bailey could hear from across the lounge.

“That is the head of a saber-tooth tiger, Mister Bailey. It was killed during one of our survival training sessions in 41,000 B.C.E. Canada.”

Bailey’s eyes opened wide at that. He kept looking at the various artifacts and trophies for a while, then joined the others around the low table when Nancy brought a serving tray with their drinks on it. She raised a glass of bubbling white wine once the others were served and seated.

“To peace, gentlemen.”

“To peace!” repeated Nimitz and the others before taking a sip from their drinks. The admiral savored his scotch for a moment, then smiled at Nancy.

“Brigadier, I have to say that seeing you alive was a nice surprise for us. The sight of your ships was an even bigger one. Unfortunately, what I got from Washington concerning your intentions was vague, to say the least. Is it true that you want to stop this war quickly?”

“It is, Admiral. I know that you must have a million questions to ask me, so I will give you a quick update on what happened since I was reportedly killed a year ago.” Nancy’s expression turned somber as she assembled mentally her words.

“First of, I was effectively tortured nearly to death by the Gestapo at the end of June, 1941. However, the Abwehr delivered me just in time, along with a very brave scientist from the future who risked her life to save me but was captured and tortured as well. We both were brought to a hospital in Berlin, from which I was sent to Colditz

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Castle to be interned for the rest of the war, while my friend, Doctor Farah Tolkonen, stayed in Berlin. This is where it gets tricky, however. While Farah managed to escape to England by using a portable time travel device, the British decided that they couldn’t risk that I gave any secrets to the Germans while in captivity and bombed Colditz Castle and the surrounding town to rubble in an effort to kill me. Fortunately for me, the Germans had brought me the same day back to the hospital in Berlin I was in before, which saved my life. That night, I escaped from the hospital and stole a plane at the nearby Tempelhof airfield, to arrive safely in England in the early morning. You will understand that, by then, I was less than convinced about the honesty of the British concerning me, so I returned incognito to London. There, I learned that my friend Farah was being held and brutalized by the British, who wanted to learn how to use her time machine. Mad as hell, I raided the M.I.5 headquarters and delivered my friend, roughing up a few British in the process, then escaped to the future. Once in the 34th century, I was restored to full health and created with Farah an organization dedicated to protecting the integrity of history from illegal or irresponsible time travel and manipulations. That organization is called the Time Patrol and employs both people from the 34th century and people from various centuries and nationalities.”

“Uh, if your task is to protect history, then why are you changing the course of this war? Aren’t you breaking your own rules?” asked Charles Bailey. Nancy nodded.

“A logical question, Mister Bailey. However, you must understand one basic thing about the world you, the admiral and all of you live in right now: it was involuntarily created by my actions in September of 1940, when I was marooned in the past against my will. This world is what I call Timeline ‘B’. Where I come from is Timeline ‘A’, the original historical line. Farah comes from the future of timeline ‘A’, not from timeline ‘B’. You are all mere modified copies of the persons found in timeline ‘A’, like the rest of the people living on this Earth.”

The Americans were speechless for a moment while they assimilated that shocking information. Nancy used that chance to go on.

“Normally, the integrity of timeline ‘B’ would be considered by the Time Patrol as important as that of timeline ‘A’. However, the timeline twin of Farah Tolkonen, herself an expert on the theory of time travel, recently fled from a future civilization called the Imperium, where she was being abused and threatened by the head of the Imperium security forces. She searched for a refuge in 1941 ‘B’ London, where we found her and brought her to our base in the 34th century. Unfortunately for everybody, the Imperium

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badly overreacted to her escape and raided Buckingham Palace on May 20 of this year, searching for Farah ‘B’. Not finding her, the Imperium kidnapped Princess Margaret and the king’s equerry, bringing them as hostages to their future London in order to force the British into turning over Farah ‘B’. My Time Patrol intervened and we were able to win the release of the princess and of the king’s equerry, but the Imperium laid a trap for us, which we were able to spring in advance. The Imperium has since vowed to find where we operate from and to eradicate the civilization which supports us, which is named the Global Council and is a totally pacifist society. The only way left for us now to avoid the destruction of the Global Council by the Imperium is to change drastically the history of timeline ‘B’ and in this way prevent the creation of the Imperium in the future. We decided that the best way to do that would be to finish quickly this war and to ensure that the world which will emerge from it will be a balanced and peaceful one.”

“Wait a minute, Brigadier.” said Bailey, thinking furiously. “The British and us would have probably won this war in the long run anyway. What makes you think that finishing it faster would prevent the creation of this Imperium?”

“For one thing, Mister Bailey, putting an end to the war our way will result in a fairer balance of power worldwide later on. Know that we have already explored the future of timeline ‘B’ up to the year 1986. What we saw was a world thoroughly dominated by a British Empire which gradually pushed aside both the United States and the Soviet Union, relegating them to the rank of secondary powers. Not content in winning the war thanks to the technology I gave to them in 1940, the British will use that same technological edge after the war to compete economically with the United States, a contest you Americans will lose over the decades following the war. While I was still working for the British in 1940-41, I had pushed for my technology to be shared equally between Great Britain and the United States; however it seems that the British kept the best for themselves. Tell me, Mister Bailey: how much transfer of technology did you see coming from the British during the last two years?”

“Uh, very little, actually. We do have plans for an improved carrier design, which I believe you passed on to us directly, along with notes on aircraft jet engines and some infantry weapons. I am not aware of anything else.”

That was when Admiral Nimitz jumped in the conversation.

“So, what you are saying, miss, is that you want to stop this war in a way that will ensure a proper place for the United States and the Soviet Union in the post-war years, correct?”

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“Not for the Soviet Union, Admiral. Stalin is a human monster and his communist party rule will create untold misery and suffering around Europe in the coming years if not kept in check. What I see after this war is a strong, pacified Europe which would include a mostly disarmed Germany and which could act as a buffer against any aggressive move by the Soviets. I also want to see a strong United States which would at least be the equal of the British Empire in terms of influence around the world. In exchange, I am hoping to see some much-needed social changes in the United States, especially in terms of racial equality and justice. I don’t know about your own personal opinions on the subject, Admiral, but I find the fact that the United States still practices and enforces racial segregation truly abhorrent. I will not of course force such changes on your country but I will certainly encourage them. Please pardon me if all this sounds like interference in internal American affairs, but I want to be totally open about that.”

“May I say a word on that, Admiral?” said Michael Stone, who had stayed silent up to now. “I was myself in the US Navy before I joined the Time Patrol in the year 2052. By then, segregation had been abolished in the United States for over eighty years and I had people from all races serving in harmony and mutual respect under me. There are other 21st century Americans in the Time Patrol and I can tell you that they find the present state of social affairs in our country a disgrace. What we wish for is to be able to visit the United States in the next few years and not be ashamed by what we see in it.” The reaction of the American Navy officers to that was decidedly mixed, with Rear Admiral Draemel appearing the most annoyed.

“Mister Stone, may I remind you that you are presently on an American military airfield. Don’t expect us to change our laws and regulations just because you showed up.”

Stone stared at Draemel with barely concealed anger.

“My point, Admiral, is that I have members of my crew who are either German, Japanese or African-American. I will not tolerate having them treated any differently than the rest of my crew by your people.”

“African-American? Is that how you call your niggers in the future?” Michael Stone would have jumped to his feet if not held down by Nancy’s strong grip on his shoulder. Nancy then drilled Draemel with her eyes.

“Rear Admiral Draemel, I personally find your choice of words extremely offensive. If this is the kind of attitude my crews will encounter here, then we will simply leave and do our things alone, somewhere else.”

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“Please, Brigadier, I am sure that this will not be necessary.” hurriedly said Nimitz, trying to defuse the verbal confrontation. “My chief of staff was simply underlining the fact that the rules and regulations applying to our facilities are decided in Washington and are valid country-wide. I can however assure you that all your personnel will be treated with the utmost respect. I would now like to discuss your plan of operation with you, if you don’t mind?”

Nancy kept fixing Draemel as she answered Nimitz.

“Alright, Admiral. We will discuss my plans, but on the bridge, where our sensor stations are. Please follow me.”

As they all got up from their seats, Nimitz got close to Draemel and whispered angrily in his ear.

