Meeting

The state of TIAH

November 24th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting, and he is going to be joined by Guest Historian JD – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, on board the Mary Celeste, the final entry is entered in the logbook, placing the ship 100 miles west of the Azores. Very much aware now that something is dreadfully wrong, Captain Briggs prays silently for the speedy rendezvous with the Dei Gratia. An officer as well as a puritan, he takes the precaution of placing a sword under his bed. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1940, U.S. President-elect Charles Lindburgh fulfilled a campaign promise by arriving in Great Britain to meet with Prime Minister Oswald Mosley and King Edward VIII. The alignment of fascist powers in the two Axis countries is of great concern to the social democracies of Central Europe and thoughts in the Weimar Republic turn to a proportionate response such as expelling Great Britain from the League of Nations. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1946, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender was signed on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Following the rapid conclusion of Operation Downfall, the Soviet Union's advancement onto the home islands had been limited to Hokkaidō where the Democratic People's Republic of Japan was declared the following year. From the capital city of Sapporo, North Japan (as it was known) glared with unrelenting hatred upon its capitalist southern neighbour, leading to the bitterest of the proxy conflicts that traumatised South-east Asia during the Cold War. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1990, the exComm3 subcommittee in Whitehall, London are frustrated by the very limited intelligence feeds they are receiving from Kuwait since the Iraqi occupation. The subcommittee members would be hysterical if they were to find out that the Iraqi's Extraterrestrial allies are seaborne creatures making the most of unrestricted access to the Persian Gulf. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
The instructions the old man at the gas station had given her were almost perfect; Janice was skirting Waco and would soon be turning on her way to Crawford. She turned on the radio and listened to the emergency lady tell her that curfew was now in effect, and any citizen caught on the roads would be taken into custody. The emergency lady went on to say that telephone service should be restored in a few days, and regular television and radio broadcasting shortly after that, barring any other emergencies.
“The governor has requested that all Texans assist in our recovery efforts by cooperating with the authorities,” the emergency lady said.
“I bet he'd like that,” Janice muttered. She was already about an hour and a half past cooperating; she was lucky that everyone else was, because she was driving with her lights off. At nightfall, she had decided to play this stealthily. She had pulled out her night-vision goggles and was hopefully invisible in the darkness.
She had done this once before, when she snuck past the military barrier at Groom Lake and nearly got caught by that cute MP. That entire mile she drove then had left her hands sore from gripping the wheel of her old car so tightly.
This time, she had been driving for an hour and had covered nearly 30 miles, and her clothes were damp from the sweat she was covered in. She jumped every time a squirrel or bird crossed her path; an armadillo had nearly caused her to wreck about ten miles back. She knew that she couldn't keep this up much longer, but wanted the cover of night to pull this off.
She reached the farm fence that the old man had told her about. Sure enough, when she turned down the driveway and drove up to the farm, it was dilapidated and abandoned. Right behind it, she saw the other side of the driveway leading off to a dirt road. She bounced down it and was soon heading towards Crawford. According to the old man, this road led right past the president's ranch.
She turned off the emergency lady and her mindless propaganda and turned her recorder back on. “Personal journal, Janice Carbonari. I am possibly ten miles from the Crawford target location, and have managed to evade the National Guard, so far. I am being forced to use techniques that are, quite frankly, dangerous, but I feel that it is worth it in order to determine the truth of this matter. From everything I have been able to learn, it seems very unlikely that a nuclear explosion went off this morning anywhere near Crawford, Texas.” She glanced over at the Geiger counter, which was registering normal levels of background radiation. “My Geiger counter is reading normally. This close, it should be giving me some kind of elevated reading, but no. I will be keeping an eye on it as I move closer; in the next hour, possibly less, it should start going crazy. My bet is that it's going to keep quiet and steady the entire time.”
She turned off the recorder and concentrated on the road ahead. Her poor car was going to need some serious work after this; she was pretty sure that the shocks were going out on her. She felt every bump right up her spine.
She kept an eye on her odometer, and when she had driven down the dirt road for ten miles, she stopped and turned off the engine. She got out and looked to the southwest, the direction that the old guy had said the ranch was. There was certainly no evidence of an explosion around her; no flattened trees, no smoking debris, nothing. But, she couldn't see the ranch, itself. She couldn't even tell if there was any structure in front of her at all.
She needed to gain some elevation so that she could see further, but the land around her was pretty flat. She looked off in the distance and saw what she thought was probably Waco. She thought for a minute, then got back in her car and drove back to the abandoned farmhouse, then back to the main road, where she pointed her car in the direction of Waco.

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Suspicions

The state of TIAH

November 23rd, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting, and he is going to be joined by Guest Historian JD – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, on board the Mary Celeste, and after considering his Captain’s briefing, Richardson believes that they are part of an elaborate deception by the New York ship-owners J.H. Winchester and Co. to exploit the bad luck reputation of the Celeste for commercial gain. A $3,000 ship carrying $34,000 worth of cargo is after all suspicious. He suspects the barrels are full of seawater. The ship will be wrecked and J.H. Winchester and Co will over claim the insurance, making a handsome profit. The Dei Gratia will rescue the crew. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1945, the automatic “three strikes” policy of the non-proliferation committee for the Congress of Worlds mandates a decision in relation to the distant planet earth. A meeting is quickly convened. Agreement is quickly reached on the authenticity of alerts from remote sensors of a third thermonuclear detonation. The geographic pattern of detonations when correlated with sentient population distribution suggests a type 1 scenario (the ‘immediate application’ model); that being a test detonation in a remote corner of the aggressor’s territory followed by short-term offensive activity in a populated area. A decision is taken to authorise an exploratory mission that will land close to the site of the first detonation ETA Roswell, New Mexico at the earliest launch window, July 1947. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1946, the second set of trials of lesser war criminals at Nuremberg commences. In the Sailor's Trials, charges are brought for the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kébir, French North Africa (now Algeria) by the Royal Navy which took place on 3 July 1940. Force H, based in Gibraltar led by the aircraft carrier the Ark Royal killed 1,297 and wounded 350 French sailors in this “wanton and unnecessary” attack. The surrender demand from British Admiral James Somerville " your ships..entrusted to the United States and remain safe until the end of the war, the crews being repatriated... I have the orders from His Majesty's Government to use whatever force may be necessary to prevent your ships from falling into German hands." is presented to the court noting that the offer to Admiral Marcel-Bruno Gensoul mirrored instructions already provided by French Marine Minister Admiral Darlan. Further noted was a contemporaneous statement by Somerville who was less enthusiastic about the action saying that it was "the biggest political blunder of modern times and will rouse the whole world against us…we all feel thoroughly ashamed…". At the Sailor's trial, Somerville took ultimate responsibility for the action and was executed before Christmas Day 1946. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1990, a meeting of exComm3 gets under way in an underground room at Admiralty House, Whitehall, London. The subcommittee is charged with executing the long-term project to respond to the discovery of Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) hidden in Iraq. In fact former CIA Director George Bush had developed a long-term plan for harnessing ET since his access to Project Blue Book in the mid-70s, but needed the Presidency to make it happen. So far all the Committee have agreed on this year is the need to keep Thatcher in power to stop the US Administration from 'going wobbly'; they just cannot trust Neil Kinnock to pull this off. Neither can they level with the Great British Public, so they hit on the idea of vaguely threatening weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to build up hysteria and anti-Iraqi hostility in the western media. Of course they need a casus belli for an armed incursion into Iraq to seize the ET to safeguard freedom and democracy in the world. This isn't the nineteenth century, its going to be a whole lot tougher than snatching the Elgin Marbles out of the Ottoman Empire in 1806. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
Steph let her father talk to the kids and she tried to get some food ready for them. She heard Joan catching herself almost telling her grandfather about the Johnsons a couple of times, but she never got the words out. She eventually just handed the phone to George, who blathered about unimportant things for several minutes.
Joan walked over and began helping her mother with the food. Without looking at Steph, she asked, “Why don't we go to Tyler?”
“I don't want to get caught on the road in all this, Joanie.”
“Yeah, but I just...” She caught herself looking out the window at the house across the street, and turned back to the food. “I can't even look at it, now.”
“I know.” Steph placed a hand on Joan's. “I know, baby. But, it'll go away.” She turned her attention back to the hamburger she was shaping. “That's the thing about pain. It doesn't stick around forever.” Joan nodded, and went to get the hamburger buns out of the cupboard.
George came in and looked at the tray Steph was working on. “Yeah, no school and burgers. It's a great day.” He toddled off to the living room to watch his movie again.
Steph and Joan looked at each other and laughed. “I guess it's all in how you look at it.”

