Magestic 2, page 94
Jimmy and I exchanged looks. ‘Have him brought up,’ Jimmy requested. ‘Thanks.’
As Cookie withdrew, I said, ‘And Susan?’
‘Has a right to know, but after we’ve spoken to him. What time is she back from Vancouver?’
‘Hour or two.’
We were stood waiting outside the hotel when or guest arrived, and I recognised myself, despite a bald plate and a goatee beard. The police were thanked and dismissed.
‘Ugly bastard,’ I offered my other self.
‘I couldn’t look like you, numb nuts.’
‘When you two have quite finished,’ Jimmy called, and led us inside. In the diner, Cookie had to look twice at the newcomer, frowning hard.
‘Pancakes, Cookie,’ my other self called.
‘Paul … he sounds just like you,’ Cookie noted.
‘He is me, another me from another world.’
‘Fuck me. Is your hair going to fall out or something, Paul?’
‘No, dumbo,’ I said. ‘He’s in disguise.’
‘Your kids will be confused,’ Cookie commented, and I could see the flash of momentary sadness in my other self’s eyes as we sat.
‘So,’ Jimmy began. ‘What the fuck you up to, Baldy?’
‘Nice to see you again too,’ Baldy quipped. ‘Actually, it’s good to see you again, Jimmy, it’s been a while since ... we buried you.’
‘You’re risking our plan here,’ Jimmy pointed out, all business. ‘Regardless of the death of Susan, the war comes first.’
‘Always on the mission,’ he commented, sighing wistfully.
‘Well?’ Jimmy pressed.
‘I came … because there’s someone else here. Not from my world, nor yours.’
‘Another traveller?’ Jimmy puzzled.
Baldy nodded. ‘When I sent Susan back we kept a micro-portal open, and waited any emergency signals. I knew how things would turn out, but … I wanted to keep an eye on her anyway. Then we noticed a blip, and investigated, but couldn’t find it afterwards. Weeks of study revealed that someone had opened a low-power portal to this world, just three seconds.’
‘Three seconds?’ Jimmy queried. ‘That’s hardly time to jump through!’
Baldy nodded. ‘But someone did.’
‘German coal-oil…’ Jimmy began.
‘Him,’ Baldy stated. ‘I’ve been working in Russia and Poland, biding my time as I tried to track the guy. I found an odd deal whereby a German refinery bought lots of cheap Polish coal, and I puzzled it. Then I found the coal-oil plant, advanced formulas being used. I’ve helped the Poles and Russians with mining equipment, and I worked with the Germans before the war so that I could move about from a base in Sweden.
‘We figured on Sweden,’ I put in.
Baldy ran a hand down his beard. ‘My adjustment to your plan ... was to try and keep the Germans out of Poland and Russia, and to make the Russians a little more commercially minded – which I’ve succeeded with. I’ve spoken to Stalin a few times.’
‘But you haven’t found the traveller?’ Jimmy asked.
Baldy shook his head. ‘I got close a few times, but he’s no fool.’
‘A German?’ I asked.
‘I couldn’t say, but he does move around a fair bit, the fella moving right around Europe and the world before the war, even a few trips to South Africa.’
‘There’re German sympathisers in South Africa,’ I noted.
‘Coal-oil plant down there now,’ Baldy responded.
‘Other than for the Germans, coal-oil isn’t needed in this time,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘And no matter how efficient the process, drilled oil will still be cheaper for decades to come.’
‘I think he may have developed the technique in South Africa, before giving it to the Germans,’ Baldy stated.
‘If this guy wanted the Germans to win, then all he needed to do was to go back to an early point and give them nukes,’ Jimmy pointed out.
‘I’ve been puzzling the guy’s motives for a long time, and I keep thinking of that three-second low-power jump.’
‘They have a portal, but it doesn’t work too well?’ Jimmy puzzled with a frown. ‘They could still wait ten years, and then send him back.’
‘If they had ten years to play with,’ Baldy stated. ‘What if … his world is post-apocalyptic?’
Jimmy and I exchanged looks. Jimmy said, ‘Limited power, limited resources, and maybe overrun by The Brotherhood.’
‘So why help the Germans?’ I thought out loud.