“For God’s sake, Bob, control your mouth for the rest of this visit.” Draemel didn’t answer, instead tightening his jaws in repressed anger. Their group left the V.I.P. lounge and used one of the elevators housed in the central shaft of the rotunda. From there they followed a passageway lined with numerous doors and that led to a second, smaller rotunda. Nancy led them in yet another elevator that went up three levels before stopping. When he got out of that elevator, Nimitz had to stop dead, stunned by the spectacle offered to him. He was now standing on a wide circular platform with workstations facing outwardly along its periphery. Two more platforms, each smaller in diameter and higher than the other, supported yet more workstations and command seats. The whole arrangement of successive platforms was in turn contained in the center of a large sphere. The internal surface of that sphere was however one big holographic projection screen, where the panorama outside of the ship was shown as realistically as if the platforms would have stood in the open air. Superimposed on the panorama were numerous color symbols and markers of unknown function. Charles Bailey’s mouth opened wide with awe.

“My God! Look at that technology.”

“We call this multi-sensor fusion.” said Michael Stone. “Those workstations around us in turn can isolate a certain sector visible on the sphere and analyze it in greater detail.”

Captain McMorris then noticed the huge size and bald heads of most of the operators visible on the platforms.

“Brigadier, these people are real giants. How come?”

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“They are from the 34th century, Captain.” replied politely Nancy. “Everybody then is over two-meter-tall, is bald and has six fingers per hand, all the result of selective genetic manipulations intended to ensure the survival of humanity after a devastating war which poisoned the air and ground of the whole planet. The people of the Global Council, while pacifists, are also socially and technologically extremely advanced. Let’s go up to the command platform.”

Nancy led the Americans to the topmost platform, which had roughly a diameter of ten meters. Only three padded seats with swiveling control panels stood higher than that platform. Stone pointed at them in turn.

“These two topmost, side-by-side seats are for the pilot and copilot/navigator, while the one just under and in front of them is my captain’s chair.” Nimitz was however not listening to Stone, instead staring with disbelief at the woman in the pilot’s seat.

“Miss Earhart, is that you?”

He then went up quickly to her, hugging her joyfully.

“Thank God: you are alive! We searched for you for so long back in 1937. Nancy Laplante went back to save you, I suppose.”

Amelia Earhart returned his hug, moved by the admiral’s concern for her.

“She did, Admiral. She also saved from death many other people who are now members of the Time Patrol.”

“I must have you come to have supper with my wife tonight, Miss Earhart. It would be a true honor for us if you could come.”

“That will depend on Nancy, Admiral: we have plans to execute tonight.”

“That will be alright with me, Amelia.” said Nancy with a smile. “We won’t start flying operations before late tonight. Just make sure that you are back and sober by nine O’clock.”

“I will have a staff car drop her back by then, Brigadier.” promised Nimitz, happy, before looking back at Amelia. “A car will pick you up at five this afternoon. See you for supper, Miss Earhart.”

Nimitz then went back down to join Nancy and the others.

“Sorry for the interruption, miss.”

“You are more than excused, Admiral. Actually, our plan of action is quite simple. Since my crews have been in action for nearly fourteen straight hours now, I was going to let them rest until eleven tonight, when the task force will take off and head towards

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Japanese-held waters. The first phase of our operation against Japan has already been completed when we raided a few spots around Tokyo earlier on today. The second phase will target both the carrier-borne and the land-based Japanese air power. The third phase will then target all the Japanese warships left and their commercial shipping. This way, the Japanese island garrisons will be cut off from each other and from their supply lines. The fourth phase will involve the systematic destruction of the Japanese fuel reserves and electric power grids in and around Japan. Japan will then be isolated, defenseless and out of supplies and will be forced to either surrender or starve in the dark. We will leave the island garrisons alone until they surrender out of starvation: my history has shown that, even when cut off, they will fight to the death if attacked and will cause an unacceptable number of casualties to any American force that would land.”

“But that could take months of waiting!” objected Draemel. Nancy looked at him coldly.

“If you want, I could show you a number of documentaries made in my timeline about the results of assaulting such places as Saipan, Tarawa and Okinawa, mister. Why sacrifice tens of thousands of your men just to appear to be doing something? Besides, there will be a more important job to do in the meantime: save the hundreds of thousands of allied prisoners now held in horrific conditions by the Japanese all over the Pacific. That is when I will need your full support to care and treat those prisoners once we free them, Admiral Nimitz. Half of the Time Patrol fleet is actually busy taking on Germany and will soon free the inmates of the Nazi concentration camps in occupied Europe. We actually attach as much importance to humanitarian relief operations than to purely military operations in our plans, Admiral.”

“I can’t fault you for that, miss, especially if you can really pull this all off.’’ said Nimitz. ‘’However, don’t expect the Japanese to take all this lying down. They will react, one way or the other.”

“Maybe, Admiral, but they will be leaderless: our raid on Tokyo had as a goal the capture of the main Japanese military and political leaders. Please look at this screen over here.”

Nimitz turned towards the wide screen fixed to a swiveling base near the captain’s chair and saw on it a sort of storage room. There was no equipment or supplies in that room, but it contained a number of men in various military uniforms angrily pacing around the room.

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“General Tojo? I can also see Admiral Nagano, Admiral Shimada and General Anami, plus others I can’t recognize. That’s incredible! Were you able to get Admiral Yamamoto or Emperor Hirohito, miss?”

“We did capture Admiral Yamamoto, but I accepted his wish to be able to commit ritual suicide. As for the emperor, we left him in his palace: he is part of the solution, not of the problem.”

“I’m afraid that I don’t understand you, miss.”

“What I meant to say is that Emperor Hirohito may be our best chance to put an end to the war in the Pacific while avoiding a horrible bloodbath, Admiral. Hirohito, like King George VI, has little real power and is mostly obliged to go along with the wishes of his government, but is highly respected by his people. With many of the hardliners in the Japanese government in our hands, the moderates may, with the emperor’s support, be able to convince the army and the navy to stop fighting, especially if they have no hardware left to fight with.”

“Hmm, not a bad idea actually. Maybe you should try that on the Germans, miss.”

Nancy smiled enigmatically and had the view on the screen change to that of the inside of another storeroom. That one too contained a number of men in uniforms, plus two in civilian suits. Nimitz’s jaw dropped to the floor at their sight.

“Sweet Jesus! I see Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Goebbels and a few others of whom I can’t remember their names. Miss, you are incredible.”

“It was actually fairly easy, Admiral, if you consider the level of our technology and our access to historical archives from the future. The hard part has still to be done, hopefully with as little blood spilled as possible. Now, could I ask for a few little favors from you, Admiral?”

“After what you already accomplished? Ask and you will get!”

“Oh, I will not ask for much, Admiral. First, would you mind taking custody of my Japanese and German prisoners? We actually have no proper detention facilities on our ships.”

“We will be more than happy to help you in that matter, miss.” said Nimitz before turning towards Rear Admiral Draemel. “As soon as we are off this ship, I want you to get a company of military policemen to take charge of those prisoners. Advise Washington and see to the prisoners’ transfer to the continent as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Admiral!”

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Nimitz then faced back Nancy.

“What else, miss?”

“Could I ask for the loan of a few of your intelligence specialists for a few days, Admiral? While my aircrews are highly qualified, they are not familiar with Japanese forces and equipment. We would especially like five good observers current with Japanese equipment and a few linguists accustomed to listen to Japanese morse radio traffic.”

“No problem! Lieutenant Commander Bailey will take care of that. Next?”

“Finally, would it be a big burden on you if my personnel would use your messing facilities in Pearl Harbor? We have a small stockpile of rations of our own but, since we don’t know how long this campaign will take, I would rather save them for real emergencies.”

“Is that really it, miss? You are not asking for much. How many people do you need to feed?”

“About eighty when my two other scoutships will join us from Warsaw. These are mostly aircrews, with a few ground crews and support personnel mixed in the lot. Since we do not have a formal rank system in the Time Patrol, I would be hard pressed to separate them into officers and non-officers, especially in the case of our scientists.”

“Only eighty people? Then we will keep this simple: the Navy officers’ cafeteria and mess at the naval base nearby will be opened to all your personnel. Do you need some of our Marines to stand guard around your ships, miss?”

