The Great Altruist (13 page)
Jadzia, against her own will and pleasure, raised an arm in salute and accepted Walther’s conditions with a smile and handshake. Walther smiled in return and left.
Once the door was closed, Genesis emerged from her hiding place and rested atop Jadzia’s shoulder.
“Do you think we were successful?” Jadzia asked.
“Let’s talk about it in the clearing. I’ll find out the results while you wait.”
“Very well,” she said. “Let’s go then.”
Ludwig Beck stood alone in his office and smiled in the belief that he did his best to convince his friend, completely unaware that his words were in fact controlled by a nineteen year-old Polish girl.
Chapter 6
Jadzia returned to her youthful body in the clearing and waited for Genesis to arrive from the future with news of their success. It was nighttime in the clearing and the moon was buried deep beneath a thick umbrella of storm clouds. Soft rain fell to the earth as Jadzia sat in the open air, closed her eyes, and listened to the sound of the droplets fall on the leaves.
Genesis appeared in a flash several minutes later and again rested atop Jadzia’s shoulder.
“How did we do?” Jadzia asked.
“Well, on a positive point, Walther’s comment about ‘doing nothing but not stopping anyone else’ is now a famous quote. Besides that, it doesn’t look as though his mind was changed. I think the personal issue surrounding his wife weighed too much on his decision. I can’t say I blame him: Hitler lent him 80,000 Reich marks; Walther couldn’t be part of a coup.”
“So what next? We go to Munich.”
Genesis hovered into the air and folded her arms beneath her breasts. “About Munich, I’m worried that may prove too harmful for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if I need to transfer your mind from person to person over and over again to control the outcome of the entire meeting, I’m not sure how that will affect you in the end. It may not hurt you at all, but the mind is a delicate thing - I don’t want to risk hurting you again.”
“I think it’s very nice that you worry about me like that, but I’d like to take that chance.”
“Why? I mean, I know you want to prevent the war but this is getting too dangerous.”
“If not my life, whose?”
Genesis backed away from Jadzia in stunned silence. Her jaw dropped at the cavalier attitude with which she regarded her possible fate. “I have so much to learn from you,” she said aloud, but to herself. Indeed, Genesis often prided herself on her altruistic nature; the calling she felt was her destiny in life, the knot in her stomach that compelled her to help people in danger. And although she had taken risks of her own, none of them have been so dangerous as to endanger her own life.
Whatever stress Jadzia may have felt was imperceptible from the outside: she sat on the grass, her arms behind her, back arched, her head thrust back with her eyes closed, her entire body bathed in the rain that fell more rapidly now. “Let’s rest for the night,” Genesis said. “We’ll go to Munich in the morning.” She quickly assembled a net of leaves and draped it under the tree like an umbrella. She then warmed the ground so they didn’t sleep in the mud and the women huddled under the net and fell fast asleep.
As day dawned over the clearing in the Canadian wilderness, Genesis and Jadzia awoke and prepared themselves for the day. After discussing all they knew of the meeting at Munich, during which Britain and France would try to appease Adolf Hitler, the time-travelers realized that their success depended on presenting a united front against the German dictator. The history from the future confirmed that the British Prime Minister’s desire for peace would ultimately betray his sense of reason. More importantly, Genesis and Jadzia had to ensure that no agreement at all was signed with Hitler, he being a serial betrayer. Instead, the other parties would have to apply a heavy hand on Hitler and not cave. Such a task might be easy for the French representative, Edouard Daladier, who opposed caving in to Hitler, but the real challenge lied in forcing Chamberlain and Mussolini to speak words unlikely to come from their mouths unaided.
Like Hitler, Genesis reasoned that the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, would be unlikely to link minds with on account of their poisonous ideology. As a result, their attempts at convincing Hitler to pursue any course other than war might be worse than an uphill battle - it may be impossible.
“You know enough about history to
wing
this,” Genesis said to Jadzia. “At this point, it may not reasonable to expect war to be prevented; it will likely only be delayed.”
“I understand,” Jadzia said. “The longer we postpone the inevitable, hopefully the fewer people will die. Where will you be?”
“If I need to switch you in and out of minds,” Genesis explained, “I’ll need to stay in the stream. Don’t worry; I can read your thoughts. When you want to switch, just think of the person’s name and you’ll be transferred instantly.”
“Okay,” Jadzia said. “Let’s not wait any longer.”
