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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