The Furred Reich (7 page)

Crumpled up over a sack of grain, Hans looked up at the source of the voice; a sleek, black, canine-looking “furry.” In his own world, Hans knew only of dogs and wolves. This one was neither. The wagon had come to a stop, and the faint smell of silty dry soil was the only hint of a location.

Hans rolled onto his feet, trying to ignore his upset stomach as the canine looked him over.

“Your master has a strange sense of fashion…” He mused at Hans, then stepped out onto burnt orange sand.

“Excuse me. Uh. Have you… seen a black airship in the sky?”

The black canine turned around to face the sleepy German. “No. But I heard that it flew low over Deltia.”

“Is this place Deltia?”

The canine looked at Hans as if he had been dropped out of the sky.

“…No, human. This is Urkan. Deltia is to the north of here along the river.” The furre then turned around and walked off without another word, leaving Hans to fend for himself, gear and all. Hans groaned and picked up his items, then stepped out onto the sand.

“Engh.”

The sun hit his eyes like a searchlight. He winced and covered his brow as he shuffled slowly into the crowd, able to take only baby steps.

Urkan felt like a bazaar. Stone-lain streets criss-crossed into the distance and bustled with carts both horse drawn and hand pushed. Chatter and whinnying of horses surrounded him on every side. Hans scanned the inhabitants. They too were canine, but didn’t much look like the man from the wagon. Instead, the natives of Urkan looked more like a mix between the canine’s species and a type of hyena. The women were not very attractive; nothing like Amalija, that was for sure.

The sudden heat and light made his head swim and his stomach want throw up again. Still hungover, he dawdled over to the nearest Bazaar, and turned down a narrow alleyway where brick and sand apartments faced off. Hans dropped his gear by a door and sat down, head leaning against the wall. Just as he closed his eyes a young canine opened the door and looked at Hans. He turned to the animal with eyes half shut and raised a hand, waving to him, then turned away. Once the boy went back inside Hans closed his eyes.

His growling stomach woke him up. He looked out of that narrow alley. The scorching daylight was fast approaching. He reached for his mess tin, which he found had no food, but it did jingle. Inside were some shiny, minted coins stacked from bottom to top. He smiled. The meerkats of Oasis must have really liked him. Hans got up to his feet, feeling a little better, and followed his nose to a nearby alley to buy some skewered meat from a stand. If he had to guess, it was lamb. Not too bad.

“Hey um, have you seen a black airship fly by lately?”

“Black airship?” the vendor scowled. “What you talkin’ about?”

The furry indeed had no idea what Hans was talking about. He returned to where the convoy had dropped him off, in search of another one that continued northward, but after thirty minutes of waiting he noticed the only caravans here were coming from and going to the place he had come from. Confused and with no idea where to start, Hans made his way to the nearby river. A medley of boats streamed along the river as the soldier stood watching them. Perhaps flotillas were the preferred method of travel here.

With a little help, Hans finally found the dockyards. He asked around and found a northbound raft manned by another of the black canine species. The same race as the man Hans had talked to earlier. In exchange for free transport, Hans offered to help row the craft northward. They agreed and soon took off. It was a strange relief to be on the move again.

“Where are you from, Human?”

The question came from the man rowing ahead of him. Hans could only see the canine’s sinewed back.

“I’m from Mannheim.”

“Never heard of that place!”

“It’s very far away. What about yourself?”

“Deltia. We’ll be there in a few days. Looking for work there?”

“Actually I’m looking for The Black Airship.”

The canine turned around as if to look Hans over.

“You mean The Black Ship? You know, it flew over our city, exploded a purple light over us and then went screaming off over the ocean and to heaven itself.”

It bombed the town? Who would do that?

“Which way was it going?”

“North. It flew right over us toward the ocean.”

Suddenly Hans felt relieved he had his camouflage on, lest the canine notice on him the same swastika that graced the tail of the fighter plane.

In fact, the relative calm of this world had violated the despair which settled over Hans on the Eastern Front, but this quest for ‘The Black Ship’ somehow eased things.

The river and the land around him was opening up with life. On each side were orange brick buildings of all kinds. Ferries crossed “furries” from one side to the other. Tall reeds popped up all along both embankments, and behind them was a gentle wall of green topped by palm trees.