The air inside the hazmat suit was stale and smelled strongly of rubber. It made Kevin a little light-headed, and he said so. Sergeant Morris just told him, “Suck it up, you'll get used to it.”
“Right. Suckin' it up, sergeant.” He saluted and stopped complaining. It had been years since he had to follow orders, but it was all coming back to him. Much as he didn't want it to. “You know, when I'm a millionaire playboy after all this, I think I'm gonna move to a tropical island. Live like Gilligan.”
“Long as you got a Mary Ann on that island.”
“Or two.” They laughed and high-fived each other. Morris was not in a suit, which made his suck it up have a little less weight in Kevin's mind, but he had assured Kevin that he had worn the suit a thousand times. “So, are we ready to go now?”
“Show me how you check your oxygen.” Kevin pointed at the small readout on his left wrist. “Radiation levels.” Kevin pointed at another small readout. “Atmospheric density.” Kevin looked confusedly at the wrist controls. “Nah, I'm just screwin' with you; that's not on there. You're ready.”
“Can I take this thing off, then?”
“Yeah, go ahead. We won't need 'em again till we get outside Waco.”
Kevin walked back to the locker and turned off the air pump in the suit. Then, he unfastened what seemed liked dozens of zippers, snaps and hooks and shucked off the suit. He packed it carefully back into the sack and hefted the sack onto his shoulder.
Sergeant Morris came into the locker room and pulled down a bag for himself. “OK, I got the directions. We're gonna be goin' to the meteorology building on the Baylor campus, and they got a list of computers they need you to pull information out of.” He handed the list to Kevin, who looked it over quickly.
“This is a lot of computers.”
“We got all day.”
“We're not goin' now?”
“Nope, we leave at 0500 tomorrow. Curfew's gonna hit in about an hour, and they don't want us on the road there after dark.” He shoved the printout with his instructions into his pocket and looked up at Kevin. “Hey, Bradley, you got anyplace to stay?”
“Not really. I guess I'll sleep here, if you got any barracks.”
“Well, I was gonna go see if my ex-wife and my kids were all right, spend the night there.” Kevin smirked. “Not like that; she hates my guts. I just wanna be sure... you know.”
“Yeah, I understand, sergeant. You go on, I'll be OK here.”
“No, I mean – you can come, too. She's got a couple of couches. We can leave for Waco from there.” He was walking out of the locker room with his hazmat bag. “She's outside of Pflugerville. Closer to Waco than here.”

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Assassinations

The state of TIAH

November 22nd, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting, and he is going to be joined by Guest Historian JD – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill opens his daily post in his suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City. The headline of the German newspaper Die Zeitung reads 'Fugitives from Justice' above a picture of the great lion himself, Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee and King George VI, leader of Free French Forces Charles de Gaulle and Yugoslav partisan Josep Broz Tito. A smaller article below reports that US President Charles Lindbergh is close to signing extradition papers which would hand Churchill over to the Nazis. He had anticipated this; with his suitcases at the door, he will check out today and head north by train to Canada to join the Royal Family and British Government in Exile. De Gaulle is close by in Quebec, but they will not be rushing to see each other any time soon. Bad relations started from the Battle of France and were destroyed by the scuttling of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. Field Marshall Montgomery had publicly called the Phoney War preparations a “disaster” and spent his entire time in France rehearsing, and then executing a masterful retreat to Dunkirk. Then Churchill had sunk the French Fleet before it fell into German hands. De Gaulle judged these betrayals to be the usual treacheries from “perfidious albion”. On reflection, Churchill would not be that surprised if de Gaulle was encouraging the Québécois to secede from Canada right now. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1962, in Minsk, the Soviet citizen Alek James Hidell, (formerly known as US Marine Lee Harvey Oswald), is arrested by the KGB for the assassination of Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev. Released thirty years later following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Hidell reveals all on world-wide television during the US presidential campaign of 1992. Khruschev was eliminated by CIA agents as a precursor to the US invasion of Cuba later that same year which a weakened politburo was unable to resist effectively, with Hidell chosen as a convenient patsy. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1963, Lyndon Baines Johnson is assassinated in Dallas, Texas by lone gunman Ilich Ramírez Sánchez - popularly known as "Carlos the Jackal". The diaries of wife Lady Bird Johnson, published after her death in 2010 reveal that the episode was stage managed by Texan sympathisers to enable Johnson to escape into obscurity from the many scandals enveloping his Vice Presidency. Unable to similarly effect an escape from his addictions to tobacco and the soda drink known as Fresca, Johnson died at 4:33 p.m. on January 22, 1973 from a third heart attack at an unknown location, at age 64. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
The ringing of the phone startled all three of them. Steph hurried over to the one in the kitchen and picked it up. “Hello?”
“Steph? Baby, are you all right?”
“Dad, we're OK,” she said, sitting down again. The kids had wandered into the kitchen and looked at her expectantly. “It's your Grandpa Hughes.” They both relaxed, and George climbed into her lap.
“I wanna talk to him.”
“Just a minute, honey. Dad, how'd you get through?”
“I been callin' since 7 this mornin'. Dang phone finally actin' right. Don't understand why I couldn't call you, it's not like you're in Waco, you're in dang Pflugerville, I should be able to call you. I woulda driven over there, but soldiers are all over the dang place, tellin' us to stay put, not go anywhere. It's like I was in the Army again.”
Steph smiled as her father went through this tirade. Just hearing him complain made her feel better. “Is mom all right?”
“She's fine, she's fine. You know her, end of the world, just like she always said. She 'spects her butt's gonna get raptured any second now.” Steph heard the muffled sound of him turning his head away from the phone and shouting at his wife, “Cain't leave me that easy, woman!” He turned back to the phone and said, “How are the kids?”
“They're OK, just a little shook up. And there was something this morning...” She locked eyes with Joan and stroked her cheek. “But, we can talk about that later. I'm still a little worried I haven't heard from Jake, yet.”
“That worthless boy ain't comin' back to you, Steph,” her father said. “Jeff Howard was askin' about you just the other day, you know. Y'all could come back to Tyler, kids could go to a decent school, you could get with a good man...”
“Dad, I'm not ready to date, yet.” The kids both smiled at her. This was a conversation they had heard many times between Grandpa Hughes and their mother. “But, thanks for the offer.”
“All right, then.” He decided to let it drop. “Look, once they open the roads again, maybe you and the kids should come on up here. I don't like it that you're that close to Austin.”
“I know, but I think Pflugerville's far enough away that... that we don't have to worry about what might happen if there's another attack.” She didn't want to say what kind of attack in front of George; Joan's worried look was bad enough. “I imagine once they open the roads again, traffic's gonna be pretty bad, and I don't wanna fight that. We'll be fine.”
“OK, baby.” He was disappointed, but he let it go. “I love you,” he said, quietly, fervently.
That almost made her start crying; her father never said that. “I love you, too, dad.”

