Uchronie Read online

  Friday May 7 1948: UNITED EUROPE SATELLITE ORBITS THE EARTH.

  Friday May 7 1954: EARTH LEADER PLEDGES TO PUT A MAN ON THE MOON

  ‘This is fantastic.’ I said, jumping up out of my seat to stand beside him. ‘You can see into the future! Add another six years and see what happens in 1960.’

  ‘Unfortunately, that won’t work.’ said DeBlanc, ’1960 is a leap year and May 7 will be on a Saturday. It is 1965 before May 7 falls on a Friday again. A full eleven years… we call it an armistice gap… but this is taking too long. We’re not getting the information we require. I’ll get the Tachyscreen to evaluate this problem in another way.’

  He typed ‘HITLER, A’ into his handheld screen and, as the floor shuddered ominously, the Tachyscreen formed the words.

  WORLD LEADER: ADOLF HITLER: BORN 1889: DIED 1966.

  ‘Right! That clinches it! You’re presence aboard the Hindenburg has caused a P.O.D.’ said DeBlanc. ’A point of divergence in the time stream. Consequently we shall have to make adjustments.’

  ‘What did I do?’ I asked.

  ‘We don’t know.’ said DeBlanc. ‘But in all the Main Time Streams the Hindenburg always explodes on Thursday May 6, 1937. We have been sidetracked into a time slip probably by some little thing that you did... it’s called The Butterfly Effect. You made a difference, Nate, just by being there. Perhaps you are also what we require to repair the Order.’

  ‘I’m just an observer.’ I said.

  ‘And an observer changes what he observes.’ said DeBlanc, speaking into his hand held device. ‘Full steam ahead. Change course for Germany and send up the armourer.’

  NEXT - You have a W@ve gun. We have a time viewer – so why can’t we kill Mr. Hitler?

  Nate in Control

  In which Nate witnesses something he has never seen before.

  At 9:45 on Friday May 7 1937, midway across the Atlantic, we reached the Tropic of Cancer. As if bouncing off this imaginary line, Commander DeBlanc changed course and took The Uchronie to the North East on a heading for Germany.

  The vast flying steamship protested most vigorously at the abrupt change of direction. Floors trembled, glasses clinked and light fixings blinked until she relinquished and accepted the new bearing that he had set for her.

  Once this juddering had passed, The Uchronie scoured the central waters of the Atlantic from her cruising height of ten thousand feet. DeBlanc indicated, with good reason, that it was advisable to avoid continents and islands until our mission deemed it necessary to go inland.

  ‘Right Nate.’ he said, looking at me across the steaming brass and mahogany console, ’Now that we have the right heading, I’m going to take the Uchronie up as high as she will go. We’re taking a trip to the top of the Troposphere, my lad.’

  ‘May I be permitted to ask why sir?’ I asked, as he handed me a brass and glass barometer.

  But DeBlanc did not answer. ‘What’s the reading Nate?’ he asked

  I looked at the android barometer. ‘Six miles or ten bars.’ I said, ’Ah… You’re using it to measure altitude.’

  ‘Yes indeed. It will be cooler when we are ten miles up.’ said DeBlanc, moving his Angrec orchid nearer to the hot plate built into his console. ’but it should only be for fifteen minutes.’

  ‘What are we doing when we get up there?’ I asked.

  ‘We shall be launching a small personal weather satellite.’ said DeBlanc, opening the window shutters. ‘A PS we call it. This PS will work as our avant-garde and control the weather over Germany. We will need a calm moonlit night to carry out our mission.’

  ‘A weather satellite?’

  ‘Yes.’ said DeBlanc, walking over to the huge windows that stretched from polished parquet floor to scrollwork plaster ceiling. ’Our PS is made up of simple structural components attached to a lightweight armature, PCB, Gerber Files, micro steam engine, transceivers. With these components, my scientists have created a PS that can be controlled from anywhere on earth with a hand-held radio receiver.

  ‘I see.’ I said, walking over to the window beside him. ‘That seems fairly advanced for this day and age.’