‘This may be about him, the person, not any sponsoring government,’ Baldy told me. ‘And the three second jump suggests that he had no time to experiment. My pet theory … is that on his world the Germans won the war, but lost out decades later to The Brotherhood.’
‘There are thousands of worlds, with thousands of outcomes,’ Jimmy said with a sigh. ‘His being here may be random; he just chose the historic date, and probably figured he’d go back in time in his own world, not to a parallel world.’
‘He may not even realise that fact,’ I suggested.
‘He must be confused by you pair,’ Baldy emphasised. ‘No record of you in his past, or of Germany suffering so much!’
‘So why hasn’t he given the Germans atomic bomb theory?’ Jimmy asked.
‘Maybe he has, but maybe the guy is no scientist,’ Baldy responded. ‘Did he come through with a manual, or just himself? Besides, I still think that he came from somewhere where the Germans win, so why would he bring anything … other than a warning about The Brotherhood.’
Jimmy slowly nodded. ‘The poor fool thinks he’s on his own world.’
‘Where the names of Silo and Holton are not known!’ Baldy pointed out.
‘Question is ... can he help the Germans further?’ I posed. ‘Can he make a difference? So far, the coal-oil helps us - because we want the Germans to keep fighting. And jet engines won’t help in time.’
‘I don’t think he’s in touch with Hitler,’ Baldy offered. ‘Or they may have modified their attack plans, certainly waited till they were ready. I think coal-oil was a gift, maybe to make himself popular, or to make a few quid. And I don’t know of any link between him and jet engines.’
‘Until we grab him, we’ll not know,’ Jimmy said. ‘What are our chances of grabbing him?’
‘I’ve been trying to do that for five years,’ Baldy responded. ‘So good luck.’
‘Is he in Germany now?’ I asked.
‘I think so.’
Jimmy eased back and took a moment. ‘How long have you been here?’
‘Since late 1930. And I’ve even taken a few rides on your seaplanes.’
‘Why 1930?’ Jimmy asked.
‘We only had a partial fix on when he came over, which was early 1936, but with a two year variance. I considered that I’d get here a year or so before to build up some money, and a few contacts. I have a few good lads working for me, and I made money in Europe from a few inventions. I have a good network in Poland and Russia, the one area I figured you’d not be interested in.’
‘Not bad thinking, for you two,’ Jimmy quipped. He took a moment to study Baldy. ‘You ... could have sent us a note about the Jap attack on this hotel, but you sent Susan. And you could have sent us a note about this as well.’ Jimmy waited. ‘What’s the real reason for you being here?’
‘Same as yours: to be away from there,’ Baldy admitted. ‘When the threat was known … I had a reason to follow Susan.’
‘Why send Susan at all?’ Jimmy pressed.
Baldy took a moment. ‘I knew that I’d made a mistake, to have an affair with her in secret in our time period; press were sniffing around just before I sent her back.’
‘You got rid of her?’ I asked.
‘No,’ Jimmy cut in with. ‘He spared her; her life over there would have been difficult after an affair.’
Baldy nodded. ‘I knew what the original Susan did here, does here, and … I figured she’d be very happy here.’
Jimmy said, ‘She won’t be upset to see you, but she may be upset about you not making contact for eight years!’
‘Guess she’ll be right pissed off when she meets my wife and our kids then.’
Jimmy and I both eased up. ‘You what?’ I asked.
‘They’re in Vancouver.’ Jimmy and I exchanged looks, Baldy adding, ‘I … figured I would be here a while, and I also figured - I mean I … sent someone to see if you and her were … together. After your daughter was born I decided to move on.’ He shrugged.
‘Do you still have feelings for Susan?’ Jimmy asked.
‘We had a quick fling for fuck’s sake,’ Baldy quickly responded. ‘I’ve been with Mia for five years.’
‘Did you see my messages?’ Jimmy asked.
‘We left the area before the war started, just in case; we’ve been in Los Angeles a few months. But one of my lads saw the message and recognised the alias, so he cabled me. Still, it took you long enough.’
‘I had my suspicions years ago,’ Jimmy pointed out. ‘But until I found your aliases I was thinking of either an intruder like our friend, or just aberrations in the time line. I also considered that Susan had a partner in crime.’
‘Partner in crime?’ Baldy queried.