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Mission

The state of TIAH

November 21st, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting, and he is going to be joined by Guest Historian JD – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, 2-year-old child Sophia Matilda Briggs is drawing in the Captain’s Quarters. Pictures of goats litter the room. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1946, Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE DSO and Bar DFC and Bar FRAeS DL LegH CdeG RAF pleads guilty to the charge of shooting down twenty two German planes during World War II, the fifth highest total in the RAF. Shot down himself on August 9, 1941 Bader was imprisoned at Stalag Luft III at Sagan and Colditz Castle Oflag IV-C where he made numerous escape attempts despite the loss of both legs in a pre-war flying accident . Bader and Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory were active exponents of the controversial Big Wing theory, an aggressive policy of assembling large formations of defensive fighters north of London ready to inflict maximum damage on the massed German bomber formations as they flew over South East England. The duo failed to sell the strategy to the leaders of Fighter Command Air Marshal Hugh Dowding and Air Vice Marshal Keith Park; instead careful husbanding tactics were pursued by the RAF, contributing in no small part to the British defeat in the air war at the hands of the more aggressive Luftwaffe. The four were still arguing about the pros and cons of the two strategies right up until the execution of Bader on Christmas Eve of 1946. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1953, Officials at the British Natural History Museum have finished their study of the Piltdown Man skull and are preparing to release their findings to the press. A young researcher retrieves the skull from cold storage to perform one more chemical analysis on the substance used to stain the cranium to give it the appearance of age, when he notices something odd. Residue of some variety has built up on the interior of the skull, and the entire object feels slightly heavier in his hand. Before his very eyes, the skull's darkened sheen begins to fade, leaving it the color of fresh bone within minutes. By the time he can summon his superiors and return to the laboratory, the artifact has changed in an even more frightening way; The broken gaps in the skull have sealed, and new growth is evident along the fractured mandible where the monkey's jaw was supposed to have attached.
Within three hours, the jaw is whole and well-formed, complete with teeth, a layer of pinkish-gray flesh has grown over the entire artifact, and it has become warm. The panicked staff of the Museum are at a loss to explain or deal with this phenomenon, and place calls to several eminent university professors, as well as the Ministry of Health. The researcher under whose notice the transformation began tentatively and fearfully suggests destroying the skull, before being angrily shouted down by the scientists in attendance. Later, however, some of these would have cause to regret their overreaction... - entry by Guest Historian JD -

in 2126, the moderate members in the Peace and Reconciliation Committee of the Reconstructed United Nations triumph. The showcase trial of Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikriti versus the redneck George Walker Bush ends in farce when the Arab nationalist Hussein confesses his weakness for imperial consumerism. Post-jihad anger is released and the consensus is that just like Hussein all men are guilty of human weakness. Even Rafsanjani confesses that Bush has struck a blow for truth. Case closed. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
Kevin walked into the Armory and saluted the officer sitting at the desk. “I'm Specialist Kevin Bradley; I was ordered to report to duty in Bryan, but I ain't gonna make it there.”
The officer returned the salute and snorted. “KBE, right?” Kevin nodded. “Yeah, they been threatenin' a lot of folks. Don't worry, Specialist Bradley, we'll let your unit in Bryan know you're here with us.” The officer turned to his computer and pulled up Kevin's file. “Computer specialist?”
“Yes, sir.”
“We could use you, then. They requisitioned all of ours for some mission up in Dallas.” He printed a form out and pulled out a pen. “Sign here, Bradley, and you're safe from prosecution.”
Kevin took the pen and signed his name on the line at the bottom. “Why do I feel like I'm gonna wish I was back in Bryan?”
“Cuz you are,” the officer said, taking the form and filing it away. “We're sendin' you into Waco.”
Kevin blinked a couple of times. “Waco?”
“Yep, they want to collect some information that's on the computers at Baylor. They can't connect through the Internet, so we have to send somebody in to see if the EMP took 'em out or if the connection's just down.”
“Beggin' your pardon, sir, but isn't there radiation in Waco?”
“High levels, from what they tell us,” the officer said. “You'll need a suit.” He picked up his phone and dialed an extension. “Morris, get in here.”
A tall black sergeant walked into the room and saluted the officer, who returned it. “Sergeant Morris, Specialist Bradley.” The two shook hands, and the officer continued on. “Morris, you're going to escort Bradley here to Baylor University in Waco - “
“Waco, sir?” Morris was a little shocked.
“Did I stutter?” After Morris regained his composure, the officer went on. “Give him the crash course in how to use a hazmat suit, and make sure he don't die while he's there.” The officer printed out the mission parameters and handed them to Morris, with a copy for Kevin. “Dismissed. And good luck.”
“Waco,” Morris muttered as they walked towards the supply wing. “Who'd I piss off?”
“Not anybody worse than me,” Kevin said, chuckling. “I just won last night's lottery.”
Sergeant Morris stopped and placed a hand on Kevin's chest. “The lottery. Millions of dollars.”
“Yep.”
“That's why you're in Austin?”
“Yep.”
Morris slapped Kevin's back and howled. “Bradley, you have got to be the unluckiest lucky son of a gun in the world!”
“Yep.”
The Guard unit here was almost deserted; most of the soldiers were already out in the field. They didn't pass anyone as they marched their way into the hazardous materials room. Sergeant Morris picked out a pair of protective suits and tossed one to Kevin. “All right, first lesson is how to get dressed.”

