Secret Messages

The state of TIAH

December 27th, 2006

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Alternate Historian's Note: As we head into another holiday weekend, Stephen Payne gives us a personalized message for the holidays, and we continue the second half of our NaNoWriMo novel. We hope that you are enjoying the change in format – let us know how you feel about it in comments or by emailing us. This will be the format of TIAH throughout the holiday season, and probably well into January, unless we receive a great outcry about it. Speaking of the Holiday Season, keep in mind those who need help year-round and keep yourselves safe and happy, as well. And, should you feel generous inclinations towards our guest historians, you can visit the sites of those who have separate ones from TIAH; generosity towards us here at the Academy is always appreciated, too, and you can find ways to help us out all over the site. Right now, we'd appreciate a lead on a good day job, but my lovely Co-Historian could also use some more memory on her PC, if anyone feels generously inclined. (It's PC133-style – yes, it's an old machine). Any good wishes you have towards us can be emailed here.

in the timestream, as the Hussein-Saddat time dilation device returns Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani to the year 2126, he glimpses two further events. The births of two beautiful dual heritage children - Jacob and Joshua, in London England. The father, Steve Payne, tells the Mullah that love will meet you at the point of your need. Rafsanjani is now sure he knows how to achieve a breakthrough for the future, very different from the one he had planned for when he set out to cancel Christmas. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

After(cont.)
The dazed, blank look on their faces told Janice that what she had said had sunk in pretty deep. Good, she thought, and stood up. “I should contact Mike and Eli – they've been living for this kinda thing to happen. Can I use your computer, Steph?”
Steph nodded, holding her children close to her. “It's in the living room.”
Kevin said, “Hey, they probably have some spyware on her PC – a keystroke recorder, at least. They'll be able to track you.”
“Good point.” Janice dove into her backpack and pulled out a small stick. “Operating system on a USB. Never leave home without it.”
Jake shook his head, smiling. “You are one paranoid chick.”
“It's not paranoia if they really are after you,” she said, shaking the stick at him. She walked over to the Morris family computer and found the USB port. She slid her small stick into the port and turned the machine on.
Kevin followed her over and quickly turned off the computer, saying, “Hang on a second.” He pulled the computer out and examined the back. “Hey, Steph,” he called back into the kitchen, “do you know of any special hardware that you've had to install in the back of your computer?”
Steph looked at the kids, who both shook their heads. “No, why?”
Kevin pulled a small, flat object from a port in the back of the computer. “This is a hardware hack – probably record everything you're doing.” He looked grumpily at the little gray box. “I'd lay odds we gave them plenty of time to open this up. Steph, have you got a screwdriver?”
“Yeah,” she said, walking over to her kitchen cabinet and getting some tools out. She drew out a small kit and took it over to him. “These work?”
He looked over the set and nodded. “Thanks.” Their hands brushed slightly as he took the kit from her, and they both sort of smiled about it. Janice rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything. Kevin deftly and quickly removed the case's cover and peered inside the guts of the machine. “Oh my god,” he grumbled.
Janice sat up and asked, “What is it?”
“Look at all the dirt. Do you ever open this thing up, Steph?”
Steph and the kids laughed. “No, I'm afraid I don't dust the insides of my computer.”
“Wish I'd brought my air can,” he muttered, moving a cable out of the way. He cocked his head at something he saw and said, “OK, this isn't standard equipment.” He pulled out a card that was plugged into a spare slot and set it on the table. He spent several more minutes going through the case before saying, “It looks clean, now. Well, except for the dust.” He put the case back together and turned it back on for Janice. “Now, you can use your OS on a stick.”
“You are good,” Janice said, impressed. She saw her familiar system boot up, and she logged in, then opened up the non-standard Internet browser she kept for just such situations. She navigated to the forum where several friends of hers passed encrypted messages to each other. She found the thread that they had started for the current events and posted a reply addressed to Orgone and Cressidae. She then copied and pasted the last few messages into the decrypter she kept on her desktop and read through them quickly. Once she was done, she turned back to the group and said, “Well, Mike and Eli are still around, and hopefully they'll see this post and instant message me.”


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Return From The Moon

The state of TIAH

December 11th, 2006

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Alternate Historian's Note: Stephen Payne takes up the slack for us as we continue our NaNoWriMo novel. We hope you are enjoying this change in format – let us know how you feel about it in comments or by emailing us. This will be the format of TIAH throughout the holiday season, unless we receive a great outcry about it. Speaking of the Holiday Season, keep in mind those who need help year-round and keep yourselves safe and happy, as well. And, should you feel generous inclinations towards our guest historians, you can visit the sites of those who have separate ones from TIAH; generosity towards us here at the Academy is always appreciated, too, and you can find ways to help us out all over the site. Right now, we'd appreciate a lead on a good day job, but any good wishes you have towards us can be emailed here.

