“It would,” said Speer, “but I cannot promise that just yet. We are close to the final production model. Tests are very promising. As for Nachtfeuer, I will keep you advised. But remember, we still have the second enemy prototype.”
“It must be kept safe,” said Hitler. “They undoubtedly know we have it. They may even believe we used it on them over London. One would think that they would have mounted an immediate reprisal, which is why I ordered the ministries in Berlin to be dispersed to underground bunkers. It would be a terrible shame, Speer, if all your wonderful architecture were destroyed by this weapon. It is already bad enough that we have their bombers to contend with. I must admit, I made a terrible mistake with the Z Plan before the war. Goring was correct. I should have put far more resources into the development of the Luftwaffe instead of Raeder’s battleships. Even Doenitz is having difficulties now.”
“Oh? What is his situation? We have tried to keep resources for U-Boat production flowing at good levels.”
“Yes, but the Allies have made many technical advances in the Atlantic. Doenitz sunk 120 ships in March of this year—that’s 700,000 tons, and we lost only 12 U-boats in that month. Things fell off in April—only 64 kills and 15 U-boats lost. Then it all fell apart in May. We got only 58 ships that month, but lost 41 U-boats. That is more than we lost in the entire year of 1941! Doenitz even lost his son on U-954, and I sent him my personal condolences. After such losses. Doenitz has pulled back to rethink his methods and tactics. Hopefully we can reverse the downward trend, but you see, this is just one of many things I must contend with. The losses in Tunisia were keenly felt, and the Russians have been particularly aggressive of late. We must reverse the situation, and for that I need tanks and aircraft. Keep them coming, Speer. Put everything we save from Raeder’s building program into the effort. Now we need fighters, bombers, heavy panzers, not do-nothing battleships, cruisers and destroyers. If a ship is ready to be commissioned, and I mean within 30 days, no more, then work may proceed. Otherwise, I want the steel for other purposes. We must make sure Nachtfeuer andSturmvogel get top priority. This war is far from over.”
“Admiral?” There was real emotion in Tovey’s voice when he heard Volsky on the other end of that secure radio channel. He still remembered that hard day when the Germans put that shell on the bridge of HMS Invincible, and very nearly decapitated the Royal Navy in the process. Tovey had been blown right off his feet, and it was only the intercession of Admiral Volsky that saved his life. When they handed Tovey the last remnants of Volsky’s possessions, his service jacket and cap, he remembered also what he had found there. Losing Volsky had been a very hard blow, but now, there he was, Lazarus, risen from the dead, his voice as clear and firm as it always was.
“I know this must be somewhat difficult for you to understand,” said Volsky. “I must tell you that I am not even sure I know how I came to be here. It has something to do with all this arcane science that first took hold of my ship in the North Atlantic, and set us against one another.”
“Yes,” said Tovey. “That is all a very dim memory for me now, though I can still recall it if I put my mind to it. I remember how we stood together on that islet off the southern tip of Spain, well met. And I’ll never forget the first time I set foot on your ship, seeing the demon that had haunted my operations first hand, and feeling it underfoot. Quite extraordinary. I have been told, mostly by your Mister Fedorov, that all these things are remnants of a past life—something to do with that paradox he kept warning us all about.”
“Yes, I cannot quite sort it all out myself, but it is all up here in my head.” Volsky paused briefly. “If you can believe it, Admiral Tovey, I was sitting quietly at my desk in Severomorsk one morning. Then, the next thing I knew, I was aboard one of our submarines. Something happened in that instant—I know not what exactly—but there I was, and with my head full of things I was certain I had never experienced in the life I had led, and yet they were so completely convincing as memories, so clear and defined. Admiral… There are worlds within worlds, within worlds. How else to explain my presence here now?”
“So it seems,” said Tovey. “Mister Fedorov talks about them at times, does he not? At least he tried to explain it all to me once.”
“He does. Meridians, that’s what he calls them. According to him, there was once a single line of causality. He calls it the Prime Meridian, but apparently that accident in the Norwegian Sea that sent my ship here was quite profound. I knew, and from the moment I first put a missile on the first aircraft, that I was doing something that would make an irrevocable change to the flow of those events. Lord knows, Mister Fedorov has agonized over it ever since. We changed everything, and for that I am truly sorry. Now, here we find ourselves trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. That is a figure in one of your English nursery rhymes. Yes?”
“Indeed,” said Tovey. “Perhaps it is far too late for that. All the King's horses and all the King's men, couldn't put Humpty together again, and that may be true of our situation.”
“Yet we still try,” said Volsky. “We have come all the way north again to the Sea of Okhotsk, and Karpov has arranged for us to go on a little Zeppelin ride. We are going to Ilanskiy, and I think Mister Fedorov has already told you the significance of that.”
“He has,” said Volsky. “But what is your plan?”
“Something to do with all this shifting about in time,” said Volsky. “Fedorov believes that since we are most responsible for what has happened, yes, even for the construction of that ship you are sitting on now, then if we all put our minds together, and focus on a single purpose, we might just change things again. We tried that here, but things are too broken; too scattered. Then Karpov convinced us that the only way we would have a chance is to leave this time, and travel back to 1908. Things happened there that set a great deal in motion—the least of which is the breakup of my nation, and the rise of the Orenburg Federation. We are going to try and take matters into our own hands, and change that.”
“Change it? How? In what way?”
“That remains to be seen, but in that time, we will have a great deal of leverage on the years that follow. We have discussed it at length, and the business surrounding the rise of Sergei Kirov is very complex. We might not be able to find him back there, but we do think we might catch Volkov before he has a chance to wreak havoc on the history of our revolution.”
“I see… Well, this is quite remarkable, and quite surprising to hear. What do you expect?”
“We aren’t sure, but if we could get that man, then much would change. I have no way of knowing how it might occur. In fact, it seems impossible to me, but then again, my very presence here is something equally astounding. I just wanted to warn you of what we are going to attempt. I don’t know that it would even matter, but it may be that the things you remember will begin to fade, even if they are sure memories now. Things that once were, but cannot be because of something we do in the past, may be like a candle in the wind. Some of my recollections are like that, fading away, day by day.”
“Well you have certainly stolen my thunder,” said Tovey. “I had another matter to relate to Mister Fedorov, and a request, but I suppose it will have to wait.”
“What was it?”
“It concerns that problem we had over London in February.”