Time Leap (10 page)

Having decided that our
plan was to simply deposit documentary evidence of the Nazi
expansion and World War Two at a British government office, two
questions had to be addressed: one, exactly what materials to take;
and two, exactly where and when we should do this. The first
question was more difficult than we had imagined.

“
We can’t take
those!” I exclaimed when Niki brought her boxed set of Second World
War DVDs into the lounge the next morning.

“
Why not?” she
asked.

“
How will they
play them?”

“
On
this
,” she answered,
lifting up a DVD player. I couldn’t believe she was
serious.

“
What – take
that back to 1935?”

“
You’re so
quick Joe.”

“
But… but… we
can’t!”

“
Why
not?”

I explained that we could
advance the development of digital technology by sixty years by
taking the player, but she wasn’t put off.

“
Great!” she
said, piling more DVDs on the coffee table and going back to the
bedroom for more. “That’s another bonus!”

“
I was really
thinking of old newspapers,” I called into the bedroom.

“
Oh Joe,
you’re so boring!” she exclaimed bringing in her “Band of Brothers”
boxed set.

“
And that’s
fiction!” I blurted.

In the end, she did agree
to restrict the evidence to actual war footage – and to include a
range of media, not just DVDs. I did point out that our DVD player
wouldn’t be compatible with the televisions of 1930’s, so Niki
found a portable player with a built in screen.

The whole lot, including
stuff we’d downloaded from the internet (thankfully, she agreed not
to take a computer), came to quite a pile and I thought we’d better
take a small suitcase to carry it all.

The question of ‘when’
was decided by considerable research on the internet. In the end,
we decided on 1935, sometime before October (because fascist Italy
invaded Ethiopia that month – a prelude to their treaty of
cooperation with Nazi Germany the following year). Niki said she’d
like to go in July – simply because the weather would be nicer
then. Actually, it was also because Stanley Baldwin had just taken
over as Prime Minister; and having seen his photograph on the
internet, she said he had a kind face. How could I argue with
that?

As regards ‘where,’ we
decided to go directly to 10 Downing Street and try to get as close
to Baldwin as we could.

Whilst Niki was not in
the least bit bothered about introducing twenty–first century
technology into the 1930’s, she was very particular about our
appearance. Fortunately, she had a friend who was a member of a
1940’s retro club, who put us in touch with a period costume shop
where we could buy or hire clothes from the mid–1930’s – or as
close as we needed. Niki chose fairly smart, business dress for
both of us, providing less chance of being stopped by the Police if
they looked our way.

In addition to the
clothes, Niki got hold of some old British money. God knows where
she got it from (or why we’d need it if we were only going to be in
1935 for a few minutes), but that’s Niki for you. She could find a
Martian’s eyeball if you needed it. And then we were ready to
go.

***

Sixteen

Our plan had been very
simple: go to Central London, set the date to 15th July 1935, and
make the jump. We would take the suitcase to 10 Downing Street –
the residence of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin at the time. We
knew there would be at least one policeman outside the door – there
always is – so we had to act quickly. After leaving the suitcase at
the door, we would change the phone’s date back to the present and
return home. Assuming that the suitcase would be opened and the
contents shown to someone in the government – rather than being
blown up by the army – our plan would have worked.

We found a secluded spot
next to a large tree in a garden area alongside Victoria
Embankment. To get there, we had to walk past a Battle of Britain
Memorial, and we wondered if the memorial would still be there when
we returned to our present time. We hoped not. Downing Street was
just a five minute walk from the garden.

It was a very warm July
day in Central London. The clothes Niki got for us were rather more
than we needed for the current weather, and did not exactly fit in
with what other people were wearing in town. Still, locals would
probably think we were from the North of England or Scotland, and
just happened to be out of step with both London fashions and the
weather in the Capital.

There were two policemen
outside number ten that morning. As soon as we approached with the
case, the policemen stiffened. We smiled, put down the case and I
pressed confirm on the phone to send us back to the present, whilst
Niki held my hand. But the policemen were much quicker than I could
have imagined: one grabbed Niki away from me, whilst the other held
my arm. Consequently, I found myself back in the present with a
London Bobby instead of Niki!

*

The policeman who was
holding Niki’s arm tried to take the case from her with his free
hand.

“
You’ve got to
give this to the Prime Minister!” Niki shrieked.

At that moment, Stanley
Baldwin emerged from the door of number ten with a colleague, whom
we later learned was Malcolm MacDonald, the then Colonial
Secretary.

“
What’s going
on here Malcolm?” Baldwin asked.

“
I’ve no idea…
Constable what’s this all about?”

“
Dunno sir…
just found this Chinese woman here with this case. We’ll take her
down to the station.”

“
Look
in the case
…
it’s important!
” Niki
shouted to Baldwin as the officer dragged her away. Baldwin looked
on, very puzzled and a little concerned.

“
Better let
the Met deal with it,” said MacDonald, “we’ll be late for our
meeting.” Baldwin reluctantly followed his colleague into a black
limousine, which sped off quickly. Meanwhile, Niki was detained by
the officer, whilst waiting for back–up. She was soon being
transported in a Police van to the nearby New Scotland Yard – with
the case in tow.

*

As previously arranged
with Niki, I had jumped back to the year 1700. This was to ensure
we arrived outside 10 Downing Street before it was used for any
sort of governmental purposes (it was just an ordinary house then).
In other circumstances, I really would have liked to have spent
some time in that year with Niki; but now I found myself attached
to Constable William Briggs, not my wife, and the important thing
was to rescue her before anything serious happened. So what should
I do with this policeman – a man who was suddenly totally out of
his comfort zone?

