Doppelganger (14 page)

“Aye,” said MacRae. “The day he claims he was alerted to something. The day he says he lost his key. What’s this all about, Elena?”

“That’s exactly what I intend to discover. Damn… We need to find out what happened to the Russians. That young Captain of theirs was worried about this. July 28th was the day they were scheduled to arrive here.”

“What?” said MacRae. “Another Russian ship? Just like the first? Is that even possible?”

“Who knows,” said Elena. “Perhaps this professor can shed some light on that. He seems to claim he invented this whole time travel business, though I was listening very closely to what he said. Did you hear it? He made the claim that they were the first to open the continuum.”

“At least that was what they first thought,” said Mack Morgan, remembering what the American had said.

“Exactly. You caught that too. Do you realize what he was implying? If they weren’t the first… If these keys were engineered in the future as both he and I seem to believe, then the history we were living in was not inviolate.”

“What do you mean?” said Morgan, scratching his head. “You’re talking about
our
history—all the books I had to read in school—all the data in the computer I’m off to sift through?”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” said Elena with a smile. “Gentlemen, someone’s had their hand on Mother Time’s leg for a good long while, and I’m bloody well going to find out who it is.”

Chapter 12

Rodney
fought for every last minute, even though her crew had been ordered to abandon ship. The close proximity of the
Britannic
, a big steamship liner serving as a troop ship, was a godsend. Tovey’s battle with the
Hindenburg
group had taken place about 35 nautical miles southwest of the sinking battleship. He saw that the second German group, badly mauled by the Russians, had eventually turned south as well, and the latest reports had all the German ships forming a new task force, wounded, yet still very dangerous.

The reports coming in from
Argos Fire
assured him the German’s were breaking off, and so Tovey took stock of his situation, considering what to do, and what to make of this request for a meeting here aboard
Invincible
. It seemed that Miss Fairchild had something more to disclose.

When
Rodney
finally tipped bow first into the sea, there was a long moment of silence aboard every ship present. Then there came the slow, sedate strains of a small band playing “Nearer My God To Thee,” and Tovey turned his head, hearing it coming from
Britannic
. It had been the last song for an old sister ship in the line, the ill fated
Titanic
. The doleful song hung over the sea, until Tovey turned and gave a quiet order to his Flag Lieutenant. Minutes later, the ship’s band had assembled on the broad deck amidships, beneath the long steel barrels of X-turret, still warm with the heat of battle. Another song burst forth, resounding over the waves, and it carried quite a different emotion—Rule Britannia!

Tovey looked at Villers, and Captain Bennett turned in his chair, nodding his obvious approval. When the song ended he gave an order to a watchstander to ring eight bells for
Rodney
, the tones that would sound out the last watch of the day at sea.

“That leaves
Nelson
as one of a kind,” the Captain said to Tovey. He was referring to the only other battleship remaining in the class, HMS
Nelson
.

“As we are,” said Tovey, for there were no other G3 Class ships in the navy. “And looking to our health, gentlemen, please have a full accounting of damage and casualties sent to me in the Admiral’s stateroom. I’ll be receiving guests shortly.”

As he made ready to leave the bridge, he took one final look at the last vestige of the great cloud that had appeared with angry red fire to the northeast. The wind had sheared off its top, and it was only now dissipating. As he looked at it, that ghostly feeling returned, and he knew he had seen something like this before, a clawing memory that gave him a chill.

An hour later, Miss Fairchild came aboard with Captain MacRae and Mack Morgan. They wanted to confer with Tovey, firm up his intentions, and determine what to do with the other ships that had come on the scene, all strange interlopers on this wild day at sea.

“Seven more ships?” asked Tovey. “And all from your time?”

“Apparently,” said Elena.

“Well how did they get here?”

“We aren’t certain. Perhaps that mushroom cloud on the horizon had something to do with it.”

“Just what exactly happened out there?” Tovey frowned. “It’s given me the willies since I first set eyes on it.”

“Gordon?”

MacRae nodded, then explained. “Tha’ was not a natural event, sir.” His Scottish brogue seeming right in place. “In fact, it was a weapon of war. We weren’t sure if the Russians had them or not, but it seems they do. We believe it was either used by the Russian battlecruiser, or that submarine.”

