Quantum Pie -- Chapter 26

1.  Dayton had been standing fast as ordered, alone in the simulator chamber.

2.  He always wanted to study the simulator room but never had a chance. 

3.  Alma said he would be right back, and that was 30 minutes ago.

9.  Dayton touched the stand-by light, ready to turn it back off if anything went wrong.  The stand-by light turned green and the console illuminated.  Two smaller monitors on either side of a central viewer illuminated.  Several touch-sensitive sliders lit up from beneath the surface.   There were other precision instruments whose exact purpose might require more time to study. 

10.  A square panel in the center of the console disappeared; through the opening rose a black joy-stick that seated itself flush with the surface.        

11.  Dayton was delighted, “This is interesting,” he felt like a kid opening Christmas presents.    

12. The indiscernible space on the other side of the simulator threshold became animated with the colorful hues of outter space.  The view was realistic and full:  To step across the threshold would literally enter that environment. 

13. Directors before Daniel had used the simulator to examine different points in space at different points in time.  That's why they called it a simulator.  When Corlos started using it as an injection portal, the name 'simulator' stuck because everyone understood the dual function.  Misnomers happen.          

14. Dayton toyed with the joystick and zoomed in on a nearby sun, getting so close that the hydrogen flares overwhelmed his senses. The light was so bright and the fire so hot, that he should have been vaporized.  That's when the simulation aspect of the threshold was most appreciated.  He was OK because the filtering technology worked.

15. “I definitely like this,” he said, impressed by the extreme realism.  It was real, but Corlos' daily operations made everyone question what was real.         

16. The simulator had a completely different feel from the driver's seat.  It felt like the power of God was at your finger tips.  "I can kill the time quite nicely with this," he said.

17. “Where shall we go, what shall we see?”

18.  As Dayton realized the limitless implications of this device, he began to remember his life before Corlos recruited him, not too terribly long ago.

19. "What would I change?" he asked.  

20. Corlos had ingrained their rules of engagement in him, but that did not suppress his revived intrigue:  What if?  "I don't have to actually change anything -- I can just look."

21. Dayton lit up with newfound vigor, oblivious to the danger his indiscretion presented.  "Imagine what Pandora could have done with this?" he imagined.

22. Although his past life was all but extinct, he wanted to know, "What if?"  He never really had closure.  Nobody did.  And a warning should have went off in his head that "what if?" was dangerous proposition indeed.  If he had listened to anything his handlers had to say, he would dismount that dias at once.    

23. "What actually happened?" he asked himself.  "I never saw the outcome -- except for 27th century Earth.  Kennedy III was a direct result of 'our' science.  What went wrong?"  To merely 'peek' shouldn't pose any harm.    

24. "If I screw something up -- I can always fix it."  That was B'jhon's opening line to every simulator trainee as the #1 error, and #1 way to lose your status as an operator.  Dayton was not fully vested as an agent, much less as an operator.      

25. “Earth,” he said in the form of an absolute. “Where is it – I know it’s…” Dayton manipulated the joystick quite skillfully.  His knowledge of stellar carteology was quite extensive at this point in his life.

26. He navigated to the perimeter of the Milky Way and located the newest spar of Andromeda.  From there he located Alpha-Centuri, Sol, then Earth.

27. He paused in Earth orbit for a moment -- he had always wanted to see the serene curvature of Earth from space.  He picked up a random transmission in English:  "... Now everyone wants to cash in on Quantum potential by adding the word 'Quantum' to their bullshit scams:  If it doesn't have anything to do with Quantum Science, then they shouldn't be allowed..." "No," Dayton pulled back, although he whole heartedly agreed with the sentiment, "this isn't what I came to see..."     

28. He set the time datum to 1938 local time; having just left the year 2749 barely 50 minutes ago.  "This is easy," he reassured himself, "If someone comes in -- I'll shut it down."   

29. He zoomed in below the clouds over Europe, remembering the opening of Triumph des Willens von Leni Reifenstahl as if it was yesterday.  Hitler loved her film so much that she earned a permanent place in his heart.  

30. There was the forest where he was driving when his car exploded.  The time dial had different levels of attentuation. 

31. He manipulated the hour, minutes and seconds while zooming in and out of familiar locations.  This device could tear the Universe in two, in the hands of a villain.   

32. He examined Hitler's favorite retreats and recalled Hitler's more memorable moments at the Berghoff.  It felt like no time had passed at all.  He zoomed into the bunker beneath the Chancellery that Albert Speer had built.  Although the Fuhrer tolerated the bunker's purpose, he regarded it as a coffin, and forbade anyone to enter it without his express permission.  

33. Dayton fast-forwarded through the news, catching key headlines on a monitor.  America entered the war, the Alies advance, Hitler commits suicide, the Nuremberg Trials, Germany divides, the Cold War, the Cold War ends....

34. He stopped on an image of East and West Germans tearing down the wall that divided them; even the dust froze in mid-air.  "What if?" he asked.   

