John Schettler - Golem 7

“But what if they kill someone—like I killed the bishop on that last mission,” said Maeve.

“You didn’t kill the damn bishop,” said Kelly, wanting to chase any vestige of recrimination and guilt from Maeve’s mind and heart. “All you did was restore the Meridian. Lambert was fated to die—and you were fate.”

“Small comfort,” said Maeve. “I suppose I can live with that, but how do they undo a major intervention if they don’t like the results? Look at what we went through at Tours, and what we’re struggling with now with this naval campaign. It’s not as simple as snuffing out the life of one man.”

“Suffice it to say they do find a way,” said Paul. “We have to accept some givens here. Knowing exactly what they did to change things in the first place gives them a real advantage, it’s much easier to set them right again. For us, it’s a huge guessing game. We can see where an intervention is occurring, but trying to nail down exactly what they did is tough work. This incident involving the fishing trawler is a perfect example. If they did send that boat into Brest with an agent, then they knew exactly where it originated. They can turn that operation off with a single message shifted in the day before the boat leaves. We have to guess, and cover every possible embarkation point—fish, flesh and good red herring, to quote Maeve’s old English proverb.“

“Damn,” said Kelly. “You’re right. The best defense is a good offence.”

Paul just looked at him, the light of yet another realization gleaming in his eyes. “That’s it!” he said snapping his fingers. “By God, that’s it!”

Maeve sighed.“I don’t see any clear way we can intervene yet. We keyed on this British cruiser, but the Assassins could have operated against any of the other Pushpoints as well—like Lütjens’ decision not to refuel, or the faulty radar set on Bismarck that caused Prince Eugen to take the lead, anything.”

“That sounds suspicious too,” said Kelly. “Just like Sheffield takes the lead in the altered history line and runs into that German battlecruiser. Are we seeing a pattern here?”

“Wishful thinking is more likely,” said Maeve. “If you suspect tampering with Bismarck’s radar, then they would have to have an agent aboard the battleship.”

“Not necessarily,” Kelly argued. “They could have sabotaged it during construction.”

“And timed its failure specifically for this sea engagement?” Maeve didn’t buy it.

Paul waved his hand excitedly. “Hold on, people. This will lead us around in circles again. I think we’ve established that the Pushpoints involved here are not easily restored once they are disturbed. The campaign is too fragile. It seems like any little nudge this way or that results in a scenario that favors Bismarck , at least if we mess with the Pushpoints we’ve been focusing on thus far. It shows you just how lucky the British were in this campaign.”

“So what are we going to do?” Kelly looked at him, stroking his chin.

“We’re going on offense ,” said Paul. “We’re going to attack. I said it earlier, and it looks like it’s coming down to exactly that. We’ve seen how futile it is to try and restack the cards defensively. Let’s face it, Bismarck had more than a good chance of making it safely to a French port. That she failed to do so hinged upon a number of very shaky events, any one of which may be sufficient to decide things in her favor if it fails to occur. It was sheer luck that the British got that hit on her rudder near the end. But, by God, we have to sink that damn ship—one way or another. It’s the only way we can reverse this intervention. We have to go on offense here and sink the Bismarck .”

“Aye, aye, sir!” Maeve gave him a salute. “But isn’t that what we’ve been trying to accomplish all along? You have a new idea here?”

“That I do,” said Paul. “It occurred to me when I realized that bit about Resonance. If we can sample Resonance filtering in from other possible Meridians in a Nexus Point, then the Assassins can too, just as you suggested. And if this is the way they ran this mission, then we have to fight fire with fire here. We can’t go about trying to uncover and snuff out their intervention. We have to counterattack, and we use the Golems to sample Resonance until we come up with something that sinks her.”

“But what, pray tell, do we use for ammunition?” Maeve was still playing devil’s advocate, but Paul gave her a knowing smile.

“Information,” he said quietly. “Knowledge is power, right? And we know the entire history of this very famous battle, from one end to another. Remember that movie called Final Countdown? It was about a modern day aircraft carrier that gets transported back in Time to the eve of the attack on Pearl Harbor. They knew exactly where and when the Japanese were going to attack, and with that knowledge that single ship could have taken out Nagumo’s entire carrier task force.”

“That’s the flick with Kirk Douglas!” said Kelly. “But they don’t do that in the movie.”

“The point is, they could have,” said Paul.

“Well we don’t have an aircraft carrier to spare here either,” said Maeve, “at least I didn’t see one down in the garage.”

“But we do have information,” Paul said coolly, “information vital to the outcome of this battle. You’ve heard the expression ‘loose lips sink ships?’ Well we’re going to loosen up these lips, ladies and gentlemen. If we get the right information to Royal Navy Intelligence, at the right time, then my bet is that they’ll do the rest of the work and sink the Bismarck .” He looked directly at Maeve, because he knew his suggestion was fairly radical. It was her watch on Outcomes and Consequences that had set the rules and parameters of past operations. What he was proposing now was probably going to sound treasonous to her, perhaps even insane.

She thought for a minute, saying nothing. Kelly looked at Paul, then Maeve, but neither one spoke. Paul had learned a good lesson selling shoes as a very young man. In any sales situation there comes a moment in the pitch where you toss the question to the customer, and then shut up. Nine times out of ten the person who speaks next loses. He had made his proposition and he simply folded his arms, waiting.

Kelly was just about to say something, but he saw Paul move a hand slightly as if to wave him off. Then Maeve broke her silence and weighed in.

“Explain,” she said, angling for more clarity. “How do you propose to notify British Intelligence?”

Paul had not thought through all the possibilities, but he was relieved not to hear a flat out NO on Maeve’s part. This was a fairly direct tampering with the course of events. He was amazed that she held her composure, and he crept carefully into a few possibilities, hoping he would not end up in a long argument.

“Most signals traveled by wire,” said Paul. “Agents and operators were all over Europe—coast watchers, the Free French underground, and British and American agents as well. They sent lots of coded messages by cable, and there were also established telephone links. The Admiralty had a direct secure line out to the Admiral of the Home Fleet where he rode at anchor in Scapa Flow.”

“You’re suggesting one of us goes back and cables the Admiralty?”

“That’s about the size of it,” said Paul. “Would you like fries with that?”

Kelly smiled. “It’s a good idea, Maeve,” he chipped in. “Doesn’t sound dangerous, either. All we’d have to do is get to a telegraph station—anywhere. We could shift into merry old England and waltz over to the telegraph office, send a nice cable to First Sea Lord Pound, then find a good pub and have a few brewskies!”