“
What the…?”
He surveyed the scene around us. “Where the hell are we… and who
are you?”

“
Ah! This is
going to be difficult to explain.” A couple had stopped to stare at
what must have looked like a couple of very strangely–dressed
people. “
Very
difficult to explain. Come on… I need to show you
something.”

I almost dragged the
policeman across Whitehall and along Richmond Terrace towards
Victoria Embankment.

“
Where are
we?” he asked, almost pleadingly.

“
It’s London,
mate… but not as you know it. Here take a look – you must recognise
this.” We stopped at the Thames… though it wasn’t the same river
scene that I knew and loved. In the distance, we could see St.
Paul’s Cathedral – easily the largest building on the skyline,
though it looked like work–in–progress rather than the finished
article. There was little doubt that this was London – but it was
like looking at a very old photograph or movie.

“
I’ll be…”
Bill Briggs looked on in wonder. He was dumbstruck by the scene in
front of us, and I could see him struggling to understand what
exactly had just happened.

“
You’re going
to find this very difficult to accept… but the fact is, we’ve
travelled back in time. The year is seventeen hundred.” He looked
at me, scanning my expression – his police lie–detector training
kicking into action.

“
Well,” he
said, turning his gaze back to the river, “I know this ain’t
nineteen thirty–five, I can tell you that much. They said nuffin’
about time–travel when I signed up for the force. Seventeen hundred
you say?” I nodded. Bill shook his head slowly. “Well blow me down
with a feather.”

“
I’d like to
show you more, but I’ve got to get Niki back…”

“
Niki?”

“
The Chinese
girl – she’s my wife.”

Then after a pause I
said, “There’s going to be a war – a big, terrible war.”

He looked at me closely
again, gauging my honesty.

“
Well it
better not be like last time. They said that was the war to end all
wars. My dad was killed at Gallipoli – terrible it was. When we
‘eard about the evacuation, we all thought he would be home for
Christmas, but he never came. We never even knew how he died
exactly. Mother never got over it.”

“
It’s going to
be even worse than that, Bill; it’ll be the deadliest military
conflict in human history. Sixty million people worldwide are going
to die.”

Bill was quiet for a
minute, collecting his thoughts.

“
Who are you –
and how do you know this? Why should I believe a single word you’ve
said? I don’t really know what this is,” he waved his arms across
the Thames. “You could just be playing with my mind… some sort of
mesmerism.”

“
My name’s Joe
Cooper and I’m from the year 2015. I’d like to show you my World –
but right now, I’ve got to find my wife. In the suitcase, we
brought evidence of World War Two – everything that happened. All
the atrocities, the blunders. How the Americans didn’t join the
Allies until later. It was the most documented war of all time. To
us, it’s our past, it’s history – and I know this all sounds crazy,
but we’ve got a chance to stop it. Stop the war, stop the
suffering, and stop the deaths…”

“
And stop
Hitler?” Bill asked.

“
Yes.”

“
I knew it!
I’ve never trusted the Germans since the last war… and that
man…”

“
On
16
^th
March, Germany announced rearmament in violation of the
Versailles Treaty – and on April 28
^th
Hitler ordered twelve
submarines – again in defiance of the treaty.
This is fact
,
in your time
– read your
newspapers.”

“
Why didn’t we
see it coming? Why don’t we ever learn?”

Bill looked
away, then back into my eyes. “What can
I
do?”

“
You can tell
the authorities that this is going to happen – whoever you can get
to. You’ve travelled back in time and seen the beginning of the
18
^th
Century with your own eyes. It’s no trick, this is real. Touch
that tree, breathe in the air. But if you still think this is some
sort of ‘mesmerism trick’ I’ve played on you, you can’t ignore the
fact that Hitler and the Nazi’s are a great threat to the stability
of the Europe… and war is coming.”

We were suddenly aware of
people looking at us again. A small crowd had gathered, staring at
the strangely dressed people who were talking in unusual tones by
the river.

“
We need to go
now – come on.” I grabbed his arm and we walked briskly along the
river until we reached a quiet spot. I changed the date on my phone
back to 5
^th
July 1935. “Take a deep breath.” I pushed the button, and in a
flash we were back to Bill’s time period. “Where will they have
taken Niki?” I asked him.

“
Follow me,”
he instructed, and we headed off towards Scotland Yard, 4 Whitehall
Place. As we walked, Bill told me he was an avid follower of
Science Fiction and had read ‘The Time Machine’ by HG Wells a dozen
times. So he already had the belief that such a thing would one day
be possible – he just never thought it would happen on his
particular watch.

*

Whilst Bill and I were
spending time in 1700, Niki had been taken away to the nearest
police station, and was now seated on a wooden chair in a
bare–looking room with white and brown walls in Scotland Yard, her
arms handcuffed. On a table in front of her was the suitcase. A
policemen and a detective faced her, then the detective
spoke.

“
You must know
how crazy this all sounds Miss.”

“
Why don’t you
just open the case, and then we’ll see who’s crazy,” Niki
replied.

“
You know I
can’t do that… bomb disposal needs to look at it first. It’s
procedure. And who knows what Chinese magic you’ve got in
there?”

Niki was exasperated.
“Then just let me go – I’ve not committed any crime!”