Consequences, Chapter 11
By Snazzo
--
Sheen and Cindy were quiet. Britney walked over and knelt by Jimmy. "Oh, Jimmykins," she said, putting her small hand on Jimmy's big forehead. "Why? Oh why did we start this adventure?" She bent over and kissed Jimmy on the lips.
"Britney!" Libby exclaimed in shock. "What ARE you doing? What are you doing here?"
Britney looked up at Libby. "Libs, are you okay? Sheen, radiation can't affect memory or anything like that, can it?"
Sheen shook his head silently.
"Uh, no offense Britney," Libby said, "but … but you're not supposed to be here!"
"Libs! What kind of crack is that?" Britney gasped. "We're best friends! We've known each other for years! Where else would I be?"
Libby fiddled with her hands. "We have known each other for years, Britney, that's true. And you're a good friend. But Cindy Vortex was here a second ago, and she's my best friend."
"Cindy who?" Britney asked.
"Cindy Vortex!" Libby said. "She's the second smartest kid in school!"
"You know, Britney," Sheen explained. "Blond hair, pony tail, a very big mouth, argues with Jimmy all the time."
Britney looked confused. "Sheen, Amber is the second smartest kid in school! But I'm definitely the hottest. Jimmy just couldn't keep his eyes off me, nor his hands, or lips for that matter."
"Too much information!" Carl finally spoke up. "Britney, I can hear you, it sounds like you, but are you saying you're – you know – you're Jimmy's girlfriend?"
"Of course!" Britney replied.
"Since when?" Libby demanded.
"Oh, we've liked each other since we co-hosted Zero Gravity Funky Jam Dance Party With Some Science," Britney said. "Jimmy said I was a beautiful dancer. But I guess things really got serious the time we were marooned on the Island."
"YOU were marooned on the Island???" Libby asked.
"Don't you remember Libs?" Britney asked. She sighed. "Oh, only the most romantic time of my life." Britney reached into her pink top and pulled out a pearl hanging on a golden chain. "Jimmy gave me this. It was the first time we kissed."
Sheen and Libby gaped at Britney.
It had taken a lot of talking with Cindy, but Libby had finally learned of what had happened on the Island, and Cindy had shown her the pearl. Cindy had kept it in her keepsake box. Libby in turn had told Sheen, who had in turn posted it on his blog, not knowing any better. Cindy was furious at that! But now Sheen could completely recognize the pearl as the exact same one.
Libby said "Excuse us a second, Britney, I have to talk to Sheen about something."
"Sure thing, Libs," Britney said.
Sheen helped Libby limp over near the TARDIS. "Sheen!" Libby demanded. "What has happened now?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Sheen exclaimed. "It would appear in this timeline Britney and Jimmy are an item. Though I can't imagine what Jimmy saw in Britney. She is very cute but she doesn't have Cindy's intelligence."
"Cute?" Libby asked.
"Uh. In a blond belly-button sort of way. I prefer dazzling young girls named Libby though," Sheen said.
"Nice recovery," Libby said. "Couldn't we just get a quantum stabilizer out of the glove box and put it on Britney and bring Cindy back?"
"No, I don't think so," Sheen answered. "All I can suggest is let's travel back in time, I'd say about a week or so before the war, and see if we can figure out what happened to the world, and what happened to Cindy." Libby and Sheen returned to the group.
"Shmengel," Carl said, "I thank you much for your help. But you better be getting back to Jupiter," Carl said. "I don't want your mother to worry about you. You did tell her you were leaving, didn't you?"
"Of course, Mom," Shmengel replied through Goddard. "She said she was sorry she couldn't come, she couldn't get away, but hoped you were all right. … You are going to be all right, aren't you Mom?"
"I think so, eventually," Carl said. "I'll send you a message when everything is back to normal."
"We'll figure things out," Sheen said.
"Goodbye!" Shmengel said. "Take care!" The other Shmengies and the Pokus bobbed up and down in farewell, then lifted into the air.
"Well gang, let's not waste any more time," Sheen said. "Let's get into the TARDIS."
"Time?" Britney asked. "Gak! Those time jokes are getting lame."
* * * *
A short trip later the TARDIS appeared in the backyard, a complete backyard with a clubhouse, trees, green grass, and the Neutron house standing in the sunshine. The gang piled out.
"Oh," Britney squealed, "It is so good to see the blue sky! For awhile there I thought I'd never see it again." She walked to the clubhouse and held her pigtail up to Vox's eye and the door opened.
"Britney!" Sheen gasped. "How did you do that?"
"Oh, Sheen-Bean, Jimmy granted me complete access to the clubhouse a long time ago," Britney explained with a smile. "We often meet down there for privacy." Britney winked.
"Sheen-Bean?" Libby asked. "Uh, never mind. … Sheen, shouldn't we take these guys to the hospital? I'm sure they could use some help, especially Jimmy."
"I don't think so, Libby," Sheen replied. "It was a big enough mess to explain how Cindy got shot. Explaining how we all got so injured would make a huge mess."
"But you're a genius now," Libby said. "You should be able to create some truly impressive lies."
"There you go with that Cindy again!" Britney said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'M the one that got bayoneted by those nasty Nazis, Libs."
Sheen frowned. "Let's get into the clubhouse and see what we can discover."
In the lab Goddard and Britney helped Jimmy, Libby, and Carl into the infirmary, making them as comfortable as can be. Sheen sat down in front of Vox and began to type furiously.
"You really don't remember us being best friends, Libby?" Britney asked sadly.
