The War to End all Worlds Pt. 06

I gritted my teeth and focused on beating back the blackness edging my vision. If I fell...if I fell, everything we had done would be for nothing. Everything. If I fell...I closed my eyes, my knees growing weak.

"Gipp! Stay standing! For your daughter!"

Daughter.

I have a daughter.

I opened my eyes and felt the hammering psychic powers fading around me as I clenched my fists, then opening them. I walked forward, scowling at Von Sebttendorf. He looked at his gauntlet, which had started to crackle and spark, the greenish crystals on the knuckles going dim. He shook his head, whispering. "Nein, nein, nein!"

I continued to walk forward, the pistol forgotten. I just wanted to wipe that look off that bastard's face with my own two hands. But before I got to him, Von Sebttendorf was scrambling into the cockpit of the time machine. He settled in as Tjen started to strain, jerking at the restraints. She hissed as he started to flick switches, adjust dials.

"I will see you in another life, in another world, Mr. Wells!" Von Sebttendorf said, laughing. A hysterical laugh. The laugh of someone who knew he was backed into a corner. I staggered against the time machine. I could already feel a chill coolness radiating from it as the rear of the machine started to spin around Tjen. The fins flashed and glittered, creating a flaring effect, like the dazzle of a camera lens. I winced and then looked at the side of the machine.

The schematics. The flux capacitor was inside the machine. No use. The overthruster was what currently spun around Tjen. I tried to get near it, but it was rotating too quickly, radiating too much cold. Just being near it made me feel faint. I staggered back, lifting my pistol.

"Yes! Fire!" Von Sebttendorf laughed. "I dare you, Mr. Wells! If you have strength, you would doom us all! But you don't!"

The overthruster was spinning faster and faster and faster now.

Then...

The Vaporizing Equalizer! That was attached to the side of the machine. But as I looked at the small cube, I could see it was bolted on by metal slats. I worked my fingers against the freezing cold metal, jerking, straining, hissing. Snarling. Come on! Come on!

Von Sebttendorf was laughing and laughing, more and more manically.

"Yes, Mr. Wells! Come along! Come along to hell!" He laughed. "You see! Strength. Is. Everything!"

I gasped, jerking back. My fingers felt burned, that was how cold they were.

I glared at the machine.

Then...slowly...

I smirked.

"I'm not strong enough to stop you, Von Sebttendorf." I pointed up. "But she is."

And dropping from the ceiling, from where she had been hiding for who knows how long, came Yalen. The real Yalen. She landed before me with a resounding thump. All four of her hands grabbed onto the Vaporizing Equalizer and she tore with a roar of triumph. Metal snapped and bent and she staggered backwards into my arms as the Overthruster flared outwards. Energy roared from the machine as Von Sebttendorf screamed a single, last...

"Neeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnn!"

Before my eyes, the energies were floating from the Overthruster to the cockpit. But rather than surrounding the machine, they only seemed to crystallize around the mad German. He started to turn blue, then white, then was covered in a shimmering rainbow of colors. A nimbus of infinity, warping around him, twisting his body like taffy without ever once letting his scream stop. Then he turned to fog, frozen in one moment. Then, as if someone was wiping him away between frames on a filmreel, he faded. Faded.

Gone.

The machine smoked with cold and Tjen gasped out.

"Where did he go?" Yalen whispered.

"I can answer that," Tjen said, her voice tired. But triumphant. "The machine did not go -- but he went. He went and I was his navigator. I believe that Von Sebttendorf will enjoy the year eight hundred thousand and two, seven hundred and one AD a great deal."

I sagged with relief.

Freeing Tjen was the work of a few moments. But we only were freed long enough for the rest of the guards to return. They had fled the battle of titans, but they came back bearing man-portable heat rays, rifles, pistols, tesla guns. There were at least fifty of them, rushing through every door, fanning around our small group. I sat with Tjen, too tired to fight. Even Yalen merely stood, hunched forward. The men had their weapons up -- and their officers looked unsure of what to do. They looked around for Von Sebttendorf. I wondered if telling them where he had gone would help.

The officer snarled. "They killed the Master. Kill them!"

But before I could even open my mouth, a roar came from outside. It was the unmistakable sound of an explosion. Shouts in Austrian rang out -- shouts of: Go go go! Run! Get to your positions! The guards swung around, but before they could even begin to move, more House Guards were rushing in. These ones wore armor with white stripes, rather than red. They bore heavy machine guns and heat rays as well. But they were supported by other Austrians in field gray, bearing Telsa guns.

