CHILDREN OF TIME (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 2 – PROTECTOR OF PALESTINE

 

09:53 (Jerusalem Time)

Thursday, July 02, 1942 ‘B’

Main entrance, King David Hotel

Jerusalem, Palestine

The British Army captain waiting in front of the main entrance of the King David Hotel, which housed the British Grand Headquarters and the offices of the mandated Government in Palestine, nervously looked at his watch for the third time in the last minute. His job was to give enough warning to the honor guard inside the main lobby of the hotel about the arrival of the V.I.P. they were expecting. The problem was that the Time Patrol had specified the time and place of arrival but not the mode of transportation of the person who would take over the hot potato that was Palestine from the hands of the British government. Captain Larkin was thus looking literally in all directions, attempting to detect the approach of either some kind of motorcade or, more probably, of some flying craft. Larkin was not exactly prepared for what he finally saw coming from the sky. His eyes bulging out, he stared upwards for a few seconds, then turned around and shouted at the major standing in the doorway of the hotel.

“SHE’S COMING DOWN, SIR! ALONE!”

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As the major nodded in acknowledgement and disappeared inside the lobby, the passersby walking along the King David Avenue also started looking skyward, stopping cold where they were and shouting out their surprise. A few seconds later, a tall young woman wearing a silvery Time Patrol parade uniform seemingly covered with medals and decorations landed smoothly in front of Larkin, who came to attention and saluted.

“Welcome to Jerusalem, ma’am! I am Captain Peter Larkin, your escort for this ceremony. Uh, is anyone else due to arrive with you, ma’am?” Nancy Laplante returned his salute before answering with a smile.

“My staff will arrive later by air in our flying command post, Captain. Could you make sure that the site of the military camp just vacated east of the hotel is kept empty of any vehicle or other obstructions?”

“Of course, ma’am!” replied Larkin politely before taking out a small radio and speaking in it for a minute, relaying Nancy’s instructions to the lieutenant in charge of the campground. He then pointed at the hotel entrance.

“If you would please follow me, General Maitland-Wilson is expecting you inside the hotel lobby, ma’am.”

“With pleasure, Captain.”

As he was walking besides Laplante, Larkin was mentally wondering how she could have flown the way she had done. There was no obvious flying device on her and her uniform molded her body in a most delightful way that also would have revealed any mechanism close to her skin. Larkin had heard that Laplante had some incredible mental powers but then there were all kinds of rumors flying around concerning her, each more fantastic than the other. Giving up on this mystery, Larkin concentrated instead on following the rules of decorum for the welcoming ceremony. Lieutenant General Sir Henry Maitland-Wilson, in full parade uniform and wearing a long row of medals, greeted Nancy with a salute and a handshake once she entered the luxurious lobby of the King David Hotel.

“Miss Laplante, it is a true pleasure to meet you in person. I’m Sir Henry Maitland-Wilson, Commander of the British forces in Palestine.”

“Pleased to meet you, General. By the way, I should by all rights be the one to salute you first.”

“Nonsense!” replied Maitland-Wilson while pointing at Nancy’s Victoria Cross with two bars. “I would salute first anyone wearing the VC. Besides, you are here to take

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over Palestine from Sir Harold MacMichael, which certainly puts your position above mine. Would you like to review the honor guard, miss?”

“With pleasure, General.”

The two of them, accompanied by the major in charge of the honor guard, then reviewed the company of British infantrymen while Larkin waited besides the bank of elevators near the reception counter. Once the inspection was done, Nancy followed Maitland-Wilson and Larkin inside one elevator and went up with them to the fifth floor of the hotel, then walked down the main hallway leading to the South wing, where the British staff had its offices. Larkin had to wait in the hallway as Nancy was introduced into the royal suite occupied by Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael, the British High Commissioner for Palestine. The sixty-year-old career public administrator was flanked by his top aides and assistants as he shook hands with Nancy in the middle of a luxurious lounge.

“Miss Laplante, I would be lying if I said that I was sad to leave my place to you. Palestine is one difficult place to administer and an even more dangerous one to live in, as you may quickly discover.”

“I have no illusions about how difficult this job will be, Sir Harold. I however do have a few aces up my sleeve which should help me. For one thing, I spent four of my previous lives in this land and knows from historical hindsight what the dangers facing me are.”

Sir Harold glanced at the door of the suite, then back at Nancy.

“I thought that you would have brought your own staff for this official takeover ceremony, miss.”

“They are about to arrive by air, Sir Harold. Once they have landed, I will have them start the actual turnover of official documents and information with your staff.”

“Uh, would it be too indiscreet to ask in passing what the various digging sites which were started around Palestine by your machines three days ago are about, miss?”

“They are foundations for a large number of prefabricated buildings due to be flown in place soon. These buildings will in turn shelter various types of facilities, including housing units for Jewish immigrants from Europe.” Sir Harold gave her a cautious look at those last words.

“Those immigrants may spark a violent Arab reaction, miss. We lived through this already.”

“I know, Sir Harold.” said Nancy in a sober tone. “I believe however that I have a way to convince the Palestinian Arabs to accept peacefully those new immigrants.”

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“I hope so for you, miss. Shall we sit to continue this conversation?”

“By all means, Sir Harold.”

Once they were all sitting in the sofas of the lounge, Nancy resumed their conversation, looking around at the British administrators surrounding her.

“Gentlemen, what you have seen of our preparations up to now is actually quite deceiving. In reality our machines have been working for over two weeks, but their work was underground. Our robots have by now built a complete underground network of pipelines crisscrossing most of Palestine. These pipelines will soon be connected to nine big water desalination plants which will be flown in place tonight. Once that is done, we will have enough fresh water to triple the agricultural output of the country. We will also introduce an agricultural technique that is well developed in the 34th century, that of hydroponics. Hydroponics resembles in a way cultures in greenhouses, except that you don’t use dirt to grow plants. Instead, you can use fine pebbles, glass or plastic beads or even coarse sand as the supporting medium for the plants, in combination with a fertilizer solution. The results are bigger and tastier produces and multiple crops per year, whatever the climate turns out to be in Palestine. Since the new settlements will be on lands that are unoccupied and are normally unsuited to agriculture, like around the Negev Desert, the Arab Palestinians will have no motives to complain. Besides, they will also benefit from the new infrastructure, with new water sources, free schools and medical care and other social benefits.”

The British looked at each other in surprise, with Sir Harold giving a cautious nod to Nancy.

“This could actually work with most of the people in Palestine, miss, but we have learned to our sorrow that there are plenty of extremists who will settle for nothing short of their own personal dreams, which rarely take account of those with possible dissenting opinions. How will you control these extremists?”

“I will try reason on them first, Sir Harold. If that doesn’t work, then I will use overwhelming force and simply eliminate them, the way the Japanese Army was exterminated around Asia. I will have at my disposal over 2400 combat robots to keep law and order in Palestine. I am ready to show mercy and compassion to those who deserve it, but I will be ruthless with those ready to use violence for political purposes. I will rule the Holy Land for the good of all, not for the good of a few, as was too often the case in the past. Some may call me a dictator for the way I will rule but that is what I will

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be in essence: a benevolent dictator with the goal of bringing peace and prosperity to the Holy Land.”

One of Sir Harold’s assistants, who wore a British police uniform, then spoke up politely.

“Miss, I’m Alan Saunders, Inspector General of Police and Prisons for Palestine. The directives we got from London said that we will have to turn over all aspects of the local administration to you in one week’s time, by which time we will leave Palestine. There was also a request to canvas our British police officers and constables to see who would be interested in staying behind and continue working here as local citizens. Some of my men stated their desire to stay but many more are still undecided, since they don’t know exactly what to expect to happen in Palestine in the coming future. The security of their families also weighs heavily on their minds.”

A soft expression appeared on Nancy’s face at the mention of families.

“Tell them that their families will be well taken care of and that I will support them to the utmost. Tell them also that, for those willing to stay, pay, conditions of service and social amenities will be substantially improved. That, by the way, will also apply to all British civil servants and officials willing to stay in the Holy Land. The whole local administration will be reformed, with the emphasis put on merit and competence and with the goal of making services to the public more accessible and just. You will all get more details about this during your turnover briefings.”

Nancy then looked at her watch and got up from her sofa, pointing at the nearest window, which was facing east towards the old city.

“If you may approach the windows, gentlemen, my flying command post is about to land.”

The seventeen British men got up eagerly and went to the windows, scanning the sky for an incoming ship. General Maitland-Wilson pointed at the vacated campgrounds situated between the King David Hotel and the walls of the old city.

“Either your ship is a small one or your pilot is a good one, miss: the campgrounds are at most 150 yards to the side.”

Nancy grinned at that remark.

“My pilot is indeed good, General, but my command post is anything but small. There it is, in fact.”