“Thanks but that won’t be necessary, Admiral: we have brought our own watchdogs with us. Now that we are in agreement, I will guide you and your officers back to your staff cars. I am sure that you have as much to do as me.”

“You are too right on that, miss. Still, it is mighty nice to get some unexpected help like this. Feel free to use the two hangars behind your ships as you please.”

“I certainly will, Admiral. If you may follow me.”

Five minutes later, Nimitz and his staff officers were back at their waiting staff cars. Draemel immediately called by radio the base security officer to call some MPs in while Nimitz looked at McMorris and Bailey.

“So, what do you think, gentlemen?”

McMorris weighed his words carefully before answering the admiral.

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“Their political outlook may be quite different from ours, but I believe that this Time Patrol can deliver the goods. My opinion is to support them as much as we can. Just by capturing all these Japanese and German leaders, they have already dealt a heavy blow to our enemies, sir.”

“Agreed! What about you, Mister Bailey?”

“Sir, we should jump on their bandwagon without question. These people could and probably will save the lives of tens of thousands of our men in this war. We can’t afford not to use their help. Also, I would tend to believe Laplante’s story about being screwed by the British and about her stated desire to balance world power sharing in a way that would be more favorable to us. I respect the British but I don’t doubt one minute that they will do everything to keep and even expand their empire as much as they can. Our future status in the world may be in the balance right now, sir.”

“And that is the truly critical point, gentlemen. While our present job is to win this war, we should not lose sight of what may be in store for our country in the future. These people have seen the future and, if they can be believed, what they saw is not at all to my liking, nor would it be to the President’s liking. We will thus give our honest support to Brigadier Laplante and her people. Captain McMorris, make sure that everybody on base understands that they are to assist to the fullest the Time Patrol. I don’t want in particular any racial incident between our people and their people, even if they are Japanese or German. Tell our people as well to forget about enforcing our present rules concerning colored people and make them understand that any shown racist conduct may end up costing us dearly in terms of relations with this Time Patrol.”

“I will pass the word, sir.”

McMorris then noticed that a large ramp was going down at the back of the BABYLON and told Nimitz so. The three senior officers, soon joined by Draemel, watched on as a strange procession went down the ramp and came towards them. The procession advanced in three files, the center file being the Japanese and German prisoners and the two files flanking them being some sort of man-sized machines on tracks. A single man in the gray uniform of the Time Patrol led the lot. A tall, athletic man in his late twenties, he finally stopped in front of Nimitz and saluted him.

“Agent Heinrik Braun, ready to hand over our prisoners, sir!” Nimitz saluted back and looked at the dejected prisoners, at the head of which were General Tojo and Adolph Hitler. One machine was pushing a gurney bearing a body bag.

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“That’s the body of Admiral Yamamoto, sir.” explained Braun, getting a satisfied nod from the fleet commander.

“Our association is indeed starting on a very good footing, Mister Braun. I suppose by your name that you are German?”

“I was part of the Abwehr, the German Army Intelligence, sir. However, I was accused of treason by the SS and tortured. Nancy Laplante saved me from being executed.”

“So, you have no love for the Nazis, Mister Braun?”

“None, sir! You may find that many Germans are not exactly hot either for the Nazi doctrine and ideas. Nancy told me to pass a warning to you about the prisoners: they should be put on a round-the-clock suicide watch if you wish them to arrive alive in Washington.”

“Thank you for the warning, mister. We will certainly heed it.” Four trucks full of MPs, along with six cellular vehicles, then screeched to a halt besides the staff cars. A major of the military police presented himself to Nimitz, who quickly gave him some directives before letting him with Braun to conduct the prisoners’ transfer. Going to his staff car, Nimitz sat in the back seat and told his driver to return to fleet headquarters. The old navy officer was now feeling more optimistic than he ever had been about this hellish war.

17:49 (Honolulu Time)

Navy officers’ cafeteria

US Naval Station, Pearl Harbor

Navy Lieutenant Bill Conway, a tray of food in his hands, hesitated for an instant before heading towards a particular table in a corner of the big cafeteria frequented mostly by junior officers and pilots. Contrary to most of the tables in the usually busy cafeteria, that table had only one person sitting at it. Conway knew why, which had been the reason of his hesitation. He sat and put his tray on the table before smiling to the other occupant, a small but graceful and beautiful woman wearing the uniform of an ensign of Naval Intelligence. Ensign Jenny Kawena, a linguist employed like Bill at the Pacific Joint Intelligence Center, had committed the

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mortal sin of being born from an ethnic Japanese mother and a Polynesian father. While a skilled and loyal linguist, Jenny was shunned by most of the personnel around the base, something Bill found profoundly unjust. He knew that sitting with her in public would probably earn him more than a few nasty remarks later at the mess or in one of the city’s clubs, but he had to talk to her. Her own smile warmed his heart: half-Japanese or not, she was one beautiful young woman.

“Do you mind if I sit with you, Ensign Kawena?”

“Not at all, sir. In fact, I would be delighted.”

“Thank you! I was just assigned as a liaison observer to these people from the future. I also heard that you were assigned to them as well, as a linguist.”

“That is true, sir. Believe me or not but my boss, Captain Holmes, actually grumbled at losing my services, even temporarily.”

“I have no problem believing that, Ensign: linguists proficient in Japanese are far and few around here. You want to learn about the latest news concerning the Time Patrol?”

“If it is about the Japanese and German prisoners they brought in, sir, then I am already in the know: I helped interview General Tojo and the others.”

“Oh!” said Bill, his bombshell disarmed before he could set it off. “How did it go?” To his surprise, sadness filled Jenny’s delicate face.

“Not very well, sir. Having the MPs being suspicious of me was bad enough, but then Admiral Shimada berated me for, according to him, betraying my ancestors. I told him that I was American and not Japanese, but he replied by showing the MPs around and asking me if they made me feel like an American. I have to say that Admiral Shimada’s remark hurt, deeply, because he was mostly right.”

“I am truly sorry about that, Ensign. Know that some here appreciate you for your just value.”

“Thank you, sir. You are too kind.”

“No, I’m simply honest about it. By the way, did you know that two more ships of the Time Patrol arrived at Hickam Field less than half an hour ago?”

“No, sir.” she replied, her face now reflecting intense curiosity. “Are they big ones?”

“Not really. They are similar to the three smaller ships already here. The new ships are named BRITANNIA and TEEN TEAM.”

“Teen Team? What a weird name for a ship.”

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“Indeed! I was…”

Bill stopped in mid-sentence, his attention now on the entrance of the cafeteria: a long line of people wearing dark gray uniforms, about half of them huge giants standing at least two meters, were entering the cafeteria, heading towards the service counter. Jenny, turning her head around, saw them too.

“Look at how tall some of them are. They are also bald, even the women. How strange.”

Both of them, like the other customers of the cafeteria, watched with intense curiosity the newcomers as they had their food trays filled up. Also mixed with the giants were about twenty ordinary people, all wearing helmets and molded body armor and with pistols at their belts. What was even more noticeable to the American Navy personnel was the fact that more than half of the newcomers were women, something which attracted some snide remarks in low voices. There were also more whispers at the sight of a couple of black persons and of a few Orientals in the Time Patrol group. Jenny suddenly started to feel good about her latest assignment.

“They seem to believe firmly in the equality of the sexes in war.” said Bill Conway, making Jenny Kawena smile.

“Do you find that good or bad, sir?”

“Uh, I wouldn’t risk to give an answer just now.”

Most of the newcomers then started heading their way, the corner they were in having the most empty seats at the time. Her heart accelerating, Jenny pretended to be interested with her food as a group of men and women of the Time Patrol approached their table and that of a group of three Navy nurses nearby. One of the newcomers grinned at the sight of Jenny and, walking quickly to her table, stopped besides Bill Conway. Both eyed with utter surprise the small woman close to thirty: she was obviously Oriental and had a nametag on her right breast that spelled ‘Keiko Miramoto’.

“Excuse me.” She said in excellent English. “May I sit at your table?”

“Uh, of course, miss.” answered Jenny, not even waiting for Bill’s permission. One man, one teenage boy and two teenage girls joined them as well after asking permission. They then quickly exchanged names and handshakes. Bill Conway nearly choked on his food when the teenage girl with a strong British accent presented herself.

“You…you don’t mean Princess Elizabeth of England, do you?”

