Robert Abernathy

“ The Germans could hardly have protected the whole coastline with automatic alarms.
As they topped the seaward slope, though, from not far distant, where a house bulked in the shadow, exploded the barking of a watchdog. The raiders froze; Kane swore perfunctorily and said shortly, "Push on. Dogs can see us, or at least scent us. That one doesn't seem to have raised anybody yet—"
They pushed on, tramping across meadows and through woods, steering clear of the roads that might be watched by electric eyes—as the rocket port must be without doubt, if the dust ship was there. ”

“ Manning urged softly. As he talked he was walking without haste toward the gun. He did not dare glance aside to see what had happened to Dugan, or let even his expression betray his terrible eagerness to seize the moment—before Kahl went completely off the deep end, or before the Germans back there in the bushes collected their wits.
"You are American," scowled Kahl. "One of those who hate us. What have I to do with you?"
"I will help you," said Manning. "Your plan is good. Germany and all the world will revere your name when they know." ”

“ In the entrance of the time traveler had appeared the hunched figure of Kahl. He blinked at the light; his goatee was tattered and his face twitched. Behind him the massive shoulders of Wolfgang blocked the doorway; he wore a twenty-first century German uniform and an air of contentment that showed him, at least, to have found his niche in the world of the future.
Schwinzog half turned. "What I will do is my own business," he said curtly. "And you—will refrain from asking unnecessary questions. The Zeitfahrer is ready?" ”

“ Manning said hoarsely, "That light was on us! It didn't go through us, or anything of the sort. A body that reflects light is visible. So how the devil—"
"We're not optically invisible," answered Kane amusedly. "So far as I know, that's a physical impossibility. Actually, those Germans saw us, but they didn't notice us. Ever catch yourself looking right at something and not seeing it, because it was too familiar or because you were thinking about something else? That's the effect the field has. Anything in the middle of it hides behind a psychic block in the mind of whoever looks at it. ”

“ The big man, caught off balance in his negligent pose, was hurled backward and fell clutching; his head thudded solidly against the time traveler's metal sheathing. Kahl twisted free and swayed to his feet, and the machine gun was in his hands; it bucked and spat as he swung it in a jerky arc. Wolfgang, caught in mid-leap, crashed to the ground and rolled, and the German soldiers scattered wildly, firing a few shots that were aimed more away from Schwinzog than at Kahl. One man was too slow and dropped at the edge of the unburned thicket, and a couple of others yelped as they fled. ”

“ Remember two elderly jurists who served as a sounding board for Gestapoleiter Schwinzog? One of them is a friend of ours. We have a good many, even inside Germany."
"He calls them friends," growled Igor Vzryvov. "I say no German can be a friend."
"So—" Manning was numbed by surprise. "So you've had your eye on us from the start."
"Just about."
"And you believe our story?"
"Since the Germans didn't, I'm inclined to," admitted Kane. "We know that more things are possible than German imagination can swallow; we've got several such things here. ”

“ The future had obviously not gone according to anybody's plans made prior to 1949. A new factor had come in—the monstrous reality of atomic weapons, which had suddenly made it possible for a few men in one nation to hold the threat of death over all life on Earth. America had had them first and had used them to subdue Japan. But the German onslaught had been too swift; the combination of atomic dust and atomic bombs had paralyzed the U.S.A. before she could strike back.
"Up oars," whispered Kane. ”

“ The car door slammed. The machine swung about and purred swiftly away up the bridge approach.
Dugan stared after it and said softly, "What the hell!" And when Manning failed to answer: "Well, Ray, what now?"
The other passed a hand across his forehead. "I don't know. But maybe we'd better start looking for invisible men."
"Fine," said Dugan. "When I see one, I'll yell." ”

“ You don't seem to realize that luck—and the sacrifice of two of our best men—have given us a better chance than we ever hoped for. The Siegfried is just waiting for the crew to come aboard. If we lie low until the ship's in space—then take care of the crew and seize control—Well, the invisibility unit will be in German hands, sure. But what good will that do them if there isn't any Germany?"
They could hear each other's breathing in the airlock. Then Vzryvov said, "I see. Forgive my stupidity."
Manning asked carefully, "You mean to turn the dust against Germany? Wipe out the whole country?" ”

“ That is to see Germany saved from the curse of world empire! From the hatred of the whole Earth, which almost destroyed our country in my time and has destroyed it in this! Better even that we Germans should be the oppressed, rather than reap the oppressor's harvest of hate...."
Schwinzog's lips curled. "The Herr Doktor has lost his mind. I will have to operate the Zeitfahrer myself—Muller!"
The tall Wolfgang sidestepped and thrust out an arm, stopping Kahl's stumbling rush for the doorway and sending the old man staggering to sprawl at Schwinzog's feet. ”

“ You see, for a while after the Conquest they had a lot of use for slave labor, so the subject peoples were valuable to them; but now that they have plenty of atomic power, running nearly automatic factories and mechanized farms to supply all their needs and luxuries, the rest of the Earth's population looks to them like so much excess baggage. All they have use for is land, Lebensraum for their own growing people. They've calculated that the whole Earth could be covered by Germans by 2500 A.D. As far as they're concerned the rest of us can rot or starve—and we do ”