A concert of exclamations came out of the assembled British when what looked like a huge tower building appeared from above, descending slowly towards the campgrounds. As tall as a twenty-story building, it was made of brass-plated structural framing and sky

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blue-tinted false mirror windows. The massive polygonal base, under which dozens of large landing legs were visible, was of polished copper color and had only a few large windows, contrary to the tower, with its curved Plexiglas reflective walls, which sat on the base. The top of the tower was distinctly wider that its bottom part and what looked like a big landing pad sat atop the structure. The flying building landed smoothly in the middle of the campgrounds, nearly covering the whole of its surface. After maybe a minute, a wide ramp lowered to the ground under the base, while a series of metallic, copper-tinted plates deployed to cover the gaps between the sides of the base and the ground. Four long metallic arms supporting a number of antennas and electronic arrays last deployed near the top of the structure.

“Well, I’ll be…” muttered Sir Harold, who then looked with sparkling eyes at Nancy.

“If this doesn’t impress the local population, miss, then nothing will.”

“Actually, Sir Harold, I am planning to impress them mostly with the benefits they will gain from living in peace in the Holy Land.” replied Nancy, looking down thoughtfully at the crowd quickly gathering around the newly arrived building.

13:30 (Jerusalem Time)

Executive conference room, eighteenth floor

Time Patrol Regional Command Module

Jerusalem, Palestine

Nancy banged her gavel twice to quiet down the men sitting around the big conference table and then looked in turn at each of them. If not for the presence of a few combat robots standing against the walls of the large conference room, some of her guests would probably have jumped at the throats of each other. To say that the atmosphere was tense would have been a huge understatement.

“Gentlemen,” she said firmly in Arabic, “we are here to bring peace to the Holy Land, so I will appreciate if you could forget your animosities and concentrate on what I will tell you.”

Nancy then repeated herself in Hebrew before switching on the simultaneous translation system and continuing in English.

“You all got a brief explanation a few minutes ago on how to use the translation system. I will however ask you to ask permission to speak first and to not interrupt each

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other. That will make life much easier on our translators. First, let me present myself. I am Nancy Laplante, Overseer of the Holy Land. My goal is to bring peace, justice and prosperity to this land and I was given full powers by the Time Patrol and the British government to attain that goal. I am committed to improving the lives of all who live in the Holy Land, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or sex. I am also committed to offering asylum in the Holy Land to many unfortunate European Jews who barely survived the Nazi holocaust which took place during the recent war. However, that will not be done at the expense of the present inhabitants of this land.”

“And how do you propose to do that, miss?” asked in a skeptical tone the Mufti

1of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini. “How could you bring more Jews to Palestine without creating prejudice to us Arabs?”

“Before I answer that, I want to make a point that may be of crucial importance: from now on, this land will be known as the Holy Land, and not simply as ‘Palestine’. It will be an independent, secular state with its own money, constitution, laws and institutions. While the Time Patrol took on itself to govern this land for the time being, it will eventually be governed by its own people, once we get rid of the violence and intolerance which are poisoning this country. I will however stay at the helm for the next decades to come, to ensure that the new spirit of peace and justice is respected. That is not because I crave political power, gentlemen: it is because I, as The Hand of The One, wants to see the words of The One applied and obeyed. You all supposedly respect the word of God, so I hope that you will cooperate with me in this.” While the Jewish delegates around the table, who had all heard tales from European Jews about Nancy’s powers and interventions in their favor, mostly accepted her words, the Mufti angrily looked at her.

“I pray and obey God, miss, but I have not seen any proof that God chose you to enforce his will in this land, or anywhere else. He would not have chosen a woman for such a task anyway.”

Nancy didn’t say a word, instead fixing the Mufti in the eyes. The Muslim cleric suddenly started shouting in alarm and fear as he floated up from his chair. With his arms and legs thrashing around, his body then rotated and he ended up in mid-air on his belly before floating towards Nancy and coming to a stop with his face only a few centimeters from her face.

1 Mufti: Top Muslim religious cleric

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“Mister Husseini, you may be officially the Mufti but your conduct so far in your official position has been a disgrace to God’s word. He wishes to promote tolerance, kindness and compassion, not intolerance and violence. You will either start respecting the true word of God or you will be deported from the Holy Land. Furthermore, if you keep preaching hatred and murder, I will personally punish you. I invited you here as a matter of courtesy but I see now that you are truly a lost cause. Restrict yourself to purely religious matters from now on and stay away from politics. Now, go back to your place!”

The Mufti, still seemingly held by an invisible hand, then floated back to his seat, where he flopped down in his armchair under the incredulous eyes of the others. Ignoring the shaken cleric, Nancy looked severely around the table. Her next words were delivered telepathically.

“I was given my personal powers by The One in order to help make this world a better place for all. I have however his authority to use as well my powers to impose his will if need be. Don’t force me into using them in a violent way.” David Ben Gurion, the chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, hesitantly raised his hand next.

“Miss Laplante, I was told about the miracles you performed while helping our Jewish brothers in Poland and in the rest of Europe and you have my heartfelt gratitude for this. Our long-held dream has however been for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine, a country given to us by God. Many of my fellow Jews may not be satisfied by living in a secular state, however just and prosperous it could be.” The outburst he feared from her did not come out. Nancy instead looked calmly at him.

“I understand that is what the scriptures may have led you to believe, Mister Ben Gurion. They are however based on oral traditions dating back many millenniums and were written down by imperfect men who may or may not have interpreted certain points according to their own personal points of views. For one thing, God reportedly gave to Abraham and all his descendants the land of Israel, then known as Canaan. First off, that didn’t mean that it gave the right to Abraham to kill or chase away the then inhabitants of Canaan, something he didn’t do anyway. Second, the promise included ALL of his descendants, which includes his son from Agar, Ishmael, and the latter’s descendants. The Holy Land is thus not the exclusive preserve of the Jewish people, contrary to what you may believe.”

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“But Ishmael and his mother were chased away by Abraham.” protested Ben Gurion. “They lost all rights to the Holy Land then.”

The old Jewish politician was surprised to see a look of deep pain and sadness appear on the face of Nancy Laplante.

“Abraham chased them away because of the influence of his old, jealous wife, Sarai, not because God told him so. God later showed compassion and helped Agar and her son survive in the desert. As for Abraham, he deeply regretted that rash gesture of his for a long time and would have taken back Agar and her son if he could have found them again. Sarai, on her part, eventually understood the meanness of her actions and died with that weight on her conscience.”

The Jewish delegates looked at each other in utter confusion, with Ben Gurion finally speaking back to Nancy.

“We are not aware of any parts of the scriptures which described such regrets on the parts of Abraham and of his wife Sarah. Besides, why do you keep calling her Sarai and not Sarah?”

She appeared near tears when she answered him in a soft voice.

“My spirit was there when this all happened. I was Sarai of Ur, wife of Abraham, and I changed my name to Sarah only after we stopped in the Holy Land to live there for good. The scriptures don’t mention these regrets because they are incomplete and contain errors, as could be expected from something made by mere humans. I was recently able to find again the spirit of Agar, whom I adopted as my daughter before knowing who her spirit was. She has by now forgiven me for my past meanness towards her. The Jewish people are welcomed to the Holy Land if it comes in peace, Mister Ben Gurion, but not at the expense of the descendants of Ishmael. My duty is to all the people of the Holy Land and I will not be swayed from it.” There was a heavy silence, broken by General Glubb Pasha, a British officer converted to Islam who was the commander of the Arab Legion, the army of the Emir of Transjordan.

“Miss, the Great Patriarch lived close to four millenniums ago. You are not saying that you are this old, are you?”

“Not in body. I was referring to my spirit, which was living through one of its incarnations. My spirit is actually 9,000 years old and I can draw on the memories of 93 successive lives. This body that you see is 32 years-old but it can live to past 200 years

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old. If I could serve the cause of the Holy Land during those years, then I will not have wasted my time on this Earth.”

“So, the Hindu concept of incarnation would actually be a reality?” asked Glubb Pasha, swallowing hard while staring at her with wide eyes.

“It is mostly correct, yes. The one part they got wrong was about spirits reincarnating in forms other than humans. A human spirit is too precious to The One to be wasted by putting it in an insect, a bird or another type of animal. All human spirits come from and are part of The One. They also go back to it after the death of their host body, spending some time in communion with The One to cleanse themselves before going back to a new human life. The One feels everything we feel and knows everything we do. As for me, I have already been in communion five times with The One while in this present body. Don’t ask me what The One looks like: it has no physical form and cannot be described, even though it could take any form it wishes.” The Muslims sitting at the table nodded in satisfaction at that: what Nancy had just said fitted with the Islamic belief that God could not be represented by a mere picture. The Arab representative for Jericho spoke next to her with great deference.

“Please do not take my question as a sign of doubt in you, miss, but what specific benefits would my fellow citizens in Jericho gain in exchange for letting Jewish settlers come to Pal… uh, to the Holy Land?”

“Your question is a legitimate one, my good man.” replied Nancy, smiling to the old man. “They will get what all the citizens of the Holy Land will get: free medical care; free schooling; pensions for old and disabled people and, above all, peace and justice. There will also be numerous other social programs to help the needy and the poor of this land, plus new infrastructures to bring electricity and running water to all parts of the Holy Land. All this will take a few months to put in place but the wait will be worth it.”