That night he slept in the center of the boat while someone else took over for him. He laid down and stared up at the black canopy of stars, which twinkled like those in his own world. Now was a good time to think about Amalija and Kairah.

“You know, I’ve seen a few humans show up in our town recently.”

His new friend snapped Hans out of his daydream of Amalija. But were there really other humans here?

“Uh, where are the Humans coming from?”

“No idea. Somewhere over in the North Continent of course. Maybe north of the Cottonwine Lands. Something’s going on over there that’s bringing them here.”

The North Continent? Maybe that was where the plane flew off to. The canine said it was headed north, after all.

“Hmm. The North Continent… How do I get there?”

“There’s one ship channel in Deltia. It can take you to three ports over there, but I’d be careful. Your kind must be fleeing to here for a reason.”

“Thanks. Uh, hey. What about The Cottonwine Lands? Do you know where they are?”

“All I know is it’s really far away. North and east of the lapines. Besides that, just far away. I’ve never been on the other side.”

Hans smiled. “Thank you, comrade. I will… Find The Black Ship.”

The midnight air felt heavy upon him when Hans stepped off in the sweltering capital the next night. It was time to find an inn and regroup for what looked to be a long journey into the unknown. Tomorrow he’d ask around about the fighter plane, just to be sure. The North Continent sounded promising, as did the Cottonwine Lands.

Deltia seemed dominated by the black, elegant canines, which were more appealing to Hans’ eyes. Especially the women, of course. He inquired about an inn and trudged eastward to find a torchlight brick box nestled in between residences.

Stepping in, his eyes adjusted to the light. Behind the desk he saw the flash of a green helmet with netting over it. Against his better judgment, Hans took a cautious step inside. It was another human. And in a light green uniform. The man’s eyes bugged out when he saw Hans.

But Hans was faster on the draw, and before the surprised American could reach for anything, Hans’ Mauser was pointed right at the enemy’s face.

So there were other humans here, and obviously not just from the North Continent, either.

Allies

The barrel of Hans’ Mauser remained pointed in the face of the other human.

“Hey, come on. There’s no war going on here. You—you don’t need to do this.” The American to Hans in perfect Deutsch.

“You speak German?” Hans asked.

“Uh… No. Do you speak English?”

“No.”

“Hmm… Interesting…”

Hans backed away slowly and made his way to the door. Deltia had plenty of other inns.

The American protested. “Wh-what… Where are you going? Come on, man. Don’t go! You’re the only person I’ve seen form home!”

Hans spent a second looking at the blue eyes under that netted helmet. “Do you mind if I search you?”

“No! Sure, go right ahead!” The American leaped up to his feet.

“No! Just stay there, Comrade. I’ll… come over there.”

Hans came behind the desk and took the pistol the American surrendered. He then stood behind the ‘Ami’ and patted him down.

“Been here long?” Hans tried to sound friendly.

“Four months.” He sighed. “I was just playing video games and ‘boom!’ Here I was.”

“Video games?”

“Oh, yeah. Sorry I’m from the future. Well, your future at least.”

If Hans wasn’t in this world, he wouldn’t have believed such a wild claim. It sounded ridiculous on its own. “What year is it?”

“Two-thousand nine. I just saw this white light and here I am.” The American smiled. “I’m James, by the way. Can I sit down now?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m sorry about all that.”

The American had pasty skin and a frumpy chin. He could likely pass as a German.

“Hey no worries. All from a different time, right? Here, it’s probably not as good as what you’re used to, but…”

James slid him a ‘Rolling Rock’ beer. Hans hovered his nose over the bottle and took a careful swig.

“It’s not bad. For North American beer.”

“So anyway. How’d you get here?”

“Was in a battle. In Russia.”

“Oh? What year is it for you?”

“1943.”

“Wow.” James uncapped a ‘Rolling Rock’ for himself. “Nine-teen-fourty-three, huh…”

Hans suddenly felt a morbid curiosity rising. Unless the war had raged for sixty years, James probably knew the outcome. The pit of his stomach dropped. Maybe it was best not to know.

“So… have you seen a fighter plane fly by here at all?”