  ‘It follows Marconi‘ s basic design,’ said DeBlanc, ‘A repeating message programmes the satellite to seed any clouds it finds to clear a path for us. Best of all, it is in a low, self-decaying orbit that will not contribute to any long-term build-up of orbital debris. Depending on solar activity the steam engine will last for several weeks before safely re-entering and burning up like a shooting star…. you’ll be able to make a wish, Nate’

  ‘I wish I could fly, ‘I muttered, looking down at earth’s curving horizon below, ‘without feeling sick.’

  In the future you will be able to fly around the world in two hours.’ said DeBlanc, ‘One hour of flying and one hour queuing to get to the aerodrome.’

  I laughed.

  ‘What height are we at now?’ chortled DeBlanc, pleased with himself.

  ‘Nine and a three quarter miles.’ I said, tapping the barometer.

  ‘Close enough.’ said DeBlanc, raising his hand held tachyscreen to his mouth. ‘Start the countdown.’

  As all the clocks in the control room chimed ten o’clock in unison, a detached female voice echoed from the loudspeakers.

  ‘Ten, Nine, Eight…’

  ‘Look at the sun reflecting off that stream Nate.’ said DeBlanc, pointing out the window. ‘The one running off the back of the Uchronie.’

  …seven, six, five, four…’

  ‘All sorts of rare species are becoming extinct on the earth,’ said DeBlanc, ’We try to preserve them in our aquatic gardens, before they vanish.’

  …three, two, one… zero!

  A small tin can sized object ejected from the central chimney amidst a huge rainbow cloud of steam that immediately obscured our view.

  ‘We’ll just have to trust OBS that it gets where it is meant to go. Its orbit should take it over Germany every 90 minutes, OBS will arrange a clear moonlit night for our arrival.’ said DeBlanc, lifting his hand held to his mouth. ‘Take her back down… like the spirit of a cat returning to earth. A cat that can walk on the clouds without falling through.’

  ‘Fantastic.’ I said, ‘I’ve seen my first satellite launch.’

  ‘Oh, its nothing new really.’ said DeBlanc, ‘The Chinese have been launching rockets for centuries, gunpowder mostly. Our PS is a steam powered alternative. We live in an age of discovery, Nate… awash with the possibilities of technology.’

  I watched the streams flowing off the back of the Uchronie and wondered if I should say anything to DeBlanc about upstream and downstream. Earlier when he’d used the time viewer he'd said1966 was upstream from 1937. I was pretty sure it was downstream!

  ‘You’ll have to visit our gardens.’ said DeBlanc, ‘Every known species of frog and fish are in the streams there - and some unknown ones as well.’

  ‘Speaking of streams,’ I said, seizing the moment, ‘surely upstream is back in time… against the flow. 1966 must be downstream from 1937.’

  ‘As Commander of the Chronological order I can assure you that I know what I am doing.’ frowned DeBlanc. ‘To allow us to see that far into the future I instructed the crew to take the Uchronie into the past to keep a temporal balance. The Uchronie traveled upstream to 1912 so the time viewer team could retrieve new information about Hitler’s death in 1966. Ginger departed on the next stage of his mission when we were in 1912.’

  ‘What’s he doing there?’

  ‘We don’t ask.’ snapped DeBlanc, frowning deeper and regarding me coldly through the gold circle of his monocle. ‘Which reminds me… Ginger was somewhat concerned that you were going to report him for sleeping in the wrong waiting room back in Lakehurst when he was down on the flat lands.’

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t report him,’ I said smiling, ’it was only a bit of banter. I wouldn’t, er, punk him out… as they say these days.’

  ‘Be assured that I, personal
ly, sent Ginger to collect you.’ said DeBlanc, disapprovingly. ‘He is a good man. It’s not his fault that you were late. He waited hours for you and he was most concerned that he had delayed his own mission.’

  ‘Well he seemed happy enough when he left showing off his spider pocket watch to your daughter.’ I said, looking at the silver framed photograph of the beautiful Lolly on his console.

  DeBlanc’s face darkened and his eyebrows bristled but he said nothing.

