John Schettler - Men of War

“Well sir, the ship would have to move in time. It’s the only thing that might account for this sudden disappearance and reappearance half a world away.”

Even now the notion still seemed fantastic to Turing, a matter for the fanciful writings of H.G. Wells and not the cold light of reality played with in Hut 4. Yet Turing was a man of great intellect, and equal imagination, well ahead of his day in the many fields he chose to interest himself in. He gave the matter more than passing thought, realizing that the entire logic of his assumption rested on the sole premise that the ship now found to be in the Pacific was indeed the same one that vanished at St. Helena. Yet as one photo after another came in, and reports from coastwatchers out of Milne Bay also fleshed out the information they had on this latest incident, it appeared that the Japanese now had the pleasure, or the horror, of tangling with Geronimo .

Turing had a contact at FRUMEL HQ down in Melbourne, a man named Osborne who fed him everything they had on the incident. It all painted the same picture—the photography, the naval rockets, and now the blackened and wrecked hulls of Japanese destroyers, cruisers and battleships for a change. Appearing right in the middle of a major Japanese offensive, ‘the ship’ had unhinged the whole operation just as the Americans launched a devastating counterpunch at Guadalcanal that also sent three Japanese fleet carriers and most of their planes and pilots to the bottom of the sea. The one-two punch had set the Japanese back on their heels, and changed the whole balance of power in the Pacific. It would be the beginning of an American and Allied offensive there that would not stop until it reached the home waters of Japan, though Turing did not know that just yet.

For now the news was good for a change. It seemed that Geronimo was no respecter of persons when it put to sea. It was ready, willing and quite able to take on all comers, and punish any naval force that tried to impede it. And then, just as it had done twice before, the ship simply vanished again!

Admiral Tovey had been making regular visits to Hut 4 ever since. Like Turing, he also found the notion that the ship had moved in time a bit of a stretch, but if a man of Turing’s credentials could seriously entertain the prospect, then Tovey thought it best to at least consider it as well. Now the Admiral was visiting yet again, with an arm full of new material for the secret files, and an equal number of other questions in mind. He alone had gotten a firsthand look at the men from this ship. He spoke directly with the ship’s Admiral, astounded to learn that they were not monsters or supermen after all, only a ship of men—but they were Russians!

Turing had suspected that himself once, given the place the ship was first spotted by Wake-Walker’s carriers over a year ago. It was well north in the Norwegian Sea; north of Jan Mayan. To learn now that the Admiral of this ship and crew spoke Russian was quite telling. Yet Turing was convinced that the ship, its weapons, and perhaps even its crew could not possibly have come from the Soviet Union he knew in 1942. In fact, Tovey told him that the ship’s Admiral made a point of denying any association or affiliation with Stalin’s Russia. All that did was further reinforce the impossible conclusion Turing had come to in his own mind.

This ship had come from some future time. It’s weapons were decades beyond anything that any nation on this earth could produce. Its Admiral had stated that they had the ability to convert sea water to steam and therefore had no fuel problem, yet they would need something to kindle the heat required to make steam for turbines powerful enough to drive a ship of that size at the speeds reported. They clearly were not burning coal or oil to do so. Only some new propulsion system from a future time seemed to solve that riddle. This Russian Admiral even hinted that he looked upon the events of this war as history. In fact, the only way that the presence of this ship in the Atlantic, the Med and finally the Pacific made any sense at all was to consider it as having come from another era, another future time, perhaps when the theoretical discussions about the possibility of time travel had become a practical reality.

Why was the ship here? Why had it come? Admiral Tovey had made a strong point when he noted that it was indeed a warship that was sent back, not a polite diplomatic mission. Was it on a mission where force of arms would be an integral part of the outcome?

The ship’s Admiral seemed to deny this, if he could be believed. He stated that he wanted no part of this bloody world war, just a quiet island where he could escape and consider how he could get his ship and crew home, wherever that was. Turing believed that it was, indeed, Soviet Russia, and given his best estimate, he thought it might be at least fifty years in the future, possibly more.

With these thoughts and questions in mind the Admiral had come to Bletchley Park again that day to continue his discussion with the brilliant mathematician. There was an odd edge to his voice on the line when he had called to arrange the meeting. Turing could sense that he seemed harried, cautious, worried about something. The whole scenario was indeed the most troubling event to come along in the war, though relatively few really knew about it. He had the feeling that Tovey was very concerned about something.

That was it, thought Turing. He’s in the know now, just as I was a few weeks back when I first set my mind on this conclusion about Geronimo . Now he knows…

And he’s afraid.

The two men were meeting again in Hut 4, and Admiral Tovey began by reiterating a very chilling point he had suggested earlier. “Let us humor ourselves and take your assumption as true for the time being, Professor. If this ship did come from some other time, then when might it return again? Yes, it vanished as before, but we waited a long year before we saw it in the Med. Might it reappear in another year, or a month, or even any day now as it did before?”

“It very well could, sir,” said Turing.

“And for that matter, when might another come?” What is it doing, Turing? Have you given that further thought? Is it deliberately involving itself in these naval engagements, perhaps with the aim of changing future events? When it vanishes, where does it go?”

“It’s all very perplexing, sir, and we can only speculate. Perhaps it returns to its home base to replenish. That would seem a natural conclusion. Might it return to our time again? It’s already done that once, so it could certainly be expected. Might other ships come? That, too is a chilling possibility. But as to what its mission might be, that is difficult to know. It may indeed be attempting to alter the course of events. This last incident with the Japanese was fairly well decisive, wasn’t it? Lucky for us this ship can’t seem to decide who’s side it on in our little war. In any wise, it doesn’t appear as if it has an agenda favoring one outcome or another, at least at this point.”

“Quite so,” said Tovey. “At first I had to believe this ship had it in for the British Empire. It was driving for the Atlantic Charter conference, and that was a very pointed thrust. Then this Admiral explained that he was not in control of his ship at the time, and that there was a difference of opinions on how to proceed.”

“Your wolf in the fold, scenario,” said Turing.

“Precisely. Well, that being the case, I’m of the mind that it simply wants to be left alone. This Admiral was more than likely still looking for his damnable island, if you want my opinion on it. The Japanese were just unlucky enough to get in the way this time.”