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“Of course I do, Lieutenant. After all, all of us here are either officially dead or missing. The only exception would be Ingrid: she simply vanished from her cell in the Tower of London one night.”

“And…what is your job exactly, Your Highness?”

“Please, no need to be formal. I am not in line for the British throne anymore. I am dead, don’t you remember? Anyway, my position is as copilot and weapons officer of the scoutship BRITANNIA. Doug Wilson over here is my pilot. As for Ingrid Weiss and Tom Allen, they are respectively pilot and copilot of the scoutship TEEN TEAM.” One look at the two teenagers made Bill understand why their ship had such a name.

“I see! What about you, Miss Miramoto?”

“I am a doctor on the BABYLON, mister. Now, it’s your turn to talk about you, I believe.”

“Well, I am simply a navy intelligence officer who was just assigned to your fleet as air observer.”

“He’s mine!” said immediately Ingrid Weiss, beating Doug Wilson by a fraction of a second. That made Jenny giggle.

“I’m a linguist from navy intelligence also assigned to the Time Patrol. Do I get to be auctioned away too?”

“You bet, miss.” replied Ingrid. “I could use your services as well on my scoutship.”

“Hey!” Protested Doug Wilson. “Don’t be so greedy!”

“I’m not greedy! Besides, Elizabeth already speaks Japanese. You don’t need a linguist.”

“You speak Japanese, miss?” asked a surprised Jenny to Elizabeth Windsor, who nodded her head.

“I do. Two of my previous incarnations were as Japanese.” Before either Jenny or Bill could ask a question about what she meant, Elizabeth started explaining the concept of past incarnations as it applied to the members of the Time Patrol, spending a good three minutes on it and leaving both American officers speechless for a moment. Bill Conway was the first to recover his voice.

“This is…incredible! And how did Nancy Laplante manage to be able to wake up your souvenirs like this?”

“That is a bit of a touchy subject, Lieutenant. Let’s wait until you are aboard the TEEN TEAM before we say more on this.”

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“As you wish, miss.” said Bill, hiding his disappointment. He then concentrated his questions on how each the five members of the Time Patrol had ended up in that organization. The answers he got made Jenny Kawena say something on a wishful tone that wasn’t lost on anybody.

“So, you basically recruit people who are officially dead, missing or don’t fit in anymore.”

“Actually,” replied Ingrid Weiss while eyeing Jenny with interest, “Nancy does the recruitment selection and we certainly could use more people as it is. There is only one problem concerning that for the moment: the Time Patrol is actually on its own, exiled from the Global Council and turned into a band of time nomads. The Global Council was ready to abandon Nancy at the first sign of serious danger and tried to prevent us from rescuing her, so we cut our bridges with the Global Council and went to rescue her anyway. Those giants you see with us today are the few citizens of the Global Council who had the courage and will to be ready to go into exile in time as the price for supporting Nancy. They may be pacifists but I admire their courage nonetheless.”

“Exiled in time…” said softly Jenny. “All that to save one of your own. That is truly admirable.”

“We would do anything for Nancy, because we know that she would do anything for us as well.” said gravely Doug Wilson, getting nods from the others. Ingrid then spoke to nobody in particular.

“You know, we haven’t heard anything yet back from the Global Council or from our base in New Lake City. I wonder what could be going on there. They should have been able to detect any travel to the past by the flagship of King Stan or other ships of the Imperium. King Stan is not the type of man to sit down and do nothing, especially when he knows that we intend to erase him.”

 

17:28 (Universal Time)

Friday, June 29, 3386 ‘A’

Global News Network main studios

Zeta Alpha orbital city, Earth geosynchronous orbit

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Lori Kano stared in disbelief for a moment at the woman facing her on the giant viewing screen of the GNN news studio, as she conducted an interview online with the personnel of the Time Patrol headquarters.

“Miss Mulano, are you telling me that you and the other people left behind at the headquarters of the Time Patrol have detected a probable Imperium warship around Earth in 1940 of timeline ‘B’ and that this information was not passed on to the ships of the Time Patrol?”

“That is essentially correct, Miss Kano.” answered timidly Dana Mulano, looking unhappy in her chair back in New Lake City. “We were unable to relay that vital information because the High Council had our time emitter’s antenna disconnected. We can receive data from our time surveillance network but we can’t pass it back to the rest of the Time Patrol.”

“Why, in your opinion, would the High Council prevent you from warning the Time Patrol about this ship?”

“Because they are afraid that any time wave emitted by us could be detected by the Imperium and used to home in on to our timeline.”

“Is that a real possibility, Miss Mulano?”

“It is possible but very unlikely, miss. Our signals are modulated in a way which makes them target a specific date and time. Our fleet is presently in May of 1942 ‘B’, while the probable Imperium warship is staying in orbit in October of 1940 ‘B’. Those dates are too far apart to permit spillage of our signals to be intercepted.”

“Are you sure that the ship presently in 1940 is not actually a ship of the Time Patrol?”

“Positive, Miss Kano. It is too massive for that. From its jump echo, we evaluated the mass of that ship at about eighteen million tons, which is over three times more than our biggest ship, the GILGAMESH.”

“Eighteen million tons? But that’s unbelievable! What kind of ship could be this heavy?”

“An Imperium super battleship, Miss Kano. In fact, from the surveillance probes used by our people when in Imperium space, I would guess that the ship in 1940 is the ROYAL SOVEREIGN, the flagship of the Imperium Navy. I will show you a picture of it if you want to.”

“I would like that very much, Miss Mulano.”

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Dana Mulano was then seen on the screen typing quickly a few commands on her workstation’s computer, making the picture of a ship appear on her screen. The cameraman from GNN who was presently inside the Time Patrol headquarters in New Lake City then zoomed in on that picture. Lori Kano felt a chill go down her spine as she detailed the massive, intimidating ship while Mulano described it.

“This is the ROYAL SOVEREIGN, covertly filmed from above while sitting on its landing pad near London in 3386 ‘B’. It is a heavily armored ship equipped with electro-magnetic shield generators, of which we can see the antennas here and here. It is also heavily armed with defensive lasers, missile launchers and what appears to be a massive plasma canon in its nose. It also has hangars and launching bays for dozens of attack craft and interceptors. Apart from having enough firepower to vaporize half of the major cities on Earth, it can probably withstand about anything short of a direct hit by a nuclear weapon. I am not even sure if our whole fleet could win a straightforward battle against this behemoth.”

Lori swallowed hard before asking her next question, which could be crucial for the incoming evening news program.

“Miss Mulano, you have now been working for nearly two years for the Time Patrol and probably know its members well. Would the Time Patrol fleet be willing to fight that ship if it became a threat to the Global Council?”

“They would, even if it means their death, miss.” said categorically Dana Mulano. “However, they would need to be informed about that ship first, which I can’t do right now because of the actions of the High Council.”

Lori Kano let that sink in for a moment, then spoke more softly.

“Miss Mulano, what is exactly your present status?”

Dana bowed her head at that, showing some discouragement and uncertainty.

“Me and my team are officially unemployed, having been fired by the High Council, like the rest of the Time Patrol personnel who are now in the past. Our personal bank accounts have also been frozen on orders from the government. This headquarter is still open and functioning partially only because we are protected by a few combat robots which have prevented the government security services from entering the building. Outside power and water to this building has been cut and we will probably be arrested if we step outside. We are now holding on with the help of an emergency generator and a supply of combat rations.”

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“Your devotion to duty is commendable, Miss Mulano. Do you know what the Time Patrol is doing in 1942 ‘B’?”

“Yes! Our people are actively modifying the history of the Second World War in order to erase from timeline ‘B’ the Imperium and the threat it represents to the Global Council. That should be a done deal in a few days at most.”

“And yet you and the rest of the Time Patrol are being treated like criminals by the High Council. Thank you very much for your time, Miss Mulano, and good luck to you.”

“Thank you, Miss Kano. It was a pleasure speaking with you.” Lori swiveled her chair to face the camera as the picture from New Lake City faded on the giant wall screen.