in 1931, the British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Commonwealth of America, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1972, Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon - and the first to return to Earth with a highly contagious space bug. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1977, rich with North Sea oil revenue, Scotland gains its independence exactly one hundred and seventy years after the Act of Union 1707 united the two countries as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The declaration of independence from Holyrood House, Edinburgh was also seventeen years after British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan told a stunned Parliament of South Africa, 'The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact'. Whilst 'Supermac' could just about accept the End of Empire, he could not accept the dissolution of the United Kingdom, which he denounced and moved to South Africa himself. Three years later at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 the 28-year old athlete Allan Wells took the first Olympic Gold Medal for the new country. Running as fast as the wind, he finished first in the 100m sprint race, ushering in a new decade of hope for the great nation of Scotland. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
Going down the stairs was a lot easier than going up; they all agreed on that. Janice let the two servicemen lead the way down to the computer room. Specialist Bradley, still in shock after seeing President Bush not only alive, but unharmed, walked like a zombie towards the computer station he had been working at earlier. He sat down and logged in again, reading the user name and password from the list they had been provided with.
“They wanted me to pull up the seismic and satellite data for this area,” he told them. He was pulling that data up now.
“My guess is that you were gonna pull that up, then either you would erase it, or they would later.” Janice looked over his shoulder at the screen. “I have no idea how to read this stuff – do you?”
“Just because I can find it on the computer doesn't mean I know what I'm lookin' at,” Bradley said. He pulled out a removable drive and plugged it into the computer. “I'll copy as much as I can fit onto this. I don't know if it'll hold everything they wanted me to erase.” She looked into his eyes. “I thought it was for national security.”
“OK, then.” She straightened up and walked over to Sergeant Morris. He was sitting at a blank computer screen, his helmet off, and his face was a stone. She pulled a chair next to him and sat down. “How you doin', Sarge?”
“Jake. Call me Jake.” He reached his hand out to shake hers. “If I'm gonna betray my oath for what you say, we might as well be on a first-name basis.”
“Fair enough. So, how you doin', Jake?”
“I'm tired.” He looked it, too. “I didn't vote for the man; I'm not like Bradley over there. But, I never thought...” He turned his eyes over to Bradley. “Maybe this is all part of a counter-attack. They let the terrorists think they got us, then get 'em while their guard is down.”
“Martial law really necessary, then? It's not like Crawford's a huge metropolis that needs control restored to it – and I'd bet that once the initial panic was done, there wouldn't have been any disorder at all.”
Morris leaned back and ran his hand over his face. “Yeah, you're probably right. I just had to say it. I had to give it one more chance.” He smiled. “There was this guy I grew up with, he joined the Nation of Islam when we were teenagers. He used to tell me about all the conspiracy crap that they told him, how the white devil was keepin' us down with lies and propaganda. He didn't think that Bush would let go of power, either.”
“Sounds like a man after my own heart,” Janice said, and they both chuckled. Bradley looked over at them, confused. “Don't worry, Specialist, we're just having a little fun. There's still plenty of gloom and doom to go around.”
“Don't piss off Bradley,” Sergeant Morris said. “He's a millionaire, now.”
“Say what?”
“He won the lottery.”
“What the hell am I doin' talking to you, then?” They both laughed heartily, prompting another look from Bradley. “Hey, Specialist Bradley, you're not married, are you?”
Bradley was very confused. “No,” he said, shaking his head. “Why, are you offering?”
“How much did you win?”
“Oh,” Bradley muttered, turning back to the computers. “Three million.”
“Sweet,” Janice said. “I can think of a lot of ways to help you spend it.”
“I have a few of my own, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.” Janice turned back to Morris. “I'm not exactly good at ingratiating myself to people.”
“No, you?” The Sergeant looked disbelievingly at her, and they cracked up again. Janice found herself liking him more and more. He was cute, too. But, he had an annoying habit of getting back on the point. “So, after we get this stuff, what do we do with it?”
Janice pulled her laptop out of her backpack and propped it up on a desk. “I'll get in touch with a few guys I know. We'll meet them at an undisclosed location and give them a copy of the data, so that they can begin examining it for proof. We may need to go into hiding for a while, Jake.” She flipped open her computer. “Life on the run. Doesn't it sound romantic?”
“How long do you think it'll take?”
“Depends on the other side. If they decide to come clean after the jig is up, maybe it won't take that long at all. If they fight, well; let's just say we may be in for the long haul.”
Morris looked worried. “I have two kids. I need to let my ex-wife know where I am.”

The phone rang again. It wasn't as startling as last time, but Steph was still nervous when she went to answer. She glanced at the caller ID, and it was someone she didn't recognize; someone Italian. She picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Hey, baby.” Jake was on the other end, and he sounded strange. “I have something I have to tell you.”

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Our Lady

The state of TIAH

December 12th, 2006

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Alternate Historian's Note: Stephen Payne takes up the slack for us as we head down to the conclusion of the first half of our NaNoWriMo novel. We hope you are enjoying this change in format – let us know how you feel about it in comments or by emailing us. This will be the format of TIAH throughout the holiday season, unless we receive a great outcry about it. Speaking of the Holiday Season, keep in mind those who need help year-round and keep yourselves safe and happy, as well. And, should you feel generous inclinations towards our guest historians, you can visit the sites of those who have separate ones from TIAH; generosity towards us here at the Academy is always appreciated, too, and you can find ways to help us out all over the site. Right now, we'd appreciate a lead on a good day job, but my lovely Co-Historian could also some more memory on her PC, if anyone feels generously inclined. (It's PC133-style – yes, it's an old machine). Any good wishes you have towards us can be emailed here.