‘We knew she wasn’t who she said she was,’ I pointed out. ‘Jimmy had her pegged on day one.’
‘And yet … you had kids with her?’ Baldy queried.
‘It’s how we deal with spies,’ I quipped.
‘When did Susan reveal herself?’ Baldy asked.
‘Two nights before the Jap attack,’ Jimmy informed our guest.
‘Cutting it a bit fine,’ Baldy complained. ‘Did she tell you about Hal?’
‘Motorcycle accident,’ I said, Baldy nodding.
‘Send for your family and your people,’ Jimmy instructed. ‘We’ll find you rooms here for a while. Gang are away anyway.’
An hour later, Susan came up the stairs with the kids and our nanny, to find two very cute young blonde girls stood staring back at her.
‘Hello,’ Susan offered, the shy girls running off to Baldy and his wife. Mia was tall, white-blonde, and gorgeous; my other self hadn’t been suffering on those long Swedish nights.
Baldy eased up and stepped to Susan, Mary and Toby examining the new faces at length. ‘It’s me.’
Susan squinted at Baldy for a few seconds, and let her jaw drop. ‘You!’
‘Yep, me, and … my wife here, and my two lovely daughters … here.’
‘Wha … what are you doing here?’
‘There was a problem, and I needed to come and track someone down. Long story.’ He took a big breath. ‘Anyway, your kids are nice.’ He turned, Mia approaching. ‘Mia, this is Doctor Susan Blake, Paul’s wife.’
They shook, formal smiles exchanged.
Susan came and sat next to me, the nanny taking her coat. ‘Did you … know we had guests?’ she asked me.
‘Not till today, but Jimmy suspected that we may have guests … of this nature.’
‘Oh.’ Susan focused on the twin blonde daughters. ‘Hello, what are your names?’
‘Don’t be shy,’ Baldy encouraged, repeating it in Russian.
‘Russian, not Swedish?’ Susan queried.
‘Mia’s mother was Russian,’ Baldy pointed out. ‘We raised the girls to speak Russian and English first.’
The daughters kept looking at me oddly, as did Mia. Something about me looked familiar. Noticing, Baldy faced his wife. ‘Mia, I’ve kept a secret from you; Paul is my twin brother.’
‘My God,’ she let. ‘But why keep it a secret?’
‘Paul and Mister Silo, they … work for governments in secret, on … secret work.’
‘Is he secretive?’ I asked Mia, pointing at Baldy.
‘Yes,’ she admitted. ‘And I have seen you both in many magazines, especially Mister Silo.’
In perfect Russian, Jimmy said, ‘We’re better looking in the flesh, than in a black and white photograph.’
‘You speak Russian like a native?’ Mia puzzled.
‘And Chinese, and fifteen African dialects,’ I pointed out to her.
Mary sat with the two girls, on the carpet, soon chatting about the things that young girls chat about. Toby, meanwhile, just wanted to stuff his face, and ignored the visitors.
Baldy went and sat next to him. ‘Pancakes, Cookie.’
Toby looked up, puzzling the voice, and the eyes. ‘You’re like dad.’
‘I’m his brother, your uncle, so you’ll get more presents at Christmas now.’
‘What presents?’ Toby excitedly asked.
‘What would you like?’
‘A bike, a big bike!’
‘I think I can arrange that, but I’ll have to talk with your mum first.’
With Baldy sat back down, and Mia taking the kids down stairs to the pool, Susan said, ‘You’ve been here a while then.’
‘Told you she’d be pissed,’ Jimmy carefully mouthed.
Baldy began, ‘I came … afterwards, and only when there was a clear threat to you and this timeline. And by then you were happily having babies.’
‘I was doing what the other Susan did originally, part of your plan!’
‘Now, now, children, don’t squabble,’ Jimmy sarcastically let out. ‘All’s well that ends well, and it’s the ending we need to be focused on, not how this got started. We’re all here now, and we can’t undo it. Well, we could, but we won’t jump about the cosmos and its timelines. Susan, there’s another traveller in this timeline, helping the Germans.’
‘Another traveller?’ Susan queried.
‘Not from any world we know of,’ I pointed out.
‘Could this person alter the timeline?’ Susan asked.