Stunned, the Thule Society raised their hands.

I gaped in shock, then looked around at our rescuers. Or...were they?

With a soft groan, I heard Adolph muttering. "Ah. Good. I...was wondering...when they'd show up." He squirmed and dragged himself out as, among the last group to arrive, were several Indian men wearing gray turbans and Austrian gear. They rushed past the House Guard and the soldiers, heading deeper into the base. I looked at Adolph.

"What?" I asked.

Adolph smiled. "Forgive my deception, Gipp..." he said.

"What!?" I exclaimed.

"When I said that I was a resident, not a citizen...I may have exaggerated," Adolph said, crawling out of the armor he had used so effectively. He sat down.

"What!?" I spluttered.

Adolph lifted his arm to me. "Lance Corporal Adolph Hitler. Bearer of the Iron Cross for gallantry, in the Mediterranean Campaign of the Third Balkin War." He smiled slightly. "Reservist, now."

Tjen looked around, her eyes wide as the commander of the local troops -- one of the House Guard -- stomped forward. He lifted his helmet, revealing a stern faced man with flint gray hair. He looked down at us.

"So," he said. "I wouldn't have believed it. But the Emperor was right." He sighed. "Slav kissing pacifist that he is..."

He clearly didn't know that I could understand Austrian -- only I and Adolph were close enough. Or maybe this man was secure enough in his position that he didn't care that he bad mouthed the Emperor of Austria. I looked slowly at him, then stood.

"General Muller," he said, curtly, speaking in English. "You are Mr. Wells?"

"Yeah," I said, my voice slightly hoarse from the amount of excitement I had been through.

"The Emperor told me to give you this," General Muller said. "Personally." He held out a slip of paper to me. I took it and unfolded it...and read. Tjen read over my shoulder.

Dear Gipp

I know that this may be a shock to you, reading these words. But you must know the following facts. The first is that one Miss Darren Sharpe will be with a woman named Drusilla Xao in the city of New Tortuga in the year 1915, April 15^th. You will find them in a tavern called the Drunken Worm. Meanwhile, you must know that on June 28^th, 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, future Emperor of Austria, will have an attempt on his life enacted by extremist militarists while touring in Berlin. They will be using heat rays provided by Panslav and makeshift explosives.

I believe this will be all you need to know. I will see you when you come home.

-Herbert

"Who is Herbert?" Tjen asked.

My eyes brimmed with tears. I didn't need the name.

The handwriting was enough.

I whispered. "P...Pa. Pa is alive."

"But how!?" Tjen asked.

My eyes widened. And then I sprang to my feet. I ran to Darren, who was slowly groaning and shifting and sitting up. She rubbed her head as I knelt beside her.

"Darren! Tell me honest and true," I whispered. "Where did you get the mind stone?"

She gulped, looking at me. "I was given it, Gipp. It was given to me, by a dead drop, with a letter and-"

I beamed at her, then ran over to Tjen. I grabbed her arm and beamed at her. She looked bemused. Then her eyes widened and she beamed. I stepped away from her, sprinted over to one of t he surrendered Thulian guards. I yanked his vest armor off of him, causing him to shout at me -- but since he had guns aimed at him, he didn't do much more than yell. Then I and Tjen both rushed for the time machine. General Muller and Adolph watched us, Adolph's brow furrowing.

"What are you doing? What is that thing? And you can't just take that!" Muller asked, pointing with a single armored finger at me, as if he was going to arrest me.

I slid into the cockpit, the armored vest sitting on my lap. The schematics said the start button was here. I pressed it. The overthruster started to whirr to life as Tjen's voice rang in my mind.

Where too first, my love?

I grinned.

***

Falling.

Rushing water. Rippling water. Voices, whispering through my ears. Voices in a thousand languages, breathing out the news. I caught snatches of English, but they were drowned out by the other tongues. The space around me was both infinite and impossible to describe. Colors that only existed in that shimmering infinity. And it was infinite. It stretched outwards and upwards and inwards. I had to close my eyes to slits, and even that wasn't enough to fill my heart with a booming, spreading joy.