in 0, Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani is starting to believe his abduction plan will succeed. Delivering Jesus to the post-jihad year 2126 and frustrating the ministry will deliver a heroes' welcome, surely? -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary) appears in a manifestation to St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. In 1648 Miguel Sánchez, the author of the first Spanish-language apparition account said that "this New World has been won and conquered by the hand of the Virgin Mary” in a reference to the conversion of the Americas to Roman Catholicism with the notable exception of the Amish and Mormons. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2000, the United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore. To unite the country, the Court proposes a joint inauguration followed by the candidates sharing the presidency with each serving a two-year term. Best practice had been established by an indecisive election in Israel during 1984 when Prime Ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres agreed to the same power-sharing formula. British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown calls Gore to strongly advise him not to accept the proposal. After all he had made a similar agreement with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1994 and he was still waiting. Dismissing Brown's advice as a counsel of bitterness, and being a gentleman, Gore invites Bush to serve first – whilst he occupies the Senate Presidency as agreed. For two years they fight tooth and nail over 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, tearing the country to pieces. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
“What is it?” Steph didn't think she really wanted to know, judging from the way Jake sounded, but wanted to get it over with.
“I need to come back to your place, all right? And I'm afraid I'm gonna be bringing Specialist Bradley and a couple of other people with me.”
Steph was confused. “Why?”
“Are you on the cordless phone, Steph?”
That was a weird question. “Yeah.”
“I'll email you, OK? It's not something that I can talk about over the line.”
That just scared her. “Are you sure you need to come here, Jake?”
“Yeah, Steph, I really am.”
She wanted to tell him no; she and the kids had been through so much in the last 2 days, and she didn't like how mysterious he was being. But, if he really needed her help... then she had to give it. “OK, Jake. When are you gonna be here?”
“I'll tell you in the email. See you soon, Steph.”
The receiver went dead and she hung up. She walked over to the computer, where Joan was chatting with some of her friends. “I need to use the computer, Joanie.”
“Just 5 more minutes, OK, mom?”
Steph didn't think Jake was hitting 'Send' right then, so she said, “All right. But not a minute more.”
“OK.” Joan typed furiously, giggling a little at something that somebody had just messaged to her. Steph felt good that Joan was in a better mood than the previous day. She wished that she could toss all of her cares away that easily. George was happily watching his Justice League DVD's, without a care in the world. All the adult stuff was still a little unreal to him.
It felt a little unreal to her, too. She pulled a chair up next to the computer, making Joan a little uncomfortable. “Don't read over my shoulder, OK?”
“Don't write anything you feel like I shouldn't read, then,” Steph told her, smiling. She didn't read what her daughter was typing; she felt that the threat that her mother was close enough to read what she was writing was enough to deter the girl.
It obviously made Joan uncomfortable, because she wrapped up the conversation and turned the computer over to her mother. “There ya go, mom,” she said, getting up and walking over to the TV to torment her little brother.
Joan brought up her email program and signed in. Spam drifted in quickly, and she scanned through it until she found one from Jake. “Steph,” it read, “you need to delete this email as soon as you've read it, and empty your trash folder after doing that. There's more that Bradley told me you need to do, but we'll explain it when we get there. We've found out something here that kind of threw us for a loop, and we need some time to think about our next move. We won't stay there long, but we need a place where we can meet up with a couple of people before moving on. If you can't let us stay there, don't reply to this email. Instead, post a message to the forums at www.jcconspiracy.com saying S cannot help J. It's really important, though, babe. If we don't see that post before 3PM, we'll assume that you agree. Thanks.”
She looked at the clock in the corner of her computer's desktop. It was 2:14. That gave her a little time to think about what she had just read. She deleted the email and emptied the trash folder, then opened up her Internet browser and went to the mysterious www.jcconspiracy.com. It was one of those nutjob conspiracy sites, with all kinds of 'proof' that Bush was behind 9/11, or aliens were being pumped for information at Area 51, or JFK was killed by the CIA; another real estate agent at her firm believed that stuff and tried to talk to her about it all the time.
She saw the link to the forums, and clicked on it. There were several somewhat cryptic postings; she guessed that people this paranoid needed someplace they could post things anonymously. A huge number of these postings were from today and yesterday; the nutjobs were out in force. What was Jake doing telling her to go here? He didn't believe any of this crap.
The clock had flipped to 2:33 while she had been wading through all the craziness on the forums. Joan had also gotten bored with torturing her brother and was now seated next to her. “What's with all the whoo-whoo stuff, mom?”
Steph closed the browser. “Nothin', Joanie. Your father and some friends are gonna be here tonight. Help me get the place straightened up.”