“This sounds all very nice, miss,” cut in one of the Jewish delegates, “but who will pay for all this? These social programs will cost a fortune. Are you planning to raise the taxes?”

“Nothing so painful, actually. The Global Council, the society of the 34th century from which the Time Patrol comes from, is building all the new infrastructure we will need for free and will support financially the Holy Land during the first years, until we are self-sufficient. A shipment of gold worth fifteen billion British Pounds will also be delivered this afternoon to the Central Bank of Palestine, along with supplies of the new currency. There is more gold available to us if need be.”

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“Fifteen billion pounds?” exclaimed the Jewish delegate, unable to believe his ears.

“That’s correct. Money is actually no problem. You, gentlemen, will tackle the hardest problem: convincing your citizens of giving up all the illegal weapons in their possession within a week. After that, if I am not satisfied of the results, my robots will do a sweep of the whole country and collect the weapons themselves. If anyone hesitates to give up his weapons because he fears for his security, you can tell him that I have 2400 combat robots like the ones present in this room which will disperse around the Holy Land today to enforce peace. In case you don’t know how effective they can be, just remember that 2000 such robots were enough to exterminate a Japanese army numbering over a million soldiers in China, at the cost of one robot damaged.” A number of delegates swallowed hard while eyeing carefully the robots present in the room.

“Concentrate on that particular problem for the moment, gentlemen, while I coordinate the installation of the new infrastructure and the arrival of the new immigrants. We will meet again here next Thursday at the same time to review our next moves. Oh, by the way, each village and town in the country will soon receive a number of persons from the Global Council, mostly teachers, who will help run the new schools and social services. They are all very competent and caring people, even though they may appear to you to be somewhat, uh, wimpish. That’s because they are total pacifists, not because they are cowards. Listen to their advice and let them run the schools the way I told them to run them, unless you want to have trouble with me. Hurt or attack any one of them and you will be in big trouble. Now, if you have no questions, I declare this meeting over.”

Getting up from her chair, Nancy accompanied the delegates out of the conference room and to the elevators. It didn’t surprise her to see that the Arabs and Jewish delegates chose to take different elevators. Not wanting to appear to prefer one group over the other, she stayed behind on the 35th floor, letting one combat robot accompany each group down to the main lobby. Taking another elevator, Nancy decided to go up instead and got out on the level of the roof landing pad and then stepped out of the roof access hut and onto the pad. The wind at that height was quite strong, making her hair float around her head. The view she now had of Jerusalem was however magnificent. Her next destination, the Hadassah Jewish Medical Center, was

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clearly visible about three kilometers away to the Northeast, perched besides the Hebrew University on top of Mount Scopus. Using her implanted time distorter, Nancy made a short spacetime jump, reappearing above the hospital and then flying down to the ground, using her power of levitation. The two armed Jewish guards stationed at the main entrance could only stare in disbelief at her as she calmly walked past them, too stunned to react. Her Time Patrol silvery dress uniform and her height and physical build ensured that she did not go unnoticed inside the main reception lobby either. Something however attracted her own attention as she was walking towards the reception counter: a man in a civilian suit standing a few paces behind the counter was talking in a low but less than friendly tone to another man wearing the white overcoat and stethoscope of a doctor. The man in the suit seemed agitated and kept pointing at a wicker basket lying on top of the reception counter. Intrigued by this, Nancy walked towards them and jumped clean over the counter, landing besides the two men.

“What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?” she asked in Hebrew. The two men looked at her with some confusion, with the one in the suit answering her in a polite but defensive tone.

“This is only a minor matter involving hospital administration, Miss Laplante. What brings you to this hospital, miss?”

“I am here to inspect this hospital, mister. As the new Overseer of the Holy Land of Palestine, I am interested in any problem that may come out around. What’s in the basket?”

The doctor to Nancy’s right answered her, getting a dirty look from the hospital administrator.

“A baby, miss. It was found only twenty minutes ago, abandoned near the entrance to the hospital. I was going to examine the baby and admit it until we could decide what to do with it but Mister Rosenblum thought otherwise.”

“Dammit, Shapiro, we can’t afford to simply pick up every kid left around and admit it. Who is going to pay for its care? You?” replied the administrator, making Nancy look dubiously at him.

“Mister Rosenblum, if you really are only concerned about making every patient pay its way, then know that as of now medical care will be free for all the citizens of the Holy Land. My administration will take care of covering the costs of medical services. Send all the bills from now on to the health services department of the Holy Land Overseer’s offices.”

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“Uh, where are those offices actually, miss?”

“If you look outside, Mister Rosenblum, you will see a big blue and copper tower sitting next to the Old City. My administration works out of that tower. From now on, I don’t want to hear any more about any citizen being refused care for financial reasons. Is that clear, Mister Rosenblum?”

“But, miss, I must first get clearance about that from our foundation’s board in the United States. We are a private institution after all.”

“Not anymore, mister. All public and social services institutions in the Holy Land are nationalized as of today, according to a charter signed this morning between the British High Commission for Palestine and me. I, as the Overseer, have full dictatorial powers over the Holy Land, and I intend to use them for the good of all. Your parent foundation will be fairly compensated for the true value of your hospital. Now, let me look at this baby.”

Rosenblum, furious, stomped away as Nancy, Doctor Shapiro beside her, went to the basket and looked tenderly at the small baby lying inside it on a folded blanket. It was only a few days old and seemed healthy. It was also wrapped up to its chest in a white cloth and was sleeping. A wave of pity then overcame Nancy: such a young and innocent being should never face the pain of being abandoned. She very gently caressed the head of the child, then looked at Shapiro.

“Could you examine it now, Doctor?”

“With great pleasure, miss.” said the Jewish doctor, a big grin on his face. Taking the basket, he walked out of the reception area and into the emergency treatment section, going with Nancy to a small examination room that was not occupied at the moment. The baby woke up when Shapiro took it out of the basket and put it on a weight scale, the contact with the cold hard surface making it start crying.

“Six pounds and five ounces.” pronounced Shapiro. “A good, healthy weight. Could you hold him while I measure him, miss?”

“Of course!” said Nancy, too happy to be able to touch the baby. She took a second to look inside the baby’s diaper while Shapiro fetched a measuring tape.

“It’s a boy, Doctor. He was not circumcised.”

“Hmm, it could only mean that he was still too young, miss. On the other hand, his skin is too pale to be that of an Arab baby. He actually looks Caucasian if you ask me. Uh, could you stretch him for a moment?”

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Nancy spoke softly a few soothing words to the crying baby as she held him while Shapiro measured the boy. The doctor noted down the measurement on an

examination form, then took his stethoscope and checked the baby out carefully, writing down more notes on his report as he went. He finally looked back at Nancy with a smile.

“This boy looks quite healthy to me, miss. Whatever were the reasons for his parents to abandon him, they didn’t neglect him. What shall we do with him now, miss? Normally, we would have to send him to an orphanage but we don’t even know if he is from Jewish, Muslim or even Christian parents. That could be a problem when placing him in an institution.”

Nancy, who had taken the baby in her arms and was cuddling him, thought about that for a moment. Shapiro was unfortunately right about this: a Jewish orphanage would probably not take a baby that was not known to be from Jewish parents, while other orphanages would have the same problems with the boy’s unknown origins. This was a cruel world for an unwanted, helpless little life. With a big lump now in her throat and tears about to come out, Nancy took the only decent decision she could take. It was also a decision that, she was realizing now, she wanted desperately to take.

“I will take him in my care, Doctor. Can you prepare the forms for that? I will sign them after my inspection of the hospital.”

Shapiro nodded soberly as he looked at her and the baby.

“Count on me, miss. Let me first get a bottle of milk and a pacifier for him. Uh, what name should we use for him on the forms?”

“I will call him Eli.” she replied after a short hesitation. She sat on the examination table and looked at the child as Shapiro let the room. The few hairs on his head were pale in color and his eyes were blue. Nancy’s best guess was that the boy was the unplanned child of a young unwed couple of lovers who could not marry, probably because their love was between two different ethnic backgrounds which would not allow them to marry. He could well be the child of a Jewish girl and of a British soldier, something the blue eyes and blond hair of the baby made more probable. That kind of union generally would be frowned upon in this intolerant age and especially in this country, where the Jews living in it considered the British as a hostile occupying force and where, in turn, the British often looked down with contempt at both the Jews and the Arabs. Still holding the baby close to her, Nancy gently put her forehead against his forehead and concentrated in establishing a mental contact with the spirit of the child. Shapiro found her still in that position a few minutes later, when he returned with a small

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carrying bag stuffed with baby supplies. He watched on in silence for a few seconds, noticing how eerily quiet the baby was now, with its small hands caressing Nancy’s face while she seemingly meditated. What particularly spooked him was the way the baby’s hands moved deliberately as they stroke Nancy’s face, instead of the random, uncoordinated movements one would expect from such a young infant. Shapiro nearly dropped his bag when the baby gave a very adult-like kiss on Nancy’s lips as the latter opened her eyes and smiled to the baby, tears in her eyes. She then saw that Shapiro was watching them and smiled to him as well.