“When you awake, you’ll be in the body of
Deladier
.”
In the blink of an eye, Jadzia was in a room surrounded by all the familiar faces of those participating in the Munich Agreement. The men were milling about the room, shaking hands and making insincere chit-chat. Chamberlain was the first to approach Jadzia who presently resided in the body of Daladier.
“I hope your trip was enjoyable,” he said.
“As enjoyable as it can be, Mr. Prime Minister,”
Daladier
answered.
Without wasting a moment,
Daladier
walked straight toward Hitler and extended a hand. Hitler received him and smiled as warmly as the man could muster.
“I have only one thing I wish to say, Mr. Chancellor,”
Daladier
said. “The French people will not stand by and desert the Czechoslovakians.”
Chamberlain was taken aback by his friend’s uncharacteristic boldness. “Mr. Ambassador, I really think...” he began, but Jadzia quickly thought of his name and instantly saw Daladier through the eyes of
Chamberlain
, who continued: “...that I agree with you. Nor can the British, Mr. Chancellor. We’ve come to tell you that should you attempt to annex the Sudetenland, we shall be forced to honor our commitments.”
Hitler’s translator worked quickly, feverishly translating the words into German. Hitler reacted as Jadzia expected: he leaped out of his chair and took an aggressive posture. Through the translator, Hitler replied: “This is unacceptable! The German people trapped inside the Sudetenland are being abused by the Czechoslovakian government and you would have me stand by and do nothing?”
Mussolini entered the discussion, but before he could utter a word, Jadzia visualized his name and was transported into his body.
He
said: “I agree with the representatives from Great Britain and France. We will do whatever it takes to prevent German aggression in any part of Europe.”
At this, several German officers in the room scuffled about as one of them reached for a document inside a nearby desk and pulled Mussolini aside, whispering something in his ear. His words, in Italian, were amazingly translated by Genesis, whose voice from the stream Jadzia could suddenly hear: “Mr. Prime Minister, what are you doing? We have your assurances that you would stand alongside Germany.”
Mussolini
ignored the officer and said to Hitler aloud: “I will defend Germany!” Jadzia panicked at the words uttered by the body she believed she had complete control over.
What’s going on?
she thought. Immediately, she was transferred back to Daladier.
“We do not wish for war, Herr Hitler,”
Daladier
said, “but we will not accept any other resolution to this discussion but that you give up the idea of expansion in Europe.”
The officers in the room who were capable of understanding
Daladier’s
words were speechless, either from the bold words of the Frenchman or from a seething rage that was testing their self-control. One of them approached Hitler from behind and whispered something indiscernible in his ear. He acknowledged with a nod.
Jadzia seized the moment of silence and jumped back into Chamberlain’s mind. “We’ve spoken with the Soviets,”
Chamberlain
said, “and they have agreed to honor their commitments to the Czechs, Mr. Chancellor.” Jadzia hoped no one in the room was able to call her bluff. From the reactions of von Ribbentrop and Hitler himself, it seemed as though her ruse worked. Angrily, Hitler stormed from the room, followed by his translator, von Ribbentrop, Mussolini, and eventually, everyone but Chamberlain and Daladier.
Within seconds, Jadzia was pulled into the stream where she said to Genesis:
“
Can you put me in the mind of anyone in that room with Hitler?”
“I’ll try,” she said.
A brief moment later, Jadzia was in the mind of Hitler’s translator. Hitler was pacing back and forth across the office while everyone said nothing. In an effort to show poise, he said: “Gentlemen, this has been my first international conference and I can assure you that it will be my last! If ever that silly old man comes interfering here again, I'll kick him downstairs and jump on his stomach in front of the photographers.” Everyone in the room laughed, as did Jadzia, delighted by the reaction her efforts had on the man who killed her parents. Jadzia thought of the clearing, and a second later, she was there.
Jadzia, safe in her own body once more, fell to her knees and laughed at Hitler’s tantrum. She would need to wait for Genesis’s return to confirm if her efforts had the effect she hoped for, but the laughing felt good nonetheless.
Shortly, Genesis arrived and fell to the ground, exhausted and out of breath. She soon turned over on her back and took in several deep breaths, her pulse eventually settling to normal.
“So was it a success?”
“Not really,” Genesis said. “Which doesn’t surprise me. After all, even when he
did
sign the agreement, he broke it soon afterwards, so Britain and France standing up to him didn’t seem to do much - at least not with regards to his resolve.”