Oliver shrugged. “I never knew the guy,” he said. “So, what do you want?”
Roth smiled. “It’s quite simple,” he said. “We want you to spy for us.”
Oliver shook his head. “No,” he said. “I have work to do here.”
“For your criminal masters?” Roth enquired. “My dear Jim, what would happen if we were to… reveal your actions to your own people? I believe they still hang people for treason, don’t they?”
Oliver felt his face go white. “Sometimes,” he acknowledged.
“You have nothing to bargain with,” Roth said. “I don’t think that revealing the link between our embassy in Ireland and Spain – which is now one of our allies – will benefit you in any way at all. They doubtless already know about it. What else can you tell them?”
“I have money,” Oliver said. “You could live the high life here…”
Roth slammed a hand down on the table. “This is not about money,” he said. “This is about the life or death of the Reich. You will cooperate, or you will be exposed.”
“I could call the FBI now,” Oliver said.
“And then they’ll take you into custody,” Roth said dryly. “Please” – clearly noticing Oliver’s hand moving towards a hidden weapon – “don’t try to kill me here. If I don’t come back, my friends will be quite happy to tell the British Government everything from a safe distance. Of course, there will be no such thing as a safe distance for you.”
Oliver picked up a bottle of whisky and poured himself a glass. “I suppose I have no choice,” he said, his mind rapidly running through possibilities and coming up a blank. “What do you want me to find out?”
“Why, everything,” Roth said. He passed over a folder. “I imagine that you can supply us with more CDs, or even some more… direct method of transmitting information,” he said. “Your nation’s air defences, your technology, atomic science… everything.”
He grinned. “Welcome to a life of service for the Reich,” he said.
Appendix One: Britain, Post-Transition
The discovery that all of Britain was back in 1940 shocked the government and the people, the more so because of the discovery of a German aircraft appearing over Britain. (It was later theorised that the aircraft had been caught up in the temporal shift – examination of German documents revealed that no aircraft had been probing Britain that night.) Fortunately, the British Government was quickly able to establish the truth of the matter, and to take command using Defence of the Realm Act powers, which ironically dated from 1940 and before.
Food rationing, under a series of very tight controls, was instituted at once, using the social security network as a backbone. While this proved to be unpopular in many of the middle and upper class regions, it was very popular with the poor, many of whom hadn’t received so much food before. (Many of those who might have caused trouble were swept up into the army before July was out). Although a thriving black market sprang up, it was limited by the economic shambles and the sudden loss of most of the Internet, which had been partly based in 2015 America. While the British possessed a capable Internet infrastructure, rebuilding the Internet over Britain took time and effort.
There was surprisingly little panic, mainly confined to regions that would have faced a German invasion and were bombed by German aircraft during the Battle of Britain. What panic there was appeared among tourists – including one caused by a rumour that all Germans would be returned to Germany to face Hitler – and members of the ethnic communities, who had been suddenly cut off from their families on the other side of the world. They rioted in places; riots that were crushed with considerable ruthlessness. (Post-September, much of the Muslim population of the UK would be invited/encouraged to move to the Republic of Arabia). On a lesser scale, Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis attempted to influence the new provisional government in India – several thousand would take up permanent residence there later.
The government acted quickly to freeze the growing economic crash, particularly in companies that were based in the United States, before thousands of people were forced suddenly out of work. Despite claims of growing socialism, all changes in work status were frozen by governmental decree in July, forcing companies to continue paying their workers, which (intentionally) forced them to adapt to the post-Transition world. Several American and Japanese factories, subsidies placed in the UK to enter the EU trading area, quietly declared themselves independent of their parent companies and took possession of their own property. This was aided by the beginnings of the war and the demand for new equipment.
War production, never a high priority since 1982, was kick-started by the Transition. British aerospace companies were ordered to begin producing missiles and aircraft, finally beginning mass-production of ASRAAM missiles and aircraft of various types. Although the British shipbuilding industry was moribund, production of ASW craft was given a high priority, along with transports for food from Ireland and America. Expansion of oil tankers and other ships into mini-aircraft carriers was also pushed forward, as the much-delayed super-carriers had not been on Britain at the time of the Transition.
In effect, the economy was damaged, but a mixture of private initiative and government spending at the right time prevented total economic collapse. Once communications with the British Empire and the rest of the world were opened up, the British found themselves in a position to develop powerful trading networks – assuming that they survived the war with Hitler.
Contemporary Personnel: Once contact with the remainder of the British Empire (no longer a going concern in 2015) was established, the British discovered that they were responsible for nearly one hundred thousand people who had been away from Britain at the time of the Transition, and expected to be allowed back into Britain. Matters were not helped by the fact that many of them possessed racial views that lead to conflict; the first attempts to resettle Contemporary personnel was not a great success. The existence of future ‘twins’ (see below) meant that there was no way that the problem could be swept under the carpet, although some figures in the government wanted to do so. In effect, the new (2010) anti-immigration laws were being applied to people who were British citizens, and local authorities were not keen on inviting them home.
As a temporary solution, the British Government placed the fighting forces on the army payroll, and worked hard to retrain them with the latest fighting technology. Contemporary forces were assimilated into the army, with seniority recognised up to battalion level and then on a case-by-case basis, and reequipped as equipment became available. Although Contemporary forces were not capable of keeping up with the 2015 Regulars, they provided much-needed stiffening power for the battles in Australia and North Africa. They also served as occupying forces for Algeria, although they were withdrawn once the Provisional Government was ready to take over.
In the longer-term, the British government encouraged the immigration of Contemporary forces to South Africa, where they were warmly welcomed, and Australia. The Australian Government, in particular, offered citizenship to any Contemporary who fought in the defence forces that were being built up before the Pacific War, an offer that was warmly accepted by thousands.
(A small number who had relatives (occasionally duplicates) were sponsored into Britain by them and granted citizenship. While this had many amusing consequences, they remain outside the scope of this article.)