One Thousand Years (15 page)

McHenry
understood that Dale was reciting a passage from memory, but he
didn't recognize the source.

She
continued,
“‘Nor is France a democracy. It, too, is an
empire boasting of more than 100 million population resident outside
Europe. A population that was subjugated by cannon, bayonet, and
intrigue.

“‘Nor
is Russia a democracy. Its one hundred ten million persons are
dominated by a party of communists numbering less than two million.
If the conscience of Americans is offended because the principles of
real democracy, of self-determination, of home-rule, are being
crushed to earth by the iron heel of German stormtroopers, let our
indignation be impartial, and therefore virtuous. Let us lament over
the plight of British, French, and Russian victims of conquest, who
since the battle of Plassey in 1757, to the massacre of Moscow in
1923, have been appealing for liberty and justice and sympathy to the
deafened ears of civilization.

“‘If
the imperial conquest by Great Britain and France, and the diabolical
persecution by Soviet Russia, are the outstanding examples of
European democracy, then it is my opinion that the sooner that type
of hypocrisy perishes from the face of the Earth, the better for all
mankind.’”

McHenry
resisted the urge to clap sarcastically when her performance
concluded. “Who was that?”

“Father
Charles Coughlin. Do you know of him? He was once a very popular
media figure in America.”

“Yes,
I know of him, but I was not a fan of the man.” McHenry didn't
know whether he might disagree with the entire speech, but he had no
intention of being re-educated to Nazi ideals. He reminded himself
again that he was in enemy territory. Any potential moral
correctness would have to wait until he was truly free. He always
thought of Coughlin as a Nazi apologist anyway, and an anti-Semite.

“Do
you have everything memorized?” he asked. It was a flanking
maneuver.

“My
memory is better than yours.”

He
wondered if Nazi science was involved, but she left it at that,
returning to the subject of Coughlin.

“One
thing about Father Coughlin is that he was censored,” she said.
“His radio show was shut down, and then the postal system
stopped sending his magazine through the mail. This, under a
government that claims to support freedom of speech.”

“We
were in difficult times,” he answered. “Censorship is an
unfortunate measure. The country had similar responses to the first
world war. Those wartime restrictions were lifted after the
emergency had passed. I have no doubt that the same thing will
happen after this war.”

“I'm
glad to hear you say that,” she replied coolly. “The
rest of the world — and not just Germans — saw no sense
in your First Amendment. Even other western nations took a more
circumspect position on freedom of expression than some Americans
did, realizing that often free speech must yield to other values and
the need for order. Your own history suggests that they might have a
point.”

“Wait
a second,” he interrupted. “What do you mean, ‘the
rest of the world?’ You've annexed every country!”

“That
was over a process that took centuries,” she countered. “Much
of it was through diplomacy as various cultures became integrated,
much like Germany's union with Austria in 1938. In your day, Hitler
was more than willing to leave other peoples to their own
determination.”

“Like
France and Poland?”

“Sam,
those countries started this war. Poland took a portion of German
territory after the first world war. It was German territory
populated by German-speaking people. Hitler tried very hard to find
a diplomatic solution.”

McHenry
stirred. Dale straightened up in her seat. Even without trying, she
towered over him in their seats.

She
was speaking quickly now. “It is the English and French
imperialists that decided to go to war over Poland. And yet, after
so many dead, Roosevelt and Churchill have secretly decided, if they
won the war, they would give half of Poland to Stalin. England gave
up its original rationale for fighting. As for France, it was they
that declared war on Germany. And when they finally chose peace,
Hitler gave them very generous terms.”

“By
occupying Paris,” he interrupted.

“That
was fully intended to be temporary. You're a military officer. You
can see that Germany needed a buffer along the coast while the
English were preparing an invasion. As it was, Hitler offered to
turn Paris and the southern coasts back to unoccupied France. They
were still negotiating that when the English and the Americans
invaded France's unoccupied African colonies.”

“You're
talking about Operation Torch,” McHenry noted skeptically. He
knew of the invasion of North Africa. McHenry had not yet been in
theater at that time, but his fellow Tuskegee airmen had played a
role in its aftermath. Parker had sometimes spoken of it.

“Yes,”
she said smoothly. “Operation Torch. That was an illegal
invasion.”

“What?”
McHenry laughed. “What do you mean, ‘illegal’?
We're at war.”

“America
was not at war with France. Unoccupied France was a neutral country
in 1942. The French people wanted peace. They had taken themselves
out of the war. Nevertheless, Roosevelt and Churchill wanted to
attack the German Afrika Korps, but in getting there they chose to
invade the French territories of Africa. Those were French soldiers
they were fighting against, not Germans.
Neutral
French
soldiers,” she emphasized.

“Hardly
neutral. Vichy France is a puppet government.”

“Call
it what you like now; the United
States had formally recognized it as a
neutral government. Those were unoccupied French territories that
they invaded.”

McHenry
wasn't willing to be taken in. He reached for another bite while he
might work on a good response. He didn't feel he needed one. He was
never going to accept a moral equivalence between Nazi invasions and
an American one.
Never.
He pondered this while it seemed she
was waiting. But then — out of the blue — she startled
him:

“It's
not your fault, Sam. You'd been subjected to too much Jewish
propaganda coming out of New York and Hollywood.”

He
put his fork down, fixing his eyes on hers, wondering how the
conversation had taken this particular turn.

“This
war would never have started if not for the Jews,” she added
emphatically.

“You're
still blaming everything on Jews?” It was more of a statement
than a question. “I thought you said racism was over. Didn't
you say something like it being a thousand years?” he asked,
mockingly.