“This was Dana Mulano, the shift supervisor at the Time Patrol surveillance center in New Lake City. I will remind the viewers that, following a vote of non-confidence by the High Council, the Chief Global Administrator, Boran Kern, who was supportive of the Time Patrol, was replaced yesterday by the Vice-Chief Administrator, Tran Ming. Mister Kern subsequently joined the Time Patrol and is now in the past, in the year 1942 of timeline ‘B’. Other members of the High Council have resigned in protest as well, including Chief Justice Sten Vargas, while a growing number of citizens have been publicly voicing their support for the Time Patrol. Some have even offered to join that organization if and when they could contact it. Up to now, the High Council has refused to comment on this crisis and keeps a tight blockade by ComSec officers around the Time Patrol headquarters in New Lake City. In fact, our GNN camera crew presently inside that building has been there since yesterday and has been threatened with arrest and prosecution if it does not vacate the premises soon. In view of the evidence presented by the Time Patrol concerning the decision by the Imperium to attack and destroy our civilization as soon as they can find us, the anti-Time Patrol stance of the High Council is very hard to explain. After all, the Time Patrol is actively trying to neutralize the threat from the Imperium and is the only force available to us for our defense. Why then treat its members like common criminals? Some are saying that they refused a legitimate direct order and mutinied. Others say that the Time Patrol did the just thing and saved a member who had risked her life repeatedly in the service of the Global Council, and that the present stance by the High Council is simply rank cowardice combined with utter stupidity and even some racism towards Ancestors. We invite you, the GNN listeners, to participate in an electronic instant poll, the results of

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which will be published on our evening news program today at 22:00 hours, universal time. The question is: who has acted properly in this crisis? The High Council or the Time Patrol? We will see tonight what the average citizen of the Global Council thinks about this. This is Lori Kano, speaking from the GNN main studios on Zeta Alpha.” As soon as she was finished and the cameras were switched off, Lori’s news editor walked in on the set, smiling with satisfaction.

“That was great, Lori. This should create quite a juicy public controversy, which is always good for the ratings.”

Lori gave him a less than pleased look.

“Stan, is that all you see in this crisis, a juicy controversy? The existence of our society may be at stake here.”

“Come on, Lori. You don’t really believe that this Imperium would be capable of committing in cold blood such a genocide? They will look at us, see a planet full of peace-loving people and decide that we are no threat at all.”

“What about the covert recordings of that Imperium meeting where King Stan and his staff decided to restart mass production of nuclear weapons, so that they could be ready to deal with us?”

“It must have been meant as a defensive measure, Lori, to defend against the ships of the Time Patrol. Besides, are you so sure that the Time Patrol didn’t doctor those recordings to justify their actions?”

Lori shot out of her chair, anger on her face.

“Stan, I can’t believe that you just said that.”

Lori then stormed out of the set, leaving behind her flabbergasted editor. Going back to her office, she tried to work on her evening report but couldn’t concentrate properly, still too angry and disappointed. A call came in from the GNN offices in Zurich twenty minutes later. Silently thanking her caller for this chance to change her mindset, she switched on her videophone screen and looked at the face of the local news editor.

“What can I do for you, Mister Marek?”

“It is more what I can do for you, Miss Kano. I have just received some political news of great interest. First, the wife of ex-Chief Administrator Kern has launched a global petition of non-confidence against the High Council for their handling of the Time Patrol crisis. The news on that petition is that it is gathering steam very rapidly and that things are not looking good for the present High Council. If your own evening poll turns out in favor of the Time Patrol, then the government may have no choice but to run a

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snap global election for the position of Global Chief Administrator. The other piece of news is about Misses Tomi Kern herself: she has publicly announced her intention to run for the post of Global Chief Administrator.”

“Yes! That should put a good fire under the High Council. If anybody can pull it off, it is Tomi Kern: she is one foxy lady. Thanks for the call, Mister Marek.” Lori barely had the time to switch off her videophone before another call came in. That caller however was requesting to speak on the privacy mode, an option which allowed the scrambling of the signal so that only the two stations involved could get a clear transmission. By pushing the privacy button, Lori synchronized the random coding signals from the two videophones, making it impossible for anyone, even the government security services, to listen in on the conversation. If there was something that was sacred apart from individual rights in the Global Council, it was privacy. The man she then saw on her screen was totally unknown to her.

“Excuse me for disturbing you like this, Miss Kano, but your latest newscast just resolved a crisis of conscience I was going through. I believe that I have a way to pass on to the Time Patrol that information about the presumed Imperium ship being back in 1940 ‘B’.”

“Go on, sir.” said Lori, suddenly most interested.

“Well, without giving my name, I can tell you that I am an independent contractor often used by the government for highly customized electronic repair work and that I live in the New Lake City area. About a week ago, one of the time scooters of the Time Patrol suffered extensive damage through an electrical fire that spread to nearly all its circuits. It was nearly declared scrap then but I offered to rebuild it at a bargain cost that earned me the repair contract. Since I hold a clearance that lets me work on sensitive government equipment, that time scooter was simply brought to my shop and left there for repair. It seems that, in the confusion of the last few days, everybody kind of forgot about that time scooter. It is now fully repaired and operational and I was wondering if I should turn it over to the security services, that is until I saw your newscast. I contacted you instead of the people left at the Time Patrol headquarters because I figured out that their communications lines would be tightly monitored. I can fly and operate that time scooter and am offering you a ride to the past, Miss Kano.”

“But I thought that those time scooters could be operated only by certified members of the Time Patrol, via a fingerprint recognition system.”

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“True, miss, but the fingerprint recognition system of that time scooter was totally destroyed in the fire and was bypassed by the Time Patrol so that I could work on it. By giving you a ride to 1942 ‘B’ we will be able to accomplish three things: first, to pass that information about the Imperium ship to the Time Patrol; second, to let you produce an exclusive report on this crisis; and, thirdly, it will permit me to go join the Time Patrol. I don’t care what happens to me afterwards but I figure that these people could use all the help they could get.”

Lori looked fondly at the resolute face of the man, emotion making her speechless for a moment.

“Sir, what you are doing is admirable. How do you propose to pick me up?”

“I have obtained the precise coordinates for the number six arrival hangar of the Zeta Alpha orbital city and I know that no ship is scheduled to use that hangar for the next ten hours. I can jump directly into that hangar at the time of your choosing.” It took only a second for Lori to make her mind.

“I will be in that hangar in exactly one hour. Thank you very much, sir. What you are doing takes a lot of guts.”

“Miss, I simply couldn’t just sit and do nothing, and please call me Greg.”

“Then, see you in one hour, Greg.”

Lori next called the GNN camera crew that was inside the Time Patrol headquarters and got the head cameraman to put Dana Mulano on the line. The sensors supervisor looked surprised to be called again so quickly.

“Miss Kano? What can I do for you?”

“Maybe a lot, miss. On what exact date is that Imperium warship located?”

“Well, it actually did jump to October 15 of 1940 ‘B’, but you have to understand that our system only detects spacetime jumps and not normal travel. That ship could stay for years in orbit around Earth and not be detected again until its next jump in time. To continuously track it down would take another ship to shadow it.”

“Fair enough. Now, could you give me the date and coordinates where your ships would be?”

“Uh, I don’t understand, miss. This info is useless unless…”

“Just give me the date and coordinates, miss.” Said Lori urgently, hoping that the security services were not monitoring this call. Mulano did go to her computer and copied some numbers on a piece of paper before returning to the GNN camera.

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“Our ships’ original destination was the military airfield in Northolt, near London, England. They were scheduled to arrive there on May 23, 1942 ‘B’. Taking into account the time spent here since their departure, I would target the early morning of May 25, 1942 ‘B’, London time. Here are the actual spacetime jump coordinates…” Lori carefully noted down the long combination of numbers and letters, then thanked Mulano and hung up. In a real hurry now and with possibly the government security services alerted to her next move, Lori grabbed the travel bag and equipment kit she always kept ready in her office in case of sudden departures for impromptu interviews, then quickly walked out of the GNN premises, telling the receptionist in the company’s reception lobby that she was going to meet a source in one of the food courts of the orbital city. As Lori was entering with other people an elevator to go to the hangar levels, she just had time to see a squad of ComSec officers running towards the GNN offices before the doors of the elevator cabin closed. Her heart now beating furiously, Lori surprised herself at finding her fear somewhat exhilarating. If that was what an adrenalin rush did to a person, then she started to understand the craving for adventure which seemed to possess the Ancestor members of the Time Patrol. Once at the hangar level she sought, she left the elevator and went to the nearest women’s washroom, where she locked herself up in a toilet stall and proceeded to change clothes. Her business two-piece ensemble and fashionable shoes went into her travel bag and she then put on instead a flashy, skin-tight red outdoor outfit, complete with hiking boots and wide-brimmed jungle hat. A pair of large sunglasses which covered nearly half of her face completed her new appearance.