“Yes,” said Tovey. “Admiral Volsky discussed these weapons with me at one point, but he was rather vague about it. What kind of a weapon would wrench the sky and sea like that?”

“An atomic weapon, sir. Your government knows about the bomb—that’s what we call it in our day. In fact, they most likely have a working program to develop one now. In our day, the history we know, no one had a working prototype here until 1945.”

“Then that is where this damn war is taking us?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Elena. “And the next one we fight will be quite unpleasant. Knowledge of that weaponry becomes widespread after this war. In our day, at least ten nations possessed them, the newest member of the club being the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

“Iran? How would they manage something like that? This is most startling.”

“In a word—oil,” said Elena. “Your main interest in Iran today is the business of British Petroleum. In fact, that was also the business of Fairchild Incorporated, my company. Oil becomes the witches brew of the modern world, Admiral, and a point of contention and crisis for decades to come. The wells British Petroleum and other concerns sink into the sands of Iran, Iraq, and Arabia, all gush to life in the next few years, but in our day, some eighty years from now, those very same wells will be running dry. The modern world runs almost exclusively on that oil, and speaking of that, I’m told one of the seven dwarves that have arrived here today is an oiler. They’ll have fuel for us there. Another is a repair ship and fleet tender. They could be very handy in helping out with your battle damage.”

“I see…” Tovey was quiet for a moment, thinking. “These other ships. I think they had best come along with us. It won’t do to let them just sail about on their own.”

“I quite agree,” said Elena. “It was my understanding that you were planning to refuel your battleships in the Azores. Perhaps it would be wise if we lead this little flotilla there. I have spoken with the flotilla leader aboard
Diligence
—the fleet Auxiliary and repair ship I just mentioned. We have just found out that in our time they were en route to Mersa Matruh.”

“North Africa?”

“Yes, they were dispatched to move Brigadier Kinlan’s troops back to the continent, so you see this is a rather strange twist.”

“Indeed,” said Tovey, taking that in and wondering at the mystery behind it. “Might their appearance here be somehow mixed up with Kinlan’s chaps?”

“It does seem rather odd,” said Elena. “In any case, there is another matter concerning the Azores we need to discuss.”

She took a deep breath, then tried to explain the appearance, and subsequent disappearance of the American officer, the man named Wellings who later turned out to be something quite more than he seemed.

“Astounding,” said Tovey. “Just what in bloody hell is happening here? Are you all going to just pop in from the future and sign on with the Royal Navy? Ships and men have been shuffling in and out of the bar, and nobody seems to know the cause. Well I’ll say one thing. I had a number of chats with that young Russian Captain, Fedorov. A good man that one. A pity he’s not here to help us sort things through. So you say this American fellow wants a meeting in the Azores?” Tovey raised an eyebrow. “Well I certainly have no objection. In fact, I believe I’ll send for someone I would like to include on the guest list. You know that Churchill will have to be informed.”

“Churchill?” said Elena. “You’re going to ask him to attend?”

“No my good woman. That would be just a tad too risky given the present situation. I was thinking of another man, a chap from Bletchley Park with a good head on his shoulders. I’ll want his take on all of this, and I can use him as a liaison to Churchill. In that regard, there is something I would like to ask of you. I hesitated to press the matter with the Russians, and I know it may be a rather delicate request, but I’ll ask it nonetheless, since we’re all in the family here. You people have been mucking about for some time now, for good or for ill. Needless to say, it has had quite an effect on the course of this war, and it will likely continue to do so. Well then… In for a penny, in for a pound. As to the course of this war. I’d like to know what we can expect in the years ahead.”

He waited, watching them closely. MacRae looked at Miss Fairchild, obviously deferring to her judgment on a question of this magnitude. “Perhaps I can have Mack here put together some information for you, Admiral. Mack?”

“Certainly, Mum. Any particulars you might be thinking about?”

“My beat,” said Tovey. “A general sense of things would be most helpful. I understand that knowledge is a dangerous thing, and I assure you that anything you may divulge will be kept under my hat, and not revealed to anyone who is not already privy to this… situation we find ourselves in.”

