Chapter 339: The Visitor, Part 7
Delhi - 3 April 1941
"Has he sobered up yet?"
"I think so."
"Really? It's been a month and you're
still not sure he's sober?"
"He hasn't really been that cooperative for the last month, sir. His vitals weren't that stable. Apparently crossing over like that while drunk is like being run over by a tank."
"You know the neta will have your head for taking this long. He was looking forward to talking with himself."
"Sir, I think he's waking up."
"Is he ready for interrogation?"
"I hope so."
"...fine. I'll prepare the subject."
Mohandas Gandhi weakly opened his eyes, hearing voices in the distance. He was lying down on something hard. There were bright lights on the ceiling. The walls were plain concrete. Was this some kind of joke?
"Wha...where am I?" he muttered weakly.
"You're in Delhi, India," said one of the previous voices.
He recognized that voice. "Bose? Is that you?"
"Uh...yeah, it's me, Bose," said the voice.
He twisted his head and noticed a man in a strange uniform standing next to him. He recognized his face but not his uniform.
"Bose? What...is this a joke? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be fighting the Chinese."
"China?" said Bose. "I never fought any Chinese, unless you're talking about twenty-five years ago."
"What's going on here?" Gandhi demanded. "Where am I? What is the meaning of this?"
"Calm down," said Bose, "You're in Delhi."
"Am not! You're supposed to be somewhere in Burma, fighting the Chinese!"
"Take a look around you."
Gandhi stood up and looked around his cell. "A cell? Am I being detained? Explain yourself! I'm a war hero! I saved the Empire against the Wu!"
"That will be enough, Bose," said another voice, one which Gandhi recognized in shock as his own.
Another man stepped into the cell, wearing the same strange uniform. But what was most startling was that he looked exactly like Gandhi.
"No...no...NOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Gandhi. "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING! WHERE THE KALI AM I?!"
"Like I said, India," said Bose.
"Calm down," said the other Gandhi, "This will take some getting used to."
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Bose turned to Neta Gandhi. "I think we should give him some more time to prepare for the interrogation. Also, we should probably inform our friends in Berlin we have an...awkward situation on our hands."
"Thanks for stating the obvious again, Bose."
Berlin - 4 April
"What is this?" said Markos Angelos, throwing down the report his aide had given him. "Parallel universes? People coming over from another universe and another Reich? Do you really expect me to read this rubbish?"
"Sir, the Bureau of State has determined they are not falsified," said the aide, "Something weird's going on in India."
"Yeah, a duplicate of the neta just randomly appears in his office, I see nothing wrong with that," said Angelos, "I already barely tolerate the whole debacle that was taking place in Vienna. Apparently there are rumors that the Kaiser is hiding somewhere in the city."
"What do you suggest we do?"
"Tell Gandhi it's his mess, he'll clean it up," said Angelos, "As for Obergruppenfuhrer Schmidt, I think he's got everything under control. I've got other things to worry about."
Pandidakterion, Constantinople - 5 April
After class, Professor Johann von Neumann was busy packing up his notes when two Angeloi soldiers entered his lecture hall.
"Ah, gentlemen," Neumann said, "What brings you here today? Interested in taking my class?"
"Obergruppenfuhrer Heydrich told us to come here," said one soldier, "He says he would like to offer you a job."
"What job?" said Neumann.
"A job as a civilian consultant on Project Mjölnir."
"Mjölnir?" said Neumann. "Never heard of it. But judging from the name, I can assume it's an experimental weapons testing project."
"Silence," said the other soldier, "Project Mjölnir is classified. We cannot risk letting the Resistance know."
"Then why approach me here, after class?" said Neumann.
"It was the fastest way to reach you," said the soldier.
Neumann thought for a moment. "Let me get things straight. Both of you obviously didn't run here, as you aren't sweating. You sat in a truck, which is waiting in the quad, judging from the creases in your pants from where you sat and the dirt on your shoes. Therefore you did not approach me here because it was the fastest way, but rather because you knew I would be here at this time given my haphazard daily schedule. The holsters on your waists are loose and your gun safeties are off, implying a willingness to use lethal force to make me comply. The fact that I did not see any other professors approached implies that you are specifically here to talk with me. Therefore I deduce that you are here to forcibly recruit me into a top secret weapons program, making use of my expertise in the fields of nuclear physics and theoretical computing..."
