NOW 9

Chapter Nine

Canada to expand and modernize Military (Toronto Daily Star)

“The Canadian Ministry of National Defence published details for the planned expansion of the Canadian Military. The Canadian Army is to be expanded by two Divisions (1x Mechanized Infantry, 1x Armored) and the MoND is to buy a licence for the production of the British Chieftain Universal Tank, the Royal Canadian Air Force is to replace the Victor Mk.III with the Vulcan Mk.II and the Squadrons of Air Defence Command are to be equipped with the Arrow Mk.I. It is expected to enter service starting from 1965 onwards...

Average of 6.3 million viewers for An Unearthly Child (Internal BBC Memorandum)

According to careful examination of the statistics gathered, the Serial's first episode gathered some 5.5 million viewers, the second around 6 and the other two parts roughly 7 million. It can there for be said that so far the concept of the show has been approved of by the viewership and it is hereby recommended that 1) The production of another ten Serials be approved 2) The Empire-wide broadcast begun immediately, especially in India 3) That William Hartnell be approached over a more permanent contract beyond the six serials....[1]

England prepares for 1966 FIFA World Cup (Der Kicker)

Preparations for the 1966 World Cup in England continue apace and the construction of the Wembley Stadium is 'on schedule'...

Germany to buy the Lightning? (Air Forces Monthly)

Recently surfaced rumours say that the German Federal Ministry for Defence has approached the British Government about the purchase of the English Electric Lightning Mk.I for the Luftwaffe to both replace the Supermarine Swift and to expand the Fighter Wings to a number of at least four...

Arthur Harries dies in London (The Times)

Arthur Harris, one-time CinC RAF Bomber Command died in London yesterday after a Heart Attack. Harris, disgraced and removed from Bomber Command after the recognized failure of Area Bombing attacks to affect enemy morale and industrial capacity lived his life...[2]

HMS Warspite in Thames Estuary (The Manchuster Gruadian)

In an comtroverssial and audacious move the removal of HMS Warspite from Bermuda and the move of the old veteran to London continues as per plans and from tomorrow...

Franz-Josef Strauß arrested [3] (Frankfurter Allgemeine)

Former Minister of Finance Franz-Josef Strauß was arrested today after being implicated in the FiBag Scandal during which he allegedly accepted bribes for allocating contracts for the construction and refurbishment of military bases for Allied and Bundeswehr Units and the subesequent raids on Der Spiegel that were declared unconstitutional by the Federal Constitutional Court last year...

~**~~~~**~

Whistling the Canadian Anthem[4] Charette drove rented blue four-door NSU down the road leading out of Breslau. He still had a day's leave to burn up before the Wing was moved to the Sudan and he was spending it here, now that his protests at being included in the move had been rebuffed by CINCOCAIR (CinC Occupation Air Force). Breslau was the biggest city anywhere near the base and while it was nowhere near Quebec City, it was adequate if one wanted to amuse himself. He had spent most of today hiking in the countryside around the city, something he liked to do at home.

The countryside had nothing on the area around his home, but then again, this area was probably not very representative of Germany. Luckily he had not been forced to arrange for anywhere to stay as he doubted around here people spoke enough English. He had decided to go back to the base early, for all his proficiency with supersonic aircraft he didn't trust his wheelmanship enough to drive a little sports-car such as this during the night on unfamiliar roads as he (like most other pilots) tended to drive faster than the rest of the populace, even in the self-professed car country #1.

He cursed as he realized that he had misjudged the time and the traffic inside Breslau and flicked the switch that turned on the lights. It was still pre-dawn but he decided not to take any chances as the road that would eventually lead towards the base itself was winding and ran through several areas where visibility was impaired.

He increased speed as he turned on the A23[5] that ran roughly parallel with Germany's eastern border in the north towards the Austrian one in the south. Now, this was much more to his liking. At this time of day the lane out of the city was almost totally empty and the lack of a speed limit on this particular example of it's breed made it very tempting to let rip and test out the reputed top speed of this particular little car. Charette decided against it and instead drove towards the exit three kilometres away where he would have to leave the Motorway again. He drove past a petrol station and then slowed down as he reached the off ramp.

The country road he soon found himself on wound through the darkening day towards the base. He needed a Coffee, he decided.

In the next village he was lucky, as the bakery was still open and also sold a surprisingly good Coffee.

Leaning against the counter an sipping at the porcelain cup he watched as a black Mercedes W 110 park in front of the bakery and a young-ish man came walking out and up to the counter. Looking at his face Charette couldn't help but feel that he had seen the man before, or at least someone very closely related to him, and it irked him that he couldn't place the resemblance. As the various German accents all sounded alike to him Charette snuck a peek a the licence plate and saw that the badge of the Administrative District and the German Bundesland placed the car down south somewhere, most certainly not from here, the coat of arms was totally different from the other cars around here.

Buying a surprisingly large pack of bread rolls the man joked with the cashier, saying (according to Charette's rudimentary German) how a certain type of on wasn't available here and how they would make a killing if it were.

The elusive, unavailable delicacy. Totally killer with cherry marmalade or peanut butter.

Curiousity overwhelming, Charette stuck around even though his coffee was long since relocated to his stomach as he watched the man walking back to the car. There were a man and a woman who greeted him with delight when he got back in. They drove off.

Charette paid for his Coffee and decided that it was time to get back to base. As he started his own engine he saw the Mercedes stopping at what had to be the only traffic light in thirty kilometres distance and go left, the same road Charette would have to take.

He watched as he inadvertently followed the car out of the village, all the while mulling about why the resemblance wouldn't leave his mind alone so that he did not watch where he was going and soon enough he was hopelessly lost.

As he realized this both the Mercedes wand the village where nowhere to be seen and no roadsigns anywhere.

He cursed loudly and decided that since his Escape and Evasion training specified to backtrack if possible this was the thing to do, so he drove a few yards into a nearby access road and reversed out of it.

He drove back down the road and wondered where on earth he was as almost twenty minutes later he still was nowhere near the large A-Road he had been following. Cursing ever louder he did not watch as the Mercedes came out of another access road. When he saw it he stepped on the brakes as hard as he could and the four brakes, notorious for failure of pressed too hard, worked perfectly for once and the car stopped inches before the flank of the Mercedes.

Charette took a few moments to reassemble his faculties and turned off the engine. He stepped out of the car and was about to excuse himself for almost smashing into them when he saw the rear passengers stepping out. One was a middle-aged woman, but the man was...

It couldn't be. It was nigh on impossible that among 76 million Germans he would meet this one right here. He had aged from the Pictures everyone had seen, but it was undeniably the same face.

He opened his mouth to speak and said....

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Comments, questions, rotten tomatoes?

[1] Lacking the JFK assassination there are of course more viewers. OT Note: New Episodes by Easter! Yay! Now where did I put these TARDIS blueprints again...

[2] Strange as it may seem, this isn't an expression of my personal politics, but rather an effect of military priorities. ITTL the course of rearmament and the war was such that the Army, the Navy and Fighter Command (in that order) had first dibs on resources, thus making BC too small to do any meaningful damage to German, let alone Soviet Cities. A lot of those were devastated as per OTL, but not from the Air... Harris refused to see the light and was promptly axed by Winston when it was decided to use Bomber Command more productively.

[3] Now this is blatantly an expression of my intense hatred for this ugly and corrupt tub of lard. He landed us with the F-104G...

[4] ITTL 'The Maple Leaf Forever'

[5] Autobahn 23, I.e. M23 in the UK.