“Don’t be afraid, Doctor: I was communicating mentally with the spirit inhabiting Eli’s body. Eli may be only a few days old but his spirit is already a few thousand years old.”

“But…it was acting so much like an adult.” stammered Shapiro. “Will it always act like this?”

“No! Eli’s spirit surfaced only because I opened a link with it. If not stimulated telepathically, he should act like any normal baby.”

“Should?”

Nancy smiled with embarrassment then.

“Yes, should. Such contacts with a baby are new to me. This may turn out to be a fascinating experience. What I can say is that Eli’s spirit is a beautiful one, peaceful and kind. He will make a very nice man indeed. Do you have a bottle of milk ready with you? I think that he is getting hungry.”

“Uh, sure. Here you are. I took the liberty of putting together this bag of supplies. You have everything in it to change his diaper, clean him up and feed him for a couple of days. The head nurse at the reception desk is also preparing the release form for him, with you named as his tutor.”

“Thanks, Doctor, you are really sweet. Could you show me to the pediatric section or do you have duties to attend to here?”

“I can guide you around for a while, Miss Laplante. By the way, thank you for caring for that baby.”

“It is my pleasure, Doctor.”

Holding the milk bottle in place to let Eli suck on it, Nancy followed Shapiro to a bank of elevators, taking with him a cabin up to the third floor. While the baby attracted a few gentle smiles from passing medical personnel and visitors, Nancy was the

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universal target of intense curiosity, with a few bowing respectfully to her. Nancy simply smiled to all of them; feeling happier than she had been for months, with Eli’s warm little body in her arms. They soon arrived at the pediatric section, where Shapiro led her first to the nursery. He smiled at seeing the joy that sight brought to Nancy.

“It looks like you were more than ready to have a baby, miss.”

“I always adored children and babies, Doctor. I was already planning to have a baby of my own.”

“Then I wish you the best of luck in that, miss.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Do you have incubators in this hospital?”

“We do, miss. We are still one of the best equipped medical facilities in the whole region. Intensive neonatal care is that way.”

Moving about twenty meters down the main hallway, they ended up facing a series of large bay windows which gave a view of a mid-sized room containing six incubators. Two of the incubators were in use, with three nurses and a doctor busy around them. Nancy, with Eli now asleep and resting on her chest and left shoulder, felt sorrow at the sight of the two tiny, premature babies inside the incubators. A distraught young man sat on a chair in the hallway, near one of the windows. His despair then decided Nancy’s next move.

“Doctor Shapiro, do you mind if I go inside the incubator room? I can help those babies.”

Shapiro looked at her with both hope and reverence: he had heard plenty about her miraculous healings in Europe during the war.

“You certainly can go in, miss. Follow me.”

The doctor working inside the incubator room looked displeased at first at seeing a visitor enter his sterile room but changed quickly his attitude when he saw who she was.

“Miss Laplante? You should not have entered this room with a baby.”

“He is not at risk, Doctor. I am here to help, not to simply visit.” Watched by the doctors and nurses as well as by the distraught father now standing against the window, Nancy approached the first incubator and looked at the tiny baby inside, with tubes and wires connecting it to a series of bulky medical machines and monitors. Then, with Eli still pressed against her, she closed her eyes, raised her free arm high up and spoke softly in ancient Proto-Semitic.

“Great One, please let me be one with you again and help me alleviate the suffering of these souls.”

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The medical staff recoiled with awe as a column of white light came down through the ceiling and enveloped Nancy. She then started radiating light herself, turning into a brilliant shape, along with little Eli. The light soon became too bright to let the others look directly at her. A silent explosion of light then burst out of her, traveling outwards through walls and objects at incredible speed without causing any apparent damage. The burst of light persisted for over a minute, until Nancy’s halo started fading rapidly and she returned to normal. Apparently exhausted, Nancy when to a nearby chair and sat down, still holding Eli, while Shapiro and the other doctor quickly inspected the two babies inside the incubators: both had visibly grown in size and now looked like fully developed babies. The nurses present kneeled down to pray as the two doctors performed examinations on the babies, eventually finding them healthy. Calling the nurses to his aid, the pediatrician unplugged both babies from their tubes and wires, then took one baby in his arms and carried it outside in the hallway to its father. Shapiro went to Nancy, who was pale and had sweat on her forehead, and knelt before her.

“Miss, from now on I will never doubt that you are truly The Hand of God. Thank you for helping those two babies.”

Nancy shook her head weakly, appearing actually dizzy.

“Thank The One, not me, Doctor. You will find out that my healing burst went way beyond the walls of this hospital. I…I am positively drained. Is there a place nearby where I could take a nap with Eli?”

“We have a staff lounge with a large sofa just besides the nursery, miss. Let me help you.”

Shapiro had to lend her the support of one arm to help her up on her feet, so weak she was. One nurse then took Eli, while the pediatrician lended an arm as well to Nancy to bring her to the lounge, where she was laid on a sofa, with little Eli put besides her. The staff then retreated out of the lounge, with a nurse posted outside the door to stop anyone from disturbing Nancy. Shapiro would find out the next day that Nancy’s healing burst had reached all the way to Teheran in Iran, nearly one thousand miles away. The effects of that healing burst on the psyche of the populations of the Middle East were profound and lasting, even though the message Nancy had tried to pass was partly misunderstood. For them, God had spoken and shown his power.

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16:30 (Jerusalem Time)

Jewish settlement of Kibbutz Hanita

Western Galilee, near the Lebanon border

“MOSHE, THERE ARE THINGS COMING DOWN FROM THE SKY!” The scream of alarm from the lookout in the southern guard tower got the commander of

the kibbutz’ Haganah2 detachment out of his barrack at a run. Looking up, the thin man in his mid-twenties effectively saw five shapes floating down silently towards the walled compound of the fortified Kibbutz. Moshe Dayan had heard of only one group that could fly silently like this: the Time Patrol. He thus shouted urgently at the sentries posted around the perimeter of the settlement.

“HOLD YOUR FIRE! DO NOT FIRE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS ORDER!” Dayan had to resist his own urge to pull out his revolver as the five shapes turned into man-sized machines equipped with twin tracks and with a number of weapons mounted on a small turret on top of their body. The five machines soon landed smoothly in the middle of the compound and lay motionless there as Dayan and his men cautiously approached them while holding nervously their weapons. One of the machines finally spoke loudly in Hebrew as Dayan was six paces away from it.

“We are here to provide local protection to this settlement and have been sent on orders from the Overseer of the Holy Land. In return, you are required to store away your weapons until they can be collected along with all other illegal weapons in this country.”

“The Overseer of the Holy Land?” said Dayan, intrigued. “Who is that?”

“Time Guardian Nancy Laplante is the Overseer of the Holy Land. All executive, military and judicial powers concerning the country previously known as British Mandated Palestine were transferred to the Overseer this morning by the British High Commissioner. The Time Patrol has taken over all security duties from the British forces in the country as of today. Fair warning has now been given to you, sir. You have ten minutes to put away all your weapons in a centralized storage area that will then be guarded by us. Once that delay is over, we will be forced to collect your weapons ourselves.”

 

2 Haganah: Early Jewish self-defense forces in Palestine

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“How could you pretend to provide adequate security for this kibbutz with only five machines?” replied angrily Dayan. “We keep losing people to periodic Arab attacks and have to live in this fortified compound to insure a minimum of security.”

“This detachment is perfectly capable of securing this whole area against any attacker. You have now nine minutes and 24 seconds left to comply.” Dayan realized with frustration that there was no point in arguing with that machine, however articulate it appeared to be. He thus turned around and shouted at his men.

“Take all our weapons and lock them up in the guardroom, quickly! We have less than ten minutes.”

To add weight to his order, he handed his own revolver to the nearest guard, who then ran away like the others to get together their meager arsenal. With a number of kibbutz members looking on from a safe distance, Moshe looked back at the machine that had spoken to him.

“We will obey your Overseer’s directive. I hope that we will not regret it.”

“The Overseer has only one word, sir. Be advised that an improvement project for your settlement is scheduled to be initiated this afternoon.”

“A what?” exploded Dayan. “Who the hell does your Laplante think that she is? This is a kibbutz! We take our decisions collectively and we answer only to the Jewish Agency, which bought this piece of land and paid for our equipment and supplies.” The voice of the machine, which had been up to now a monotone male voice, changed then to a female voice.

“Mister Dayan, this is Field Agent Anna Hauser, of the Time Patrol. Your kibbutz is due to receive by tomorrow a community services building and a fresh water tank, along with a team of three educators and one administrator who will do their best to improve life in your kibbutz. This is part of a countrywide infrastructure plan meant to bring peace and prosperity to the Holy Land. That team will come visit you tomorrow morning to brief your people about the details of all this. Please treat them with courtesy and do not try to harm or intimidate them, or our robots will react violently. Believe us when we say that we have only the good of everyone in mind. Once your weapons are declared stored safely away, a technical work team will visit your kibbutz to establish the foundations for your new infrastructure. It would be appreciated if the leader of your kibbutz could be handy then to discuss the installation plan with our engineer.”

