The Black Pope; The Silver Beatles In New York

ALTERNATE HISTORIAN'S NOTE: We are holding another contest! Please send us entries for an Alternate Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2006. Enter now - deadline will be February 10th! Just 4 days to get your entry in under the wire! (Contest rules) And, another cool thing - Let us know where you are on Frappr!

February 7th, 2006

in 47,371 BCE, Swikolay leads her line of the Speaker’s Children deeper into the heart of Africa. She wants to study how birds fly and see if her children can mimic them. She feels her age creeping up on her, and knows that she will not see them touch the sky, but trusts that they will fulfill Telka’s dream even without her.

in 1100 Post-Creation, after nearly a century of walking, Lucifer and Michael reach the end of Creation. They have discussed their position with each other for decades, and have gone back and forth over obedience to the Creator; when they reach the end of all that is, they have come to an understanding with each other. They decide that they will fly back to Eden and share their new perspective with their angelic fellows.

in 1301, Edward, the Black Pope, became Archbishop of Wales. His only lasting accomplishment for the Holy British Empire was the passing of this title onto each Papal heir; otherwise, his lackluster papacy was distinctive only for its diminishment of the Empire’s influence.

in 1904, Ambassador Li’Kanto’Mk is executed by Q’B’Ton’ra, ruler of the Mlosh homeworld. Q’B’Ton’ra’s fleet is ordered to locate and destroy the embassy ship that is seeking to warn earth of the impending attack.

in 1918, the being that had been trapped in Velma Porter's gem finally finds her cabin, and attacks her. With her husband at her side, though, Porter is easily able to defeat the being; she and von Heflin wonder how he escape from the gem, though. The being cannot be killed by conventional means, so Porter looks for another gem; that is when she notices she is missing one. After securing the being in another gem, they decide to leave their cabin and search for the being's original prison.

in 4616, industrialist An Wang was born in Tangshan, Hebei Province. He provided the leadership and knowledge that drove much of the Chinese Empire’s electronics industry over his lifetime. Once the rest of the world caught up to his innovations, though, he fell behind, and his later years were spent in more obscurity than he wanted.

in 1964, Pete Best’s old band, The Silver Beatles, arrive in New York to test the waters for an American tour. Ed Sullivan books them as a novelty act, but the show is a flop, and their hoped-for American tour never materializes.

in 1969, Faisal Yassin makes contact with Israeli agents who agree to storm the compound that the neo-Nazis have set up for their time-traveling experiment. Wilhelm Schoemann tells him to have them begin their raid when he signals with the code words, “The door is closed”. Schoemann is going to ensure that the timeline he has helped create will not be able to send emissaries to his own.

in 2003, the soviets of Oregon and British Columbia surrender to the Soviet States of America after popular uprisings topple their leaders. Diehard revolutionaries in the Idaho Soviet invade Oregon briefly, but are driven out by good comrades inside the soviet who are unwilling to belong to the People’s Republic of America anymore.

in 2005, when the Save Earth group arrives at the warehouse in Houston, one of their number, Max Liebersohn, surreptitiously drops out and circles around the warehouse as Jeanna Best leads the group in. When they are ambushed by a number of “Claw” guards in the warehouse, Liebersohn manages to rescue them with some automatic weapons fire and more than a little bravado. Best is taken back to Austin, where she is put through harsh deprogramming.

Timelines in today's post: the Speaker, the Fall, the Holy British Empire, the Mlosh, von Heflin, the Chinese Empire, the GZR, Pete Best, Communist America and The Claw.

Today's "Six Degrees of Star Trek" challenge: Connect the Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night to Star Trek. Place your answers in the comments and see the Forum for previous results. For more on 6 degrees games, click here.

Get yourself into TIAH!

The Forum lives again!

Good long fiction from the AH.

Help the Alternate Historian get a better day job!
My email address for contacting me with your good news, or for more direct goodness, go to the web site and leave a comment, buy a book, or leave a Paypal donation! Remember, it's only 6 degrees of separation between you and anyone else - and thanks again!