Jan. 20-22

Alternate Historian's Note: Well, that lasted longer than we planned. Here's the last 3 days worth of posts - enjoy, and thanks for your patience!

January 20th, 2007

Turtle Island	In 2127 Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani arrives on the eastern seaboard of Turtle Island that being the continent renamed after the Italian merchant Amerigo Vespucci during the western epoch c1492 to 2081. As part of his Peace and Brotherhood jihad he has embarked on a fact-finding mission by ..
.. visiting the centres of the fallen Western Civilisation. The Big Apple is rotten. Graffiti sprayed down the side of the Statue of Liberty in bright red includes slogans such as BAD DAY, NIGHT FALLS and ALAS, BABYLON. Homeless people huddle inside the unlit and unheated Manhattan apartment blocks. New New York City is a humanitarian disaster.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1953 President Douglas MacArthur is inaugurated in Washington DC. ..	MacArthur
.. In his address he drew parallels with the career of Paul Von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg, German Command in Chief also recalled from retirement twice, once to lead the military, once for the Presidency, both in late middle age and at a time of national crisis. Unlike the 'Wooden Titan' Hindenburg, Brass Hat was back to get a result. In theory he was promoted from retired Six-Star General to Commander in Chief. In practice he was given the keys to the hydrogen bomb. Also Bacteriological weapons that Unit 731 gave Brass Hat in 1945 to secure the amnesty of the Japanese scientists against trial for the extermination of 200,000 Chinese citizens during World War II. Quite a cocktail when combined with a determination to make war with the China to re-unite Korea and re-instate Chaing Kai-shek.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Edward VIII	In 1942 after an evening of not a little drinking in the Bahamas, Montgomery and Edward Windsor devise a plot to restore the abdicated monarch to greatness. They will return through the time portal and make a number of necessary adjustments in America and Great Britain to ensure things ..
.. turn out right. Key to the success of the plan are two like-minded individuals, Oswald Mosley and Charles Lindbergh. All four of them are of course absolute rotters.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1649 the traitor Oliver Cromwell was tried for treason and other 'high crimes' as the authority of Stuart rule was re-established following the English Civil War.	Oliver Cromwell
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

After(cont.)
The crack of another gunshot startled them all, and Jake shielded the president with his body. Eli and Kevin appeared at the top of the stairs, firing at something Jake couldn't see. They were both bleeding, now. “We need to get the hell outta here,” Kevin shouted down at them.
“Move,” Jake shouted at the president and Janice. He ran up the stairs and stuck his head out long enough to spot the two men shooting at them from around the corners at the end of the hallway. He took a lucky shot and dropped one of them, then yelled at the other, “Give up now, and you don't have to die.” The bullet whizzing by his ear gave the man's answer. Jake looked at Eli, who was white-faced and splattered heavily with what Jake assumed was his own blood. Kevin wasn't in much better shape, but at least he looked like he only had one wound. “On three, we haul ass down there, firing everything we got at that fool,” he told them. “He's goin' down.” They nodded quickly, and he counted off, “One, two – three!” They charged down, Jake in the lead, pumping bullets into the corner that the guard was hiding behind. They stopped only when they saw the man's body fall in front of them, crimson with his own spilled blood. Jake shouted back at the stairwell, “Janice, get the president up here, quick. We're moving!”
“I think that's all of them,” Kevin wheezed. He was holding his side, vainly trying to staunch the rapid flow of blood that was pumping out of his wound. He was holding Eli up with his other arm.
Jake said, “We still need to get the hell outta here.” He pulled Eli from Kevin's grip and propped him up. When Janice and the president joined them, he said, “Y'all help Bradley, I'll get Eli.” He slapped Kevin lightly in the face to get his attention. “Don't you die on me, Bradley. You ain't loaned me any money, yet.”
As President Bush took him by the arm, Kevin smiled and said, “Hey, I'm a millionaire and I met the president. That was all I ever wanted to do.”
President Bush said, “I'd prefer it if you didn't die just yet, Bradley. There's enough dead people in my house.”
“Sorry, Mr. President,” Kevin muttered.
As quickly as they could, they lumbered out of the ranch house, heading off down the field towards the creek bed. Janice shouted at Jake, “Hey! Why don't we just take one of their cars?”
Jake looked back the car port. There were plenty of cars sitting there. “We don't have any keys.”
“You think I don't know how to hotwire a car?”
“Let's go.” They changed course and piled everyone into a large sedan. Janice got under the steering wheel and worked for several minutes.
The engine roared to life and she popped into the driver's seat. “Yeah, baby.” She threw the car into gear and took off down the road. She came up to the gate at the edge of the property and just ripped through it. The grill took some damage and the windshield cracked a little, but the car was still running, so she kept it moving.
Eli's groans grew in intensity in the back seat as Jake attempted to keep him alive as best he could. “We need a hospital,” Jake shouted to Janice.
“The nearest one is a couple hours away,” she told him. She looked into the rear-view mirror and saw Eli's face. His lips were completely without color, and his eyes were unfocused. She locked eyes with Jake and shook her head.
He nodded and turned his attention back to Eli. “You gonna make it, Eli. You're a hero, now. Maybe you'll finally get laid.” A slight smile curled Eli's lips. “That's it, you concentrate on that.” He looked over at Kevin, whose lips were now sprinkled with a little dark blood. “Bradley, you ain't got nothing but a scratch, so I don't wanna hear no complainin' from you.”
“Yes, Sergeant,” Kevin whispered.
Janice put the gas pedal to the floor and tried as hard as she could to keep the car on the road.