“No, sorry. Did you see one?”

“Yeah. It flew by me a week ago. My comrades are here somewhere. I’m looking for them.”

“Trying to get back?”

“Yes. Well… Maybe. I just want to find my comrades.”

“…It’s… Not that bad, you know…” James responded. “Germany’s united again. It gets back together after awhile. Have a pretty good soccer team, too.”

Hans’ heart sank. He didn’t know what to think. ‘Not that bad’ meant they lost.

“I mean uh. Yeah, you lose, but… Germany’s the best economy in Europe again. The British lost everything they had. And the Soviet Union doesn’t even exist anymore.”

“What? How?”

Hans didn’t believe that. Well, he believed the part about Germany losing. But the rest just sounded conciliatory talk from a man who needed a friend.

“It collapses in fifty years. Cool, huh?”

Hans considered himself a National Socialist, even though he wasn’t in the party. He certainly believed that Bolshevism had to be destroyed. If the war was lost, then all that Hans and his Comrades fought for was a failure. That was certain.

He sat back and thought about it for a moment. Could it have been true that they sacrificed millions of lives trying to kill Bolshevism, and failed, only for Bolshevism to fall apart anyway? If so, god sure had a sense of humor.

“I just don’t believe that. The Soviets have the largest army in the world…”

“You should believe it! The Brits had it even worse. In twenty years most of Britain’s empire will be gone.”

“…And they
won
the war?”

“Yeah. Pretty interesting, huh? By the time I grew up there was nothing left of it.”

Hans didn’t know too much about the world. He knew that Britain had a centuries-old empire. How could Britain win the war, then lose everything soon after? Even he knew that wasn’t how the world worked. James was talking fantasy.

“I doubt it…” The German finally shook his head. “You don’t need to be nice, you know.”

“I’m not!” James laughed and took another gulp.

“And if those English in Rhodesia knew what was in store for them, I bet they’d have joined the not-sees and hit the damned reset button!”

“What’s a reset button?”

“…Um. Nevermind.”

James finally settled down. “You might find out if you can go back.”

“We’ll see.” Hans said, “I’m going to find that plane. It buzzed me when I was further south. If all that stuff you say is true maybe my future isn’t so bad anyway.”

The American sighed. “Just think twice before going back into it. You probably don’t believe me. That’s fine.”

Hans folded his arms. “If you’d been through a day of what I have, you’d know how hesitant I am to go back into what I came from.”

“Uh, yeah sorry. I suppose you’re right huh…”

“It’s alright,” Hans smiled, “may I stay for two days?”

“Yeah yeah, sure no charge too. Don’t worry about it.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah. Yeah don’t worry. But. I just have one favor to ask.”

“What’s that?”

“If you find them, and decide to stay… Just come back for me, OK?”

“What? Why?”

“Because here I’ve been captured. I’m just a servant. If you stay around here long enough you’ll probably be captured by someone, too. For some reason Humans here aren’t very well-liked. I mean, this job is pretty easy but, if you guys could get me the hell out of here I’d tag along.”

That was all the more reason for Hans to leave, but he let James know there would be no promises attached to this. After all, the ‘North Continent’ might be even worse than Deltia.

The next day, Hans ventured out to spend his coin and stock up on food; food that was as close to his rations as possible. Deltia had races of all kinds streaming up and down its streets, as well as goods from dozens of different places, none of which Hans knew anything about. In Deltia’s teeming marketplaces he found an abundance of dried meats and many kinds of bread. If bread here was anything like bread in his world, then the darker kind was generally the heartiest. He found the darkest bread he could, and some other bread that looked as if it were fortified with something. In the muggy evening he caught up on a little more sleep.

On his last day in Deltia Hans returned to the dockyard intent on bribing his way into the cargo hold of some ship bound for the ‘North Continent.’ He found most outfits willing to do business with him and willing to make some extra money, so long as Hans understood that they couldn’t be responsible for his safety.

Before that evening, Hans found himself with an agreement to board the cargo section of a passenger boat. He headed back to the inn to pick up his things and say farewell to his friend from the future. Upon Deltia’s orange-pink sunrise Hans set out to the dockyards and the long ride north.