“But wait a moment… Didn’t you say this was, well, a different world, a different meridian of time here. Is Kirov’s intervention in your history here? Could I read about it in a history book in your library?”
“Very astute,” said Kamenski. “The answer to your last question is no—there is no mention of any of those events in the history of this time line. But that hardly matters. You see, this isn’t the Prime Meridian. It’s just one of many possible alternative Meridians that could arise from events happening in the Prime Meridian. That’s where Kirov is now, but the Prime is badly warped, bent out of shape, contaminated by all those missiles, and yes, nuclear bombs as well. It will change things, Mister Gromyko, and rather dramatically. It will change the fate of each and every possible meridian arising from those events—including this one. Understand? Kirov sits on the trunk of the tree, this is just one of the branches. But if you cut through that trunk, they all go down together, don’t they. That’s what Kirov is doing—cutting through the Prime Meridian like a buzz saw. So we have to go back, get them out, and that failing….”
He gave Gromyko those sad empty eyes again.
“We have to kill them,” said the Captain, understanding the darker side of the mission Kamenski was handing him now. “Kill Kirov, the ship—there won’t be any magic tricks with a control rod this time. That’s the only way we can really be certain this loop you speak of could not repeat—kill the ship and crew. That’s why you want to load all those nice new missiles onto my boat.”
“Captain, as I said, you are a very astute man.”
Chapter 36
Gromyko had a glum look on his face. He was to be a hired assassin, and worse than that, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. “Do you know I fought right alongside Kirov with Volsky in the Med?”
“Volsky? He’s our one hope. Yes, the Admiral is a very reasonable man; Fedorov as well. They can make a good deal of difference, and so your first option would be to make a delivery.”
“What kind of delivery?”
“As I said, those control rods come in batches, and guess what, we still have a perfectly sound Rod-25 here. In this world, there never was a ship christened Kirov in 2020. We still have the four brothers, Ushakov, Lazarev, Nakhimov, and Pyotr Velikiy, though it looks like only two can walk these days. In this time line, the original Kirov had a reactor accident in 1990. Now it’s just a rusty pile of radioactive metal. Understand? So in this time line, Kirov never goes back. The ship in the past came from another meridian, one with no direct line of causality to this one, which is why we still remain a bit shielded from the consequences I spoke of earlier. In time, however, that will change. This meridian has become entangled.”
“What does that mean?”
“Just think of it as two or three threads of time getting all knotted up in a loom. If you don’t correct it, you get a real mess, and sooner or later, out come the scissors. The ship caused all this, and it’s tearing the history apart, knotting it all up, and time is trying to correct that and stitch it back together—into a new Prime Meridian. And I am one of her darning needles, Mister Gromyko. I don’t know why she does me the honor, but that seems to be the case. In this old head, I remember all the events of the other meridians entangled with that fate line, the line where Kirov first went back, and so I have what you might call perspective. I’m one of the blind men that was suddenly given the gift of sight, and now I can see the whole elephant, not just his leg or ear or tusk. So Mother Time is using me to try and sort out this mess so she can stitch these errant threads back into one tapestry again—one nice new Prime Meridian. Then that time line will replace all the others… All the others Mister Gromyko, including this one.”
“But…. I came from the same world Kirov came from. Why would my submarine appear here, in this world? Why would I be mixed up in your business?”
“Because that’s the way Time wanted it. She plays a nice little shell game, does she not? One minute you are here, the next minute you are somewhere else. You see, on this meridian, it wasn’t Kirov that vanished weeks ago in the Norwegian sea, it was your boat, Kazan.”
“Vanished? What happened to it?”
“We don’t know—then again, if I’m to believe your story, you’ve been back in the 1940s. That torpedo you fired gave Mother Time the opportunity to work a little sleight of hand. She brought you here, and for a very good reason, because I am here, a nice little know-it-all to help get you back where you are needed.”
“Me? Kazan? Then I have to fix this mess?”
“Something like that. You may get some help, and from most unexpected places, but yes, you have a very important part to play now.”
“But I’m not the man you want. Don’t you need the man and sub that went missing in this time line?”
“A good point, but apparently this is the way she wants to play it now—Mother Time has her reasons.”
“But why? Why me and not the other?”
“That’s a secret She still keeps. It may be that you and your boat are that very same submarine and crew, only you simply don’t have the memory of those events poured into your heads as yet. If you start getting hunches, strange snippets of recollection, odd dreams and things, then that will be a very strong clue. Now then… Ours is not to reason why, Captain. Ours is but to do or die.”
“How am I supposed to get back where Time needs me?”
“With Rod-25, of course. I’ve a nice new version just waiting to be tried out.”
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“What if we both come down with Ebola tomorrow? You ask a lot of questions, Mister Gromyko. Time will tell. We’ll simply put the rod in, run the procedure, and see what happens.”
“But you say there are other threads of time entangled with this one—all knotted up. How can you be sure I’ll get where I’m supposed to go? What if I end up in some other thread—the wrong thread?”
“That’s not up to me, but something tells me that you will get where your needed. Time will see to that. Ours is simply to understand the imperative before us and offer time your able services—and your remarkable submarine as well.”
Gromyko nodded, his eyes dark, a simmering understanding there now. “Scissors,” he said. “Kirov has to be cut out of this tapestry, and I’m to be the scissors.”
“Quite possibly. I know it’s a very difficult thing to ask of you, but considering the consequences if we do nothing….”
“I understand…. Then I’m to go kill Kirov?”
“Assuming you can’t get the ship back safely, that will have to be the case. But first, you might simply try persuading them to shift home again.”
“Persuading them? Well I could probably convince Volsky or Fedorov of that, but Karpov is another matter.”
“Yes, he’s a real problem. In fact, he’s been at the root of this entire mess. Let me see… the last I knew, he was in Siberia flying about in airships. Volsky and Fedorov still had the ship, but Karpov will want it back again. That will be very dangerous if it happens, because you are correct, he will not be easily persuaded to attempt to return to the future. But let’s hope for the best. Get back there, wherever Rod-25 sends you, then try to make contact with Volsky or Fedorov. I wish I could tell you more, but you see, in spite of my earlier assertion, I don’t know everything, only those events where I survived in the entangled meridians. Every man’s fate line ends somewhere. In the time line where you are most needed, I… disappeared, and well before the moment of Paradox, before the second coming of that ship. In fact, I believe the entire ship disappeared as well, though I’m speculating on that score. The problem is, I don’t really know what’s been going on there, nor do you. So you’ll have to get back there, get up to speed on events, and then find Volsky and Fedorov. Start with them, and with Dobrynin.”