January 21st, 2007

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The Dreamtime	In 2127 Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani arrives on the south-east coast of the Dreaming that being the continent renamed Australia during the western epoch c1770 – 2081. Homeless and starving people sleep inside the Sydney Opera House whilst in the interior First Nations enjoy an unprecedented ..
.. level of prosperity. Sydney Shanty town is another humanitarian disaster.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 2028 in Tate & Lyle PLC v. the Pan African Society the UK based multinational ..	Tate & Lyle
.. food manufacturer are ordered to pay reparations of $10bn. Descendants of Abram Lyle and Henry Tate express deep regret at the shameful involvement of their company to the victims of the African Holocaust who were enslaved by the sugar refining process. 'Out of the eater came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetness' they quoted from Samson in the Book of Judges, Chapter 14, a clear reference to the lion and bees image of 'Lyle's Golden Syrup'.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

T.E. Lawrence	In 1917 at Aqaba in the Transjordan leader of the misnamed Arab revolt ..
.. Auda Abu Tayi orders the execution by beheading of Colonel T.E. Lawrence. His duplicity had been laid bare for all brothers to see when he had carelessly left his autobiographic works, the Seven Pillars of Deceit open in his tent. Tayi had been dismayed to understand that the forthcoming Balfour Declaration would promise a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. His white brother Lawrence was no more and no less than a British Agent using Arab troops to defeat the Turk and thereafter impose his own hegemony on Arabia. President Yasser Arafat paid tribute to Tayi in 1997 on the eve of the half-centennial in East Jerusalem. Without his bold intervention, the Palestinian people would be second class citizens in a secular Jewish State.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1968 the Battle of Khe Sanh started in northwestern Quang Tri Province, ..	Khe Sahn
.. Republic of Vietnam concurrently with the Tet Offensive. Elements of the United States (U.S.) III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF) defeated two to three division-size elements of the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and by the end of the year, a re-elected President Johnson was able to announce the end of the Indochina Wars.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

January 22nd, 2007

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Halifax	In 1947 the British Government in Exile arrive in Reykjavik, Iceland for final status talks with the Fuehrer. The miserable renegade Churchill and also the keys to the Royal Navy are in the possession of Lord Halifax and a gorgeous looking Princess Elizabeth I. A sheep in sheep's clothing you might say.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1905 the fate of the Romanov family is sealed by rebellion to the disastrous war with Japan. On Bloody Sunday a peaceful demonstration led by Father Gapon escalates into a massacre of imperial troops followed by the seizure of the Winter Palace.	Father Gapon
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Bering Strait	In 2054 following the world's most expensive construction project to date a commercial tunnel is completed joining the landmasses of Asia and North America at the Bering Strait.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1771 Spain ceded Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands to England who maintained possession until the Iron Lady of Argentina, President Eva Peron defeated that country in the 1982 Malvinas Conflict.	Eva Perón
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

