The Quiet Stubbornness of a Dead Man

Chapter 1: The Forger

Water drips in Rivka’s hidden cellar. On a crate, ⟨Character 1⟩ watches a laptop glow at three percent battery while Rivka stamps a forged Kennkarte with blue ink.

Rivka: You are the time traveler. I have been waiting for you. A dying man came through a year ago, muttering about an ⟨birthplace⟩ with a stubborn face, and I thought he was mad until I saw your machine. He said you would be alone and would refuse help, but that you would change everything if given no choice. The morning transport at Moabit goods yard carries three hundred Jews east, and only you can rewire the switchbox to divert that train to Switzerland. I am a Jew, and I will not let them be taken.

⟨Character 1⟩: I told no one. Your dying man must have been raving, because I did not come all this way to be a railway clerk. I came to kill Hitler. Nothing else matters to me, not your train, not your stamps, not your war. I have slept in a wet cellar and eaten nothing but stale bread for a week, and I did not do it to reroute trains.

Rivka: You are stubborn, but useful. This pass already has your photograph on it, and this map shows the briefing hut. The Wolfsschanze is a fortress, but a man who can alter a timetable can alter a war. Help me save my people, and the pass and map are yours. The good news is that he was right about you: you are too stubborn to lie.

⟨Character 1⟩: I need that pass. I hate being manipulated, but I will help you divert your train. When it is done, you will get me inside, or I will find another way to kill Hitler. I am not a fool, and I do not work for free. But I will not pretend to like you, and I will not pretend this is anything but a trade.

Rivka: Then we are both stubborn fools. I will get you inside, and you will not regret it. Now keep your voice down before the Gestapo hears us. Meet me at the coal heap an hour before first light. Bring your tools.

Dawn over Moabit goods yard. ⟨Character 1⟩ and Rivka crouch behind a coal heap as spotlights sweep and guards march.

⟨Character 1⟩: The switchbox is on pole seven, and I need six minutes, no more. I work alone, so stay here and stay quiet. If you follow me, you will get us both killed. No arguing. I know the guards’ pattern from the shed roof.

Rivka: You are not alone, you stubborn fool. I will knock over a fuel can by the sentry to draw the guards away, and you will take my watch and go. Six minutes is all I can give you. If I do not meet you at the fence, finish it without me.

⟨Character 1⟩: Rivka. Rivka, answer me. The points are still locked, and the train whistle blows again. I need another minute, but all I hear is that shot. I cannot leave her behind, and I cannot let the train go east.

Chapter 2: The Briefcase

⟨Character 1⟩ forces the points lever with a length of iron, the track clunks over, and the train lurches onto the diverted line. He runs toward the shot and finds Rivka, a Jew bleeding on the gravel, and the weight of her plan to save the Jews falls on him.

⟨Character 1⟩: Rivka, I heard the shot, but the points were locked and I had to force the lever with a length of iron. The track clunked over just in time, and the train is now on the diverted line. I need you to stay with me and tell me what happened, because you were supposed to meet me at the fence and I cannot do this without you.

Rivka: The guard saw me before I could knock over the fuel can, so he shot first, but I managed to get him too. It does not matter now, because you have to take this pass and use it to get inside the Wolfsschanze. The briefcase bomb is already hidden by a clerk in room 214, under the map table, and it is armed and ready for you to detonate.

⟨Character 1⟩: You planted a bomb? You were planning to kill Hitler yourself, and you never told me, because you knew I would refuse to let you do it. I came here to kill Hitler, not to take over your mission, but you cannot die now, because I need you to show me the way in and to help me understand how to use that pass.

Rivka: I am dying, ⟨Character 1⟩, and the clerk is already paid, so you must go now before the train leaves without you. Board the last railcar and hide in the far corner until you reach the stop near the Wolfsschanze, and whatever you do, do not let the Jews on that train die for nothing.

⟨Character 1⟩: I will not let them die, and I will kill Hitler, and I will save your Jews, because that is what you asked me to do. I promise you that, Rivka, and I keep my promises even when I hate the person I made them to, so rest now and I will finish this. You did not deserve this, and I am sorry.

Hitler: What is an ⟨birthplace⟩ officer doing at this table? You are not on my list, and I do not tolerate strangers in my briefing hut. Speak now, or I will have you shot where you stand, and your body will be thrown out with the other traitors.

⟨Character 1⟩: I came to save a train full of Jews, and I came to kill you, Hitler, because you are the reason they are on that train in the first place. The train is already on its way to Switzerland, and you will never stop it, because I am going to press this detonator and end your war.

The room becomes light and splinters, and Hitler is killed instantly as ⟨Character 1⟩ is thrown through the door, deaf and bleeding but alive, with the word “Jew” still burning in his mind.

Chapter 3: The Crossing

⟨Character 1⟩: Commander, let this train cross the border or I will blow the bridge and take your patrol with it. I have already killed Hitler today, and I have nothing left to lose except these Jews, and I will not lose them.

SS Commander: You think killing one man ends the Reich? The war is not over because a lunatic murdered the Führer. You are a dead man, and those Jews are our property, so stand aside and die quietly.

⟨Character 1⟩: I am not standing aside. This bridge is wired with a charge I stripped from the Wolfsschanze ruins, and if you or your men take one step forward I will send you all into the gorge. Let the train roll, and I will let you live.

SS Commander: Shoot him and take that detonator. The train is not crossing, and I will personally watch these Jews burn in the east.

⟨Character 1⟩: Then burn in the west, you bastard. The bridge goes, and so do you.

The charge detonates, and the bridge collapses in a roar of stone and steel, cutting off the patrol. The train lurches forward, wheels squealing, and ⟨Character 1⟩ falls, his legs gone, his blood soaking the pine needles.

⟨Character 1⟩: Go, go to Switzerland, you are free. Your train is saved, and Hitler is dead. Do not stop until you see the white sign.

⟨Character 1⟩: Rivka, I kept my promise. The Jews are saved, and Hitler is dead. Now I can sleep.

In ⟨Character 1⟩’s flat in Mumbai, late at night, a laptop screen glows red at three percent battery. A news feed reads: “Historians confirm Hitler assassinated in 1944. Six million Jews saved, but anti-Semitic violence continues. No one knows who the assassin was.” The screen dims. A plate of cold samosas sits untouched. The time machine’s chair is empty.