He stopped deducing for a moment. "Wait a minute. Don't tell that Mjölnir is--"
One soldier drew his gun and pointed it at his face. "One more word and I'll blow your face right off, Sherlock."
"I highly doubt you'd pull the trigger, seeing as you're in the middle of a crowded university surrounded by students who do not share the same ideological platforms as you. You would be at a loss to explain why you just shot a renowned physics professor in the face in broad daylight without any provocation."
The soldier sighed and put away his gun. "Fine, we'll talk later. But the offer still stands."
"Oh, and just letting you know," said the other soldier, "Heydrich has ordered the Pandidakterion shut down indefinitely effective tomorrow. Good luck finding a new job."
The two of them laughed as they left the lecture hall.
As soon as the Angeloi were gone, Neumann rushed over to the office of his colleague, Leo "Szilard" Spitz.
"Hello?" said Spitz, looking up from his desk.
"The Angeloi were just here," said Neumann, "Did they approach you?"
"Why yes they did," said Spitz, "Don't worry, I told them nothing."
"How about Einstein, Fermi, and Heisenberg?"
"Didn't show up on campus today."
"Worrying..."
"What should we do then?"
"We do the only sensible thing. Contact the Resistance and tell them the Angeloi are working on an atomic bomb."
Spitz looked at him. "Are you mad? We don't even know anybody in the Resistance!"
"I know a guy," said Neumann.
Border of Illyria and Germania - 6 April
So. Many. Checkpoints.
Wilhelm was making very little progress now as he reached the provincial border. He had failed to take into account the multiple military checkpoints placed at regular intervals throughout the occupied province. As a result, a car trip that should have taken days now was taking over a month. His condition wasn't helping out. He was now regularly expecting to see "Yugoslavia" or some variation of "Anniona" instead of Illyria on signs. If he phased into another universe in the middle of a checkpoint...he shuddered at the thought.
"Next," said the checkpoint guard, waving him through.
Thank goodness this guy was a bit lazy. As soon as he got past the checkpoint he sped back up to 80 mph--no, 128 kph. He wasn't even sure metric was correct in this universe anymore.
He needed to get that grace soon, or he might get lost in the multiverse.
Vienna - 7 April
Engelbert and Senator Otto arrived in the small meeting room where Octavia, Hans, Conrad, and several other Resistance members had gathered.
"Uh, why am I here?" said Otto.
"Don't know," said Engelbert, "Octavia said she needed you to attend this meeting."
"For what purpose? I'm just a liability for you guys, a target to protect until we find a way to get me back to my universe!"
"Hey, take up your grievances with her, not me."
Octavia stepped up to the podium and cleared her throat. "Okay, we're all here today to discuss the plan to free the Inquisition hostages from the Angeloi. As you have been told in previous briefings, the Angeloi are holding a high-ranking Inquisitor hostage in Schloss Hofburg. We have yet to determine his identity, but there is evidence to suggest that the hostage is Theodor Innitzer, the Head Inquisitor of the Inquisition's Vienna branch. Our friend Inquisitor Dolfuss here has told us Innitzer knows the password to open a weapons cache buried deep under the abandoned Inquisition headquarters and that the Angeloi will likely try to torture the password out of him."
"Still don't see how this involves me," whispered Otto.
"Shh," said Engelbert.
"So, the plan is as follows," said Octavia, pointing to a 3-dimensional model of Hofburg, "This is Hofburg. Inferring from pre-war floor plans, Innitzer is being held in a cell in the basement. Our contact in the palace reports that the entire floor is constantly kept under heavy surveillance. But do not worry about that for now."