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Lincoln's Illness

The state of TIAH

December 5th, 2006

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Alternate Historian's Note: We have a new entry from an old contributor, Ryan Hackel of the Ryanarium, as well as more good stuff from Stephen Payne. As we enter into the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Insert Holiday Season, keep in mind those who need help year-round and keep yourselves safe and happy, as well. And, should you feel generous inclinations towards our guest historians, you can visit the sites of those who have separate ones from TIAH; generosity towards us here at the Academy is always appreciated, too, and you can find ways to help us out all over the site. Right now, we'd appreciate a lead on a good day job, but any good wishes you have towards us can be emailed here.

in 0, Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani has narrowed his focus to three main options in the town of Bayt La (Bethlehem). To cancel Christmas for good he has to either (a) intercept (b) kidnap/abduct (c) re-educate the baby Jesus. He never seriously contemplates the murder of an infant, considering it unthinkable. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1863, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln dies of a varioloid smallpox infection he contracted while at Gettysburg. Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin's first act as acting president is to integrate the United States Army, stating "Every negro who values his newly earned freedoms shall be swift in protecting those freedoms and the preservation of the Union that guarantees them. Every white man in this country fighting to end the heinous institution of slavery shall be honored to fight alongside him." -entry written by Guest Historian Ryan Hackel of the Ryanarium -

in 1872, crewed by half of the men of the British Ship Dei Gratia, the Celeste sails to Gibraltar for transhipment of the cargo to Genoa as planned. One more mystery is left unsolved. In Genoa it is discovered that whilst the 1700 barrels of alcohol are intact, nine barrels were noted as being empty. Meanwhile Azâzêl slips into the Port of Gibraltar unnoticed. After enjoying a little shore leave, he intends to head for Central Europe. With a newly unified German state, there’s sure to be some action to be had. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1919, work continues inside the Vatican for the great council of magicians. Two years previously the greatest necromancer of the age, Grigory Rasputin had used his final breath to confess to Maestro his demonic partnership with Azâzêl. The Council dread a confrontation with this powerful demon, but know it is absolutely necessary to deliver a final conclusion to the World Crisis; only Azâzêl can bring the four horseman of the apocalypse to heel. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1990, Ilan Ramon and his Israeli Air Force squadron head for home from their pre-emptive strike on Iraq’s buried Extraterrestrial Technology at Osirak. From the clouds they can see a giant spider emerging from the drain-hole shaped shaped crater left by the bombing. The spider heads westwards at speed – in the direction of Israel. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
Kevin and Sergeant Morris hit the 6th floor and pushed the door open. “Where to from here?”
Morris set his end of the generator down and looked at the building plan he had from the mission orders. “OK, this hallway turns down there,” he pointed off in a dark direction, “and then we're gonna have to bust through a couple of secure doors into the main computer room. Then you get to do your stuff and I get to sit on my butt.”
“I'm so happy for you.”
“My favorite part of the job.” Morris picked up his end of the generator and they started walking down the corridor again. “Wonder if there was a generator in the building we coulda got workin' instead of luggin' this thing up here.”
“Now you think about it,” Kevin whined. “Maybe instead of sittin' on your butt, you can work on that.” Morris gave him a sharp look, so Kevin added, “Sergeant.”
“I'll think about it.”
They got to the first security door and set the generator down. “So, are we gonna shoot the lock off?”
Sergeant Morris took out a small tool and put it up to the lock in the door. With a quick, smooth motion, he slammed it through the lock, then pulled it back. He pushed the door open and grabbed the generator again.
Kevin nodded appreciatively. “Nice.”
“Army'll give you the tools you need for any job.” They were walking through an outer office. There were several dead monitors on desks, and a large bank of monitors along a wall, with some unidentifiable instruments standing around. They stopped in front of another secure door, and Morris did his trick with the lock-breaker again. They then struggled the generator into a large room that was filled with row after row of computer racks.
“OK, guess it's time for me to earn my keep,” Kevin said, finding the row of power outlets that everything was plugged into. He started up the generator and started hooking cables together. After working for a few minutes, the computer racks were humming and a desktop monitor was lit up, spilling light into the room. Kevin turned off his flashlight and sat down at the monitor. He pulled out the list of master passwords he had been given in his mission orders and started logging in.
“We got about 40 minutes till we need to recharge the suits, Bradley.”
“OK, just let me start a search running.” He opened up a few windows and typed in the commands to tell the computer to look for any files with the previous day's date. “Let's charge up. It'll be doin' that for a while.”
They walked out of the room and started back towards the stairwell. “This is a helluva better walk without that generator,” Morris said.
“Amen to that,” Kevin said as they entered the corridor that held the door to the stairs. He thought he saw something moving, and stopped. “Did you see that?”
“See what?”
Kevin walked over to the one of the doors in the corridor and opened it. He looked in, but it was just a small office, nothing special. “Guess this place is just spookin' me.”
“Don't start imagining boogeymen, Bradley. I don't need you cryin' for your momma.”
Kevin snorted and turned back to the stairwell door. He pushed it open, and just for a second, thought he saw something moving again. “Geez, this place is getting' to me,” he said, pushing forward.

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Happy New Year

The state of TIAH

January 1st, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: Welcome to a brand new year! Our Guest Historian, Stephen Payne, returns to us with an enhanced look to his entries, and we continue on with our NaNoWriMo novel. We're all hoping for a great holiday to you and yours, and many return trips to TIAH!