Once changed, Lori proceeded to Docking Hangar Number Six. Since there were no ships in it at the time, access to it was wide open, with only a few maintenance technicians and robots busy inside the huge space. Lori again went to an individual washroom, but this time one that was inside the hangar itself, and locked herself up in it. She then waited nervously until there was less than ten minutes left before the scheduled arrival of Greg and his time scooter. Cautiously leaving her hiding place, Lori looked around the empty hangar: still no ComSec officer in sight. She still stayed hidden behind a pile of cargo crates until a white flash of light in the middle of the hangar made her heart jump inside her chest. Looking quickly from behind the crates, she saw a time scooter landing smoothly less than thirty meters from her. Sprinting to it with her

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luggage, she jumped on the middle seat, out of breath, and smiled to the man at the controls while giving him the paper with the jump coordinates given by Mulano.

“These are the spacetime coordinates given to me by Miss Mulano of the Time Patrol. We are heading for the airfield in Northolt, near London, in the early morning of May 25, 1942 ‘B’, London time.”

“Good job, Miss Kano! We will be there shortly.”

The Plexiglas canopy slid close as Greg punched in the coordinates on his control dash. A few seconds later a flash of light enveloped them as the first ComSec officers belatedly entered the hangar at a run.

The next thing Lori saw was darkness, punctuated by a few lights here and there. The place looked nothing like an airfield to her, accustomed as she was to brightly lit astroports. The only thing that attracted her attention was the mostly dark mass of a tall building with a few lights showing through some windows. Greg, who had switched on the scooter’s navigation lights, flew his machine towards that tower and soon landed besides it. Six intimidating machines immediately surrounded the scooter as its canopy slid open.

“Identify yourselves!” ordered one of the machines while pointing what must have been weapons at Lori and Greg, who dared not move.

“I am Lori Kano, reporter at Global News Network, and this is my friend Greg. We came to bring an urgent message to the Time Patrol.” There was a moment of silence before the robot spoke again.

“You are cleared to enter Time Patrol facilities. I will now lead you to Doctor Farah Tolkonen.”

Elated, Lori eagerly followed the robot, her bags in her hands and with Greg close behind her, carrying himself a large kit bag. The tower turned out to be of 34th century design and Farah Tolkonen met them in the reception lobby of the building. Lori shared a happy hug with her before presenting her companion to Farah.

“Farah, this is Greg, the man who made it possible for me to come here. He’s an electronics expert who was repairing one of your time scooters, which you left behind in your haste.”

Farah slapped her own forehead at those words.

“Scooter Number 27, of course! How could we have forgotten it like this?”

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“Well, it was a good thing you did, Doctor,” replied Greg, “because we would not have been able to come here and pass on some urgent news if you wouldn’t have forgotten it. By the way, my full name is Greg Thorgal.”

“What urgent news?” asked Farah while shaking hands with Greg. Lori then took on her to explain in detail what had been happening in the Global Council in the last day. That brought a worried frown to Farah’s face.

“Those idiots of the High Council! Cutting our communications with our rear base could have spelled their own doom. That leaves us no choice but to send back a few scoutships and robots to help defend New Lake City and the Global Council against a possible Imperium attack. Damn! Our campaign here was going so well.”

“May I make a suggestion, Doctor?” said Greg Thorgal.

“By all means, mister.”

“Well, it is not as if you need to send someone from here right away, no? You can always choose the moment you want to appear back in 3386 ‘A’. Why not simply send a team back to your rear base, secure it with your robots and repair your time emitter antenna? That way, your people there will be able to alert you the moment that Imperium ship jumps time.”

“True enough, Mister Thorgal. Let’s inform Nancy of this first, to see what she says about that. She is presently in Hawaii, preparing for a strike against the Japanese forces.”

Farah then led her two visitors to the tower’s operations center, situated on the third floor. There, she got Nancy on a secure radio link within a minute, then spent two minutes to explain the situation in 3386 ‘A’ to her. Nancy obviously didn’t like what she heard.

“One fine day, I will strangle that idiot of Golen Bartok. I concur with the idea of Mister Thorgal. However, I will send a good number of our PDRs back as well, along with a hundred combat robots. I will not have our support technicians, who did their jobs magnificently, be hounded like criminals. We will keep from now on two scoutships on ten-minute alert at all time, ready to respond to any alert from our rear base. I would also like to lead the rescue party for our rear base, Farah.”

“That’s fine with me, as long as you don’t use that chance to kill some members of the High Council, Nancy.”

“Don’t tempt me, Farah. Have 120 PDRs and one hundred combat robots loaded onboard the GILGAMESH, along with a technical team able to repair or replace our time emitter antenna. I will join you in a few minutes. Nancy, out!”

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Putting down the microphone, Farah then looked with fondness at Lori and Greg.

“We owe you two a big one. How could we ever repay you?”

“Well,” said Greg, “as far as I am concerned, the main goal I had coming here, apart from helping Miss Kano warn you, was to enlist in the Time Patrol. I am an expert in electronics repair and I figured that you could use my talents.” Farah grinned and patted his shoulder.

“Then consider yourself part of the team, Mister Thorgal. Mister Kern will put you through the paperwork after breakfast. What about you, Miss Kano? Will you need a lift back to Zeta Alpha?”

“So soon? Since you can always drop me back at the time of your choice, why shouldn’t I stay a bit and cover this war? Hell, I believe that nobody in the Global Council has reported on a war in over 500 years.”

Farah gave her a somber look then.

“Think well, Lori. You may see things in this war which may haunt you all your life.”

It was Lori’s turn to become somber.

“I will consider it as part of the hazards of being a reporter, Farah. If I am to tell my viewers about a possible war with the Imperium, then I better learn what war implies first. I really want to do this, Farah.”

“As you wish, Lori. Since you are already decked out in semi-tropical fashion, I might as well reserve you a place on one of our scoutships based in Hawaii. They will depart on a combat sweep in about four hours.”

22:47 (Honolulu Time)

Sunday, May 24, 1942 ‘B’

Time Patrol scoutship TEEN TEAM

Parking apron, Hickam Field

Oahu, Hawaii

Bill Conway couldn’t help discreetly admire the long, svelte body of the giant woman now being fitted with a helmet by Tom Allen. Her bright red, skin-tight jumpsuit made her even more appetizing, even though Bill was still somewhat put off by her bald head. In the seat behind him, which faced aft, Jenny Kawena was learning how to use her control panel to monitor radio frequencies, with Ingrid Weiss coaching her. As for

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Bill himself, Tom Allen had shown him how to pinpoint an object on the holographic projection sphere of their scoutship’s crew sphere, then to enhance and magnify it on his own control panel. Even as incredibly advanced as the technology of the scoutship was, it was also surprisingly easy to use. For one thing, the radio systems of the scoutship could be controlled by simply punching in the desired frequency, compared to the often-long process used in the contemporary radios, where the operator had to first find the frequency and then carefully tune his radio to take out most of the parasitic noise.

After fitting her mini-camera to her new helmet, Lori Kano took her seat on the side opposite from Bill’s seat, with Ingrid’s pilot seat between and slightly above them. Ingrid then made a quick intercom check with the four other occupants of the crew sphere. Bill could now see the four other scoutships of the task force taking off vertically one after the other, being plainly visible despite night having fallen. Tom had explained to him that the holographic sphere would be showing a blend of low-level light imaging and of thermal imaging, coupled with radar and radio signatures. That had taken a good extra ten minutes of explanation for Bill to fully understand the terms used by Tom. He was still shaking his head at the quality of night viewing this gave to the crew of the scoutship. For once the Japanese, famed for their skills at naval night combat, would be at a distinct disadvantage in the dark.

“What is our goal for tonight already, Ingrid?” asked Lori on the intercom.

“The Japanese home islands. Our priority targets will be aircraft carriers and ground-based combat aircraft. Since we will be attacking at night, we will catch the Japanese aircraft on the ground, which will permit us to destroy them without having to kill their pilots.”