Libby shook her head. "I'm sorry Britney, I don't. We've been to movies together, and jumped rope, slumber parties, and lab partners, but it's Cindy Vortex who I tell my secrets to."
"Like the fact that you really did enjoy "Odeling to the Oldies," even if the plant didn't? How you yodeled 'Johnny B Good' in your underwear? And 'Jailhouse Rock' in the shower until your mother rushed in thinking you had fallen and hurt yourself and were crying in pain?" Britney said with a small smile.
"What?!" Libby gasped. "How? How? How did you know that?"
Britney merely patted Libby on her arm. "I am kinda ditzy, I'll admit Libs. But I do kinda grasp how weird this time travel stuff can be. You'll just have to accept the fact that we're best friends for now."
"Are we best friends?" Carl asked.
"We're good friends, Carl," Britney said. "We dated a few times, and I liked you a lot, but once Jimmy and I became serious I told you it wouldn't be good to keep seeing each other, and you agreed. You said you couldn't do that to Jimmy."
Carl blushed. "Me? I dated you Britney?"
"Just a few malts and sundaes at the Candy Bar, but yes Carl," Britney said. "I think it's neat that you can tie a knot in the stem of a maraschino cherry with your tongue."
"What?!?" Libby and Carl and Goddard gasped.
Britney laughed. "I'm just being silly. We never kissed, Carl. You were too shy."
"Well, I've got some good news and some less good," Sheen said, walking over.
"What's the good news?" Carl asked.
"We've succeeded in stopping World War Two. There is no mention of a Nazi Germany, a Holocaust, or even an Adolph Hitler in any census records or history books. He's gone. Never existed."
"Yeah," Carl said weakly.
"What's the bad news?" Britney asked.
Sheen sighed. "Where to begin? The United States remained in an economic depression through the early 1950s. They remained an isolationist nation until the present, taking little concern in European, Asian, or African affairs, except for The Japan Incident, which was the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in July of 1942 and the failed invasion of that island a few days later.
"The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, on the other hand, grew to astronomical power. Nazis never marched to within view of Moscow, Stalingrad never suffered a siege. The Soviet Union absorbed Poland on October 10th, 1941. France and England protested but took no action. Finland, Sweden, and Norway fell to Communist revolutions in the fall of 1942. Germany, Austria, Hungary and Italy agreed to join what was called the Soviet Protection Pact on January 1st, 1945, saying they feared invasion by France and Britain."
"Where was America during all this?" Britney demanded. "And England with that Winston Churchill guy? Churchill would never have stood for all that, according to what Miss Fowl said."
"Churchill was concerned, and he was in the British military, Secretary of the Navy, but he had no power in the government. He was never made prime minister. The British desperately tried to hold on to their empire, but Soviet backed Communist revolutions swept India, Pakistan, and most the Middle East by 1953. America was just coming out of the Great Depression when the Soviet Union tested the first atomic bomb on July 5th, 1954. The Americans rushed to catch up and the Cold War began."
"What about Vietnam and Korea?" Carl asked.
"Communist nations now, Carl. No war at all, which is good and bad. No American troops dead, no monuments in Washington DC, but more places for more missiles. The nuclear war, it seems, began with the Cuban Missile Crisis." Sheen continued.
"The Cuban Missile Crisis?" Libby asked. "What's that?"
"We haven't got that far in History Class," Sheen explained. "In 1962, in the original time line, the United States discovered that the Soviet Union was putting nuclear missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade. There was a military buildup in Florida, in anticipation of the invasion of Cuba. It was the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear war. The Soviet embassy in Washington burned important files. People lined up at twenty-four-hour confessionals, fearing the worst. There was a lot of confusion in the government about what to do, many generals wanted strategic bombing or a first-strike nuclear attack. All kinds of mistakes and bad moves escalated the crisis almost beyond control: an American nuclear test, an American rocket launch, an American spy plane straying into Soviet Air Space. Americans bought batteries and stockpiled food. The crisis finally ended when the Soviets agreed to dismantle the missiles, and the United States secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey.
"Now it seems that whole crisis was delayed by decades. We're right in the middle of it. Four days ago spy planes discovered missile sites under construction in Cuba. Two days ago President Gore spoke to the nation saying he would not allow the Soviet to endanger American lives, or endanger the entire Western Hemisphere with 'Their reckless and provocative actions.' He has ordered a naval blockade of Cuba and he has issued an ultimatum, the Soviets must agree to dismantle and withdraw the Cuban missiles within one week or face a 'massive military response of devastating power to keep the Western Hemisphere free of the Soviet menace.' The world's nuclear arsenal is HUGE. America not only has radar in Canada, but missile silos too. And missiles in Greenland, Brazil, Argentina and Antartica. The Soviets have missiles all throughout Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, Australia, and Africa. There have been no arms reduction talks whatsoever. VOX tapped into the Military Defense Network; American submarines are already on station near the Soviet Union, and the Soviets are near us. Attack submarines are also lurking near them. Bombers are on Stand By. And there are nuclear missile satellites in orbit. President Gore and much of Congress have quietly been moved to safe locations. Mail has been suspended, the TV and radios stations have been seized, there's a National curfew and a State of Martial Law, many cities are being evacuated as we speak, citizens being relocated to compounds in the country. And as you saw, it did not end so well."
"So what the heck do we do?" Britney asked.
Sheen thought about it. "I think we only have one choice. One chance to stop the war, save Jimmy, and bring back Cindy. No offense Britney. We stopped Nazi Germany, we must stop the Soviet Union."
--
Thanks for reading and comments very welcome! Have a great Thanksgiving!
Snazzo