	In 2007 they have been pursued for a very long time. Father must not fail now, not when they are so close to their goal. Of course this cuts both ways and the pursuers have redoubled their efforts, knowing that time is short. Significantly both the pursuers and the pursued have reinforcements arriving just about now.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

In 1892 the main port for immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was established on Ellis Island at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor. Sixteen years before the Statue of Liberty was given to the United States by the Paris based Union Franco-Americaine, standing at Liberty Island in the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans, inscribed with the message "Bring me your poor and weak". Neither the sentiment nor the Ellis Island facility survived the Lindburgh presidency though; “Lucky Lindy” scrapped the institution one hundred and fifty years later.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

In 1801 the legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom. Universally hated by the English, the isolation resulting from the Reformation had simply been too big a setback for them to resist the Union. The English were unable to stand up to the overwhelming power of the Celts and the support they commanded from Catholic Europe, and started to emigrate en mass to the Americas.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

In 1959 President Fulgencio Batista is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution. The United States became increasingly hostile to Cuba during 1959, driving Castro away from the liberal elements of his revolutionary movement and into the arms of Nazi Germany. Just three years later the Nazis would site nuclear weapons less than 100 miles from the United States, leading the World to the brink of Armageddon

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

After(cont.)
It was crowded in the jeep. Eli had a fake National Guard uniform, but no one else was comfortable with him being visible to the world. So, everyone but Jake and Kevin hid under tarp until they were well out of Austin and rushing towards Bryan. When Kevin gave them the all clear, they came out of the tarp sucking down air as if they had been buried.
“So, how long a trip is it to Bryan?” George stood right behind his father, eagerly taking in the countryside.
“Couple hours,” Kevin told him. “We'll be there before you know it.”
True enough, the trip went quickly and smoothly. There was no traffic, and they saw no Guard units until they were approaching Bryan. The unit that they passed didn't even ask them for their papers, but just waved them through. Kevin then started directing Jake through a few back roads to his house, where they drove up to the sound of a dog barking. Kevin immediately hopped out and quieted the dog. “Sorry I was gone so long, big guy,” he said, patting the dog on the head. He looked over at the food and water bowls he had set out, and they were both empty. He let the dog out of the fenced yard as the crowd exited the car. The dog ran over and sniffed them all, while Kevin told them, “Don't worry, he's really nice.” That didn't seem to calm Mike and Eli, who kept as far away from the dog as they could. Kevin opened up the door to his house and he and the dog ran in, followed by the others. Eli took a quick look around at the other houses on the road, but no one seemed to be watching them, so he shut the door and joined the others.
Kevin busied himself with feeding his pet, and Janice sat down at his PC. “Hey, computer man, do you need to check this thing for spyware and such before I turn it on?”
Kevin looked over at her, ready to tell her to just do it, but caution hit him. “Hang on.” He finished filling up the dog's dish and walked back to the living room and examined the case of his computer. No additional hardware had been added to the back, so he pulled out his tools and opened the case. He found nothing inside, either. “It's clean,” he told Janice.
Mike walked over to her and told her, “You're not gonna make a direct connection anywhere, are ya?”
Janice paused, her fingers just touching the keyboard. “Can you reroute me to throw 'em off?”
“Piece o'cake.”
Kevin put a hand to his chest. “How badly are you going to screw up my computer?”
“Relax, moneybags, you can buy another one.”
Kevin gave up and flopped down on the couch in front of the TV, with Steph and George. “At least they're not showin' the emergency lady anymore,” George said. The channel was on a cartoon.
Jake, Eli and Joan were all crowded into Kevin's small kitchen, raiding the meager contents of his refrigerator. The dog sniffed patiently at their backs, hoping for a few scraps to fall. They piled the food onto his kitchen table and dug in.
Kevin looked over at Steph, who looked back at him and smiled. “Not how you planned your first day back as a millionaire, huh?”
“Nope.” He smiled back. “Parts of it are nice, though.”
She turned away, but was still smiling. “We're goin' to Roswell from here?”
“That's what they said. Apparently, John Kerry was in New Mexico when it all went down, and he started rallying people around him. President-elect, and all.” He couldn't hide the disgust in his voice.
“He's a good man,” Steph said. “A hero.”
“That's not true,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “All those swift-boat guys were talkin' about what a lie that was.”
Steph pursed her lips and phrased her response carefully. “I think you need to reconsider who you get your truth from, Kevin.”
About to launch back with a response straight from talk radio, Kevin bit his lip and thought better of it. He looked around at his crowded house and said, “I'll try to keep an open mind.”
“Good.”
They turned their attention back to the TV, and the sun rose outside while the group in the kitchen satisfied their hunger and the pair at the computer got news from the underground. Kevin was starting to think about taking a nap when the emergency broadcast signal startled them all.
The emergency lady came on and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, there is miraculous news from Waco this morning. President Bush survived the attempt on his life and has been rescued by Texas Guard units searching through the rubble of his ranch. According to the Guard, the president is in excellent shape, and plans to address the nation later today.”


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Happy Birthday Robbie!

August 14th, 2007

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The Announcement

Co-Historian Says: I didn't hear from the boss yesterday so we must assume the weekend's computer surgery is still a work in progress or birthday parties in Texas get started real early. Hopefully this will be edited with his birthday stories later tomorrow.