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Chance Meeting

The state of TIAH

November 20th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, on board the Mary Celeste and during the night inspection First Mate Albert Richardson notices a slow release of vapours starting from barrel #1701. Richardson who had served in the American Civil War was unaware that the chief agent provacateur for that human tragedy was but a few meters away from him in a state approaching semi-consciousness. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1945, at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice a series of trials began most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military and economical leadership of the former Allies who had waged war on Nazi Germany. The first and best known of these trials was the Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) which was held from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. 24 of the most important captured leaders of the British Armed Forces were tried including Field Marshals Alan Francis Brooke, John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker (Lord Gort), Bernard Law Montgomery, Archibald Percival Wavell, Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham and also Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris (Head of RAF Bomber Command), Air Marshal Hugh Dowding and Air Vice Marshal Keith Park (Head and Deputy Head of RAF Fighter Command). By Christmas Day 1946, all of them had been executed with the exception of the Head of Bomber Command. On October 16 1946 Harris suicided, which was very much in character; he preferred to remain in control. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2126, through the application of the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device George Walker Bush is delivered for justice and called to the stand for trial by the Peace and Reconciliation Committee of the Reconstructed United Nations. Exhibit for the Defense - A: Candy bars discovered December 2003 by US Marines in the hideaway of Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikriti. Exhibit for the Defense B: Revealing pictures of scantily clad Caucasian ladies discovered in Hussein's palaces in Baghdad. The cold finger of fear runs down arch-conservative Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani's back. This is NOT going to plan. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
She was being stymied at every turn. Janice had tried every route into Waco that she could find, but there were troops everywhere. She had now circled all the way around the city and was running out of gas again. She might be able to try the back way into Crawford, so she kept going past Waco and further west, keeping an eye open for a gas station.
A new problem was about to present itself to her; according to the Emergency Broadcasting announcer, there would be a 7PM curfew in effect all over Texas, which was going to be hard for her to obey. If she couldn't circle around into Crawford before then, she was going to have to look for a motel, or a deserted area where she wouldn't be found sleeping in her car.
A small convenience store caught her eye, and she pulled in. It was one of those little fruit-stand/barbecue/gift shop places that sat in the middle of nowhere specifically for people who needed to stop to rest from the road. She pulled in, parked next to the gas pumps, and got out. Her legs protested the confinement of the car all day, so she stretched and shook them till they weren't sore anymore. Then, she walked inside the store.
The proprietor, an older man with a paunch and gray hair that was almost still all his own, said, “Howdy.” He had the TV on, of course, with the emergency lady telling all good citizens the news that the government wanted them to hear, and he barely spared Janice a glance, turning back to the tube right after he greeted her.
She didn't mind; somebody who was distracted would be easier to get information out of. She walked up to the counter and pulled out a couple of Andrew Jacksons. “I just need some gas, please.”
He kept his eye mostly on the TV as he rang her up and turned on the pump. “You on your way home, miss? They gonna be shuttin' down the roads in a few hours.”
“Oh, no,” she said, feigning surprise. “See, I've got to get to El Paso by tomorrow morning for an important meeting.”
“I'm sure whoever you're meetin'll understand,” he said. He kept staring at the TV with a haunted look. “I didn't even hear anything.”
Janice felt like she had lucked out. This guy was talking without any prompting. “Didn't hear anything?”
“The bomb. I mean, I usually cain't sleep too late, so's I get up around 3:30 or 4 most ever day. When they said the bomb went off, I was on my way here, and I didn't hear or see nothin'. Didn't know what happened till I turned the set on here.” He sat down on the stool behind the counter and leaned an arm over to rest himself. “Dang terrorists. He was such a good man. I saw him, you know. Saw him when he was runnin' fer governor, the first time. Passed through here, with all the reporters and everthin', and still took time to shake my hand and ask my name.” A small tear ran down his face, and he turned away from her while he wiped at it. “Sorry.”
“I understand.” She patted his arm comfortingly. “Funny you didn't see the blast. Crawford's just what, 30, maybe 40 miles away?”
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Maybe they got one of them suitcase nukes, like in the spy movies. Big enough to blow up your target, but not big enough to get notice far away.”
“Maybe,” she said, nodding in agreement. “But, middle of the night like that, you'd think even a small bomb would make a ruckus.”
“Yeah.” He turned away from the television set, clearly confused, now. “Why didn't I see it?”
Janice took a shot. “Maybe it didn't really happen.”
He mulled that over in his mind for a second. “Why would they do all this, then?”
“People in power have their reasons,” she said.
He looked out the window, then at her, meeting her eyes for the first time since she had walked into his store. “I don't believe that he'd do somethin' like this. Not that man.”
“Didn't necessarily have to be him.”
His mouth tightened. “Them Democrats. They'd do this.”
She decided not to get into the politics of the situation, so she said, “Look, I'm trying to find a way into Crawford to see if I can prove what really happened. Do you know a way in?”
He looked a little shocked, like she'd just proposed he join her in a bank heist. But, he regained himself and pulled out a map. “All right. You take this road out here for about twenty more miles...”