35. Hitler had been his God while living in his Reich.  The faultless realism reminded him of everything Dieter used to be, “This is only a simulator...,”  he rationalized quietly.  

36. "Did not every operative face this type of temptation?" he wondered, "I'm certain that my Corlos conditioning can't be reversed."

37. “What if I simply 'persuade' Hitler to persue a more peaceful conclusion?”  “Wouldn’t that preserve some of what National Socialism stood for?”

38. Dayton should have known better -- he was toying with the forbidden, if not perdition itself.  "An alternate Universe is not the alternate Universe from its own point of view."

39. "How do I know that I wasn't suppsed to do this?  Isn't everyone on Sunova psionic?  Is anyone even paying attention?"  Dayton in his right mind, would have known better, but he wasn't Dayton anymore.   

40. Dayton regressed back into Dieter without even realizing how subtle the change was.  As far as he was concerned, he was still in full control of himself.  He carefully calculated the best moment for re-entry, "Ich habe noch einige unerledigte Geschäft mit der Fuhrer," "I've got some unfinished business with the Fuhrer."

41. There were several places where Hitler would be especially happy to see him. 

42. Dayton felt his pulse race.  A part of his unconscious mind was trying to warn him.  He needed to abort this.   He was in the red zone, but had not quite crossed the line. 

43. "My uniform," he said out loud.  The simulator threshold would add his uniform as soon as he crossed it.    

44. Just to be sure, he piloted the simulator to a forest in the valley below Buchestgarten and dismounted the platform.

45. Stepping near, but not across the threshold, he extended his arm and saw the black jacket sleeve of his former SS uniform, that Hitler had tailor-made for him.

46. “That answers that.”

47. He remounted the platform, knowing exactly what he needed to do.  He was nervous, but excited.    

48. "Maybe I'll save millions of lives?"  Maybe this is a manifestation of the Fuhrer's Divine Providence?

49. He set the index for September 1939. “I can change everything now.” 

50. He guided the simulator to a Chancellery bathroom near the Fuhrer's office on the upper floor.  By moving forward and back, he located the best time to cross over, so that nobody would notice or care.   "I hope I can still play this right," he mumbled and repeated the line in German, "Ich hoffe, dass ich noch spielen können dieses recht."

51. He stuffed Xanax into the crotch of his underwear, dismounted the platform and stepped into the simulated Chancellery bathroom.

52. Once he cleared the threshold, the simulator disappeared, giving him a 360 degree view all the way around.  The simulator was gone -- he was very much on Earth.  Whatever happened from this moment forward, would become a permanent part of the past.   

53.  Corlos became the dream and Germany became real; the familiarity was comforting.  "Ich war schon immer Deutsch," he reminded himself while checking himself in the mirror.  Everything had to be perfect.       

54. Before he could practice a monologue for Hitler, the bathroom door swung open and in walked Hitler's chauffeur.  "Herr Heidleberg!" the chauffeur acknowledged, snapping to attention and rendering the proper salute.   Bathrooms were supposed to be exempt from salute formality, per Hitler, so that everyone could get their business done and return to the front.  

55. Just like a wind-up toy, Dayton promptly returned the greeting and exited the bathroom as if it had just been yesterday.  It was in fact, the day Dieter was scheduled to return from his 4-day vacation.  The insurgent car bomb had not yet exploded.  This duality would create a problem for Corlos as soon as Alma returned; the sooner the better.   

56. Hitler's three secretaries were busy at work.  Frau Schroeder and Frau Wolfe acknowledged Dieter with a professional smile and returned their attention to work.  Both knew that Dieter could come and go as he pleased, with or without an appointment, per Hitler's order.

57. Hitler's personal adjutant surrendered a polite nod, but continued working.  So far, no sign of anything unusual.

58. Dieter approached the grand entrance to Hitler's office, where the elegant 'AH' monogram rested proudly above the mantle.

59. The SS Guards posted on either side, opened their respective door with rehearsed percision.  Bormann came out, writing on a note pad, and didn't bother to acknowledge Dieter. 

60. Dayton tugged down on his uniform coat to smooth out any wrinkles or creases, and moved forward with purpose.  

61. Behind the desk, in front of the left wall, wearing glasses and a charcol-grey business suit was the Fuhrer.

62. Hitler briefly glanced over the top edge of his glasses and approved Dieter's entrance by not doing anything at all.

63. The Fuhrer was reading excerpts from the foreign press, "How was your vacation?" Hitler asked.

64. "Perfect, my Fuhrer," Dayton answered.

75. Hitler motioned for Dieter to come forward and be seated.  Nobody was ever invited to sit down, not even Boremann. 

76. Hitler’s inordinate congeniality with Dieter was outside the scrutiny of others.  Dayton stepped forward as instructed, but did not sit down.

77. "My Fuhrer," Dieter began curtly, "at about 3:15 in the afternoon, on 30 April 1945, you put a pistol in your mouth and pulled the trigger."