Bill nearly remarked on how misplaced this consideration about sparing the lives of Japanese pilots was but shut his mouth in time. Apart from Jenny Kawena being present, Bill already had a few hours to measure how serious the people of the Time Patrol were about causing the absolute minimum of casualties in enemy ranks. After some reflection of his own, Bill had to recognize that the average Japanese soldier, sailor or airman was probably no guiltier of starting this war than the average American serviceman. Bill just wished that Japanese troops had shown less brutality and cruelty towards the occupied civilian populations and their prisoners of war than their dark reputation implied. Being brave and skillful in war was one thing. To be cruel on top of that was another thing. Bill then concentrated back on their mission as the TEEN TEAM

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rose slowly from the parking apron. Once it was a good hundred meters above ground, Ingrid accelerated her scoutship forward at a rate that made Bill gasp, even though he didn’t feel any crushing force from the acceleration. No Japanese aircraft would be able to catch up with this machine unless Ingrid wanted to. A flash of white light then enveloped the crew sphere, surprising both Bill and Jenny.

“What was that?” exclaimed the Japanese-American ensign from her rear-facing seat.

“We just jumped spacetime.” explained calmly Ingrid. “We are now over the Bay of Tokyo, our first target area.”

Looking downward on the holographic sphere, Bill saw with consternation that they were effectively over that area, which he had studied for countless hours before on charts and maps.

“This is incredible. How far exactly could you jump like this in one shot?”

“A maximum performance jump would bring us just short of the orbit of Jupiter, Bill, or we could travel through time and reach fifteen million years in the future or past. The farthest trip in time I made was when this scoutship was sent to document life on Earth 150 million years ago. That was a very long way from home.”

“It would also have been a very bad time to suffer a mechanical breakdown.” added Tom Allen from his forward gunner’s seat.

“Yes,” said Lori, “but the recordings and data you brought back then were truly invaluable scientifically. Just the historical knowledge and samples from the past the Time Patrol brought back to the Global Council more than paid up for the cost of equipping and running your organization. Because of you, vast areas of Earth which had lost their original fauna have been repopulated, and I am not even talking about the specimens you brought back to populate the new zoos recently built around the Earth. The New Lake City Zoo in particular is a real smash with tourists, with its mammoths, wooly rhinoceros, giant slots, buffalos and cave bears.”

“Damn!” said softly Bill. “Is there any chance that you could one day let us visit your Global Council for a few days?”

Ingrid looked down at him with an amused smile.

“I will pass your request to Nancy, Bill. If she says yes, then you are going too, Jenny.”

“I really could?” said the ensign, ecstatic.

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“Of course! Now, let’s get back to our mission: I see two big juicy targets down there, off the Yokosuka naval base. Bill, could you confirm the identification on those two carriers?”

Bill, even though he already knew the answers, didn’t take any chance and flipped quickly through the naval equipment recognition guide he had brought with him.

“I confirm those two carriers to be the AKAGI and KAGA. The big battleship moored beside them is the YAMATO. I also count four cruisers and seven destroyers, plus three oil tankers. This is definitely one juicy target.”

“Alright! I am now activating our data link with Pearl Harbor, so that Admiral Nimitz could watch this on our portable workstation set up in his fleet headquarters.”

“How do you intend to proceed with your attack, Ingrid?” asked Bill, who still didn’t know much about the capabilities of the scoutship’s weapons.

“We will go down to an altitude of 600 meters and use our laser to slice these ships like cheese. That way they will sink quickly but casualties should be minimal. Hopefully, most of their crews will be on shore leave.”

“You realize that, at that altitude, we will be within range of every anti-aircraft gun on these ships, do you?”

“I know, Bill, but our shields should be able to absorb that crap.”

“Should?” said Lori, suddenly very nervous. “Aren’t you sure about that?”

“I was just kidding, Lori. Our shields will hold. Here we go.” Bill held his breath as the scoutship descended rapidly on the anchored Japanese fleet. He had never been this close from the enemy before. The TEEN TEAM then stopped to a hover just above the carrier AKAGI. Bill could now see Japanese sailors scrambling to man their anti-aircraft guns. A blinding beam of blue-green light then stabbed the night, hitting the deck of the carrier on its forward port edge and creating a spectacular shower of sparks. Tom kept firing his laser continuously, slowly moving the beam across the carrier’s flight deck as the first Japanese shells impacted and exploded against the shields of the scoutship. Since outside noise was also retransmitted inside the crew sphere, Ingrid was soon forced to lower the volume level as more and more guns fired at them. Bill himself couldn’t help flinch a few times when heavier shells exploded against the shields. Apparently undisturbed by the hurricane of enemy fire, Tom kept directing methodically his laser beam across the carrier’s deck until it buckled up and the bow section broke away. Water rushed in the forward compartments of the big warship,

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making it quickly taking a list by the bow. The carrier’s gunners still kept firing, though, prompting a remark from Lori.

“These are brave men. They must know now that their ship will sink and yet they still stay at their posts.”

“Nobody could accuse the Japanese of being cowards, Lori.” said Tom, even getting a nod from Bill.

“True! That carrier is now useless, but they could repair it in a few weeks. How about cutting its stern off as well? The propeller shafts will be much more difficult to repair.”

“A sensible idea, Bill. Consider it done.”

Ingrid moved her scoutship to above the stern of the carrier, which was now nearly completely out of the water due to the ship’s list. That made Tom’s job even easier, as he didn’t have to dissipate some of his laser’s power in burning through water. The carrier’s stern separated with a noise of tortured metal and sank in the water after only a minute of firing. Despite all this, the gunners of the AKAGI were still firing at maximum rate.

“Scratch the AKAGI!” announced Tom, while Ingrid flew towards the KAGA. Feeling elated by their easy victory against the AKAGI, Bill was now more confident as Tom started cutting the KAGA’s stern off. The storm of anti-aircraft fire was as furious as ever as the luckless KAGA capsized, its gunners still at their posts.

“By the stars!” said softly a shaken Lori. “So many deaths in so short a time.”

“That is unfortunately the sad reality of war, miss.” replied Bill. “Many more will die before…INGRID, CLIMB! CLIMB NOW!”

Ingrid reacted instinctively, trusting the experience of Bill Conway without discussion and making her scoutship jump up by a thousand meters before looking where Bill had been looking. A huge explosion under them then shook violently the scoutship, while a ball of searing flames accompanied by a shower of fragments expanded where the TEEN TEAM had been.

“What the hell was that?” grumbled Ingrid, more shaken than she wanted to show.

“It was the battleship YAMATO. I saw its eighteen-inch guns elevate and point at us and I then remembered a report I saw once about the battleships of that class being fitted with special anti-aircraft shells for their big guns.”

“Damn! They really could have blown us to bits this time: I doubt that our shields would have withstood a direct hit from a ton and a half shell. All right, Tom, let’s change

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our target priorities temporarily and make it a quick kill: the YAMATO’s guns are too dangerous to play around with.”

“Got that!” replied the teenage boy while concentrating already on his new target. Having served for two years in the Royal Navy as a ship’s boy, Tom knew where the sensitive parts of a battleship were. He thus directed the beam of his 200-megawatt laser on the armored roof of the forward eighteen-inch gun turret, aiming to eventually burn through all the way to its ammunition room. After three seconds of firing, the forward half of the battleship blew up in a titanic explosion, projecting debris over kilometers in all directions and severely shaking the scoutship by the blast wave. One of the giant gun turrets flew off high enough to make a glancing blow against the shields of the scoutship, severely shaking the TEEN TEAM. Lori Kano was as pale as a bed sheet when Ingrid looked around to see if everyone was unhurt.

“Lori, are you okay?”

“I…I think so.” answered the reporter weakly. Satisfied that her crew was safe and sound, Ingrid flew back to her original position above the KAGA. As Tom resumed his ship’s cutting work, Ingrid spoke to Jenny on the intercom.

“Jenny, select the outside speakers on your control panel and crank up the volume to the maximum. I want you to warn the crews of those ships to start evacuating now before we sink their ships. Advise also those three oil tankers that they will be next after we destroy the warships in the bay. Repeat your warning at least twice.”

“Understood, Ingrid.”

