While I was wallowing in self-pity, Chloe told her father about the glove situation. “Where is the original?” He asked her. Sighing, because clearly they couldn’t last two minutes with me, I opened up my chest piece.
“Here,” I said, holding out the glove, which, unless I was wrong and somehow turned into a vampire thus becoming immortal and therefore might actually appear in Russian-occupied America over three hundred years later looking ever the devilishly handsome rogue that I am, was going to be the harbinger of my inevitable and extremely untimely demise.
Dr. Sparks took the glove and turned it over in his hands, “When did you notice it wasn’t working?”
I was about to delve into seemingly the most sarcastic uncalled for response I’ve ever tried but Chloe, who knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t in the best of moods, cut me off. “Almost ten or fifteen minutes after the EMP grenade.”
Dr. Sparks sat at his desk and in seconds had opened the glove. All thoughts of my death and being ticked about it vanished when I saw him crack open the glove. “How’d you do that?” I asked, “I’ve tried to open that thing a zillion times.”
“I designed it to only open for me, Jericho,” he said, pointing to a spot on the glove casing that looked basically like the rest of the glove. “It recognizes my impression here, thus allowing me, and only me, access. Were the gauntlet able to be opened by just anyone we would have a few more problems than we already do.”
“You mean like dying? ‘Cause that sounds like a big… Wait- did you just call it a gauntlet?”
Nodding, Dr. Sparks looked thoughtfully at his life’s work in his hands, “Yes. I’ve always thought it resembled a gauntlet more than a glove.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, excited that I wasn’t the only loser left on the planet. “Why’d you give it sharp fingers, anyway?”
Opening the gauntlet more to expose the innards, he said, “The design to fit the required components left it with only one dangerously sharp finger. So I decided to make the others match. Tell me, did they ever come in handy?”
Shrugging, I said, “At times. Killed a man in the second crusade with them once.”
Dr. Sparks was livid, “You killed someone with them?”
“How was I supposed to know they were just for looks?” I shot at him. “They’re freakin’ sharp, man.”
I leaned over his shoulder to get a better look at gauntlet guts. “Where’s all the…” I started, frowning in confusion as my voice trailed off.
“The actual science stuff?” Dr. Sparks asked.
He was right. I had been expecting wires, smallish motherboard looking things, and, well, more wires. What I saw instead was a little odd. The only wiring and hardware located inside had to do with the touch-screen and that was it, really, except for one lone red wire that went from the touch-screen to something that resembled a palm-sized garnet that was glowing bright blue and looking expensive.
Dr. Sparks lifted the glowing garnet out of the case it was snuggly residing in and detached the wire, which was inserted into what I was guessing was a bored hole in the garnet
Holding it up for us to see--except he was looking at it in wonder like he’d never lain eyes on the thing before--he said, “It’s all about this, you know. This is what has made our conversation today possible, Jericho Johnson.”
“And my untimely death, don’t forget,” I muttered but my sarcasm wasn’t heard by the man who was staring wonderingly at the garnet. “So what is it, exactly?”
“I call it element Z-90, but who knows what it really is.” He said, almost dreamily.
“Well, since you’ve developed a way to travel through time with it, I was kind of thinking that--oh, I don’t know--you did.”
“Oh not in the least.” Dr. Sparks told me quickly, “One of the reasons being is that what you see here, with the exception of two slivers removed to power the other gauntlets, is the only element zero on the planet to date.”
“So I’m guessing since it’s still glowing away it’s not broken, or anything?” I asked, peering at it, “’Cause, you know, I was kind of thinking about some sushi tacos…”
Shaking his head, the good doctor said, “No, it’s not damaged. We’ve discerned through some of the first trial testing with Z-90 that shattering a diamond would be easier than cracking it. The touch-screens are the only things that need to be fixed.” Then, cocking his head to the side, he asked, “Sushi tacos?”
Since I didn’t feel like explaining my vices to him, I cut to the chase by turning to Chloe and saying, “Alright, Chloe, here’s your daddy, safe and sound. Now can I please go home?” Call it what you will, but I’d had enough of the future to last me the rest of my life. See why I always preferred the past over the unknown?
Not going to say I told you so--
But I did. Tell you so, I mean.
Chloe then proceeded to explain the whole tale to her father, from my offering to help her save him, to the EMP grenade incident, sparing no detail save some of the awkward moments I know she had when faced with my hotness. Anyway, after story time, which lasted almost five minutes, Dr. Sparks told us a tale of his own. One that included, but was not limited to, murder, espionage, the end of the world and, let’s not forget, my death.