“Wait a minute! How do you know my name? I didn’t present myself yet.” The female voice coming out of the robot sounded amused at his question.

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“You are due to become a famous general in another timeline, Mister Dayan. Fortunately, you seemed to have avoided the loss of your left eye, a battle wound your timeline counterpart suffered while fighting French Vichy forces in Syria.”

“Well, I did fight for the British for over a year but the intervention of your Time Patrol kind of cut short the fighting in the region. Talking of wounds, can you tell me what was the wave of light that went through our settlement less than two hours ago and which healed instantly five of our people?”

“That was a burst of healing energy originating from Nancy Laplante in Jerusalem. We are still assessing ourselves the full effects from that burst.”

“You mean that you don’t know? But Laplante is part of your Time Patrol!”

“Yes, she is, but she is also a Chosen of The One and we do not control her actions when she follows the instructions of The One. Now, before I cut this link, is your kibbutz in any urgent need of supplies, especially food?”

“Uh, we get by somehow but I have to say that life here is hard and the times are lean for our people.”

“Then I will arrange for a supply delivery to your kibbutz right away. It was a pleasure to speak with you, General Dayan.”

“General Dayan…” said thoughtfully Moshe after the communication link was closed. He then looked at the still motionless robots.

“When do you intend to start protecting our perimeter? We are going to be very vulnerable with our weapons stored away.”

“Border protection units are already in place east and west of your settlement, sir, along with combat robots posted in the four nearest Arab villages. We will start our patrols as soon as your weapons are certified to be stored away.”

“I see! You are a really trusting fellow, are you?”

“We are programmed to be thorough and to not overlook any possible scenario, sir.”

Moshe made a face at that: it was the politest way he had ever been called a possible cheat. He then went to a heavy-set man standing with the other members of the kibbutz. Itamar Ben Barak, one of the original founders of the kibbutz and a man whose opinion was listened to during community councils, was looking with some misgivings at the robots.

“What do they want, Moshe?”

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“They are taking over the security of our kibbutz, Itamar. It seems that Palestine is now under a brand-new administration.”

Moshe then took a minute to explain to Itamar what he had learned from the robot and from the woman from the Time Patrol. Itamar made a grimace at those words.

“Another occupier busy dictating to us what to do. I don’t like this.”

“Look, Itamar, this Nancy Laplante is not just another occupier. She has amply proved during the war that she cares about our people and that she is both kind and fair. There is also this business of her being linked to God. Look at how she healed our people from a distance. I say that we should wait and see what her plans are exactly before deciding on a course of action. Besides, as the local Haganah commander, I can tell you that those robots should not be trifled with: they wiped out the Nazis and the Japanese Army in mere weeks. Neither we nor the Arabs are a match for their combat power and resisting them would only result in a massacre.”

“Damn, you are too right about that. Still, I will reserve my judgment until I know more about the plans of that Laplante. We might as well call our people back from the fields: we will soon need to take some important decisions as a community. I will go talk to the others. Keep an eye on these machines in the meantime.” Moshe nearly replied back that there was not much he would be able to do if the robots decided to become aggressive, but he kept his peace and let Ben Barak walk away. One of his Haganah men soon ran to him, unarmed and out of breath.

“Moshe, the last of our weapons are now in the floor hiding space of our barrack. We collected everything, including our spare bullets and our few grenades and explosives.”

“Thank you, Avi. Tell our men that they can now relax a bit.”

“Yes, Moshe!”

As his man walked away, Moshe went to the group of robots and stopped in front of their apparent leader.

“Our weapons and ammunition have been stored away. I can show you where they are kept.”

“Excellent! My subordinate units will sweep the camp while I go with you.” On some silent order from the lead machine, the four other robots suddenly dispersed as one, rolling on their tracks and crisscrossing the camp in a pattern that Moshe could not figure out. Shrugging them off, he walked to the crude brick barrack which housed his small force of Haganah fighters. The wooden floor of the barrack bent and cracked as

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soon as the machine following him rolled inside. In reaction, the robot flew silently off the floor and floated a few centimeters in the air, watched by the incredulous fighters now assembled in the barrack.

“How the hell does it do that?” exclaimed one of the fighters, a big Ukrainian Jew sitting with others at a table in the middle of the dormitory. The robot answered him immediately.

“I am equipped with an anti-gravity generator, in addition to a directed gravity drive unit. Most mobile equipment from the Global Council are equipped with such systems.”

As the robot was passing by the table, following Moshe towards the hidden arms cache, it abruptly stopped and turned to face a young woman sitting at the table.

“That woman is hiding a pistol between her breasts. It must be handed to me now!”

While the woman froze and stared fearfully at the robot, Moshe sighed and approached her. Masha Lewinski, apart from being a very pretty 23-year-old brunette, was also one strong-headed girl who was prone to do things her own way.

“Give it to me, Masha. There is no sense in causing a fight over this.”

“But we will be defenseless, Moshe! How am I to protect myself from marauding Arabs?”

“We will protect you, along with all the lawful citizens of the Holy Land.” said the robot in its monotone voice. “Please comply now!”

Swearing silently, Masha fished a small pistol from inside her bra and handed it to Moshe, who examined it: it was a tiny Beretta Model 1920 .25-caliber pistol, a weapon with hardly any punch to it. Masha vented her frustration as Moshe was giving her pistol to the robot.

“And what are we supposed to do, now that we have no weapons? I am a fighter, not a farmer!”

“The Time Patrol will guaranty the safety of the Holy Land from external threats from now on, miss,” replied the robot, “However, applications will soon be accepted for those who wish to join the Holy Land Police Force. You appear to fit the personnel profile deemed appropriate by the Overseer for such candidates. I can forward your application if you wish so.”

Caught off balance by this, Masha was silent for a moment.

“Uh, I will have to think about that. Who is that Overseer anyway?”

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“Time Guardian Nancy Laplante is the Overseer of the Holy Land, miss.” That brought a smile to Masha’s face.

“Nancy Laplante? Now that’s what I call a bitch to my liking. She knows how to kick men’s asses like no other girl.”

Her enthusiastic remark made the men around the table look at her, some smiling, others frowning. Moshe Dayan himself was grinning.

“Hell, Masha, I knew that you were a feminist but I didn’t know that you were a fan of her.”

“Who isn’t a fan of her, apart from the Nazis and the Japanese, Moshe? She did save millions of lives during the war. If she is really in charge of Palestine now, then I’ll be ready to do about anything she asks.”

“Does that include sexual favors?” said sneakily Yvan Rabinovitch, a big Ukrainian Jew, attracting knowing laughs from the men: many believed Masha to be a lesbian because of her tomboy attitude and feminist views. Unknown to them was the fact that Masha was actually a bisexual girl.

“Fuck you, Yvan!” she replied firmly, attracting more laughs. Himself laughing, Moshe left his fighters and went to the next room, which served as a storage area. Pushing away a few boxes and crates, he uncovered a part of the floor where a number of wood planks were kept loose and pulled them out of the way, revealing a space now containing a few dozen rifles and submachine guns, along with boxes of ammunition and explosives. He put Masha’s pistol with the other weapons and waited to let time to the robot to examine the cache. The machine did not sift through it, instead speaking after only a second or so.

“You may cover back your weapons, sir. Please refrain from accessing it again unless given specific permission by a representative of the Overseer.”

“As you wish.”

After covering again the cache, Moshe left the barrack, the robot still in tow. As he emerged outside, a sort of flying platform with a front cab but no wheels touched down silently in the middle of the settlement’s meeting grounds. Four big, heavy machines also touched down besides the platform but those didn’t seem to have any person onboard, being probably robots. Three persons then stepped out of the platform’s cab. One of them was a woman wearing a silvery, futuristic uniform, while the two others were giant men standing over two meters and wearing dark gray uniforms.

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One of the giants and the woman walked towards him, while the other giant man went to the back of the platform, which was loaded with various boxes and containers. Moshe felt blood rush to his head when he recognized the woman: it was Nancy Laplante herself. She was the one to speak first, addressing Moshe in Hebrew.

“Moshe Dayan, it is a true pleasure to meet you in the flesh.”

“And it is an honor to meet you, Miss Laplante.” replied Moshe, meaning it, while shaking hands with her. Her grip proved surprisingly strong for a woman. “We will certainly have a lot to talk about together.”

“Well, I am unfortunately in high demand right now, so I will be able to spare only a half hour or so for this visit. By the way, this is Jens Lousma, a construction engineer. He will be in charge of putting in place the new infrastructure in your kibbutz. We have also used this opportunity to bring some food supplies and other basic necessities.”

“Well, in truth, our biggest problem since we established this kibbutz in 1938 is the shortage of fresh water. Do you have something planned to correct that deficiency?”

“We do, Mister Dayan.” Replied Lousma, a quiet, soft-mannered giant. My machines will prepare foundations for, among other things, a large water storage tank with a capacity of 800 cubic meters. That tank will in turn be refilled periodically from a flying tanker ship and will provide you with enough water for all your needs, until the tank can be connected to our new underground water pipeline network. The only thing we need to decide now is the exact emplacement of the new installations. This is your kibbutz after all.”

