Troubled Waters

Ready for this week's adventure? Then get ready for some trouble, because we're about to find a lot of it...

With a giant splash! I realized that 4T had gone a bit off course from where I’d originally planned on going.

“Trevor!” I heard Marin yelp. “Trevor, help me!”

“Oooohhhhh boy! This water is cold!” I exclaimed, thrashing around as I tried to warm my body up. “Marin, where are you?”

I swam in a circle until I caught sight of the flailing figure of my little Czech girl. She was throwing herself around, her arms going every direction as she tried to keep her head above the water.

“Trevor, help me! I can’t swim!”

She was panicking. I knew if she calmed down and remembered how to do it, she’d began to swim fine.But at the moment anything to do with swimming had fallen right out of her brain and somewhere into the ocean.

“I’m coming!” I stroked my way towards her, grabbing her arm just as she went under again. “Oww! No, Marin, don’t do that!” She’d flung herself onto my back, squeezing me as tight as she could. “You’re going to drown both of us!”

“Sorry.” She trembled, sliding off of me. “But what can I hold onto? I have nothing to hold onto! I don’t want to drown!”

“Calm down, Marin,” I assured her. “Perhaps a piece of wood will drift this way.”

“Why are we in the ocean in the first place? What ocean is this, anyways? It’s cold.”

Marin always did have a way about getting to the point.

I glanced around the water, waves pushing us one direction and then another. There was nothing to be seen. No land, no ships- nothing. “Well, I guess 4T must’ve misunderstood me.”

Though she was doing her best not to pull me under the water with her, Marin continued to hold onto my shoulders for support. “How on earth did we end up here? Where were we supposed to end up?”

“Well, I said the Atlantic Ocean,” I admitted, “I just hadn’t realized we’d literally land in the Atlantic Ocean.”

“You mean we’re nowhere near land or anything?” Marin cried. “Does that mean we’re going to die?”

“Naw,” I replied cheerily. “I’m sure there’s a reason we ended up here. 4T may get its geography messed up, but if I set it to land in a certain time in history, it’s going to find something historical for us to be part of.”

“Yeah. The ocean’s real historical. More people have died on it than any other body of water.”

I glanced over my shoulder at her. “Have some faith! We’re not going to drown, Just keep swimming. And yes, you do know how to. Remember? We worked on that for five months at the Island.”

Marin nodded, obviously not convinced but willing to give it a shot. She let go of my shoulders and began to use her arms.

“Much better,” I encouraged.

“I hope we’re not out here too long.” Marin gritted her teeth and shuddered. “It’s really cold.”

“I’m sure someone will rescue us or we’ll find land. Don’t worry.”

~oOo~

Five hours later, we’d managed to find a piece of floating wood, but no one had come to our rescue yet.

Marin and I held onto the driftwood, our teeth chattering and our hands shaking. The sun was beginning to set in the East, and I guessed that’s where land was.

“Oh, no one is ever going to find us,” Marin groaned. “We may have to drift on the water until 4T takes us home or until we drown.”

“That’s not very positive thinking,” I pointed out.

“I’m having a very hard time being positive when there’s absolutely nothing out here to save us-”

As if on cue, not more than half a mile away the water began to rise and churn. Marin gasped and I blinked as a huge, black shiny object popped out of the water and into the fading daylight.

“Is that a whale?” Marin exclaimed.

I strained my eyes and stared at the large object. It bobbed up and down on the surface, floating along the waves like a huge ship. “I don’t think that’s a whale…” Where the spout on a ordinary whale would be, a hatch opened and a tiny figure rose up. “No, that definitely is not a whale. I believe that’s a submarine.”

“A submarine!”

I glanced at the eleven-year-old girl. “Don’t worry Marin,” I said lightly. “This isn’t World War Two, there are no Nazi submarines out here.”

She visibly relaxed.

No, we just have to worry about other types of submarines and political enemies. I decided it would be best not to tell her that.

“Hey!” Marin called. “Hey! We’re over here!”

“Uhhh…” I wasn’t sure it was the best idea to call out to a unknown submarine, but then again it may be better than drifting on the ocean for an indefinite amount of time. “Over here! Help us!” I shouted.

Both Marin and I began yelling and shouting at the top of our lungs, hoping someone would hear or see us. More figures filed out of the submarine. They must’ve been on air break or something.

“Help us! We’re over here! Please, help us!”

At long last, it appeared someone had seen us. The tiny black figures against the fading sunlight began to scramble around and point in our direction. Someone waved, and we waved back.

