2012 - an alternate history

2012
By: Christopher Gourgouras.

United States – March, 2012

“Attention all test subjects. You have been chosen for this experiment because of your clean criminal records and excellent health. Most of you are being sent on simple missions to test the effectiveness of our time portal but one of you will be sent on a real mission at the end of testing. Anyone who would like to participate in the real mission should sign up before departure and we will evaluate your performance during testing, the best will be sent out on a real mission.”

Everybody signed up. The money being made off time travel was better than 5 years salary at there jobs and they only had to be gone for a few hours. No one knew what the real mission was going to be. Every test subject had a purpose, scientists were there to study ancient rocks and animals, soldiers were meant to bring back useful information about the future of warfare and there was also one assassin in the group. He was the greatest assassin on earth, he had been behind every major political assassination for 30 years and most recently assassinated the president of the NSU (New Soviet Union) before he could start a major nuclear war.

John Wesley was that assassin. He did not care about the other 4 on the mission because he already knew he would be chosen, this testing was already completed years ago and he had been briefed 2 months prior to advertising for test subjects. The government had chosen these subjects because they had seen the future as it was going to happen. The two soldiers and two scientists on this mission had to die before they caused the deaths of millions. They would not be missed because after their painful executions their parents and everyone that was ever close to them would be arrested and death papers would be released saying they died in tragic accidents. After this John would return to his own time for further briefing.

The 4 subjects stepped into the time portal and said what times they were traveling to the machine. The computer calculated this and John canceled the time decision, instead sending them to 1943 Germany with Jewish identification. They would all die. Satisfied, John left the portal room and proceeded to the science department to watch his work. As soon as the portal opened in Germany the 4 men were arrested by the SS and sent to Auschwitz.

April, 2012

“This is your mission. We did not only send the subjects to concentration camps to watch them die. We sent them there as experiments to see how this next mission given to you affects them. As soon as your mission is completed the 4 men you sent back will be drawn here from the time they arrived at the camp. Once here they will report to us how the world suddenly changed, if it changes at all. You have one mission. This mission is to assassinate the mother of Adolf Hitler while she is pregnant with her son. This should not be hard for you.”

John left the briefing room and immediately proceeded to the time portal. He stepped in and said his date and time. “Braunau Am Inn, Austria; April 19, 1889”, the day before Hitler’s birth. The computer acknowledged and the motor started buzzing as the portal was turned on. John noticed a quick burst of air as he was sucked through the portal and time flew by him. After about 5 minutes everything slowed to a stop as he appeared at the door of Hitler’s birthplace.

He knocked on the door and a man in his 50’s answered the door. “Kann ich Ihnen helfen?” asked the man. John raised his gun and shot the man 5 times in the head. He then walked in the house and saw a woman in labor and shot her 5 times in the head and shot the last 2 rounds into her stomach. The mission was over, Hitler was dead before even being born and so was his mother and father. Nothing seemed to change but it was still too early to tell. He pressed the remote activation switch on his timecard to go back to his own time but nothing happened. He was stuck here forever.

April 20, 1889

John was trapped in this time with an empty gun and money that was not worth anything. He knew what he had to do, he had the blueprints to the time portal in his bag and all he had to do was find the right components. He did not know what he had changed and would not know for almost 50 years at the outbreak of World War Two. He took out the blueprints and took a walk while reading the instructions. He than went to the local shops and retrieved what he needed. Once he had everything he went out into an open field and began construction.

Once construction was completed John turned on the computer and said his destination to the computer. “New York City, NY 2012.” The computer responded, “We are sorry, there is no location by that name in this time period.” “Ok, take me to the United States Capitol.” Once again, the computer denied the request, “There is no United States in this time period. “What locations are available?” “You can only travel to the two designated locations that are allowed time space by the Empire, would you like to travel to checkpoint Omega or checkpoint Alpha?” “Take me to alpha.”

As the time travel process began a lot of thoughts were going through John’s head. His main thought was the empire, who were they and how had they come into power? He had an idea but hoped he was not right, as he approached the checkpoint he slowed the portal and it soon came to a stop in a military checkpoint guarded by two men dressed in all black and holding assault rifles.


2012: Part 2


December, 2012 – Empire Territory

The men walked towards John, curious of how he had come out of a portal that had not been used since the fall of the Heretics 20 years ago. The Church of Time used to be the main enemy of the Empire until the heretics were defeated and executed at the last 2 remaining time shrines. The heretics had believed that these machines could actually allow them to travel through time but could never find a way how to do it.

“Who are you and where have you come from? Are you a heretic or citizen of the Emperor? Speak now or die where you stand.”

“I am John Wesley. I have come here from 1889 after an assassination that I carried out. I came from this time but now it seems something has gone very wrong in the process. I must speak to your leader immediately.”

“Nothing has gone wrong, the North American Empire has ruled since 1930 after the opening that the European depression gave them. No one over there could fix it and Germany remained hopeless so we just decided to loan them more money than they could ever pay back, then after 20 years we walked in and claimed ownership over their lands due to interest and crushed anyone who fought back. With the help of the Japanese Empire we gained control over Asia and the rest of the world. The traitorous Japanese tried to attack us later but we were prepared for it and repaid them by killing every human of Japanese descent on this planet. The world is a better place without those traitorous bastards anyways. Give me one reason why I should not kill you right now.”

“Do not kill me; arrest me so I can plea my case in the courts. You do have a court don’t you?”

“No, courts are not needed in this land because no one dares commit any crimes here because they know the punishment is more painful than death for offenders of even minor crimes. I will put you in contact with one of the emperor’s diplomats if you wish as it seems that you really do not have any idea what is going on. Good luck to you, you will need it.” The man walked away and his friend followed. John sat down on the bench nearby and put his face in his hands, trying to think. He could use the time portal to travel back to the same time he killed Hitler and stop himself or he could kill himself before he killed Hitler and travel back to his own time. He had the opportunity now but was also interested in what a diplomat would have to say. He waited.

An hour later a woman in her twenties walked in followed by five armed guards. She walked up to John and introduced herself and allowed him to question her. She gave him some useful information; there was never a world war 2 because all of Europe was defeated before anything could happen. Japan was allied with the United States before using an atomic bomb against California, using a weapon that the United States would never use against another Human. This caused mass panic and the problem was solved by the execution of every Japanese citizen and every person with Japanese Heritage in the world. The only major faction opposing the NAE was the Jewish Empire, who were currently at war with the NAE and protecting the remaining Japanese from the camps. They had problems of their own though. The International Islamic State, who controlled all of Central Asia, had launched a NAE funded Jihad against the Jewish Empire. The Caliphate of the IIS was Sultan Osama Bin Laden, who was famous for bombing the Eastern Towers and crippling the Jewish Economy. The world was now at war but at the same time relatively peaceful.

John had heard enough. He asked to be excused and powered up the portal computer. He traveled back to the day he changed the world and saw himself, talking to Hitler’s father again. John Raised his gun and shot himself. Later he explained everything to Hitler’s family, who were very surprised to find out that their son was an assassination target. They were not told what their son would become. John had to let History play out in its own way. He traveled back to where he had started his journey and walked outside. He saw a World War Two memorial with his name on it.

“John Wesley, the man who almost changed the world”

John had died in 1889 as a hero and had never existed in this time. He also noticed a pain in the side of his head. John began to bleed and shortly after dropped dead on the memorial dedicated to him. Found the next morning, he was said to be a homeless man who was murdered by an assassin’s gun. The assassin was never found.