Moshe smiled with satisfaction at that: Lousma’s attitude was refreshing compared with the high-handed way of doing things common to the old British administration.

“Then I better lead you and Miss Laplante to our community meeting room, where we can discuss this in more comfort.”

“Could you first have someone assist our supply technician?” Asked Nancy while pointing at the platform. “He will need to know where to put these pallets of supplies.”

“Oh, of course, miss!” replied Moshe before looking around him and waving at a man fifteen meters away. “YOSEF, WE HAVE FOODSTUFF AND OTHER SUPPLIES TO STORE AWAY. GET A FEW MEN AND COME HELP THAT GIANT OVER THERE.”

Next, Moshe grabbed in succession three men to ask them to assemble the committee members of the kibbutz in the community meeting room. He then smiled to Nancy and pointed at a wooden building adjacent to the meeting grounds.

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“Please follow me, miss.”

The people they met on their short walk either knelt at the sight of Nancy or opened their eyes wide on recognizing her. While feeling embarrassed by their marks of respect towards her, Nancy could do little but smile and say polite words. The children, with their infectious enthusiasm, were the easiest for her to deal with. The committee meeting room turned out to be a room next to the communal dining room of the kibbutz and was sparsely furnished with a few tables, chairs and wooden benches. An old manual typewriter, a telephone and a small filing cabinet containing papers and office supplies were the extent of the office equipment available there. Ben Barak was the first to show up, shaking hands with both Nancy and Lousma, with fifteen more persons coming in soon afterwards. Lousma took the time to open and switch on his portable computer while Nancy spoke to the assembled Jewish settlers.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am Nancy Laplante, Overseer of the Holy Land, and this is Mister Jens Lousma, a construction engineer of the Time Patrol. The reason he came here is to direct the installation of new infrastructures for your kibbutz. Before you shout in joy at having been chosen for some special favor, I have to tell you that all the villages and towns in the Holy Land will benefit from the same types of improvements, be they Arab or Jewish. As Overseer, my goal is to bring peace, justice and prosperity to all the citizens of the Holy Land, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or sex. I know that the ultimate dream of many of you was to live in a sovereign Jewish state but historical hindsight showed me that this dream resulted in decades of war, suffering and injustice. What I am offering you is life in a new independent state, the Holy Land, protected from invasions and racial prejudice. All religions will be equally respected in the Holy Land, as long as they do not advocate hatred or violence towards others. I will govern according to the good of all, not to satisfy some personal lust for power or wealth, as was too often the case in the history of this land. One of my goals will also be to offer asylum and a new land to many of the unfortunate Jews of Europe who barely escaped death at the hands of the Nazis and who lost about everything but their lives. Tomorrow, a first group of 50,000 Jewish immigrants will start arriving from Poland to start new lives in the Holy Land.”

Wild cheers cut her off then, with the Jews present jumping up and down with joy and hugging each other. Nancy waited until they had calmed down somewhat before continuing.

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“The Global Council, the future civilization served by the Time Patrol, will provide extensive financial, technical and humanitarian assistance in order to support the creation of the new state of the Holy Land. Mister Lousma and his machines are part of that assistance. In exchange for that assistance, I will ask two things from you: first, that you accept to live in peace from now on with your Arab neighbors; second, that you be ready to accept some of the new Jewish immigrants from Poland in your kibbutz.”

“And what guarantees us that our Arab neighbors will accept to let us live in peace, miss?” asked a young man in the audience, getting many others to nod.

“I will guarantee it, mister. Anyone who will promote violence and hatred towards others will be deported; while those caught committing violence will be eliminated by my combat robots. These machines are quite literal about their orders and will shoot to kill. I can tell you also that they rarely miss. In case you think that I sound dictatorial, it is because I have effectively dictatorial powers over the Holy Land. However, contrary to other dictators in History, I have someone watching over me who will certainly react if I turn into a petty tyrant. I call him ‘The One’, while you would probably call him ‘God’. By the way, I would appreciate very much if you would all call me simply Nancy and would drop that ‘Hand of God’ business.”

“Nancy it will then be, Miss Laplante.” said Itamar Ben Barak after looking around him. “As for accepting fellow Jews here, I don’t think that anybody in this community will oppose that.”

There were effectively no negative comments or reactions to Ben Barak’s declaration, so Nancy went on speaking.

“Thank you for your confidence. A series of new measures will be introduced by the administration of the Holy Land, with the goal of improving the lives of all its citizens: free medical care; free education, up to and including university level; old age pension and a disability pension plan will be made available to all. Fresh water and electricity will be distributed for free, being deemed basic necessities. The new state will also have its own currency, the Holy Land Pound, backed up by a deposit of gold worth fifteen billion British Sterling Pounds made today to the Central Bank of Palestine. The new currency, which will have an equal value to the Sterling Pound, will be available for public distribution next week. Those are for the statewide measures. In terms of what is in store specifically for this kibbutz, I will let Mister Lousma explain our local projects to you.”

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The settlers were still half-stunned by all the things announced by Nancy as the engineer spoke.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you will have to decide on the final location of the following structures for your kibbutz: a combined school and community center; a fresh water storage tank; a central sewage treatment plant; four housing units with eighty apartments each and ten hydroponics culture buildings. In view of the limited surface available inside your stockade, I would recommend that only the school/community center and the fresh water tank be located inside your compound. The other buildings, which are rather large by your standards, should be located outside of the stockade. If you have a reasonably flat area of ground that is too rocky for agriculture, then it would be ideal for those buildings. I am now open to your suggestions.”

“One question.” said Ben Barak. “What is hydroponics culture?”

“Hydroponics culture is somewhat like greenhouse culture, except that hydroponics use materials other than common dirt as a support for plants. Those materials are in turn bathing in a nutrient solution that is constantly recycled. In the case of your kibbutz, hydroponics is ideal to grow food, as your natural soil is both quite poor in nutrients and lacking in water. Our specialists in hydroponics are ready to teach you this technique as soon as the buildings are in place.”

More questions followed on the subject of hydroponics, which seemed to fascinate the settlers. Nancy had to cut that short, in order to get back to the subject of the location of the buildings. The settlers and Lousma then moved outside, to visually survey the selected pieces of ground. Nancy stayed behind, preferring to tour the stockade instead. She found Moshe Dayan waiting outside as well and went to him. They looked at each other in silence for a moment, with Dayan breaking the silence with a smile and a nod.

“Meeting a soldier such as you is indeed a great honor for me, miss.”

“Coming from you, it is quite a compliment, sir.” replied softly Nancy. “Your Haganah fighters had to face difficult odds and many hardships. I admire them for that.”

“Would you like to meet them, miss? They would love that.”

“I certainly would.”

“Then, this way please.”

The 37 men and women inside the Haganah barrack fell silent when Moshe entered with Nancy. They then spontaneously rose from their chairs and bunk beds and stood straight and still, something that touched Nancy.

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“Please, sit down and relax.” she said softly. She waited until they sat back, and then took a chair offered to her by a Haganah woman at the table in the middle of the room. All eyes were now on her, expressing both anticipation and intense curiosity.

“Most of you probably joined the Haganah out of necessity, but some may have also joined out of a thirst for action and adventure. I will not blame the latter for that, especially since I am one crazy adrenaline-junkie myself. For those belonging to the first category, I am happy to announce to you that you will be able to live in peace from now on, that is except for the next day or two. For those from the second category, while the Holy Land will not have an army per say, it will have a police force that will be in need of volunteers. Those…”

A man quickly raised his hand, cutting her off politely.

“I’m sorry, miss, but why did you say that the next day or two won’t be peaceful?”

“Because that will probably be the time required for the hardliners in and around the Holy Land to understand that violence will not be tolerated and that they will be ruthlessly suppressed. If by chance someone decides to try to attack this kibbutz tonight or another night, that someone will be in for a rude welcome. So, if you hear a sudden gun battle nearby, just sit down and wait until my robots have dealt with the problem. Do not go for your weapons. Now, those who want to join the police force will have to be ready to work side by side and in harmony with both British and Arab recruits and constables. If you cannot stomach that, then don’t even bother putting in your request to enroll. I know that this may sound harsh, but the only way this land will know true peace is if all its citizens learn to live with each other in friendship and peace. If you can achieve that, then you will have given to your children the greatest gift you could give them: peace.”

One Haganah man lowered his head, having obviously problems with what she had just said. To his credit, he was honest enough to say it out loud.

“Miss, I know that peace is better than war, but I have dreamed since my youth of seeing a new Israel be reborn as a country for us Jews, a country that would have comprised the whole of biblical Israel. Now you are telling us to forget that dream. We as a people have suffered enough through centuries of deportations and pogroms to deserve a country of our own.”

Instead of getting angry or defensive, as many expected, Nancy smiled gently and nodded her head at the man who had just spoken.

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“I can understand the power of that dream, believe me. Through the ages, my spirit lived through this land during four separate incarnations, apart from visiting it during two more incarnations. As Nancy Laplante, I extensively visited Israel in the early first century, during the reign of Herod Antipas. I was baptized as a Jew by a rabbi at that time and visited the Temple of Herod in Jerusalem. I am not an observant Jew and my encounters with The One have deeply affected my religious beliefs, but I have felt within my heart the power of the dream of a land governed by God.”