“They’ve seen us!” Marin sang out. “They’re going to rescue us!”

Sure enough, the submarine swung around and began to head our way, but for some reason I felt uneasy about the whole situation. There was something different about this sub, something that was out of place. It didn’t remind me of a normal James Madison- class submarine, it seemed a bit more like a-

As the large watercraft came within eight hundred yards of us and pulled sideways, I knew. I glanced at Marin to see if she was paying attention, but she seemed overjoyed by the fact we were about to be rescued.

Shouts came from the submariners. Someone threw a life buoy towards us. Marin and I swam towards the life saver and grabbed onto either edge, holding on as they began to reel us in.

“You were right, Trevor!” Marin smiled at me. “4T knew where to put us at the right time, and we’re not going to drown!”

“Marin, we may be in trouble,” I told her as we came closer to the submarine. “This isn’t an American submarine.”

She shot me a look. “How do you know? I didn’t see any insignia on the side, did you see it?”

I nodded. Before I had a chance to reply, one of the men on the sub called out, “Ты в порядке? Мы тянет вас на подводной лодке!”

Marin’s face went white and she groaned. “Oh, goodness. How could I be so blind?”

I sighed and put my hand on hers. “Well, at least we’re not technically at war with the Russians. It could be a lot worse.”

I wasn’t so sure about that later when I saw the number B-59 as the men pulled us out of the water and onto the submarine. Correction, things could get a lot worse if we’re not careful.

Come back next week for part two! See you then!

The Duel: America and the Cold War

From the sounds of it, some of you are not quite sure what the Cold War is. And from my research online, you’re not alone. A lot of kids don’t know what it is, there doesn’t seem to be any kids books on the subject that are suitable for children. Why is this? Why do history books seem to skim over the subject?

Simple: because the Cold War wasn’t a war. Well, at least not in the sense that it was fought by soldiers, tanks and guns. It was a war that was fought by diplomats and ambassadors, by two countries trying to convince others to accept their ideologies.

The Cold War began not long after WWII. The Russians took over several of the countries that the Nazis had conquered and added it to to their kingdom- or, as they preferred to call it, the U.S.S.R. United Soviets Socialist Republic. They also took half of Germany, dividing Berlin into two parts, Eastern and Western Germany. The Russians had Eastern and the Americans were helping Western.

Russia and America: Russia (the Big Bear) and America (the Noble Eagle).

Both America and Russia were working hard to win other countries over to become like them. For America, we were trying to coax war-torn Europe to accept democracy. Russia was attempting to make Europe into a Communist continent.

Yet if you were to ask an adult what the Cold War was, this is probably the answer you’d receive: “When the world nearly ended.”

Wait a second, if the war was a political war that was all about winning over other countries to join you, then how on earth did the world nearly end?

Well, that’s the other part of the Cold War, and one of the reasons it’s skimmed over so fast. Because this event only lasted thirteen days. May I acquaint you to The Cuban Missile Crisis.

This and the building and destruction of the Berlin Wall are probably some of the most famous moments of the ongoing war on Communism. But because of the importance of the Cuban Missile Crisis, we’re going ot focus on that today.

The Crisis didn’t begin until October of 1962, when it was revealed that nuclear missiles had been put on Cuba by the Russians and aimed at the United States. Cuba was only 485 miles off the coast of Florida. A little too close to be comfortable there, as nuclear missiles have a range of 1,266 miles. Which means the Russians could have blown up anything between Florida and Washington D.C. Not a pleasant thought there, eh?

But the crisis really began several years before, when the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959, three years before the missile incident. At first Castro just seemed like a young guy who wanted to rule Cuba, a bit of a burr for the Americans, who kinda wanted to have Cuba as one of their own states. Then he began to become more and more threatening, as he announced he was going to align Cuba with America’s longtime enemies- the Soviet Regime. Anndddd let’s just say the Soviets were all for driving the Americans crazy, diplomatically or with weapons.

It was well known by the world that America had placed nuclear missiles in Turkey in the year 1959, and that they were aimed at Russia. Why did we do this? Well, several countries around the U.S.S.R. were afraid that their big neighbor the bear may encroach on their borders- in other words decide it was for the benefit of the other country to be taken over by the Soviets. Obviously this was not the case, but that was often the claim they made about the countries they took over, that and, “This is our sphere of influence.”

This is not to say we didn’t have some of our own ideas about getting other countries to align with us. We too, tried to play a ball game in Europe and persuade everyone to support Democracy, and when it came to Cuba, we even tried to invade it! No, we didn’t send American soldiers to do it, we asked Cuban exiles to try and take back their country. It did not go well, and it ended up with the Cuban dictator, Castro, being more riled than before. He wanted America to see him as a world power, too.