“I understand, sir. Yet from what I’ve been able to determine, things are just a wee bit skewed here. The Germans have already attacked Soviet Russia, and that wasn’t supposed to happen until late June. As for the broad strokes, this war is only just beginning. The Americans and Japanese will be in it soon enough, and at each other’s throats. I’ll fill you in sir.”

“Good enough,” said Tovey. “Now then, as to this American fellow. You say he’s come from your time, and willfully? His presence here was not an accident?”

“Apparently not,” said Elena. “He deliberately infiltrated
Rodney
in the guise of that American officer, and he was looking for that key we’ve been keen to get our own hands on.”

“Yes,” said Tovey… “The key. Everyone is looking for that bloody key! Strange to think that I have something to do with this, but I can’t imagine what it may be at the moment. Well, I think we better hear this man out. If he can come and go as he pleases, that alone is something we’ll want to hear about. The Russians seemed to believe their arrival here was an accident, until they gained some means of control over their movements. Yet I find it hard to believe they would slip out the back door like this without so much as a by your leave, or a goodbye.”

“Then you believe their disappearance was an accident?”

“It may have been unintentional,” said Tovey. “That is fair to conclude. Yet we also have no word from their submarine. That could mean any number of things, though I can’t say any of them bode well. I think we must assume that this submarine may have either been lost in action, or else it suffered the same fate that befell
Kirov
. You say there was another interloper out there—another submarine?”

“
Astute
Class,” said MacRae. “Aye, we got the call on that from the Russian sub. This class is a modern day Royal Navy boat, state-of-the-art, and one of the very best in the world. Miss Fairchild here has explained how this Brigadier Kinlan managed to slip through to this time. That was another of those atomic weapons, Admiral—fired in our day. It seems it blew Kinlan’s boys all the way here, and now we’re coming round on a heading to think the same thing may have happened with these ships, and that
Astute
Class sub of ours. They would have made a very ripe target in our day. If something similar happened, it might explain how that sub of ours got here. The Russian sub Captain claimed they fired on him, and they wanted us to call in our dogs, but we couldn’t get through to stop what was happening. Once those bloody torpedoes go into the water, you have very little time. In our day, they’re quick as lightning.”

“We figure the Russian sub Captain acted on pure reflex,” said Morgan. “It’s nice that we’ve tipped hats here and had our handshakes, but that reflex runs deep.”

“As to that
Astute
Class sub,” said MacRae, “whether it’s still out there or not is anyone’s guess. The Russians lit one off on them, which doesn’t surprise me, now that I look at it in this light. If our boat survived, that will be a damn good reason for the Russian sub to be running silent. Remember, in our day the Royal Navy is not so cozy with the Russians. That song we heard your ship’s band playin’ still holds true for the North Atlantic. Britannia still rules the waves on that watch—only it will be the Russians we’ll be lookin’ out for, and not the Germans. In fact, Germany is our ally in the future. It’s the Russians and Chinese we worry about in the next war.”

“Indeed,” said Tovey. “The whole thing gets turned on its head! Well I think Admiral Volsky and Captain Fedorov were dead set on changing that. I know in fact that they were working here to try and prevent that war you speak of in your time. Whether their intervention here may do some good, I suppose we may never know. The arrival of Brigadier Kinlan’s troops, welcome as they are, and now these other ships… Well that all leads me to think things don’t turn out as well in the future as Admiral Volsky might have hoped. Perhaps this American fellow can clue us in. This may make for a very interesting conversation. Just how is he set to return here?”

“We aren’t certain. We were told they have some… technology.”

“Very well. Then we head for the Azores to keep that appointment he made with us. I think the Germans have seen enough of the Royal Navy for the moment, and with Holland and Patterson coming on the scene, I don’t think they’ll want to cause any further mischief out here. Unfortunately, we’ve lost a good ship today, two actually, if we count the disappearance of
Kirov
. But Jerry has taken his lumps as well. The Russians put the fire to that aircraft carrier of theirs, and word is they also lost
Gneisenau
—torpedo damage—so that Russian sub may have weighed in on that one. They did their part, but who knows when or if we will sail with them again. Unfortunately the war won’t wait for a happy reunion. Now we must do the lifting ourselves, and I’m grateful you are still with me.”