  Once again I knew that I had said the wrong thing.

  ‘So…Ten hundred hours.’ said DeBlanc, loudly, without looking at me, ‘I believe that you have time team training scheduled for ten o’clock in Area 51 with Captain Wright. You’d better skedaddle. Captain Dewy T. Wright is your boss now.’

  ‘Will he have my new Wave pistol?’ I asked.

  ‘He’ll sort you out with your bits and pieces.’ said DeBlanc, pulling a lever that opened the door. ‘Go on, off you go, turn left outside… ahead full steam… punk.’

  I went to shake his hand but he had turned away, speaking into his hand held screen.

  The control room door hissed disapprovingly at me as I departed. It slammed shut in a culminiferous cloud of steam and I was alone in a darkened corridor.

  To be continued

  Training Session

  Aboard The Uchronie, a vast, steam powered airship, Nate has displeased Commander DeBlanc and has been sent for basic training.

  There he meets a crewman he knows and is fitted for his new gun.

  At the end of the dark corridor was a door marked ‘Training Room’.

  I thought I had arrived first for the training session because the Armory surveillance tower that protected Area 51 was deserted.

  I pushed at the door and immediately an alarm went off.

  A hatch snapped open and a huge guard in a leather and brass, bomb blast, protection suit observed me through inch thick Flexiglas.

  ‘Security Check.’ he snapped. ‘Identify yourself or face the consequences.’

  ‘I’m here for Captain Wright‘s ten o’clock training session.’ I said. ‘Nate Drywood.’

  ‘You’re late.’ said the colossal guard, unlocking the door. ‘Wright’s already started.’

  I went inside and he resealed the heavy door behind me.

  ‘All under lock and key in Area 51.’ he shouted, removing his blast helmet to reveal a face that could have been carved from stone. ‘I’m Corporal Price, Armourer and First Officer of the Day; I’ll take you through to the training room.’

  ‘Ah, come in and take a seat, we’ve been waiting for you.’ said Captain Wright as we entered. ‘That makes us up to the full complement of ten. Good. I was just saying that armories are places where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored and issued.’

  There were two seats at the end of the second row. I slid into one and Corporal Price squeezed on to the wooden chair beside me. He really was enormous - a man mountain.

  ‘In the Armory we use standard codes that may become altered to accommodate rapidly developing technology.’ said Captain Wright, looking at me. ‘Nate, here, has been assisting Commander DeBlanc in the launch of a Frog this morning… so our Germany mission is definitely on.’

  I nodded, not sure what he meant.

  ‘F.R.O.G. stands for Free Rocket Over Ground.’ said Wright. ‘It will clear the way for us to carry out our containment in Europe.’

  ‘A containment –pah! We should just shoot him.’ growled Corporal Price. ‘There’s no point going round Robin Hood’s barn. Hitler is upsetting the World Order.’

  ‘Yeah, just take ‘im out.’ said the crewman sitting in front of me. ‘Save everybody a lot of bovver.’

  As he turned his Burberry baseball cap sideways, I realised it was Dwayne, the burly steamchav I had met when I first came aboard.

  ‘Well.’ said Captain Wright, retreating behind his desk. ‘I know a lot of people feel that way and we have a lot of concern about the next decade – the 1940’s - but often the crisis of today becomes the joke of tomorrow. You must remember that, in 1937, Hitler is the Head of State who televised the 1936 Olympics.’

  This statement provoked loud disapproval from the crew.

  ‘He’s no laughing matter.’ growled Corporal Price, undoing the brass latches on his blast suit. ‘He’s a menace! If I get the chance… he’ll be lightning struck.’

  The rest of the crew applauded and murmured agreement.

  ‘Well, I advise you to be careful.’ said Wright. ‘The nationality of the Uchronie is humankind there will be hell to pay if you create another P.O.D. Who knows what effects Hitler’s death in 1937 would have on all the time streams?’

  ‘What’s a P.O.D. when it’s at home?’ asked Dwayne.