“This
isn't racism at all,” she quickly insisted, apparently as
startled as McHenry for having revealed this side of herself. “It's
an observation of the facts of your times, not ours. The Jews are in
control of most of your radio and newspapers, and virtually all of
Hollywood. Have you seen the number of anti-German movies they are
making?”

McHenry
rolled his eyes. “We're at war with the Germans. What kind of
people would we be if Hollywood didn't make movies supporting the war
effort? And how many of those movies did they make
before
the
war started? I don't recall many.” Then he remembered one,
correcting himself. “Wait, I did see one, a James Stewart
picture. They barely dared mention that it was in Germany. Heck of
a conspiracy they have there. I can't believe the Reich was afraid
of that.”

“It's
not so simple. This wasn't just the early Reich. Most Americans in
your time are just as worried about the Jewish control of news and
entertainment.”

“They're
not worried enough to stop watching those pictures and listening to
those radio programs. And they're certainly not worried enough to
lock up Jewish families and railroad them out of the country.”

“It's
definitely a different situation in America,” Dale conceded.
“But even now, in the middle of a war that you wish most
Americans could continue to support, the majority of those Americans
— sixty-five percent — agree that the Jews are at least
partly to blame for Germany's restrictive policies.”

“Sixty-five
percent? How would you know that?” The number was no surprise
to McHenry, but he was shocked that she would have any number at all.
He was reminded of the device they used to display the image of the
alien ship out of his memory. “Have you been scanning
everybody's brains, too?”

She
laughed, obviously trying to make the talk light again. “No.
Your country has these quaint public opinion polls. We take that all
in. And, quite frankly, we also access all radio, and most of the
world's telephone systems. Rechners listen to nearly every
conversation. They catalog the attitudes revealed in what people are
talking about.”

“Like
I said, you've got an answer for everything.” He took the
remaining two bites of his steak and washed it down with soda.

“And
like I was saying,” she replied, “we certainly did make
mistakes along the way. I won't argue with that. The invasion of
Russia was almost a catastrophe. But there were reasons for that
which were valid at that time. We do the best we can. That's all
anybody can do. All I am saying is that you shouldn't judge Adolf
Hitler, or us, by the lies that those American politicians —
white politicians — put into your mind.”

*

McHenry
left the SS section unsure of whether he had accomplished anything
with Dale. He had intended to impress upon her how important it was
to rescue Parker. He hoped that she may help to avoid what had
happened to that Italian. Now he wondered whether she was setting
him up to forgive them if they allow Parker to die.
What was that
bit about lies from white politicians anyway?
It had sounded so
very hollow, coming from a white woman with a swastika on her sleeve.

He
entered the zero-gravity hangar and saw Vinson and Bamberg waving to
him from the hatch of the second Tiger. Their grins disappeared when
they saw the glum expression on his face. No one spoke until he had
spanned the distance.

“Did
you have bad news?” asked Vinson.

“I'm
not sure,” McHenry answered. “She said they won't know
for a while.”

Bamberg
motioned them inside. They took seats in the cockpit, and positioned
them in a semi-circle, strapping themselves in place as was their
custom. Another custom was to start with a cup of coffee. Vinson
ordered those from memory while McHenry explained how his meeting
went with Dale, with all the details intact.

“I
don't mind the propaganda,” McHenry concluded. “I just
want to make sure they really care about Parker.”

“I
am sure she cares,” said Vinson.

“She
will not be making the final decision,” said Bamberg. “I
am sure she cares, too, but she will do her duty, whatever that is.”

“We
would all do our duty,” Vinson maintained.

“And
I am sure Herr McHenry would too,” said Bamberg. He laughed
and turned to McHenry. “You are our friend, and I am sure you
will become a loyal citizen of the Reich once we return to our time.
But I do not doubt you would escape
Göring
if the rechner
ever gave you the opportunity.”

McHenry
smiled and nodded. “Maybe so, but all I'm asking is that the
SS give their approval. Am I really being too suspicious?”

“She
was probably telling the truth about the delay,” replied
Bamberg. “We recover satellites frequently. They sometimes
order special recall missions before the scheduled retrieval dates.
Current information is very important to them.
That, however, does not mean the SS is being entirely candid.”

“What do you mean,” asked McHenry.

“Nothing improper, of course.
The SS serves many functions. They maintain
public order and they also run the Reich's intelligence service.
They are the hands of the
Führer
.”

“What
about the SS troops who were fighting in the war?”

“That
was a long time ago,” said Bamberg. “For us, that is.
There is a military branch called the Waffen-SS. They were very
large during your war but, over the centuries, most of its operations
became obsolete. We no longer have a
Heer
or
Kriegsmarine
at all, which you would call an army and navy.
Land and sea warfare have become almost obsolete.
The Waffen-SS itself is now used solely for special
operations of the SS.”

“They
have a few small starships,” added Vinson.

“Yes,”
said Bamberg. “There are rumors that they have been running
surveys on the Far Wall, but that is the extent of the Waffen-SS.
Have you heard of the Far Wall?”

“Vinson
told me about a wall in space that no ship can pass through and
return from,” said McHenry, nodding to Vinson.
“Why the Waffen-SS, and not the Luftwaffe?”

“It gives them something to do,” laughed Bamberg, momentarily
turning his eyes to a visible portion of the entryway. “It is
always ideology with those people. In any case, the SS is big, and
it is involved in everything. I understand that
Oberführer
Mtubo had been a Waffen-SS officer until he was assigned to this
project. He might even have been working on the Far Wall but I do
not know that for sure. We only know from rumors when the mission
began. Most of these here are with the intelligence branch. They
would be using an SS ship for this mission if they had one large
enough.”

“Are there any Gestapo on this ship?”

“Not that I am aware of.
That is part of a completely different branch of the SS.”

“You might see them occasionally when we are back home,”
said Vinson.
“But most SS that you will see are with the police.”