Then the sense of falling ended. Not with a lurch or a crash, but a gentle whirring. The light faded and I blinked tears from my eyes. The sides of the time machine glowed cherry red, but cooled quickly. We were parked in a New York alleyway. I opened the cockpit and saw Tjen standing and stretching from her seat in the cockpit.

"What are we going to do here?" she asked.

I grinned. "Find a newspaper, first..."

We found one after only a bit of searching. I checked the date and grunted. It was the night before the attack and I had plenty of time. I took Tjen's hand and we walked together to my flat. As we walked, Tjen's hand went to her belly and she smiled a bit.

"Is it really a daughter?" I asked.

She nodded, then grinned at me. "I wonder what effects traveling through time will have on her."

I paused. "Uh-"

"Do not fear," she said. "The events must have already happened. To do anything but as we are doing now would be to doom ourselves to a fate I shudder to mention. Better to risk this than to risk the alternative." She nodded.

I sighed, then smiled at her.

Hand in hand, we came to the apartment. People gave us odd looks, but most were too busy ambling on their own business. I was currently walking along the pier, heading away from the brawl between the socialists, democrats and republicans in Victory Square. We had time. Once we arrived at the door itself, I rapped on it and my father answered it. I looked at him. It felt like my heart had been punched. My eyes filled with tears before I could stop myself, and a huge, wild, mad grin spread across my lips. I grinned and grinned and grinned as my father looked at me.

"Gipp!" he said, then blinked, looking at Tjen. "And...who is this? Are you all right?"

"Father..." I choked. I managed to gasp out. "I...I don't...I...that is-"

Tjen put her palm against his forehead. She focused and my father's eyes widened. He staggered backwards, clutching at his chest. He gasped, then looked at me with wide eyes.

"Here," I whispered. He took the bulletproof armor. He held it, looking wondering. He shook his head slowly.

"In all of heaven and Earth, I never imagined this day..." He gulped, then shook his head. "I...I will need to make sure to school myself. I shall not give this away."

I blinked. "Wait!" I sprang past him. Quickly, I grabbed onto the phone. I dialed the police, speaking as soon as the operator picked up. "Operator, operator, there's a fight going on near the warehouse district, on the corner of 9^th?" I nodded. "Yes, one of them has a gun!"

Tjen chuckled, softly as I hung up.

"I hope I got the timing right..." I muttered.

My father shook his head. "So...when will I see you again?" he asked.

"From your perspective?" I asked. "A...week? Maybe less?" I smiled. "From mine?" I looked at Tjen. "How long do you think?"

"Two hours," Tjen said, nodding sagely.

***

It actually took ten. Presenting the evidence to the Austrian government without tipping off who we were and where we had come from took two tries. Fortunately, we had decided to arrive well before the assassination, giving us plenty of time to try multiple tactics. Finding Darren and giving her the mind stone -- after writing a letter containing enough personal information to convince her -- required dipping forward to talk to Darren in the future. But in the end, the last thing we had to do was the most dangerous.

"How many rounds did he fire?" I muttered as Tjen and I knelt in the armory of the House Guard who was working with the Thule Society.

Tjen cocked her head. "Exactly six hundred and seventy two rounds, Gipp."

"You counted?" I asked.

"I used my own psionic powers to check my own memory," she said, smiling. "Then I counted."

I started to work my fingers along the bullets until I found the one that had jammed the machine gun. Well, no, it had done more than that. It had blown the whole thing to kingdom come. Attaching the small explosive to it was a bit of tense work, but once it was affixed, I breathed a slow sigh of relief.

"Okay..." I said. "I think that's all paradox accounted for. Darren will help us, I won't get machine gunned, my father survives, I survive, we get the Mind Stone...is there anything we're forgetting?"

Tjen shook her head.

I paused, looking down at the weapon.

"There is one thing..." I whispered.

Tjen watched me. The two of us remained crouched in the armory, in the pale darkness, surrounded by the smell of machine oil and gunpowder. Why not? The question buzzed in my mind. Why not go back? Why not go back and warn the people at the latter end of the 19^th century what was coming. Warn them about the weed and the Martians. Or, more, go back further still. Go to the Sorn and tell them that their great technologies would be used for so much horror? Why not...why not...

I looked at Tjen.

Because...

It'd be a world without her.

She'd never have come to Earth.

And the idea of that took my heart and tore into it. But Tjen took my hands, squeezing gently. Her voice was soft.