After(cont.)
“Have we got the air conditioner on?” Kevin's body was racked with shudders again. Jake took off his jacket and laid it across him.
Jake looked up at the front seat and asked, “How much farther?”
“Maybe 20 miles.”
Jake turned his attention back to Eli. At least Kevin was able to feel cold. Eli had stopped talking about 15 minutes before, and was now completely unresponsive when Jake tried to rouse him. He felt the young man's neck again and waited. The pulse was even weaker than the last time he had checked, and harder to find. He didn't think there was any point in trying to save Eli anymore, so he turned to Kevin and checked his pulse. It was a little weak, but it was there.
“Wish I hadn't given up drinking now,” the president said from the front seat.
“Me, too,” Janice muttered. She was driving a good hundred miles an hour, and had a death grip on the steering wheel. She had almost cracked up at least three times, but wasn't slowing down. This was worse than the drive in the dark two days ago, because there were a couple of people dying in her back seat. She felt that her pounding heart was more than making up for their weakly pumping ones. She wanted to take her hand off the wheel long enough to wipe off the sweat that was dripping down into her eyes, but didn't dare.
There was a gasp from the back seat, and Janice nearly lost control. Eli's body was trying to keep alive, and failing. Spasms ripped through his body, and Jake tried to hold him down. It took several minutes, but the jerking finally stopped, and the last trickles of blood leaked out of his mouth. Jake pressed his hand onto Eli's carotid for a few minutes, but there was nothing there. “He's gone,” Jake said, quietly.
Janice sobbed. She hadn't been that close to Eli, but he and Mike had always been dependable for all their quirks. The president patted her shoulder comfortingly, and she regained control. “We can still save Kevin,” she said. “Just a few more miles.” The lights of Austin were blazing up towards them, and she kept her foot down hard on the accelerator.

Steph woke up to pounding on her door. She shouted, “Who is it?” She looked around for that gun that Mike had left her while she did it.
“It's me,” Mike said from the other side of the door. “Quick, let us in.”
Steph went over to the door and reached a hand out to the lock. She paused, then looked through the peephole, first. She saw Mike and Joan. She assumed that George was there, too, just out of sight. She opened the door and asked, “What is it?”
Mike and the kids rushed in and Mike shut the door behind them, latching it and throwing the deadbolt. “Guard's going through the hotel; the front's moved up to us. We don't have to worry about going around them.”
“Are we safe here?”
“No,” Mike said. “We need to get the hell out.”
“Let's get to the car, then.”
“They'll take Mike if they see him,” George said. “I saw 'em take three guys looked even scrawnier'n him.”
“Hey,” Mike said, offended.
“They'll probably take you, too,” Joan said, looking at her mother. “Maybe even me. I think they're pretty desperate.”
“Crap.” She peeked through the curtains outside. She saw two large military trucks in the parking lot. In their backs were civilians, holding rifles and looking very nervous. “Maybe we need to be ballsy about it.”
“What do you mean?” Mike was definitely unwilling to leave the room.
“Follow my lead.” She got her clothes on and led them out of the room. Reluctantly, the other three followed her as she walked straight up to one of the soldiers. She asked him, “You looking for people?”
“Yes, ma'am,” the young man told her. “Hop on the back of that truck and they'll give you a rifle.”
“Got one already, and enough for my boy, here, too,” she said, pointing back at Mike. “Our SUV's better'n that truck, too. You need scouts? We can go anywhere in that thing.” She pointed at their car, and the soldier looked the vehicle over.
“All right. We need people with that kinda attitude.” He took out a map of the area and pointed out a line that had been drawn about 10 miles outside of the town. “This is where the enemy's advancing.” He pointed at a red circle just outside of the town. “This is our command post.” He showed her a thin line indicating a road. “This road will take you around the enemy line. See what you can find out, then report back to our command post.”
“You got it, sir,” she said, saluting smartly. He returned her salute, then handed her the map and returned to collecting other people from the hotel. She hurried them off to the SUV, whispering, “Try not to smile.”

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