Alternate Historian's Belated Addition: Thanks for the birthday wishes and getting the page up while we were having computer difficulties, Steve. Perhaps we should have brought Vesta over while delving into that alternate reality...
I have one alternate birthday poster for myself – but there's still plenty of time for you to send in alternate birthdays for Steve (November 22, 1967). Surely all you conspiracy-minded types can come up with a connection between him and certain other events that happened on that day!
Today, I am The Answer. It all seems so clear, now. If only I knew what The Question was. A lot has happened in the 2 years plus 4 decades since my birth. The hospital I was born in is now an office building; the house I grew up in belongs to other people; the city I have called home for most of my life has added a hundred thousand or so people to its population. I've been from one side of this continent to the other, and even left the continent for a brief stay in the “Old Country”. I took a stab at The Dream in Los Angeles, I found my dream girl right here at home, and now I have a baby. Along the way, I lost several family members, a few friends, and many preconceptions about what life was all about. I also gained new family members, new friends, and built a whole series of preconceptions about what life should really be about. I've had epiphanies, life-changing moments, death-defying leaps, and built plenty of character – and I'm still striving for all those things I wanted to be when I grew up. Now that I've reached The Answer, I realize that I'm looking at less time left to do everything I still have planned, and so I have to prioritize. But, how do you prioritize what you love?
42!
No, that's not The Question...

Alternate Birthday Post On August 14, 1965, Robert A. Taylor was born. His first brush with notoriety--decades before his phenomenal publishing career and his marriage to pop singer/sensation Cheryl Vernon--came when he won the district spelling bee at Stephen F. Austin Junior High School and went on to national finals in Washington, D.C. Robbie was invited to the white house after his successful spelling of "synchronicity" and was give the opportunity to speak factually with Jimmy Carter about the concerns of American Youth. The young Taylor's stance on alternative energy became the capstone of Carter's second term as president and may have been the actual turning point of America's conversion from fossil fuels to more reliable and environmentally sound alternatives. In his diary, released consequent with his Nobel Peace Prize, Carter admitted to the world: "I was listening to this kid. He had my full attention. He told me what to do and asked me if I'd really do it? If he hadn't asked me that, I probably wouldn't have done it all. But I made a promise to him and I had to keep it." The rest, as they say, was history. - post by George Wier, whose Bill Travis Mysteries can be found on our links at the side -

In 2008, California based enterprise software author Macrosoft Inc. narrowly beat Saab Motor cars of Sweden to win the prestigious award for "zero defects product of 2007". The International Standards Agency reported that the code engineering in Macrosoft Vesta had defined new best practice in process standards. The significance of protests at the awards ceremony was "de-emphasised" by Macrosoft executives. Many of these individuals had pessimistically disbelieved the minimum system requirements for Vesta, and had proactively purchased 2GB of DDR2 RAM. In fact, Macrosoft had squeezed the new operating system into 256MB under which it performed flawlessly, enabling the Corporation to offer no charge upgrades to domestic and developing country charities who had received end of life PCs. (Western consumers had been under the misapprehension they would not longer run multimedia applications and had wastefully transhipped units that could adequately run Vesta.) Many North American businesses admitted they too were slow off the mark, holding out for Service Packs that were of course never required to achieve this remarkable stable platform. As a consequence, they had failed to leverage the compelling business benefits that could be attained by raising employee performance through the productivity enhancing interface.

~ entry from Co-historian Steve Payne:

"It was the first time that I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle. Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists.
Eric Blair	Human beings were trying to behave as human beings and not cogs in the capitalist machine. In the barber's shops were Anarchist notices solemnly explaining that barbers were no longer slaves.." ~ Eric Arthur Blair in “Homage to Catalonia”
George Orwell

In 1936, Eric Arthur Blair describing his role in the Spanish Civil War, an event that would have huge long-term consequences for the people of Europe. The full article is available at Amazon

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

Bless my cotton socks I'm in the news The king sits on his face buttons all askew All wrapped up the same All wrapped up the same
The Teardrop Explodes	They can't have it You can't have it I can't have it too Until I learn to accept my reward ~ Lyrics to “Reward” - Click to Watch Sample
Marvel comic: Daredevil No.77

In 1981, at the height of their popularity, the English Post Punk/Neo-Psychedelic band received a legal challenge from the owners of Marvel comic book. Without their permission, Lead singer Julian Cope had taken the name of the band from No. 77 of the comic Daredevil published in 1960. During the dispute, Julian Cope found a new target for venting his anger. Cope spent the majority of his career raging at the “greedheads” who compromised his artistic excellence with commercial imperatives. The lyrics are available at at Always on the Run

