Poseidon Corps' 1st Mission; Yang Gao

September 7th, 2005

in 1776, HMS Eagle, the flagship of British Admiral Richard Howe, is sunk by a bomb that had been attached by an American patriot in a submersible. The success of this mission led to the formation of the deadly Poseidon Corps of submersibles. No British ship was safe in an American harbor after this, when stealthy death could come from below them.

in 1282, Caliph Baudouin of the Walloon establishes the Bierfestival, the one day of the year when good Muslims of the kingdom were allowed to drink fermented beverages. Although denounced as heresy by most Imams, the Bierfestival quickly became a huge tourist attraction from all sections of Islam.

in 1924, Daniel Inouye, future leader of the Hawaiian sect of the Semitic-African Resistance, was born in Honolulu. As a young man, Inouye became involved in radical politics, and fought with the remnants of the Greater Zionist Resistance as the New Reich advanced across Asia in 1944-48. Inouye lost the use of his arm during a mortar barrage in Nanking, and was spirited back to the States before his unit could be taken by the Reich. After recovering from his wound, Inouye turned to voicing the S.A.R.’s concerns in the political arena in Hawaii.

in 1935, physicist Richard C. Tolman published his paper, Parallel Universes & Their Consequences On Our Own, detailing his proof that alternate universes had to exist. While this part of his paper is generally accepted among the scientific community, the second part, which predicted random crossovers from other universes into ours, was largely ignored. It is possible that the reason behind that was the cult that Tolman began in the 40’s, which claimed to be able to control these crossovers.

in 1940, Philo T. Farnsworth, transmissions specialist with Dynamic Pictures, sent an entire film across the Knowledge Railroad. Anyone with Rail access was able to view the 48-minute film Captain of the Guard after agreeing to a small fee to be added onto their Rail access bill. This revolutionized the film industry and the Railroad; profits for both exploded in the coming years.

in 1950, the League of Nations rejects a plea from the Soviet States of America to condemn the bombing of West Jamaica by the anti-Communist European Coalition. The Coalition had won League support for their mission to prevent the West Jamaican communists from invading the East Jamaicans just two months before.

in 1959, Huan Yue touches the mind of Li Huang-Sen, but tells him that he must not seek her any further or harm may come to him. Li tells her that he doesn’t care, and will seek her though death itself awaits him; Huan Yue’s mind disappears, and the man who took her tells Li that death is, indeed, waiting for him.

in 1979, saying, “Government shouldn’t be in the business of bail-outs,” President Ronald Reagan makes one of his most unpopular decisions and rejects plans to aid the financially-challenged Chrysler Corporation. Ever since winning office in ’76, Reagan had been attempting to pare the size of government down; this move, which threw tens of thousands of Chrysler employees out of work, made his popularity plummet, never to recover.

in 1996, rappers Tupac Shakur and Marion “Suge” Knight are shot while leaving a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas. Knight dies of his injuries, but Shakur recovers. 4 months later, he is arrested while attempting to kill the gangsters that he felt were responsible for the original shooting.

in 1996, Professor Malcolm Thomas visits Dr. Melvin Courtney in the Edwards Air Force base infirmary. Dr. Courtney is unconscious, but the doctors are optimistic that a couple of days of intravenous fluids will bring him back to health. Meanwhile, the brass at the base are anxious to learn about the object’s flight capabilities, and are leaning on Professor Thomas to show them what he knows.

in 4697, in orbit around Yang Gao, Admiral Hu’s ship begins acting strangely. Without commands from the crew, it breaks orbit and plunges into the atmosphere of the planet below. Before his comm cuts out, Admiral Hu commands the other 4 ships to leave orbit and get greater distance from the planet; moments after the command is given, his ship impacts on the planet below, and sensors on the remaining 4 ships of the fleet begin reading nothing but static from Yang Gao. Captain Wu Banqquo orders the fleet to break orbit and put distance between themselves and the planet; as this is being done, another ship goes haywire and plunges into the atmosphere. Captain Wu orders probes launched; he wants more information before either turning around, or attempting to land on the planet.

in 2004, the miraculous technology of the Elders is able to save the young son of Egyptian President Mubarak, who had been shot by rioters the day before. Doctors in Cairo had been unable to do anything, and Mubarak had turned to the Elder delegation in desperation. After they cured his boy, he pledged Egypt’s loyalty to them.


TIAH HALLOWEEN CONTEST

In order to provide for the upkeep of our new historian, Today In Alternate History is sponsoring its first contest - make a donation at our Paypal link, then email us up to 3 alternate history entries for October 31st, 2005. The best 10 entries will make up the entire content of the post on October 31st, Halloween day. Boring contest information is available on our Forum link below. Enter early and often!

Also, we still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

Forum Link - Boring legal info on the TIAH Halloween Contest!
Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?

Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, voting for the winner is now over. Be sure to watch Sept. 9 for the winner, and watch the pilots at http://aol.com/situationcomedy

Still wishing...

As your humble alternate historian enters the downhill slope of the 40's, he still has his birthday wish - a contract with a publishing company like Workman Publishing to produce a page-a-day calendar of TIAH. If you are an editor for such a company, or can place us in touch with one, please fulfill this belated birthday wish!