D. MacHale - The Never War

We then saw an image that made my knees buckle. There before us, looking as real as if we were watching it from an airplane, we saw Washington, D.C. hit by an atomic bomb. The city was vaporized. The familiar, horrific mushroom cloud rose up over the shattered capital like an evil tombstone.

“That was at ten o’clock in the morning,” Patrick said. “There was more to come. Item eight.”

The rubble of Washington, D.C. was replaced by a view of Manhattan Island.

Gunny breathed out, “Oh, no.”

Boom. New York got slammed too.

“That bomb landed north of Manhattan at ten fifteen. Item nine.”

The mushroom cloud over New York was replaced by an aerial view of London. Boom. London was history.

“Ten twenty-five. The Nazis sent out long-range bombers with the world’s first atomic bombs.”

“Shut it off!” I yelled.

“Clear,” Patrick said softly, and the destruction of London was gone.

“How can this machine know that?” I demanded. “It’s just a guess.”

“It’s not,” Patrick said. “This was always the Nazis’ plan. But they never developed a working bomb, so it was never carried out. With the help of the information stolen from the United States by Max Rose’s spy network, Dani Schmidt was able to complete his work. There’s very little guesswork here. If theHindenburgarrives safely, Germany will be the first to develop an atomic bomb. And they will use it.”

“What will happen from there?” Gunny said softly. He looked like he was in shock. “I don’t want to see it, just tell me.”

“Most of the northeast United States will be devastated by the two blasts. They’ll have to deal with radiation for years. Pendragon, your home of Stony Brook, Connecticut, will no longer exist. Earthquakes set off by the blast in New York will see to that.”

Now I had to sit down. I wasn’t nervous anymore. I was sick.

“Bottom line is, the Germans will win the war,” Patrick said. “Adolf Hitler’s evil vision will spread throughout the world, just as he planned. As you can imagine, from that point on, the world will take a much different course. Let me show you one last thing. Item fifty-six.”

On the platform we saw another overhead view. This was of New York City. The only reason I knew it was New York was because I saw a chunk of building that looked like the Empire State Building. But it wasn’t a tall, majestic building anymore. It was only the top few floors. The building must have tumbled when the bomb fell and now only the top few floors were left. We saw several more views of the destroyed city. There were people waiting in line for food. Children slept in the streets, cold and hungry. Tents were set up where the roads had been. Thousands upon thousands of people lived in the rubble like rats.

“Was this right after the bomb fell?” I asked.

Patrick answered. “This is a view of New York City on Third Earth, over three thousand years later. Today.”

I then saw something that made me want to cry. Lying on its side, along what was once the busy street of Fifth Avenue, was a green structure that was being used for makeshift housing. It must have covered ten city blocks. Holes were cut in the sides for people to crawl in and out of. The image was stunning, and horrible, because lying there, broken and destroyed among the rubble of once proud buildings, was the Statue of Liberty.

“I’ll say it again,” Patrick said quietly. “Saint Dane hit the jackpot. He found the perfect moment in time that he could manipulate and send three territories into oblivion. Clear.”

The images disappeared. Good thing. I couldn’t take it anymore. The three of us sat there in silence. We had just seen doomsday. It’s hard to know what to say after that.

“Could there be a mistake?” Gunny asked.

“Specific details may change,” Patrick answered. “But the basic situation would be the same. If Max Rose continues to operate his spy network, the Germans will develop the atom bomb first, and they will drop it on England and the United States.”

I had heard enough. We already figured that saving theHindenburgwould be a mistake. Seeing how great Third Earth was told us that. But now, seeing the horror show Patrick had just presented slammed the point home to me about as hard as possible. Any doubts I had about what I wanted to do were gone.

I stood up and said, “We’re on the wrong territory.”

Gunny stood up. “Yes, we are,” he said with purpose.

“I’m coming,” Patrick announced. “I want to help.”

Gunny looked at me. I wasn’t sure if Patrick coming along was a good idea or not.

“I don’t think so, Patrick,” Gunny said. “We’ve got to hit the ground running once we get back. We wouldn’t have time to teach you all you’d need to know about First Earth. No offense, but you might end up being more trouble than help.”

Gunny was right. Patrick wouldn’t know simple things, like how to get across a busy street. We couldn’t afford to be slowed down by anything, even a friend.

“I understand,” Patrick said, looking disappointed.

“Besides,” Gunny said. “You did your part. Now it’s our turn.” Gunny then turned to me and said, “You ready for this, shorty?”

How could I answer that question? How could anyone be ready for what we had to do? I know why Gunny asked me though. A few minutes before, I was out of control. I wanted my life back. Though I knew stopping Saint Dane from destroying the territories and taking control of Halla was important, it felt like a fantasy. I was tired of living in a fantasy. But after seeing what Saint Dane had in mind for the three Earth territories, the fantasy had suddenly become real. Now he was hitting me where I lived. So how did I answer a huge question like that?

“Absolutely.”

Gunny smiled. Next stop, First Earth.

Before hitting the flume, I sat in the library and wrote most of this journal. I didn’t want to wait until we got back, because if something happens to me, well, let’s just say I wanted to make sure this journal was written. I trusted that the flumes would get us back in time.

Patrick drove us back up to the Bronx and the green shelter that would lead us down to the subway.

“We’ll see you again,” Gunny said with certainty. “And it will be here on Third Earth. ThisThird Earth.”

Patrick nodded. He didn’t seem as confident as Gunny. He then turned to me and said, “Pendragon, your uncle told me that if I ever doubted myself, or our mission, that I should put my faith in you. Should I put my faith in you?”

Whoa. Uncle Press said that about me? Patrick was looking for some kind of guarantee that everything was going to be okay. I wished I could give it to him.

“I’m not sure why he’d say that,” I answered truthfully. “But I do know one thing. You might as well put your faith in us, because there’s nobody else.”

On that solemn note, the three of us parted.

A second before we went underground, I took one last look at Third Earth. I really hoped it wouldn’t be the last time I saw it like this. Gunny and I then hurried down the escalator, across the platform, down onto the tracks, and back to the gate that led to the flume. There we quickly traded our Third Earth clothes for our First Earth clothes. We didn’t even talk. We were both focused on getting back as quickly as possible.

“First Earth!” I shouted at the mouth of the flume. A second later I kissed Third Earth good-bye and shot my way back to 1937.

A few minutes later we found ourselves surrounded by all the familiar sensations of First Earth-the smells, the noise, the people, the energy. It was a rude change from the quiet serenity of Third Earth. But I have to admit, I didn’t mind it. It felt like going home.