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 1980, the actor Steve McQueen enjoyed a dramatic remission of Cancer following a mysterious visit to Florida. McQueen's wealth had bankrolled an increasingly desperate worldwide search for a cure. To this day, speculation continues that the actor had been led to the Fountain of Youth by sympathetic First Nation indigenes whose cause McQueen had supported throughout the seventies.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1942, monumentally tough old infantryman General Bluemel told captured General Douglas MacArthur to snap out of it. The anguished MacArthur had suffered not just the Command failure of defeat, but the death of wife and son when his escaping destroyer was sunk during the Japanese conquest of the Philippines But all of the American officers at the old Spanish Prison in Manilla have misread the reason for MacArthur's preoccupied thoughts. "General Robert E. Lee often said that duty was the most sublime word in the language. Gentleman, we all know the duty of a soldier who has been captured." MacArthur spoke further of escape, he had plans to fade away.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Rev. Martin Lu..	In 1482, to pass the long night of six hundred years at St. George El Mina Castle, a new soft voice spoke to Kwame. ”From every mountainside, let freedom ring... and when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village ..
.. and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! ”
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1943, on this day Winston Churchill wrote the immortal first line “Now this is not the end. ... But it is, perhaps, the beginning of the end.. " Containing speeches given at the turning point of the war, following defeats at Alamein and ..	Winston Churchi..
.. Stalingrad and the abortive North Africa landings “The Beginning of the End” is a remarkable insight into the events leading up to “Churchill's Last Stand” in the Middle East.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Prince Albert	In 2004, on this day the editor Peter Tsouras finalised the short stories entries for his compendium “Union Victorious”. This Anthology of ten speculative articles featured Andrew Uffindell's masterpiece "Hell on Earth: Anglo-French Stand Aside in the Civil War". The story turns in 1860, when Prince Albert escapes ..
.. death in a carriage accident and was alive a year later to moderate the British government's reaction to the Trent Incident. Confederate agents fail to escalate the Union-British tension with manufactured incidents along the Canadian border. The U.K. Determines not to intervenes in the American Civil War. Except for some early success around the Great Lakes, the Confederacy is eventually forced to sue for peace.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1976/1750, in New York City LeVar Burton suffers the most vivid nightmare of his entire life. The young actor dreams he is brutally forced into slavery in 18th century America. Assigned to work as a field laborer on a southern ..	Kunte Kinte
.. plantation, he attempts to escape and is severely punished. The following morning, Burton receives a telephone call from the author Alex Haley, who makes an incredible offer.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Encounter In South Austin

The state of TIAH

December 30th, 2006

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Alternate Historian's Note: This is very cool – I was looking at the Amazon sidebar, and saw that somebody had made this. This designer makes a lot of different things of this general type, so I don't know if it's an automated process or something, but it's still pretty neat. I also think it's more likely that the TIAH referred to is 'aunt' in Spanish. (Although misspelled.) Anyway, back to our exciting NaNoWriMo novel...

After(cont.)
Janice messaged back to her friends that they were going to assemble in Bryan. "The problem, of course, is that they can't travel at night." She looked at Jake. "Unless we go get them."
"You're kidding."
"No, that's the best way."
Kevin spoke up. "Why can't we just go to New Mexico? Cut out the middle men?"
"They won't tell me who to contact." She shrugged. "They're pretty paranoid."
"What a shock." Jake sighed. "OK, where do they live?"

They were soon shooting down the deserted highway in the jeep, flashing past the occasional other Guard vehicle as it went about other official business. Much to everyone's surprise, they weren't stopped, and made it all the way to South Austin and the small shack that Janice said was the home of Mike and Eli. After making sure that no one was watching them, Jake let Janice out and accompanied her to the door. "Now, these guys don't really have a lot of social skills," she told Jake as she rang the door bell. "Try not to be offended."
"Who the hell is it?" The gruff voice from the other side of the door registered surprise as it said, "Government stooge. You'll have to blow down the door, pig, and you still ain't getting me alive!"
Janice quickly put herself in front of the peephole in the door and said, "Eli, it's me. Let us in."
"Does he have a gun on you, Jan?"
A look of great exasperation dropped over Janice's face. "Every damn time... no, Eli, he's the guy I was telling you about on the computer. You're wasting time and causing a scene that is going to make sure that people see us out here, where they will be able to identify us later. Open-the-door!"
The door opened a crack, enough for Eli to stick his face out and glare at the two of them. He had wild, long dark hair, and eyes that were straight from a psychiatrist's nightmare. After a few seconds of examination, he opened the door widely and let the two of them in, slamming the door shut quickly behind them. He looked Jake up and down, fingering the pistol in his hands nervously. Jake felt compelled to ask, "Could you put the safety on that?"
Eli smiled, revealing a mouth of surprisingly bright teeth. "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Sergeant?"
Jake nodded. "Yes, I would. I'd prefer that to me beating your sorry, narrow butt down and taking it from you." Jake's expressionless face obviously spooked Eli, because he did flip the safety on. "Now, are you ready to go?"
"Almost," Eli said, heading towards a door on the other side of the small room. He opened it up, and started descending a set of stairs that it hid. "Mike's telling our contacts how to get hold of us once we decamp."
Jake and Janice followed him down the stairs into a dingy little basement filled with computer equipment, weaponry, ammunition, and some strange unidentifiable detritus that they didn't want to think about. Mike, a large man with a buzz cut, sat in front of a monitor, tapping instructions as they came up behind him.
"I told you it was Janice," Mike said to Eli.
"They could have hacked into the door cam with a false image," Eli said, defensively.
Mike finished whatever he was typing and turned to the others. A long scar cut across his right cheek, but otherwise, he had a pleasant face. He put up a hand in a faux-cool high-five gesture and said to Jake, "My brutha." When Jake simply stared at him icily, he dropped his hand and said to Janice, "So, we're set. We head to Bryan to throw the man off the trail, then we head off to join the resistance in Roswell."
Jake chuckled. "Roswell?"
"Appropriate, right?"
Janice nodded. "We could use a little alien intervention right now."

