H. G.

    

Ah, tabula rasa.   I sit in wonder. What dark marks will flow upon it? Where will it end? How will they take shape? With caffeine entering the blood stream and sleep exiting my dull mind I'll begin. But where? The beginning? No, I've been there and there was nothing. Perhaps the middle? Middle of what? Earth? Nope that's been covered also. I can't go to the end since that is in the future and what idiot thinks he can go to the future.
"I can!" Why it's a voice behind me midst the sparks and lights and coughs and wheezes emanating from the elaborate chair upon which sits a wizened old man in Victorian attire and a flowing grey beard.
"Well you can just go back because I'm not prepared to see it just yet."
"Would you deny yourself the chance to see your future? The future of the world?"
"Heck yeah, buddy. So push off and go to some other person’s house. They might want to chronicle your futuristic sojourns. Anyway that shtick has been done too. I see you've patterned your "Time Machine" after Rod Taylor's cushioned chair. What's up? No real imagination of your own?"
"Those are fighting words, sir. Rod Taylor and that movie crew made an exact replica of this device. I ought to know. I showed it to him. The one thing I liked about the 50's was Hollywood. Those chicks liked Victorian manners. But I digress. Are you positive you don't want to take a quick jump into the future? It could be fun."
"No. How about a quick jaunt to the past? Time's Square V-J day?"
"Hop on. Of course you'll have to sit in my lap."
"Maybe I'll pass after all. Unless you can go sideways into another dimension. How about that?"
"Not satisfied with time travel, eh? I don't know if that is possible with this. Let's see now. If I push this and punch that and tie this off. OK. Hop on. We'll give this a try."
I hopped on as lights started flashing and snap, crackles and pops woke my dog who began to bark. Her barking began to fade just as she began to fade from sight. Then a heavy jolt which felt like my very atoms were torn asunder and as I began to wonder about asunder it happened again and we came to such a sudden stand still that with both vibrated like a cartoon arrow.
It was Time's Square.
"Hey, I thought you were going to dimension hop not time travel."
"Well, I thought we did."
"This is New York. What's the date?"
"I guess I still had it set for V-J Day, but where are the crowds if that's so?"
The city was deserted. There wasn't a soul out. Newspapers whipped along the streets. It was like a bad movie scene. I yelled hello. My voice ricocheted off the buildings.
"What's going on?"
Greybeard answered, "I don't know I've been here before and there were crowds of people dancing in the streets. Car horns and shouting. Streamers drifting through the air from open windows high above the streets."
"This is too eerie for me. Can we just go back:"
"There seems to be some malfunction here. I must have punched this button a little too hard. My machine has been back and forth through time so often that it has aged considerably. Why don't you walk around a bit while I have a look at it. Maybe you can find and answer."
I agreed, said I'd be right back and started walking to the nearest newspaper stand. I didn't have long to wonder. The headlines read. Germany's Secret Weapon Revealed.
As I began to read the news columns a scrap of paper blew into my face. I snatched it away and started to toss it but the large print caught my eye.

WARNING!

Surrender now or we shall drop a weapon
upon your city the likes of which you have
never seen. It will eliminate all traces of
life in a 100 mile area. You and all your
loved ones will cease to exist. You will be
vaporized leaving your land and your
accomplishments to us. You have 7 days
to surrender. If you do not then America
will be ours. This is your only warning.

I read the story in the paper after that.
"England refused to knuckle under to the threats of Germany. After the defeat of France, Great Britain declared her intention of seeing the struggle through to the bitter end. Leaflets were dropped over the country side by German planes. They warned England's people to surrender or be eliminated from the face of the earth. Those hardy people ignored the warning as Hun hype and went about the business of war.
In 7 days there were no people on the British Isles. Intercepted messages from German radio reported the weapon was successful. In a matter of 2 months the land will once again be habitable. The British Empire is no more. The Britons have been eradicated from the face of the earth.
Germany has been dropping leaflets across the country side and broadcasting over the radio that the same fate awaits us if we do not surrender within the 7 day grace period. It is in the best interests of the people of the United States if the government surrenders unconditionally now. We do not want to suffer the fate of the United Kingdom.
I folded the paper and tucked it under my arm. greybeard was still fussing with the control panel of his chair. I ran over to him and shouted, "Get it together and get us out of here now."
"What's wrong, laddie?"
"Germany won the war. There's no one in New York and the Germans have found their lebensraum. It's America. Get us out of here."
"All right. Calm down. I think I've got it. There. Get aboard and we'll give her a try."
As he began to fiddle with the controls there was a growing commotion coming from the canyons of concrete and steel. It sounded like music in a rough language growing more distinct as Greybeard continued to play with his controls. There I was beginning to make out the first strains of a song forcing its way into our ears--
"Deutschland ueber alles...." and at that moment the infernal machine bucked forward accompanied with coughs and wheezes.
Just as quickly as we left we returned. Greybeard stayed for a cup of tea and we talked about the other world we had visited.
"England and America gone forever? Obliterated in a matter of minutes? It's a cruel vision that." he said. "Hitler will have all the room he wants now to carry out his plans of world domination. Pity those not of Aryan blood. It will mean nothing to him to remove all living creatures not of his vision of the master race. It's a horrible place we have left behind. At least in our world their is no one left who would want to eradicate all but his vision of what the world should be."
"That's debatable," I said.
"All right, laddie, I'll be off then. Perhaps another time?"
"Perhaps." And he was gone in an ozone aftermath.

Oh, wow, I must have fallen asleep at the keyboard. What a weird dream. Well, it seems I've been writing while asleep. Almost word for word like my dream. That's odd there is a faint smell of ozone in this room. Hmm, where'd that copy of the New York Times come from?