Thanking mentally the young German for her sense of humanity, Jenny started broadcasting her warning in Japanese, fervently hoping that the Japanese sailors would heed it. Unfortunately, none of the warships’ crews evacuated their ships, leaving the crews of the three tankers alone to rush to their lifeboats. Jenny didn’t know if she had to feel happy or sad as Tom methodically sank every Japanese warship in the bay, using only the scoutship’s high power laser. As an American Navy officer she should have felt triumph at such a one-sided victory, but she could not help think about the plight of the common Japanese sailor as men died by the hundreds, manning their guns until it was too late for them to evacuate their ships. The three tankers were destroyed last, a short laser burst being enough to turn each of them into a spectacular fireball. Lori Kano, like Jenny Kawena, was silent and downcast as she surveyed the chaos of burning debris and broken ship hulls mixed in the water with hundreds of men swimming frantically to

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escape death. In contrast, Bill Conway felt only satisfaction as he wrote down the results of the battle on his notepad.

“Two carriers, one battleship, four cruisers, seven destroyers and three oil tankers sunk in less than forty minutes. I have never seen such a one-sided battle as this before.”

“This is only the start, Bill. We will now target the military airfields around Tokyo before moving down the Japanese islands. With four other scoutships similarly busy around the Pacific tonight, there should be little to nothing left of Japanese air and sea power by the morning. If such a blow isn’t enough to make the Japanese leaders think about surrendering, then they will deserve a top prize for stupidity.”

06:17 (Tokyo Time)

Tuesday, May 26, 1942 ‘B’

Scoutship TEEN TEAM

Kagoshima Bay, Kyushu Island

Japan

Ingrid and her crew, but especially Tom, were feeling dog-tired after flying over eight hours of non-stop combat operations. They were now leaving the area of the Kagoshima naval base, where they had just sunk the carriers SORYU and HIRYU, plus three battleships and a dozen lesser ships. The coming of the daylight had permitted for the first time the Japanese to launch fighters against the marauding scoutship. That had however been somewhat of an anti-climax, those fighters proving childishly easy to shoot down with short laser bursts. Everybody was looking forward to a good breakfast and some hours of sleep when a swarm of dots showed up on their sensors, coming straight towards the scoutship.

“I count easily over 140 aircraft coming from three directions.” announced Tom, making Ingrid frown.

“Haven’t they learned their lesson yet? They should know that they stand no chance. Shooting them down would be little more than a senseless slaughter. Let’s go home, so that they can think about their surrender during the day.”

“If you do that, Ingrid,” intervened Bill Conway, “they will think that they have scared you away and that will instead build up their morale. You will thus lose much of the psychological impact that you have been trying to cause all night.”

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Ingrid exchanged a look with Tom, unsure at first what to do. She finally relented.

“Alright, we will engage them, but I will fly up to high altitude, higher than those Japanese planes can reach, then will shoot them down from up high.”

“Agreed!’’ said Tom. ‘’We still have too much left to accomplish to take unnecessary risks at this stage of our operation. The important point is to destroy Japanese airpower, not to look heroic by engaging in unnecessary dogfights.’’ Bill Conway nodded his head at that. The two teenagers were right in putting a priority on their overall mission.

12:46 (Honolulu Time) / 06:46 (Tokyo Time)

Monday, May 25, 1942 ‘B’ / Tuesday, May 26, 1942 ‘B’ Operations Center, Pacific Fleet Headquarters

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Admiral Nimitz, who had been watching the results of the TEEN TEAM work over Japan, then looked up at Lieutenant Commander Bailey, who was holding a clipboard.

“Mister Bailey, what is your tally of ships sunk and aircraft destroyed by the scoutship TEEN TEAM?”

The naval intelligence officer shook his head as he read his notes.

“They accounted for the carriers AKAGI, KAGA, SORYU and HIRYU, the battleships YAMATO, KIRISHIMA, HIEI and FUSO, eight cruisers, twelve destroyers, three submarines and four oil tankers. They also destroyed in the air 39 Japanese fighters, plus 284 other aircraft on the ground. Those last don’t include the aircraft lost with the four carriers, sir.”

“These youngsters did a truly magnificent job and should be commended. Mister Stone, does your Time Patrol have rules against accepting foreign medals?”

“Not at all, Admiral. In fact, the four other scoutship pilots of our task force wear medals of either British, Soviet or German origin. I have my own medals from the American Navy of the 21st century, sir.”

“Good! Mister Bailey, what is left exactly of the Japanese air and sea power after this night massacre by the scoutships of the Time Patrol?”

“Damn little, if I may say so, Admiral. The Japanese have now only one small carrier left to them, the CHITOSE, while I estimate that less than thirty percent of all Japanese aircraft remain, those being mostly dispersed on small airfields around China

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and the north of Japan. As for sea power, the Japanese are now down to maybe five cruisers, a dozen destroyers and a motley collection of coastal patrol ships. Their only potent force left apart from the above is their submarine force, which will have to be flushed out from under the sea.”

Obviously delighted, Nimitz looked back at Michael Stone.

“That is indeed outstanding. What will be the next step in your plan, Mister Stone?”

“We will mostly let our crews rest during the day, Admiral, and give a chance to the Japanese to assess the damage, so that they could start thinking about surrendering. Then, tonight, we will concentrate our strikes on Japanese supply centers, oil storage sites, ammunition dumps and the like. The Japanese Army will then be mostly isolated and short on supplies, which should restrict greatly its operational options. We however expect the Japanese Army to be very stubborn and much harder to take out of the fight than their air force or navy. That is why we are hoping that common sense will prevail in Tokyo and that someone will push for surrender. If that does not happen, then your navy will be free to blockade the Japanese islands and starve them into submission.”

“That sounds like a good plan to me, mister. How are your people in Europe doing?”

“Very well indeed, Admiral. Now that we have taken care of a small domestic problem of our own in 3386, we have been concentrating in completing the elimination of the Nazi Party machine and of its instruments of repression. We will soon enter talks with the various high level German military commanders, to convince them to withdraw on their own out of all the territories they have occupied since the start of the war. In exchange for that and a partial German disarmament, we will guarantee that the original German borders will be respected and that the Soviets will not be allowed to grab Eastern Europe.”

“That is quite a risky political program, mister. Can your Nancy Laplante really play that kind of hardball game?”

Michael Stone smiled at Nimitz’ question.

“Admiral, Nancy can play hardball with the best of them.”

20:54 (Honolulu time)

Scoutship TEEN TEAM

Hickam Field, Pearl Harbor

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Hawaii

Ingrid’s bum felt like lead as she was finally able to leave her pilot seat: 22 hours sitting in it except for two toilet breaks and a quick snack was quite enough for anybody. Bill Conway, who was already up, saw that and smiled.

“Need a rub, Ingrid?”

“Oh yes! I’m not going to refuse that now.”

Stepping down from her pilot’s station, she turned around and presented her back to the delighted American while leaning against the observer’s seat. Bill’s vigorous rubbing and massaging got moans of satisfaction from Ingrid and a sarcastic look from Lori Kano.

“You know, you could find an easier way to justify getting a massage, Ingrid.”

“Hey, any way to get a massage is justifiable in my mind.” Tom, a faked look of jealousy on his face, rubbed his own bum.

“Gee, I also sat in that seat for long hours. What do I have to do to get a rub?”

“You just need to ask, my pretty boy.” replied Lori before taking position behind him, gluing herself to his back and caressing his bum with both hands. Lori saw Jenny’s cheeks turn red and grinned to the Japanese-American.

“Don’t tell me that you never had a boy rub your bum, Jenny.”

“Uh, actually, no. My parents were quite traditional in their values. Besides, nobody would even approach me during my Navy classes.” The way her tone saddened while saying her last sentence made Ingrid and Tom look at her with genuine concern. Ingrid made Bill stop his rubbing and went to the small ensign, taking hold of her by the shoulders.

“Jenny, you are a sweet girl who deserves better than to be shunned. If you want to, there will always be a place for you with us in the Time Patrol.”

“You are serious, Ingrid? You really would accept me after this war?”

“Hey, Nancy is my adoptive mother and I think that I know her well enough to say that she would take you any time.”

“That…that would be fantastic. Thanks for the words of encouragement, Ingrid.”

“My pleasure, Jenny. Now, let’s go take a shower and some sleep.”

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