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Extinction

The state of TIAH

November 19th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, on board the Mary Celeste, Azâzêl continues to awaken inside barrel #1701. In his agitation of the recent Civil War, his cunning had undone him and he had inadvertently revealed himself to his human adversaries. His captors had suspended him in raw alcohol for shipment to Italy where he would be imprisoned in the safety of the Vatican. However papal officers had lost their nerve and in a change of plan they decided to blow up the ship in deep waters instead. Azâzêl had never bought into that plan. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1990, news leaks to the western press of the American "green light" for the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Ambassador April Glaspie was quoted as telling senior Iraq officials back in July that "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait. .. [US Secretary of State] James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize ..you can solve this problem using any suitable methods". This duplicitous statement is of course totally at odds with the aggressive noises now coming out of Downing Street and the White House. Few realise that Bush and Thatcher need the up and coming Gulf War to maintain their hold on power; the two are looking for a new Falklands Factor given their deep unpopularity so close to elections in their respective countries. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2054, the United Nations Commission for the Survival of Life on Earth (UNCSLE) confirms the extinction of fish species in the northern hemisphere. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
Trucks lumbered down the dirt road outside of her house as Steph and her kids were pulling down the blankets that George had stapled in front of the windows. She half-expected one of them to pull into her driveway and drop off her ex-husband Jake, but they all continued on towards Austin. The kids were watching, too, and she was pretty sure they had the same hope.
Hope? No, that wasn't a hope, she told herself. She didn't want to see Jake, especially not in a crisis that would give him an excuse to pull his take-charge BS on her again. She could get through this fine without him.
Joan turned away from the window and turned on the DVD player. “Mom, I'm gonna watch a movie,” she said. “I'm tired of this emergency chick.”
“OK, honey. Just pick something that Georgie'll like, too.”
“Mom,” Joan whined.
“Oh, I wanna watch the witches one!”
“Fine,” Joan said, giving in. She found the DVD and slid it into the player, grabbed the remote control and plopped down on the couch in front of the TV. George joined her, and soon they were happily occupied.
Steph turned the radio in the kitchen on to low volume and brewed herself a small pot of tea. She looked over at the kids and felt sick. She just couldn't get Mrs. Johnson out of her mind. She had known the woman for years, and her husband, too; she couldn't believe they were gone now, and for what? Because they were scared of terrorists?
Steph was a little scared, but didn't think there was anything close enough to them to attack. Austin was far enough away that she felt pretty safe if another nuke went off. That's why I live in the country, she thought, answering her own question from this morning.
The tea looked strong enough, so she grabbed a tall cup and filled it with ice. She poured the hot tea over the ice, then dolloped in two heaping spoonfuls of sugar. She thought about it for a second, then added another spoonful. She absent-mindedly stirred while the “emergency chick”, as Joan had called her, continued to call for people to remain calm, to obey the National Guard, to not loot, and of course, to stay tuned.
The number of trucks had finally thinned out. She hadn't seen one in a while, when one pulled over to the Johnson's. She saw a small team of men spill out and run into the house, carrying large bags. Inside the truck, she could see several other bags, already filled. After several minutes, the team carried out two filled bags from the Johnson's place and flopped them on top of the other bags inside the truck.
Steph prayed to God that Jake wasn't having to do that job.

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Dreams

The state of TIAH

November 18th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, on board the Mary Celeste and during a routine inspection of the cargo at nightfall, seamen Boy Lorenson and Volkert Lorenson are spooked by the rattling noises of three barrels. They hurry back to the deck without reporting the noises to Captain Briggs. That night, they both share a terrible dream. Playing the part of Isaac, they are about to be sacrificed by father Abraham. Instead of being substituted however, Abraham turns into a terrifying goat and prepares to stab them… at which point they wake up screaming. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1946, former British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill opens his daily post in his suite at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City. The headline of the German newspaper Die Zeitung reads 'This man of hate' reporting the execution of RAF Wing Commander Guy Gibson two days before at the Nuremberg Trials. The Nazi paper shows two pictures. One of the destruction of the Moehne and Eder dams by "bouncing bombs" on May 16, 1943. The other shows Gibson in a prison cell with his beloved black Labrador. The dog's name is a racial slur in English. The Nazi press makes great show of this racist tag, describing the British as hypocrites and bigots. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2126, the showcase trial of Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikriti versus the redneck George Walker Bush gets underway in Doha, Qatar. The Peace and Reconciliation Committee of the Reconstructed United Nations permits the Al Jazeera television channel to deliver live coverage across the globe. Arch-conservative Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani confidently anticipates that the twenty-first century's greatest hate figure will generate the equivalent of a nuclear reaction in post-Jihad society. The Committee will then be forced to authorize the use of the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device to correct historical injustices by sending jihadists into the past, rather than just summoning arch-criminals such as Bush, Columbus, Captain Cook et al. for retribution in the present-day. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
Kevin felt doubly fortunate that there was a branch of his bank within 7 blocks of the lottery building, and that it was open. Not too many people working, and he was also the only customer. He walked up to the teller and said, “Hi. I'm gonna need to make a deposit.”
The young man handed him a slip without turning from the television that was playing the EBS. There was a map of central Texas with a large circle centered on Crawford showing on the screen. Kevin put that out of his mind and filled out the deposit slip. He endorsed the cashier's check from the lottery, and then decided that he wanted a little walkin'-around money. He put down on the deposit slip that he wanted a hundred grand in cash. He then slid the check and slip over to the teller.
The young man turned away from the TV and looked down at the deposit slip. “Whoa.” He looked at the check, then looked up at Kevin. “You won the one last night?”
Kevin nodded and smiled ruefully. “Yep.”
The teller laughed and leaned over to the other teller working there. “Hey, this guy just won the lotto.”
She and the other people who had been watching the EBS turned away and looked over at him. She took a look at the check and said, “Hey, you wanna get married?”
Everyone laughed, and Kevin said, “Maybe later. I'm in kind of a hurry, though,” he said. “I have to report in to the National Guard.”
The male teller blinked and shook his head. “Man, talk about the good and the bad comin' all at once.” He tapped a few keys on his keyboard, then looked a little sheepish. “Uh, well, normally, Mr. Bradley, we only allow customers to get as much cash as they have in their account when they deposit a check.” A well-dressed woman behind Kevin shook her head and waved dismissively at the teller. “But, I guess we can make an exception today.”
“I appreciate that,” Kevin said. He was tapped on the shoulder and turned around to see the well-dressed woman holding a camera-phone.
“Sir, can I get a picture of you with Don, here? Kind of the one bright point today?”
“Sure,” he said, leaning over towards the teller as the teller leaned towards him. The camera buzzed, and the teller straighted up. Kevin just stayed there for a minute.
“You OK, sir?”
Kevin nodded. A little lop-sided smile sat on his face as he said, “I'd been plannin' on buying a nice car soon as I got the cash, but I guess I'm gonna have to wait, now.” He looked over at the teller heading towards the vault to get more money. “Why'd they have to do it today?”
“Why'd they have to do it at all?” She patted him on the back. “You're a good man for going in. I bet most people would take this money and just run off for Mexico or someplace.” She smiled in pride at him.
“Believe me, I thought about it.” She laughed. “Some days, you just gotta stand up, though.”
“Today's sure one of those days.”

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Not Long...