"You are not God, Gipp," she whispered. "Come on."

The two of us slipped back to the time machine. And once more, we rode to the future. By now, it was so simple that I almost slept through the whole trip. But as the machine settled into place on the roof of my New York apartment, I popped open the cockpit. Tjen took my hand and helped to draw me out. I carefully hopped over the side, evading the still hot pieces of metal. I smiled at Tjen. She smiled at me. Then she reached past, flicking on the power switch. She dragged me back and I cried out in alarm.

The machine glowed brighter and brighter, before twisting like taffy. Like Von Sebttendorf, it faded piece by piece by piece until it was gone. I gaped at the spot where it had sat, at the steam rising from the circle it had left on the rooftop. The roof's brick looked freshly painted, a contrast against the grime that covered the rest of the building. I looked at Tjen.

She shrugged. "The machine is now scattered, without a driver, across the entire time stream. It's gone, Gipp."

I stepped back...and in the brightness of the noonday sun, I could see that she had changed. Tjen looked like Tjen, yes. But her breasts were larger and sagged against her shirt. Her belly, too, swelled outwards. It was curved and strained against her shirt, giving her a strange, potbellied. She put her hand on her belly, smiling shyly at me. "I'm several months along -- but the baby feels healthy." She paused, looking down at herself. "I know I'm quite ugly now-"

"You're beautiful," I whispered, stepping forward, taking her hands. I squeezed them. "Never doubt that."

Tjen's eyes sparkled with tears. "Now, you see, you have made me cry. How foolish." She sniffed. "S-Shall we go down? See your father?"

I nodded.

Together, we walked to the stairs.

Downstairs, we found that not only had the flat been entirely repaired in our absence, but Father had house guests. He was seated with Darren, who was speaking to him energetically, while Drusilla reclined on the sofa. Adolph and his wife were both standing near the kitchen. Yalen looked star struck as she sat next to Father, gaping at him. Ollie and his wife were drinking and watching their children, who were playing excitedly on the floor. The whole room smelled of fine wine and finer company, and as the two of us walked down, Father exclaimed.

"Gipp!"

"Father!" I laughed, stepping forward. We hugged, and then he stepped back, looking at Tjen. "She's months pregnant! Was it that difficult managing everything?"

"Well, uh," I started, but Tjen was immediately being fawned over by Saavni and Mrs. Law. The two of them led her off into the kitchen, talking about everything she needed. Tjen looked bemused, then pleased by the attention. I shook my head, then smiled at Father. "The important thing is that we're done with it all."

"And my time machine?" Father asked, his eyes sparkling.

I paused. "Gone."

Father considered. Then, looking at his bookshelf, he noted the tomes. One of them included his novel, The Time Machine. He chuckled, quietly, looking at me. "Good."

***

The door to my room closed and my belly felt full. Good food and good friends alike. And more, the fact that everything was as it should be. The world would continue to spin, without me or Von Sebttendorf stomping through it, like tin pot dictators. Reshaping it to our wills. I turned away from the door and saw that Tjen was sprawled in the bed. Her feet were resting on a pile of pillows, while the small of her back was supported by another. She was nude as the day she had been born -- but seeing her like thus, pregnant and expecting, took my breath away. Her breasts had always been small, but now they were fuller and richer. Her nipples had darkened, and her belly swelled with a beautiful curve.

She looked at me with sleepy eyes. "Hello Gipp..." she mumbled.

I walked to the bed, shucking off my jacket with a slow sigh. I slid into the bed next to her, caressing her belly, feeling the tautness of her skin. She sighed with a delicate pleasure, then nuzzled against me as I leaned my head against her.

Quietly, she whispered. "Gipp, I was thinking..."

"Hmm?"

"We are all Adolph Hitler," she said.

I blinked, lifting my head. "Pardon?"

She looked at me. "A change in his youth altered his course forever. Think on it. If he could change so utterly, so completely, from a single choice, what does that say about all of us? We are all worlds, Gipp. And we can all change, if we will it, or if those that raise us will it." She paused. "I was considering how that vile man got his psionic powers. He said that it took dozens of deaths to make his gauntlet, and he said that death caused...entanglement." She paused. "That is because death brings change, and that change can be harnessed."

I nodded, slowly.

"And yet, we resisted him. You, with my power, stopped him. Broke him." She paused. "For...our power was not death."