“You visited the Temple of Jerusalem?” asked in unison a number of the Jewish fighters, excited at once by her revelations.

“Please, could you tell us about your visit to the Temple?” asked the young woman sitting beside her. Seeing the expectant faces around her, Nancy felt that she could not refuse them that small favor.

“Well, as I said before, I am in high demand these days but I guess that one advantage of being a benevolent dictator is to be able to reschedule my time. There is only one thing that I cannot delay, however. If you give me fifteen minutes, I will briefly go back to Jerusalem and take care of that thing, then will come back with a viewing unit on which I will be able to show you films of the Temple of Jerusalem and of the Old City as they stood two millenniums ago.”

“We will try to be patient, miss.” said Moshe Dayan, smiling with anticipation. Nancy then got up, imitated by the others, and walked out of the barrack. Under the incredulous eyes of the Jewish fighters, she then flew off silently of her own, disappearing in a flash of white light once ten feet from the ground.

“She must be an angel.” said Masha Lewinski fervently. “No human being could hold such powers.”

Moshe Dayan was about to reply to that when the heavy machines that had come with Nancy and Lousma became active at once, rolling on their tracks and taking positions at specific points inside the compound. Watched by the fascinated Jews, the machines started digging holes of various sizes and shapes at an incredible speed, using a variety of digging power tools to pierce the rocky ground with apparent ease. One machine was in the process of filling the bigger hole with concrete when Nancy reappeared in mid-air and landed smoothly besides the Haganah fighters. She had a tiny baby in a frontal carrying pouch, a small carrying bag slung from one shoulder and a large, flat suitcase-like object she held by one handle.

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“Let’s go back inside before this noise upsets Eli.” she said over the din of the working machines. They agreed readily enough, with a number of them then ganging around Nancy to admire and caress the baby, who was now awake and moaning softly.

“He’s adorable!” said Masha, making Nancy beam with pride. “It’s a boy, isn’t it?”

“It is. I adopted Eli today. He was found abandoned in front of the Hadassah Hospital.”

“The poor thing! Who could abandon a baby like this?”

“Probably an unwed mother who could not marry the father of that child.” said Nancy soberly. “Maybe the father didn’t want to assume his responsibilities and the mother’s family shunned the baby. It can be a cruel world out there. Well, if you give me a minute, I will set up this viewing unit and we will be able to get down to the business of showing you ancient Jerusalem.”

The fighters eagerly took their seats as Nancy deployed the folding and telescoping legs of the unit and opened the cover protecting the meter-wide holographic screen.

“What you will now see is a side documentary from a long historical documentary made by the Time Patrol on the life of a Jewish rabbi from first century Galilee. That side documentary shows among other things my visit to the Temple of Jerusalem. At the time, I was living in Jerusalem as a traveling Sarmatian warrior turned musician and who was on a spiritual quest. Enjoy!”

As the Jews watched religiously the short documentary, Nancy took care of Eli, giving him a bottle of milk and then changing his diaper. She had succeeded in putting him to sleep by the time the documentary ended. Moshe Dayan, his eyes moist from the emotion of seeing the Temple of Jerusalem in all its glory, looked with hope at Nancy.

“This was truly fantastic, miss. Would you by chance have more films about ancient Jerusalem?”

“I do have another short documentary, along with the main documentary on that Galilean rabbi. The short documentary should be of particular interest to you guys, as it is about a visit I made to the Roman garrison of the Antonia fortress.”

“Roman soldiers?” said enthusiastically a Jewish fighter originally from Italy. “Hell, let’s watch it!”

“I have to warn you that there are scenes of nudity in that documentary: the Romans were famous for their rowdiness.”

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“Then the more reasons to watch it.” replied Masha Lewinski with a malicious smile.

“You asked for it!” Said playfully Nancy. She then selected a new video file and started the viewing. The title made Moshe Dayan look at Nancy in a funny way.

“Nauca rocks the Antonia? You wouldn’t happen to be the one showing some nudity, would you, miss?”

“Me?” replied Nancy, grinning. “Of course! A girl is entitled to have fun from time to time.”

“I second that!” said Masha, attracting a concert of falsely indignant exclamations from the men around her. Everybody then fell silent as the viewing started.

The Haganah fighters were cheering on as Nancy was shown on the screen dancing half-naked on a table of the Roman garrison’s refectorium when Itamar Ben Barak came in. His mouth dropped open when he saw the picture on the screen. However, instead of protesting, he simply stood near the entrance and watched in silence, waiting until the documentary was finished before approaching the table and Nancy.

“I see that you guys are not getting bored here. Supper is ready. Would you like to join us for our evening meal, Miss Laplante?”

“I would be honored to, Mister Ben Barak. Are you happy with the plans made by Mister Lousma?”

“Happy? You mean ecstatic, miss. Our kibbutz is going to have a second life breathed into it. Those machines outside also work incredibly fast.”

“They were built for that purpose. Let me just put Eli back in his pouch and I will follow you.”

Gently picking up Eli, Nancy managed to keep him asleep as she put him back in his carrying pouch, then put the small blanket back in her bag. The viewing screen was simply left where it was as the whole group moved to the communal cafeteria of the kibbutz. There, a number of women were on hand to serve the members of the kibbutz. The menu was actually quite limited and frugal, consisting of bread and of a thin vegetable stew with a few small pieces of meat in it. Ben Barak was expecting Nancy to look down at the simple meal but she simply took her plate and sat at a table with a few of the Haganah fighters, eating the stew and appearing to enjoy it. Moshe Dayan saw his expression and got close to him, whispering in his ear.

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“Don’t forget that she lived through many centuries, Itamar: she must have experienced all kind of hardships in the past.”

“Hmm, you are probably right, Moshe. Still, it is difficult to get accustomed to a person like her.”

“Actually, I will find that quite easy, Itamar.” Said Moshe before going to sit opposite Nancy. She was already engaged in deep conversation with Masha Lewinski, who was asking her about her past lives while eating her own stew and bread. Moshe, like the others at the table, listened with intense curiosity to Nancy’s stories and was soon astounded at the variety of life experiences she had gone through. He also noticed that many of her lives had been either as a warrior or as a hunter and couldn’t help wonder at how more dangerous that made her as a potential opponent. One aspect of her past lives did intrigue him, though, making him ask a question in a low voice while she was taking the time to eat a piece of bread.

“Excuse me if my question may sound indiscreet, miss, but you said that you lived many times as a man in the past. Does these souvenirs as a man bother you when you are with your husband?”

“Not at all!” she said with a smile. “They actually help me in guessing what would please him most. On the other hand, those male souvenirs also make meeting other women more agreeable.”

Moshe noticed the way Masha Lewinski froze for an instant and then smiled discreetly to herself. He didn’t remark on that, however, and let Nancy finish her food without further interruptions. As the members of the kibbutz were starting to leave their tables, Nancy got up and banged her metal plate with her fork to attract everybody’s attention.

“MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE? I HAVE A SPECIAL

ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE TO ALL OF YOU.”

Nancy waited until everyone in the cafeteria was listening before continuing.

“EARLIER, BEFORE SUPPER, I WAS TOLD ABOUT THE DREAM OF A HOMELAND FOR THE JEWS WHO WANTED TO LIVE UNDER GOD’S GUIDANCE. WHILE I CANNOT GIVE YOU A JEWISH COUNTRY, I CAN GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO HELP YOU PRAY GOD AND LET YOU REMEMBER THE ANCIENT GLORY OF ISRAEL. YOU MAY HAVE HEARD A FEW MONTHS AGO THAT THE ARK OF THE COVENANT HAD BEEN SAVED FROM LOOTING AND DESTRUCTION IN THE PAST AND HAD BEEN BROUGHT BRIEFLY TO WARSAW BY THE TIME PATROL AFTER THE LIBERATION OF THE CITY FROM THE NAZIS. I CAN NOW TELL YOU THAT I

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PLAN TO HAVE A NEW SHRINE BUILT ON THE TEMPLE MOUNT, BESIDE THE DOME OF THE ROCK AND THE AL AQSA MOSQUE. THAT SHRINE WILL HOUSE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AND WILL BE OPEN TO ALL WHO WISH TO PRAY BESIDES THE ARK, ON THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM. PLEASE JOIN ME NOW IN A PRAYER TO CELEBRATE THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE FOR ALL OF US.”

The settlers then either knelt or bowed their head as Nancy started reciting an old prayer in ancient Hebrew. Few of them doubted that this was indeed a pivotal time for both their kibbutz and their lives.

