Time Travel Chronicles Part I

Chapter 6

George's image filled the main screen of the X-901. "We have NASA now but no Space Command. We've had to cloak the station. I don't think humans have made contact yet." 

Angie sighed. "We'll give it another try, George." 

"Good luck, ma'am." 

"Hey, wait a second! Can you access the internet?" 

George turned to look at Brigit before he looked back at the camera. "Brigit says she can, ma'am." 

"Can you link up to the station, Delphi?" 

"Yes, Angie." 

"Good," Angie said. "We'll search for history changes." 

"Anna has already found a change," George said. 

"What is it?" 

Anna's image replaced George's. "Hitler escaped the bunker at the end of World War II. That caused a delay in Germany's surrender." 

The alien is playing the What-in-the-World-Happened-to-Hitler game with us," Marty said. 

"Let me talk to Barnes," Angie said. 

Barnes image replaced Anna’s on the screen. 

"Have you made any progress?" 

"Yes, ma'am. The alien is using negative energy to create a wormhole much as we do to jump, but he is accelerating one end of the wormhole to the speed of light and then spinning it to allow closed time-like curves. Fortunately, he can only traverse short time-shifts, less than a hundred years." 

"Is there any way to stop him?" 

"Yes. If we could detect the wormhole, we can bombard it with a tachyon beam to disrupt it. We are working on a method to detect a quantum wormhole." 

"Keep at it. We must end this." 

"Yes, ma'am." 

After Barnes' image was replaced by the familiar image of Earth, Marty submitted his question. "What are we going to do now?" 

"We're going back to April 30. 1945, and you're going to shoot Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun." 

"I've always wanted to do that,"Marty said, grinning. 

Angie gave him a mock frown. "Wise guy."

He laughed, but it wasn't really funny. 

The Reich Chancellery was still standing in April 1945 but Berlin and it looked a bit worse for wear. The massive columns that ran across the front sported many chips and holes. Debris from falling stone was scattered about. The big door under the eagle symbol was badly scratched and dented. Explosions and shooting sounds echoed around the empty streets near the Chancellery. It was quite obvious that the Russians were coming. 

"How are we going to get in there?" Marty asked. 

"I'm going to stop time and transport us into the bunker," Angie said, waving her hand. 

The noise ceased abruptly: no gunshots, shell explosions, wind whistling or aircraft sounds. 

Inside the bunker was even more unnerving. People were frozen like statues in the process of walking down a corridor or just sitting at a desk. Hitler sat like a wax dummy at his desk while Eva Braun lay on a couch. 

“Eva Braun is already dead, probably from a cyanide capsule,” Angie said. “You just have to shoot Hitler. His gun is lying on the desk. Pick it up, and when I start up time again, shoot him in the left temple. Then, I will get us out of here.” 

“Why the right temple?”

“I don’t know, dear. That’s what the historical records indicate.” 

“Oh . . . wait a second. Why didn’t Hitler shoot himself like he was supposed to?” 

“The gun’s empty, dear. The alien time traveler removed the bullets, and that gave Hitler time to think about it.” 

Marty pulled the clip out of the Walther PPK automatic. “You’re right. It’s empty.” 

Angie handed him six 7.65 mm bullets. “Put these in the clip and then shoot him.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Marty loaded the clip, rammed it back into the gun and cocked it. 

“Get ready, dear.” 

Marty held the gun up to Hitler’s right temple. When Angie started time, Marty pulled the trigger. The blast was deafening in a closed room, but it didn’t matter. The deed was done. Before anyone could get into the room, the two time travelers were gone.