And time travel, too. Yeah, that was mentioned more than once.
“Verde von Klaus is planning something,” he started, “I knew from the beginning not to get involved with him… but the finances that my research required, a severely vast sum that he was willing to provide…” his voice trailed off.
“Surely there’s more to this Klaus guy besides money,” I said, leaning against a table and folding my arms.
“He never explained his reasons for wanting to fund my work, though he implied that he had a passionate lust for knowledge in any field,” Dr. Sparks said and he looked like he was going to be sick.
“After the construction of the first gauntlet and successful jump, I went to Klaus to tell him but I stopped at his office door long enough to overhear a… delicate conversation he was having with a colleague.”
Chloe was on the edge of her seat, which confused me until I remembered her telling me she didn’t know the full extent of Klaus’ plan.
“Please understand, Jericho, that the world you knew before is gone. Russia used to have morals once, long ago and you may have seen some of them. But when worlds change, so do the occupants. Russia now controls over half the planet and Klaus is at the helm.”
“Whoa, back up, man,” I said, holding up my hands. “So he’s like a, what, president? King? Dictator for life?”
“I’m sure by now you know of the current war between the Fascists and Bears?” He asked.
Nodding, I said, “Yeah, Chloe mentioned something about it. You guys are clankers, though, and are neutral so far.”
“Clankers?” Dr. Sparks repeated, peering at me and frowning in confusion.
“Don’t get him started,” Chloe chimed in. I shot her an annoyed look that told her if she hated my geek talk so much she should’ve mentioned it before.
“Whatever. You know you love it when I talk nerdy to you,” I said, giving her a smirk. Then, to her father, I said, “Anyway, carry on.”
“Klaus hasn’t thrown his lot in with either party so far, not even us clankers, as you put it,” Dr. Sparks said and he seemed like the thought troubled him. “The conversation I overheard cleared it all up, though.”
He sighed and Chloe and I watched him. We were probably both thinking, “What the heck, man? Hurry up with the juiciness, already.” I know that’s what I was thinking right about then.
“To make a long story short, Klaus is planning on sending millions of troops back to 1900.”
Chloe frowned, not sure why this was a horrible plot of death and destruction.
But guess what the guy who had a master’s degree in history had to say to that?
“It’s for 1907,” I said plainly, causing Chloe to turn her confused frown on me.<
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“That’s seven years later,” She said, “Why not just send them to 1907?”
My eyes never left Dr. Sparks as Klaus’ plan, which only took the few words from Chloe’s father to spark, unrolled in my mind. “Because he’s not sending thousands of troops. He’s sending thousands of these bad boys,” I said, tapping the suit I was wearing. “He wants the past soldiers to be fully ready, thus the seven year gap.”
“Ready for what?” Chloe asked in an exasperated tone. Clearly she wasn’t digging being in the dark.
I’m a bit of a freak when it comes to history. Words can’t explain how much I adore it. Those reasons, and others, are mainly why I’m kind of a walking history book. So, without rushing too much, I spilled the Russian beans to Chloe.
“In 1879 Germany formed a Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary which later, in 1882, expanded to a Triple Alliance to include Italy with the understanding to support each other if either countries were attacked by France or Russia. Since the French don’t like things they don’t understand, they felt threatened by this and with the growth of the German Navy in 1904, so did England and the two countries made an Entente Cordiale, which means friendly understanding. Three years later, with fear of the rising numbers in the German ranks, Russia got in on the no-germans-allowed club and the Triple Entente was established.” The words poured out of me like a pitcher of water.
“I don’t understand,” Chloe said, still aggravated. “What difference does it make?”
“Oh, my gosh, would someone get this chic a map, or something?” I said, getting too caught up in my rant. “Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy are all connected and separate Russia from Britain and France. This alliance was the best thing that ever happened to Russia, who, might I add, also added Serbia to the alliance so Austria-Hungary wouldn’t expand their borders.”
Did I mention I was leaning against a table with my arms folded? Because I had long since started pacing. “Industrial unrest in Russia started in 1907 and, as you might know, was Russia’s honey-hole, so to speak. The Lena goldfield massacre of 1912 which involved hundreds of uprising striking miners was Russia’s last attempt of stability and in the first half of 1914, almost half of the industrial workforce was on strike. But at the dawn of the First World War, Russia started doing what Russia did best.”