She passed some flyers around the group. "Tomorrow evening, Schmidt will be hosting a ball in Hofburg to commemorate the failed attack on Constantinople. Several hundred guests are expected to show up. I've already falsified some documents and planted some infiltrators within the security detail to allow us and our weapons access into the palace. The plan will be as follows: at five o'clock, Engelbert and I will enter the palace first through the front door. Ten minutes later, Hans and Conrad will take out the communications array on the top of the palace with snipers and then enter the palace from a side door. The rest of you will provide backup by distracting and disorienting the other guests and security long enough for us to get into the basement, free Innitzer, and get him out through the side door opened by Hans and Conrad. At seven o'clock, with Innitzer in our custody we will all leave the palace without a shot being fired."
"Um, why are you the one to free Innitzer?" asked another Resistance member.
"Because I specialize in this area," said Octavia, "You know I'm the best at freeing our comrades from the clutches of the Angeloi. Remember Breslau?"
"But why Engelbert? He botched that Landsberg rescue attempt."
"He did not, he got the target out safely," said Octavia, "And I trust him to do the right thing."
Engelbert sighed. "Of all the things you could have said, you chose the most cliched phrases."
"We're at war," said Octavia, "We don't have the time to choose our words carefully. Now, is everybody in agreement with the plan?"
Everybody nodded their heads.
"Good," said Octavia, "Dismissed."
The Resistance members filed out of the meeting room, and Engelbert and Otto moved to join them.
"Otto," said Octavia, "Could I have a minute?"
He turned around as the door shut behind him.
"I have something urgent I wish to share with you," she said.
"Well, I'm listening," said Otto.
"Just yesterday, I received word that my sister, Elise, was killed yesterday in an Angeloi raid on a Resistance stronghold," said Octavia.
"Wait, you don't have a sister!" said Otto.
Octavia sighed. "Apparently my 'more successful' counterpart is an only child," she said, "But
I have a sister. And she's dead now. Along with everybody in her cell. What I am about to discuss with you is classified at the highest levels. You are not to share it with anybody else in the room."
"I understand," said Otto.
"They were killed by an Angeloi patrol, but the stronghold was located across the border, in Soviet territory," said Octavia, "Now, this is a common occurrence. The Soviets have a non-aggression pact with the Angeloi and just let the Angeloi destroy the Resistance bases in their country."
"But if we get the Soviets to join the war on our side, it would turn the tables in our favor," Otto realized.
"Exactly," said Octavia, "But the Soviets have no reason to side with any of us. They may hate the fascists in Berlin, but they also hate the reactionaries in Constantinople and Vienna. They're in the perfect position right now. Watch their greatest enemy destroy itself, and then finish off what's left."
"But we should give them a reason to intervene," said Otto.
"Then you'd better come up with something fast, because with Constantinople in the hands of the Angeloi the Kaiser won't last for much longer," said Octavia.
"But why me?" said Otto. "Why did you ask me to go on a highly dangerous mission to get an unpredictable enemy that hates our way of life to fight our other mortal enemy?"
"Because," said Octavia, "To them, you're the Kaiser. Get a plan ready by the time the jailbreak is finished. Don't worry about any constraints; you'll have every available Resistance resource and operative at your disposal for the mission. Now get some sleep. Dismissed."
She left the room.
Blachernae Palace - 8 April 1941
Victoria Louise was sitting at her desk, contemplating the significance of the failed loyalist attempt to liberate the city, when she noticed something white moving outside her window. She rushed over to see what it was, finding a deer whose fur was completely white, aside from a patch of yellow and purple on its side that resembled a double-headed imperial eagle.
Saint Wilhelmina apparently recognized the deer.
It can't be the same one, she said.
"What do you mean?" said Victoria Louise.
I hunted this stag when I was alive, said Wilhelmina,
There is no way this stag can still be alive.
"Maybe it's a descendant?"
Perhaps. But why is it here in the city? I and the other Kaisers only encountered it in the forests outside Berlin.
"I don't know, but it must be here for a reason."
You are aware that the legends state the white stag is a legendary creature who only appears when the time is right.
"We've learned more about the legends since you died. It appears only to those who are worthy."
It's appearance before you is an ominous sign. It's a sign that something big is coming, something important...
As they watched, the deer bolted away, vanishing into the trees and bushes surrounding Blachernae.