“ Kane looked at him with smoldering eyes. "What would be left to fight for?"
"Wait and see," insisted the Russian implacably. "You will really begin to fight when there is no more America to be saved, only Germany to be destroyed."
Manning put in hastily, "Your men didn't locate the—space ship. How do you know it's even in the Black Forest?"
Kane frowned, then shrugged. "We don't. But there's nowhere else it can be. We've checked every spaceport in the Reich." ”

“ And we won't have, for a long time, even if Germany is destroyed. But if it isn't we, and the other nations of the world, will never have those things again—the things that make human beings worth something.
"I sometimes wonder what would happen if history had taken a different turning—if we, instead of the Germans, had been the ones to discover atomic energy. Would we have been any better than they were? Or would we have used the power to make ourselves the masters of Earth and to monopolize civilization, just as Germany did?"
"You would have," snorted Vzryvov. "Russia would have. ”

“ Perhaps they had once been a people of blood and iron, but if so they were that no longer after a century of security and peaceful prosperity behind their impregnable bulwarks; and the refugees, fleeing those defenses now, were like fat tame rabbits escaping a burning hutch and falling victim, terrified and uncomprehending, to the claws and fangs and primeval savagery of the wild. ”

“ It'll be easy, once we take over the ship; a few degrees change in course—"
"Even your allies there?"
"Germans are Germans," growled Vzryvov. "At best, they are confused dreamers who think they could repay their debt to the world with a gesture."
Manning could not see Kane's face; but the other's voice held solemn earnestness. "We'll only be doing to them what they're trying to do to America.... Oh, hell, that's no valid argument. But, Manning, you come from an age when there weren't any atomic weapons, and such things were unthinkable because they were impossible. ”

“ As Manning bent to his oar, his imagination was busy with the first item of twenty-first century technology which went completely beyond his twentieth-century knowledge. In Germany he had seen the evidences of a mighty and advanced civilization, but everything had been the logical perfection of inventions already known....
Kane seemed to read his thoughts. "Working like we do, we can't compete with the Germans in things that call for a lot of resources and equipment. They have all the big weapons—the rockets and tanks and atomic bombs. ”

“ Manning said unbelievingly, "What do you mean—'murdered'?"
"The technical term is 'genocide.' They did it with guns and gas and, when necessary, the atomic dust. It's quite a job to wipe out a whole nation, and the Germans bungled Russia pretty badly and met a lot of stiffer resistance than they expected, and a lot of people—such as Igor's parents—got away to other countries. But since then they've made improvements in the method.
"Sometime soon, in a few days, maybe—a rocket will take off for somewhere in Germany and proceed to a point in space about fifty thousand miles from the Earth. ”

“ But Dr. Pankraz Kahl burst out, "Wir sind keine Amerikaner! Wir—" including himself and Wolfgang with a sweep of the arm, "sind Deutsche!"
Schwinzog regarded him expressionlessly. "And you?" he turned abruptly on Manning and Dugan.
"We're Americans," said Manning steadily, in English. Schwinzog's face did not change. But something in the look with which he had received Kahl's statement had jangled an alarm in Manning's brain. And he was still determined to keep his mouth shut and his ears open as much as possible.
Immediately he knew he had been right; for Schwinzog turned again to Kahl. ”

“ The defenses that we'd devised against the dust—inadequate as they must have been, because there isn't any real defense—were neutralized by the bomb. America fought for just one month, and after that there wasn't any United States—just a disorganized mob of survivors, dazed by the cities' destruction and the sterilization of big stretches of countryside.
"Germany proclaimed the New Order over the face of the whole Earth—humanity to submit to the leadership of the German Volk, its highest evolutionary type. Everywhere the nations surrendered without a fight. ”

“ A time machine might be a useful addition to our arsenal, though it sounds like a tricky thing to use...."
"I'm afraid we can't help on that score," said Manning, and related the whole story of their experience with Herr Doktor Kahl's Zeitfahrer.
Kane rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So you're stranded in our time. I feel for you! At least the Germans didn't get the machine, either—though they have got the inventor. We may have to do something about that. And what about you? Have any plans?"
Manning met his eyes squarely. "A hundred years ago, we were fighting a war. ”

“ You Americans are capable of more cunning than most Germans give you credit for; I know that well, for I was a colonial administrator in your country for ten years. Your attempt to masquerade as 'time travelers' shows originality in the conception and thoroughness in the execution. Needless to say, nothing directly incriminating was found among your effects. The experts report that even the metal identification tags found on the two who call themselves Ray Manning and Edward Dugan are authentic reproductions of those used by the American army at the time of the Conquest. ”

“ Simultaneously a rattle of shots, insignificant-sounding after the deafening blasts of high explosive, told that the patrol-car, racing its motor up the street, had opened fire on the entrance.
Clark was down on one knee, finger closing on the trigger of his automatic. The oncoming car skidded and spun half around. Two men spilled out and fled for cover; Clark dropped one and missed the other.
The big noises had begun, and speed was the big thing now. The raiders dashed headlong through the wrecked gateway. ”

“ Twenty-first century Germany was a nation of motors, wheels, and wings, and a day and a half might yet be time for a large part of the population to flee beyond the limits of the dust-fall which would cover Greater Germany from the Rhineland to the Volga. ”