I stopped long enough to look at my very Russian audience and said, “No offense.”
They both shrugged and I kept going.
“Russia was, without a doubt the largest military powerhouse at the time. We’re talking almost six and a half million troops, here. The problem occurred because they spent so much time building an incredibly large army, and since half the clankers were on strike, that they didn’t have the proper roads or railways for adequate transportation. General Alexander Samsonov, leader of the Russian Second Army, squared off against Germany’s General Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff on August twenty-second and after six days of slaughter, even with their vast numbers, Russia was surrounded. Samsonov tried to escape, losing most of his men in the process. In the end, only ten thousand of the one-hundred and fifty-thousand Russians escaped and the Germans, who had lost twenty-thousand men, marched over ninety-two-thousand Russian prisoners off the field. General Samsonov committed suicide afterward.”
After spilling all this, I finally got to my point.
“In less than a year after that battle, Russia lost over two-million soldiers and several cities to the German invasion. Not to mention the agricultural bust Russia suffered which delved what was left of the remaining populace into vast food shortages. Bottom line is, if Samsonov would’ve won the Battle of Tannenberg, Russia would’ve most likely won the war. Crushing Germany would’ve been nothing considering how large the armies were. Once Germany was taken Austria-Hungary and Italy would’ve fell right in line to the new rulers. There really wouldn’t have been a limit to the things Russia could’ve accomplished had Samsonov won.”
Silence followed. Chloe seemed to be staring at the floor really hard while her dad did something similar to the opposite wall.
“That’s got to be the only logical thing Klaus would be doing.” I said. “There could be a slight chance that he just wants to get a mail-order bride but I wouldn’t bet on it.”
This was meant as a light attempt of humor to, you know, lighten, I guess, the mood.
It didn’t work.
“So let’s recap, shall we?” I started, tapping my suit of armor, “How many of these can you produce in a day?”
“Twenty-thousand is our daily limit.” Dr. Sparks said, “Although we haven’t actually made any in almost two years because we massed produced them and stored almost four million below--“ He stopped talking. I’m guessing the real gravity of Klaus’ plot just hit him in the face with a glass of ice water.
“No kidding. Four-million?” I echoed, nodding at him. “So he grabs an ungodly amount of firepower, heads back in time to drop it off and gives them over a decade to train. Any chances of him bringing something back to make railroads and highways?”
Dr. Sparks looked at me. “I suppose he could.”
“Hmm,” I said. “That’s what I would do. They really needed some decent roads, on the real.”
Chloe and her father gave me an I-can’t-believe-you’re-talking-about-this look. To which I shrugged and said, “I’m just saying.”
“If he takes the Dragonovs he won’t need any roads,” Dr. Sparks said, standing to his feet. “This is why the gauntlet had to be hidden, Jericho. I wasn’t able to tell Chloe any of this after Klaus’ men took me into custody and she was sent to retrieve it. Had she known, it would not be here now.”
“Look, doc,” I said, “I feel like the butterfly effect is a bogus theory, but I have to tell you, I haven’t really done anything too drastic.”
“Such as?” He asked, clearly worried.
“Oh, you know, not too much…”
“He punched Leonardo da’ Vinci in the face,” Chloe said, crossing her arms. “And stole a certain Roman emperor’s fiddle.”
I gave her a dirty look. Since I didn’t have any siblings growing up, I can’t say if I looked at her the way I would have looked at a tattling brother or sister. But I’m pretty sure I wasn’t far off. “Yeah, like I said, not much. But changing the course of history this drastic doesn’t sound too awesome, if I may say so. No offense, but we beat the Germans. Twice. I don’t know what we would’ve done about you guys.”
Dr. Sparks turned to his desk. “Neither do I,” was all he said. “I’ll fix the gloves then Chloe will take you home. You’ve done all you can.”
“Just like that?” I asked, “I mean, tell me about impending doom and then send me home?”
“It’s not your problem, Jericho-“ Chloe started and I could hear sincerity but I cut her off instead.
“Forgive me if I’m incorrect, Chloe, but I believe I’m over three-hundred years older than you. If this thing goes south my world is going to hit the fan first. You think I’m going to go back to my sushi tacos and Xbox and just wait for Mother Russia to appear on my doorstep? Not likely. Regardless of what you people might believe, this affects all of us. I’m in it now and I’m not going home.
Chapter 21