a terrible weapon on the world that ended up doing only one good thing—it brought the Americans into this mess, once and for all. That was in my reports as well, though I realize we have no way of knowing if that will ever occur. I suppose it all rests with what is happening on that ship. This time it isn’t armies and fleets that will decide things, but the delicate tension strung out between the senior officers on that ship.”
“What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on that wall,” said Professor Dorland. “Someone on that ship has survived this shift with their memory intact. Either that, or they are experiencing intense déjà vu, but the result is the same. They knew your secret communications channel, and that means they retained memories of their experiences, at least insofar as that meeting in Alexandria you mentioned. Admiral Tovey, do you have any idea who that person could be?”
“The list is very short,” said Tovey. “Only three men attended that meeting. The ship’s commanding officer, Admiral Volsky, then Captain Fedorov, and the young Lieutenant they were using as a translator. Oh yes… there was one other man, a civilian. I believe his name was Kamenski. Yes, Director Kamenski. He told us quite a tale when we were easing Admiral Cunningham over the line in all this business.”
“Admiral Cunningham?” said Paul.
“Well, he had to be informed,” said Tovey. “He was commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, and that Russian battlecruiser sailed right up through the Suez Canal and onto his watch, so there had to be some explanation.”
Paul looked a bit distressed. “Then he knows that Kirov was from… the future?”
“As amazing as that still sounds, yes. But he’s a most capable and reliable man. In fact, as I’m apparently fated to establish this group called the Watch, I’ll make him one of my first recruits.”
“Who else has been told what was really happening?”
“A few more good men. Wavell is in the know, as is General O’Connor. This Mister Fedorov from the Russian ship found it necessary to bring both men over the line when Brigadier Kinlan’s troops suddenly appeared in the desert.”
Paul rubbed his forehead, remembering Maeve’s anguish that the situation was so badly fractured now that it might never be put back together in any way that might resemble the history they knew. An entire modern armored brigade, complete with all that technology and weaponry… It was unimaginable. The implications were staggering.
“I can see by the look on your face that all this is somewhat disturbing,” said Tovey. “Believe me, Professor Dorland, you stand there worried over how all of this affects your future, while I stand here worried how it will all play out in the here and now. Thankfully, these interventions have proved benign, as far as the British Empire is concerned, though things went quite a bit differently in those reports I supposedly wrote, and now that this ship has arrived here again, they could easily spin out of our careful control.”
“Does anyone else know what has happened here?” asked Paul.
“One man who was perhaps fated to know all this, our Winston Churchill. There was a meeting at Siwa, with Wavell, The senior Russian officers, and Churchill. It was necessary to get the Prime Minister on our side of the fence. Otherwise he has a tendency to insist on things, in a manner of speaking.”
“I understand,” said Paul, “but you realize the implications of this. If you could point to one single man as perhaps the most significant Prime Mover in the history of this era, it would be Winston Churchill. Now I’m standing here wondering just how far this knowledge will spread, who will know, and what effect it may have.”
“Impossible to say,” said Tovey. “I don’t mean to offend in saying this, but none of you belong here at all. You are all uninvited guests here, and every man woman and child alive today will have to live with the things that happen because of your presence. Some of those things may be good. I’m the first to admit that the support of the Russians, and their ship of miracles, has been a saving grace for us. Yet I’m told by Mister Fedorov that many things have already happened here that were never meant to be, this ship we’re standing on being one of them. I can’t imagine the Royal Navy without good old HMS Invincible, but he tells me it was never supposed to have