78. Hitler froze at Dieter's insolence, but did not immediately look up at him.

79. Dieter continued, "You were in a special bunker that was discreetly built underneath this very Chancellery."  

80. Hitler removed his glasses in utter shock and afforded Dieter his full attention.

81. Anyone else, beginning a dialogue like that with Hitler, would have been summarily shot without a second thought. 

82. Hitler folded his right arm across his chest and rested his left elbow on it.  He curled the fingers of his left hand over his lips.  He had not even discussed the bunker with Speer yet, so how in the hell did Dieter know about it? 

83. "You do realize," Hitler reminded Dieter, "that you're primary responsibility to me has nothing to do with politics OR architecture?"

84. "Oh, yes," my Fuhrer, Dayton answered, "I emphatically understand that, but...if I am your friend, and I discovered something that could either 'help or hurt' your vision for Germany -- would not a loyal friend reveal such a secret to his master?"

85. Hitler had to think again; he was also flattered by the implied adulation.

86. But Hitler was not stupid either.  There was something not altogether 'normal' about Dieter.  And Hitler would not believe that a meaningless 4-day vacation would create this kind of personality change... three days... Dayton was back a day early, which wasn't really the issue right now.  

87. Hitler flatly asked, "What happened to you?"  His question contained genuine warmth and friendly concern. 

88. "Certainly --  even you know that your opening remark was…slightly out-of-character?" Hitler added. 

89. Dayton reached into his pants to retrieve Xanax.    

90. "Has it been that long?" the Fuhrer quipped, "You just had a vacation!"  He watched Dieter retrieve a photograph from the crotch of his SS trousers when it seemed like a pocket might have worked better.  "Ahhh, a photograph," Hitler sighed in relief, stepping enthusiastically toward him.

91. "It's not just an ordinary photograph," Dayton replied, "I built this."

92. Hitler did not extend his hand to receive the photo.  It was customary for someone to hold the photo up for his viewing.  

93. Dayton continued, "This is a computer that I built in the 27th century."

94. Hitler laughed out loud because Dieter's humor was crassly deliberate and out-of-place.          

95. Hitler assumed one of his trademark poses, with his hands on his hips, "You know that I do not like to get impatient with you Dieter, after all, you are the German ideal -- but I must insist that you get to the bottom of this at once!" Now, the Fuhrer was holding out his hand in the form of a demand.

96. Hitler cajoled his minister of procreation to surrender the photograph to no avail.  

97. "Xanax," Dieter said to Xanax, which Hitler interpreted as Dieter's answer to him, "accelerate you and I only, so that we can appear at different points in the room, without time constraints." Xanax did his best to interpret the command on short order, and complied perfectly.    

98. Hitler froze while Dayton walked to a far corner of the office.

99. “OK, Xanax,” Dayton said, “we're going to do this a few times, so just do it on cue – I want him to get the point -- activate and deactivate by touch.”

100. Dayton squeezed Xanax and Hitler became reanimated, seeing Dieter suddenly in the corner of the room as if he had vanished and reappeared by magic. 

103. "Now do you believe me, my Fuhrer?" Before Hitler could look over his shoulder, let alone believe what he was seeing...

104. Dayton squeezed Xanax again and returned to the exact same position that he was in before he began the demonstration.

105. He again squeezed Xanax.

106. Hitler was truly astonished and ingratiated himself to devine preponderances in a meaningful way.    

107. This marked the first, and only time, in Adolf Hitler's life that he had nothing to say.      

108. He left Dayton where he stood and slowly returned to his desk where he sat down with reluctance.  This was the first demonstration of a mortal power that was clearly superior to his own.  Hitler contemplated the ramifications of Dieter's device. 

109. "It would be pointless to attempt to capture you," Hitler said, still assessing what advantage, if any, he had in this situation.  Nothing like this had ever happened before, but his fondness for Dieter was unchanged. 

110. "I don't think you really want to capture me," Dieter answered.

111. Hitler sighed, "A device such as, that which you have shown me, could enable you to sit on this side of the desk..."  Hitler looked at Dieter a little more sternly, "so why haven't you used it?"  That was the first of a thousand questions running through Hitler's mind.   He was already formulating ideas, provided Dieter remained loyal.

112. "My Fuhrer," Dayton replied, "I just want you to ‘hear’ what I have to say about the future."

113. Hitler shook his head in the negative, but not as a “No” answer -- he was mearly bewildered.

114. “Very well then,” Hitler said, rising and walking toward a private, inner door, "let's go to my resting room where you can have my full attention."

115. Hitler pressed an intercom button on his desk and ordered, "I do not want to be disturbed." "Yes, my Fuhrer," came the response.

116. Hitler knew that his office was bugged with his consent.  His sleep chamber, however, was clean.  He opened the door to his sleep chamber and permitted Dieter to enter first.  From there the conversation must have traveled to the ends of the Universe before Hitler was satisfied.   A little information can go a long way.