Photo taken by a spy plane that shows the troops and missile bases in Cuba.

Believe it or not, the missiles in Cuba were not discovered by us until they’d been there for a couple of weeks, and we didn’t realize they had Russian troops there either. It wasn’t until after the confrontation that we discovered that there were about 40,000 Soviet troops and that the missiles were nuclear.

When President Kennedy (Better known as JFK) found out about the missiles, he was pretty upset. How was he supposed to tell America that there were warheads aimed right at them less than five hundred miles off the coast of Florida? He knew they would panic, but he didn’t know how to get the Russians to take it away. Because what the Soviet leader Khrushchev wanted was for the Americans to retreat their support of West Berlin so the Soviets could have it. Which wouldn’t be very nice to the Germans, and certainly the rest of the world would not approve if they found out. That would make America look like they were willing to exchange someone else’s freedom for their safety, something we could not afford to do.

So it was announced to the American people that there were indeed missiles on the small Communist country. Kennedy also announced there would be a blockade around Cuba, not letting any Soviet ships or submarines come in and deliver arms and forces to the Cuban. Immediately, all over the country everyone began to do the Duck and Cover exercises. (How many of you have watched Iron Giant? Though it’s got some swear words, it’s a very good depiction of the constant fear in the Cold War- in a funny, humorous way. In one scene the main character is watching a tape at school that shows them how to duck and cover. There’s a really funny song that goes along with it. I’ll post it at the end of this.) Though few people knew it at the time, the government leaders knew the truth: duck and cover would not work if a nuclear missile was fired. Nothing would be left.

It was a scary thirteen days as the American President and Soviet dictator negotiated, argued and tried to figure out how to avoid nuclear war. The Soviets said they’d fire the missiles if America a) tried to invade, b) bombed the missile base, c) fired their missiles from Turkey. They also said the blockade against Cuba was enough to make them want to fire their nuclear warheads at us. We said we’d retaliate if they fired with our nuclear missiles. In other words, if the Russians tried to fire on us, we’d fire on them, resulting in the first ever nuclear war. Which pretty much means the entire world would have been blown up and unlivable. Yeah, not good.

A newspaper that headlined the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

What ended the Crisis was when President Kennedy made a secret deal with Leader Khrushchev. He told him that if he withdrew the missiles from Cuba, we’d withdraw the missiles from Turkey. Believe it or not, even though Khrushchev was a dictator, he really didn’t want to go to war with us. He wanted to make Russia look big and threatening and scary, (the big bear, as Russia was called) but he didn’t want to blow up the world. So he agreed to the deal and withdrew the missiles.

Our history books may seem to skim over this important (and very scary) time in history, but there is a reason: how do you tell in a few short pages everything that happened those thirteen days? I didn’t even began to touch on the subject, there’s so much more to cover- submarines, a blockade, a plane that went down, another plane that flew over Russia by accident, a close call between a Soviet and American vessel, etc.

The fact is, if you want to know more about the Cold War you’re going to have to research it. Even though it wasn’t a war, it’s something everyone needs to know about, so we can avoid it as much as possible in the future. Though the Crisis was only a small fragment of the many years of the Cold War, it is still known as the ultimate showdown from those years.

Little Known Fact: Most people (and this may include your parents and grandparents) don’t realize how close a little Soviet submarine named B-59 came to starting World War Three. The Captain of the sub, a man named Vitali Grigorievitch Savitsky, panicked when he couldn’t reach Moscow. He was surrounded by American warships in the caribbean ocean, who’d warned him if he tried to go to Cuba they’d blow him up. Captain Vitali thought that war had begun with America and that’s why Moscow wasn’t answering, so he ordered his nuclear missile to be fired. On a submarine, not only do you have to have the Captain’s consent to fire, you must get a “yes” from the political officer and from the sub-flotilla commander. From Wikipedia: The three primary officers on board – Captain Valentin Savitsky, the political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov, and entire-sub-flotilla commander Vasili Arkhipov, who was equal in rank to Savitsky and also second-in-command of B-59 – were authorized to launch the torpedo only if they all agreed unanimously to do so. But Arkhipov alone opposed the launch and eventually persuaded Savitsky to surface the submarine and await orders from Moscow. This presumably averted nuclear warfare which would likely have ensued had the torpedo been fired.

Thanks to sub-flotilla commander Vasili, we are all here today because he refused to let that missile be fired!