13:52 (Jerusalem Time)

Monday, April 12, 1943 ‘B’ (Nissan 07, Year 5703 ‘B’ of Hebrew calendar) Erev Pesach (day before Jewish festival of Passover) Minaret of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Temple Mount

Jerusalem, Holy Land

The Mufti of Jerusalem looked down eastward with bitterness at the procession approaching the Temple Mount. Leading the procession along the newly built causeway linking the Mount of Olives to the Gate of Mercy, known to the Jews as the Golden Gate, was the Overseer, Nancy Laplante. What she was doing now was to Amin al-Husseini pure sacrilege. Not only had she directed the building of the new Jewish shrine now standing north of the Dome of the Rock, on the Haram esh-Sharif, the ancient Temple Mount of the Jews, but she also had the double archways of the Gate of Mercy unsealed and reopened yesterday. The gate had been walled up nearly twelve centuries ago and was supposed to be reopened only on the day of the final judgment by God. For the Jews who were now massed on the Temple Mount and on both sides of the causeway, the Golden Gate was where their long-awaited Messiah was supposed to enter Jerusalem. While the Overseer had publicly stressed that she was no Messiah and that the reopening of the Golden Gate was done strictly to create an additional access to the Temple Mount, both the Jews and the Christians had attached great religious significance to this. The fact that the Overseer was preceding a group of Jewish rabbis carrying the Ark of the Covenant made the Jews present in Jerusalem today only more jubilant. The Mufti next looked at the new Jewish shrine, meant to house the Ark of the Covenant. It was a modest affair in terms of size compared to the nearby Dome of the

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Rock but it was of exquisite design, with walls of polished stone and its front façade of white marble. A bit over fifty meters long, it was forty meters wide and its curved, gold leaf-plated roof rose to a height of fifteen meters. The building stood where the small Islamic shrine of the Dome of the Spirits had been until recently, which was supposedly the spot of the original first and second Jewish Temples. Al-Husseini had tried to block the building of this Jewish shrine on what was Muslim sacred ground, using all of his quickly waning influence to convince others to act against the Overseer, but to no avail. He was now becoming rapidly irrelevant as a political figure in Jerusalem, while the Overseer commanded widespread respect and loyalty. Worse of all was the fact that the Jewish population of the Holy Land had grown by nearly 300,000 persons since last July, with more still arriving every week. At this rate, the Arabs in the country would soon become a minority.

Standing in the front ranks of the crowd on the Temple Mount, David Ben Gurion felt overwhelming emotion as the bearers of the Ark of the Covenant appeared at the top of the stairs coming from the Golden Gate, preceded by Nancy Laplante. Having the Ark returned to the Temple Mount, even if it was to a shrine instead of to a true temple, was like an impossible dream come true. The Holy Land may not be a Jewish state in the sense he had envisioned but it had become a welcoming haven for the Jews fleeing from persecution or discrimination around the World. Only a very few extremists still talked of forcing the creation of a new, strictly Jewish state of Israel. With the economic boom from the agriculture, boosted tremendously by the hydroponics farms introduced by the Time Patrol, and from the flourishing tourism industry, everybody was too busy making a good living to listen to those extremists. The few who had used violence to promote their political goals had been crushed mercilessly by the ever-efficient combat robots of the Time Patrol. Ben Gurion, on his part, had found to his surprise that dealing with the Arabs had been easier than expected, once the true troublemakers and hate mongers had been taken care of. He was now free to concentrate on his job in the new government, which consisted in coordinating the selection and reception of the Jewish immigrants who wished to come live in the Holy Land. Overall, things had never been this good for Jews here in decades. The Arabs themselves weren’t doing badly either, benefiting as much as their Jewish neighbors from the social programs and technical innovations implemented by the Overseer. Ben Gurion smiled at the latter as she walked past him at a solemn pace, heading towards the new shrine. Contrary to what

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some had predicted, Nancy Laplante had not used even once her position or powers to promote her own personal interests, showing flawless honesty and fairness in a region accustomed to corrupt, self-serving politicians and leaders. That, as much as her supernatural powers, had helped her gain the support of about everyone in the Holy Land. Funnily enough, the ones who were still vocal about criticizing her were some of the leaders of the various Christian faiths represented in Jerusalem. As much as they had been doing their eternal infighting about various petty issues, they were now nearly united in condemning her decision to reopen the Golden Gate, saying that the gate was supposed to be used solely for the return of Jesus Christ on the day of the final judgment. The rumors about Nancy Laplante having followed Jesus Christ during his lifetime had also inflamed the local Christian leaders, who had not taken kindly to being corrected by Laplante on many details of the life of Jesus. In this, Ben Gurion sympathized with the Overseer: the hypocrisy and inflexibility of those Christian leaders were enough to drive anyone mad with exasperation. For one thing, it had taken an expropriation order from the Overseer to finally gain access to a piece of land on the Mount of Olives that belonged to the Armenian Christian Orthodox Church. That piece of land was necessary in order to complete the causeway now linking the Golden Gate to the Mount of Olives but the Armenian Patriarch had been unmovable on that issue, finally forcing Laplante to resort to expropriation. The Patriarch had since then been damning Laplante to Hell on every occasion he had. The Catholic Pope was also rumored to be miffed with the Overseer, finding her policies in the Holy Land dangerously similar to those of the Communists, whom he was said to hate and dread. The Overseer had not replied publicly to these criticisms yet, but Ben Gurion suspected that she would soon do something about this. Returning his full attention to the procession, Ben Gurion cheered with the rest of the crowd when the Ark of the Covenant entered the shrine: the tablets of the law were finally back in their proper place after being lost for so many centuries.

The crowd soon fell silent, expectation visible on most faces. After about ten minutes Nancy Laplante reappeared at the main entrance of the shrine, accompanied by the rabbis who had carried the Ark of the Covenant. A large group of police officers then marched to the shrine and took position around the building and at the main entrance. Once they were in place, the Overseer addressed the crowd, using a microphone connected to a voice amplifier.

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“People of the Holy Land, this is an important day for all of you and not only for those of Jewish conviction. An important piece of the history of this land has been returned to its rightful place. This new shrine will be a shining example that the various faiths in the Holy Land can and will coexist peacefully together. Let us not forget that, be it in Islam, Christianity or Judaism, the true teachings of God promoted peace, kindness, compassion and tolerance. Let us live up to these teachings. The Chief Rabbi will now conduct a prayer to celebrate the return of the Ark of the Covenant in our midst, following which the shrine will be open to visitors.”

The Jews present, except for the police officers, knelt as the Chief Rabbi took over from Nancy Laplante to lead them through a prayer followed by a sermon recounting the story of the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. At the end of the sermon, Laplante made a sign to the police officers lined up along the way the procession had come. The police officers, backed up by 200 combat robots, then opened the barriers containing the crowd, letting the people surge in a controlled manner towards the shrine. Being in the first ranks, Ben Gurion ended up being part of the first batch of one hundred persons admitted in the shrine. Going through the massive bronze double doors, he entered a large anteroom lined with white marble, then passed another, smaller double door also made of bronze, gaining access to the Holy of Holies proper. There, surrounded by elevated stands meant for praying worshippers, was a large Plexiglas cage containing the Ark of the Covenant. Standing on a meter-high base made of white marble, the cage was about ten meters long and seven meters wide, big enough to let bearers move the Ark around inside the cage. The Ark itself rested on a decorated marble block and was about level with Ben Gurion’s eyes as he slowly went around the cage, walking on the wide marble floor surrounding it. Like the other visitors, he stopped briefly beside the cage to say a short prayer, then completed his circuit around it. He was surprised when police officers made him turn left after leaving the Holy of Holies instead of letting him go back out through the main door. He and the others then found themselves inside a dimly lit gallery with what looked like a series of big television screens, each two meters to the side, which covered the outward surface of the gallery. Each screen had a small bronze plaque with an inscription below it. Ben Gurion was about to read the first plaque when all the screens came to life at the same time, presenting various scenes in vivid colors. The first screen, the one Ben Gurion was facing now, was showing an aerial view of a tiny, primitive hamlet sitting on a hill that looked familiar to him. He felt a shock when he read the plaque: the view on the screen

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was that of Jebus, the ancient Cananean town that had stood on Mount Sion before the arrival of the Israelites. The plaque also gave the year on which the Time Patrol had filmed the scene: what he was watching had existed over 4,000 years ago! A multilingual caption in Hebrew, Arabic, English and French appearing at the bottom of the screen also gave additional information about Jebus and its history. Moving on to the second screen, Ben Gurion saw a small caravan of people mounted on camels as they were traveling across desolated hills and valleys. That view quickly zoomed in on the leading camels, with names appearing in gold lettering besides a man and two women. Ben Gurion’s heart nearly stopped as he read the names.

“Abraham? Sarai and Agar?”

He knelt for a moment, imitated by the others around him, to pray while contemplating the face of the ancient patriarch and of his wife and Egyptian slave girl. The view repeated itself after thirty seconds, prompting him to go to the next screen. That screen and the others following it also showed historical scenes from the past of the Holy Land, including pictures of King David and King Solomon, the first Temple, the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the deportation of the Jews to Babylon, their return to Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the Temple. In all, there were a total of seventy screens showing historical scenes up to the last Jewish revolts against the Romans in the second century C.E. and the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans. Ben Gurion was in a near state of stupor as he finally walked out of the shrine, overwhelmed by the power of the pictures he had just seen.