January 24, 1998
This is the first of a set of journal entries I had to write all at once in a span of maybe three hours, as I did not have access to my journal for over three weeks.
We opened the wormhole to the next world. It was populated. We all wore ordinary civilian clothing, as the people in that other alternate San Francisco wore clothing very similar to ours.
We emerged in their counterpart of Azure Gate Park. It looked pretty much the same, and the trees even grew in the same places, though the skyline was a bit different. One thing I noticed is that there was no statue where the Abraham Lincoln statue would have been, but there had been a statue there, as I can tell by looking at the concrete square along with little holes drilled into it.
Five minutes later, two airmen returned home using the five-minute timer.
"Okay, we need to find a quiet place where I can set up the tracking equipment and find out if Quinn Mallory and company slid out of this world," she said.
"Some people saw our arrival," said Captain Maggie Beckett, wearing a sweater and blue jeans instead of Air Force camouflage.
"No need to worry about them, unless sliding is public knowledge on this world," said Colonel Rickman. "Who's to believe them if they told the police they saw a portal open in the park?"
I looked towards the street bounding the park, and saw storefront signs. "The people of San Francisco- or at least this neighborhood, speak and write English," I said.
We went to the edge of a park. One of the buildings on the other side of the street was called the Museum of Resistance.
"I believe I would like to know more about this world," I said. "A museum is a good place to start."
"Might as well," said Dr. Jensen.
And so we went there. There was all sorts of various pictures and even artifacts under glass.
"Welcome to the Resistance Museum," someone said.
I looked and saw Wade Welles- this world's version of Wade Welles.
And then she looked at Captain Beckett. "I remember you," she said. "You rescued me from the Presidio Concentration Camp back in the fall of '94. I remember meeting my other self, the one who said was from another dimension."
"I guess I did," said Beckett.
My ears perked up. She saw her other self. and maybe the Quinn and Rembrandt from the world I live in were still alive.
"Yeah, I joined you guys. I even fought in the Liberation of San Francisco almost two years ago. Anyway, i am Corporal Wade Welles of the United Crown Commonwealths Royal Army Reserve, and assistant curator for this museum in my civilian job. I didn't know you went back into civilian life."
"I'm just here for a visit."
"Yeah, right now, the enemy's reduced to a few holdouts in the Great Basin. hard to believe they controlled most of North America back in 1994. I guess he's with you."
"Of course he is," said Colonel Rickman.
"Please excuse me; I have work to do."
"I think I'll find a place to perform the tracking," said Diana Davis.
"I shall stay here for a while, explore this museum," I told her.
"I might as well take a look around," said Rickman. "I could learn more about this world."
"Nevertheless, keep in mind that this museum has its biases."
"It is a good place to start."
And so I looked around. In the 1940's, the Axis Powers started it conquest and swept the globe. Eventually, America- the United Crown Commonwealths of America, which had controlled territory that was the United States and Canada on my world- was isolated by the 1980's.
and then they invaded, with the assistance of German-American Bund groups, which included some generals and admirals in the Commonwealths' forces. The capital Alberton fell in 1984, King Leonard was publicly executed, however, the Royal Secret Service and some more Royal Marines managed to evacuate Crown Princess Sophia to a redoubt in the Yukon.
But the spirit of freedom was not extinguished. A resistance was formed by UCC military officers and enlisted who remained loyal to Crown and country, and by civilians who were horrified by the atrocities the Nazis were committing in America. Soon, these freedom forces began taking the offensive, starting with a raid on the Presidio in September 25, 1994- just a few days after my adopted world's Quinn Mallory, Wade Welles, and Rembrandt Brown left their world. There were major battles, and the capital Alberton was liberated just a few months ago, with the Reichsfuhrer of the Union of National Socialist Republics of America being executed at the same place where King Leonard had been executed in 1984!
Keeping in mind that the museum was biased, I had a feeling their narrative was largely true, and the Nazis here were and are just as bad as the Nazis were on my world.
I took a look around. There is a picture of a statue of Adolf Hitler in Azure Gate Park, located at the spot where the Abraham Lincoln statue was in my birth world, and in my adopted world. Another pictures showed a street with soldiers bearing rifles, and it was captioned "Liberation of Los Angeles- July 4, 1997." I saw a display case of a Heckler and Koch MP5 used by the American Schutzstaffel. I saw some Nazi propaganda, including a caricature of a stereotypical ew with the caption "The Jews Are Our Misfortune" and a cartoon of King Leonard, with a fur coat and gold crown an holding a gold scepter, being a hand puppet for a stereotypical Jew with large nose, long beard, and black hat, and I saw a picture of a gathering of people at a park, and the caption mentioned they were Jews openly celebrating the Shabbat just after San Francisco was liberated.
And there were other pictures of the Presidio concentration camp, with prisoners in black-striped outfits, and a picture of what looked like a torture chamber, I read that electric shocks were often visited upon prisoners.
And the caption mentioned other abuses were visited on the prisoners.
I took out my timer and found out I had been on this world for a little over two hours!
"There might be a public library," I said to Rickman. "We can learn more about this world, this version of the United Crown Commonwealths of America."
And so I stepped out through the museum's front entrance.
There were military vehicles parked, and many soldiers bearing rifles.
I immediately recognized Rickman- the Angus Rickman of this world!
Beside him was the Maggie Beckett of this world, and another familiar looking man, who looked like a man named Hurley whose duplicates I encountered in several slides; perhaps his name is Hurley. They were all dressed in uniforms.
"You are Maximilian Arturo," the other Rickman said.
"I may not be the Arturo you think I am," I said.
"What's going on here?" asked Rickman.
I saw the soldiers train their rifles at him.
He looked at his native counterpart here.
"In the name of Her Majesty Sophia, Queen of the United Crown Commonwealths of America, I arrest you, Maximilian Arturo, for sedition against the Crown, and cruelty and maltreatment of prisoners, and over one thousand counts of premeditated murder," said the native Rickman.
The man who could be this world's version of Hurley slapped handcuffs on my wrists. Within minutes, I was in the back of a truck, with soldiers obscuring my view of the San Francisco city streets. I was shaken by the loud rumbling.
It may have ben thirty minutes or so before I as taken out of the truck and marched. I didn't have a good view of my surroundings. I was led to a room where soldiers- more specially, military police- stood guard. Some of them looked familiar- maybe one or two of them have duplicates who are guards at Yerba Buena.
They took my fingerprints and then my picture was taken. I had been arrested by lawful authorities before in twenty months of sliding, so this wasn't a new experience for me, and how they treated arrestees didn't seem to be too different than my other experiences.
I was marched into a cell and shoved in. It wad clear I was arrested for crimes my counterpart here was accused of. And given their relatively rough treatment, he is accused of doing really bad things.
I was wordlessly served bland meals on a tray. Nobody talked to me. and while I was almost certain that the UCC was freer than the Nazi regime which once ruled here, I could not assume that I had the same rights I would've on my birth world, or my adopted world.
And so I spent the night in that six foot by eight foot cell.