Today in History: Well, it appears today (the 8th) was a busy day for the world! Here’s what I dug up from different sources:

- Algeria admitted as 109th member of UN

- North Korea reports 100% election turnout, miraculously 100% vote for the Workers' Party (Communist party)

- Spiegel scandal: Der Spiegel publishes the article "Bedingt abwehrbereit" ("Conditionally prepared for defense") about a NATO manoeuver called "Fallex 62", which uncovered the sorry state of the Bundeswehr (Germany's army) facing the communist threat from the east at the time. The magazine was soon accused of treason.

Come back next week when Marin and I find ourselves in hot water out in the Atlantic! 

The Unknown: Part Six

Somewhere in the future, in present day England. There are two men there, men that neither Trevor or Marin are aware of. One of them is the perpetrator, the other...

Dominik Maklakov sat in a chair, dazed and a bit shaken. How did I get here so fast? He wondered. He’d known the ukrajinština had the capability of some pretty amazing stuff, but nothing like this. He hadn't realized he could transport him that fast back into the man's own time period.

Why me? It was the question he’d asked himself ever since he’d first been brought from the Kirsk front. It was what he’d thought when he’d been sent to Maine to stop a girl from being killed. And now he speculated on the matter again, why me? Of all the people in the world, why did the ukrajinština pick him? What was so special about him that he’d been chosen out of millions of people, in this present time and from all other time periods?

He didn’t know. The green eyed, light blond haired man hadn’t offered an explanation for that yet. All he’d told him was that Dominik was perfect for the job.

“No one else could do it better than you, Dominik,” he’d said, his eyes dancing with excitement as he worked on some bizarre machine. “You’re the man for the job. You want to help the Komunistychna prychynoyu, don’t you? This is the way to do it! Imagine what the Party could do with a man like you on their side, someone who has access to all of history at all times, who knows what’s going to happen before it happens.”

“Great,” he’d said with a nod. “That works for me. So are you going to give me a book or something to bring back?” Dominik had just assumed that the man was also a part of the červená strana, the Red Party. After all, if he wanted to help the Communist cause, wouldn’t that be a good reason to bring Dominik to the future?

The man had laughed at this. “No, first you have to do a couple things for me. Then perhaps I’ll give you a history book to bring to your Russian comrades.” He’d then glanced at Dominik. “By the way, you’re Russian. Why do you speak Czech?”

He’d stated the former like a fact. Obviously he knew more about Dominik than Dominik knew about him. “I was born in Russia,” Dominik had shrugged, “But I was raised in Czechoslovakia. I suppose it rubbed off on me, Czech comes to mind before Russian does.”

“Hmm, fascinating,” the man had muttered. “I’m curious, do you have any other siblings?”

He’d shook his head. “No. At least, I don’t think so. My mother died when I was twelve, and my father left me at an orphanage.”

That last part had stung to admit. It was not customary for men to raise children, even their own sons and daughters. Yet it still hurt like it was yesterday, knowing his father hadn't wanted him. Once his dear mother had died, Dominik’s father had hightailed it, and he’d never seen him again. He supposed that it was possible his dad remarried and had more children, but Dominik doubted he’d recognize any half siblings even if he met up with one. He had done his best to forget his father, though his strong political beliefs had their influence on his son. He wouldn't know the man if he met him again.

“Dominik!” Dominik shook his head and cleared his thoughts. Where am I again? Ah yes, he was in a chair, outside of the ukrajinština je office. It’s getting hard to keep track of where I am these days. Big surprise.

The average height man walked briskly into the room, his face beaming and his palms rubbing against each other. “How did it go, my good man? Did you save the child?”

Dominik nodded, standing up from the chair. “I did.”

“And you made sure the wild-haired man got your note?” he demanded.

“I did.”

“Excellent. Wonderful first job, Dominik. I’m impressed. Yes, you will work perfect for this.” He smiled and clapped Dominik on the back. “I must ask, what did you think of those two?”

Dominik frowned and scratched his chin. “Well, the Scotsman was interesting,” he offered.

“And?” he prodded.

“A bit brash and wild, but he seemed like a nice guy all around.”

“What about the girl?”

At this Dominik stiffened. The girl. Something about the girl had caused him to stare when he’d first seen her. He didn’t know why, but there was just something about her that he couldn’t quite finger. “I don’t know what to think of her. She was frightened  at the time, I didn’t actually talk to her. The Scotsman grabbed her and took off before those Nazi spies could get a hold of her.” He spat at the word Nazi.

“Yes yes, we both hate the Nazis,” the man waved it off. “But Eli, did she catch your attention in any such way? Was there something strange about her?”