The state of TIAH

November 17th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872 on board the Mary Celeste and suspended in raw alcohol inside barrel #1701, Azâzêl begins to awaken from his long dreaming. It won’t be long now. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1968, John Forbes Kerry reported for duty at Coastal Squadron 1 in Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam, where he served as an officer in charge of Swift boats, leading five-man crews on a number of patrols into enemy-controlled areas. Of strategic significance throughout history, both the French and the United States used the military facilities in the bay during the Indochina Wars. Indeed Admiral Rozhdestvensk used the bay as a staging area for the Imperial Russian fleet prior to the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. Ironically, the Vietnamese turned the military facilities in Cam Ranh Bay over to the Soviet Union after the fall of Saigon. In 1979, the Soviet government signed an agreement with Vietnam for a 25-year lease of the base. Cam Ranh Bay was the largest Soviet naval base outside the Soviet Union, allowing the Soviet Union to project increased power in the South China Sea. In his inaugural address, Kerry gave Cam Ranh Bay as an example of the moral bankruptcy of the Domino Theory, a 20th Century foreign policy theory that speculated if one land in a region came under the influence of Communists, then more would follow. More importantly, he said, America could "do better" in the 21st century, as the defeated nation sought to climb out of the ashes of defeat in the Cold War. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President George Bush share a telephone conference call to review the Kuwait Crisis. Although history records that Thatcher told Bush it was “no time to go wobbly” it was in fact a miserable exchange of views on their mutually low job approval ratings with the electorate. Inflationary pressures caused by mismanagement was threatening the right-wing control of transatlantic government which had held together since 1980. Agreement was reached that it was an appropriate time to switch the public's attention elsewhere – this time, to a new post Cold War hate figure – Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikrit. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
The well-paved road was a welcome sight for Janice after so long on the crappy little country roads she had been on. The Guard trucks gathered along it were less so.
They waved her to pull over and she rolled down her window. “Howdy, officers,” she said chirpily. “Can you tell me how to get to Dime Box?”
The young corporal who had waved her over looked a little puzzled. “That's like a hundred miles away, ma'am.”
“Man, I'm lost,” she said, pulling out a map of Texas. “Where am I?”
“You're about 10 miles from Waco,” he said, looking at the map with her. He pointed at a spot just outside the city. “See, you're just about here. This whole area is under quarantine,” he said, indicating a wide area around Waco and neighboring Crawford, “so, you'll need to avoid them, OK?”
“I sure will,” she said, nodding enthusiastically. “I don't need any radiation poisoning!”
“Yeah,” the young man said, looking over his shoulder in the direction of Waco. “Wind's blowin' away from us toward Crawford, they said, so we're OK for now.” He looked back at her and leaned in a little closer. “Thing is, the wind can change in a minute. Wish I had me a suit like those guys that're going into the city.”
“Whoa,” Janice said, feigning shock. “They're sendin' people into the city? That's just crazy!”
“S'posed to be things they gotta get out, from Baylor and some other places,” the corporal said. “Anyway, they get the big ol' hazmat suits, and I'm just sittin' here in my uniform. We got the Geiger counter an' all, but what am I s'posed to do if it starts spikin' up?” He shook his head. “Friggin' Army.”
“Farrel!” A man who was obviously the corporal's superior shouted at him. “Get that car on its way and stop jabbering!”
“Yes, sir!” The corporal straightened up and pointed down the road. “You need to get on out of here, ma'am.”
“Oh, yes, sir, Mr. Farrel, I'm turning around right now.” She smiled and waved at him and wheeled her car around to the crappy dirt road again. Once she was out of sight of the Guardsmen, she slapped her steering wheel. At least this checkpoint had given her a little more information. She flipped on her recorder again. “On my third try into Waco, I've managed to glean some information from the men blocking the way. There are people going into Waco, and probably Crawford beyond that, making at least the show of wearing hazmat protection suits. While I'm still going to make a stab for Crawford, if I'm forced to abandon that, I will try to get into Waco and see what these men are 'risking' their lives to get.” She turned off the recorder and looked at her gas gauge. She was running dangerously close to empty.
She went further along her detour than she had intended in order to stop at a little gas station she had seen a few miles away. Once she got there, she walked into the deserted store and up to the older man behind the register. He gave her kind of a half-smile, then turned back to the television behind the counter. The Emergency Broadcasting System was showing maps of central Texas and areas that were deemed off-limits to the public – for their own good, of course – and telling everyone to remain calm.
Janice got a sandwich from the cold case next to the counter and slapped it on the counter, startling the proprietor. “Sorry, ma'am,” he said, ringing her up. “Just a little jumpy, I guess.”
She laughed and smirked. “Who isn't?” She pointed at her car next to the gas pump. “I'm gonna need about 30 bucks in gas, too.” He rang that in and turned the pump on with a little console. Something occurred to her at that point. “So, I guess y'all must have heard the explosion.”
He shook his head. “Nope. I was home in bed; my wife always said I'd sleep through the end of the world.” That thought was a little dark for him, so he cast it out of his mind.
“Was anybody here?”
“No, we don't open till 6.”
She looked around at all the lights still on. “I always thought that the pulse thingy from a nuke was supposed to scramble electronic equipment.”
He looked around with her. “Guess we're far enough away.”
She flashed him her teeth. “Good thing. You have a good day, sir.”
“You too, miss.”
She pumped her gas and then got back on the road. The cover story was looking more porous with every passing hour.

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Goats

The state of TIAH

November 16th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, Oliver Deveau of the Dei Gratia endures a night of fitful sleep after Captain David Morehouse shares his partial understanding of the true mission of the voyage with the Chief Mate. In his dream he is leading a rescue party in a small boat to board the Mary Celeste. As they approach the ship, they make the most awful discovery. The Celeste is crewed by goats! -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1990, pressure builds on British Prime Minister Margaret Hilda Thatcher to stand down as the Head of Government for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Iron Lady is “not for turning” however. Neither are the continuous agencies of the British state which have ruthlessly pursued the meat-grinder known as the national interest since the Middle Ages. Draconian measures are discussed in Whitehall to keep Thatcher in power and thoughts turn to the Iraq-Kuwait border conflict as a deus ex machina. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2016, at Camp David the septuagenarian US President George Walker Bush narrowly escapes death after choking on a vacuum-packed pretzel during the Superbowl. It's a re-run of course; no one has played football or indeed any other sport since life was extirpated above ground by the 2007 nuclear confrontation which started with North Korea. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
Janice looked at the dead-end of the road she was traveling down and cursed. Her Internet connection sucked out here, and she wasn't able to look up her location on the map site anymore. She stopped the car, turned it off, and got out.
In front of her, and on either side, she saw farmland. Behind her, the road stretched for miles back to the small town she had stopped at for a cola. She sipped at it now and tried to think about her next move. She was thinking about a little off-road action through this farm in front of her, but her affection for her car stamped out that thought.
Her directions told her that Waco, and Crawford beyond it, were on the other side of that farm. She just had to find a way around it. Too bad she couldn't charm that soldier who got her turned around; she could have used one of their trucks now.
She got back in the car, started it up, and U-turned around. Once she was back in the small town, she took the turn she had passed on last time and winced as pothole after pothole rattled her. She almost decided to save her car's frame and turn around when the road gently started curving in the direction she needed to go. “Yeah, baby,” she said, jouncing wildly around as she sped off toward Waco again.