‘He’s given the fuel-starved Germans coal-oil technology and jet engines,’ I explained.
‘My God. But … but why not just give them advanced weapons?’
‘It’s a work in progress, but we think his trip here was accidental, not planned,’ Jimmy explained.
At 10pm, Baldy, Jimmy and myself were sat sipping whisky and chatting, comparing worlds and outcomes, who was doing what in which world. When the phone went, it was Sykes.
Jimmy took the call, then turned and stared hard at Baldy as he placed the receiver down, finally knocking off the scrambler. He faced Cookie. ‘Cookie! Get a paper and pen.’ Cookie made ready. ‘If there’s a Huey down here I want it, if not fly one down immediately, make that two. I’ll want a plane in the morning for a trip down to Washington or Chicago.’
Jimmy lifted the receiver again. ‘Get me Lemming Base, urgent, the airfield manager.’ He waited, Baldy and I now both curious. ‘This is Jimmy Silo, the codeword is Small Boy, I repeat, the codeword is Small Boy.’
I eased up. It was the signal to make ready for a nuclear strike.
Jimmy added, ‘Move two bombs and two aircraft to Britain, full support team. Alert the British that the planes are coming.’ Placing down the receiver, Jimmy faced me. ‘Go call the White House, tell them we need a meeting tomorrow - late afternoon, situation critical.’
I stepped away as Jimmy closed in on Baldy, who now stood.
‘What’s happened?’ my other self asked.
‘Something you should have figured by that three second jump. Your man … that idiot, left the portal on and intact. Sykes has picked up signals from Germany, details of desperate fighting going around southwest of Berlin, German soldiers fighting tens of thousands of Arabs wearing green headbands.’
‘The Brotherhood are here,’ Baldy let out.
‘They got it working … and followed him through, a few years difference maybe down to power settings.’
‘There’re a million German soldiers, so The Brotherhood will be massacred,’ Baldy insisted.
‘Those German soldiers are being very effectively tied up by me … in far off places! And The Brotherhood may have brought sophisticated weapons, a tactical nuke or two.’
‘I figured his portal was in South Africa, not central Germany,’ Baldy offered, looking away.
‘Why?’
‘He has a very well-guarded estate down there with a large and well-guarded shed.’
‘It may be of significance, or just a statue of his mum,’ Jimmy scoffed.
‘He spent a year down there before he ever ventured to Germany,’ Baldy mentioned, facing away.
‘Jimmy!’ Cookie called. ‘There’s a Huey down here, just the one. Others would take half a fucking day to fly down!’
‘Have it fuelled and sent here, get a security detail organised of just lads from our era,’ Jimmy ordered. ‘And sharpish!’
‘You’ll contact your world?’ Baldy asked.
‘If The Brotherhood has control of a portal … they can go anywhere, at any time. It has to be shut down at their end, which means finding their end, or the world I saved could be destroyed.’
‘And my world,’ Baldy firmly pointed out. ‘I’ll come with you and signal my world; they need to know.’
Jimmy took a moment to study Baldy, but then finally nodded.
When I returned from my call to the White House, Jimmy brought me up to speed, the security staff assembling.
‘We’re off to Manson to make a call, you hold the fort,’ Jimmy told me. ‘If I don’t get back in time, fly down to the President and give him an “M” Group briefing. Take a laptop.’ They rushed out, and I explained the situation to Susan, who was now horrified at the turn of events.
Jimmy and Baldy met the helicopter outside the hotel, the noise of its approach waking the kids, and flew off through the night towards Manson, leaving me pacing up and down, Cookie and Sandra worried. The last thing Jimmy did before leaving was to dictate a series of messages for Cookie, a long list.
In the grey dawn half-light Jimmy placed down this special phone and stood back. ‘Now we wait.’ He took in the Huey in the distance, worried looks exchanged with the guards.
Baldy stared into the dark. ‘Somehow, I’m doubting that the Germans will let us land heavily armed troops on their soil to fight The Brotherhood.’ He turned his head. ‘You’ll nuke the portal opening?’
Jimmy took a moment. ‘The lingering radiation may slow down The Brotherhood, but not for long. Hope would be that the nuke detonates when the portal is open - and roasts the equipment at their end. But I have another idea.’