How does he know? Dominik wondered, a bit suspicious. Then again, Dominik had given up trying to figure this crazy guy out a week ago. He didn’t even know his name, for goodness sake! “There did seem like there was something different about her,” Dominik admitted.

“But you don’t know what?”

He shook his head.

The ukrajinština looked visibly disappointed. “Well, I suppose all in good time. You’ll find out soon enough.”

He turned around and walked back into his office, gesturing Dominik to follow him. “I have a new job for you, my friend.”

Dominik followed him into the room and crossed his arms. “Is that so?” he asked.

“Yes. And it’s a good one. I have a feeling you’re help is going to be needed once more, but in a different time,” the man replied.

“Well, what about your end of the deal? You said you were going to give me some information to take back to the Party.”

At this, the man visibly grimaced. “Well, I will, but not yet. Actually where I’m sending you next will be an important part of your Communist history. You’ll be in the company of your rosiysʹki tovaryshi, your Russian comrades. But I don’t want you to change anything in history. You got that?” His green eyes narrowed and he shot Dominik a horrid look.

Dominik was a bit taken back. For the last week he’d gotten to know this man as a somewhat pleasant but passionate sort. This was the first time he’d actually gotten somewhat nasty with him. He looks just like the Colonel from my regiment, Dominik mused. “What’s so important about this one that I don’t change history?”

“Let’s just say that if you let one thing go wrong, no one will survive.”

That was a pretty good reason. “Why are you sending me to such a dangerous time if it’s that delicate? Sounds very risky,” Dominik pointed out.

The man waved carelessly at what he’d told Dominik was a computer. “Look at the graph.”

The young Russian stepped forward and glanced at the strange device. On the year 1962, the line was jumping up and down. That’s what the ukrajinština said it did when the strange Scotsman tampered with it.

“Ah, so the time traveler is at it again?”

“Some time traveler,” the man growled. “He likes to mess everything up all the time. That’s the only thing he’s got right about time. Dominik, from my calculations Trevor Trekker and his adopted daughter are going to show up right,” he pulled out a map and glanced it over, then circled a spot in the Atlantic ocean. “Here. I’m guessing the idiot forgot to set the geography setting on his time traveling machine, and that’s why they landed in the ocean. Now, I’m going to make sure you’re there to take care of him.” He then muttered under his breath, “Hopefully forever, someday.”

“So you want me to take him out?” Dominik raised an eyebrow. He’d heard that last bit. “I’m not a hired gun, I don’t kill people.”

“What do you call what you do in the war?” The blond man pointed out.

“I’m a soldier. I’m fighting to keep the Nazis out of Russia. I’m trying to stop the German onslaught. That’s different than killing civilians for no reason.”

“I didn’t say I wanted you to kill him,” he stated dryly. “I just want you to keep him out of trouble. Keep showing up in different time periods when he does, stop things from happening to them or by them. That sort of thing. Eventually I should be able to get the TTGS on the same time wave as that miserable Scotsman, and when that happens I should be able to bring you, him and the girl back here. I’ll take care of things from there, the CIA has a bone to pick with Trevor.”

Dominik blinked. “CIA?”

The ukrajinština sighed irritably. “OSS, in your time,” he said offhandedly. “Central Intelligence Agency. Basically like the NKGB in your time.”

“Ah.” Dominik nodded. “I am curious though, sir, why you don’t follow Mr. Trekker around? Why did you have to bring me from the Kirsk front-lines and have me do this job for you? Can’t you just transport yourself with your strange machine?”

“It doesn’t have that capacity yet,” he replied. “If it did, I would. Trevor’s the only one who’s got the ability to time travel, he’s figured out the formula somehow. I’ve only half made it. So I cannot transport myself or anything from this time period,” he gestured around the room, “to any other time period. But, I can transport you from the past into the future and into any other time period because I’m piggybacking on Trevor’s invention. The only reason I can send you places is because I’m using his timeline to transport objects from other timelines he’s visited to the present one he’s at. Understand?”

“No.”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s all very complicated. I don’t think I can help you there.” He tapped the map, his previous grin crossing his face. “Well, I think I can safely say Trevor and Elizaveta are in for a surprise. Just wait until they see your face again. I’ll make sure to create a background story for you so that your crew-mates can vouch that you belong with them. That way Trevor and Marin will think they’re hallucinating.”

“Crew-mates?” Dominik asked.

“Yes.” He paused, then smiled. “How do you feel about submarines?”

Come back at the end of this month for part seven.