  ‘A Point Of Divergence,’ said Wright, looking past Dwayne and studying me, ‘Other acronyms you will learn today are S.A.W. for Squad Automatic Weapon and N.O.O.D.L.E. for Night Optics Observation Device Long-range Equipment.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ said Dwayne, tapping his head. ‘Use your noodle.’

  ‘Well, you may have heard something similar.’ said Captain Wright. ‘There are slight usage differences between names, mainly due to historical linguistic development but also for security. It is a common principle in natural language that synonyms have subtle connotative boundaries that become somewhat permeable over time and distance.’

  Dwayne took off his Burberry baseball cap and scratched the D shaved into the back of his head.

  ‘Don’t worry if you don’t understand all that.’ said Captain Wright. ‘Today we’re going to outfit you with your Squad Automatic Weapons. Nate has requested a Wave gun so we‘ll start with him. Stand up Nate.’

  I stood up.

  ‘And come out to the front,’ he said, making space for me in front of the crew, ‘let’s get a proper look at you, t’aint right to stay back there in the shadows.’

  Embarrassed, I walked out in front of everybody as Dwayne smiled and whispered to his mate who was wearing an identical Burberry baseball cap.

  ‘Today we are going to issue Nate with his weapon of choice, appropriate battery powered sighting systems and protective clothing.’ said Wright, turning to me. ‘De Blanc may have referred to it as your Bits and Pieces.’

  ‘He did mention something about that.’ I said, trying to remember DeBlanc’s exact words. I still couldn’t understand why he’d become so annoyed at me.

  Perhaps it was the way I’d looked at the picture of his daughter.

  ‘B.I.T.S. stands for Battery Imaging Tablet System.’ said Wright, ‘Your Noodle is part of that system.’

  ‘I see.’ I said.

  ‘Yes, indeed.’ said Wright, enthusiastically. ‘You will! And P.I.E.C.E.S. stands for Protective Individual External Clothing Equipment Subsystem.’

  ‘My suit of armor.’ I said, looking over at the massive Corporal Price.

  ‘Well, if you like,’ said Wright, handing me a Wave holster, ‘t’aint made of brass though.’

  I strapped on the holster and stood at ease with my hands behind my back.

  ‘As I said earlier, this surveillance tower is used for the secure storage of weapons.’ said Wright, taking off his uniform jacket and hanging it neatly on the back of his chair. His perfectly ironed shirt had numbers printed all over it.

  ‘Ammunition is stored separately and is kept under lock and key to minimize the potential for misuse, theft, and safety breaches. Bullets come in many shapes and forms these days… DeBlanc tells me that when he first joined up, in 1878, he used round bullets for shooting Christians… and square bullets if he was facing the heathen… but a lot has changed since those days... If you could just take off your flying jacket, Nate.’

  ‘I like your shirt.’ I said, pointing to his printed numbers, ‘They go all the way up to twenty four.’

  ‘Yes, yes.’ said Captain Wright flushing bright red. ’Its an armorer’s shirt, DeBlanc‘s
idea of a joke, I believe... You can count on me… ha ha… very funny… t’aint right. Anyways let’s get your paperwork done Nate.’

  Dwayne was wriggling in his seat; hand over his mouth, trying to stop himself laughing.

  ‘Are you registered aboard the Uchronie?’ asked Captain Wright.

  ‘No.’ I said.

  ‘Name?’

  ‘Nate Z Drywood.’ I said.

  ‘And are you right or left handed?’ he asked, typing rapidly.

  ‘Left handed.’ I said, holding up my left hand, as if that proved it.

  ‘Good. Now we need to take a cast of your hand to make a personalized grip for your pistol.’ he said, pushing my hand into a box of grey goo on his table.

  'While that sets I’ll get some more information. What noise do you want your barking brass to make when it‘s fired?’

  ‘What…noise? Well… silent is best isn’t it?’ I asked, not sure what the other options were.

  ‘Silent? Tut tut. T’aint right… wrong answer. I’ll put you down as soft.’ he said, glancing disapprovingly at the posy of carnations in my top pocket.