The lottery office was clean, bright and beautiful. Kevin shuddered as he walked in, smiling in spite of everything else that was going on. There was a young woman sitting at a desk in front of him, watching television on a small portable set. He walked up to her and said, “Hi. I'm Kevin Bradley, the lottery winner.” It felt incredible to say it.
She turned away from the TV and returned his smile. “Congratulations. Not the best day to win, though,” she said, her smile losing some of its luster. “I almost didn't come in today, except that I saw we had a winner. I only live 4 blocks away, so I didn't even have to fight the traffic today.” She tapped a few keys on her computer and looked back up at him. “Do you have the form filled out?”
“Yeah, I printed it off the Internet last night,” he said, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to her.
“And, the ticket?” He handed that over, as well. She verified the numbers, looked over the form, and said, “OK, I'll cut the check and be right back.” She stood up and walked away into the rest of the office.
Kevin sat down on one of the comfortable chairs they had scattered around and stretched his feet out. It had been a long walk, and they were a little sore. He leaned his head back against the wall and shut his eyes for a few seconds. The fact that he had only slept about 4 hours last night caught up with him, and he felt the exhaustion grip him. He was startled when the young woman shook him awake. “Sorry, but you were snoozing pretty hard, there.”
“That's OK,” he said, standing up. She was holding a check in her right hand, and he pointed at it. “Is that for me?”
“It sure is,” she said, giving it to him. “We withdraw 28% for taxes automatically, but you might want to consult with an accountant about any other taxes you might have to pay.”
He looked at the check like the ape looking at the obelisk. It had a wonderful seven-digit number and his name sitting right next to it. “Do you have a phone book? I have to report in to the National Guard.”
She snorted. “You're kidding.” He shook his head. “What a day.” She pulled a phone book from behind her desk and handed it him.

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What A Day

The state of TIAH

November 15th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, on board the Mary Celeste, Sarah Briggs reads from "The Book of Watchers": And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1946, at the Nuremberg Trials Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC DSO and bar DFC and bar RAF is found guilty as charged of the destruction of the Moehne and Eder Dams on May 16, 1943 with the "bouncing bomb". Inventor of the bomb Barnes Wallace asked - "Would a man like Gibson ever have adjusted back to peacetime life? One can imagine it would have been a somewhat empty existence after all he had been through. Facing death had become his drug." Co-defendant "Bomber" Harris described him as "As great a warrior as this island ever produced". Use of the past tense in the statement was appropriate as it was made after the island had been occupied by the Nazis of course. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2125, the conservative members in the Peace and Reconciliation Committee of the Reconstructed United Nations led by Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani are getting seriously worried. Anger in post-jihad society is after all being slowly released due to a number of high profile confessions by European criminals, and Rafsanjani anticipates that a rainbow coalition in the UN embracing the infidels is now a distinct possibility. To achieve the breakthrough that he believes history demands, the pressure builds for the showcase trial of Arab nationalist Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikriti versus the redneck George Walker Bush. Using Bush's contemporary language, Rafsanjani believes they need to “bring it on”. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
The ambulance finally arrived at the Johnson's place, and Steph went out to greet the paramedics. The two young men looked exhausted; they moved like robots. “The Johnson's are right in here,” she said, leading them into the room where the elderly pair lay on the floor.
They were hardly even fazed by the grisly scene. “How long has it been?”
“Mrs. Johnson... she shot herself about two hours ago,” Steph choked out. One of the paramedics still had enough feeling to place his hand on her shoulder in comfort. “From what she was saying, Mr. Johnson, he... he killed himself sometime after he heard about the president.”
The paramedic by Steph nodded and took his hand away. He knelt down by Mr. Johnson and examined the body. “Rigor's starting to set in. Must have been as soon as they made the announcement.” He straightened up and looked at his partner. “Go call in morgue pickup.” He turned to Steph and asked, “You wouldn't happen to know their Social Security numbers, would you? Or where they keep some ID?”
Steph shook her head, but pointed at the front hallway. “I think that Mrs. Johnson's purse is on that table by the front door.”
He said, “OK,” and walked over to the table. Sure enough, there was a purse there, and he opened it and found a wallet with Mrs. Johnson's driver's license and Social Security card. “Know if they have any kids or other family nearby?”
“They retired here from Dallas,” Steph said. “Gettin' away from the big city, you know?”
The paramedic nodded. He looked at the pictures on the walls, the history of the Johnson family over the decades, and Steph thought that she saw his eyes grow slightly moist. Then, he recovered himself and told her, “We'll be able to track down the next of kin through their SSN. We can't take the bodies with us right now; somebody from morgue detail will be here later to collect them.”
Steph nodded. She was crying freely. “I guess it's been a hard day for you guys.”
The young man lowered his head and looked at the front door. “You have no idea.”
His partner came back from the ambulance, saying, “I put the call in. We've got a heart attack about 4 miles away.” He then went back to their ride and started it up.
The paramedic looked over at Steph. “Are you all right, ma'am?”
She shook her head. “What a day.”
He nodded, laughing slightly. “Yep.”
She patted him on the shoulder and said, “You take care, now.”
“You, too.” He turned and left, and Steph followed him. The ambulance blazed off down the road, lights flashing, rushing to be too late to the next emergency.

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Alternate Routes

The state of TIAH

November 14th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, Dei Gratia leaves New York harbor just seven days behind the Celeste. The commander of the British Ship is Captain David R. Morehouse who knows Captain Briggs. They dined together shortly before the voyage, discussing the checkered history of the ship. Morehouse has been instructed by Meissner Ackermann & Coin to rendezvous with the Celeste off the coast of the Azores in early December. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1940, 515 German Luftwaffe bombers take part in the Coventry Blitz, targeting the City for its high concentration of armaments, munitions and engine plants which contributed greatly to the British war effort. The raid destroyed or damaged about 60,000 buildings over hundreds of hectors in the center of Coventry, killing 568 civilians with most of the historic city center and also the Cathedral dedicated to Saint Michael is destroyed. Due to poor execution by the Luftwaffe, and not understanding the military significance of Coventry, the raid is universally considered by the British as an unprovoked attack on a helpless civilian population, signaling the end of the gentleman's war as anti-German hatred sweeps the nation. With the land war over in Europe, the only military option available is the Royal Air Force, thrusting power into the psychotic hands of Arthur Travers Harris, the Head of RAF Bomber Command who extracts a terrible revenge on the cities of Germany. When Britain is finally starved into submission and defeat in 1945, Harris is one of many high profile war criminals handed over to Nazi authorities for trial at Nuremberg where he commits suicide hours before his planned execution. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1964, publisher George E. Wier is born in Madisonville, Texas. Wier's early career was in minor Texana, but the publication of his Hell in Texas action/adventure series raised his company to the next level. Because of his religious ties with actor John Travolta, he was able to get the series in film, with Travolta in the lead role, and his “small-town book company” became one of the hottest in the country in the early 21st century.