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Shepherds

Jesus	In 2007, the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come shows Ebeenezer Scrooge a strange vision of the far future. Portly parents (and children too!) consume vast quantities of packaged food in a shopping mall flooded with light. Huge amounts of money pass hands. Yet something is missing in this future. Despite the wild extravagance there's not nearly so much joy as at the 1843 Cratchit family christmas. Something is missing. Or rather, someone.
Is Love

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	In 5764 anno mundi, on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar European Jewry celebrated Hanukkah (Hebrew: חנוכה‎, alt. Chanukah or Hanukah). The Festival of Lights commenced an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt. The earliest known celebration of Hanukkah in Europe was the arrival of the Bethlehemite Rabbhi Yeshua Ben Jesse in Rome in 3761 anno mundi.
Hannukah

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in 1929, American courts had the good sense to ban that British pornographic tome, Lady Chatterly’s Lover. Once it was settled that the moral health of the nation stood to gain from the government determining what was good for the citizenry to read, the Department of Censorship was created and its secretary made a full Cabinet officer. Now, we only read what’s good for us.

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In 1996, NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X which is used on 98% of personal computers today.

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In 1984, British Horror Writer Graham Masterton published IKON, a tribute to Philip K Dick's 1964 counter-factual novel Man in the High Castle. Set in America in 1985, the once-proud nation has been reduced to an Oblast of the USSR with a powerless President. All because some twenty years earlier America secretly lost the Cuban Missiles Crises. Like Dick before him, the essence of Masterton's masterpiece is the book within the book, 'The Eagle Lies Heavy', a work of fiction written by a man called Graham Masterton. It describes a world where the Americans won the Cuban Missile Crisis - as a result, it has been banned by the Americans. Given his unpopularity with the world's two great powers, Masterton is said to live in a heavily fortified home and has become known as "The Author in the High Castle". Critics panned the concept but loved the story. After all, it was predicated on the US surrendering to Secretary Khrushchev. Today we know that Mr Kennedy meant it when he said “the problems of the world today are not susceptible to a military solution”. He had already surrendered by then.

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In 1812, the North American Confederation started a minor war against its Sioux neighbors when a group of N.A.C. colonists moved into land they mistakenly believed to have been ceded to them by the Sioux. Nearly 50 colonists were killed, along with an equal number of Sioux, before the dispute was settled and the N.A.C. colonists withdrew.

In 1946, magician and world-renowned skeptic Uri Geller was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Geller, an accomplished magician, took on all sorts of “psychics” in his native land, proving them to be phonies. He then took his act to America, where he helped unveil the truth behind notorious frauds such as Jeanne Dixon.

In 1980, in one of the most obvious attempted murders of the century, Sunny von Bulow was found in a coma in her Rhode Island mansion. Her husband, Claus, was arrested and quickly confessed, since the police had him dead to rights. He is currently serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Rhode Island.

In 1977, Home Secretary Margaret Thatcher returned from a Christmas reception at Number 10 Downing Streeting hosted by Interim Prime Minister Lord Louis Mountbatten and his deputy Major General Ord Wingate, DSO. Young people from the Norwich Choir showcase British youth of the “the right sort”. The smile wiped off her face, Thatcher worked through the night on plans for the forthcoming Miner's Strike. She would break the back of the Trade Union movement for sure, but first she needed to stockpile oil and coal like crazy.

Violent End

In 1973, on this day the Spanish Caudillo, General Franco, was killed in a car bomb attack in Madrid. The 78-year-old, his bodyguard and a driver died instantly and four other people were injured after a remote-controlled bomb was detonated as he passed. A massive explosion sent the car hurtling into the air and over the roof of the San Francisco de Borga Church where Mr Blanco had just been attending mass. The vehicle landed on the second floor terrace of a building on the other side of the church and a great deal of damage was caused in the area. No one has admitted carrying out the attack.

The General's death came 15 minutes before the start of a trial involving 10 of Spain's leading opponents of the Franco regime, one of them a Roman Catholic priest. They were arrested in a Madrid Church 18 months ago and were accused of unlawful assembly. Thousands of angry demonstrators have campaigned against the case and have already clashed with police. Commentators said the General's death must be seen in the context of this controversial trial and against the backdrop of his staunch support of General Franco's regime. Not since the Civil War, which ended in 1939, has a government minister died in such violent circumstances.

Carter	In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was published. Simon Burns' masterful sequel "What if Raymond Lee Harvey had missed?" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario of May 5, 1979 where President James Earl Carter survives the shooting at the civic center mall in Los Angeles. In this story, another man is hired to create a diversion so that Mexican hit men armed with sniper rifles could kill Carter; he fails and Raymond Lee Harvey shoots Carter with his pistol but misses. The consequence is that Carter is re-elected and implements a two-state solution of Israel and Palestine, bring peace to the Middle East.

In 2182, the United States General Accounting Office (USGAO) published economic and demographic forecasts up to the end of the twenty-second century. By 2200, America would be a quadrillion dollar economy with one billion citizens it was confidently predicted by the USGAO. One man thought otherwise, he had plans to return the Turtle Island to the First Nations by setting the clock back seven hundred years. And he had just obtained the means to do so.	C22 Jihadist

Suleiman

In 1522, Suleiman the Magnificent accepted the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Gibr al-Ţāriq and become known as the Knights of Gibraltar.

In 1989, the United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega and recover Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) buried in Panama. However, Noriega had beaten Bush to it, and the US Marines were confronted by Panamanian troops armed with futuristic weapons.	Bush41