‘Yes, Karl… it was the only one.’
By destroying Waldstein’s prototype behind him, Kramer had been certain that no one could follow them back in time and their efforts to change theworld for the better be undone.
But what if there was another machine?
The thought sent a chill down his neck.
And someone determined to come back after us?
If this twisted body on the floor was the result of a time window opening, then someone from the future had chosen to zero in on today. Someone fromthe future was trying to correct history and assumed today, 5 September 1956, was the dayhistory was changed.
But it wasn’t today.
History had in fact been changed fifteen years earlier, the day Kramer and his men had foughttheir way through SS guards to have an audience with Hitler. The day Kramer had explained thatHitler’s impending attack on Russia would be the beginning of theend of his dreams, an end that would come four years later in a bunker beneath Berlin with abullet in his temple and a cyanide capsule crushed between his teeth.
Kramer looked up from the corpse, out through the panoramic viewing windows. ‘Karl, wemust completely erase history.’
‘What?’
‘Everything before today… particularly everything since we arrived in1941.’
‘Covering our tracks?’
‘Yes. But we should present this to the people as a symbolic gesture.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘This day will be known as Day One, a new beginning for allof mankind. We will announce that after so many thousand years of bloodstained history — countries, kings, popes, emperors fighting each other for land or money, or faith — thatall war is over.’
‘No more wars, yes.’ Karl nodded. ‘It would be a popularmessage.’
Kramer pointed towards the city skyline through the broad window. ‘America was our biggest threat, and now it’s part of our Reich. Wecan’t be challenged any more. We’re now looking at the chance that every person inthis world can finally be united under one banner.’
‘The Russian and Chinese states still remain.’
Kramer shrugged. ‘Their time will come.’ He turned to Karl. ‘I think now isthe perfect time, anyway, to make this sort of a sweeping gesture.’
He turned away from the smouldering body, glad the young officer and his two men were goneand that he could turn his pale face from the awful sight.
‘But, Karl, you and I must never forget that we’re strangers in this time. Even though it’s been fifteen years since we time-travelled, we must beever vigilant of covering our tracks.’
‘I understand.’
‘By declaring today as the first day of a new era, we’ll be wiping the lastfifteen years clean, Karl. Leaving absolutely nothing. No clues for anybody in the future toclose in on. But, more than that, we’ll erase all of history. And why not? Isn’tthis also the reason we came back? To wipe the slate clean… A new beginning. A neworder?’
Karl nodded.
‘I will make an announcement over state television and radio. We shall decree a day ofcelebration across all the nations of the Greater Reich — a unity day of-’
‘Unity Day… it is a good name for it,Paul.’
‘Yes… yes it is. We’ll call it that, then. As well as this celebration,we’ll begin a systemic purging of history books, documents, relics. It all has to go. Itall has to be burned.’
Karl nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’
‘And we’ll tell the people of America that there’s nothing to be afraid of.They will not be enslaved, but instead will be invited to join theGermans, the French, the British and all the other citizens of the Greater Reich.’
‘I will have a speech drafted for you,’ said Karl.
‘Thank you, old friend. This…’ he said, pointing at the body on the floor,‘is nothing for us to be alarmed at, do you understand? Wecontrol history now, Karl… you and I… it’s clay in our hands to be mouldedexactly as we want. There will be no way for anyone from the future to find our entrypoint.’
‘If this body was the result of an attempt by somebody to find us — ’ Karllooked at Kramer — ‘the fact that they tried today andnot back in the spring of 1941… this proves…?’
‘Yes.’ Kramer smiled. ‘That they have no idea what date we went back to originally.’ He patted Karl affectionately on the shoulder. ‘Ithink this shows that we’re safe.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Karl crisply saluted. ‘I shall see to your speech.’
‘Thank you.’
Kramer watched Karl go, closing the grand double doors behind him, and then turned once moreto look out of the panoramic windows.
Will that be enough, though… erasing history?
It would be a sensible precautionary measure, but Kramer still felt a chill of unease. Halfan hour ago he’d been certain that Waldstein’s prototype had been theworld’s one and only time machine.
Is it possible I’m wrong?
In the sky he watched a squadron of Messerschmitt Jetlanders swoop down from a higheraltitude and hover just above the deserted streets below, sweeping them with theirsearchlights.
What was left of the world to conquer would present even less of an obstacle than Americahad. His Reich was now unassailable, unbeatable, all powerful. The remaining countries wouldfall one by one. Russia and China, two large but backward nations, were isolated, blockaded onall fronts. Sooner or later he could finish them off and be done with war.
Nonetheless, it was an unsettling prospect that someone somewhere out there in the futurecould — if they got very lucky — find a way to get to him.
Or it might be something far worse, Paul. Do you remember what the oldman Waldstein once told you?
Kramer cursed, glancing at the body. He ordered his guards standing outside to take the thingaway and dispose of it. He’d seen enough bloodshed for one day… and there was muchto attend to now that the United States had officially surrendered.
CHAPTER 46
1956, Washington DC
It was dark and wet. Bob’s eyes had adjusted hours ago to the dimness downhere in the sewers. Pallid tendrils of light lanced through the grating in the pavement above.It was a grey, overcast afternoon in Washington DC, the day after America had been defeated byits invaders.
The support unit sat motionless on a damp concrete sill, his legs dangling in thefoul-smelling water that trickled past.
From above, he could hear the occasional movement of vehicles, the tramping of boots andevery now and then the rattle-dash of distant gunfire. Over the last twenty hours, thousandsof people, potential trouble-makers — those who might try their hand at rallying thepeople: senators, congressmen, judges, lawyers, journalists — had been rounded up andput on convoys of trucks heading out of the city. The rest of the city’s populationcowered in their homes and could only wonder at what Kramer and his invasion force would dowith them all now.
It was quiet at the moment, save for the persistent echo of water dripping from thesewer’s curved brick ceiling and the languid trickling of stinking sewage.
Bob sat motionless. Absent-mindedly a finger flicked the safety catch of the pulse carbineheld in his hands. On and off, off and on, the metallic click echoing loudly down thesewer.
Waiting patiently. Counting down on his internal clock.
Bob closed his eyes.
[Information: final window due in 23 minutes]
He was only ten minutes from the White House, a mile as the crow flies, and half thatdistance he could cover underground along the network of sewage tunnels, emerging from amanhole along Pennsylvania Avenue. He would have to run the rest of the way in plain view. Hisblack rubber suit and mask might disguise him for a short few moments. But since all the otherenemy soldiers had discarded those and were now wearing their grey Wehrmacht uniforms,he’d most probably attract attention the instant he was above ground.