Before(cont.)
The National Guard truck was filled with scared-looking young men, and Janice was looking at four others behind it as she waited for it to pass. They were completely blocking the small road she was driving down, and she wasn't entirely sure that they were going to let her through.
Sure enough, the last truck in the line stopped in front of her, and an older man stepped down from the back and walked over to her car. She muttered soft curses to the fates, and then rolled down her window. “Is there a problem, officer?”
The soldier took a look in her car and eyed her up and down. “You're heading into a restricted area, ma'am.”
She feigned her best look of shock and surprise. “Really? I had no idea.”
“Haven't you been listening to the radio, ma'am?”
“Durn thing just doesn't get the best reception,” she said, flashing her teeth at the man.
He looked over the brand-new radio in her dash, then back at her skeptically. “Really?”
“Yeah, isn't that something? You get a new car, you expect everything to work right. Oh, well,” she chirped cheerfully. He was not buying it. He reached in and flipped her radio on. “Hey,” she said in weak protest just before her car filled with the sound of the woman from the Emergency Broadcast System talking about compliance with National Guard troopers. “Well, what do you know? Must have just fixed itself.”
“Mm-hm.” He gave her another appraising look and said, “Look, ma'am, you're not in the restricted zone, yet. You can turn around and go home, and I won't arrest you. But we will report your car as being sighted near here, and you as acting very suspicious. It won't go easy on you if they catch you closer to Waco.”
“So, I'm near Waco, now?”
He didn't know if giving her that information would help or hurt, so he said, “Yes, you're about twenty miles away. The quarantine area is ten miles in that direction,” he said, pointing down the road she was driving on. “You don't wanna be caught inside the quarantine area.”
“Oh, don't worry, officer, I don't plan on being caught there.”
“Mm-hm.”
She gave him another bright smile. “I'm turning around right now, sir, just as soon as I can figure out a good route home.”
“Mm-hm.”
“Don't you worry about me.”
The soldier straightened up and gave her one last warning. “Ma'am, it's very dangerous. We're not even sure if we're giving the quarantine area enough space. I was told that it was a very dirty bomb that they used on the president.”
“Have you been there?” She looked at him excitedly, hoping that she could get some information out of his stoically tight lips.
“No,” he said, deflating her hopes. “Nobody's been in yet. They're assembling a hazmat team...” He caught himself before saying anything else. “That's not public information.” He narrowed his eyes at her and asked, “Are you a reporter?”
“Oh no, sir,” she said hurriedly. “Just a curious citizen.”
“Well, you should try to hold that in. We're not letting reporters in anywhere, yet.”
“That's OK. Because I'm not a reporter.”
He obviously didn't believe her. “Why don't you turn around and started heading down the road, now, ma'am?”
“Of course,” she said, trying to maintain her smile. “You have a good day,” she sang, waving and smiling half-heartedly. She turned the car around and pulled away from the trucks. “Crap,” she groused as she drove. “Now I have to find another way.”

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Heavenly Invocations

The state of TIAH

November 13th, 2006

Alternate Historian's Note: November is NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. In 2004, we produced our novel Warp, and last year we got a start on The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion during this annual event. Both of these novels were based on timelines from TIAH – Warp was based on the Mlosh timeline, and Protocols on the Greater Zionist Resistance timeline. Although we posted numerous links to these novels on Lulu, TIAH didn't post any excerpts from them. We're going to do it a little differently this year. This year, the November posts on TIAH will be excerpts from the novel that is being written by us for NaNoWriMo. We will still have Guest Historian entries – Stephen Payne (who has compiled several and made them available on Lulu for free – just go through the Add to Cart system to get it) has some already written and waiting – so, if you want to make a Guest Post this month, go ahead and send it to us, and it will appear along with our novel post.

in 1872, on board the Mary Celeste Sarah Briggs reads from Leviticus chapter 16 - "Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household.
7 Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
8 He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat. [the goat of removal; Hebrew Azâzêl]
9 Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the LORD and sacrifice it for a sin offering.
10 But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the LORD to be used for making atonement by sending it into the desert as a scapegoat.” -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2003, the military objectives for Operation Red Dawn are achieved when imperial forces in the British Protectorate of Mesopotamia finally capture the “Shadow” outside Tikrit. Under the jingoist headline “We got him”, the Times of London newspaper reveals the secret identity as one Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majidida al-Tikriti, noting that the Arabic meaning of Saddam is 'one who confronts'. Also revealed in the same article is the Shadow's lead role in the assassination of Prince Charles of Great Britain during his victor's mission to Kuwait on June 26, 1993. By a twist of fate this tragic event led to the marriage of his widow to the Arab billionaire Dodi Al-Fayed. The Shadow's agents also pulled off a terrorist attack in St. Paul's Cathedral at the ceremony in 1997, slightly injuring the British entertainer Elton John. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
After Steph calmed herself down, she went back across the street. She felt like a zombie, moving her feet on autopilot. She had already called 911 – now, there was no hurry to get to the Johnson's place. She was too numb to cry; she could barely believe what she had just seen.
Joan was waiting for her at the door, so scared that she couldn't hold still. “Mom, I heard the gun shot. Are you OK?”
Steph nodded and said, “Mrs. Johnson's with her husband, now.” Joan broke down in sobs and Steph gathered her into a hug. “Why did they do it? For God's sake, what is goin' on?”
“Mom, there's no hurricane,” Joan said. She pulled away from her mother and tried to still her weeping. “It's on the TV. There was a bomb at that ranch by Waco – they killed the president.”
“Oh my God,” Steph whispered. “Jake – has your father tried to call?”
“The phones are all busy,” Joan said. “We're only supposed to use them in an emergency.”
“What do they think this is?” Steph pulled daughter inside and the two supported each other as they walked into the kitchen. “Did your brother see? Does he know?”
“He's still stapling blankets to the windows,” Joan said.
“Good.”
They sat down at the kitchen table and Steph tried to collect herself. This morning had been so uncomplicated. There were still waffles left on the table from breakfast. She reached over and got one to munch on. Joan took one, too, and they in silence for a few moments of peace.
That ended when George came barreling into the room. “Mom, I got all the windows in the bedrooms done, but I ran outta blankets.”
“That's OK, Georgie,” Steph said, pulling out a chair and pointing him down to it. “Have a seat with us, baby.”
He looked at the two of them and his excitement vanished. “Mom, what's wrong?”
“Georgie,” Steph began, but she didn't know what else to follow it with. His big brown eyes, so much like his father's, looked into hers and she broke down into tears. Joan immediately rushed to her side to hold her and George took her hand, his own eyes welling up. She gripped the two of them to her tightly as her body shook with sobs. Joan's tears came fast and heavy, too, and George started crying, even though he didn't know what they were all crying about.
When Steph finally managed to regain control of herself, she pulled away from them and stood up. She got a couple of paper towels from the rack above the sink and wiped her own eyes, then offered towels to her children. “You know, I never liked the man,” she said to them, “but he was the president, and that means he was our leader.”
George was puzzled. “What?”
“Georgie, somebody blew up the president at his ranch in Crawford,” she told him. “That's why everything's all crazy.” She didn't tell him about the Johnsons. She'd give him one piece of bad news at a time. “Joanie, what are we supposed to do, now?”

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