“Interesting,” said Paul. “We picked up the reference between the ship and Geronimo, but there has been very little time for deep research. In fact, we haven’t been able to account for all the moves the ship made through time just yet, but I’m sure my people are working on that back home. Yes… This is very interesting.”
“Furthermore,” said Tovey, “the message has requested a response using a coded protocol that was arranged in Alexandria for private ship-to-ship communications with our newfound Allies. It was for command level access only. Whoever sent that message was obviously aware of this, which means they had to be in the know when we were at Alexandria in late January. The message is meant for this ship, the flagship of the Home Fleet, and requests signals protocol one. It was meant for me personally, and it is a request to use the equipment we spoke of earlier, the radio set the Russians provided for this very purpose.”
“So no one on that ship now should know that,” said Elena.
“Yet someone clearly does. Are you certain of your theory, Professor Dorland?”
“Nothing in all of this is ever certain, Admiral. Yet if what you say is true, then something very strange has happened here. It could be that one or more members of that crew were so significant to the outcome of these events, that they were also protected in a safe nexus. Their memory of past events might be still intact, or it could be that they might begin to recollect those earlier lived events by slow degrees. This is the only explanation I can offer.”
“Yes… I’ve experienced this very same thing—memories, arising from some deep place within me—things I know I never consciously lived through, as they purportedly happened next year! Yet I seem to recall these unlived events as if they had already happened. It’s a very odd feeling akin to déjà vu. As for more recent events since Kirov appeared here in June of 1940, I certainly haven’t forgotten one bit. I can clearly recall old Admiral Volsky, and that enterprising young Captain of his, Mister Fedorov. I’ve spent hours and hours discussing all this with them, and planning fleet operations between us. You told me why you think this is, why I haven’t lost these memories, and by Jove, I think the same must have happened on the Russian ship! Who knows, they might all be well and good there, and simply a bit bewildered after they’ve reappeared. You said yourself that months here might only be minutes to them. They vanish here last May and then suddenly turn up somewhere else. Huff Duff encoding at the bottom of this signal intercept indicates a point of origin… Very strange. They’ve moved well up into the Norwegian Sea. That’s just where they first encountered Wake Walker in the reports I wrote.”
“Yet that isn’t likely to repeat,” said Paul. “Is it?” He could see a wry grin on Tovey’s face.
“They say history never repeats itself,” said Tovey. “But in this case I believe it rhymes. Your Mister Twain was thought to have said that once, well, I’ll say it now. Admiral Wake-Walker was recently put in charge of preparations for the planned convoy operations to Murmansk. Operation Dervish is the code name we’ve given to the first, and it’s teeing up even as we speak. Wake-Walker is up there in the Norwegian Sea. We thought we might raid the German airfields at Petsamo and Kirkenes, until Mister Fedorov advised me against it. A bit like ringing the bell before all the guests have arrived. He said it might only alert the Germans to a heightened state of vigilance, and prompt them to reinforce those airfields. For that matter, he also disclosed that this particular raid was actually attempted in the history he knew, and it was a bloody disaster. So I persuaded the Admiralty to cancel the raid, and instead we assigned Wake-Walker to the Dervish convoy. It’s out a bit earlier than we initially planned, but to answer your question, yes, it is very likely that the Russians might encounter our Force P up there. Two Carriers, Furious and Victorious, a pair of good heavy cruisers, and a destroyer flotilla.”
“I think we had better get to that Russian radio set as soon as possible,” said Paul. “If all this is so, then someone on the Russian ship is trying to communicate. Let’s get to the bottom of this, shall we?”